By “relatively easy” I mean, if you put some effort into being strategic about it. Growth on a platform rarely happens if you’re not trying at all — it’s easy to grow on a platform if effort will reliably be rewarded. Some things to try (I haven’t looked at your publication so I don’t know whether you’ve tried these things):

–Lean into disagreeability. If you’ve never gotten any angry email or comments, you might be filtering yourself heavily, and people like sincerity

–Try writing something that feels cringe. Stuff that’s a little too close to home, a little too obvious seeming, a little too sincere, a little too close to what feel like risky topics. If you’re anxious about it, that might be a sign that it’s important to you

–Get merciless critical feedback on your writing. If you don’t understand your primary failure modes as a writer — like, what are the ways in which you specifically tend to bore people if you’re not watching out for it — you probably haven’t gotten enough feedback

–See if your most popular post could be rewritten in a more persuasive, frank, digestible way — is it the hedged version of what could be a more passionate statement? Try making that statement

–Write something expanding on or elaborating the views of a popular figure on here who might feel misunderstood (so they can restack it or provide other popular support)

–See if there’s a popular Substack you can contribute to as a guest writer

–If there’s a piece you feel strongly about, earnestly ask friends with a following to share it, with a request about why it’s important. You can do this about once a year if you want to not annoy people

-Currently, Substack likes people who post on Notes. Do what the platform wants