5 Proven Actions I Used to Grow on Substack as a Beginner

Have fewer than 800 subscribers? This article is for you.

Photo by Sheraz Shaikh on Unsplash

Struggle to grow on Substack?

It’s hard. It feels like shouting in the dark, while nobody cares. Every new subscriber brings you hope, but with every unsubscriber it fades away.

I know how it feels.

I launched my Substack in February 2025. I started like most new Substackers with 0 subscribers, 0 followers, and 0 experience running a newsletter.

It was an exciting journey with its ups and downs last year.

• I wrote.

• I made mistakes.

• I struggled to grow.

• I tried new things.

• I learned.

• And struggled again.

• But I kept writing and publishing.

• I kept going.

Here is how it looks today (in terms of subscribers):

Let me share with you the growth hacks I found. Growth hacks I used myself. The ones anyone can use.

Listen, I don’t pretend to know everything about Substack.

I learn as I go. And share what worked for me. My priority is to help you grow faster.

Here are my 5 best Substack growth tips for new writers:

1. Pick a niche

If you are an ordinary person who writes on Substack, you need to have a niche to grow faster.

Without a niche, your growth will be much more difficult and painful.

You might argue that choosing a niche is a tough choice for a beginner. I get it. But if you are serious about making Substack work, you should do it.

If you write about everything instead of attracting everyone, you attract no one.

Pick a niche.

My niche is writing with 3 main pillars:

• Write

• Grow

• Earn

It’s clear and concise. So, anyone who visits my publication can easily understand what it’s about and what is in it for them.

However, I understand that as a beginner, you can struggle with choosing a narrow niche.

That’s why I have an idea for you.

Start by writing about areas you enjoy and are interested in, but these areas should be clearly identified and written down.

Take just big enough areas like Life, Health, Self-Improvement, etc. I would recommend listing 5–10 of such areas.

I used this approach at the beginning of my journey when I started writing on Medium.

The example of my list looked like this back then:

1. Writing

2. Online Business

3. Self-Improvement

4. Life Lessons

5. Health

2. Select categories for your newsletter

There are a lot of different settings on Substack.

It’s easy to get lost as a beginner. When you create your first newsletter on Substack, it’s vital to select 2 categories for it. One of them is primary, the other is secondary.

These categories are used for discoverability.

They help the platform’s algorithm and readers find your newsletter on the Explore page and leaderboards. It ensures that you attract the right audience interested in your niche. See? That’s why a niche is important on Substack.

How to make sure that you select the right categories for your newsletter?

• Be specific. Make sure your categories are aligned with your niche. Use more granular categories to stand out.

• Be consistent. Stick to selected categories. If you change them too often, it will harm your visibility.

• Focus on the reader. Select categories that clearly reflect what readers expect to find.

For example, as you saw earlier, my categories are:

Primary: Education

Secondary: Business

But when I started on Substack, I chose Literature as my primary category. It was an incorrect choice that harmed my growth.

One more thing, keep in mind that if you appear on the leaderboard, you will only be listed under the primary category.

Choose wisely.

3. Write a clear and concise description of your newsletter

The best thing for your growth, you can do here is to make it clear.

Avoid uncertain, colorless, ambiguous, and tame language. Make it clear to the reader what your newsletter is about and what is in it for them. They be able to easily see the benefits of subscribing to you.

If it’s not clear, they are lost.

It starts with the newsletter’s short description. Here is mine:

You see, my description shows what you get when you subscribe and set clear expectations on how often.

Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.

Then About section of your newsletter. Never leave it as the default offered by Substack. It’s boring.

The main purpose of this section is to “sell” your newsletter.

It should convert people from readers to subscribers. To do that successfully focus on these 3 things:

• What is in it for them?

• Who this is for and who isn’t?

• Why should they listen to you?

You can check About section of my newsletter here.

4. Focus on Substack Notes

This is a traffic engine on Substack.

Here is my best Note so far:

178 subscribers from 1 Note, not bad right?

Post 2-3 Notes daily and engage with the work of others. But only Like is not enough. Comment genuinely, restack actively.

Many new writers focus on long-form posts too much.

They invest a lot of time and effort in their posts. Pack them with value. And focus too much on them.

But these writers don’t grow.

Why?

Because longform posts on Substack build trust but don’t get you seen.

Notes get you noticed.

Use them to your advantage.

5. Write through the “invisibility” period

There will be a period at the beginning of your Substack journey when you will feel like writing in the void.

Unseen. Invisible. Alone.

You will face such a time not immediately when you start your Substack.

The platform loves new people. And for some period of time, you will be blessed with the attention of the algorithm. But it will be limited.

At some point, beginners’ haven will end.

From my experience, this period will come in 1-2 months after you launch your Substack. Be ready for it. The more subscribers you’d be able to get before that, the better.

I managed to grow to 130 subscribers when the “invisibility” period hit me.

It was hard to survive it. And I am not sure I’d be able to do it if I didn’t find one trick that helped me ease the pressure.

I will share it with you in a few seconds.

This “invisibility” period happens because when the algorithm’s support for a new account fades away, your Notes and posts distribution becomes limited to your followers and subscribers inside the categories you selected earlier.

You need to write through it.

Keep writing. Keep publishing. And you will overgrow it.

Now, the trick that helped me go through it faster.

When you face the “invisibility” wall, engagement will be very low for your Notes and posts. You will mostly see Notes from the same people in your feed all the time. Then it’s time to use the trick.

Go to Substack categories.

Pick any category you are interested in except yours. Go into it and actively engage with Substack Notes of the people there. Repeat the process at least 4-5 times, every time picking a new category.

This way, you will expand your reach to the people outside of your primary/secondary categories.

Then, just write.

Use these five proven hacks to grow on Substack faster.

Have a wonderful day!

Talk soon,

Maxim

P.S. Your growth on Substack will be easier if you power up your writing with my proven templates. It will free your time to focus on growing.