Substack Needs a Random Button

On the Substack homepage, and on every Substack newsletter that wants one

Do you feel that your newsletter is seen by enough readers?

Do you feel that readers are missing out on your newsletter – and that you're missing out on other interesting newsletters?

If you want more readers – or if you want to find more newsletters – Substack could help by implementing a random button.¹ In other words, a button that leads to a random newsletter. Every newsletter would have an equal chance of being seen if you click this button.²

The very idea of Substack invites randomness. Anyone, anywhere, can publish anything, anytime!

In glimpsing thousands of Substack newsletters (and reading posts in a bunch of them), I've come across so much range: differences in topic, background, language, etc.

Substack isn't perfect. But it is becoming a fascinating microcosm of the world.

Currently, much of the potential audience won't see this diversity.

Substack has a discoverability problem. It's not easy to find newsletters – other than the most popular ones and a few featured ones – on Substack's website. Google, social networks, and podcast discovery tools fill in some of the gaps. But still some newsletters and posts remain relatively undiscovered.

I think my list of Substackers on Twitter can help. Check the list feed at any time, and you'll likely find a post from a newsletter that's new to you.

A random button on Substack's website would be even better for making surprising discoveries. While most newsletters have related Twitter accounts, presumably Substack could reach all newsletters with a random button.

Back in the day, webrings and StumbleUpon³ had random buttons. Wikipedia still has a random button. Spotify has a shuffle button.

Serendipity and unpredictability are good for you. Anyway I think they are. 🙂

Encouraging random finds would be good for Substack, its publishers, and its audiences. Audiences would discover more newsletters they like. Publishers would get more subscribers. Substack would have more happy users.

Am I missing something? I don't see a downside to a random button, at least on Substack's homepage and discovery pages. I could envision a random post button, in addition to a random newsletter button.⁴

I think a random button should be optional on newsletter sites. A publisher might reason that this button would take users away. But these publishers would still get visits from a button on Substack's main site.

As you might guess, I'd use a random button on my site. I like my newsletter. But since Sub Pub is a newsletter about newsletters, I want visitors to find other newsletters too!⁵

1. I posted initial thoughts about a random button a couple of weeks ago.

2. Perhaps Substack could omit newsletters that haven't published in, say, the prior six months. But I've seen many people link to articles from months or even over a year before. Non-current newsletters may still be interesting and useful.

3. See also Stumbled.cc, described in a recent Fast Company article. And there are other random buttons out there on the interwebz…

4. The more I think about it, the more I feel that a random newsletter button should be the main or even only random button. Users would visit the random newsletter's homepage as the publisher wants it seen, rather than any random post. But along with a random button, Substack should have a better search engine, so that users can find newsletters or posts relevant to a topic.

5. As I suggested in my previous post on the random button, I'd be happy to try making this button or something similar. So if Substack doesn't implement this feature, follow Sub Pub for further developments…