Substack Notes monitoring: find writers asking
How to monitor Substack Notes for buying conversations, score each note 0 to 100 for intent, and reply in a feed where writers talk shop with writers.
By Max Gillespie, founder of Oetzi
Substack Notes is the short feed inside Substack, and it is writers talking to writers. If you sell anything a newsletter operator buys, the question "what do you all use for this" appears most days. Oetzi compiles one sentence describing that conversation into native Substack Notes searches, scores each match 0 to 100 for buying intent, and drafts a reply you approve.
What buying conversations look like on Substack Notes
The people posting run a publication, which means they buy tools all week. Notes fill with questions about email design, transcription, podcast editing, illustration, paywalls, analytics, and how to move a list without losing it. Writers post their numbers openly, so you see the moment somebody outgrows a free plan.
Three shapes matter. The direct ask for a recommendation, which often gets a dozen honest replies. The frustration note about a platform or a price, which becomes a thread of alternatives. And the workflow note, where a writer describes their stack and someone asks how to copy it.
The audience is small compared to X, but a writer who likes your answer may restack it or name you in a post that reaches thousands of subscribers by email. That is the reason to watch it.
How Oetzi turns one sentence into Substack Notes searches
You describe the conversation in plain English, such as "newsletter writers asking how to add paid subscriptions without switching platforms". Oetzi compiles that into native Substack Notes searches plus a scoring rubric, backfills the last seven days, then sweeps on the cadence you choose. One sweep of one signal across every platform is 2 credits and refunds when nothing qualifies.
Each match carries an intent score from 0 to 100 with the reason written out and a tag for who is talking: buyer, current customer, feature request, or competitor user. A writer naming their tool and asking for a replacement scores high. A writer musing about publishing scores low. That is the gap between social listening and a keyword alert that sends every mention.
How to reply on Substack Notes without being muted
Notes runs on goodwill. Writers restack what they like and mute what reads like an ad, and the community is small enough that a mute travels.
The norms. Reply from an account with a real publication or a real bio. Match the register, which is warm and first person, closer to a letter than a post. Give the answer plainly, including the free way to do it. Say once that you make the tool. Do not paste a signup link. Do not reply to twenty notes in one evening. Oetzi drafts two variants in your voice and nothing goes out until you approve it.
A good reply sounds like a writer helping a writer: "I moved 4,000 subscribers last spring and the only painful part was the archive. Kept the domain, exported twice. I build X, which handles that import, though the export is the part to get right." Specific, generous, one mention.
Questions
Does Substack Notes have keyword alerts?
Substack notifies you about your own mentions and restacks but offers no saved search across the feed. Tools fill the gap by searching on a schedule. Oetzi treats Substack Notes as one of seven platforms, compiles your description into searches there, scores each match, and sends the high ones to your inbox, to Slack, or by text.
Is Substack Notes worth monitoring for a B2B product?
It depends on whether writers, creators, or small publishers buy from you. If they do, Notes is unusually direct, since people describe their stack and their subscriber counts in public. If your buyer is an engineering team, spend the attention elsewhere. One sweep covers all seven platforms, so trying it adds no setup.
How is Substack Notes different from LinkedIn for finding customers?
The register is the difference. LinkedIn monitoring catches people posting in a professional voice for peers and recruiters. Notes catches people writing as themselves about the craft and business of publishing. Intent is easier to read on Notes because writers say what they pay for, and a good reply can travel by email rather than by feed.
Oetzi is an AI marketer for founders who need users. It finds the threads where people ask for a product like yours on seven platforms, checks whether the AI engines recommend you, and drafts replies, posts, and short video in your voice. You approve everything. 100 credits included, 10 free to try with no card, 50 bonus credits with the first payment.
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