Why I Usually Follow or Subscribe Back on Substack

Generalized Reciprocity or Paying it Forward and SEO

Although I never intended to write anything about Substack, I’m doing so now because I keep seeing writers whose work I appreciate proclaim they will not, and should not, “follow back” the people who follow them (as a policy). The argument goes that since this is a site favoring long content or because it is a site for writers, one should only follow back or subscribe to content one has carefully observed and appreciated, and that one should “look forward” to anything showing up on the feed. You don’t “owe anything” to the people who subscribe, etc., they say.

While it may be true, this is mistaken thinking.

I’ll start with a premise: that I’m directing these comments to writers who want their writing to be read and appreciated by more, and possibly by as many as possible, people.  If that isn’t you, then this post isn’t for you – you’ve got no dog in this race. But if you do write and want people to read what you write, then you should know about SEO, search engine optimization. You should know that there is a third reason to be here besides just reading and writing, and that is to build your “platform.”

Search engine optimization just means taking certain actions to make your writing more accessible to the search engines, more “algorithm friendly.” Things that make you more algorithm friendly include external links to your writings or page, more eyeballs on your page, using certain keywords, and stuff like that. When you follow someone, that person’s materials are going to show up on your page, increasing the possibility of someone finding them. It also seems to be true that when you follow someone your materials will show up on their page, too.

Liking or commenting also draws eyes to both them and to you. And of course it creates warm feelings in someone who doesn’t have many followers or subscribers already, so you also increase the possibility of that person reading or commenting on your writings in that way, too. I suppose for people with thousands of followers this doesn’t matter much, but for someone actively trying to build readership it could make a lot of difference.  Take a look, for example, at this comment by Amy Mrotek, and I’m sure you will have seen many others of similar ilk. Why wouldn’t you go out of your way to create that sort of feeling?

Then there’s the concept of reciprocity, or “paying it forward.” If you’re trying to build your readership, why be stingy with an easy way to assist others in the same process, especially if they, or others, are doing that for you? Pay it back, and pay it forward. Their success will help you for SEO reasons, but I think it goes further than that. One of my prime goals on here is to support and build the community of writers and culture. Following and subscribing are low-commitment ways to do that, and commenting is another way to do it, too (which also draws people to your own writing).

I’ve seen some say they’d rather have a few loyal readers rather than hundreds of tepid followers, but this, as they say, is a false dichotomy. It would be true, probably, regarding the effort and quality you put into your writing, since giving excellent quality probably helps build loyalty and speed without quality might cost loyalty, but following back helps gain followers at no expense to the loyalty of your followers. In fact it seems obvious that the more followers you have, tepid or otherwise, the greater the chance you will develop loyal readers. You need to catch people’s eye, and you have a better chance of doing that when more people are looking in your direction.

That brings me to another key fact. Substack is not just for writers. That is, not everybody who comes to the site joins, writes anything, or creates a profile. Normal civilians visit – often invited or linked by other sites, but often, also, as a result of word searches. That’s obvious, right? But it means, again, that Substack’s overall power to draw search results is important to each of us. It isn’t a coincidence that every time you subscribe you are invited to subscribe to umpteen others, to recommend, and all the rest. That’s about the external search engines as much as anything else. Linking to others is a multiplier of our individual results. You should do it if you want to attract more readers from here or elsewhere.

Some may argue that all this linking and building (etc.) is building the site for the site owners. To the extent that’s true, I have no objection to it. They’re giving us something, so why shouldn’t we give something back? I will say this: I block the celebrities out of hand. That goes against my own advice here because following the celebrities would probably add link power to my material, but I prefer only to see more independent people. If I were really trying to build audience to the maximum, though, I’d follow celebrities and comment on their material often, and there may come a time when I do that. For now, losing that drawing power is a price I’m willing to pay for certain ideological values. For most of the other writers on here, though, even those with whom I vigorously disagree on certain non-redline items, I do want to help them succeed. So I follow back and subscribe back.

As a personal note, I have not been eager to increase my own readership here yet, so most of the things I’ve described I do as a community-building thing. That will change at some point, and then I’ll do things like develop my “about” page and profile and site name, etc., etc. as well as linking certain longer works. In the meantime I appreciate feedback and getting to know people on here.