Substack 5.0: Why You Shouldn’t "Be" on Substack Anymore
A new growth mindset for a new Substack era
The title of this post is a wee clickbaity, but it’s the elephant in the room: Substack has changed dramatically.
If you started on Substack after May/June, you may not feel it.
But what’s below will still be useful in terms of what to focus on as you grow and earn an income on here—because that’s what I want for you and all of us.
In May,
wrote about how Substack has changed. He synthesized it the way he always does: brilliantly. Substack had gone through five stages:Stage 1: People ignored us.
Stage 2: People mocked us.
Stage 3: Powerful people began attacking us.
Stage 4 (now): The establishment is rushing to join us.
He predicted that stage 5 will result in the permeability of the line between independent publications (i.e., Substack) and legacy media.
Ted is a journalist—one of the best—and thinks of Substack as a journalist should.
To those who aren’t journalists, the stages and changes felt different:
Stage 1: A very small group of writers made Substack their home, produced remarkable work, and experienced slow and steady growth, paving the way for all those to come. (Thank you!)
Stage 2: Substack grew. All types of creators and professionals came. The goal was slow and steady growth, producing remarkable work, and a race to find different ways not to go viral but to support and promote each other.
Stage 3: Substack grew a lot. It seemed like everyone should know about and have a Substack. But when we mentioned Substack, people still asked, What’s Substack? We didn’t care. We’d found the place we always wished existed on the internet.
Stage 4 (now): Whoa. What just happened?
Platform changes produce platform rumblings. (Substack has become social media, we have trolls, Substack is noisy, growth has stalled (I wrote about that here), plagiarism, AI-farmed and offensive content is being promoted, paid subscribers are harder to get, etc.)
I had some of these grumblings. After walking 30-odd miles in three days (really), I realized it’s a blessing. (It’s also not anything we can control so…)
It may even be the best thing that could happen to you because I know you want to create something real and reach people.
Substack 5.0 helps us see Substack for what it is: a platform.
I’m not saying to leave the platform.
I’m saying stop being on Substack like it’s another social media platform. It’s too easy to find ourselves on yet another hamster wheel trying to please a mysterious (and often self-defeating) algorithm.
Be on Notes (I love it when people in our community go viral) and remember that your Substack is your publication, your place, your home, your blog—with an amazing network of people.
Keep growing, of course. And more than anything, I want you to be paid for your work.
But use Substack to do it—and more, i.e., fuel your writing, your career, and your life.
How?
Three ways:
Think of your Substack as a driver of opportunities.
Consider the opportunities you can create outside of Substack because of your Substack—a book, bylines, speaking engagements, courses, clients, a sense that you’re doing the work you always wanted to do and are nicer to people as a result.
I was just in a session with one of my clients,
of the Aging Well Newsletter, talking about how she might start publishing in traditional media outlets in addition to her Substack for her first professional byline at the age of 85.
Build an archive that compounds your talent and maybe even authority over time.
Think of your Substack as part of something larger, not the center.
You’re building something that could outlast any platform—newsletters have been around since the mid-fifteenth century.
Eighteenth-century Substack post Pay attention to the archive of posts you’ll leave for others to find far down the road.
Everything I’ve written on my author Substack is part of my oeuvre. (I’ve always wanted an oeuvre.) I’ve grown my author stack slowly and steadily from zero to 6000 since phases 1-2, i.e., five years. Every one of those subscribers was hard-earned.
My work here on Substack Writers at Work with you is some of the most important work I’ve done because ultimately I want to empower writers, creators, and humans and help you earn an income—not through tricks or buying subscribers but deep work that means something to you.
Create a newsletter that grows through word-of-mouth (and Notes, sure) because it’s that good, not algorithm tricks.
Make your posts remarkable—something people are moved to remark on, not content to scroll and possibly “consume.” This is what creates real engagement and builds an audience that actually cares about your work—not to mention actually pays for your Substack.
For an example of a remarkable Substack that’s been building since phases 1-2, subscribe to
’s Subtle Maneuvers. He’s been blogging since 2007, so pre- pre- pre- Substack.Nearly everything he writes is remarkable, i.e., thought-provoking, i.e., it makes me want to comment or it sparks a conversation in my mind.
Subtle Maneuvers’s DNA (what it’s made of, its core) is palpable. It’s like being inside Mason’s obsessions and interests and brain. Any description of Subtle Maneuvers won’t do it justice, but its short description is “wriggling through a creative life—with lessons and insights from novelists, painters, poets, filmmakers, and musicians.”
Substack is still my favorite place on the internet because it’s where I get to read and interact with some of my favorite writers, artists, and humans in the world. And where I get to be with all of you.
Join me live on Friday at 1 PM CT with Mason to talk about the history of the newsletter and how to make something in this world (typically art, including a newsletter) and make a living.
Mason is also the author of the Daily Rituals books and the forthcoming Making Art and Making a Living: Adventures in Funding a Creative Life.
Any kind of social media is what you make of it. If you engage with trolls and negative content the algorithm will learn that that's what you engage with. Surround yourself with positivity and only engage with people and writers you really want to engage with. Share the stuff you want to share and the stuff you're proud of. And if it's too much, take a break. It's that simple.
Just today, the venerable Washington Post announced it was sticking a toe into the Substack water. Phase 5 has begun.