Good stuff. Thanks. I thought I was a subscriber already. So, just in case, hit the subscribe again. I am an artist transitioning into a writer and a copy editor. But, AI has me throwing in the towel in on my chapter two ideals. We shall see. I recently self-published a memoir, part of it addressing how I became an activist. My story is so relatable and almost cliche that I thought I should put it out there for other women to feel some camaraderie. I like what you have shared here. I just need to get a little more courage. That’s all. Thanks so much! My book is, if you don’t mind me posting here, “Finding My Own Gold Star” on Amazon.
Thank you. This is a new blog, adjacent to the one you already subscribed to. There is no fee or paywall for the new blog and it has a different name. Thank you for signing up 🙏🏻☮️
Thank you for this. As a reader, I wonder if the algorithm will also present writers writing intelligently from different points of view to what I normally read here. This is what I seek to do when reading books or traditional media. I do not need more of the same.
Thanks, Dennis. That's a great question and I'm not sure of the answer. My suspicion is the algorithm tends to show me "more of the same" to what I've already liked - kind of like how Amazon.com's recommendation algorithm works. But I might be wrong.
My personal strategy for counteracting that is that I like to browse the Substack leader boards across multiple categories - clicking through to intentionally see if I can surface interesting blogs that represent a larger cross section of perspectives than what the algorithm surfaces. Here's a link that explains leader boards...
Thanks for explaining this. I’m a newbie & have not enabled payments yet. Was waiting to get my bearings. I’m also concerned that under the current economic conditions especially so many of us losing our jobs that many folks can’t afford paid subscriptions. Any thoughts on how that might affect the algorithm or how to address that with the algorithm?
That’s an interesting question. I think you’re asking whether the algorithm is less likely to promote the visibility of your work if you’re not currently seeking paid subscriptions. I don’t know. Anyone else have knowledge of this? For me, I began writing and did not accept paid at first. But I did allow people to make a pledge. I figured what the heck. And then I surprisingly got a bunch of people making pledges. And that’s what tipped me over the edge to Enable the paid option. I think I got about 15 people making pledges that they would pay if I started charging. And I remember being completely surprised and wowed by that. I definitely did not start blogging with the thought that I would ever make money. That shifted after I got fired and I began seeing this as a potential income stream as well as way to help people. A lot of bloggers start this way. I would be surprised if the algorithm punish people for not doing paid right away. So many people start out that way. It just doesn’t seem to make good business sense for the platform to punish newcomers. The whole point of this business is to make money for the parent company. So I think they’ll make more money if they encourage people to start simply and experiment. But who knows? I certainly don’t have a window into how the algorithm works or the mindset of the engineers who designed. It is a money making extraction machine. And it’s designed to extract from us as much as it is extract from readers. And the behavioral addiction framework is pretty well established. So I would wager that they don’t punish newcomers. They want to get you hooked. And the way to get you hooked is to send you some free subscribers by showing your work to just enough people that you begin to have hope about making money. And they probably have it all figured out, how to bring newcomers along on the trail of the behavioral conditioning so that they might even be able to predict at what point you are likely to enable the paid status. And they’re just bringing you along that pathway. I know that sounds very cynical. But I think it’s pretty accurate. It’s important to understand where we are and how this game works so that we can make smart choices
I am not paywalled, so Substack earns zero on me. Im thinking about selling pdf and high tickets in stead. Unsure if thats a failed tactic. If Substack won't lift me 🤷♀️
Maybe we mean different things by paywall. Have you enabled the option for people to pay for a subscription if they want to? When I say paywall, I mean when people open a post then there is a spot in the post where it prevents people from reading further if they are not a paid subscriber. I think that’s the typical meaning of paywall. I do not mean offering the option of paid subscriptions. I definitely offer the option of paid subscriptions. About 7% of my subscribers choose the paid option. But anyone can pop open one of my articles and read the thing from start to finish regardless of whether they are a free or paid subscriber. In other words, this means my posts have no paywall
Lots of different motivations for paid. My blog offers helpful advice. People who pay are usually motivated by alignment with my mission and a desire to help me reach additional readers with the message.
Wow, the part about Substack optimizing for subscriptions and paid conversions realy stood out to me as a novel approach. It make's me wonder, how does their machine learning distinguish serious content that leads to subscriptions from simple clickbait, without relying on traditional engagement signals?
Great question. My impression from their info is the machine learning is operating on different channels: notes, text posts, audio posts, video posts. They might have separate algorithms. When I restack a text post, I will often get notifications later like “Rainbow Roxy subscribed to AmazingBlog from your share”. So the machine learning is def tracking whether someone sees a note, clicks through to the post and then subscribes to that blog
...I’ve tested this. My posts and Notes that name hard patterns and offer concrete practices outperform my attempts at viral hooks. Every time. ...
...you tell us you asked a question that people can answer one way or another. And evaluated what they said. When that's done formally and carefully, it's called science.
Good stuff. Thanks. I thought I was a subscriber already. So, just in case, hit the subscribe again. I am an artist transitioning into a writer and a copy editor. But, AI has me throwing in the towel in on my chapter two ideals. We shall see. I recently self-published a memoir, part of it addressing how I became an activist. My story is so relatable and almost cliche that I thought I should put it out there for other women to feel some camaraderie. I like what you have shared here. I just need to get a little more courage. That’s all. Thanks so much! My book is, if you don’t mind me posting here, “Finding My Own Gold Star” on Amazon.
Thank you. This is a new blog, adjacent to the one you already subscribed to. There is no fee or paywall for the new blog and it has a different name. Thank you for signing up 🙏🏻☮️
This was wonderful, thank you.
Thank you for this. As a reader, I wonder if the algorithm will also present writers writing intelligently from different points of view to what I normally read here. This is what I seek to do when reading books or traditional media. I do not need more of the same.
Thanks, Dennis. That's a great question and I'm not sure of the answer. My suspicion is the algorithm tends to show me "more of the same" to what I've already liked - kind of like how Amazon.com's recommendation algorithm works. But I might be wrong.
My personal strategy for counteracting that is that I like to browse the Substack leader boards across multiple categories - clicking through to intentionally see if I can surface interesting blogs that represent a larger cross section of perspectives than what the algorithm surfaces. Here's a link that explains leader boards...
https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/5999320475412-What-are-Substack-leaderboards
Thanks, Paul.
Basically, we are responsible for not staying in echo chambers and we hope that the algos will not be trying to drag us back in.
After all, we still are the trainers.
Take care.
Thanks for explaining this. I’m a newbie & have not enabled payments yet. Was waiting to get my bearings. I’m also concerned that under the current economic conditions especially so many of us losing our jobs that many folks can’t afford paid subscriptions. Any thoughts on how that might affect the algorithm or how to address that with the algorithm?
That’s an interesting question. I think you’re asking whether the algorithm is less likely to promote the visibility of your work if you’re not currently seeking paid subscriptions. I don’t know. Anyone else have knowledge of this? For me, I began writing and did not accept paid at first. But I did allow people to make a pledge. I figured what the heck. And then I surprisingly got a bunch of people making pledges. And that’s what tipped me over the edge to Enable the paid option. I think I got about 15 people making pledges that they would pay if I started charging. And I remember being completely surprised and wowed by that. I definitely did not start blogging with the thought that I would ever make money. That shifted after I got fired and I began seeing this as a potential income stream as well as way to help people. A lot of bloggers start this way. I would be surprised if the algorithm punish people for not doing paid right away. So many people start out that way. It just doesn’t seem to make good business sense for the platform to punish newcomers. The whole point of this business is to make money for the parent company. So I think they’ll make more money if they encourage people to start simply and experiment. But who knows? I certainly don’t have a window into how the algorithm works or the mindset of the engineers who designed. It is a money making extraction machine. And it’s designed to extract from us as much as it is extract from readers. And the behavioral addiction framework is pretty well established. So I would wager that they don’t punish newcomers. They want to get you hooked. And the way to get you hooked is to send you some free subscribers by showing your work to just enough people that you begin to have hope about making money. And they probably have it all figured out, how to bring newcomers along on the trail of the behavioral conditioning so that they might even be able to predict at what point you are likely to enable the paid status. And they’re just bringing you along that pathway. I know that sounds very cynical. But I think it’s pretty accurate. It’s important to understand where we are and how this game works so that we can make smart choices
I am not paywalled, so Substack earns zero on me. Im thinking about selling pdf and high tickets in stead. Unsure if thats a failed tactic. If Substack won't lift me 🤷♀️
Maybe we mean different things by paywall. Have you enabled the option for people to pay for a subscription if they want to? When I say paywall, I mean when people open a post then there is a spot in the post where it prevents people from reading further if they are not a paid subscriber. I think that’s the typical meaning of paywall. I do not mean offering the option of paid subscriptions. I definitely offer the option of paid subscriptions. About 7% of my subscribers choose the paid option. But anyone can pop open one of my articles and read the thing from start to finish regardless of whether they are a free or paid subscriber. In other words, this means my posts have no paywall
Ok. this makes sense!
I don't have the offer of paid subscription at all. My thinking was to offer pdf and courses furter down the road (im rather new).
I am under the impression that Wes has the same strategy:
https://substack.com/@escapethecubicle?utm_source=global-search
I you don't mind me asking. Why would 7% of your readers pay for subscription, if all your articles are free?
Just to be able to comment?
Lots of different motivations for paid. My blog offers helpful advice. People who pay are usually motivated by alignment with my mission and a desire to help me reach additional readers with the message.
Wow, the part about Substack optimizing for subscriptions and paid conversions realy stood out to me as a novel approach. It make's me wonder, how does their machine learning distinguish serious content that leads to subscriptions from simple clickbait, without relying on traditional engagement signals?
Great question. My impression from their info is the machine learning is operating on different channels: notes, text posts, audio posts, video posts. They might have separate algorithms. When I restack a text post, I will often get notifications later like “Rainbow Roxy subscribed to AmazingBlog from your share”. So the machine learning is def tracking whether someone sees a note, clicks through to the post and then subscribes to that blog
I love this reframe of using the app for progressive values and change. Thanks for this Paul.
This is great, Paul.
When you write this...
...I’ve tested this. My posts and Notes that name hard patterns and offer concrete practices outperform my attempts at viral hooks. Every time. ...
...you tell us you asked a question that people can answer one way or another. And evaluated what they said. When that's done formally and carefully, it's called science.
Your post inclines me to stay on Substack.