Writing Into the Quiet, Hoping Someone Is There

My Substack is still quiet sometimes, but it no longer feels empty.

Hey fellow Stackers, happy weekend!

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

When I first came to Substack, I cared about one thing more than anything else: Growth.

More subscribers. More views. More comments. More signs that my writing had reached someone.

My thinking was simple at the time: if I wrote good articles, they would eventually find the readers who loved them.

But it did not happen that simply.

Many posts were quiet after I published them.

Sometimes I wondered if the writing simply was not good enough. Maybe the title was not interesting enough. Maybe the cover image was not attractive enough.

And of course, some of that may be true. I am still working on improving my writing.

But when my account was barely growing, I started asking myself:

Besides continuing to write, what else can I do?

So I started reading about Substack growth.

Use Notes. Improve your About page. Choose the right categories. Restack interesting work. Comment more.

None of this advice was wrong.

In fact, a lot of it helped.

I started posting Notes more consistently too. Sometimes three to five a day. I tried to make the content richer, and I tried to show up more often on the platform.

But honestly, even now, I still do not think I am doing this very well.

Quality matters much more than quantity.

At first, Notes did bring my account more exposure.

But exposure is not connection.

Many times, there were no likes, no comments, and no replies.

It felt like being stranded on a lonely island, drawing patterns in the sand with a stick, hoping someone far away might see them.

Then the wind came and nothing happened.

Later, I slowly realized that Substack may not be a platform that simply pushes content to strangers through an algorithm.

Many people come here perhaps because they are already tired of endlessly scrolling through feeds on X, TikTok, or other platforms.

They do not necessarily want more and more content chasing after them. They do not necessarily want to stay in a state of reacting quickly, swiping quickly, and forgetting quickly.

So on Substack, content is certainly important.

But simply putting content out there and waiting for an algorithm to push it to more people may not be enough.

That was when I started trying to meet more creators.

But I made a mistake there too.

When socializing is only about traffic, growth, or being noticed, everything slowly starts to lose its taste.

That kind of socializing does not create real connection.

It is also hard to build trust that way. Instead, it can make you feel tired.

To meet more people, I once tried to leave as many comments as possible on other people’s work.

But with that mindset, many of those comments were actually rough.

A thank-you.

A compliment.

A “great post.”

They looked like interaction, but they rarely opened a real conversation.

Comments like that do not bring much value to the person you want to connect with, or to yourself.

They may bring some short-term exposure. During that time, my account did get more daily views.

But still, not many people chose to stay.

Later, I realized the reason was simple:

They came. But they did not find a reason to stay.

That reason can take many forms.

Maybe your content is interesting.

Maybe your article solves a problem they have.

Maybe they believe you will continue to provide some kind of value in the future.

But no matter what the reason is, behind it there is one thing: Trust.

On Substack, subscribing is not a completely light action.

It is not the same as simply clicking “follow.”

Subscribing means someone is willing to give you their email address and let your writing enter their inbox.

And no one easily gives their home address to a stranger.

So I started to feel that what truly matters on Substack is not only how to be seen by more people, but how to become someone people are willing to trust.

Trust often comes from real connection.

So what creates real connection?

I still do not have a perfect answer. I am still learning.

But I have started to notice three things.

1. Make your replies more specific.

If I truly want to get to know a creator, the best way is not to leave a vague compliment, but to carefully read their work and say specifically which part touched me.

A comment like that is not just about showing up. It is about truly responding to a person.

For me, every comment I receive from others makes me happy. Especially when someone can really say what they read, the feeling is completely different.

A new subscriber is, of course, exciting.

But a sincere comment makes me feel even more that what I am doing has meaning.

2. Make your value clearer and more unique.

As a newsletter platform, the most important thing on Substack is still content and value.

For example, Lenny’s value comes from his deep understanding of product, startups, and the industry. His readers know why they read him, because he consistently provides insights that are difficult to replace.

For small creators like us, it may not be easy at first to immediately find that kind of clear value.

I am still searching for mine too.

I believe every person has value. Every unique individual has their own stories, experiences, perspectives, and concerns.

But the question is, we need to slowly find a way to let others know:

What do you care about?

What can you write about consistently?

What can you bring to others?

Why should they come back to read you?

For me, one thing I am fairly sure about now is that I enjoy discovering creator stories, and I enjoy finding interesting and inspiring things inside those stories.

That is also the value I am currently trying to provide.

Also, I am working on some software tools related to creators. If you have ever run into any problems while creating on Substack, or if there is some small problem you wish could be solved, you are very welcome to tell me.

I may not be able to build everything, but I will seriously see whether I can help in some small way.

3. Find what you truly care about.

Is what we truly care about really just the subscriber count?

Of course, subscriber count matters.

No creator can honestly say they do not care about growth at all. More subscribers mean your articles can reach more people. It also means you are slowly building your own space.

But if you had tens of thousands of subscribers and almost no real response, compared with having only a small number of subscribers but receiving thoughtful replies almost every time you spoke, I think I would be more moved by the latter.

Because the latter makes me feel that I am not speaking into empty air.

That kind of response is small, but powerful.

It is a bit like the “ding” sound when you collect a coin in a Mario game.

It makes you feel happy.

So I increasingly feel that what we truly care about is not only the number itself, but the real people behind the number.

What do they need?

Why are they willing to reply?

Why are they willing to give you their email address?

Later, I began using a very simple standard to remind myself:

Be a real person.

A sense of realness can slowly turn a creator from an “account” into a person.

This is also my biggest feeling about Substack now.

At first, I came here looking for growth.

But now, I am starting to understand that growth is not the whole story. What keeps me here is the real connection I slowly find with other people.

Because the longer I stay here, the more I feel that what makes Substack truly special is that some readers and creators slowly emerge from the numbers.

At first, they are just an avatar.

Later, you remember a name.

You know what they are writing about.

You know what they care about.

You know they are also exploring, also trying, and also looking for their own readers.

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I am very glad to have come to such a warm platform as Substack.

And thank you so much for reading this far.

If you are willing to share some of your own story, I would be very happy to become your reader.