Substack Notes: The Incentive-Powered Feedback Loop

Substack Notes is transforming the creator economy by providing real-time revenue transparency.

Creators can see exactly how much money each note generates, turning every post into a measurable revenue opportunity.

For instance, Jack Roshi’s single Substack Note earned $4,509 and attracted 5 paid subscribers.

The platform even displays messages like, "Your note made you $4,509," alongside visuals of high-performing notes.

This level of clarity empowers creators with actionable insights into what resonates with their audience.

Built-In Viral Machine: Amplifying Reach

Substack Notes functions like Twitter within the platform, enabling viral potential.

When a note garners enough likes or restacks, it spreads beyond a creator’s immediate followers.

This viral reach is further amplified by the financial incentives tied to successful notes, encouraging creators to aim for broader engagement.

The Feedback Loop That Fuels Creation

Substack’s real-time tracking creates a powerful feedback loop.

Creators can instantly see which notes drive subscriptions and revenue, motivating them to replicate success or experiment with new content.

For example, Jack Roshi of The Stock Insider began creating more notes after discovering one generated $4,509.

This direct correlation between earnings and content turns financial success into a creative engine, keeping creators motivated and productive.

A Blueprint for Creator Platforms

Substack’s model sets a new benchmark for transparency and creator empowerment, offering a blueprint for other platforms:

• X: Could track tweets or threads that convert to revenue via its new payment system.

• TikTok Shop: Would thrive by showing creators which videos drive sales, incentivizing them to produce high-performing content.

• YouTube Shop: Currently lacks this feature, missing an opportunity to help creators optimize their strategies.

• Patreon: Could implement similar tracking to highlight which posts generate the most revenue.

This transparency would revolutionize how creators approach content across platforms, fostering informed and strategic creation.

Turning Features into Habits

Substack’s approach turns feature usage into a habit by tying financial results to specific actions.

When creators see tangible earnings from features like Notes, they’re psychologically incentivized to use them more.

Jack Roshi’s $4,509 note is a prime example: its success directly led to increased note creation for him.

This strategy is a masterclass in user engagement in getting users to use particular features by showing them the financial incentive of using such feature.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

AI is not a nice to have tool anymore. Tobi Lütke, co-founder & CEO of Shopify, just mentioned everyone must use it if they want to keep their job.

2/

Lots of people self-sabotage. Never self-sabotage.

This principle is known as dollar arbitrage: "Work in a 1st-world country and spend it in a 3rd-world country."

3/

About half a decade ago, I spent countless hours trying to automate tasks using Python, inspired by Al Sweigart’s renowned book, "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python".

Ironically, I often automated things I thought I’d use constantly, only to realize later that I barely needed them.

This was before the AI boom, so I’d invest 1–2 hours crafting flawless scripts, only to use them once or twice a month—or sometimes not at all.

Massive time-wasted. So the best principle is to slowly do tasks manually & notice what you do repeatedly before automating it slowly.

Rabbit Holes

1. Micromanager in RooCode: Turning Simple Models into Coding Interns by GosuCoder

2. Power to the people: How LLMs flip the script on technology diffusion by Andrej Karpathy

3. AI can fix bugs—but can’t find them: OpenAI’s study highlights limits of LLMs in software engineering by Emilia David

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