Hey, my friend!
I was a guest on the Book Marketing Mentors podcast this week and realized something interesting.
The show has been running for years and has over 500 episodes.
Yet, the host told me I was her very first guest ever to talk about Substack.
That stopped me for a second.
Frankly, I spend most of my days inside this world. I talk about Substack constantly.
I work with creators who are building on Substack every single day.
So it's easy to forget that most people still have no idea what this platform actually is. 😅
But that's exactly what makes it so exciting.
Most people don't realize that Substack was founded in 2017.
It's not "a new platform."
It's been quietly growing for almost a decade.
But it's only now hitting what I'd call its tipping point.
The features they've shipped in the past 12 months alone are mind-blowing.
Gary Vee recently talked about how Substack is one of the platforms creators should be paying serious attention to right now:
I've been building online for nearly a decade, and in that time, I've watched platforms rise, peak, and decline.
And let's be honest: legitimate new platforms don't emerge every year.
Instagram had its golden era.
Twitter had its moment.
LinkedIn went through a massive creator wave.
TikTok exploded and then became saturated incredibly fast.
Each of those platforms had a window where creators who showed up early and took it seriously got rewarded disproportionately.
Not because they were better than everyone else, but because they were there when the platform was still hungry for good content and actively helping creators grow.
Substack is in that window right now.
But what makes this different from every other platform trend is what Substack actually gives you.
On most platforms, you build followers.
On Substack, you build a subscriber list. That's a massive difference.
Substack gives you discovery tools that actively help you reach new readers.
It gives you a recommendation network where other creators can send subscribers your way.
It gives you Notes, which are short-form posts to reach people who've never heard of you.
And it gives you a built-in monetization path that doesn't require stitching together five different tools.
All of that — for free.
I know it can feel overwhelming when you're looking at a new platform from the outside.
You're wondering:
- Where do I start?
- What do I post?
- How do I grow?
- Is it too late?
It's not too late. Not even close. We're still so early.
But I do think it won't get this easy again anytime soon.
Every platform eventually matures. The cost of attention goes up. The early-mover advantage fades.
Right now, Substack is still in the phase where showing up consistently and doing good work gets noticed.
That's rare. And it's worth paying attention to.
🔍 Want to make sure your Substack profile is actually converting visitors into subscribers?
Most creators lose subscribers before they even publish their first post because their profile pushes people away.
We're offering free, personalized profile reviews right now.
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Worth Your Time This Week
→ If I Started a Substack Today, I'd Do This First — Our newest YouTube video walking through the exact steps we'd take if we were starting from zero right now.
→ 10 Habits of Highly Successful Substack Creators — Our latest podcast episode breaking down the patterns we see in creators who actually build real audiences vs. those who stall out.
→ The Only Substack Growth Playbook You Need — Everything we learned growing to 43,000+ subscribers in 2 years, compressed into one post. If you only read one thing from us this week, make it this one.
→ The Future of Substack Just Changed — New templates, Gary Vee's take on Substack, and why we turned down a book deal.
Cheers to being early enough to make it count,
Sinem
P.S. We've been working on something behind the scenes for weeks now. Something that I think is going to be genuinely helpful for anyone who's serious about building on Substack this year. Stay tuned.