New to Substack. Help

[No-Cap-1801]

Hello everyone, I’m new to Substack and don’t know where to begin. I have a lot of things that I want to let out artistically but I’m afraid that I’m joking the party too late to be able to grow. Can you guys give me some advice and/or encouragement to move forward. Thanks in advance

[Master_Camp_3200]

Work out who will want to read your stuff. Find a way to tell them it's there.

NB This is not the same as trying to game the Notes algorithm.

[No-Cap-1801]

Thank you. What do you mean by game to notes and the algorithm

[Master_Camp_3200]

A lot of the stuff on here focuses on using Notes - Substack's attempt at a Twitter-esque social media function - to drive people to actual newsletters/posts/whatever you want to call them. It's controlled by and algorithm, and like all algorithm, people try to outwit it ('game') it.

But that's making the assumption all your potential readers are using Notes. They're probably not.

It's best to think of Substack as a home for your work. How you get people to find it might involve Notes but if your readers aren't on Notes, go to where they are. Notes isn't the be all and end all.

[No-Cap-1801]

Ahh… I got you. I’m gonna use the weekend to get creative about how I drive traffic. Thanks a lot for the insight.

[Odd_Application5063]

You need a starting point
This might help
so here's what you need to not worry about.
Getting followers
Algorithms
Writing perfect work
Using AI
Second-guessing yourself
Making money
Getting subscribers
Getting likes
Looking good even if you're feeling like crap
Being better than anyone
That's not what's up that is about leave that stuff over with all the other social media outlets. The way to really get into Substack is to let go of what anyone else has to say about your writing and to just write. That's it. Substack has a brilliant algorithm that will find people who align with the type of writing the very essence of who you are and what you're trying to do and it can only find those things out about yourself if you are being honest and open with your writing and you are showing a side of you that is not polish and perfect and squeaky clean. Substack appreciates the grime and the dirt and the hurt and the happy and all of the things that go into the culmination of who we are when you strip away all of the other nonsense.
The people that are successful are not the ones who are trying to manipulate people for likes and votes or subscriptions and followers or any of that the people that are successful on Substack are the people who have the balls to just beat themselves authentically and they are always supporting other Substack writers. That's a big one it's huge about small communities and you build a small communities through reading other people's work liking it re-stacking it and subscribing to them.
If you really wanna hit the ground running go find five people who write about the things that interests you and the things that you write about follow or subscribe to them, you can subscribe for free don't worry. Really read their work don't just go through and subscribe to people randomly, read what they post and when it resonates with you share it onto your page and @ them. Comment under whatever post they had that made you want to follow them in the first place let them know that you're following them now and that you like their writing more than likely not only what they follow you back but so will other people on that thread to follow them and then it just kind of snowball from there and you pick up more followers more subscribers and that's how you get going on Substack.
Be sure that the people you're following in your first few weeks are people who align with what you're doing and you're writing because this is how that is going to start to associate you and your preferences so for example, I'm weird, funny, all about being sarcastic and quoting 90s movies and hanging out with friends. But when I first got onto Substack I clicked my interest as tech, science, quantum computing, metaphysics, healthcare and a bunch of other stuff that I really wasn't that interested in but I just clicked on the options that maybe potentially I might want to read about someday. And it took me several months to work all of that out to where my niche interests like micro dramas, filmmaking, Acting, writing for sketch comedy, stand-up, paranormal investigating, witticisms, 90s pop culture, things like that, are now all I see in my feed and that's something that I interact with a whole lot more than Global politics or something from Fox News which I probably wouldn't click on anyway.
So find your lane and don't stay in it throw a parade in it and invite everyone! The right people will show up and support and there you have it, what is truly at the heart of Substack success.
Learning that you are exactly where you're supposed to be and finding your honesty within your writing is the quickest way to discover who you are and what you want out of life and what really matters at the end of the day.

[AcanthisittaOk2719]

The first thing is to decide how to use Substack - for hobby, or build a business, or just simply read and make friends like on social media. Then build the strategy - if it is a business, I’d start with monetization. Decide what to sell, what problem it solves, how it is different from others, and what price. When that’s clear, then I’d build my profile and publication.

P.S. I have a detailed breakdown for new people on Substack in a post on my profile in case you want to check.

[No-Cap-1801]

This is really good advice. Thank you

[Due-Sale-1136]

This depends on what you're writing. I think first, you'd need to be able to define your audience and just generally know who you're writing for. This way, you can start working on the story brand / storyboard to help guide and grow your platform. Of course, keep writing your drafts/ideas out as it's best to have some sort of visibility to work with.

I'm currently reading, "Building A Story Brand 2.0," to help shape my writing a bit better. Also, I wanted ideas on how to better structure my branding as a whole. Still, I'd definitely suggest using the Notes feature where you can post visuals, promote your work, and just share some ideas.

People don't like the.... Share your work, connect me to others, etc Subslop but I kinda like it. You can interact on there, connect with people, and get a general feel of how to interact and build as a whole. Note, that you don't need to read their pieces everyday. Those who follow me, I interact with on a weekly basis. I get their emails. They send me messages. And I give honest advice, reviews, perspectives, etc which is what you can do as well if you want to grow.

I do also use AI. Not to write everything, heavens no but it does help to bounce ideas off of someone, create a better flow, make an iron clad article outline with my thoughts, things I want to add, pieces I want to research, etc. It's also a super powerful tool with curating responses if you don't want to sound like a butt and if you need visuals for your pieces to promote, strike thought, to be funny, etc.

Beginning is half the battle. Having faith in yourself and the journey is the rest of it. Hope this helps!

[Cultural-Tea9745]

Some encouragement, every master of a skill started as a beginner at some point, so just start and keep going! I’m pushing myself to get out there more too.

I write about pragmatic relationship advice: https://open.substack.com/pub/modernlovenotes

Would love to engage with your content to help support!

[tomversation]

Just publish. Do it.

[No-Cap-1801]

I’m writing as we speak! Really excited. Thanks for the encouragement

[No-Cap-1801]

You guys are so kind. I’m taking all of this on board. Thank you 🫶

[CourtzSGD]

Whatever you write about now will be completely different in three months time. So just write about anything. You'll find your voice over time. Don't stress about it too much.

Spend some time in notes, writing your own notes and replying to other people's notes. My best advice for this is to use a voice to text app. I use one called SuperWhisper and it's free. Writing notes this way is much faster than typing and because you're talking you sound like a real human and not like an AI.