5 Substack features most creators ignore

Smarter Substack | Jun 2, 2026

Most creators use about half of Substack — the publish button and maybe Notes. The other half is where the growth actually compounds.

Here’s what’s worth your time today:

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📈 Growth

5 Substack Features That Will Dramatically Boost Your Visibility — Most creators scroll past the tools that actually build audiences: guest posts that land directly in inboxes, recommendations running on autopilot, co-hosted Lives that double your reach. This breakdown covers the five features used to grow Write • Build • Scale to 48,000+ subscribers.

👉 Listen here

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🧠 Strategy

Behind the Substack Hype: Where Things Actually Stand — The “Substack Coachella” summit generated plenty of noise — this piece cuts through it and looks at what 2026 has actually revealed: writing held its ground over video, Notes became the real discovery engine, and the pure subscription model is hitting real friction.

👉 Read it here

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💰 Monetization

Stop “Turning On Paid”. Start Planning Your Paid Tier Experience — The real question isn’t when to launch a paid tier — it’s what experience you’re building for the people who upgrade. This reframes the whole decision and gives a clearer path from free posts to a paid tier that actually converts.

👉 Read it here

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P.S. Want done-for-you Notes templates for every day of the year? The 365 Notes Templates give you a daily prompt for every single day — never stare at a blank screen again.