I Only Write 3 Types of Substack Posts. Here’s What Each One Does for My Growth.
If you've been writing on Substack consistently and still not growing the way you expected this post is for you. The problem usually isn't your writing. You just don't have a clear framework.
A few months into my Substack, I looked back at everything I’d written and had a realization: I had no real direction.
Some posts were tips, some were personal stories. Some were just whatever felt interesting that week.
I was showing up consistently but writing without any real intention behind it.
Growth felt random because it was random.
Then I started paying attention to which posts seemed to actually land. Which ones got engagement. And, which ones brought subscribers.
Every single one fit into one of three categories I’m about to share, and each one was doing something completely different for my newsletter.
Once I mapped it out everything got simpler. I stopped writing whatever came to mind and started writing with a purpose every single time.
The 3 Types of Posts I Write — and What Each One Actually Does
I realized all of my best posts fell into one of three specific categories. Each one of these posts serves a specific and important part in my newsletter…
1. The Epic Tips Post
This is your high value educational content. Longer, detailed, packed with genuine insight your reader can actually use.
These are the posts that get restacked and shared widely.
One of my most restacked posts ever was a detailed breakdown of how the Substack Notes algorithm actually works — it kept bringing in new subscribers for weeks just from people sharing it around.
The purpose isn’t to sell anything. It’s to attract new readers, build real credibility, and give people a reason to subscribe before you’ve ever asked them for anything.
When someone stumbles on one of these and thinks “this is exactly what I needed” — you’ve got a new subscriber who already trusts you.
2. The Hero Story Post
This is your connection post. Personal, honest, real.
Where you share who you are, where you came from, what you’ve been through, and why any of it matters to the reader sitting on the other side of the screen.
My burnout story is my most popular hero post. It’s about how I went from a burnt out career coach taking 7 client calls a day to writing full-time with my newsletter.
The purpose here isn’t to teach anything. It’s purely to connect.
When someone reads this and thinks “this person understands exactly where I am right now” — they don’t just subscribe. They stay and become part of your community.
3. The System Post
This is your “mechanism” post. Where you walk through your unique process and show exactly how it solves a real problem your audience faces.
Not generic advice that anyone could write. But, your way of doing something that actually gets results and nobody else can do in the world like you.
The purpose of this post is to convert readers into buyers or paid subscribers.
When someone reads it and thinks “I need this in my life” — that’s your most likely customer. This is the post that drives digital product sales and course enrollments more than any other type because you’re not just describing a problem.
Your Posts Are Dying After 24 Hours. Here's How to Fix That.
When you publish a post it goes out to your subscribers, right? And then it just sits there.
But if you’re growing your Notes following (which you absolutely should be), you can share one or two of your posts in your Notes feed every single day. Not just new posts. Old ones too.
Why does this matter? Because a post you wrote three months ago is completely new content to someone who just started following you on Notes yesterday.
Resharing your best posts on Notes gives all your content a fresh wave of traction with new readers who never saw it the first time.
Your Epic Tips posts get restacked by new writers. Your Hero Story posts connect with someone who just found you. Your System posts find new buyers.
The content you’ve already written keeps working…you just have to keep putting it in front of new eyes.
When You’re Ready to Take This Further — Here Are the Next Three Steps
Knowing the framework is one thing. Building a Substack that grows consistently and actually generates real income from it is another entirely.
After writing consistently for nearly 18 months, I’ve come up with three simple trainings that help you wherever you are…
Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been doing this for years, you can plug into the step that’s right for you.
These three steps take you from simple framework to results, in order:
Step 1 — Find Your Story and Build Your Foundation (Six-Figure Substack Growth Masterclass)
This is where everything starts.
The positioning that makes your hero posts land and your posts convert. Without a clear foundation everything else is harder than it needs to be. I teach my exact strategy that’s helped me grow to 16,000+ subscribers in 18 months.
Over 500 writers have already built this and are growing every single day because of it.
Step 2 — Grow Your Audience Consistently Every Single Day (the Notes Growth Workshop)
Once you have the foundation, Notes is how you pour fuel on it.
Inside this Workshop, I share my 20-minute daily Notes routine behind 16,000 subscribers and 70%+ of my daily subscriber growth.
The exact types of Notes that bring in new subscribers versus the ones that just get likes — so your all your posts keep finding fresh readers every single day.
Step 3 — Turn Your Audience Into Real Income (Six-Figure Digital Product Masterclass)
After you’ve built your audience, you can help and serve them with simple products.
Simple digital products under $100 that solve specific problems for the audience you’ve already built. This is the exact model I’ve used to generate $100K+ in yearly revenue without high ticket coaching or complicated funnels.
Stop Overthinking It. Here's All You Actually Need.
You don’t need a complicated content strategy. You don’t need to post on five platforms or spend hours planning out a content calendar.
You just need these three posts types and a clear purpose behind each one.
That’s the whole system. And it works whether you have 100 subscribers or 10,000.
Start with whichever type feels most natural to you and write one this week. Then write another. Then another.
Keep writing, Wes
This was very insightful. I don’t have a strategy just yet, so the timing of reading this was perfect
Your approach is very inspiring. Check notes. Find the pattern in what's working. Use it again and again. I love that.