Substack for Business Owners

Everybody’s raving about Substack. But what exactly is all the fuss about?

And – more importantly – will it actually help your business?

Substack has been called the future of email marketing. But it has limitations. So before you dive into the Substack rabbit hole, I’m here to show you what those limitations are, and whether it makes sense to go all in.

What is Substack?

Substack is a publishing platform that lets private individuals and business owners publish a newsletter and have each post delivered to subscribers’ email inboxes, while simultaneously publishing it automatically on the person’s own unique Substack-hosted website.

But Substack is much more than a newsletter machine. It’s packed with community-building features and discovery engines such as a Twitter-like social media feed, community chats, moderated comments threads, on-demand video hosting, online events infrastructure, collaboration tools, podcast hosting, and a recommendation system which powers email list building on autopilot.

That makes it the perfect place to build real connections with potential clients. And attract new ones.

Substack has over 50 million active subscriptions and approximately 100,000 publications generating revenue directly through paid subscriptions – a number that doubled between 2025 and 2026 (1). Publishers were earning more than $450 million collectively in 2026, up 50% in just two years (2).

Substack in 2026 is like YouTube in 2012: at the beginning of a huge growth spurt, with early adopters poised to win big

Why is it so hot right now?

Substack just feels different.

Substack’s core mission is to allow people and business owners to build a direct relationship with readers and get paid for it, without needing a media company, ad revenue, or separate payment infrastructure.

While other online platforms make money by serving ads to users, which incentivises them to reward high-shock value, low-attention-span content, Substack’s revenue is earned by taking a 10% cut of all subscription revenue. It’s this that makes Substack’s platform feel different and special: no ads, no clickbait, just intelligent content for readers to explore quietly.

It’s used for all kinds of writing: news analysis, industry expertise, self-help, health, investment advice, science, nutrition, personal essays, and fiction.

Substack serves two user groups: readers and writers.

Writers include business owners, coaches, consultants, analysts, independent journalists and authors. For some it’s a side project, while others have built full-time businesses or entire media brands on the platform.

Readers include casual ‘browsers’ who participate in the social media-like aspects of the platform, through to users who are subscribed to just one or two publications and who value direct access to voices they trust.

Substack in 2026

Substack began life as a niche platform for indie writers. Today it’s shaping a revolution in digital publishing, attracting hundreds of high-profile independent journalists and commentators, who bring their audiences with them.

It’s populated by an astonishing range of creators and business owners of all kinds, because it’s equally well suited for use as a low-cost, low-effort email ecosystem, a funnel generation machine or an international media powerhouse.

Substack is at the beginning of its growth phase. Think of it like YouTube in 2012. New adopters are finding their feet and positioning themselves for incredible results as more and more everyday people discover the platform.

It’s like YouTube in 2012: poised for global domination with the early adopters positioned for easy wins.

A global phenomenon

While it began in the United States, Substack is now a truly global phenomenon.

The United States accounts for just over half of Substack’s users, with the rest spread across 150+ countries. English-speaking markets dominate: the UK, Canada, and Australia are the next-largest concentrations, and major media hubs such as New York, London, San Francisco and Toronto have high uptake.

International expansion continues at pace. Substack supports localized pricing in 30+ currencies, an initiative which drove a 40% increase in non-US paid subscriptions over 18 months, and it’s investing specifically in the EU, Australia, Brazil, Germany, and Southeast Asia as next-growth regions.

Language translation tools are now native to the platform, with both automatic and author-controlled translations supported. Readers can view content in 15 popular languages, with website and app infrastructure such as buttons, subscription plans, and navigation also translated automatically.

For businesses running a Substack publication, this combination of global reach and translation tools serves as a 100X audience multiplier, allowing businesses to reach non-English-speaking prospects and customers without extra effort — Substack localizes the content for you and handles the translations, freeing you to focus on growth.

How much does Substack cost?

Substack is free to use until you activate paid subscriptions and begin earning subscription revenue, at which time Substack takes 10%.

If you don’t activate paid subscriptions, you don’t pay.

The platform’s unique revenue model means that, unlike traditional media platforms, it doesn’t rely on advertising or algorithmic feeds, instead running its algorithms and discovery systems to reward direct relationships between writers and readers.

Substack for business owners

Substack has over 50 million active subscriptions (4) and its web pages receive around 169 million visitors each month.

Its format is unique. While other online platforms are trending towards shorter, faster, and more disposable content, Substack is proof that readers still value content that is insightful and deep.

Readers come to learn from real experts, keep up to date with industry insights, gain advice from people working at the frontline, and connect with thought leaders in their sector.

They’re ready to read (or watch, or listen – Substack has native video and audio too) content that assumes they are intelligent, thoughtful and have an attention span longer than 15 seconds.

Entrepreneurs come to Substack because it allows them to own their audience. They have full access to their email list and are free to take it to another platform any time they wish.

Entrepreneurs stay on Substack because audience building is different there. Tens of millions of people read, watch, and listen on Substack every week. These users aren’t scrolling past something in two seconds. They are looking for real relationships with real human experts, and making space in their inboxes to go deeper.

How businesses grow with Substack

Substack is the fastest-growing online platform for business owners and creatives. It’s part discovery engine, part social media channel, part community space and part distribution tool.

Businesses are using it to:

Meet new customers, with Substack’s built-in discovery networks and social media-like distribution.
Showcase authority and expertise, with thoughtful content that attracts the right people without needing to be the loudest voice in the room.
Go deeper with clients and prospects, with community and engagement features that get prospects excited and keep clients in the loop.
Launch podcasts with Substack’s built-in podcasting system that allows anyone to create, host and distribute podcasts to streaming services like Apple and Spotify for free.
Host and sell live virtual events, with Substack’s live video streamlining and free video hosting – Substack will even cross-post automatically to YouTube.
Make sales more easily and more often with DMs, direct email and easy offer communications.

Reliable leads and repeatable revenue – here’s how it’s done

Here are just some of the thousands of people who’ve used Substack to skyrocket their business revenue, delight their customers and grow their funnels…

Dylan Patel, semiconductor expert, publishes SemiAnalysis, with over 306,000 subscribers. Estimated revenue: $250K

Nutritionist Jenn Lueke publishes the eat goood newsletter for women who want to eat well without it consuming their life. Estimated revenue: $100K

Software engineer Gergely Orosz started The Pragmatic Engineer to share his expertise and now has 1.1 million+ subscribers and $1m+ in yearly revenue.

The clothing retailer Free People, uses their Substack publication to spread excitement for new collections.

Artist Wendy MacNaughton took her art teaching business to the next level with her publication Draw Together. Estimated revenue: $250K per year.

Godmothers bookstore in California uses its Substack publication to create demand for in-person events and keep in touch with their customers.

The investment expert Bob Brink publishes Brinker Advisor, a weekly update for investors. Estimated revenue $250K per year.

Digital expert Dan Koe publishes Future/proof: advice for entrepreneurs. Estimated revenue $500K per year.

Travel advisor Ane writes Luxury Travel Unzipped, generating new leads for her travel business and her self-paced course on luxury travel hacks.

Sports coach Steve Magness teaches the science and art of sustainable excellence to other coaches, using his publication to build an audience for his books, including the international bestseller Do Hard Things.

Analyst Ben Thompson began Stratechery as a one-person consulting business. Within three years, he was making a seven-figure income from a spare bedroom in his Taipei apartment (8).

Smithereens, a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York’s East Village, runs a monthly newsletter sharing behind-the-scenes dispatches and travel inspiration to keep customers excited between visits.

Independent investigative journalist Raw America runs the fastest-growing people-powered news network in America. Estimated revenue: $250K per year.

Health coach organ vitality detox publishes one post per week in Why Does My Body Do That? Estimated revenue: $50K per year.

Leanne Hughes, expert workshop facilitator and business mindset coach, uses her publication Work Fame to sell her programs.

Baseball enthusiast Craig Calcaterra’s publication Cup of Coffee reportedly makes $18,400/month in revenue (7).

What’s the catch?

There’s lots to love about Substack, but for businesses whose primary need is an email marketing system, Substack does have some drawbacks.

While it handles regular newsletter publishing seamlessly, with best-in-class deliverability, authenticated security certificates and a high-trust sending domain, it does not support automated sequences and audience segmentation.

Businesses that need complex workflows, user segmentation and drip sequences will need to run a traditional email provider alongside Substack.

Many businesses and solopreneurs do this successfully, reserving their Kit or Mailchimp lists for transactional newsletters such as sales sequences, launch countdowns and special offers, while keeping their Substack newsletters for client relationship building, authority-building and high-trust touch points.

Who’s working in your space?

We’re still in the early days of Substack’s popularity, and many niches are wide open – especially those that are tied to a specific geographical location – think city guides, local news, expat communities, etc.

Check out Substack’s Discover page to browse categories and countries to see what your competitors are up to, and discover your own perfect space, just waiting to be claimed.

Getting started on Substack

It’s easy to start a simple newsletter on Substack, but creating a polished, professional publication gets complex, fast.

There is no set-up wizard, there is no user-friendly onboarding flow, and there is no built-in guidance to ensure you cover all the must-haves.

Building a high-performing publication is a multi-step process that involves accessing multiple dashboards, menus and editing windows. And the software changes frequently, adding another layer of difficulty.

The good news is that once you’re set up on Substack, week-to-week operations are much simpler. Substack was designed from the ground up for ordinary humans – not web designers, coders or techs – and the process to upload and publish a post is user-friendly with no special skills required.

Even the subscription system is easy to manage. Once the payment processor is connected, Substack makes it a breeze to collect fees, handling subscriber onboarding, transaction automations, renewals and expiry reminders automatically.

How we help

We know that setting up on a new platform can take days of precious time, and on Substack the learning curve is steep. It’s time spent clicking in circles that would be better spent on your business.

At Substack for Business, we’ve seen firsthand the pain and frustration that business owners and entrepreneurs experience when trying to figure out Substack for themselves.

Worse still, we’ve witnessed the mess that happens when business owners outsource the process to inexperienced freelancers and AI agents. Fact is, Substack’s own documentation is patchy at best and poorly organised, making it almost impossible for new users to know what must be done to create a problem-free, high-performing publication.

That’s why we started Substack for Business. We don’t want to see one more coach, consultant or analyst stumbling around the dashboard, clicking endless menus or sweating on details we can handle with one hand tied behind our backs.

Our founder, Karen Cherry, has helped thousands of Substack users and built dozens of Substack publications from scratch, across multiple business and personal niches.

She knows which elements are critical, which must be done first, how to access the hidden settings that can make or break the audience relationship and all the secret traps and unmapped rabbit holes that catch new users unawares.

We lead every project with human-first judgement and step-by-step human oversight. We make sure every option is set up correctly. We put the right elements in the right place at the right time using our Business-First Substack Method to make sure the publications we build are optimised for growth from the first day.

Our Substack set-up service is designed to take all the difficult decisions off your plate. We listen to your needs. We can tell you what works, and we will show you how to leverage the platform to meet your business goals.