This Might Be A Better Growth Strategy Than Most 'Gurus' Charge Money For

Here's why you should start recommending Substack publications you enjoy.

The internet is screaming at writers to “Get on Substack!” And then you’re left standing at the front door waiting for directions. Now what?

One of the most underused features on Substack is quietly sitting in your dashboard sidebar, like a polite houseguest nobody bothered to introduce.

This feature is called Recommendations.

Most writers understand that Substack has a “recommend” feature, but few actually use it strategically. Many overlook it completely because growth hackers are telling you that growth only comes from going viral on Notes.

They are “selling” you FOMO.

Meanwhile, you’re missing out on a genuine (and FREE) growth opportunity and I’m here with PROOF to show you.

Recommendations are one of a few built-in discovery tools Substack provides. The platform is literally offering to help you grow your audience if you play along.

Here’s how to find recommendations:

Go to your dashboard, then scroll down the left sidebar until you see Recommendations.

Click on it and it’ll take you to a page where you can see your incoming and outgoing recommendations.

Below are screenshots of my incoming recs, to show you the potential power of a single recommendation!

Just look at how many subscribers The Biblical Man’s recommendation brought me! THIS is why you should pay attention to recommendations, both ways. You just never know!

And then we have our outgoing recs, which is where YOU get to recommend others. All you need to do is click the ‘Add recommendation’ button and type in the name of the publication you’d like to recommend.

LOOK how many new subscribers I have sent to others just by recommending them!

Screenshot from Unstack Substack’s outgoing recommendations.

If you have more than one publication, you can even recommend your own! The one called Homebody(ish) Magazine you see in the screenshot above is a new one of mine and I’m trying to build it up a little more. As you can see, it’s working with the help of recommendations.

The recommendation relationship goes both ways.

There’s a networking aspect to recommendations that you might not be aware of. When you recommend another writer, it opens the door for them to notice you because Substack notifies them of your recommendation.

Then, they may choose to read your work and potentially recommend you in return. Over time, these relationships form small networks that help each other grow.

Do NOT recommend someone just because you want one back.

The key is to be genuine. Recommend them because you actually read and enjoy their work. When that’s the case, the introduction feels natural instead of transactional.

I have received DMs asking me to recommend them and it feels slimy and fake.

Another mistake I see writers make is setting their recommendations once and forgetting about them forever (GUILTY!! 🙋‍♀️)

Your publication evolves over time. The writers you love reading will evolve too. It’s worth revisiting your recommendations every few months and asking yourself if they still represent what you want your readers to discover next.

If you’re serious about growing on Substack, recommendations shouldn’t be an afterthought; they should be part of your ongoing strategy.

Plus…kindness and paying it forward always win in the end. 😊

Have you been utilizing your recommendations to their fullest potential? Will you start now?

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🔶🔶🔶 In case you missed our most popular post of ALL-TIME…here it is! And there’s a secret tip about recommendations in there as well…