Indie Media Today: #81 in News/Rising on Substack! THANK YOU ALL!
With Substack introducing new category leaderboards, Indie Media Today is Ranked #81 in the "Rising in News" Leaderboard, found in the mobile app.
Yesterday, I was working away, as usual, when I got an alert from the Substack App on my phone. “Indie is now #98 Rising in News.” Was this an April Fool’s joke? Apparently not.
Not quite sure what this was, I tapped the alert and was taken to a Leaderboard that Substack published as part of their latest product update, which I realized they introduced in their latest “On Substack” bulletin (read more about their newest product updates here).
“… the Rising view and the New Bestseller tab spotlight fast-growing publications, including those that became Bestsellers in the past 30 days. Learn more about leaderboards in the help center.”
I started scrolling the list and saw a bunch of pretty famous names, a long with many I had never heard of, but who mostly had orange checks next to their accounts - even a couple of purple checks. Sure enough, right at the bottom of that list, was… me!
This feature is currently only available in the mobile app, but there it is!
Very cool! There are a lot of people who publish in the “News” category. To be recognized at all is humbling and motivating. Not sure exactly what the criteria is to make the “Rising” category, whether it’s based on Followers, Free Subs, Paid Subs, growth and over what time period.
Remember - I DO NOT PAYWALL ANY CONTENT. Everything on this Substack is free and available to all. That is something I believe in deeply, and it requires a discipline to look at all those getting paid and decide to NOT go that route.
To STILL be recognized alongside the people pushing paid subscriptions and paywalling content means a little extra to me, and reinforces that I am making the right choice.
Yesterday was a great day on a couple of fronts for Indie Media Today, as we had a Founding member re-subscribe for a year, earlier this week another person signed up for a monthly subscription, and one other signed up for a monthly! Thank you to everyone who believes in this and supports the effort to deliver ad-free info that looks through the spin to find what’s actually happening to the people.
Today’s alert was even more humbling. “Indie is now #81 Rising in News”
How is this happening?
Well, I can tell you for sure it didn’t happen overnight, or over a year. I’m not even sure WHY it’s happening now, but it feels great to have more than 0 or 1 likes and restacks occasionally.
I am doing it (I think) by a combination of:
Publishing. EVERY. DAY. I have not missed one day since January 27. I have taken 4 days off in all of 2025, all Mondays in January. Consistency is key. People get used to seeing your emails & posts daily in their inbox & app.
I am using a combination of video posts (podcast segments) and original writing, though the original writing seems to get more views & engagement.
You can schedule posts to be consistent with your posting times
Write portions in advance where possible to save time.
The “Duplicate Post” feature helps a lot, to start from a framework vs a blank canvas.
Cross-posting also helps you be consistent, sharing another’s article with your subscriber base via email with a note
Writing about what I like & don’t like about publishing here, sharing my growth & frustrations about creating and publishing, both here an on other platforms, transparently.
Engaging with the broader Substack community on Notes - liking posts, commenting on others’ posts, sharing others’ work as well as my own - with a little blurb explaining anyone looking at this should care.
Engaging with the subscriber communities on Chat, sharing about one relevant post a week to different communities
Sharing articles published here to other social platforms
Reading and expanding on the articles & talking about the newsletters on all of my livestreams & podcasts
Talking about the newsletters on all of the shows I appear as a guest on
I also publish to
6-7 days a week, sharing articles & appearances published here embedded in posts over there
Thanks again for all the support, readership, sharing and feedback. I am not stopping anytime soon, and will continue to share what I learn and think here with all of you.
Support your favorite Independent Media creators! Indie Media Today and Indie News Network operate on a “Value for Value system.”
Everything we do is free to all.
We don’t paywall our content, but we do need - and deeply appreciate - your support in order to keep running. One way to do that is with a monthly subscription here, if you feel you get value out of the shows & articles and want to help fund the media you want to see.
Hi! I’m Indie. I champion corporate-free independent media which challenges the narratives that cable & broadcast media push on behalf of advertisers.
Founder,
Publisher, Indie Media Today & INN Newsletter by Indie News Network
co-host & livestream engineer of multiple shows
livestream & podcast executive producer
multi-platform content publisher & content distribution expert
self-taught video editor, clip producer
freelance graphic designer
independent news aggregator
Founder, the Indie Media Awards
Fiercely independent politically, anti-duopoly (or corporate UniParty).
Congrats on this recognition Indie. You've put in a lot of work for years and you deserve a tiny bit of recognition. I've been taking your advice and using this platform more.
LFG