Thanks Tom! I've been wondering about all of this. I've done notes boosts and got very few likes or restacks. One of my own notes netted almost 20,000 likes and over 2000 subscribers in a month. I'm finding out real fast what an anomaly that was. I'm lucky now if a note gets 5 likes) But the relationships I'm building with other writers and the comments I get to respond to from readers makes this long game well worth the effort. You put a different spin on this for me, Tom (especially since I'm involved in a Notes Boost challenge right now and seeing very little results). Thanks again!
Thanks so much for confirming my suspicions here Linda. I do think Notes boosts can work for a small subset of people but when there's so many doing it at once it's basically impossible to place yourself at the top of the pile and actually get noticed. It's kind of like comments on Youtube videos. The first ones to comment get the worm so to speak--and many end up reacting and liking those initial comments.
This was excellent and full of common sense Tom, thank you. Here again, genuine connection is what makes the journey, not the destination. We've got to train ourselves to not be distracted by the numbers and stay human centered (I still struggle with this every once in a while). Being human is where it's at in everything.❤️
I do a mix of both, Elizabeth. I could be just imagining things but I feel that writers appreciate it more when I leave a comment on their newsletter as opposed to a Note. It takes more time but I feel it makes a bigger impact. Interesting to hear your perspective here. I wonder if anyone else who has had similar experiences can leave a comment under Elizabeth's comment here so I can see how many others are going through this.
Reading this, I felt a big sigh of relief - just stop trying to figure it out, I told myself. Keep doing what you do, and it will go wherever it's meant to go. I'm not sure that this was the intention behind your message, but appreciate the nudge anyway 😊
Vicki I'm happy to hear this. Yes, I definitely want to encourage people. Keeping up with the algorithm can be a little deflating sometimes, but doing the work of interacting with people regularly helps a lot.
This was my conclusion too—stop chasing the algorithm or obsessing over subscriber numbers. Instead, focus on doing my own thing: learning, teaching, and writing what matters. If people resonate with my words, they’ll find me. It may take time, but they will.
Thank you, Tom. You have validated my limited experience with notes. I had one note get over 500 likes, and I have no idea why. Mostly, I get limited engagement. I genuinely am scratching my head over this, but apparently, I'm not the only one! I appreciate your practical encouragement and your perspective on focusing on human connection. That's the best advice!
P.s. You mentioned "hiding" notes you don't want to see. How do I do that?
Hey Jeanie! You can do this by clicking the three dots in the top right of a Note, and then in the drop down menu you can hit "hide note." It's so useful!! :)
Yes that impacts your own personal algorithm. So Substack will learn what you like more and more and then they will just give you the stuff they think you want to read based on what you’ve liked, commented on, and hid.
I haven't started writing on Substack yet because I'm still trying to figure out what people want to read 🙃 I have just been observing and reading advice like this, which is very helpful!
Super analytical and helpful as always! Thanks Tom! I got tired of writing viral since beginning of January, i am doing more offline work but I am getting back to this “virtual crowded friendly place”
Thanks Tom. I'm curious, though: if I curate my Notes feed to what I want to read as a person, I won't necessarily be connecting with the people I want to connect with as a writer/teacher, which is how I want to grow my Substack, right? I love travel but I write about mental health. What are your thoughts about this?
1. That makes sense and you might want to switch up your strategy if and only if you like to read mental health related articles as well. I know you prefer travel stuff but if you like to read mental health related stuff, then start trying to train your algorithm with that.
2. Maybe some of those people who are interested in the travel stuff will also like your content. IDK, I feel there's a certain level of genuineness other authors feel when we're excited about reading their work, and that genuineness might make them want to read your stuff too. It might be a key ingredient I mean. I hope that makes sense. This is a hard one. I don't know if I have the answer here because I could see it play out well in both scenarios for you for different reasons.
Lately I’ve been trying to use the search to find likeminded folks to interact with. This probably influences my algo but I don’t keep my feed to strictly focused on my parenting and perfectionism “lane”. …
“You don’t need a Notes challenge to find your people. “
I’m so stoked you said this. I’m so tired of Note challenges. When people go to my Notes, I want them to see me, what my Substack is about. Not a post someone else wrote that “kind of” resonates with me.
Thanks, Tom as always for your advice. I hit a wall since December when I finished my book and this post was the first one I’ve read in months.
You’ve reminded me it’s time to get back on the horse, don’t worry about the algo, and find your people. 🙏💕
This was a great article, Tom. The algorithm is definitely feeding us Notes they think we’ll like. I get very little writing advice in my feed, but that’s also only about 15% of what I engage with. It’s pretty proportional! The rest is about big ideas, how to remake one’s life, and (I hate to say) American politics. That last one is my own fault though.
No Cory that's good to hear. I like to know that other people's experience on Notes is different from mine. These comments help inform future Notes Updates articles I write.
Solid advice, but I have a major notes 'problem' - I'm having too much fun with it! I'd love to get more followers and have more engagement, and I engage a ton with others because I genuinely enjoy it. My problem is that I love writing snarky, taking the piss types of notes, over the top sarcasm, irony, etc which may not get much algorithmic love, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Most of the notes that get more likes are my more serious ones that are responses to other notes. I've had a couple of responses get over 200 likes (that's big time for me!), but that was on an original note that had some 3,000+ likes.
Daniel keep going. There's one guy on Substack who shares nothing but Dad jokes every day. I know that's not the same as snarky, sarcastic stuff that you might write, but seeing him find success staying true to his voice gives me hope for people who write in all kinds of styles.
I really like Substack notes, but really get bored by all the writing-related stuff. I still get way more interesting engagement on Linkedin ... but it could just be the kind of audience I attract.
Thanks Tom! I've been wondering about all of this. I've done notes boosts and got very few likes or restacks. One of my own notes netted almost 20,000 likes and over 2000 subscribers in a month. I'm finding out real fast what an anomaly that was. I'm lucky now if a note gets 5 likes) But the relationships I'm building with other writers and the comments I get to respond to from readers makes this long game well worth the effort. You put a different spin on this for me, Tom (especially since I'm involved in a Notes Boost challenge right now and seeing very little results). Thanks again!
Thanks so much for confirming my suspicions here Linda. I do think Notes boosts can work for a small subset of people but when there's so many doing it at once it's basically impossible to place yourself at the top of the pile and actually get noticed. It's kind of like comments on Youtube videos. The first ones to comment get the worm so to speak--and many end up reacting and liking those initial comments.
Yes…that’s what I think as well.
This was excellent and full of common sense Tom, thank you. Here again, genuine connection is what makes the journey, not the destination. We've got to train ourselves to not be distracted by the numbers and stay human centered (I still struggle with this every once in a while). Being human is where it's at in everything.❤️
👏👏👏
I've definitely seen results from engagement come and go. I was seeing a steady stream of growth last year and then in January my growth just stopped.
Do you think it's better to comments on notes rather than posts?
I do a mix of both, Elizabeth. I could be just imagining things but I feel that writers appreciate it more when I leave a comment on their newsletter as opposed to a Note. It takes more time but I feel it makes a bigger impact. Interesting to hear your perspective here. I wonder if anyone else who has had similar experiences can leave a comment under Elizabeth's comment here so I can see how many others are going through this.
While I appreciate any comments, I do particularly enjoy when it's on one of my posts. It feels like you are really making an effort to connect.
Definitely takes longer! I’m trying to be more sincere in my comments now instead of playing the numbers game
I love comments on my posts because I know they’re my readers! Folks who comment on my Notes may never subscribe to my Substack 🤪
Good point. I’m really new so I don’t have a theory yet, Tom
Thanks, Tom, for another page of notes written in my writing journal.
Reading this, I felt a big sigh of relief - just stop trying to figure it out, I told myself. Keep doing what you do, and it will go wherever it's meant to go. I'm not sure that this was the intention behind your message, but appreciate the nudge anyway 😊
Vicki I'm happy to hear this. Yes, I definitely want to encourage people. Keeping up with the algorithm can be a little deflating sometimes, but doing the work of interacting with people regularly helps a lot.
This was my conclusion too—stop chasing the algorithm or obsessing over subscriber numbers. Instead, focus on doing my own thing: learning, teaching, and writing what matters. If people resonate with my words, they’ll find me. It may take time, but they will.
Thank you, Tom. You have validated my limited experience with notes. I had one note get over 500 likes, and I have no idea why. Mostly, I get limited engagement. I genuinely am scratching my head over this, but apparently, I'm not the only one! I appreciate your practical encouragement and your perspective on focusing on human connection. That's the best advice!
P.s. You mentioned "hiding" notes you don't want to see. How do I do that?
Hey Jeanie! You can do this by clicking the three dots in the top right of a Note, and then in the drop down menu you can hit "hide note." It's so useful!! :)
Got it! So if I hide a note, that somehow impacts the algorithm?
Yes that impacts your own personal algorithm. So Substack will learn what you like more and more and then they will just give you the stuff they think you want to read based on what you’ve liked, commented on, and hid.
I appreciate you taking the time to help me, Tom!
I haven't started writing on Substack yet because I'm still trying to figure out what people want to read 🙃 I have just been observing and reading advice like this, which is very helpful!
Super analytical and helpful as always! Thanks Tom! I got tired of writing viral since beginning of January, i am doing more offline work but I am getting back to this “virtual crowded friendly place”
Duly noted. 😋
Thanks Tom. I'm curious, though: if I curate my Notes feed to what I want to read as a person, I won't necessarily be connecting with the people I want to connect with as a writer/teacher, which is how I want to grow my Substack, right? I love travel but I write about mental health. What are your thoughts about this?
Hmm I have two thoughts.
1. That makes sense and you might want to switch up your strategy if and only if you like to read mental health related articles as well. I know you prefer travel stuff but if you like to read mental health related stuff, then start trying to train your algorithm with that.
2. Maybe some of those people who are interested in the travel stuff will also like your content. IDK, I feel there's a certain level of genuineness other authors feel when we're excited about reading their work, and that genuineness might make them want to read your stuff too. It might be a key ingredient I mean. I hope that makes sense. This is a hard one. I don't know if I have the answer here because I could see it play out well in both scenarios for you for different reasons.
Lately I’ve been trying to use the search to find likeminded folks to interact with. This probably influences my algo but I don’t keep my feed to strictly focused on my parenting and perfectionism “lane”. …
“You don’t need a Notes challenge to find your people. “
I’m so stoked you said this. I’m so tired of Note challenges. When people go to my Notes, I want them to see me, what my Substack is about. Not a post someone else wrote that “kind of” resonates with me.
Thanks, Tom as always for your advice. I hit a wall since December when I finished my book and this post was the first one I’ve read in months.
You’ve reminded me it’s time to get back on the horse, don’t worry about the algo, and find your people. 🙏💕
Happy you're back! How long did it take you to finish your book?
This was a great article, Tom. The algorithm is definitely feeding us Notes they think we’ll like. I get very little writing advice in my feed, but that’s also only about 15% of what I engage with. It’s pretty proportional! The rest is about big ideas, how to remake one’s life, and (I hate to say) American politics. That last one is my own fault though.
No Cory that's good to hear. I like to know that other people's experience on Notes is different from mine. These comments help inform future Notes Updates articles I write.
Solid advice, but I have a major notes 'problem' - I'm having too much fun with it! I'd love to get more followers and have more engagement, and I engage a ton with others because I genuinely enjoy it. My problem is that I love writing snarky, taking the piss types of notes, over the top sarcasm, irony, etc which may not get much algorithmic love, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Most of the notes that get more likes are my more serious ones that are responses to other notes. I've had a couple of responses get over 200 likes (that's big time for me!), but that was on an original note that had some 3,000+ likes.
I'll keep at it.
Daniel keep going. There's one guy on Substack who shares nothing but Dad jokes every day. I know that's not the same as snarky, sarcastic stuff that you might write, but seeing him find success staying true to his voice gives me hope for people who write in all kinds of styles.
Thanks for this article, Tom! Just started Substack and developing my own creative rhythms.
Awesome Dee! Welcome to Substack :)
I like the idea of beefing up my algorithm. I could have been doing that this entire time, but I'm glad I know now. 💪
I really like Substack notes, but really get bored by all the writing-related stuff. I still get way more interesting engagement on Linkedin ... but it could just be the kind of audience I attract.