Trial and Error...and More Error (My Substack Experiment)

I'm quitting Substack.

No, I'm not going to delete my account; I'm just not going to post anymore. This is probably the swiftest marketing scheme I've ever abandoned, and I've abandoned a bunch of them.

Authors, if you're keen to try Substack as a means to publicize your work, I don't want to deter you. But being savvy is key. Just like with anything online, it's all about the algorithm, which means keywords, restacks (which I had to look up the meaning of), notes, notes, notes; engagement (which equates to notes), reciprocity, posting consistency, blah blah blah blah.

In other words, success on Substack takes a boatload of work. And even that's no guarantee.

I don't know how authors even find time to write books. 

At this point in my life, I don't have time for gimmicks. Especially gimmicks that hog my every waking moment. There are some Substack accounts that do really well, but the users employ all of the above tactics, plus they write interesting articles. I subscribed to a bunch of Substacks mainly to cover the reciprocity angle, but occasionally because they sounded interesting. In reality, only one or two of them are. Sensitive to hurt feelings, I don't delete the others' emails unread---I just mark them as "read" and then delete them.  

Spoiler Alert: Not everyone is interesting. Including me.

I publish a post a day on this blog, but I don't feel pressure to perform. I write about whatever happens to be on my mind; nothing earth-shattering or a "universal truth". I'm just talking. Hopefully, my posts do make a point---like this one. I don't know if reading about the downsides of Substack would have kept me from trying it, but I would have at least gone into it with some foreknowledge. 

So, here's my 50,000-foot view:

• You need to engage with notes continually, at least daily, but preferably many times a day. It's not enough to 🧡 someone's note. You need to post a reply that either affirms the writer's point or supplements it (e.g., give a personal example of how that point applies to your life, your writing, or whatever the topic is).

• Ideally, you should not only subscribe to a bunch of accounts, but restack their posts with some kind of pithy comment. (a restack = a repost)

• Apparently, those two million notes that implore Substackers with fewer than 100 subscribers to "post their accounts here" aren't, in fact, spam (according to Google), but should be replied to. I didn't do that, because I'm still suspicious due to the preponderance of them. But maybe I should have.

• To get on anyone's radar, you should at least publish a post a couple of times a week, preferably more often. Of the one or two accounts I mentioned that are wildly successful, one of them publishes a post every day. 

• Other writers like to read positive reinforcement articles; the "you go, girl!" ones. The majority of these articles are all the same, just rearranged and repackaged. Writers like encouragement! These posts are extremely popular.

• Restack your own posts. It can't hurt---might help.

• When you subscribe to a bunch of accounts, you might want to use a burner email; otherwise you'll be inundated with posts you don't want to read and you'll spend far too much time deleting them.

• You can post about your latest book, but that's not why people are there. They come for the social aspect of Substack, not to buy your book. So, if you're going to talk about your novel, sneak it into one of those life affirming posts. Can't hurt.

•  If and when you collect an acceptable number of subscribers, you will need to constantly feed them content, or else you'll lose that momentum and be right back where you started. 

• Bottom line, be diligent. Be prepared to spend an hour or so a day scrolling through the timeline, replying (thoughtfully) to other users' notes, while composing new posts of your own.

I've got far too many other projects I don't want to work on, but need to, to spend an inordinate amount of time on an app that is basically Instagram, only with words instead of pictures. My one and only goal with Substack was to get eyes on my novel, and that surely didn't work out. If I'm looking to be "social", X is much more interesting, and I never worry if someone's going to notice me.

One last piece of advice: If you're just looking for interesting reads on Substack, search for topics other than writing. I found a music account that's well written and relatable. That one's gonna be a keeper.