Substack Notes is the Best Free Growth Tool on the Internet Right Now. But, most writers are using it wrong.
There’s no better free growth tool for writers on the internet right now than Substack Notes.
Not LinkedIn. Not X. Not any other platform where the algorithm is actively working against you — keeping your content trapped inside the app, optimizing for time spent rather than genuine connection between writers and readers.
Substack built Notes specifically to help writers grow. The algorithm is designed to surface your work to readers who will actually subscribe.
They only make money when you make money — so for once your incentives and the platform’s incentives are actually aligned.
That’s genuinely rare. And most writers are completely wasting it.
Notes isn’t social media (and that’s the mistake keeping most writers invisible)
Most writers show up on Notes the same way they show up on every other platform.
They post whatever comes to mind that morning. A tip. An observation. A motivational thought. Random content with no real strategy and no understanding of what the algorithm actually rewards.
Then they wonder why nothing is compounding.
Notes was never designed to work like X or Instagram. The writers chasing likes, posting for engagement, optimizing for comments are playing the wrong game entirely.
The algorithm doesn’t reward engagement. It rewards subscriptions. Those are two completely different things and most writers spend months — sometimes longer — never figuring out the distinction.
Your goal on Notes isn’t to go viral. It’s to consistently attract the right readers and give the algorithm enough signal to start sending more of them your way automatically.
The moment you make that shift everything about how you approach Notes changes.
The writers growing fastest on Notes aren’t more talented. Here’s what they actually do.
The writers getting real results have stopped posting randomly and built a real daily system around Notes.
They write story Notes and honest admissions — the types that create genuine connection and drive subscription behavior rather than surface engagement.
Not tips and observations that feel useful but convert almost nobody. The specific formats that make a reader stop scrolling and think “this person gets it.”
They stay within their content pillars consistently. The algorithm needs to understand who you are before it can help you grow.
Three clear pillars posted every single day for at least 90 days gives it the signal it needs to start connecting you with the right readers automatically.
And, they also restack strategically. They restack their own Notes and posts to give them fresh life with new subscribers. Also, writers in their niche whose audiences overlap with theirs.
A couple of deliberate restacks a day tells the algorithm exactly who your readers are — and it starts surfacing your work to more of them without you having to do anything extra.
This is what 20 minutes a day on Notes actually builds
Notes brings me 500-700 new subscribers every single month. From a 20-minute daily routine.
Not from going viral or from a complicated strategy that requires hours of planning.
From showing up consistently with the right types of Notes and giving the algorithm what it needs to do its job.
Most writers on Substack right now are either ignoring Notes entirely or treating it like a social media feed with no system behind it.
The writers who figure out the difference between those two approaches early are building something that compounds daily while everyone else is still guessing.
Let me show you how to grow your Substack with a daily, sustainable Notes routine
📌 The Notes Growth Workshop — and a bonus that disappears this week.
The “10+ Subscribers a Day” Notes Growth Workshop is the complete system for writing Notes that actually grow your Substack.
You learn the specific Note types that convert, the daily routine that takes 20 minutes, the restacking strategy, and the content pillar framework that teaches the algorithm exactly who you are.
Here’s what’s inside:
Stop guessing what to post — the specific Note types that consistently bring subscribers not just likes, with real examples from my own growth to 17,000+ subscribers
Write Notes in 5 minutes or less — so this never becomes another exhausting task competing for your limited time every morning
The restacking strategy — how to restack your own content and other writers strategically so the algorithm knows exactly who your audience is
The content pillar system — how to pick your three pillars and stick to them for 90 days so the algorithm finally starts sending the right readers your way
A 20-minute daily routine that compounds — because consistency only works if it’s sustainable and doesn’t burn you out in three weeks
Here’s what writers are saying after going through it:
“I did his 7-Day Notes Challenge and as a direct result gained 87 subscribers from Notes in a single month. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.” — Leah Steele Barnett
Esther, a nutritionist, went through the Workshop and started gaining 100+ new subscribers every single month from Notes alone. In the nutrition niche.
Over 300 writers have gone through this system and built real momentum on Notes.
Writers who showed up every day with no clear direction — and left with a routine, a system, and a Substack that finally started growing consistently. You can join them below:
Question: What’s the biggest mistake you think you’ve been making on Notes? Drop it in the comments — genuinely curious what most writers identify when they really think about it.
The biggest mistake writers make on Notes is treating it like a feed, not a system - consistency and clarity of signal matter more than volume or randomness.
Please point out the differences to me; Substack Notes/ Facebook/X/Tiktok...