substack tips and tricks - Trustthelink.com

This post was originally published in [2025] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools. Social media algorithms are like rented land; you can lose your reach overnight. That’s why more creators are turning to email. Using Substack for beginner writers is the smartest way to ensure you actually own your audience from day one. Instead of fighting for views, you’re building a direct line to your readers' inboxes Here are 10 reasons to consider the platform! Substack is easy to jump into It's free Own the audience Support other media Easy to get discovered Repurpose and reuse content Cross-promote your other social media Email for free Hungry readers on the platform Supports a writer's culture Supports large or narrow niches Keep reading, and I'll share the best ways to use the platform and 1 mistake most people make! 📈 Substack Growth Estimator Project your audience and income over 12 months. Current Subscribers: New Subs Per Week (Goal): Monthly Sub Price ($): Show My 12-Month Future Estimated Subs in 1 Year: 0 Potential Annual Revenue: $0.00 (Assuming 5% paid conversion rate) What is Substack and how does it work for beginner writers? Substack is sort of like a blog, but through email. It thrives on written content, but you can post pictures, videos, audio files, and more. What sets it apart from a normal autoresponder is that you can create paid subscriptions or even donations. You can also charge whatever you want or make it free (I recommend making it free). An autoresponder is the "old-school" method of automatically sending out emails. Basically, it's an autoresponder with a lot more bells, whistles, and light effects. They even have a podcast feature. If you don't want to write BIG posts, they have a notes feature that is similar to Twitter. Why Substack is the easiest newsletter platform for beginners to start The power with Substack is that you don't have to buy a domain, get hosting, get a theme, and do annoying tech stuff that not many people want to do. You can jump in and JUST write! It's a wonderful jumping-off platform, sort of like riding a bike with training wheels or bowling with airbags, where the gutter is. It's a great idea, and I get why it's gotten so popular. Is Substack free? How to start a newsletter with zero upfront costs You don't have to pay for a domain, hosting, software, or anything else. It's great regardless of whatever niche you're into. Maybe you like to write horror stories (I topic I would love to get into, have lots of ideas), you can create a Substack around it and put out some free and some paid content if you want. This is MUCH better than Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), which takes a hefty sum from creators. For example, on KDP, creators keep around 30-70% of the profit after costs. Substack creators keep 90% of the profit after payment processing fees. Usually, the payment processing fees, which are charged by Stripe, include a credit card fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction and a billing fee for recurring subscriptions of 0.7%. Also, email is SUPER powerful! You can contact someone WAY into the future, instead of relying on someone to come and find you on Amazon. People are lazy, right? You have to go after them! Owning your email list: Why Substack is safer than social media for writers What this means is you can export the list to another autoresponder if you want in the future. Maybe in the future, Substack changes for the worse, and you want to change. You can take your list with you. This is a GREAT feature, but take it with a grain of salt. I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer" but.... Substack reserves the right to delete or disable content that violates its terms of service or community guidelines, and it can also terminate accounts for repeated violations. Violations can include infringing on intellectual property rights, promoting harmful or illegal activities, or engaging in spam and phishing. So, you do own the list (when they want you to), but you also don't own the list. Using multimedia on Substack: How to add video, audio, and podcasts to your posts If you hate writing, I know a lot of people who do you can still use the platform. There is a way to post videos, pictures, podcasts, and even short notes, such as on X (formerly Twitter). This is also great because you can mix and match media. Have some written words, some pictures, some videos, it's really up to you. This is the method I recommend because it helps keep people engaged, and what I try to do with this blog. via GIPHY Plus, having some pictures, GIFs, videos, and bullet points makes the experience more fun. Some people prefer video, and some other prefer formats like the written word. Or you could even stick to 1 media, such as only post videos. Substack SEO and Discovery: How to get your first 100 subscribers fast Another amazing thing about Substack is that you can get traffic from the platform. This reason "alone" is why you should be on it. There is a recommendation system that helps new writers get discovered by readers of similar newsletters. Some people believe the recommendations feature drives 50% of all new subscriptions and 25% of new paid subscriptions on Substack. To be fair, this is a super old school "powerful" method that got a facelist. Digital marketers could do the same thing with autoresponders. Basically, you hit up writers in your niche and make a deal: I'll promote your newsletter if you promote mine to your lists. Both of you guys win. You can do this 1 time or multiple times. The great thing about Substack is it just makes it easier to connect due to groups, and more people are using the platform. Heck, just look at this clunky piece of crap website everyone used to use. It even says "not secure due to not getting an SSL certificate." Solo ads are when you advertise on an email list. Free solo ads mean you promote other people's email lists, and they promote yours. By the way, I stopped using it because it's clunky and not user-friendly. Substack's system is better, more convenient, and easier to jump into. Repurposing content for Substack: How to turn blog posts and TikToks into newsletters Another powerful reason to use Substack is to reuse your other content. This works for beginner writers or even bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, or Tweeters. The same stuff you post on TikTok, blog, or whatever can be posted to Substack. Plus, it literally takes a short amount of time. In fact, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend repurposing, and I do it as much as I can. For example, this same blog post, I can post to LinkedIn, Medium, and even more places if I want to. Just remember, if you don't like using 1 platform, you can stop using it. I did this for a VERY popular website because they kept banning my accounts (4 of them), 1 account I never posted 1 link. I got too angry with them. Just remember your mental health and sanity is the #1 priority. I usually will take a blog post and read it to a camera to make a YouTube video. I can take the sound from that video to make a podcast. Short videos are GREAT to repurpose, and this strategy works great with them. This means the EXACT same video you post to TikTok, you can post to YouTube Shorts, Instagram, LinkedIn, and 20 other places. You do NO work and can much more views! Cool, right? I wrote a whole post on how to repurpose short videos HERE. If you want your mind completely blown, I created a free eBook that goes into WAY more detail on a whole business plan on re-using content. This way, you barely do any work and suck all the juice from the lemon before discarding it. The lemon is the content. Photo by arianka ibarra on Unsplash You can view this eBook HERE. How to cross-promote your Substack on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram When you create content on other platforms, it's not a bad idea to promote your Substack newsletter. For example, HERE is my Substack newsletter. If you have an audience on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, or the million other places, you can cross-promote the platforms if it makes sense. I do this as much as I can, but remember, you have to keep your sanity. I know it can get overwhelming with all the different platforms. There is nothing wrong with promoting your other channels at times because all these channels have their own independent audiences. There is also nothing wrong with saying NO to a platform and taking time off work, too. Substack vs. Traditional Autoresponders: Do you really need paid email software? When I got started in trying to make money online 15 years ago, autoresponders were expensive. We are lucky because competition has driven the prices down to free or almost free for them. Email is SO powerful. Bitcoin actually got its start with mining from the idea of email spam. The idea of a proof-of-work scheme developed by Adam in 1997 called Hashcash required a sender to perform a small computation before sending an email (sort of like the annoying prove you're human puzzles called CAPTCHA). Legitimate users, it was slightly annoying, but it deterred spammers from sending large volumes of email. The fact that Substack is able to send whatever you want automatically to your reader using email is POWERFUL. You can send short notes, audio podcasts, long blog posts, heck, even videos. The real question is why NOT use Substack? I don't have the answer to that question. Substack Audience Size: How to tap into 20 million active readers for free If you're a writer, you need readers, right? Substack has over 20 million monthly readers, all looking for something to read. There is already an audience on the platform. You don't have to start something from scratch, such as a blog that takes longer to build and attract those readers. Building a writing community: How Substack’s culture helps beginners stay motivated There are some cool features that help writers, such as a forum. This is where you can connect with other writers, get tips, and support each other. This is a powerful feature because the challenge with writing is that it can be lonely. When I got started in blogging, I used a VERY expensive place for training, and we all supported each other. Substack just makes that community easier to jump into, plus it's free. Best Substack niches: Can you make money in a small or narrow topic? Another large benefit is that you can experiment with small niches. When it comes to blogging or YouTube, it's better to err on the side of a larger niche so you don't get bored. Plus, it takes more work to start those platforms and build them up. With Substack, it's easier to start, and if you experiment with a tiny niche, it's easier to abandon it if you get bored or you don't like it. You could also do a larger niche, too. What are the disadvantages of Substack? 3 things beginner writers should know If you're seen as “out of compliance,” your publication can get blocked. This is a big con, meaning you're still at Substack's mercy. What does "out of compliance" even mean? If they don't like what you're sending, they can cancel you AT ANYTIME. Take it from a guy who has lost a lot of accounts, it sucks! Big time. It's also NOT an autoresponder. An autoresponder has a welcome sequence. Someone opts in, they get 1 email, then the second, and so on. It's a wonderful sales tool because everything is in order and builds on the last email. With Substack, you can ONLY send 1 welcome email, not a series. So it's NOT really a sales tool. Think of it more like a blog that gets sent to people. Another negative is that you can't segment people on your list and do more advanced features, such as trigger an email if someone does a specific action. With an autoresponder, you can track who bought what, so you can target offers accordingly. With Substack, you can't do that. Substack Strategy for Beginners: How to Use the Platform to Grow Your List I'm going to use Substack just like my LinkedIn weekly newsletter. Use it to repurpose my blog content and video content to grow my list. Sort of like a giant Twitter thing. Follow and recommend other Substacks; hopefully, others do the same. In the end, my home is my blog and my email for money. You could even sync your Substack to your autoresponder, so new subscribers get your welcome sequence. If you ONLY rely on Substack and someone joins, they are not getting that special treatment. Hope that makes sense. If you put out a weekly Substack, someone may have to wait a week to get the newsletter, and it's not in sequence. Basically, you have much more freedom and flexibility with an autoresponder, but Substack makes up for all the weak areas of an autoresponder. It's like an autorsponder is a "guy" and a Substack is a "girl" when you combine them both, it's LOVE. With just 1, it's missing a piece. Conclusion I'm very impressed with Substack and a great tool to use. I still use and recommend a blog. The main reason is you OWN a blog. You don't own your Substack content. It's a nice feeling to own something online, maybe security or a place I know I can't get banned, I know I can create my own rules. If you're a beginner writer, I still recommend starting with a blog. Yes, it's slower, yes, there is more upfront work and some cost, but you want to build a home on a solid foundation. Patience is key, grasshopper! There is NO more solid foundation than owning a website. Plus, you get bragging rights! I wrote many blog posts on how to start a blog step-by-step that you can view HERE. Lastly, I'm bullish on blogging in the long run. AI's biggest weakness is human connection and blogging, email, video, the phone, and face-to-face people crave and want due to the loneliness epidemic facing society. Oh, and if you're serious about making money online, an autoreponder is still a must-have, and I have free guides at this post HERE.