Notes are one of the best ways to gain more visibility and grow your list of subscribers.
But unfortunately, most creators don’t take full advantage of their potential because they treat Notes like a shorter version of their long-form articles.
Notes are a completely different content format, with completely different rules than long-form writing.
We learned this early on. When we first joined Substack, Notes were the very first thing we focused on.
Since then, Notes have brought us more than 10,000 new subscribers.
In this workshop, we share the exact short-form writing principles behind Notes that get seen, shared, and subscribed to - and we do a live review of actual Notes from our members.
Principle #1: Format for Easy Reading
Long sentences and paragraphs might work in an article, but in a Note, they get scrolled straight past.
Instead, format your Notes so they are easy to read. Use short, single-line sentences. Leave generous white space between them. Make use of bullet points, bold, or italics.
This is often the difference between a Note that gets seen and one that gets ignored.
The easier you make it to read, the more people will read it. The more people will read it, the more people will engage with it.
The more engagement your Note gets, the more the Substack algorithm will show it to people outside of your current audience.
Principle #2: Bold Your Key Message
Highlighting your most important words or lines in bold works as a pattern interrupt.
It catches the eye of someone scrolling fast, and it works almost like subheadings in a long-form piece.
If someone only reads the bold part of your Note, they should still be interested in reading the rest of the Note.
Don’t overdo it. Only once in your Note is enough.
Principle #3: One Note, One Idea
A common mistake we see with Notes is trying to pack too much into a single Note.
A Note should deliver one core message, idea, or takeaway. Those often work best.
Don’t treat Notes like mini-essays where you share or teach too much. Leave that for your long-form posts instead.
Principle #4: Open With a Strong Hook
The first sentence of your Note is your ‘hook’. Strong hooks draw attention, create curiosity, and pull the reader into the rest of the Note.
The best hooks are often blunt statements, contrarian claims, or questions that make you think.
If your hook makes some readers disagree, that’s not a problem. It means your work creates an emotional response.
It’s much worse if your Notes aren’t getting any reaction at all.
Principle #5: Use Visual Structure to Your Advantage
A short list with increasing numbers, or sentences arranged so they visually build on each other, instantly catches the eye.
Small formatting choices like arrows, icons, or symbols instead of standard bullet points can work the same way.
They’re pattern interrupts precisely because they’re less common.
Principle #6: Appeal To The Reader’s Emotions
Many of our best-performing Notes don’t teach anything practical. Instead, they’re encouraging, motivational, or resonate emotionally.
Notes that inspire, encourage, or resonate on an emotional level often get liked and restacked even more than practical advice.
Principle #7: Double Down on What Works
When a Note performs well, don’t treat it as a one-time event.
Simply repost the same Note again a month from now, because it will mostly be seen by new readers anyway (or it serves as a timely reminder for those who’ve already seen it earlier).
You can also take the format, the hook style, or the structure that worked, and create a slightly new variation of your winning Note.
If something is working, the data is telling you to do more of it, not to move on to something completely different.
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