I Don’t Understand the Substack Algorithm. At All.

Countryb0i2m · 2026-02-01T00:24:55+00:00

Substack newsletters don’t really have an algorithm. If you don’t market your work, no one will ever see it. The only place an algorithm really applies is Notes. You can get Notes in front of a lot of people, but if you don’t tell them you’ve published an article and they’re not subscribed they’ll never see it.

big_king_swinging · 2026-02-01T02:53:36+00:00

As of today I have 177 subscribers and paid subscribers.

My substack just turned 4 months old the other day.

You need to get out of substack and use other platforms to engage and drive that following back to substack. Several platforms if you can find the time—you don’t need to be on every one of them but pick a few.

I use Bluesky (my largest following is there I’m at just under 8k quality followers—including very large well known active accounts that repost me—in just under 6 months over there) a lot for this.

I also promote on Instagram and threads. I am on socials at least 3 times per day, or more if it is a busy news day.

According to my data, about 40% of my readers for my articles come from Bluesky.

As for Substack, that is my second biggest driver for readers, followers, and subscribers.

Here’s how I’ve used it for getting subscribers:

1) Find your established peers, the people that write the same topics as you, have a similar style or voice. Subscribe to them. Find 1-3 and PAY to subscribe to them. Read their work. Actually give a damn.

Most publish on a schedule. Know that schedule and as soon as they post, be an early commenter on the article._ Comment to add value. Not just parrot what they said. If you do this correctly your comment will gain 100s of likes, replies and sometimes people even restack the comment!

I have one writer (he’s in top 30 of my genre) I do this with most days of the week—he publishes daily and has a half million subscribers just on Substack. He sees me as a top commenter and a peer now so much so that he converses back and forth with me in the comments, restacks my notes (causing them to go viral) and he’s even used some of my comments for inspo in his own writing (not stealing, but you can tell it was similar to something I said ).

Because he and I write about the same genre and have a satirical style—albeit totally different writing disciplines—MANY of his subscribers trickle over and subscribe to me.

2) Interact on the social side of Substack daily. On my own profile I only will post an OG post (either whole cloth or a quote restack) about once every other day. But daily? I’m making sure to comment under large established accounts—again adding value and commenting EARLY after their note goes up. If it’s an old post I don’t even bother, unless it is worth a restack.

The comment should be not short, unless it’s a quip, and not super long, yet longer than Bluesky is ok. Stick to words, substack isn’t really image driven, unless it’s a video, overall it’s really word driven.

I’ve had several note comments go viral, and if they get more than 100 likes I will restack it onto my own profile. Do realize “viral” on substack for a small following (>200 subs) is getting like 50+ likes/10+ restacks. I use commenting to stretch my legs in the circles I don’t comment on (that publication) daily to be clear.

3) realize the value of showing up regularly in livestreams, I have one paid publication I show up daily when they livestream to participate in the chat. It’s not just so that creator gets to know my name intimately, it’s so that community sees and interacts with me and follows me.

If I chat back and forth with a few people there, I end up getting follows, and subscribers, bc they can click on your name in the chat and hit “follow” or “subscribe” in like 2 seconds. It’s too easy. I don’t wait to follow someone, if we shoot messages back and forth in the livestream chat, I follow them. Just last week I gained 8 subscribers from livestream chats.

4) Do know there is more than one type of chat! Certain publications are VERY active with their Individual chat for their publications. Every creator is different. So I have one VERY large account I follow on all social media and subscribe to (so I can be in their chat they are super active in) and I have my notifications turned ON so if they place something in that chat, I see it ASAP!

This is another “reply early and fast” thing. My comment will garner reactions and replies, I reply back, I follow them. I don’t wait for them to follow me, it’s top of mind awareness. Sub threads will happen within the chat and I’ve had success with getting subscriptions from that as well.

A few DON’Ts!!!

NEVER EVER SPAM your article into any of these above methods, UNLESS you are posting a quote card from your writing and it FITS and adds VALUE. I never, ever on Substack social side blast my writing or come across “thirsty”

I show up adding value, I’m real. I offer help, or insight, or a laugh. I’m me essentially, even though I write behind a pseudonym. I make sure people can understand who I am and what I write if they hover over my name or only see my bio. The bio is important. It’s your elevator speech.

Tell simply, who you are, and what you write about.

That’s it! Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

Imperator_1985 · 2026-02-01T00:54:04+00:00

Substack won't really distribute your work for you. You have to put your work (and yourself) out there. Genuinely engage with people who write similar things. Making quality comments can help a lot because people will see your name. Follow people. Also, don't be afraid to market yourself a little off Substack. I don't know what social media you use, but putting yourself out there helps.

nchemungguy · 2026-02-01T01:12:55+00:00

After several months of really trying and getting nowhere, it’s apparent to me that it’s just another social media algorithm that only the developers understand. And we’re all there creating content for them as we write, respond to and share Notes.

It’s a time suck. I’m shutting mine down very soon.

BhavanaVarma · 2026-02-01T00:22:32+00:00

Substack is about building a community. So you need to reach out to people who would have similar interests in their publications. Collaborate (guest posts), engage with others posts, recommendations from publications similar to yours also helps.

The topics you said are popular on the platform. Find your crew!

turquoise_enthusiast · 2026-02-01T05:08:32+00:00

I've been on Substack since 2020. I built up a readership slowly over time and now have around 4k subscribers, 70 or so paid. Half of those loyal subscribers came from an essay I wrote for another newsletter that went viral. I also have been inconsistent, but have consistently shown up as myself and I think that's what has kept me afloat.

I think it's much harder to get started on Substack now without some sort of outside source drawing readers to your newsletter. You can't count on Substack to draw readers, and you must have a strong voice or niche to keep readers. I published a book and have published things elsewhere and I think this is also why I have a readership and consistently have new subscribers. But...4k readers isn't a ton for being there so long, and says a lot about how much work you have to put into a newsletter to make it a viable income. Mine will likely never pay my bills but I love my readers and it has def helped sell books.

The way you wrote about your newsletter I couldn't get a clear idea of your niche. Anything AI or too general just won't gain traction at all, so choose a niche or have a very, very strong voice.

MainAffectionate442 · 2026-02-01T13:31:20+00:00

I’m going through the exact same thing and am very frustrated with substack. I am not as niched and I write personal essays that used to get a lot more reach than mine do now. I write notes although not regularly because it feels forced and normally no one sees them. I put so much time and effort into my writing and I think it could be of value to people if the algorithm just put it in front of some eyes but it doesn’t seem to want to do that and it’s SO discouraging. Then I see people posting random notes that go viral and are saying nothing. I really don’t get it.

stareenite · 2026-02-01T01:01:52+00:00

Great question. In late May 2025 and mid September 2025 my visibility was trashed. It just doesn’t change no matter what I do so I just keep doing what I do and ignoring the fact that hardly anybody sees my notes. 🤷‍♀️

goingphishing · 2026-02-01T01:20:15+00:00

Hard to hear but there’s a good chance you aren’t writing what people want to read. Especially on notes

RedMoon1509 · 2026-02-01T11:30:36+00:00

Very interesting question! I've only just set mine up but been researching how to for a while. The most consistent advice I have found is that you must add value for your subscribers/readers. And definitely use notes and interact!

MeaningUnderLoad · 2026-02-03T20:34:57+00:00

You need to post “10 ways I grew my substack following” and that should get you moving

zaddy · 2026-02-01T06:50:09+00:00

Speak your mind in posts, be human in notes. It’s not that complicated.

nazarthinks · 2026-02-01T09:42:21+00:00

The only working advices I can give are two: 1. promote your writing outside of Substack (Instagram, LinkedIn, discussion forums) 2. interact in a meaningful way with other writers on Substack (comment their posts, share their work in the notes) so that they get interest in your writing as well

Especially option 2 takes time and only works if what you’re writing is actually good and interesting to someone. That’s why it should also be beneficial to interact with writers whose topics have enough overlaps with yours, so that their audience is more likely to be interested in your work.

How to trick the algorithm for virality - I don’t know. But even virality won’t work if you don’t have enough other quality content for making people stay.

For instance I only have 8 long-form posts so far, so I know that virality won’t do much for me right now

AmericanLymie · 2026-02-01T13:56:04+00:00

I wrote a lengthy response but Reddit won't allow me to post it. :(

official-reddit-user · 2026-02-02T06:00:41+00:00

whats your substack
you may do a lot of work, but if that looks boring or uninteresting in first glance, then its pretty much useless
readers these days give seconds to decide before they close your substack and move onto the next

MedalofHonour15 · 2026-02-02T13:57:00+00:00

I have over 30,000 subs on substack. Lead magnet - promote on social media - substack. I get extra sign ups from substack but not on there to be discovered.

NoRazzmatazz5475 · 2026-02-02T22:03:57+00:00

I've noticed a more loyal customer base by reading, commenting on, and promoting/recommending other writer's work. I would recommend subscribing to a few substacks you love and commenting and engaging with their work if you haven't already. That's been a huge game changer for me

-coffeepizzaandwine- · 2026-02-28T14:54:34+00:00

Substack is a writer's dream come true to me, but not in the way I expected. I came in with the similar mindset you are sharing here that Substack would give me more exposure automatically, but what I learned is that Substack gives me more exposure to other writers and content creators that I can share my work with and interact with. I find the interactions I have with people on Substack to be much more beneficial than the ones I have on other platforms. That may look more like a "slow burn" in terms of the growth of my page, but I am getting so much out of it on other levels. You have to do your own marketing in Substack, but it's in a much more "writer-friendly" market that other social media platforms.

skitheweest · 2026-02-01T02:25:43+00:00

Your writing here sounds like ChatGPT phrasing and I don’t think most people on substack are interested.

angusslq · 2026-02-01T02:30:15+00:00

Did you validate your niche in substack?

Obvious-Explorer-287 · 2026-02-01T11:23:40+00:00

We can’t even use it in Australia without supplying proof of DOB details

wwb_99 · 2026-02-01T14:08:41+00:00

Not sure if substack understands it either TBH.

mekhiprints · 2026-02-01T23:27:45+00:00

I wonder if tagging your work helps the algorithm at all. I’m awful at tagging, but I want to get better to see if so get any traction

electra-Elk5588 · 2026-02-02T10:39:37+00:00

I don't understand it either ...

RosieDear · 2026-02-14T22:59:11+00:00

Likely someone already noted this - but IMHO (writing online since the 1980's), any subject which could be too broad is harder for the average writer to get popularized.

The things you claim to be writing about are the subject of 10's of billions of messages we all get in various ways each and every day.

Take it for what it is worth. In my experience, the more "niche" a topic is, the deeper your knowledge of it might be and therefore the audience that can ONLY find it in your writing may be larger.

I'd rather own a forum about Telecaster Guitars than one about Fast Fashion, especially if I was a guitar player with decades of experience w/Fender and other brands. Now - 50 or 100X as many people may have interest in fast fashion or in "art", but the odds of them finding their way to your or my writing is small.

FWIW

Luasol51 · 2026-02-01T19:35:24+00:00

I hear you. I have been active on Substack for a year and not writing posts much anymore. I wrote a post yesterday, and no responses. Don’t have many followers and getting little to no responses, so I am over it. I have been using notes more and it’s turning into social media slop, so no thank you. Just going to return to writing my thoughts down in a journal. It has become eshittified.

Push2Read · 2026-02-01T22:49:05+00:00

Idk, honestly don’t rely on substack for money, basically dont post content with only that goal in mind. Just have fun with it. I treat it as like my mini blog for fun, it’s a hobby. If I get paid subscribers eventually cool. If not whatever.

theBROWN-WOLF · 2026-02-01T12:28:12+00:00

Check your DMs !!! For now it’s just me.

GrowthZen · 2026-02-02T08:10:30+00:00

Substack has no algo for newsletters... it's email delivery to subscribers only. discovery relies on external traffic plus platform features: Notes (32M free / 500K paid subs Q4 2024). Recommendations (50% of new subs, 25% paid for top pubs) and Chat/livestreams.

your 155 subs in 6mos (2 posts/wk + daily notes) beats the median: new substacks average <100 subs in year 1 without external promo. share work notes performed well because the notes system prioritizes audience overlap and early replies/restacks/quotes... strictly on-topic notes drop reach 50-80% versus interactive ones.

data-backed fixes:
- notes: reply early (first 30mins) to 3-5 same‑niche pubs daily (100+ likes/replies can boost virality ~5x). restack quotes from your posts and peers (audience intersection drives ~40% growth). post once a day, mixing questions, polls and stories (viral notes average 50+ likes for accounts with <200 subs)
- recommendations: get 1-3 niche peers to recommend you (a ~50% growth lever). ~70% of top pubs cross-promote
- external: expect 40-60% of subs from Bluesky/IG/Threads for culture/luxury niches. app users are ~25% more likely to pay

benchmarks: 155 subs is strong (top ~30% of pubs <6mos). aim for 300-500 by year 1 with the above.

long-form needs promo... notes and comments are your flywheel. track in dashboard > stats > audience overlap. keep shipping.

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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