How to Use Substack Step by Step (Beginner Guide)

Learning how to use Substack step by step (beginner guide) is one of the fastest paths to a working newsletter in 2025. Sign up for free, name your publication, write your first post, and hit publish — the whole process takes under an hour. Earning money from it takes longer, but the mechanics are straightforward from day one.

Photo: Israel Torres (Pexels)

This guide covers every stage: setup, writing, growing your list, enabling paid subscriptions, and deciding when Substack is the right tool versus a dedicated email platform.

What Substack is — and what it isn’t

Substack is a hosted newsletter platform that doubles as a basic blog. Every post you publish lives at a public URL and lands in subscribers’ inboxes. You don’t manage hosting, deliverability, or a WordPress plugin stack.

What Substack is not: a full email marketing suite. You get no automated sequences, no visual funnel builder, no deep segmentation. If you need those features, platforms like Kit (formerly ConvertKit) or ActiveCampaign are better fits. Substack shines for writers who want to publish and get paid without technical overhead.

Substack’s free plan takes 10% of paid subscription revenue. There are no monthly fees until you charge readers.

Steps to use Substack as a beginner

Step 1: Create your account and claim your subdomain

Go to substack.com and click Start writing. Sign up with an email address or Google account.

During setup, you’ll choose a publication name and a subdomain — for example, yourbrand.substack.com. Pick this carefully. The subdomain appears in every email you send and every link you share. You can change the display name later, but changing the subdomain is more disruptive.

Tip: Keep the subdomain short, readable, and consistent with your brand. If you eventually move to a custom domain (available free in Substack settings), the subdomain becomes invisible to readers anyway.

Step 2: Configure your publication settings

Before writing anything, spend 10 minutes on settings. Under Publication details, fill in:

• Description — one or two sentences explaining who the newsletter is for and what readers get. This text appears on your public page and in Google search results.
• Logo and cover image — a clean square logo (at least 256×256 px) and a wide cover image (1920×1080 px recommended).
• Publication language and category — helps Substack’s internal discovery algorithm surface your newsletter to the right readers.

Under Email settings, set your sender name and reply-to address. Readers see the sender name in their inbox before they open the email, so make it recognizable — your name, your brand name, or both.

Step 3: Write and publish your first post

Click New post from your dashboard. The editor is a clean, distraction-free interface. You have:

• Rich text formatting (bold, italic, headers, bullets)
• Image and video embeds
• Dividers and button elements
• A paywall toggle (for paid-subscriber-only sections)

Write a short welcome post as your first piece. It doesn’t need to be long — 300 to 500 words works. Introduce yourself, explain what the newsletter covers, and tell readers how often you’ll publish. This sets expectations and reduces future unsubscribes.

Before hitting Publish, check the Email tab inside the post editor. This controls the subject line and preview text readers see in their inbox. Subject lines under 50 characters typically display fully on mobile — keep them tight.

Hit Publish and choose whether to send immediately or schedule. Substack sends the email automatically to all subscribers.

Step 4: Set up your publication structure

Substack lets you create Sections — essentially separate newsletters under one account, each with its own subscriber list and posting schedule. For most beginners, one section is enough.

If you plan to cover multiple distinct topics (say, a weekly essay and a monthly deep-dive), sections let you keep them organized without running separate accounts.

You can also create Threads (short-form posts, similar to social updates) and Podcasts (audio posts with automatic RSS feeds for Apple Podcasts and Spotify). These are free to use and extend reach beyond the inbox.

Step 5: Grow your subscriber list

Substack gives you a public page, a referral program, and a recommendation network — but you still need to actively drive traffic. Key tactics:

• Import existing contacts. Under Subscribers → Import, you can upload a CSV of email addresses. Anyone you import becomes a free subscriber. They receive a notification email — so only import people who genuinely opted in elsewhere.
• Share individual posts on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or relevant online communities. Link to the web version of your post, not just your homepage.
• Activate the Substack referral program. In Settings → Referrals, you can reward readers who refer new subscribers with free months of your paid tier or exclusive posts.
• Get recommended by other Substack writers. The platform’s recommendation feature lets you recommend newsletters you read, and they can recommend you back. This cross-pollination is one of Substack’s stronger growth levers.
• Add a subscribe form off-platform. Substack provides an embeddable subscribe widget (a small iframe) you can drop into a WordPress site or a simple landing page.

Step 6: Enable paid subscriptions

Go to Settings → Payments and connect a Stripe account. Once connected, you can set a monthly price (Substack’s default suggestion is $5–$10/month) and an annual price (typically 15–20% off monthly to incentivize annual plans).

After enabling payments, every new post you write has a paywall toggle. Drag it between the section you want free subscribers to read and the section you want to reserve for paid subscribers.

A common structure: publish the first 40% of a post free, put the rest behind the paywall. This gives casual readers a taste and converts curious readers into paying ones.

Substack takes 10% of gross revenue plus Stripe’s processing fee (approximately 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). On a $7/month subscription, you keep roughly $6.02 before taxes.

Step 7: Review your analytics and iterate

Substack’s analytics dashboard shows:

• Open rate per post
• Click rate per post
• Subscriber growth over time (free vs. paid split)
• Paid subscription revenue (monthly run rate, churn)

Check these after every post. If open rates drop below 30%, your subject lines or send frequency may need adjustment. If click rates are low, your calls to action inside posts need work. Use the data to adjust — not to panic.

Substack vs. other newsletter platforms

How does Substack compare to the dedicated email tools on this site? The table below covers the most relevant options for bloggers and content creators.

Our take: Substack is the right call if your primary monetization path is paid subscriptions and you don’t need automated sequences. The moment you want to sell a course, run a welcome sequence, or segment readers by behavior, Kit or ActiveCampaign will serve you better — even though they cost more upfront.

Common beginner mistakes on Substack

Publishing inconsistently. Substack’s discovery algorithm and reader retention both depend on regular output. Pick a schedule — weekly, biweekly — and stick to it for at least 90 days before evaluating.

Enabling paid subscriptions too early. Most experienced newsletter writers recommend waiting until you have at least 200–500 engaged free subscribers before asking for money. A conversion rate of 2–5% is realistic on Substack [verify], which means 500 free subscribers might yield 10–25 paid ones.

Writing for a too-broad audience. “General productivity tips” competes with thousands of newsletters. A tighter focus — “productivity for freelance designers” or “weekly finance notes for teachers” — converts better and stands out in recommendations.

Neglecting the welcome email. You can set an automated welcome email in Settings → Emails → Welcome email. This is the one email that gets the highest open rate you’ll ever see. Use it to deliver your best post, set expectations, and direct readers to your archive.

When Substack is not the right tool

Substack doesn’t support:

• Drip sequences or automated email courses — if your lead magnet is a 7-day email course, you need Kit, GetResponse, or ActiveCampaign.
• Tagging and segmentation — you can’t send different emails to readers based on what links they clicked or what they bought.
• Landing page A/B testing — there’s one subscriber page format, no variants.
• Integration with external tools via native API — Substack does connect to Zapier, but options are limited compared to dedicated platforms.

If your business model involves affiliate marketing with segmented promotions, digital product launches, or a sales funnel, build your list on a platform that supports those workflows. Substack can still serve as a public-facing content hub, but your business-critical list should live somewhere you own fully.

Frequently asked questions

Is Substack really free to use?

Substack is free to use indefinitely. You pay nothing unless you turn on paid subscriptions, at which point Substack takes 10% of revenue. For a writer earning $500/month in subscriptions, that’s $50 to Substack plus Stripe fees. There are no monthly platform fees.

How many subscribers do you need before enabling paid subscriptions?

There’s no hard rule, but a common recommendation among experienced newsletter writers is to reach 300–500 engaged free subscribers first. With a 2–5% conversion rate, that gives you 6–25 paid subscribers — enough to validate the model before spending time on a paywall strategy.

Can I move my Substack list to another platform later?

Yes. Substack lets you export your subscriber list as a CSV at any time from Settings → Subscribers → Export. You own your list and can import it into Kit, ActiveCampaign, or any other platform. This is an important reason not to fear starting on Substack — you’re not locked in.

Does Substack help you get new subscribers organically?

Substack has a built-in recommendations network and a reader-facing discovery section. Writers do report organic subscriber growth from these features, but the volume varies widely. Most newsletters with significant audiences also promote their work outside the platform — through social media, podcast appearances, or SEO-optimized blog content.

What’s the difference between a free post and a paid post on Substack?

A free post goes to all subscribers (and is publicly visible). A paid post — or a post with a paywall divider — delivers the full content only to paid subscribers. Free subscribers see a preview and a prompt to upgrade. You control the paywall placement inside each post individually.

Now you have a complete picture of how to use Substack step by step (beginner guide) — from account setup to paid subscriptions to knowing when another platform fits better. The practical path: set up your account today, publish three free posts on a consistent schedule, then revisit the paid subscription question once you have real reader data.

For writers focused on building a content-first audience without technical complexity, Substack removes most of the friction. For marketers who need automation and segmentation from day one, pair Substack’s public archive with a dedicated email tool running behind the scenes.

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