Promoting Your Substack Newsletter

A "retweet" of tips by @SubstackLinda

I’ve been on the lookout for advice for Substack publishers. And I found some yesterday in a Twitter thread by Linda Lebrun (@SubstackLinda).

The tips are directed to “investment, business, economics, and crypto writers.”¹ However, I feel that other writers will benefit.²

This is my Substack version of a retweet.³

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Investment, business, economics, and crypto writers: here’s a checklist of some simple, free things you can do to promote your Substack publication (or other blog or newsletter) today:

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Have you posted comments on other Substack writers’ publications, so their readers can learn about your publication (and subscribe with one click) just by hovering their cursor over your name?

Substack @SubstackInc

Our product team just shipped something new: comment cards. You can now hover over a commenter's name to learn more about what they're reading and writing on Substack. https://t.co/3aRIcjmr53

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Did you customize your About page to explain who you are and why your write? Does it tell readers why they should listen to you, by integrating social proof such as complimentary quotes or details on your credentials?

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Does your About page have links to some of your posts you’re most proud of, so new visitors to your publication can get acquainted with you? Did you customize your Welcome email to let new signups know what they’ll get and when they’ll get it?

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Have you put the link to your Substack in both the bio field and the URL field of your Twitter profile? (The bio field is what displays in people's notifications when you Like a tweet) Do you have an explicit call-to-action in your bio, like “subscribe to my newsletter”?

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Is your Substack URL in your email signature, so everybody who gets an email from you sees it?

Linda Lebrun @SubstackLinda

Don't forget your LinkedIn contacts! Have you posted an excerpt from one of your Substack/newsletter/blog posts on LinkedIn, and given your connections there a call-to-action to sign up?

I hope you get more readers and subscribers as a result of these ideas.

Please follow @SubstackLinda (and @sub_pub_) on Twitter. 🙂

1. Ms. Lebrun's Twitter bio notes that her work at Substack focuses on finance, investing, and economics writers.

2. I plan to implement a few of these tips this weekend.

3. I asked Ms. Lebrun if she minded if I embedded the entire thread in a post. She said sure: “whatever will help people.” 🙂

I’ve changed the color scheme so that the Twitter cards don’t leap off of the page. In my view, several bright white Twitter cards on a dark background wouldn’t help people. If the cards still aren’t easy on your eyes, you can click on them to visit the original tweets.

Incidentally, here’s the original @SubstackInc tweet about comment cards, which is included in the thread. The comment cards don’t work on mobile browsers (except a browser like Puffin with hover capability). However, you can click on the commenter’s name to see the full profile page.

Substack @SubstackInc

Our product team just shipped something new: comment cards. You can now hover over a commenter's name to learn more about what they're reading and writing on Substack.