I just took my private Substack public after populating it for 10 months in front of a small audience of friends (l used a paywall and then comped free subscribers with a paid account, a little hacky but it worked).
Definitely recommend, especially if you're just trying to find your voice and/or getting into the habit of regularly publishing for an audience.
Love all the community features. On the app side, it would be great to enable voice transcription to draft multiple posts. That way writers can work on content on anywhere!
I started my newsletter in private mode for a few months while I was getting started and it gave me a chance to experiment, make changes, and find my path forward without distractions. I love it, and I'd definitely use it for more personal, intimate newsletters as well.
May not be possible, but "private mode" for individual sections within a newsletter could be worthwhile...
Okay so for people wondering how this works and benefits other than “the cool kids” social media-esque exclusivity:
I made another substack earlier this month documenting the feelings and motions I’ve been going through since my mom passed last month.
I wanted it to be private, but didn’t have that option. I just wanted small groups I trusted who were also caregivers for loved ones to see it because I wasn’t trying to market it or anything; they were literally my own thoughts and feelings during a pretty vulnerable time.
I think it’ll help for moments like that, or like if you truly wanted to just have a substack for a small group you could make it private so people didn’t have to pay for a more casual substack that has a smaller, more intimate audience.
I loved substack too much to write anywhere else to share those thoughts!
This is an epic new feature!! It helps me feel more comfortable writing so vulnerably to the community of 'Explorers' as I call them. I felt in my last post (my most vulnerable post to date) I had triple the number of views as I did subscribers and I know it was because curious people off my social media wanted to snoop and read - but not subscribe. If they are interested, I hope they are invested to be apart of the wonderful community of explorers. I appreciate this feature for my Substack sooo much! https://www.thehumanatlas.live/
Thanks! Perfect, I’m checking it out!! I’m guessing that this new feature will be a big hit because so many of us are on Facebook Fumes and have no interest wading into Twitter or joining other social media platforms like Social, Getter, etc. This option is promising for quality not quantity in content.
This is a cool idea! I hope though that this doesn’t lend itself toward more and more of a social media app. But a neat way of engaging people into the Substack world.
I have an active substack but would like to make it private. I don't see that option in the settings. Can someone please help? I followed the instructions but I don't see the option.
My undergraduates use invitation-only Substacks in my introductory journalism course. This allows them to practice weekly publishing and develop newsletters without exposing their experiments or identities to the entire internet. We all invite the rest of the class. Some invite family or friends too. Most students wind down their publications at the end of the semester, but a few go public and continue after the course ends.
Love this! I’m sure lots of people will put private Substacks to good use. Equally cool, a product like private will bring more readers to the Substack network, which is good for growing writers.
Can public Substackers make private Substack part of their web sites? What if someone wants private Substacks for family, friends, close neighbors, colleagues etc. How would they set that home. Can you create home pages like we have in our newsletters?
Could this work like a private tab or would the whole Substack be private?
I mean, there’s already levels of exclusivity with free and paid. This seems like a velvet rope for the cool kids. I guess I’m just puzzled by this. Seems like (again) bigger substacks would benefit from this especially if they get a lot of trolls.
My substack needs to be ultra-non-private. I need a Substack that is viral.
Dang, my account must be set to private by accident because I’m writing into a journal apparently.
In all seriousness though that’s a great feature to get comfortable before going live, I like that idea!
I just took my private Substack public after populating it for 10 months in front of a small audience of friends (l used a paywall and then comped free subscribers with a paid account, a little hacky but it worked).
Definitely recommend, especially if you're just trying to find your voice and/or getting into the habit of regularly publishing for an audience.
Love all the community features. On the app side, it would be great to enable voice transcription to draft multiple posts. That way writers can work on content on anywhere!
I started my newsletter in private mode for a few months while I was getting started and it gave me a chance to experiment, make changes, and find my path forward without distractions. I love it, and I'd definitely use it for more personal, intimate newsletters as well.
May not be possible, but "private mode" for individual sections within a newsletter could be worthwhile...
Okay so for people wondering how this works and benefits other than “the cool kids” social media-esque exclusivity:
I made another substack earlier this month documenting the feelings and motions I’ve been going through since my mom passed last month.
I wanted it to be private, but didn’t have that option. I just wanted small groups I trusted who were also caregivers for loved ones to see it because I wasn’t trying to market it or anything; they were literally my own thoughts and feelings during a pretty vulnerable time.
I think it’ll help for moments like that, or like if you truly wanted to just have a substack for a small group you could make it private so people didn’t have to pay for a more casual substack that has a smaller, more intimate audience.
I loved substack too much to write anywhere else to share those thoughts!
This is an epic new feature!! It helps me feel more comfortable writing so vulnerably to the community of 'Explorers' as I call them. I felt in my last post (my most vulnerable post to date) I had triple the number of views as I did subscribers and I know it was because curious people off my social media wanted to snoop and read - but not subscribe. If they are interested, I hope they are invested to be apart of the wonderful community of explorers. I appreciate this feature for my Substack sooo much! https://www.thehumanatlas.live/
Thanks! Perfect, I’m checking it out!! I’m guessing that this new feature will be a big hit because so many of us are on Facebook Fumes and have no interest wading into Twitter or joining other social media platforms like Social, Getter, etc. This option is promising for quality not quantity in content.
THIS is brilliant!!
This is a cool idea! I hope though that this doesn’t lend itself toward more and more of a social media app. But a neat way of engaging people into the Substack world.
Thank you for this! I would love to have a way to create private posts, or private sections of a public substack, if possible.
I have an active substack but would like to make it private. I don't see that option in the settings. Can someone please help? I followed the instructions but I don't see the option.
My undergraduates use invitation-only Substacks in my introductory journalism course. This allows them to practice weekly publishing and develop newsletters without exposing their experiments or identities to the entire internet. We all invite the rest of the class. Some invite family or friends too. Most students wind down their publications at the end of the semester, but a few go public and continue after the course ends.
Love this! I’m sure lots of people will put private Substacks to good use. Equally cool, a product like private will bring more readers to the Substack network, which is good for growing writers.
Can public Substackers make private Substack part of their web sites? What if someone wants private Substacks for family, friends, close neighbors, colleagues etc. How would they set that home. Can you create home pages like we have in our newsletters?
Could this work like a private tab or would the whole Substack be private?
I mean, there’s already levels of exclusivity with free and paid. This seems like a velvet rope for the cool kids. I guess I’m just puzzled by this. Seems like (again) bigger substacks would benefit from this especially if they get a lot of trolls.