Note of the week

What to focus on

You’d think Substacks with a gazillion subscribers would be flaunting them. Au contraire. Substacks with hundreds of thousands of subscribers from different categories aren’t making their subscriber counts public, including (Business), (Literature), (Culture), (Food & Drink), (News), et al.

Maybe we should follow suit?

To bow out of the subscriber-number rat race, go to your publication dashboard → Settings → Privacy → Show approximate subscriber count → toggle off.

Answer this: If no one could see your subscriber count (or anyone else’s), what would you focus on? Focus on that going forward. And share in the comments below.

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Welcome to our 2026 Weekly Notes Boost for paid subscribers and Premier members—where you find community on Substack and growth on Notes.

» For a step-by-step guide, FAQs, and tutorial video on the Su…

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Remember to bookmark the Premier homepage so you can find everything.

Hi there!

This month we looked at two emails that often get overlooked: the renewal email and the expired email. I’m excited for t…

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Listen to the podcast version above

TODAY: The biggest mistake those who aren’t growing make, Substack AI update, the latest Substack Minimalist’s Corner, who’s here, and more…

Should you worry about the direction Substack is headed?

A writer from The Atlantic recently interviewed me about Substack and its relevance in the literary world, which taps into Substack’s influence generally, the power of the platform, and whether it’s saturated and where it’s going.

She asked if I’m worried about the direction that Substack is heading.

If you’d asked me a few months ago, maybe even a year ago, I would have said yes.

But after attending Substack’s New York City event, I’m not worried at all.

Four years ago, Substack’s vision was to help you make money and build a platform that you own. Last week, I saw that it’s still to help you make money and build a platform you own. Their vision may have expanded and features have been added in abundance, but the core remains, and that’s what counts.

And (bonus) they’ve given us something no social media platform has: We own our work and our email lists. We still have power.

AI update

Forewarned is forearmed.

I predict that Substack will eventually label AI-generated content. I could be wrong. In fact, I might be wrong. It’s just a prediction. But it’s something Meta, YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have all done in one way or another.

In this section of my weekly dispatch, you’ll get AI updates because forewarned is forearmed. The last thing I want is for your hard work to be labeled “AI-generated” and you labeled an “AI creator.”

You can create your Substack without AI.

Doing so might just help you get and keep subscribers:

What to tune out

Tune out anyone telling you to use AI to write your Notes.

There’s a certain Substacker (I won’t mention any names) who uses AI to generate his Notes. Eight months ago, his Notes went absolutely bonkers viral. Now, crickets.

Using AI-generated Notes may work for a little while, and it may work here and there, but it’s not going to lead to high-quality subscribers because they’re subscribing to AI, not you.

(If you’d like more on this, here are The 4 Types of Notes That Get Traction in 2026.)

The biggest mistake those who aren’t growing make

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Welcome to our 2026 Weekly Notes Boost for paid subscribers and Premier members—where you find community on Substack and growth on Notes.

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The One Thing That Makes a Substack Succeed ~ Know Your Substack DNA

» If you’re on the 2026 Substack Starter Pathway, this is step 1, where I introduce you to the one thing that all the top Substacks have: They know their Substack DNA. (Just joining? Start here.)

I was asked to write Substack for Dummies.

And I turned it down.

Many reasons, of course, but here are the main three:

1. There’s no such thing as a “dummy” on Substack—or anywhere, to my mind but mainly on Substack because Substack is maddeningly unintuitive.

2. And the platform changes soooo quickly that a book is too static to keep up.

3. And because what makes Substack great—and what you’re doing on here great—and what actually helps you get subscribers and earn an income and what makes this your internet home—instead of another platform to game and place where you’re not doing enough or you aren’t enough—has very little to do with whatever would be in a book like that.

What your Substack is

Your Substack DNA is the core of what makes your Substack you.

It will save you from chasing after tricks, hoping to game the platform, and trying every new feature Substack introduces. Because your DNA is the operational blueprint that determines how your Substack functions, based on your goals, expertise, talents, skills, obsessions, and interests, translated into the right type and mode for the platform.

Knowing it will bring subscribers because there’s no confusion about what your Substack is, who you are, what’s important, what we get as subscribers, etc.

More importantly, it gives us a sense that we’re describing to a person, not a strategy.

What your Substack DNA isn’t

• It’s not the stuff you offer—posts, chat, etc. It’s what makes the stuff you offer make sense.

• It’s absolutely not your marketing “niche.”

• It’s not what makes you “unique” or “different.”

When my clients discover their Substack DNA, that’s when their Substacks really take off. To show you how this might play out, here’s what happened with two of my clients.

Your Substack DNA may be narrower than you think: Petya Grady

Petya K. Grady is the creator of .

Petya changed her Substack from Lifequakes, about life transitions, to A Reading Life—a wonderful Substack about how we can reclaim our intellectual and reading lives and take responsibility for our inner landscape.

• Within a year of figuring out her Substack DNA, she went from 400 subscribers to over 7500.

• In the eight or so months following, she was also featured by Substack three (3!) times.

A key moment came during one of our sessions when she realized she should focus on who she wants to be “talking with” rather than “talking to.” (I love this too.)

It happened when she stopped asking What am I an expert in? and instead focused on What am I most interested in? and (I love this) What activates my gossip nerves?

Your Substack DNA may be broader than you think: Emma Vivian

Emma Vivian is the writer behind .

Her story of being diagnosed with breast cancer at 29, shortly after her best childhood friend was also diagnosed, and being the only one to survive it, is so compelling but better suited for her memoir. Her Substack, as we discovered while working together, is larger than that.

Initially, it was called Am I Cured Yet? but then she realized she didn’t want to write about cancer all the time. We talked through what her posts had in common. As Emma put it, “I had cancer. I am not cancer.”

The DNA, the core, of her Substack ended up being her outlook on life: attempting optimism despite our natural human pessimism (and without toxic positivity).

It didn’t change what she was writing; it just made her Substack clearer to readers, subscribers, and herself.

Your turn: Find your Substack DNA

I can’t take you through the entire process of finding your Substack DNA in a single post—and don’t feel like you have to know yours right now. But know that with every post I send, you’re honing yours and working from my Substack DNA Growth Framework.™️

For now, answer these questions and move beyond the obvious. Again, this is not about “finding your niche” or what makes you “unique.” It’s deeper than that.

ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS:

1. YOUR SUBJECT: What’s the topic of your Substack in one or two words?

   Wait! Check your archive. Just scroll through the headlines. If you haven’t posted yet, meditate on this: Is that actually what you write about or is it something else?

2. YOU: What obsesses you about that topic?

   Really. Don’t “get ideas” or brainstorm with AI. Check in with yourself. Whatever just came to mind is the right answer. If it feels too simple or too hard, “not interesting” or “not what people want,” great.

   What can you talk and write about endlessly and never get bored?

3. YOUR SUBSCRIBERS: Who do you want to be “talking with” rather than “talking to”?

Continue to Step 2 of the Starter Pack:

SW@W homepage | 24/7 Substack Chat | Book a Substack Strategy 1:1

Your weekly behind-the-scenes view into what works and what’s really happening on Substack—with the platform’s leading Growth Strategist, Sarah Fay.

I’m still supercharged (in a great way) by having traveled to the Substack Summit last week in New York City. I made it as efficient as possible: a car picked me up at 4 a.m., I flew out of O’Hare, landed at LaGuardia, a car drove me to the venue, I spent the entire day riveted and not tired at all, a car picked me up, I flew out of LaGuardia, landed at O’Hare, a car picked me up, and I was home with the cats by 11 p.m.

That’s a long way to go and a lot of energy to spend on a one-day summit on the future of media and how Substack and Substack writers now fit into it as media founders on par with, if not The New York Times, then one section of the paper.

But it was important to be in the room to feel what’s happening and where Substack is going. The energy of a platform can be felt in live events based on the energy, or, to use an overused, silly word, the vibe.

Here are some of the words I’d use to describe the summit: fun, warm, committed, ambitious, not-taking-oneself-too-seriously, connected, inspired, inspiring.

On to this week’s dispatch…

Today: why the era of giving your best work away for free may be over; which skills are about to gain and lose value on Substack; why slow, steady growth is the only kind that matters.

In the room…

Words I heard a lot

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Welcome to our 2026 Weekly Notes Boost for paid subscribers and Premier members—where you find community on Substack and growth on Notes.

» For a step-by-step guide, FAQs, and tutorial video on the Su…

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Remember to bookmark the Premier homepage so you can find everything.

As always, the Premier is your ongoing group membership program, where you get the most up-to-date actionable steps, dedicated ti…

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Stay ahead of the curve.

I’m so, so happy to have you in the Premier.

The Premier Membership is my high-touch, ongoing group membership program, where you stay ahead of the curve as Substack gets more crowded and competitive.

The Premier isn’t about giving you more to do; it’s about more growth in less time.

In each Monthly Strategy Session, I give you behind-the-scenes intel based on what’s happening in my client sessions and on the platform in real time. You get the most up-to-date actionable steps, dedicated sessions to implement them, and guidance from the leading Growth Strategist.

At the same time, you get a dynamic curriculum to strengthen your Substack’s foundation and use Substack’s new data features to discover what’s really working for you and what to do based on your data, not random theories or what other people do.

Everything we do is rooted in my proprietary Substack DNA Growth Framework.™️ My approach is the only proven system across four years of pattern recognition and 1000+ case studies to grow subscribers, convert paid subscribers, get engagement, and sharpen your Substack’s value—the keys to every successful Substack.

How this works

Attend one Monthly Substack Premier Strategy Session the second week of each month:

• Monthly group Strategy Sessions with me—where I give you an ongoing curriculum based on my proven Substack DNA Growth Framework to help you spark and maintain real, long-term growth + group mastermind-style “pods” + the most up-to-date information about what to focus on right now

  • Thursday, 2-3 PM CT + 3-3:30 bonus Office Hours.

  • Friday, 9-10 AM CT + 10-10:30 bonus Office Hours.

  • Saturday, 10-11 AM CT + 11-11:30 bonus Office Hours.

    • Replay + highlight reel will be emailed within 36 hours of the Saturday call.

Attend as many Weekly Office Hours and Implementation Calls with me as you like, where you get accountability, a chance to put everything we do into practice, and access to me, your personal Substack Growth Strategist, to get answers to your Substack questions

• Thursdays at 1 PM CT (exceptions: holidays, in cases of illness or emergency, and on monthly call days).

• Replays are available on our Premier Members homepage.

You also receive:

• Full Premier Membership Library

• Everything in the Substack Writers at Work paid subscription

NEW!

• Access to all live intensives with guest experts and me, including these three:

  • How to Use Substack to Build Your Business Intensive with six-figure business owners and Substack phenoms Jeannine Ouellette, Nadine Kenney Johnstone, and me (June 6, 2026 | 12 PM - 3:30 PM CT)

  • How to Write a Profitable Newsletter Intensive with special guest teachers (September)

  • How to Turn Your Substack into Your Own Personal Media Platform Intensive (January)

Plus, you get to stop reading all the “how to do Substack” nonsense posts from other people because you know you’re in the best hands.

Notifications

• The registration links, calendar invites, and an overview of what’s to come are sent on the first of the month.

• You’ll be sent a reminder of Office Hours every Thursday and a reminder of the Monthly Strategy Sessions that week.

Make sure you get all our emails:

• Add sarah@substackwritersatwork.com to your email contacts.

• Opt in to the Substack Premier section on Substack Writers at Work. Manage your subscription here.

What to do next

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This is my full report and Notes recommendations based on what I’m seeing on the ground with my clients and Premier members, and in light of my experience being in the beta run of Notes two-and-a-half years ago and on Notes since the beginning.1

I didn’t rush to write about it when Substack held its Notes party in Manhattan or when Substack’s Head of Machine Learning, , revealed more details about the algorithm than they ever had before.

I wanted to see how it was really working.

The schedule and strategy below is my proprietary information, which I’ve gleaned from learning about the algorithm from the folks at Substack and from what (really) works for clients.

THE KEY TO SUBSTACK NOTES

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And you—I so appreciate getting to do for you what no one else can do.

Without further ado, here’s your weekly dispatch from the front lines of Substack growth—with the platform’s leading Growth Strategist, me. Usually, the best stuff is below the paywall.

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Today: What’s out (discounts over 25%, posts and more) what’s in (recap emails because your subscribers aren't always getting your posts), and what really makes a Substack go viral.

What’s out

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Remember to bookmark the Premier homepage so you can find everything.

Hi there!

Let the next incarnation of the Premier Membership begin!

Each quarter, we cycle through the three approaches we’re const…

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Stay ahead of the curve.

You don’t need more Substack information.

You need intel.

As the platform gets more (and more) crowded, the ones who soar will be the ones who stay ahead of the curve.

Substack Writers at Work is the insider’s guide—the only place where you get weekly behind-the-scenes dispatches of what I’m seeing in real-time with my clients and on the platform.

I started on Substack four years ago and fell in love with the platform. It was so different—someplace real that we could make our own and actually get paid for our work.

My agent introduced me to Substack’s Head of Writer Relations, who helped me understand Substack’s inner workings. I built my first bestselling, featured Substack.

Immediately, I wanted to help others do the same and more. Substack set me up to see private clients, and I’ve since become the world’s leading Substack Growth Strategist with clients ranging from CNN correspondents and organizations like PBS to those just starting out and everyone in between.

I founded Substack Writers at Work—a top-10, featured Substack with 36,000 subscribers and thousands of paid subscribers—to help people like you build an audience, produce your best work, and earn the income you deserve.

Here, you get the only proven framework—rooted in four years of pattern recognition and 1000+ case studies—that has helped my clients:

• double, triple, and 10x their subscribers

• significantly increase their revenue

• produce their best work

• build deep engagement with their subscribers

• create incredible opportunities off the platform—including book deals, multiple six-figure businesses, media spotlights, speaking engagements, and more

What we do here is real. No random theories or recycled internet/ChatGPT advice.

Substack Writers at Work is for people like you—those ready to quiet the how-to-do-Substack noise and invest in your Substack.

Paid subscribers receive:

• Weekly dispatches for a behind-the-scenes view into what really works and what’s really happening on Substack in 2026 (the best stuff is below the paywall)

• Up-to-the-minute intel to give you the direction, clarity, and confidence when you stay ahead of the curve on a crowded platform

• An insider’s view into how the biggest earners and names on Substack made growth easier in paid-subscriber-only Substack Lives

• My 2026 Substack Starter Pack to get you focused and prevent you from getting bogged down

• 24/7 Substack chat for support

Subscribe now

Over the past four years, I’ve devoted my life to Substack and to helping people like you.

As the world’s leading Substack Growth Strategist, I pour all my experience—including my work as a national bestselling author at HarperCollins; a freelance journalist at The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, et al.; and the twenty years I’ve taught in MFA programs at Northwestern University, The University of Iowa, and elsewhere—into helping you build something real, something that’s entirely you.

I live in Chicago with my two beloved cats—Sweets and Baby Theo. More than anything, I want a t-shirt that says, Ask me about my cats. (All typos in all posts are Baby Theo’s fault.)

Stay ahead of the curve—with me—always.

All my best,

Sarah

P.S. I help a limited number of writers and creators 1:1—find out more here.

I subsidize a 3-month paid subscription for anyone truly on a fixed income. If this is you, email me: sarah@substackwritersatwork.com.

What people are saying:

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