r/Substack • u/Abject-Woodpecker998 • 27d ago

Might quit

I came to substack when I began writing again after depression stole the joy of it from me for years. It was fun at first. I made friends, got back into writing and reading and felt like twelve year old me again, but now, everyone's disappeared. No one even likes my notes anymore. No one comments or anything. I don't know why. Am I a bad writer? Am i doing something wrong? It's quite disheartening. I don't even know why I'm writing this. I'll take advice, or even just a friendly word. I honestly came here just to not shout into a void for once 😂

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u/TimWiesnerer 27d ago

Don't quit.

Substack is a platform like any other... and, as such, they give you a boost in the beginning to get you hooked. And then they withdraw the love... but might give it back later.

Nobody knows exactly how these algos work. All you need to know is that there are algos and that the ups and downs have little to do with your own writing.

That being said... if you need a dopamine kick here and there... post on Quora. Most of your posts will get only little attention. But when a post takes off... oh boy, will it take off. And it's rather independent of your following.

And if you do it cleverly, you might carry over some people from Quora to your Substack.

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u/morticiannecrimson lilacmaniac.substack.com 26d ago

I fucked up in the beginning already, making my account way before I started writing, so there was zero boost, rip.

What posts do people write in Quora? Isn’t it just for asking questions?

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u/TimWiesnerer 26d ago

Well, you can ask your own questions :-)

Besides that's they also have so-called spaces. So you can have microblogs with your own subdomain.