Why newsletters are back
Social media feeds are crowded, algorithms change overnight, and reach can disappear without warning. A newsletter is different. When someone subscribes, you can reach their inbox directly, and you own that relationship. That is why so many writers, founders, and brands have returned to long-form newsletters, and why Substack has become one of the most popular places to publish them.
What Substack is
Substack is a publishing platform that combines a newsletter, a website, and a community in one place. You write posts that are emailed to subscribers and published on a simple web page. Readers can comment, recommend other newsletters, and discover writers through Substack's network. You can keep everything free or offer paid subscriptions.
What Substack does well
It is simple. You can start writing in minutes without designing templates or managing an email tool.
It has built-in discovery. Substack's recommendations and network can introduce your writing to readers who would never have found your website.
It feels personal. Substack culture favours thoughtful, opinionated writing from real people, which suits founders and experts well.
Your list is yours. You can export your subscriber list, so you are not locked in.
Substack or a regular email newsletter?
Choose Substack if the newsletter is mainly about ideas and perspective, especially from a founder or expert, and you want discovery, community, and simplicity.
Choose a traditional email tool if the newsletter is mainly about products, offers, and customer communication, or if you need advanced automation, segmentation, and close integration with your website, store, or CRM.
Many brands use both: a founder's thinking on Substack, and customer and product emails through their regular email platform.
What founders and brands can write about
The best newsletters have a clear promise. Readers should know exactly what they will get and why it is worth their time. Some ideas that work:
- A founder's notebook: lessons from building the company, honest decisions, and what you are learning.
- Industry analysis: what is changing in your field and what it means, explained clearly.
- Practical guides: step-by-step advice your customers can use, such as a monthly playbook.
- Curated insight: the most important news or ideas in your niche, with your take on each.
- Behind the craft: how your products are made, sourced, or designed.
How to start a Substack people actually read
- Define the promise. One sentence on who it is for and what they get.
- Pick a realistic rhythm. Weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. Consistency matters more than frequency.
- Write five ideas before you launch. If you cannot list five, the promise is too narrow.
- Make the first post strong. It will be shared most and sets expectations.
- Invite your existing network. Customers, LinkedIn connections, and colleagues are your first readers.
- Share excerpts elsewhere. Turn each issue into LinkedIn and X posts that link back. Our guide on turning one idea into a week of content shows how.
- Recommend and collaborate. Cross-recommendations with related newsletters help both grow.
Mistakes that make newsletters fizzle out
Starting weekly and running out of steam by issue four. Writing only about your company instead of what readers care about. Treating it as a sales channel from the first issue. Long, unfocused posts with no clear point. And never promoting it, assuming people will find it on their own.
How it fits your wider content
A newsletter works best as the deep end of your content: social posts attract attention, and the newsletter builds lasting relationships. It also feeds your website, your LinkedIn presence, and your founder-led content. Our post on how to start a business newsletter covers the broader email side.
Newsletters at Outlier Labs
At Outlier Labs, we run email and Substack newsletters for founders and brands: defining the promise, interviewing founders, writing each issue in their voice, and turning it into posts for LinkedIn and other channels. If you have more to say than your social posts can hold, tell us about it.
