New channel
Substack is now a channel in Podspun
You can now connect a Substack to Podspun the same way you connect a podcast feed, YouTube, Instagram or TikTok. Podspun reads every post you have published there and uses it across your website: in search, in article ideas and drafts, and in News. Your readers still read and subscribe on Substack.
Podspun reads your Substack and uses it across your website.Readers and sign-ups still go to Substack.
Connect
Add your Substack like any other channel
In the Dataweaver, choose Add channel and pick Substack. Enter your publication's address: a name.substack.com address, the custom domain your Substack is on, or your substack.com profile link. Podspun shows the publication's name, logo and post count before anything is added.
It then imports every post you have published, the way it imports the episodes of a show. The Substack is listed with your other channels, with how many posts were imported and when.
- Works with a Substack on its own domain
- Every published post is imported
- New posts are read once a day on a paid plan
- Subscriber-only posts are read as far as their free preview
Ask & Search
Your site's search answers from your posts
Ask & Search on your website answers a visitor's question from your episodes and, now, from your Substack posts too. Beside an answer, Related posts lists up to three posts the answer drew on, each with its picture, title, newsletter and date.
Each one opens the post on Substack. Find a word also returns the Substack posts that contain the phrase.
- Answers drawn from your posts and your episodes
- Up to three related posts beside an answer
- Every related post opens on Substack
News
Your posts on your website, linked to Substack
Turn on Substack Posts in News and each post appears in your site's News as a card with its title, date and cover picture. The card opens the post on Substack in a new tab.
If your Substack has sections, each post is filed under its newsletter's name as a News category, so visitors can read one newsletter at a time. An episode your Substack publishes that is already on your site as an episode is listed once.
- A card for each post, with its cover picture
- Opens on Substack in a new tab
- Sections become News categories
AI Site Editor
Article ideas and drafts from what you have written
The AI Site Editor reads your posts along with your episodes. It uses them when it suggests article ideas and when it writes in your voice.
Every page and article it writes arrives as a draft. Nothing on the live site changes until you review it and publish.
- Article ideas drawn from your own subjects
- Drafts written from your own writing
- Everything arrives as a draft
Sign-ups
Sign-ups go to your Substack list
Your website's Join pop-up can show Substack's own subscribe box. In the site's Config, open Email List and choose Substack under Signups Go To. The addresses people enter go to your Substack list.
When you build a new site from a website that is your Substack, even on your own domain, Podspun recognizes it. It connects the Substack, lists your posts in News and uses your Substack subscribe box for sign-ups.
- Substack's own subscribe box in the Join pop-up
- Addresses go to your Substack list
- Set up for you when a site is built from a Substack
Starting fresh
No Substack yet? Podspun has its own newsletter
If you are starting a newsletter and are not on Substack, you do not need it. Podspun's News / Blog does the same job on your own website: write a post, choose whether everyone, members or paid members can read it, and it is emailed to your members when it publishes.
Readers join with their email on your domain. For paid memberships you connect your own Stripe account and set a monthly or annual price. Podspun takes 1.5% of each paid subscription and charges no extra monthly fee for it.
That puts the website, the newsletter and the members on one platform, so you do not need two. If you already write on Substack, connect it as a channel and keep it.
- Free, members-only and paid posts
- Posts emailed to your members
- Payments through your own Stripe account
- One platform for the website and the newsletter
How to connect your Substack
1. Open the Dataweaver in your Podspun account and choose Add channel.
2. Pick Substack and enter your publication's address.
3. Check the name, logo and post count Podspun shows, then choose Add and import.
4. To list the posts on a website, open that site's News / Blog, then Automation Config, and turn on Substack Posts in News.
5. To send sign-ups to Substack, open the site's Config, then Email List, and choose Substack under Signups Go To.
Each website picks which Substack its search reads in the site's Settings, on the Search tab. The channel's own page has Check now and Remove.
Key takeaways
- Substack is a channel type in the Dataweaver, next to podcast feeds, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
- Podspun imports every post you have published. On a paid plan it reads new posts once a day.
- Ask & Search answers from your posts and lists up to three related posts, each opening on Substack.
- The AI Site Editor uses your posts for article ideas and for writing in your voice.
- Posts can appear in your site's News as cards that open on Substack, and the site's sign-up box can be Substack's own.
- Starting fresh without a Substack? Podspun's own News / Blog has free, members-only and paid posts and emails them to your members, so you do not need two platforms.