When Substack launched Notes in 2023, a lot of writers dismissed it. "Just another Twitter clone." "My readers don't want more social media." "I don't have time for this."

Two years later, the writers who took Notes seriously are growing faster than almost everyone else on the platform. Not because Notes is magic, but because it's a distribution layer most writers are leaving completely unused. It's been a real growth lever for my own newsletter.

Here's how to use Substack Notes in a way that actually builds your newsletter, not just your follower count.

What Substack Notes actually is

Notes is a social feed built into Substack. You post short content — a sentence, a paragraph, a quote, a link with commentary — and people who follow you see it. If they engage with it, their followers see it too. That's the organic reach mechanism.

The key difference from Twitter or LinkedIn: the entire Notes audience is made up of Substack readers and writers. Nobody on Notes is there by accident. They're people who have already chosen to pay money to read newsletters or to write them. That self-selection makes Notes engagement unusually high-quality.

When someone engages with your Note, there's a real chance they'll click through to your newsletter and subscribe. On Twitter, the conversion from follower to newsletter subscriber might be one percent. On Notes, it can be five to fifteen percent because the audience already understands what newsletters are and has demonstrated they value them.

What actually works on Notes

Most writers approach Notes wrong. They treat it like a promotional channel — "New post up! Check it out!" — and wonder why nobody responds.

Notes is not a promotional channel. It's a conversation starter. The Notes that spread are the ones that make a reader stop, think, and react. Here's what that looks like in practice:

One strong observation. Pick something you genuinely believe about your niche that a lot of people would disagree with, or something true that almost nobody says out loud. Write it clearly in two to four sentences. Don't hedge. Let people respond.

An excerpt that works alone. Take a paragraph from a recent post — one that contains a complete idea, not a teaser. Post it with a brief line of context. The reader should get value from the Note itself, not just from clicking the link. Readers who get value will share. Readers who feel teased will scroll past.

A genuine question. Ask something you actually want to know. "What's the hardest part of writing consistently for you?" or "What newsletter have you recommended most this year?" These generate real replies, which boosts your Note in the algorithm and starts conversations that build relationships with readers.

Something you noticed. A link to an interesting article with your take on why it matters. A screenshot of something relevant with your commentary. A short reflection on something that happened in your writing this week. The more specific and personal, the better it tends to perform.

How often to post on Notes

The sweet spot for most newsletter writers is three to five Notes per week. That keeps you consistently visible without flooding your followers' feeds.

Daily Notes can work if you're in a niche that generates a lot of daily content (finance, tech, news) and you have plenty to say. Less than twice a week, and you're too easy to forget — the Notes algorithm deprioritizes accounts that post infrequently.

The biggest mistake is inconsistency. Five Notes in one week, then nothing for two weeks, then three in a day. The algorithm doesn't reward bursts. It rewards steady, regular presence.

Block thirty minutes in your week specifically for Notes. Treat it like a separate creative task, not something you'll get to when you have time. Because if it's optional, it won't happen.

Notes and your newsletter posts

Every time you publish a new newsletter issue, share it on Notes. Don't just drop the link — write a one-paragraph hook that captures the most interesting idea in the piece and explains why it matters. That Note serves as your organic distribution push to people who follow you on Notes but haven't subscribed to your newsletter yet.

Substack's algorithm also surfaces recently published issues more prominently when you engage with Notes around the time of publication. A burst of Notes activity around your publish date — before, during, and after — helps more people see your new issue.

Some writers use Notes as a writing lab. They post a raw observation or an unformed idea, see how readers respond, and then develop the best-performing Notes into full newsletter posts. That's a smart feedback loop — you get engagement data before spending hours on a long post.

Engaging with other writers on Notes

Notes growth is not just about what you post. It's also about how you engage with others.

When you leave a substantive comment on someone else's Note — not "great post!" but an actual reaction, a counterpoint, an addition — your comment appears on that Note. The writer's followers see it. Some of them will click your profile and find your newsletter.

Spend ten minutes a day reading through Notes in your niche and leaving real comments on two to three posts. That's roughly seventy meaningful comments per month. Over time, those comments compound into a visible presence in your corner of the Substack ecosystem.

This also feeds the recommendation network. Writers whose Notes you engage with are more likely to notice you, read your newsletter, and eventually recommend it to their subscribers. Recommendations are one of the highest-leverage growth mechanisms on Substack, and Notes engagement is one of the best ways to earn them organically.

What not to do on Notes

A few things that consistently underperform or actively hurt your Notes presence:

  • Pure link drops with no context. "New post: [link]" gets almost no engagement. The algorithm buries it and readers skip it.
  • Automated or scheduled posts. Notes engagement drops when it feels robotic. Readers can tell.
  • Cross-posting from Twitter verbatim. The Substack Notes audience has different sensibilities than Twitter. What gets engagement on Twitter often lands flat on Notes.
  • Complaining about the platform. Notes is not the place to vent about Substack's algorithm, low open rates, or slow subscriber growth. It reads as desperate and it repels exactly the readers you want to attract.

Conclusion

A good Substack Notes strategy is simple: post consistently, make it about ideas rather than promotion, engage genuinely with other writers, and use Notes to amplify your newsletter posts rather than replace them.

The writers I've watched grow fastest on Substack over the last two years are almost all active on Notes. That's not a coincidence.

If you want to see how Notes fits into a broader Substack growth strategy — including SEO, cross-promotion, and recommendations — I covered all of it in my complete guide to growing on Substack. And if you're ready to turn that growing audience into paying subscribers, read what actually converts free readers to paid. Just getting started? My Substack for beginners guide covers the fundamentals.

A writer is nothing without a reader. If you found this helpful, consider becoming my dear email friend. Nothing would make me happier.