Substack Just Quietly Changed Its Feed. Here’s What It Means for Your Growth.
Most writers on Substack are invisible and they don't even know it. Not because their writing isn't good. Because nobody can find them. Here's why Notes changes that starting today.
Most writers on Substack are invisible.
Not because their writing isn’t good. Because nobody can find them.
The number one question I get from writers (more than anything else) is some version of this: “I keep writing on Substack but I’m not growing. Can you help?”
And my answer is always the same.
Are you writing Notes?
Because if you’re publishing posts without writing Notes you’re writing in a room with the door locked.
Posts are how you build relationships with the readers you already have. Notes are how new readers find you in the first place.
Posts engage. Notes attract.
If you’re only writing posts, you’re not reaching new people. You’re writing to the same small audience over and over and wondering why it isn’t growing.
I’ve Been Saying This for Over a Year. Now Substack Is Saying It With Their Own Design.
A writer I follow named Andi Bitay recently noticed something worth paying attention to.
When you go to any writer’s profile on the app, the first thing you see now isn’t their posts. It’s their Notes.
Substack moved Notes to the top of every profile. Your posts are still there but they’ve been pushed down.
Substack doesn’t make that kind of change randomly. They’re showing you exactly where they think discovery is happening…and where you need to be showing up if you want new readers to find you.
I’ve been writing Notes every single day for over a year.
Two a day for most of it. Over 1000+ Notes total. To be honest, Notes is now responsible for about 70% of my daily subscriber growth.
Not because I got lucky. Because I showed up consistently enough for the algorithm to learn my voice.
Important point: When you write Notes consistently the algorithm starts to build a picture of who you are and who your ideal reader is.
Once it figures that out it starts putting your writing in front of new readers who look just like the ones already subscribing to you.
That’s when 2-3 subscribers a day becomes 10, 20, sometimes 40+.
But it only happens if you show up consistently enough for the algorithm to figure you out.
The Three Types of Notes That Actually Bring in New Subscribers
Not all Notes are equal. I’ve tested every format you can think of over the last year and three types consistently bring in new subscribers.
Storytelling Notes.
Who you are. What you’ve been through. How you got here.
People don’t subscribe to topics — they subscribe to people. One honest vulnerable story will always outperform ten tips.
This is the most powerful type of Note you can write and most writers are too scared to go there. Don’t be.
Quick honest tips — but not as a guru.
There’s a real difference between giving advice from a pedestal and sharing an honest realization from the same place as your reader.
Not “here are five ways to grow your newsletter.” More like “I noticed something this week that changed how I think about writing and I wanted to share it.”
That small shift in framing changes everything. Readers are done with experts. They want someone figuring it out right alongside them.
Community Notes.
Give your readers a space to connect and share with each other. When I first started growing with Notes, this was my bread & butter. They always attract new people.
Ask a genuine question. Invite them to introduce themselves. Start a conversation where your audience talks to each other not just to you.
These Notes build the kind of loyalty that keeps people subscribed for years.
Substack Isn’t Just Building a Newsletter Platform Anymore.
The feed change is one signal. But zoom out and the bigger picture becomes clear.
Two years ago growing on Substack meant bringing your own traffic. You needed a big LinkedIn following or a YouTube channel or an Instagram audience. Substack was just the destination, you did all your growing somewhere else first.
That model is done.
Substack has spent the last two years building a complete discovery ecosystem right inside the platform.
Notes. Recommendations. Restacks.
An algorithm actively connecting writers with readers who’ve never heard of them. 40% of all new subscriptions now come from inside the Substack network itself.
They’re not just building a newsletter platform anymore. They’re building the home base for independent writers…a place where you can grow, connect, and earn a real income entirely within one ecosystem without ever needing to grind on another platform again.
And the writers who figure out Notes now are going to have a head start that will be very hard to close in two or three years.
The window is open right now. The question is whether you’ll step through it.
Let me show you how to start growing your Substack with daily Notes
If this resonated and you’re ready to stop guessing and start showing up on Notes with a real system — here’s what’s waiting for you inside then “10+ Subscribers a Day” Notes Growth Workshop.
The Workshop is built around my 20-minute daily Notes routine — the same routine behind 16,000 subscribers and consistent 10+ subscriber days.
When you join this week you also get immediate access to the March 7-Day Notes Growth Challenge starting this Thursday March 12th.
Every morning for seven days a proven Notes template lands in your inbox. By the end of the week you’ll have seven Notes published and the daily habit already forming — so everything you learn in the Workshop starts clicking in real time.
Over 300+ writers joined the Workshop in the last year, and you can join below:
Keep writing, Wes