The Substack Shift Nobody’s Talking About (And How to Ride It Into 2026)
Why the next 6 months will determine who wins on Substack (and the 5 strategies that actually work before the window closes)
I was scrolling through Notes last week when I noticed something that made me pause.
A creator with 2 million YouTube subscribers just launched their Substack. The week before, a TikTok influencer with a massive following announced they were “going all in” on the platform. Then another. And another.
My first thought was panic. Oh great. The big players are here. It’s over.
My second thought was more interesting: Wait. Most people still don’t know what Substack is.
And that’s when it hit me.
We’re watching a shift happen in real time, but most writers are so busy trying to keep up with the latest feature or growth hack that they’re missing what’s actually happening and why it matters.
The platform you joined isn’t the platform you’re on anymore
Let’s be honest about what Substack has become.
A year ago, this was a writer’s refuge. A quiet place to build an email list and publish your work without algorithms or engagement bait or performance metrics screaming at you every five seconds.
That version of Substack is disappearing.
Now we have bestseller badges. “Rising” tags. Paid newsletter flowers. Trending tabs. Category leaderboards. Live streams. Video clips. And Notes that work exactly like Twitter used to.
Substack just set aside $20 million specifically to attract big video and audio creators. They’re not hiding it. They want the influencers. They want the YouTubers. They want the TikTok crowd.
And those people are coming.
The platform that positioned itself as “not like other social media” is slowly becoming... exactly like other social media. Just with better writer economics.
I’m not saying this to be cynical. I’m saying it because you need to understand what’s happening so you can position yourself correctly.
Because here’s the part nobody’s talking about: You’re still early.
Why this might be the best timing you’ll ever get
Most people have never heard of Substack.
I know that sounds crazy if you’ve been building here for months, but it’s true. Mention Substack at a dinner party and you’ll get blank stares. Tell someone you’re a “Substack writer” and they’ll ask if that’s a type of sandwich.
Compare that to Patreon. Or Medium. Or even Gumroad.
Substack still isn’t a household name, which means the window is still open.
But it won’t stay open forever.
Right now, you can still grow a real audience here without needing a million followers somewhere else. You can still build genuine relationships with other writers. You can still show up consistently and get noticed.
I went from 0 to 14,000+ subscribers in one year. That’s not because I’m special or because I cracked some secret code. It’s because the timing was right and I understood what actually works on this platform.
But I’m watching that window start to close.
In 12 to 18 months? It’s going to be significantly harder. The influencers will have established their territories. The algorithm will have shifted again. The features that work today might not work tomorrow.
Which is why what you do in the next few months matters more than you think.
Everything that worked in 2024 vs. what will work in 2026
The old playbook is dead.
You know the one I’m talking about: Write great content. Post consistently. Cross-post to LinkedIn. Share on Twitter. Build an Instagram presence. Try to be everywhere at once.
I spent years doing that as a career coach. I built a LinkedIn following of 145,000. I was posting daily, showing up everywhere, hustling my face off.
And I was absolutely miserable.
Fifty-hour weeks. Constant burnout. Always feeling like I wasn’t doing enough.
When I started focusing on Substack, I made a decision: I wasn’t going to do that again.
And here’s what I discovered: You don’t actually need to promote everywhere else if you don’t want to.
Substack has everything you need built into the platform. Notes. Recommendations. Collaborations. An algorithm that’s actually designed to help you grow.
I know this after reading the summary from Substack’s Notes Night event in New York a few weeks ago. The co-founder Hamish McKenzie and their head of machine learning Mike Cohen explained exactly how their algorithm works.
Unlike every other social platform, Substack doesn’t optimize for scroll time. They optimize for subscriptions.
That’s a massive difference.
It means when you write something good on Notes, the algorithm doesn’t just show it to people who might engage. It shows it to people who are likely to actually subscribe.
I tested this. I spent 20 minutes a day writing 2-3 Notes. Just showing up, being myself, sharing what I was learning.
In 60 days, Notes brought me 1,600+ new subscribers.
Not followers. Not likes. Actual subscribers who wanted to hear from me every week.
That’s the power of understanding the platform you’re actually building on.
Your actual Substack playbook for 2026
Forget everything you’ve been told about newsletter growth. Here’s what actually works and what will keep working even as the platform shifts.
Build like a community, not a newsletter
Your subscribers aren’t just readers. They’re not numbers on a dashboard or email addresses in a database.
They’re real people who chose to hear from you.
I learned this early on. I had 47 subscribers and was comparing myself to creators with 50,000. I felt like a failure until I got a reply from someone: “I’ve been following you since the beginning. Don’t stop.”
That changed everything.
The people already in the room matter more than the ones who haven’t arrived yet.
So engage in comments. Ask questions. Make people feel seen. Under-promise and over-deliver on the relationship, not just the content.
Build for the people who show up.
Tell your story relentlessly
People don’t want more information. They want transformation stories.
I tell my story constantly. The burnt-out career coach who declined a $120K job offer to write from his kitchen table. The guy who went from 50-hour weeks to 8-10 hours while making more money.
You might think people get tired of hearing the same story. They don’t.
Because new people are always arriving. And the people who’ve heard it before need to hear it again.
Your story is your anchor. It’s what makes you different from every other writer teaching the same things.
Be vulnerable. Be personal. Be human.
That’s how you build real connection in a platform that’s becoming increasingly noisy.
Build real relationships with other writers
This is the most undervalued growth strategy on Substack.
Not transactional networking. Not “let’s swap recommendations because we both have audiences.”
Actual relationships.
I spend time reading other writers’ work. Leaving thoughtful comments. Sending messages when something resonates. Collaborating on projects because I genuinely like and respect their work.
Those relationships have brought me more growth than any viral post ever did.
And here’s the other benefit: They keep you here when things get hard. When the algorithm shifts again. When growth slows down. When you start questioning whether any of this matters.
The writers who stick around aren’t the ones chasing numbers. They’re the ones who’ve built real friendships.
Master the platform you’re on
Stop trying to build everywhere.
I know the conventional advice is to “diversify your platforms” and “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
But that’s how you end up exhausted and mediocre on six platforms instead of excellent on one.
I focus on Substack. Specifically, I focus on Notes.
Twenty minutes a day. Two to three Notes. Consistent, human, helpful.
That’s it.
I’m not on Twitter anymore. I barely touch Instagram. I don’t post TikToks or YouTube Shorts or whatever the next platform is.
I go deep on the platform where my people actually are.
The writers who win in 2026 won’t be the ones doing the most. They’ll be the ones doing the right things consistently.
Create simple digital products
Here’s something most writers miss: Your subscribers want to support you, but not everyone wants another paid subscription.
Right now, I don’t paywall my content. Instead, I offer simple digital products. Workshops. Templates. Guides. Things people can buy once and keep forever.
My Six-Figure Digital Product Masterclass. My 10+ Subscribers a Day Notes Growth Workshop. etc. Simple offerings that solve specific problems.
This approach works because it gives people exactly what they need, when they need it. No ongoing commitment. No subscription fatigue. Just value exchanged for value.
And honestly? It’s been more profitable and more sustainable than paid subscriptions ever would have been.
Why the next six months matter more than the last six
The platform is shifting. That’s not good or bad. It just is.
But you’re at a decision point right now.
You can either panic and try to do everything at once or you can get very clear on what actually works and double down on that.
The influencers are coming. Video is taking over. The algorithm will keep changing.
But here’s what won’t change: People still want genuine connection. They still want to hear from real humans with real stories. They still want to support work that matters to them.
If you understand that, you can build something that lasts regardless of what features Substack rolls out next week.
I went from burned out and exhausted to building a sustainable writing practice that gives me breathing room, not just income.
From 0 to 14,000+ subscribers in a year. From working 50+ hours a week to 8-10 hours. From barely making rent to generating $5K+ monthly revenue.
The system I built works because it’s based on relationships, not hacks. Consistency, not virality. Simple products that serve real needs, not complex funnels.
And I want to show you exactly how to build the same thing.
The complete “Substack System” that actually works
In my Six-Figure Substack Growth Masterclass, I break down everything I’ve learned from a year of testing what actually works on this platform:
How to use Notes as your primary growth engine without spending hours a day
The collaboration strategy that brought me 1,600+ subscribers in 60 days
How to create simple digital products that generate consistent revenue
The sustainable approach that doesn’t require you to be everywhere at once
How to build a community, not just an audience
The monetization model that works without paid subscriptions
This isn’t theory. It’s the exact system I used to build my Substack while working less than 10 hours a week.
The writers who win in 2026 are the ones who start building the right way now, before the window closes.
Over 500+ writers have joined the masterclass, and you can join too below:
Special Bonus: When you join the Masterclass this week, I’m giving away my Personal Substack Swipe File. It includes some of my best performing Notes and post titles for inspiration.
Don’t wait until the influencers have taken over. Don’t wait until the algorithm shifts again. Don’t wait until growing here becomes ten times harder.
The timing is perfect right now.
Start building. Keep writing.
Thank you for pointing out that those of us who joined Substack in 2025 weren’t late to the party at all, but actually early.
I just wrote your statement down and stuck it on my fridge that, “the writers who win in 2026 won’t be the ones doing the most. They’ll be the ones doing the right things consistently.”
Most of my growth in October came from my activity on Substack. Showing up consistently on this platform is key.