Substack Doesn't Make Money Unless You Do

How restacks help writers get discovered, subscribed to, and paid.

Image generated by Sloane 🖤

I think one of the biggest mistakes writers make on Substack is assuming the algorithm works like traditional social media.

It doesn’t.

Platforms built around advertising make money by keeping users scrolling for as long as possible. Outrage performs well there because attention is the product.

But Substack’s primary profit does not come from advertising.

Substack makes money when writers make money.

That changes the incentive structure completely.

The platform is financially incentivized to help readers find writers they will subscribe to, read consistently, recommend, and eventually pay.

And because of that, Substack also has a vested financial interest in recommending writers who are already making the platform money — or who show strong potential to do so.

As writers, we need to signal that readers value our work enough to engage with it, share it, subscribe to it, and eventually pay for it.

That’s where community comes in.

On Substack, community is not just a nice extra. It’s part of the business model.

When we help readers discover other writers they might love, we are not sending them away from us. We are strengthening the entire erotica ecosystem — which helps more writers get discovered, subscribed to, and paid.

So how can we help readers find us?

One of the most effective tools we have is restacking.

The 3 Restack Strategies I Actually Use

1. Restack Your Own Posts the Following Day

The simplest change I made was restacking my posts the morning after publication.

That alone increased views on many posts by roughly 10-20%.

Restacking a post gives it a second distribution point inside the Notes feed and creates renewed engagement around the content.

2. Restack Older High-Performing Notes

I also began restacking Notes that had already performed well earlier in the week.

This worked because not every follower sees every Note. A strong Note can disappear before much of your audience ever encounters it.

Restacking on different days and at different times gives that content another opportunity to reach readers who missed it initially.

3. Restack Other Writers in Your Niche

I’ve noticed that the writers with community consistently appear on the Rising and Bestsellers lists. It’s because when we restack, we are doing readers a favor by helping them discover someone else they might like.

For instance, when I restack Kate Valentine and tag her in a post, she gets exposure to my audience and vice versa.

If you need help figuring out other writers your audience overlaps with, Substack makes it easy. Go to Dashboard>Stats>Audience>Scroll to Audience Overlap. You can see my top 6 below.

Screenshot provided by Sloane 🖤

Substack is trying to understand which writers belong within the same reader ecosystems. Let’s help them.

Homework

This week, stop treating Notes and restacks like optional social features and start treating them like distribution tools.

1. Restack Your Next Post the Following Morning

Publish as usual.

Then, 12–24 hours later, restack the post with a short Note introducing it again.

Watch what happens to views, comments, and subscriptions compared to posts you don’t restack.

2. Find Three Writers With Audience Overlap

Writers whose readers would realistically enjoy your work.

Read them regularly for a week.

Comment thoughtfully.

Restack something you genuinely enjoyed.

Pay attention to whether their readers begin appearing in your Notes engagement or subscriber list.

3. Restack One Older Note That Already Performed Well

Choose a Note from the last 7–10 days that already got strong engagement. Restack it without rewriting it.

4. Audit Your Current Behavior

Ask yourself honestly: Am I participating in the erotica community? Or am I only posting my own links and disappearing?

The sooner you start behaving like part of a community instead of an isolated creator, the easier growth becomes.

With love and lube,
Headmistress Black 🖤