The Step-by-Step Guide to Using Newsletter Recommendations to Grow Your Substack

This can bring you 100s or even 1000s of new subscribers completely on autopilot.

In a recent podcast episode, I shared why newsletter recommendations are one of the most powerful (and underrated) growth features on Substack.

In short, they can bring in hundreds or even thousands of highly relevant subscribers completely on autopilot.

(For us at Write • Build • Scale, this feature brought in 8,000+ new subscribers with very minimal effort.)

In today’s article, we’re diving deeper into the newsletter recommendation feature.

Step-by-step, I’ll walk you through:

• How to find Substack newsletters with your ideal audience

• How to set up your publication so others want to recommend it

• What messages you should send to get more newsletter recommendations (including a word-for-word script)

• How to handle the technical steps to set up recommendations the right way

Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Make Sure You Have a Publication Worth Recommending

Before you reach out to anyone, this needs to be said:

If your profile and publication aren’t in order yet, newsletter recommendations won’t work.

Or better said, you’ll have trouble getting others to recommend your newsletter.

Imagine this from the other creator’s perspective.

They click on your profile and see:

• No profile picture (or a random logo)

• An unclear bio

• A messy publication

• No clear topic

• No backlog of content

Why would they recommend that to their audience?

They won’t.

So the starting point of newsletter recommendations is not outreach.

It’s credibility.

Here’s the minimum checklist:

Your profile:

• Clear profile photo (preferably your face)

• Short, clear description of who you are and what you write about

Your publication:

• It’s obvious what your newsletter is about

• It’s obvious who it’s for

• You have a small backlog of posts (not just one)

• Your homepage doesn’t feel abandoned or chaotic

You don’t need a “perfect” publication.

But you do need a clear and trustworthy one.

This is the foundation.

Step 2: Make a List of Potential Recommendation Partners

The next step is to create a list of Substack newsletters that you could approach for a recommendation exchange.

Not a list in your head.

An actual list that you can keep track of (in Notion, Excel, or Google Sheets).

I recommend starting with 20 – 50 newsletters.

And no, they don’t all have to be in your exact niche.

What matters is audience overlap, not topic overlap.

For example, if you run a health and fitness newsletter, your audience could very likely also hang out on self-improvement newsletters, productivity newsletters, or even entrepreneurial newsletters.

Ask yourself this question for every newsletter you add to the list:

“Does this newsletter already attract the type of reader I’d love to have?”

If the answer is yes, it goes on the list.

This list becomes your starting point for everything that follows.

If you struggle with finding newsletters you could partner up with, do this:

• Go to the Substack browse page (https://substack.com/browse/)

• In the bar at the top of the page, find the topic(s) relevant to your newsletter

• Browse through the posts and select the ones that grab your attention

• Dive deeper into the publications to research if it’s the right fit

• Add the ones who are the right fit to your list of potential collaboration partners

It’s a bit of manual work, but it can have a massive pay-off in terms of new subscriber growth.

Step 3: Build the Connection Before You Ask

This is where most people mess it up.

They discover someone, and they immediately send a DM asking for a recommendation.

That’s usually a bit awkward and comes off as very transactional.

Instead, spend 5 – 7 days building a connection with the other person first.

That means:

• Like their Notes

• Leave thoughtful comments

• Restack or share their posts

• Engage like a normal human

Two important things happen here.

First of all, you stop being a stranger. When you eventually DM them, your name and profile photo are already familiar to them.

Second of all, it often triggers some form of reciprocity - and the other person might start engaging with your work as well.

The bottom line is, build a connection with someone first before you reach out and suggest recommending each other’s newsletter.

This massively increases your chances of getting a ‘yes’ from the other person.

Step 4: Take the Initiative (Use This DM Template)

After a few days of genuine engagement, it’s time to take the lead.

Don’t wait for people to magically reach out to you.

Be proactive. Take the initiative.

I know that a lot of Substack creators struggle with what to actually send in this initial outreach message, so that’s why I’ve created this word-for-word DM template you can copy and adjust: