The TWO Things Every Winning Note Needs
How to draw people in and ignite a reaction so your writing draws a crowd
Newsflash: NOTES ARE EVERYTHING.
Why? Because Substack is social media. 😂 Don’t hate me!
BUT it’s the best social media that exists on the internet and I’ll fight whoever says otherwise with my bare hands and my limited jujitsu moves.
KIDDING! But really. We need to talk about this because with every passing week I see more evidence that this is the case.
And because of this, I’ve been watching my Notes stats like a hawk. I want to dial in what makes a Note hit, in terms of subscribers, shares and conversations below the Note.
For me? The most important thing is all three… likes (that shows that the post resonated and got picked up by the algorithm), COMMENTS (because that means someone took the time to stop and share the thought that popped into their mind — and when that happens, it lights up the algo even more) and SHARES (the harder thing, but when it happens, it gets shown to an audience who might not know your work yet.)
THE TRUTH is, I get a lot of subscribers from my Notes. I would say the majority come from Notes. That’s not to say your long-form posts don’t do that job, too. But the bite-sized interaction you engage in through Notes is so important that we need to pay attention to them and get better quality ones out there.
So, what does “better quality” even mean??
Because something can be technically well-written and just fine, but it’s not hitting.
It boils down to TWO THINGS: SPECIFICITY (you’re too close to see it) and EMOTION (what was ignited in the reader to make them take an action — like, comment, or share or subscribe)
The #1 Mistake: You’re Too Close to See It
Here’s the hardest truth about writing Notes: you already know what you’re talking about. But they don’t. And that’s the problem.
You live inside your own expertise every single day.
The language you use, the shorthand, the assumptions about what your reader already understands — all of it feels obvious to you. So when you write a Note, it makes perfect sense... to you.
But the person scrolling past it? They aren’t in your world. They didn’t wake up thinking about your niche. They haven’t spent years developing the framework you just condensed into 80 words. They might not even know some of the jargon you’re using. They’re scrolling with one thumb while waiting for their coffee, and your Note has about two seconds to make them stop.
This is what I call “expert blindness” — and it’s the one of the two biggest reasons Notes underperform.
Here’s what it looks like in practice:
You write a Note that talks about “diversifying income streams” or “building community” or “creating authentic connections” — and it feels meaningful to you because you know the depth behind those words and you have a real example in your mind. But to a reader, who doesn’t have that example in their mind? Those phrases are wallpaper. There’s nothing in that language that makes them feel something specific enough to stop scrolling.
The fix can’t be summed up to a simple fix called “better writing.” Nope — that’s oversimplified. What you need is ruthless specificity.
Every Note needs ONE idea — just one — that a stranger can grab onto in the first two seconds of reading. One sharp emotional nerve. One moment where the reader thinks “wait — that’s me” or “oh HEYULL no” or “finally, someone said it.”
If they can’t grab onto anything, they won’t. They’ll keep scrolling, and your 150 views will stay exactly that — views.
Later in this post, I’m giving you an AI prompt that acts as “newbie eyes” on your Notes — a way to strip away your expert blindness and see your writing the way a stranger does. The prompt will also dive into the emotion of it, arguably the most important piece of the puzzle.
But first, let’s look at what works when you get it right.
Real Breakdowns: Notes That Performed
I’m going to show you three of my own Notes that performed above my average — and more importantly, I’m going to tell you why they converted to subscribers, not just likes.
Because likes are easy to understand. Subscribes? That’s different.
Note: the individual post analytics will tell you if someone converted to a free or paid subscriber straight from the Note. This does happen. But there are also the main insights that show you how many in a date range converted because of Notes and/or finding you inside the platform. These pieces of the puzzle are a little bit more fuzzy, and it’s hard to get real, actual data. But from my experience and most others on here, Notes are bringing the lion’s share of subscribers to your list.
Note #1: “Today’s my birthday. I’m 52.”
This Note was sort of about my birthday, but more like, it was inspired by my birthday. It wasn’t really about my birthday at all.
I shared that I started creating content at 42, made offers at 45, burned everything to the ground at 48, and landed on Substack at 51. The punchline was: age is just a number, and you can start over anytime.
Why it converted: My audience is primarily people in their 40s and beyond who are building something new online. Many of them carry a secret fear that they’ve missed the window, that they started too late, that the 25-year-olds will always have the edge. I didn’t talk about that fear in the abstract. I walked through my own messy, specific timeline — complete with a “biz-identity crisis” and years of feeling stuck — and came out the other side saying “FUCK IT, you can start over.”
The reader felt seen in their fear. The specificity of my timeline (not “I’ve had setbacks” but “I burned it down at 48 and was stuck until 51”) gave them permission to be wherever they are right now. Seven people subscribed because they thought: this person gets what I’m going through.
Potential emotions ignited: inspiration, hope, a “yeah, me too!” feeling, I want to buck that feeling that I’m too old for anything, that I can’t start over at any age, that I’m too old to be at the beginning. It’s a “people like us” post.
The principle: Vulnerability converts when it mirrors the reader’s unspoken fear — not when it’s about you.
Note #2: “Just ‘hid’ a big time creator”
The numbers: 118 likes. 25 comments. 5 restacks. 2 new free subscribers and counting.
I shared that I hid a well-known creator from my Substack feed — not because I didn’t like him, but because I wanted to curate my experience around new voices and fresh perspectives. The final line: “I’m curating my experience here, and you’re not getting priority.”
Why it converted: This is what I call “underdog energy.” The Note wasn’t really about hiding one creator. It was about saying: the big names have had their moment, and I’m choosing to give my attention to people who haven’t gotten the spotlight yet. My reader — who IS one of those people who hasn’t gotten the spotlight — felt championed. It was an “I see you, it’s your turn” message wrapped in a story about my feed curation.
Potential emotions ignited: inspiration, excitement, resonance like “yeah, me too!” feeling.
The principle: When the reader feels like you’re fighting for people like them, they don’t just like the Note — they want to be closer to you.
Note #3: “Don’t freak out” (the comment-drop Note)
The numbers: 76 likes. 26 comments and counting. And this one is interesting because the engagement was almost entirely in the comments — people sharing their own frustration with the behavior I called out.
I opened with a specific moment: waking up to find a bigger creator had dropped a link to her own post in MY comments. I called it tacky. Then I pivoted to a bigger message about Substack changing fast, people scrambling for shortcuts, and why the long game still matters.
Why it worked: Two things. First, the opening had a “common enemy” — a specific, recognizable behavior that people hate but rarely see called out directly. The reader’s emotional response was immediate: yes, that IS rude, and thank you for saying it. Second, the pivot to “don’t freak out, take your time, build something real” landed as genuine because I’d just demonstrated that I practice what I preach. I’m not chasing shortcuts. I’m calling them out.
The principle: “Common enemy” Notes work because they trigger an instant emotional response — but they convert when you follow the call-out with something the reader actually needed to hear. Every niche has a common enemy, whether that’s an emotion, a common belief, or whatever. It’s a great note type because people have a strong opinion on them.
The Pattern: What All Three Have in Common
Look at what’s underneath every one of those Notes:
The reader felt seen. Whether it was “I’m scared I’m too old” or “I deserve a chance too” or “I’m sick of people gaming the system” — each Note touched a nerve that my specific audience was already feeling. I just said it out loud.
There was ONE sharp idea. Not three examples. Not a list of tips. One emotional nerve, explored with enough specificity that a stranger could immediately feel it.
The specificity made it real. Not “I’ve had setbacks” but “I burned it down at 48.” Not “I support small creators” but “I just hid someone I’ve followed for years.” Not “people are being rude” but “I woke up to a link drop in my comments from someone with a bigger list than mine.”
The reader had something to respond to. Every Note created a reaction — agreement, relief, anger, hope — that was strong enough to pull them into the comments or over to my profile.
This is half of the formula. And most Notes miss it completely.
The Other Half: Making Them Feel Something
I want to be clear about something — specificity alone isn’t enough. I’ve seen plenty of Notes that are specific, focused on one idea, clearly written, and they still land flat. What’s missing is the emotional charge, and it’s the piece that ties everything together.
When I look at my Notes that actually converted, every single one of them triggered a real emotion in the reader.
This is the full recipe: one idea, ruthlessly specific, aimed at an emotional nerve your reader is already carrying around but hasn’t heard anyone name out loud yet. Anger, relief, defiance, hope, recognition — it doesn’t matter which one, but there has to be one. If a stranger reads your Note and feels nothing, they will do nothing. They won’t comment, they won’t click through, and they definitely won’t subscribe. (The AI prompt later in this post helps you figure this out, by the way — it’s one of the six tests your Note has to pass.)
So now you have the lens. You know the biggest mistakes, you understand why specificity matters, and you know that emotion is the engine underneath all of it.
What I haven’t shown you yet is what this looks like in practice — two of my actual Notes with real numbers, the flops versions (we’ll look at them inside the “Flop Lab” 😂 and what happened when I reworked in real time so you can see the transformation happen. That’s next.
PLUS, TWO a kick-ass AI prompts to help you dig out the specificity and emotion in your Notes so you can start seeing more results AND make you a better writer in the process.
