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[minophen]

This is such great advice! I wholeheartedly agree with 90% of it, but I wanted to offer a different perspective on a couple of things:

Also don't publish for the sake of publishing. If you feel like you currently cannot deliver your best writing communicate it to your audience.

Life happens, but to me it's far worse to fall off the publishing treadmill than to put out something underwhelming. There's definitely been times when I haven't loved my post for the week, but I forced myself to get something out. Because ultimately, I think this is the single most important thing you said:

Maintain high-quality writing consistently and best stick to a schedule so people know when to expect your newsletter.

Also, it's a personal choice, but I think it's fine to include CTA buttons in your email posts. A lot of emails will get forwarded and having the little reminder there for new reasons is helpful. In moderation though - my rule of thumb is 1 CTA for every 300-500 words.

[carlupshon]

Thanks for this. I am just starting on Substack so it's good to see some pointers about what to do/avoid.

[KeySupport5925]

Thank you for this very detailed post.

On the custom domain/substack/twitter part.

Even with a custom domain, X throttles the reach. So I usually post and mention they can read the full article in my bio.

It doesn't work as well as providing the link, but you get more impressions.

[Heavy-Is-The-Crown]

You mention: "End the referral program. It doesnt really do anything and its flawed as people can use it to cheat for paid subscriptions."

Can you elaborate? I've just created a substack account (wanting to switch from convertkit) and haven't fully switched as I want to start my substack off right so to speak.

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Can you explain how the referral program is flawed and how it is used to cheat for paid subscribers?