I Tracked Every Substack Note I Posted for Six Months. Here are the only 3 things that actually worked.
I downloaded my Notes data, dropped it into a spreadsheet, and used AI to analyze 6 months of results. Here's what the data actually showed — and what I stopped wasting time on.
Substack Notes brings me somewhere between 500 and 700 new subscribers every single month.
Not from full posts. Not from social media. Just short daily Notes that take me about 20 minutes to write (total).
When I tell people that number they usually assume I have some complicated system or a huge team behind me. I don’t. It’s just me, my phone, and a routine I’ve been refining for over a year.
But I didn’t figure this out by being smart. I figured it out by actually looking at the data.
A few weeks ago I downloaded my complete Notes history, built a spreadsheet, and used AI to help me analyze my top 50 performing Notes.
…the ones that actually brought subscribers, not just likes. I wanted to know what was really working versus what I just thought was working.
What I found changed how I write Notes every single day.
Six months of data and most of my assumptions were wrong
Before I looked at the data, I had a lot of assumptions.
Certain topics perform better. Longer Notes convert more. Morning posts beat evening posts.
Some of that turned out to be partially true. But surprisingly, most of it wasn’t the point.
Three specific findings showed up consistently across every high-performing Note.
Everything else was interesting but not decisive. Here they are:
(Finding #1) There’s a sweet spot for how many Notes to post
Two to three Notes a day is the sweet spot. Not one, not five — two to three.
I know that sounds oddly specific, but the data backed it up clearly. One Note a day isn’t quite enough to give the algorithm what it needs to understand your voice and figure out who to show your work to.
More than three doesn’t seem to add much. Two to three hits something — a threshold where the algorithm starts recognizing you as an active writer worth surfacing to new readers.
Think of it like this. The algorithm is trying to learn who you are and who your ideal reader is. That takes repetition and time.
Showing up once a day gives it something to work with. Showing up two to three times gives it enough to start making confident connections between your content and the right audience.
The writers I see struggling most on Notes are either posting once a week hoping something goes viral or burning themselves out posting six times a day chasing momentum. Neither works.
Sustainable consistency at the right volume is the whole game.
(Finding #2) Writing “Story Notes” way outperforms everything else
This was the finding that surprised me most even though it probably shouldn’t have.
Educational Notes are useful. Community Notes build engagement.
But Story Notes brought more subscribers than both of them combined in my data. Every time I posted a story (something personal, something that let people see who I actually am), it converted better than any tip or insight I could have shared.
So I started asking one question before writing any Note: how could I turn this into a story?
It changed my entire writing style on Notes for the better.
Instead of “here are three ways to stay consistent as a writer” I’d ask myself what actually happened — and write that.
It might turn into: “I asked a writer with 10,000 subscribers how he stays consistent. Here’s what he told me…” See the difference?
Same information but a different vibe completely. One sounds like advice. The other sounds like something worth reading.
Remember this: People don’t subscribe to information. They subscribe to people.
Story Notes are how you show them who you are before they’ve even clicked your profile.
(Finding #3) Hitting that “Restack” button is a game-changer
Most writers either never restack anything or restack randomly without thinking about why. I started doing it deliberately and the difference showed up in my data pretty quickly.
Two types of restacking matter:
First, your own older posts or notes (one or two per day maximum) to give them fresh life in front of people who weren’t following you when you originally posted them.
Your best Notes shouldn’t die after 24 hours. A strategic restack brings them back without feeling repetitive to your existing audience.
Second, and more importantly, other writers in your niche. Substack told us directly that the algorithm looks for overlapping audiences.
When you restack a writer whose readers look like yours, you’re essentially telling the algorithm…these two audiences belong together. Substack takes that signal seriously and starts showing your Notes to their readers.
This isn’t trying to “game the system.” It’s just understanding how the stream flows and writing in that direction. The algorithm wants to connect writers with the right readers. Restacking helps it do that job.
(Bonus Finding) Starting a weekly “Notes Boost” was the community I didn’t know I needed
About a year ago I started hosting a free weekly Notes Boost in my Substack Chat. Every Tuesday writers drop in, share their most recent Note, and find someone new to engage with and support.
No pitch. No cost. Just community.
I expected maybe 30 or 40 writers to show up, if I was lucky. Over 300 writers join every single week now and it’s become one of the most genuinely warm corners of the internet I’ve ever been part of.
The engagement it generates feeds directly back into the algorithm doing its job — and more than that it turned into a real community of writers helping each other grow.
Please Note: This has nothing to do with gaming the algorithm
None of this is about tricking the platform into showing your work to more people. It’s about understanding how the stream flows and stopping the habit of swimming upstream.
The algorithm wants to help you find readers who will genuinely love your work.
Your job is to show up consistently, write in a way that feels human and real, and make it easy for the algorithm to understand who you are. When you stop fighting the current and start moving with it — the growth starts to feel almost effortless.
Notes has been bringing me 500 to 700 new subscribers a month consistently. That’s what going downstream looks like.
📌 Let me show you how to make Notes work for you
Understanding what works is one thing. Building a system around it that you can actually execute every single day is another.
That’s what the “10+ Subscribers a Day” Notes Growth Workshop is for.
I built it after everything you just read — 6 months of tracking, 1000+ Notes posted, and more testing than I care to admit.
Inside the Notes Workshop, I break down everything from what types of Notes to post to building a daily routine that doesn’t overwhelm you.
The writers who go through it don’t just understand Notes better. They show up differently every day because they know exactly what to write and why it works.
Special Bonus: When you join this week, you’ll get access to my next 7-Day Notes Growth Challenge (early May). You’ll get a new Notes template in your inbox daily, so you know exactly what you write.
If you’ve been posting on Notes and not seeing the growth you expected — or you’re just getting started and want to build the right habits from day one — this is where I’d start. You can join below:
Question: How many Notes are you posting per day right now? Drop it in the comments — I’m curious where most of you are starting from.
I post 1 - my Truth Of The Day (Monday to Friday) . I usually restack it the next day. On top of that I restack notes or posts from other writers whose words touch me, as many do.
I'm just starting. I'm trying to find a system I can use daily and works. I am searching for an effective, efficient method of growing followers. Hopefully, I can automate both Notes and Posts, without losing connection or being overwhelmed.