You don't need to be loud. You need to be magnetic.

How to stand out on a crowded Substack — Part 1

I hear this all the time from my clients: I don’t know how to stand out. I’m not interesting enough.

And every time, I want to say: you’re thinking about this wrong.

On Substack, standing out doesn’t come from being the loudest voice in the room, having the most polished aesthetic, or posting the most often. It comes from something quieter. Something most writers overlook entirely because it sounds almost too simple.

It comes from being unmistakably, specifically, you.

Our goal here isn't to force you to shout into the void. The goal is to make you magnetic. Have you ever followed a writer and found yourself completely hooked, but you couldn't quite explain why? It feels like magic, but I promise you, it’s science.

There’s actually a name for this in psychology. It’s called Optimal Distinctiveness — and understanding it changed how I think about Substack strategy completely.

The psychology behind why some writers just pull you in

In 1991, psychologist Marilynn Brewer proposed that humans have two competing drives running at the same time.

• The first: the need to belong. To feel included, accepted, part of something.

• The second: the need to feel unique. To feel like you’re not just another face in the crowd.

These two pull against each other constantly. When you feel too similar to everyone else, something in you pushes back, you want to stand out. When you feel too different, too isolated, you start pulling toward belonging again.

The sweet spot between these two forces? That’s where magnetic writers live.

They make you feel like you’ve found your people, and at the same time, they feel unlike anyone else you follow. That combination is what makes you open their email the moment it arrives.

This is what I call settled distinctiveness. And here’s the good news: it’s not a personality trait you’re either born with or you’re not. It’s something you can deliberately build.

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What this actually looks like in practice

Think about a Substack writer you genuinely love. Someone who stands out to you.