I remember my first MacIntosh apple when I was young. So good! Today they aren't the same. I mostly cook my apples with ginger, cinnamon and ghee so yummy.
I view substack as my personal growth experiment, so there is no rejection. A rejection for me is trying to be perfect in my message and writing.
You are so, so wise: "Substack as my personal growth experiment, so there is no rejection. A rejection for me is trying to be perfect in my message and writing."
GIVING YOU A BIG LIKE, and yes, I read every word!!! As someone who writes about her unconventional life, non-monogamy, pleasure, sex, solo travel, and freedom (I can most certainly ruffle feathers), I cannot recommend turning off notifications enough!!!
Also, when someone unsubscribes, they energetically make space for YOUR people who have been YEARNING for someone like you, to find you <3
Is it truly rare to click on the heart, Sarah? Because I am gratuitous in doing that! It's all about celebrating others and sharing the love in my corner of Substack.
Loved your apples metaphor, by the way, and it's interesting for me to consider the psychology behind what I choose to read and what I don't. (On any given day, I might be overwhelmed, so I will open the email but not read it because I don't want it to end up in my trash or spam folder, and I really want to be in a place where I can thoughtfully read the newsletters I'm subscribed to.)
I have turned off all notifications for Substack and I also do not subscribe to new newsletters, no matter how much I love a writer. I'm maxed out on what I'm currently subscribed to, and I prefer depth over quantity, so that's my general rule.
But I will support other writers here by doing Lives, sharing photos of me with their books, writing a positive book review, publishing a guest piece, restacking an excellent essay, mentioning them, etc.
I was just commenting above and realized that we're way more popular than we think. People do read us without subscribing. Maybe like someone taking the free sample of an apple at the grocery store but not actually buying any.
Agreed about the email issue. I'm definitely coming around to being a liker and commenter--and diving deeper into the Substacks I'm subscribed to.
As another reader above commented, I'm a liker. I find it quite an alien concept that someone would read to the end of a post of substantial length and enjoy it and not like. It's the logical thing to do and we all know after years of social media that this helps the writers.
But every now and then I get an inbox message from a reader saying how much a post of mine (or my writing in general) has impacted them. Without that message, because they'd never pressed that button, I'd have been none the wiser that they found value in my work! So there must be some deeper psychology behind it all.
Then again, as an ADHDer that dopamine hit of pressing the button is too good to pass up!
I've had notifications for unsubscribes turned off from the start but I still compulsively check my dashboard so I see the numbers going down ... and up
Those messages from subscribers where they actually take the time to respond--that's huge. That takes so much more effort than a simple like.
And just know that the numbers don't tell the whole story; you're way more popular than you think. People do read us without subscribing. Maybe like someone taking the free sample of an apple at the grocery store but not actually buying any.
I'm definitely coming around to being a liker and commenter.
Such a good point! Thanks for the encouragement, Sarah. It's a nice thought to have, that I could be more popular than I think 🤔 I definitely read and engage with writers I don't necessarily subscribe to!
Ha! I clicked the heart button on this in email, but the page hung in the browser, because I'm in an airport! There are so many obstacles to love—let alone liking.
I liked the apple analogy, Sarah, and though I do like Granny Smiths, my turtle would agree with you about Fujis.
However, the analogy does have a limitation: it's pretty easy to see what kind of apple something is, while it can be much more difficult to understand what a substack has to offer. Plus, there are many more kinds of substacks than apples. Maybe that's why our welcome page/hero post/etc. does so much important work for us?
I love your turtle and had no idea they eat apples.
You make a really good point. Plus, we already know that apples are apples and a lot of people don't understand how Substack works at all. They don't realize that the email they're reading is actually a kind of blog post to like or comment on. Big hurdle.
Exactly. I just left another comment to much the same extent: People don't really understand that Substack is a community, not just a distribution system. I think that's because the community features came later, once the unfortunate "newsletter" presentation had solidified. Maybe we can think creatively about ways to get people into the platform and into the community?
I haven’t been on Substack long, but I am definitely enjoying slowing down and reading articles like yours. Also, new favorite: Cosmic Crisp. Tastes as good as it sounds lol
It's funny. I've been on here for such a long time and am finding that again too. I've had to remind myself that's what this is all about. It's so easy to get busy and forget.
I'm not usually a "liker", but I clicked the little heart for this post because I especially appreciate your insights on the topic.
I keep my notifications on, because they help me understand how readers respond to my posts. For instance, I used to wonder why weeks or even months would pass without an unsubscribe, then 4 or 5 would immediately follow a new post. This puzzled me, because the posts didn't seem to be poorly received (e.g., they were similar to other posts in numbers of opens and likes). Then I realized something: I write about health studies, typically in a nonpartisan way; the unsubscribes follow those occasional posts in which I delve into political issues and reveal a distinctly liberal perspective. Now I understand that when I trot out the Fujis, I will lose some readers who just want Granny Smiths.
Ken, love it. And I've found with my clients that politics tends to trigger unsubscribes. It's less that they agree or disagree, but that they feel inundated with it in other places and may see you as a refuge.
One of the things that slows liking down? The location of the little heart. Should be in TWO places -- at the top, as now AND at the bottom of the post but before the footer material. On this one, it would, ought to, be just after your photo. I haven't seen any way to get Substack to do it thataway, but it ought to at least possible and really should be default.
I especially like your apple analogy because I, too, will only eat fujis. 😀But beyond that, it’s a great way to remind us that what we write isn’t for everyone — nor should it be. I still wish people would click that heart more often; to me, it seems like an easy thing to do. I’ve had a few friends surprise me by telling me how much they enjoy my posts — but they never commented or liked, so I didn’t even know they were reading them. Still, I appreciate your reminder, as well as the tip to turn off notifications about unsubscribes. Doing that definitely made me feel better!
The same thing happens to me, Rosana: People tell me they read my stuff, but have never engaged with it in any way. I wonder about that. Before they told me they liked it, didn't they feel like they kind of owed me some kind of feedback? Apparently not. As someone who is generally empathetic, that mystifies me.
I just started to realize how important this is. In the comments, Susan mentioned "literary citizenship." I love that. Kind of like what you're saying about commenting being part of the reading process.
Yes, I think that this is what makes Substack different from other social media—or what should make it different. Our biggest obstacle to this, as I see it, is not the pressure of other social media platforms. It is the original conceptualization of Substack as a “newsletter” platform. There is nothing two-way about newsletters, and it simply doesn’t occur to people who read our pieces in their e-mail inbox (and I have a lot of subscribers who do that) that it is desirable for them to respond. I would love to get people out of their inboxes and onto the platform.
Exactly! How is it that people will read something regularly, and tell you they absolutely love it if it comes up in conversation, but never bother to engage in the simplest way to let you know? They just don't see it as a conversation. Or you as a creator. It's a chapter to be read and deleted.
My best guess is that they see reading as one-way communication. In the same way that they don't phone the author of a book to say that they enjoyed it, they don't think to communicate with me about my writing until they are face-to-face with me.
Gregory, by the way I just looked at your bio and saw that you have lived in Sweden among other places in Europe. I'm Swedish - grew up there, my first language, huge family there. Although I've lived mostly in the U.S. the Swedish culture, language and lifestyle are an outsized part of how I live and think. Anyway, lovely to meet you.
Well it's a small world isn't it?! Where in AZ is your friend? I'm in the high country of northern Arizona. 6,000 ft elevation. I didn't see that note but now I'm curious - I'll "sheck" it out! Yes, in fact there's a lot of nordic in English language isn't there. Thx! Great to be connected.
Haha - right. Well, sometimes you have to spoon-feed. Ask for what you want. And you may be right that it doesn't work, but for now I'm gonna keep trying. I'm stubborn like that!
This reminds me of years ago when I was a magazine freelancer. Anytime I got a rejection, I put it in a file titled ‘The ones who missed out’. Along the same lines, I never read reviews of my books, and I would never even consider being notified when someone unsubscribes. If you do, it’s a really good way to lose your sanity.
Great advice, thanks so much!
I remember my first MacIntosh apple when I was young. So good! Today they aren't the same. I mostly cook my apples with ginger, cinnamon and ghee so yummy.
I view substack as my personal growth experiment, so there is no rejection. A rejection for me is trying to be perfect in my message and writing.
You are so, so wise: "Substack as my personal growth experiment, so there is no rejection. A rejection for me is trying to be perfect in my message and writing."
Great advice and, believe it or not, I only buy Fuji apples as well!
Team Fuji!
Delightful to think about the apple analogy. Thanks for this!
Vulnerable to beauty and passion. Aren't we all?
GIVING YOU A BIG LIKE, and yes, I read every word!!! As someone who writes about her unconventional life, non-monogamy, pleasure, sex, solo travel, and freedom (I can most certainly ruffle feathers), I cannot recommend turning off notifications enough!!!
Also, when someone unsubscribes, they energetically make space for YOUR people who have been YEARNING for someone like you, to find you <3
Yes! Notifications off.
And there's another layer: people come and go. One of your people might unsubscribe, miss you, and come back.
I'm a total Fuji lover too! I've tried other apples - just can't do it! Fuji all the way!
Team Fugi!
Is it truly rare to click on the heart, Sarah? Because I am gratuitous in doing that! It's all about celebrating others and sharing the love in my corner of Substack.
Loved your apples metaphor, by the way, and it's interesting for me to consider the psychology behind what I choose to read and what I don't. (On any given day, I might be overwhelmed, so I will open the email but not read it because I don't want it to end up in my trash or spam folder, and I really want to be in a place where I can thoughtfully read the newsletters I'm subscribed to.)
I have turned off all notifications for Substack and I also do not subscribe to new newsletters, no matter how much I love a writer. I'm maxed out on what I'm currently subscribed to, and I prefer depth over quantity, so that's my general rule.
But I will support other writers here by doing Lives, sharing photos of me with their books, writing a positive book review, publishing a guest piece, restacking an excellent essay, mentioning them, etc.
I was just commenting above and realized that we're way more popular than we think. People do read us without subscribing. Maybe like someone taking the free sample of an apple at the grocery store but not actually buying any.
Agreed about the email issue. I'm definitely coming around to being a liker and commenter--and diving deeper into the Substacks I'm subscribed to.
Jeannie, same! It was toooo muuuccchhh email. I like to come here to the Substack app to read, and then it’s a treat, not a duty.
Yes! “A treat, not a duty” is spot on, Mary!
As another reader above commented, I'm a liker. I find it quite an alien concept that someone would read to the end of a post of substantial length and enjoy it and not like. It's the logical thing to do and we all know after years of social media that this helps the writers.
But every now and then I get an inbox message from a reader saying how much a post of mine (or my writing in general) has impacted them. Without that message, because they'd never pressed that button, I'd have been none the wiser that they found value in my work! So there must be some deeper psychology behind it all.
Then again, as an ADHDer that dopamine hit of pressing the button is too good to pass up!
I've had notifications for unsubscribes turned off from the start but I still compulsively check my dashboard so I see the numbers going down ... and up
.. and down again 🙃
Those messages from subscribers where they actually take the time to respond--that's huge. That takes so much more effort than a simple like.
And just know that the numbers don't tell the whole story; you're way more popular than you think. People do read us without subscribing. Maybe like someone taking the free sample of an apple at the grocery store but not actually buying any.
I'm definitely coming around to being a liker and commenter.
Such a good point! Thanks for the encouragement, Sarah. It's a nice thought to have, that I could be more popular than I think 🤔 I definitely read and engage with writers I don't necessarily subscribe to!
Waaaay more popular!
Ha! I clicked the heart button on this in email, but the page hung in the browser, because I'm in an airport! There are so many obstacles to love—let alone liking.
I liked the apple analogy, Sarah, and though I do like Granny Smiths, my turtle would agree with you about Fujis.
However, the analogy does have a limitation: it's pretty easy to see what kind of apple something is, while it can be much more difficult to understand what a substack has to offer. Plus, there are many more kinds of substacks than apples. Maybe that's why our welcome page/hero post/etc. does so much important work for us?
I love your turtle and had no idea they eat apples.
You make a really good point. Plus, we already know that apples are apples and a lot of people don't understand how Substack works at all. They don't realize that the email they're reading is actually a kind of blog post to like or comment on. Big hurdle.
Exactly. I just left another comment to much the same extent: People don't really understand that Substack is a community, not just a distribution system. I think that's because the community features came later, once the unfortunate "newsletter" presentation had solidified. Maybe we can think creatively about ways to get people into the platform and into the community?
I haven’t been on Substack long, but I am definitely enjoying slowing down and reading articles like yours. Also, new favorite: Cosmic Crisp. Tastes as good as it sounds lol
It's funny. I've been on here for such a long time and am finding that again too. I've had to remind myself that's what this is all about. It's so easy to get busy and forget.
My dad loves Cosmic Crisp! And has made me a fan.
Yes! It doesn’t deliver on the Cosmic…but definitely the Crisp!
I'm not usually a "liker", but I clicked the little heart for this post because I especially appreciate your insights on the topic.
I keep my notifications on, because they help me understand how readers respond to my posts. For instance, I used to wonder why weeks or even months would pass without an unsubscribe, then 4 or 5 would immediately follow a new post. This puzzled me, because the posts didn't seem to be poorly received (e.g., they were similar to other posts in numbers of opens and likes). Then I realized something: I write about health studies, typically in a nonpartisan way; the unsubscribes follow those occasional posts in which I delve into political issues and reveal a distinctly liberal perspective. Now I understand that when I trot out the Fujis, I will lose some readers who just want Granny Smiths.
Ken, love it. And I've found with my clients that politics tends to trigger unsubscribes. It's less that they agree or disagree, but that they feel inundated with it in other places and may see you as a refuge.
One of the things that slows liking down? The location of the little heart. Should be in TWO places -- at the top, as now AND at the bottom of the post but before the footer material. On this one, it would, ought to, be just after your photo. I haven't seen any way to get Substack to do it thataway, but it ought to at least possible and really should be default.
Agreed!
C'mon Sarah, it's Honeycrisp by a mile (or core??). Besides, who was Granny Smith anyway?
I do not understand the Honeycrisp fan base. It's huge.
🤣
I especially like your apple analogy because I, too, will only eat fujis. 😀But beyond that, it’s a great way to remind us that what we write isn’t for everyone — nor should it be. I still wish people would click that heart more often; to me, it seems like an easy thing to do. I’ve had a few friends surprise me by telling me how much they enjoy my posts — but they never commented or liked, so I didn’t even know they were reading them. Still, I appreciate your reminder, as well as the tip to turn off notifications about unsubscribes. Doing that definitely made me feel better!
Team Fuji.
The same thing happens to me, Rosana: People tell me they read my stuff, but have never engaged with it in any way. I wonder about that. Before they told me they liked it, didn't they feel like they kind of owed me some kind of feedback? Apparently not. As someone who is generally empathetic, that mystifies me.
I just started to realize how important this is. In the comments, Susan mentioned "literary citizenship." I love that. Kind of like what you're saying about commenting being part of the reading process.
Yes, I think that this is what makes Substack different from other social media—or what should make it different. Our biggest obstacle to this, as I see it, is not the pressure of other social media platforms. It is the original conceptualization of Substack as a “newsletter” platform. There is nothing two-way about newsletters, and it simply doesn’t occur to people who read our pieces in their e-mail inbox (and I have a lot of subscribers who do that) that it is desirable for them to respond. I would love to get people out of their inboxes and onto the platform.
Exactly! How is it that people will read something regularly, and tell you they absolutely love it if it comes up in conversation, but never bother to engage in the simplest way to let you know? They just don't see it as a conversation. Or you as a creator. It's a chapter to be read and deleted.
My best guess is that they see reading as one-way communication. In the same way that they don't phone the author of a book to say that they enjoyed it, they don't think to communicate with me about my writing until they are face-to-face with me.
Gregory, by the way I just looked at your bio and saw that you have lived in Sweden among other places in Europe. I'm Swedish - grew up there, my first language, huge family there. Although I've lived mostly in the U.S. the Swedish culture, language and lifestyle are an outsized part of how I live and think. Anyway, lovely to meet you.
Jaså du! Kul att träffas, du med! One of my best friends is a Swede living in Arizona, faktiskt.
I don't know if you saw it, but the word "ärt" came up in my Language Chaos note today. Swedish is överallt!
Well it's a small world isn't it?! Where in AZ is your friend? I'm in the high country of northern Arizona. 6,000 ft elevation. I didn't see that note but now I'm curious - I'll "sheck" it out! Yes, in fact there's a lot of nordic in English language isn't there. Thx! Great to be connected.
Well, for my letters I actually include a block that encourages engagement and a bit about how to do it and why…. Oh well.
I have tried that, but (a) it doesn’t seem to work, and (b) I don’t want to look desperate. 😎
Haha - right. Well, sometimes you have to spoon-feed. Ask for what you want. And you may be right that it doesn't work, but for now I'm gonna keep trying. I'm stubborn like that!
Me too! I guess I'm the kind of person who likes to comment on stuff. ;-)
This reminds me of years ago when I was a magazine freelancer. Anytime I got a rejection, I put it in a file titled ‘The ones who missed out’. Along the same lines, I never read reviews of my books, and I would never even consider being notified when someone unsubscribes. If you do, it’s a really good way to lose your sanity.
How brave. I hope to get to a point where I get a rejection.
What a great idea, Nancy!