Sport Stackers: Substack Notes & Social Media for Sports Creators & Journalists

I almost stopped. The YouTube channel for Sport Stackers has been pretty flat. No real growth to speak of. And I kept looking at the numbers thinking, I don’t know if I can keep doing this. But here’s what kept me going. The Substack community is close to hitting 1,000 subscribers. People are actually getting value from this. The growth on Substack is compounding in a way I can see in real time. S...

I spend a lot of time on social media. Comes with the territory. And I keep seeing the same pieces of advice recycled over and over again on every platform, from every creator, dressed up in different thumbnails. Some of it isn’t just unhelpful. It’s actively working against you. I’ve been building in this space for 20 years. I started doing social media before most people knew what to call it. I...

I spent a long time tinkering. Tweaking my format. Rethinking my schedule. Watching other writers pop off on Substack and wondering what they were doing that I wasn’t. I told myself I was being strategic. Honestly, I was just overthinking it. What I needed was a simpler way to think about what I was building. That’s where the SYNC method came in. SYNC is a framework from my book, Social Media SYNC...

I’ve been deep in social media for over 20 years. And one word still gets under my skin every time I see it thrown around: engagement. Most advice you’ll find online treats engagement like a metric. Likes, opens, replies, shares. Hit the numbers, grow the list. But that’s not what engagement actually is. Engagement is what happens when a reader starts to feel something about you. And you can’t man...

I’ve been watching sports writers on Substack grind themselves out trying to produce everything at once. Long-form articles every week. Notes every day. Newsletters on a schedule they set when they were feeling ambitious. Most of them burn out before they get traction. The thing is, you don’t need unlimited hours. You need a system that works inside the time you actually have. Two hours a week is...

I was sitting in my kitchen one afternoon thinking about how I explain Substack to people who are just starting out. Every time I try to break it down, it sounds like a lot. And it is a lot. But I realized it’s not that different from learning to cook. You don’t need a hundred techniques. You need a solid recipe. Five ingredients, in the right order, and you’ve got something worth serving. This is...

Something changed on Substack and I want to make sure you see it. When someone visits a publication on mobile, they’re not landing on an article archive. They’re landing on a notes feed. It looks like an X profile. That’s not an accident. Substack is telling you exactly what they want writers to do. Over the last 90 days, about 32 million new subscribers landed on the platform. That’s not from SEO...

I’ve talked to a lot of writers who scroll past Substack every time someone brings it up. They’re already managing Instagram, TikTok, maybe YouTube. Another platform feels like more weight. I get it. But I want to share what changed my mind, and why I keep coming back to this one. You Actually Own What You Build Every platform you’re on right now, the followers belong to the platform. TikTok, Inst...

Are you tired of chasing algorithms and marketing hacks? This episode introduces a new Anti-Marketing framework, a new approach to building a flourishing community on platforms like Substack that prioritizes authentic marketing and community engagement. Learn how to foster genuine relationship building and achieve sustained growth, challenging traditional marketing strategies within the creator ec...

In this video, I share my journey from fantasy sports content to over 8 million views, offering youtube tips to help you replicate my path. Learn about youtube monetization and how to get monetized on youtube, ensuring your content creation efforts also make money on youtube. Get full access to Sport Stackers: A Community for Substack Sports Creators at sportstackers.substack.com/subscribe

The State of Sports Newsletters in 2025 (And How We’re Building Differently) I am writing this from Atlanta right after a live Sport Stackers session with our community of writers, podcasters, and sports creatives. We spent the night breaking down a 2025 newsletter report and pulling out what actually matters for us on Substack. There was a lot of data, but the message for sports creators is simpl...

If you write on Substack and feel like your Notes aren’t getting the love they deserve, this new Sports Stackers Experience episode is a must watch. I break down real Notes from top performers and share exactly why they rack up likes, comments, and restacks. Hooks that stop the scroll Your hook decides if people stop scrolling. We look at proven openers like “Dear Substack” and “Hello, Substack ve...

In 2026 you might feel ready to get serious about Substack Notes but still have no idea what to post, how often to show up, or what actually works. This playbook gives you a clear routine you can repeat instead of guessing. The 12 Plays You Need on Substack Notes You do not need to master every feature. You need a small set of repeatable plays that turn Notes into a discovery engine for your newsl...

It is 2026, and Substack might be one of the greatest opportunities in digital history for writers, creators, and independents who want to monetize their audience on their own terms. If you have been stuck on traditional social media or hesitating to start a newsletter, this walkthrough will show you exactly how to set up your Substack publication, write your first article, and prepare to grow. Wh...

If you are building an audience on Substack and still treating it like a “newsletter only” platform, you are leaving serious growth on the table. In a recent conversation with WriteStack founder Orel, we explored why Substack’s Notes feature is the true engine of discovery and how his tool helps creators turn that engagement into subscribers, revenue, and long-term control over their audience. Why...

Why Recommendations Deserve Starter Minutes Substack recommendations might be the most slept on growth tool on the platform. Most writers know the tab exists, turn it on once, then forget about it and go back to grinding Notes and posts. That is a missed opportunity. Substack has shared that a huge share of new subscribers across the platform arrive through recommendations, not social media links...

Why Substack Just Leveled Up For Sports Creators Most social platforms treat your content like fast food. You post, the algorithm chews it up in a few hours, and then it is gone. You are constantly feeding the machine and getting very little long term value back. Substack plays a different game. With Substack TV rolling out on smart TV platforms, sports creators can turn one idea into a newsletter...

Social media feels broken. Creators are sprinting on a hamster wheel, posting nonstop just to please algorithms that forget them within hours. You post, it flops, it dies. End of story. But there is another way. A place where your work keeps working long after you hit publish. Where a single post can quietly resurface weeks or even months later. That place is Substack. Unlike Instagram, TikTok, or...

Thank you PJ Brown , Henny Hiemenz , Frank Writes , Michael Pallas , Vincent Tran , and many others for tuning into my live video with Tony Reali ! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Sport Stackers: A Community for Substack Sports Creators at sportstackers.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you Andy Diamonds , Nate Kosher ⚾️ , Jon Lane , Frank , Lax Pulse , and many others for tuning into my live video with Ian Powers ! Please consider becoming an OG Premium Member of the Sport Stackers community today and get 50% Off for LIFE on our annual subscription. Get full access to Sport Stackers: A Community for Substack Sports Creators at sportstackers.substack.com/subscribe