【3 Tips for Growing Your Substack】

Recently, my Substack subscribers surpassed 1,000.

Actually, I started Substack around December 2022. At that time, many overseas creators were using Substack, and some people in Japan were gradually starting to use it too.

My update pace slowed down considerably in the middle, but I've been steadily continuing about once a month since 2025. As a result, I finally exceeded 1,000 subscribers.

I believe there are three tips for growing your Substack.

① Utilize the recommendation feature

Honestly, this was the biggest factor.

Substack has a "recommendation" feature that allows you to introduce other creators to your readers.

Thanks to this feature, my subscribers increased by about 400.

In particular, being recommended by creators like くろますお, who had a lot of momentum at the time, had a significant impact. くろますお🇺🇸NEXT NOW

② Direct traffic from other SNS

It's also important to get people who are already following you on X, Instagram, audio distribution, etc., to subscribe. However, there was a period in the past when including Substack links or the word "Substack" on X significantly decreased impressions.

It doesn't seem to be as bad now as it was then, but it's probably best to assume that external links are generally difficult to gain traction with.

③ Steadily and consistently continue

Ultimately, it comes down to this. I started in 2022, and there were times when it grew, and times when it didn't grow at all.

Despite that, because I kept going without completely stopping, I finally reached 1,000 subscribers in April 2026.

However, be careful not to chase subscriber numbers too much.

Readers gained through the recommendation feature or mutual follows may not have a strong interest in you. As a result, your open rate might drop, or people might unsubscribe every time you send an email.

Initially, my open rate was around 80-90%, but now it's about 50%. Nowadays, I feel that "quality" is more important than "quantity".

Mutual follows and subscriptions, if overdone, might lower engagement and make it harder to grow in the long term. And your inbox would likely become overwhelming...

In summary, the tips for growing your Substack are:

・Utilize the recommendation feature

・Direct traffic from other SNS

・Steadily and consistently continue

These three.

But ultimately, what's important is whether you have people who actually read your content, rather than just subscriber numbers. If you've recently started a Substack, please use this as reference.