I honestly think every writer here needs to know/signal-boost this. It’s insane that it’s so convoluted but here you go:

-Following only = it’s like you follow me on Twitter or Threads. You only see the Substack articles and shorter Notes I post here if the algo/your timeline shows it to you. I, the writer, can’t reach you directly via email. This is like we’re acquaintances you see around at the gym sometimes.

-Subscribing = you get my work sent to you via email (more on that below!) every time I write a post. Subscribing is the best way to support me because then I have your email address — which I can take with me if I leave Substack — and this is how you never miss a post. This is like we’re good friends who regularly gossip over drinks.

(If you subscribe to a writer, you also follow them. If you really like someone, subscribe. Click their photo on Notes and hit the Subscribe button.)

“But what if I get too many emails to subscribe to any more people???” you may ask. I think you should relax and create a Substack-specific inbox in your Gmail, but OK, fair question:

Get the Substack app (I know, another app! Sorry! We live in hell!). Then:

-Be sure you’re subscribed to the writer

-Go to your profile > settings > notifications > preferences > newsletter delivery > prefer push

Then, you’ll get notifications of new work from writers you subscribe to in your special Substack app inbox, rather than your email.

Unfortunately there is no way to reach followers-only about all this, except for circulating it around Notes. So, you know. Do that.

[ALSO: Wanna know how many followers you have vs. subscribers? Go to substack dot com slash at [yourprofile] slash followers. I have nearly 14K total subscribers but over 23K followers. That’s 9K people who follow but don’t subscribe, and I bet at least some of them would subscribe if they knew all this.]