Substack Is Not a Writing Platform. It Never Was. Here’s What Changes When You Finally Accept That.
When Substack launched most writers treated it like a better version of Medium. The platform evolved. Most writers didn't. Here's what's different now.
When Substack first launched, the pitch was simple: Write. Build an audience. Get paid.
Just a quiet corner of the internet where good writing would eventually find its readers and the best newsletters would rise to the top over time.
Most writers believed that. Showed up every week with something worth reading. Hit publish. Waited.
And waited…
The problem nobody really talked about in those early days was the elephant in the room: How do you actually grow here?
Recommendations helped — connecting with other writers and pointing audiences toward each other. But it was slow. For most writers it stayed slow for a very long time.
The platform had a discovery problem and everyone knew it.
Substack had a growth problem. Here’s how they solved it — and why most writers missed the memo.
They launched Notes — and when they did, they answered the question writers had been asking since the beginning.
Notes turned Substack from a publishing tool into something closer to a community and discovery engine.
It became a place where writers could be found by readers who had no idea they existed yet.
Hamish McKenzie, Substack’s co-founder, has talked openly about how the platform was deliberately designed differently from every other social platform.
Mike Cohen, their head of machine learning, has said directly that the goal of the Notes feed is to get people to discover, subscribe, and ideally pay.
Not time spent scrolling. Not ad clicks. Actual subscriptions between real writers and real readers.
That’s a fundamentally different game than the one most writers think they’re playing.
Every week you spend posting without touching Notes is a week the algorithm learns nothing about you and sends you nobody new.
Your posts go to people who already subscribed. But, Notes goes into a feed where anyone on Substack can discover you.
That one distinction changes everything about where your time should go — and most writers have it completely backwards.
The writers who figured this out are growing. Everyone else is still waiting.
The writers growing fastest on Substack right now aren’t necessarily the best writers on the platform.
They’re the ones who understood the game changed and adapted while everyone else kept doing what worked in 2021.
My advice? If you’re brand new or sitting under 500 subscribers spend 80% of your time on Notes.
Not on crafting the perfect weekly post or optimizing your titles. Notes is how new readers find you and right now finding new readers is the only thing that matters.
Once momentum starts building and your subscriber count is growing consistently, you can start evening things out.
Maybe 50% Notes and 50% going deeper on your posts and building a stronger relationship with the audience you’ve already earned.
But until that momentum kicks in, Notes is the lever.
The window is open right now. Here’s why it won’t stay that way.
Notes is still underused. Way underused.
Most writers in most niches haven’t fully figured out the Notes game yet. The feed isn’t nearly as crowded as it will be in a few years when everyone finally catches up.
The writers building a real Notes presence right now are building an advantage that will be significantly harder to build later.
I started figuring this out about 18 months ago when my Substack was brand new.
Last month, I crossed 18,000 subscribers. Most of those came from my morning Notes-writing routine that takes me about 20 minutes.
Not because I’m a better writer than most people reading this. Because I understood what the platform rewards and showed up accordingly.
Let me show you how to really grow your Substack (simply and sustainably).
I’ve put together a few core trainings to help writers grow and monetize their newsletters. Over 500+ writers have gone through my trainings in the last year.
There are two ways I can help depending on where you are right now.
The first is through the Notes Growth Workshop.
The Notes Growth Workshop is for the writer who wants to grow right now.
Inside the Workshop you’ll learn the specific Note types that bring subscribers not just likes, the daily routine that takes 20 minutes, and the strategy that teaches the algorithm exactly who you are.
If Notes hasn’t been working for you this is what fixes that.
The second is the Six-Figure Substack Growth Masterclass — the complete foundation.
You’ll learn how to clarify your story, your positioning, and your voice. It’s the strategy behind my newsletter growing to 18,000 subscribers and $100K+ in revenue — laid out simply so you can build it too.
Here’s what’s inside:
Your origin story and positioning — the specific angle that makes your newsletter impossible to ignore and immediately worth following. Most writers skip this and then wonder why nothing gains traction
Your voice — how to write in a way that feels completely authentic and builds the kind of trust that turns casual readers into loyal subscribers who actually open every email
How to monetize your audience — the exact digital product strategy behind $100K+ in revenue built around simple products that sell consistently
What actually grows versus what just gets likes — so you stop wasting time on vanity metrics and start building real momentum every single day
A sustainable system you’ll actually stick to — because showing up consistently only works if it doesn’t burn you out in three weeks
Over 500 writers have gone through the Masterclass and built this foundation. Writers who showed up scattered and unsure of what they were building — and left with a clear direction, a growing audience, and a Substack that finally felt like theirs.
Whether you decide to join or not, I want you to know you’re in the right place.
This is still the absolute best time to grow your newsletter and begin writing online. It’s completely changed my daily life and given me the freedom I was looking for.
If I can help in any way reach out.
Keep writing, Wes
Question: When you first started on Substack were you spending more time on posts or Notes — and has that changed? Drop it in the comments.
Helpful for us who are new to the platform. Thanks.
This is the part I had to learn too. Longer posts build trust once people find you. Notes are often how they find you in the first place.