Creating a content schedule to grow your Substack: It's kind of a sham

Posting regularly wasn’t really what grew my audience.

Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash

People always ask if I plan my Substack posts ahead of time or if I just write when I’m inspired. The truth? I do both—and neither system is perfect.

In a lot of my posts about Substack growth, I’ve talked about the importance of consistency. And I still believe that. I should probably practice what I preach. But if you’ve followed me over the last year, you’ve seen that my posting has been... let’s call it inconsistent at best. There’s no real schedule, and not much of a strategy beyond, “This sort of fits into a category.”

So here’s what I’ve learned: a schedule matters—but not in the way you might think.

What actually moved the needle on my Substack wasn’t a perfectly regimented posting cadence. It was doing the unsexy community stuff—guest posting, collaborating with others, commenting on people’s work, spending time on Notes, restacking stories I genuinely liked, recommending other writers. That’s when the Substack algorithm seemed to notice me. That’s when the subscribers and traffic started to show up.

Not because I was publishing like clockwork.

That said, I’m not anti-schedule. I still think creating one is helpful—especially if you’re busy (like most of us are) with jobs, families, deadlines, or, in my case, a full-time nursing program that runs 11 weeks on, 2 weeks off. When those two magical break weeks arrive, I think I’m going to write a bunch. But usually? I don’t. I want to nap. Or eat. Or go outside. Writing sometimes feels like another assignment.

Still, I’ve found that even one good post written during a break can sustain momentum. I’ve continued to get a steady stream of readers and subscribers from posts I wrote months ago. And that’s when it hit me:

The schedule was never really for the audience—it was for me.

My background is in content marketing, and for years, the message was drilled into me: have a schedule, post regularly, stay consistent. But the truth is, that cadence wasn’t about feeding an algorithm—it was about building discipline. Creating habits. Strengthening those content muscles so I could show up consistently for the audience—not because they needed a post every Tuesday at 10 a.m., but because I needed a process that helped me actually create and publish.

And yes, consistency does matter. But not just for growth—it's because you, the writer, want to get into a rhythm. A place where writing and publishing become a habit. That’s what builds a long-term practice. But even then, that doesn’t mean you need to crank out something new every week.

A lot of websites and blogs (including this one) have what I’d call “pillar pieces”—those posts that keep getting shared, searched, and resurfaced. They’re the ones that keep traffic flowing month after month. I think the algorithm favors them, sure, but they also just hit a nerve. People find them useful, and that gives them a longer shelf life. So writing something new all the time doesn’t necessarily mean automatic growth. One strong piece can carry you a long way.

Here’s how I approach content now—especially during school breaks when I actually have some mental space to write:

• I batch—even if it’s just one or two posts—and schedule them out.

• I look at what posts have performed well, and I brainstorm “spin-offs” or extensions.

  • Here are the stories that continue to drive thousands of views for me:

  • Time-Saving strategies to create great content on Substack

  • Slow writing

  • 3 signs it was time to take a break from writing my book

• I throw my old posts into ChatGPT to help me come up with angles I hadn’t thought of.

• I decide whether that’s a full post, or if it just means updating something I’ve already published.

• Then I write. Then I schedule. Then I feel like, yeah, I was productive!

There’s no perfect system. You have to find something that works for your actual life. For me, that means writing when I can and keeping it fun. A schedule doesn’t make it less fun—but sometimes, there just isn’t time for one. And that’s okay.

As long as you’re building real relationships, getting recommended, showing up in Notes, and staying connected to the Substack ecosystem, you can still grow—schedule or not.

How do you post on Substack? Schedule or no schedule?