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How To Publish A Post on Substack in 2024
Everything You Need to Know for Posting on Substack
Nicola Vaughan
December 16th, 2024
Substack is a platform you’ve probably heard of over the last couple of years given its rising popularity with bloggers and creators alike. It provides a user-friendly way of writing and distributing articles, but as with any platform, small issues can make publishing tricky.
If you’re struggling with posting on Substack, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive how-to guide for posting on Substack and troubleshooting tips to iron out any problems.
Table of Contents
How to Write a Post on Substack
Follow the below guide to learn how to post on Substack.
Login to your Substack account and click the Orange Plus Button on the left-hand side of the screen.
Select Longform Post.
Choose a Title and Subtitle for your piece.
Create your article in the ‘Start writing…’ section of the editor.
Use the formatting bar to edit the style and format of your text. You can also add the following elements:
Links
Images
Audio files
Videos
Quotes
Bullet points/numbered lists
Code
Dividers
Financial charts
Footnotes
LaTeX
Poetry
Polls
When your post is complete, click Preview to check you’re happy with how it looks, and click Continue once you’re happy.
Before publishing, you’ll need to complete the following sections before clicking the Send to everyone now button:
Who the post is for
Who you allow comments from
Tags
Social preview including title, subtitle, and image
Delivery
Scheduling
How to Post on Substack
Now that you know the basics for posting on Substack, let’s take a deeper dive into posting on this platform.
All posts that you create will automatically be saved as drafts before posting. Once you’re ready to publish a post, you can amend the following settings to tailor your new piece:
Scheduling: You can choose exactly what date and time you’d like to schedule your new post on the last page before publishing.
Audience Settings: It’s up to you whether you want your post to be sent to everyone, or paid subscribers only. This is a feature that needs to be manually activated within your Substack account.
Post-Publication Edits: If you need to update a post on Substack you can edit it, however, the post won’t be sent out again (unless you trigger this manually), and changes will only appear on the web version of your post.
Delivery: You can decide whether you would like your post to be sent to your contacts via email, or if you’d prefer for it to appear in the Substack app only.
Comments: You can opt to allow comments on your new Substack post, or disable them - the choice is yours!
Why Listen to Me? I have been working in the digital marketing space for nearly 10 years, predominantly helping brands with their email marketing and online presence. I now specialize in creating great content for beehiiv to help people nail their email strategies!
Why Can't I Post on Substack
If you’ve mastered the above steps but are still having issues posting on Substack, check out the following troubleshooting tips to get posting on Substack ASAP.
Check Your Internet Connection
This may seem like an obvious point but always double-check your internet connection if you’re having trouble posting on Substack.
A stable internet connection is essential for uninterrupted posting, so if your internet connection isn’t great it may be worth resetting your router to see if this makes a difference.
Verify Account Status
You may be unable to post on Substack because your account has not been verified.
When setting up a Substack account you’ll be asked for your email address. Substack will send a verification link to this email address which must be clicked before you can start posting on your account.
Check your inbox (and spam folders!) to see if you’ve missed this verification email and click on the link to start posting.
Browser Issues
Sometimes browser issues can prevent you from using platforms to their full potential.
This is particularly prevalent if you’re using an outdated version of a browser, for example.
Carry out the following steps to check whether your browser could be causing your problem with posting on Substack:
Clear Your Cache: Access your browsing history and select Clear Cache to ensure your browser is displaying the most up-to-date version of a web page.
Update Your Browser: Open your browser menu and look for which version you’re currently running. If you’re running an old version, you’ll likely see a button to update it.
Switch To A Different Browser: If you’ve tried the above steps and these haven’t worked, switch to a different browser altogether. You could try Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, for example.
Post Content and Formatting
Substack may not be allowing you to post because your content/formatting doesn’t align with its set of guidelines.
Take a look at the below sections to ensure your Substack post is adhering to these policies:
Plagiarism: Substack will not allow you to post content that has been written or created by somebody else. If they catch wind of this your post will likely be removed.
Hate/Harmful/Illegal Activities: Content inciting violence, hate speech, and harmful/illegal activities won’t be allowed to be published on Substack.
Spam/Phishing: Substack is anti-spam and anti-phishing, meaning that you must ensure your mailing lists contain contacts that have opted-in to receive your content. They also won’t allow content that is produced purely for spamming purposes. To generate more subscribers that opt-in from platforms such as social media, check out this beehiiv blog.
Marketing: Posts that are only created to advertise products/services aren’t permitted on Substack. They do allow companies to post on Substack, however, these accounts may need further verification for uninterrupted posting.
Nudity/Porn/Erotica: Content containing or eluding to nudity, porn, or erotica won’t be publishable on Substack and may be removed/hidden.
For a full list of Substack’s content/formatting guidelines, check out their Content Guidelines page here.
File Size and Type Limitations
Substack doesn’t allow all file sizes/types when it comes to uploading content within posts, which could be why you’re struggling to publish on Substack.
Substack’s limitations for file uploads in posts are as follows:
Images: Image files must be JPEG, PNG, or GIF formats to be postable on Substack, and the file must be no bigger than 10MB.
Videos: Accepted video types on Substack are 1080 p/2K or smaller, MP4, H.264, and AAC. The maximum size for a video file is 20GB.
Account Permissions
A Substack publication can have multiple authors/author permissions, which is useful for collaborative/multi-author Substack accounts such as businesses or commercial entities.
It may be that your permissions have been removed if you’re having trouble posting on Substack. Get in touch with the admin of a Substack publication to see if your permissions have been changed/removed to see if this is why you can’t post on Substack.
Contacting Substack Support
If you’ve tried the above troubleshooting tips, your next step would be to contact Substack support.
You can visit the Substack Support chat system here, or visit support.substack.com for FAQs and walkthroughs.
Final Thoughts
We hope that this article has helped you with your problems posting on the popular publishing platform Substack.
To summarize:
Follow the step-by-step guide for posting on Substack to check you’re completing each step required for creating a post.
Try out the different troubleshooting tips if you’re still having problems posting on Substack, such as checking your internet connection and browser issues, ensuring account permissions are correct, and that you’re adhering to Substack’s content guidelines.
If in doubt, contact Substack support for further advice.
If you’re looking for an alternative publishing platform that is easy to use, offers great support, and doesn’t have technical issues, check out beehiiv. Our system is designed specifically for custom newsletters, providing a range of features within a super user-friendly editor. You can experiment with audience segmentation, campaign analytics, and referral programs to help grow your follower base, as well as unlimited email sends and optimized deliverability.
You can also monetize your newsletter without spending a fortune on percentage fees. See how Christian Collard of Sunday Monday moved from Substack and other newsletter platforms to beehiiv via this blog post, hitting 25,000 subscribers in just 1 year.
Start a free 30-day trial with beehiiv today to gain access to all these features and make your publishing a more seamless, error-free experience.
If you already have a Substack account but are looking to switch to beehiiv, here’s a Substack to beehiiv migration guide to make this process a little easier.
For a full comparison of Substack alternatives, take a look at the beehiiv blog here!
Why Can't I Post on Substack and Other User Questions: Frequently Asked Questions
Check out the frequently asked questions below to learn more about using the Substack platform.
How Do I Publish a Post on Substack?
To publish a post on Substack, follow the how-to guide we’ve included at the beginning of the article above.
If you’re having trouble with this, make sure to read the troubleshooting tips to see if there are any other issues impacting your ability to post on Substack.
How Do I Unlock Posts on Substack?
You can unlock your paid newsletter on Substack and make it available to all subscribers by clicking Edit Post when logged into your Substack account.
Simply navigate to Settings on the post editor page and choose Everyone in the audience section. This will unlock the post and make it readable for both free and paid subscribers.
What are the Content Restrictions on Substack?
Substack restricts certain types of content on their platform to ensure the platform is safe and inclusive for everyone.
Content restrictions include the following:
Hate speech
Private information
Plagiarism
Impersonation
Harmful/illegal activities
Spam/phishing
Certain marketing/promotional content
Nudity/porn/erotica
For a full list of content guidelines and restrictions, check out a Substack resource here.
Can I Post on Substack For Free?
Substack is free to use - it won’t cost you a penny to create a post and send it to your subscribers.
However, you can decide to make content accessible by paid users only to monetize your content. Substack charges 10% of all paid subscription revenue generated if you use its paid content features.
How to Delete a Post on Substack?
To delete a post on Substack, follow the below set of instructions:
Find the post that you want to delete within the Substack dashboard.
Click on the three dots underneath the title of the post.
Select Edit Post.
Click Settings.
Select Delete Post.
It’s important to bear in mind that deleting a post will remove it from your Substack account permanently, and it won’t be accessible or available to edit in the future.
If you think you may want to access this post down the line, choose Unpublish Post instead of Delete Post in your Substack Post Settings. Instead of deleting the post permanently, this will move it to the Drafts folder and will no longer be visible to subscribers.
For a full guide on how to delete a Substack post, check out this help guide.
What is the Best Time to Post on Substack?
The best time to post on Substack will depend on your industry and subscriber demographics.
For example, if you’re targeting professionals in the New York area, you may want to post while your audience is on their daily commute and have time to browse/engage with their latest Substack posts. You’ll need to check the time zone for New York and ensure you’re sending between 6 am and 9 am to land your post in subscriber inboxes at the correct time.
Think about when your subscribers are most likely to be reading their emails/Substack accounts to determine the best time to post on your Substack account to maximize engagement.
How Do I Troubleshoot Issues with the Substack Website?
For troubleshooting issues with the Substack website, check out our general troubleshooting steps above. These include solutions for browser problems, Substack guidelines, account status verification, and file size limitations.
If you’re still having trouble, reach out to Substack directly via support.substack.com and they should be able to help.
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