Discover Substack Discoverability

What if you had free marketing…

For everything you write?

With Substack’s new development, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

People are getting 30, 40, 100 views… for doing nothing.

(Literally nothing in some cases. At least one writer has reported gaining 15 new subscribers without writing a single word).

If you were waiting for the right moment to jump on a platform,

This is it.

As usual, my suggestion is to watch the video above in full. You’ll get all the glittery details. I’ll teach you the what, where, when and why of Substack’s discoverability beta, as well as how you can take advantage of the new growth.

Here are some highlights to lead you through what my friend Todd and I are discussing this time.

Right place, right time

When you catch something at just the right time, you’re able to access something that other people won’t down the line. Obviously anyone who joins a new platform first will reap the biggest benefits. Substack is definitely the right place to be, right now.

Right now, Substack is fusing the power of email with the power of social media. It’s the best of both worlds. I’m drooling over it.

The Takeaway: Substack is launching a beta version of their Discover page, which means that unknown writers are about to get a lot more exposure. Jump on now before the platform gets saturated.

Substack wants to eat Medium

Let’s not make any mistake here. Substack and medium are fierce competitors. Substack wants Medium’s audience, and right now they’re making bigger and bigger efforts to take that audience.

Competition is good. Competition for us writers? Well, we’ve never really seen that before.

They want us to get exposure.

Oh, and they also want to give us money.

Incredible.

When I look at Substack, I see nothing but upside.

What exactly is Substack Discoverability?

If you head over to Substack’s Beta Discovery Page, you see what I’m talking about.

Substack is taking their primary feature – newsletters – and delivering them to readers who aren’t subscribed to those newsletters.

In other words: free marketing.

They’ve got a featured column, which is nice, but you’ll also be able to sort of via a particular topic. They also sort between paid and free newsletters. As a reader, that excites me because I can focus more on what I want to learn about.

As a writer, I’m more excited. Why?

Readers are able to focus more on me.

(And you, if you’re writing there.)

Substack readers are special

If I gave you an ice cream for free today, you’d probably take it.

If I gave you an ice cream for free tomorrow, you’d probably take it.

But if I came back next week, gave you an ice cream, and said “that’ll be $5,” you’d probably tell me to shove off. You’d at least hesitate for a moment.

That’s the problem with these Web 2.0 platforms. They are trying to monetize what they previously gave away for free. People on Twitter find it psychologically difficult to spending money on content because they get it for free.

Substack is different.

As I look through Substack, I see publications charging $5, $10, or $15 dollars per month to subscribe. People are happy to pay these amounts to have this content. It’s a premium audience.

Twitter users are Toyota Camrys.

Substack users are BMWs.

“All of this sounds pretty normal, Tim”

Yeah.

This shows how spoiled we are. We expect all of this to just be there.

But Substack is just implementing discoverability RIGHT NOW.

Which means they want us to jump in RIGHT NOW.

And they are willing to send readers (and therefore money) your way RIGHT NOW.

My only question is – what are you waiting for?