Writing Newsletters On Substack Is Useless (Unless You Do This)

Here's how I grow by 500+ email subs every month

Nobody tells you that writing newsletters on Substack might actually be the slowest way to grow.

When I joined in December 2022, I thought the game was simple: write good stuff, hit publish, repeat.

So I did. I wrote. I published. I waited. Nothing happened.

My growth was dead in the water.

In July 2024, I changed my strategy. As a result, I've grown by over 4000+ subs.

Let's see what changed.

Substack misses this Medium feature

Some of you Substack writers hate Medium.

I don't care.

What I love about Medium (as a reader) is that you log in, and boom—dozens of curated long-form reads stare you in the face. It's like walking into a restaurant and the waiter handing you the menu.

On Substack, there’s no central hub pushing new long-form content your way. No algorithm whispering, “Hey, check this guy out.” If discovery exists, it’s buried somewhere you’ll never find.

And that’s a massive problem if your entire growth strategy is based on writing long-form.

Because writing long-form alone won’t get you seen here. And it sucks.

I love long-form. I like thinking through ideas. I enjoy writing slowly, deliberately. I’m not wired for short-form dopamine-chasing X threads. But on Substack, unless someone already knows you, your long-form masterpiece passes like a ship in the night.

So what happens?

Long-form writers are now forced to become short-form writers. Puke

Because the only real way to get discovered is through interactions—comments, mentions, replies. The platform isn’t set up to surface good writing.

You're missing out on subs daily because of this

40.53% of my growth on Substack came from recommendations.

They’re basically a pop-up box that shows up when someone subscribes to a different writer: “Hey, you might also like these folks.” You’re one of those folks, hopefully.

Recommendations aren’t the best subscribers out there.

These people didn’t read your writing. They’re not sold on your ideas. They’re not even sure why you’re in their inbox. Some don’t even understand that they’re going to subscribe to someone else when they hit “OK”.

It’s not perfect traffic. But it’s still traffic. Some of them stick. And a few become buyers.

So the real question is: how do you get more of those recommendations?

You can sit around hoping that someone will find you, love your writing, and voluntarily recommend you. That’s cute.

Or—you brute-force the process.

The best way to build relationships

Relationships feel like work.

Especially when you’re an introvert like me who’d rather wrestle with ideas than people. I’m not built for schmoozing. I don’t “network.” I don’t slide into DMs.

But I do have deep relationships—with a handful of people.

And the best ones all started the same way: I showed up.

This is what Leo Burnett (an old-school copywriter) called friendly familiarity:

“… the No. 1 factor in building confidence is the plain old-fashioned matter of friendly familiarity.
You simply can’t have one without the other…
When you meet a man on the same street corner every morning and learn to like the way he smiles, the way he dresses, and the way he conducts himself you are much more likely to be a prospect for the automobile or the insurance policy he may sometime want to sell you than you are for that of a stranger.”

This is why commenting works.

It’s not about dropping a “great post!” and bouncing. It’s about being seen. Repeatedly. Commenting on their newsletter. Replying to their Notes. Becoming the name that keeps showing up.

Not in a creepy way. But in a consistently present way.

People notice. Your face (or in my case: the logo), your voice, your tone. And when the time comes to have a real conversation, it doesn’t feel cold.

They already “know” you.

The best way to get started is to create what I call a "hit list".

Find people that you generally want to connect with in your niche. And start commenting. Daily.

BONUS TIP: Don't get demotivated because people on the internet are like in real life. Some are scumbags. Some are busy. A minority will be worth it.

Guest posting

Nobody will ever buy from you if they don't trust you.

And guest posting is the fastest way to borrow trust.

When someone with a bigger audience lets you publish on their Substack, you're reaching new readers, pre-approved by someone they already listen to.

I’ve written two guest posts for Write with AI Substack, and it has rewarded me well in terms of email subscribers (and buyers.)

But most people blow it.

They cold pitch. No context. No relationship. Just a desperate “Hey, can I write for you?” that smells like spam. The answer? Silence. Or a polite no.

Here’s the smarter way: don’t pitch until the yes is obvious.

And commenting is how to make that first exchange in the DMs easier.

Get Restacked

Restacks are free word of mouth.

And growth gets easier when people share your stuff.

The other day, someone left a comment on one of my articles. I replied, gave some advice, and moved on.

Next day? He wrote a piece about it and mentioned me.

It made me look nice. So I restacked it.

I hate to say it

If you want to succeed and build your audience on Substack, it's about the community.

And how do you actually leverage that community?

By commenting.

So, even if you're not holding your newsletter streak, you should at least hold your comment streak.

Nice things will happen.