32 Comments
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Hanna Delaney's avatar

Yesss! I do this. All of this. There's a bravery in making yourself vulnerable and sharing. I've shares everything, even things I'm not sure I should have. But this is all part of learning.

Seriously though, I loved this no nonsense post.

I even get the bit-picky reviews from people. Oh, I missed a capitalisation? Did it ruin the entire story for you? That's sad. This is very wise and yeah, nothing to add. I write outside of substack, and paste before scheduling.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you, Hannah 🙏

This place can be tough — the feedback is immediate. You miss a comma, someone will notice. 🤣

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Bryce Mitchell's avatar

Thanks! I have been stuck around 50 subs for a long time. I will definitely by implementing some of these tips.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

🙏

I’m glad this could be useful.

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Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen's avatar

Look at that! A real post about writing on here. Not some BS about getting people to pay you cuz that ain’t happening lol

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏😂

Yes, I get so exhausted with the chorus of BS.

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Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen's avatar

It's so bloody annoying. Because its like do you really have that many paid subs? Or are you getting people to pay you to do things they'er already doing?

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Andy Futuro's avatar

🎯

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

I turned off notifications very, very early on. I can’t handle one unread email in my inbox, so the prospect of that annoying red blob on the Substack app and Mail app, or a banner popping up, or whatever, sent me into a spiral of fight or flight which I knew I couldn’t accommodate. Once, I didn’t share a post for maybe 3 weeks because of life, and my overall engagement and reading also took a nosedive. Was it the end of the world? No. Did people berate me for not reading their work? No.

So, in short, excellent advice. Thank you for sharing it.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you for reading. 🙏

Yes we must guard our time wisely. Those little design decisions are scientifically honed to gouge away our attention.

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Saint-Lazare's avatar

I was doing good in my relationship with Substack until the 'don't be scared' part, and ended up with good advice, so, that's a win for me.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

🙏

You can be scared. Just don’t let it stop you.

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Lyndsey Resnick's avatar

Great advice, Andy. I do some of these things and you have more suggestions I think would be beneficial.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏

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Haunts You Later's avatar

Great advice! Thank you!

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you for reading 🙏

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Brent Robbins's avatar

Saved this! Sometimes it feels pretty challenging to break into the Substack scene, so it’s nice to get the inside scoop like this from a pro

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Andy Futuro's avatar

🙏

I’m flattered.

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The Sawyer's Daughter's avatar

Excellent!

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏

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Vinny Reads's avatar

Excellent post and timely for me as I can feel myself getting sucked into the Notes vortex like early days of Twitter. 🤙

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏

I wrote it precisely because I could feel myself getting sucked in too.

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Jean McKinney's avatar

Good points. Quite the antidote to all the articles about how to hustle on Substack and get ahead in the race for eyeballs and dollars.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏

That was my goal.

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Michelle Ma's avatar

I think it's an incredible platform with a lot of really smart, thoughtful users.

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Brody Farrow's avatar

Awesome, non-despair inducing advice advice👍

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏

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Michael B. Morgan's avatar

A great post, Andy. I actually adopted this system before I was on Substack for everything I do. Writing is important to me, as is reading the work of talented writers like you. But I don't want to lose my mind. As Philip K. Dick said, "Life is hard enough on its own. In fact, no one gets out alive," so let's manage our time and energy. We need to collect fragments of wonder, and smile more. Thanks, bro.

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you 🙏

Well said. We really must be vigilant in guarding our time and energy.

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Elizabeth Joubert's avatar

Very helpful, thank you!

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Andy Futuro's avatar

Thank you for reading 🙏

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Bryan Beal's avatar

Damnably sage advice. Especially that do what scares you thing. Thanks!

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