The Ultimate Guide To Growing Your Substack With Creator Collaborations

How collaborations brought us 2,500+ subscribers...

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One of the fastest ways to grow on Substack is to collaborate with other creators on the platform.

Because, unlike most social media platforms, Substack is a community.

Yes, you can take a solo approach, but growth will likely be slow and it can feel as if you’re just posting in the void most of the time.

In our journey of growing Write • Build • Scale from zero to 5,000+ subscribers, collaborating with other creators brought in at least 2,500 subscribers, so it’s safe to say collaborations played a huge role.

That’s why, in this ultimate guide, we’ll cover:

• Part 1: Newsletter Recommendations

• Part 2: Guest Posting

• Part 3: Substack Livestreams

Ready? Let’s dive straight in.

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Part 1: Newsletter Recommendations

If you’re not leveraging newsletter recommendations on Substack, you’re missing out on one of the easiest ways to grow your audience.

Seriously, this one strategy helped us gain over 2,300 new subscribers, and all we had to do was reach out to other creators asking if they wanted to swap recommendations.

If you’re not using newsletter recommendations yet, here’s how it works.

Substack lets you recommend other newsletters directly from your publication—and vice versa. When someone subscribes to a newsletter that recommends you, these new subscribers get a one-click option to subscribe to your publication as well.

In other words, swapping recommendations is a win-win for both creators. If you want to get more newsletter recommendations, here are a few key tips.

#1: Connect With Other Creators First

Don’t slide into someone’s DMs with a cold pitch asking to swap recommendations straightaway—it’s not a great look.

Instead, engage with their content first. Leave thoughtful comments, restack their Notes, and build a genuine connection.

Once you’ve established some rapport, it’s much easier (and more natural) to suggest a recommendation swap.

#2: Don’t Limit Yourself To Your Niche

You don’t need to stick strictly to publications in your exact niche.

For example, if you write about productivity, you could connect with creators in related areas like entrepreneurship or personal development.

If you write about freelancing, you might collaborate with publications that focus on remote work or personal finance.

If your Substack is about fitness, consider partnering with creators who write about personal development, productivity, or even entrepreneurship.

The key is to find some overlap in your audiences.

#3: Reach Out To Bigger Publications

Bigger creators say yes more often than you’d think. Don’t let the size of their audience intimidate you.

If you have a solid newsletter and you’re genuinely a fan of their work, many creators are open to collaborating—even if their publication is 10x the size of yours.

In short, newsletter recommendations are one of the most powerful (and underused) growth tools on Substack.

Start connecting with other creators, build relationships, and watch your subscriber count climb.

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Part 2: Guest Posting For Other Publications

Guest posting for other publications is a highly effective growth strategy.

When you write a guest post, you’re putting your work in front of an audience another creator has already built.

In other words, you can directly get yourself in front of hundreds or thousands of people who might’ve never heard of you otherwise.

If your guest post is valuable, those readers will likely check out your Substack and potentially subscribe—making it an effective strategy to reach new subscribers.

For example, I wrote a guest post for The Author Stack, which is

Russell Nohelty

’s publication. This publication has well over 47,000 subscribers, so it’s safe to say it reached a lot of new readers who hadn’t heard of Write • Build • Scale before.

But aside from bringing in new subscribers, guest posting also works like a stamp of approval. If another creator features your work, it signals to their audience that you’re someone worth listening to.

So, the more guest posts you have on respected publications, the more you’ll boost your credibility and position yourself as an authority in your niche.

If you want to start guest posting more often, here’s what I recommend.