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Wait a second: What if your newsletter became your main income?
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I like to have my Lives very interactive - you ask, I answer. Thank you for everybody jumping on this awesome Live! Here you go…
Q: When you write a post, do you send a Note linking it right away or wait till a later time?
I send it right away. Posts go out via email, but more and more people discover you through the feed now — that’s where Notes come in. I copy the post link into a Note with a one-liner teaser. There’s no reason to wait since they serve different purposes: one goes out by email, one lives on the feed.
Q: How long have you been going live since you’ve joined Substack and how has it affected your subscribers?
Substack Lives started about a year ago. I’ve been on the platform for almost 1.5 years now. In the beginning there was a crazy hype — everyone was doing Lives every day. Then it cooled off. Now Substack is pushing video again with Google TV and Apple TV integration. Lives help with both growth and conversions. It’s just different when people hear you and experience you as a real human being versus just reading your words. If your goal is to increase conversions and get more paid subscribers, jumping on Lives is going to help.
Q: Can you share a resource for newbies on how to navigate Substack? I struggle with locating my posts versus my comments amidst the flow of content.
I actually write a lot about this! On my publication, I have a section called “Getting Started on Substack” that walks you through everything. The basics: your home feed shows content from people you follow. Your profile (lower left corner) shows your Notes and links to your publications. Your publication is basically your online blog — that’s where your long-form posts live and where you have your own little website.
Q: What does your daily/weekly routine look like on Substack?
I write one newsletter a week every Tuesday, plus another publication post (Level up with AI) on Wednesdays. I’m planning to go back to two posts per week because it just helps you be more visible.
On top of that, I write 3-5 Notes every single day. I write them all in the morning — sometimes from a backlog, but often I just see what I feel or reflect on something from the day before and write in the moment. It doesn’t take that much time.
For engagement: I used to interact with every comment in the beginning of my journey, but at some point it just gets too much. Now I go through comments on my Notes every morning, read them, and like them — but I can’t respond to all of them anymore. Where I do always respond is on comments on my posts. Those stay. Those are your signature. When someone visits your publication, they see you actually engage with your readers.
I also send a welcome DM to every new subscriber. I used to do this manually; now I use a tool that helps me. So many wonderful conversations and relationships have started just from me saying: “Hi, I’m Claudia, this is my journey, thanks for subscribing, here’s what you can expect.” Suddenly you’re no longer just an email click — you’re a real person to them.
Q: Where do you get the most traction and engagement — posts, Notes, or Lives? And do you do an audio version of your posts?
I’ll answer the audio question first because it’s easy: I don’t record audio versions. I just have the automatic voice enabled so people can have it read out if they want. I haven’t heard anyone say it’s a huge growth hack. Personally, I’d rather spend that time doing Lives where I can actually interact with people.
As for traction — it’s hard to say because sometimes Notes go viral. I write about 5 Notes a day and get around 50-100 engagements per Note (likes, comments, restacks). Multiply that by five versus one post per week. Posts go out to my almost 14,000 subscribers by email, so more eyes — but often less interaction overall.
Lives as posts can surprise you too. I did a Live in October that somehow went viral in December and got a ton of interaction months later. You never really know what’s going to work when.
My advice, especially if you’re earlier in your journey: focus on Notes. Get to know your audience. Interact. Reach out to other creators. Get recommendations going. Lives help too — Substack even creates little clips from them automatically now. Posts matter, but I wouldn’t prioritize them over the other stuff in the beginning.
Q: What is a Notes Boost?
People define it differently, but for me: every Wednesday I start a thread in my community where people can share a link to one of their Notes they’d like more engagement on. Then others in the community go through, interact, and support each other. It helps everyone grow and discover new people.
One of my long-time community members recently told me she waits for it every Tuesday night because she’s excited to see who’s joining and to meet new people. It’s become this really lovely thing — you don’t have to participate, but you can. I have a lot of creative people in my community, so it’s always fun to see what everyone’s working on.
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