Technical note: recommendations are a property of a publication, not of an author; hence, if you own (or manage) multiple publications, you can recommend entirely different things on each of them.
Technical note #2: if 'Show recommendations on homepage' is enabled, up to 5 random will be shown. (There are publications that recommend hundreds of others)
As of 29-Feb-2024, if you are about to subscribe to a publication that makes a lot of recommendations, you are offered to follow 50 of those (expandable table) and subscribe to 3 of those (pre-expanded table). This is most likely a recent change and is behind the wave of new followers over the last few days.
Yes, thanks for these tips! Also, the recommendations list is auto-expanded, and as long as you 'Add' you get new recommendations daily (new change). I will add your first point under caveats and also share the 'blurb' showcased on the welcome screen, which i omitted earlier.
Super helpful, Jayshree! These subtle points of recommendations was on my to-study list — especially with this new set of features.
As an aside to our Projectkin... I can't say enough about Jayshree's writing. She's always pointing out these subtle technical details that can make a world of difference in presenting yourself and your work to subscribers. (5-⭐️) 😉
I totally agree Barbara. I say she is a GEM - (Going the Extra Mile) and I am so grateful I have learnt more from here and every day she makes me feel more confident about navigating on Substack. 5🌟 Indeed!!
I'm curious, though, as to whether Substack is more likely to recommend your publication if you have a large amount (or large percentage) of paid subscribers? It's in their interest to do so.
This is so much information Jayshree, I have to read it multiple times to decipher it. Thank you for explaining it in detail. I will be looking forward to your future publications.
I have a love/hate relationship with Recommendations. I love how I’ve grown my Substack through this feature. What I don’t like about the program is often times when I subscribe to an account I accidentally click adding extra substacks subscriptions I wouldn’t necessarily subscribe, so later I unsubscribe to them when I’m aware of my mistake. So that person loses a subscriber. I’m sure the same thing happens to me, and when I lose their subscription I’m at a loss. I’m careful now when I click through a Subscription I want to add so I’m not subscribing to more accounts.
Thank you Jayshree, this is very helpful! I have two questions. 1) How do you know if a new subscriber is a bot accounts or spam? 2) Is it better to recommend too many other publications? Does it do a dis-service to those publications if the reader sees too large amounts of recommended options?
The second question first: No, recommend as many as you like or even better, all of the ones shown - at any given time, Substack only shows 5 on the home page (as Rat also commented) and 3 during signups.
The benefit is other writers see you recommend them and reciprocate so your audience grows automatically over time.
Bot accounts display strange, inexplicable profiles and interestingly enough would appear strange to people - no other subscriptions, odd comments, names, etc. You will learn to spot them from genuine reader profiles. For now, the instance is low, so you don't need to worry. I delete my point on it above, as I will address the safety notes in a different post.
Thank you so much Jayshree for this in depth explanation of Recommendations, and how the new additions to that feature work. Very helpful information for everyone, especially new writers looking for more info on how to's here.
All of your tech posts are great Jayshree. So many writers start out here with no backend understanding of platforms like Substack. It can be so confusing and daunting. It's nice to know someone out there gets it and is willing to help explain!
You are welcome, Ann. Well, you can ignore some of this, and just learn to write notes (see my post), and add recommendations. The platform will do the rest. I am creating a guide for new writers - would that interest you to review and provide feedback offline before I make it available to everyone? If so, please direct message me in chat window, or email me at hellotechmadesimple@proton.me
Sure...if you want comments from an old --age and experience -- writer who is trying to figure out how to use modern media while avoiding brain freeze. (:
Oh yes definitely. I struggle with my learning curve too but Jayshree you are the best and you explain everything in such a manner that even I can understand it. 💝
Technical note: recommendations are a property of a publication, not of an author; hence, if you own (or manage) multiple publications, you can recommend entirely different things on each of them.
Technical note #2: if 'Show recommendations on homepage' is enabled, up to 5 random will be shown. (There are publications that recommend hundreds of others)
As of 29-Feb-2024, if you are about to subscribe to a publication that makes a lot of recommendations, you are offered to follow 50 of those (expandable table) and subscribe to 3 of those (pre-expanded table). This is most likely a recent change and is behind the wave of new followers over the last few days.
Yes, thanks for these tips! Also, the recommendations list is auto-expanded, and as long as you 'Add' you get new recommendations daily (new change). I will add your first point under caveats and also share the 'blurb' showcased on the welcome screen, which i omitted earlier.
Beautiful
Ah, thank you, Rat! I wondered what was triggering that variable I'd seen elsewhere.
Super helpful, Jayshree! These subtle points of recommendations was on my to-study list — especially with this new set of features.
As an aside to our Projectkin... I can't say enough about Jayshree's writing. She's always pointing out these subtle technical details that can make a world of difference in presenting yourself and your work to subscribers. (5-⭐️) 😉
Thank you, Barbara, and I will take the 5-stars gladly. A micro-win! :-)
I totally agree Barbara. I say she is a GEM - (Going the Extra Mile) and I am so grateful I have learnt more from here and every day she makes me feel more confident about navigating on Substack. 5🌟 Indeed!!
A cheat sheet would be very helpful.
I'm curious, though, as to whether Substack is more likely to recommend your publication if you have a large amount (or large percentage) of paid subscribers? It's in their interest to do so.
Got it on cheat sheet, thanks. Yes, they have to be considering it as you rightly suggest along with the total number of subscribers.
Jayshree this is such a very informative write up and I must confess, I have to read it again to better understand it’s terminology well.
Thank you for great information all the time!
Hi! If you are just starting out, the bottom line is to write Notes, and turn on recommendations. See my Notes post -
https://open.substack.com/pub/techmadesimpleguide/p/substack-notes-notes-notes?r=1si0oc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Jayshree, Thank you for trying to clear up online marketing. D
lol, I hope it was helpful to those new to it :-)
This is so much information Jayshree, I have to read it multiple times to decipher it. Thank you for explaining it in detail. I will be looking forward to your future publications.
Thanks Neera, so glad to hear it was helpful.
I have a love/hate relationship with Recommendations. I love how I’ve grown my Substack through this feature. What I don’t like about the program is often times when I subscribe to an account I accidentally click adding extra substacks subscriptions I wouldn’t necessarily subscribe, so later I unsubscribe to them when I’m aware of my mistake. So that person loses a subscriber. I’m sure the same thing happens to me, and when I lose their subscription I’m at a loss. I’m careful now when I click through a Subscription I want to add so I’m not subscribing to more accounts.
Recommendations are super helpful!
Thank you 🌺
You are welcome, thanks for sharing, Janet!
Thank you Jayshree, this is very helpful! I have two questions. 1) How do you know if a new subscriber is a bot accounts or spam? 2) Is it better to recommend too many other publications? Does it do a dis-service to those publications if the reader sees too large amounts of recommended options?
thanks Cherie.
The second question first: No, recommend as many as you like or even better, all of the ones shown - at any given time, Substack only shows 5 on the home page (as Rat also commented) and 3 during signups.
The benefit is other writers see you recommend them and reciprocate so your audience grows automatically over time.
Bot accounts display strange, inexplicable profiles and interestingly enough would appear strange to people - no other subscriptions, odd comments, names, etc. You will learn to spot them from genuine reader profiles. For now, the instance is low, so you don't need to worry. I delete my point on it above, as I will address the safety notes in a different post.
Great, thank you so much! I have a few subscribers who have no profile at all. Is that a worry? Appreciate all your help!
No, they just haven’t completed signups and are using your link or search results to explore and read.
I'd like the cheat sheet, please.
Thanks Kati, will post it next week.
Thank you so much Jayshree for this in depth explanation of Recommendations, and how the new additions to that feature work. Very helpful information for everyone, especially new writers looking for more info on how to's here.
Thanks for acknowledging it, Pamela, I am glad to hear it. I felt understanding how it works may help folks make better decisions.
All of your tech posts are great Jayshree. So many writers start out here with no backend understanding of platforms like Substack. It can be so confusing and daunting. It's nice to know someone out there gets it and is willing to help explain!
Thank you!
New-to-you and sending out a thank-you for doing this. It seems I have a rather steep learning curve ahead if I'm to be a Substack user.
You are welcome, Ann. Well, you can ignore some of this, and just learn to write notes (see my post), and add recommendations. The platform will do the rest. I am creating a guide for new writers - would that interest you to review and provide feedback offline before I make it available to everyone? If so, please direct message me in chat window, or email me at hellotechmadesimple@proton.me
Sure...if you want comments from an old --age and experience -- writer who is trying to figure out how to use modern media while avoiding brain freeze. (:
Ann
lol, I would welcome the feedback, I will DM you when it is ready. Thanks.
Oh yes definitely. I struggle with my learning curve too but Jayshree you are the best and you explain everything in such a manner that even I can understand it. 💝
You are welcome!
It's my pleasure