Figuring Out Substack While Everyone Is Trying to Game Substack

I’ve been writing and posting on Substack pretty consistently recently. It’s the first time in years that I’ve shared my thoughts publicly, and I’m still experimenting. I don’t have a niche. I’m not trying to become a “productivity writer” or a “founder newsletter.” I’m just writing.

But Substack today is an interesting place to start.
There are a lot of writers, and not as many readers. There’s also this growing trend where creators sell frameworks on how to get more subscribers, how to grow faster, how to optimize content. It feels like people are teaching each other how to win the platform rather than how to write.

That creates a strange tension.

Independent writing has always been strongest when it’s protected from outside pressure. Indie films, indie music, indie art—they hit differently because they’re made outside the system. But independent creators also need places where people actually gather, and today most readers live on the large platforms. Substack sits in the middle of that conflict.

As a new writer, I can already feel both sides.
I want visibility, but I don’t want to shape my voice around metrics or growth tips. I want to explore ideas, not fit myself into a box that performs well according to the algorithm. I want my writing to stay honest, even if that means slower growth.

It’s also clear that platforms change once they get crowded. They start pushing whatever is easiest to recommend. Predictable formats rise to the top, and more experimental writing sinks unless it happens to catch attention organically. None of this is personal. It’s just how platforms operate when the volume of content becomes overwhelming.

So I’m entering Substack at this exact moment when authenticity and algorithms are beginning to push against each other. And because I haven’t chosen a niche yet, the pressure to define myself shows up sooner. It would be easy to pick a category and play the game. But that would defeat the whole point of why I’m writing in the first place.

For now, I’m choosing to treat Substack as a place to explore. Not a brand. Not a growth channel. A space to think out loud while I’m still figuring out what ideas matter to me. If a direction eventually appears, it will appear because the writing led me there, not because I optimized my way into it.

That feels like the only sustainable approach for me at this stage: use the platform, but don’t let it decide what my writing should become.