The Best Substack Chat Settings for Sparking and Growing Community
A simple, flexible setup that turns Chat from a ghost town to a gathering place.
Substack Chat is one of the most powerful ways to build an ongoing relationship with your audience — but most Substackers either ignore it or over-engineer it.
The good news? You don’t need to be a community strategist or run a Discord-style dungeon to make it sing.
This post lays out a simple, flexible setup I recommend for anyone who wants to make the most of Chat — one that grows participation, encourages paid upgrades, and helps you become more than just a newsletter, fast.
🧱 Start Here: Keep the Front Door Open
✅ DON’T turn on the chat-wide paywall
If you switch this on, the entire chat — every message, every thread — becomes invisible to free subscribers. And that kills one of Chat’s secret superpowers: its ability to showcase your community’s energy.
Think of Chat like a party. If no one outside can even hear the music, it’s hard to convince them it’s worth coming in.
Instead, leave the main door open. Let everyone see what’s going on. Give them a reason to want to join.
🛠️ Control the Chaos (Don’t Stifle It)
🗣 Choose who can start threads:
You’ve got two great options — both of which work better than “everyone can do everything”:
Only publication contributors (i.e. you)
→ A great setup for guided conversations, AMAs, prompts.
→ Example: Wendy MacNaughton’s DrawTogether — threads are creative playgrounds, not comment scrums.Only paid subscribers
→ Works brilliantly when you want your most invested people to help keep the fire going.
→ Example: Ettingermentum — vibrant, self-sustaining, with a strong sense of ownership.
Both strike a healthy balance: everyone can reply, but only the right people can steer.
🔐 Use the Per-Thread Paywall Like a Pro
You don’t need to lock down all of Chat to create value for paying readers. Every thread can have its own setting — and that lets you shift gears depending on the moment.
Three options:
Off — everything is public. Great for energy, visibility, and casual discovery.
Paywall replies — ideal for AMAs, debates, or when you want lurkers to feel the FOMO.
Paywall everything — good for exclusive sessions, member perks, or “backstage” conversations.
💡 Pro tip: Starting threads from desktop gives you the option to send them as emails, turning a casual chat into a front-page post.
🧠 What Kinds of Threads Actually Work?
You don’t need to reinvent social media. These simple formats build momentum and community:
🎯 The Ritual
Weekly thread at a set time: Friday round-ups, Monday motivation.💬 The Conversation Starter
Ask one clear, sincere question. People love to share what they know or feel.🌟 The Showcase
Prompt readers to share their work, wins, questions, or curiosities.🔒 The Controlled Flame
Run a paywalled AMA. Workshop an idea. Reward members with early access.
🧑🍳 Host Like You’re Hosting IRL
You wouldn’t start a conversation at a party and ghost before anyone replies. Same goes here.
Reply to comments. Ask follow-ups. Show you’re paying attention.
Set expectations if you’re dipping in and out.
Encourage contributions with warmth, curiosity, and your presence.
As Erin Moon says: “Be part of the conversation, not just the leader of it.”
That said, it’s not about you being available 24/7 - note point #2 above.
🚀 Chat Isn’t Just Retention — It’s a Growth Tool
Readers who see active threads feel invited in — and more likely to pay to participate.
Paywalled threads add real value to membership.
Conversations create inertia: once someone’s chatted, they’re more likely to stick around.
It’s a virtuous loop: participation → connection → loyalty → more participation.
✅ The Default Settings That Just Work
If you do nothing else, do this:
Leave Chat enabled and visible to all.
Restrict thread-starting to publication contributors (e.g. you) or paid subscribers.
Use the per-thread paywall strategically — not religiously.
Show up. Prompt. Participate.
⚡️Awesome Example
I feel like chat is a great answer to answer the question
How do you have a better conversation around something you publish?
At its most basic, you could simply post an interesting article and got people to chat about it.
In this example,
’s gone the extra mile by getting the author to be in the chat.
Maybe the author would be flattered to be asked by you? Or maybe the author is you!
Either way, perfect example of getting folks chatting in a way that doesn’t put the onus on you to provide all the energy.
🎉 TL;DR: Let the Chat Be a Campfire, Not a Castle
Substack Chat works best when it’s a space with structure, not a wall with gates. It’s where your community stops being an idea and starts becoming a culture.
And just like a good party: you don’t need to plan every moment. You just need to set the mood, open the door, and make people feel welcome when they arrive.