Dictate in any app · Publishing
Substack rewards a consistent voice, and dictated writing sounds more like you than typed writing. Typally works at the keyboard level, so anywhere Substack accepts typing, it accepts your voice instead.
Disclosure: Typally is our product. We have tried to describe what Substack already does without talking you out of using it.None for the post editor. Substack has audio posts, which publish a recording rather than transcribe it into the draft.
The whole model is a personal voice arriving in an inbox. Typed prose drifts formal, especially when you know a few thousand people will read it, and formality is what makes newsletters skippable.
In practice people use it for: Post drafts, the personal note at the top, replies to comments, and notes to paid subscribers.
Nothing changes inside Substack itself. Typally sits in the tray and types into the focused window:
Install, sign in, and it waits in the tray.
Click first. Typally types into Substack wherever the caret already is, with no idea what that field is for.
The recording lasts exactly as long as you do.
The editor applies markdown-style formatting from typed characters, so dictated punctuation can create headings or lists unexpectedly.
Typally types into the post editor, so a draft can be talked through as if telling one subscriber about your week. Spoken prose is looser and more personal, which is what Substack readers respond to — and the cleanup pass keeps it readable without making it formal again.
A writer whose open rates had been drifting down starts speaking the first draft instead of typing it. The posts get longer and looser, and the replies from readers change from nothing to actual conversations.
Talk the post through as if telling one subscriber about your week. Substack's whole appeal is that it does not read like a publication.
The editor applies markdown-style formatting from typed characters, so dictated punctuation can create headings or lists unexpectedly.
No. Audio posts publish the recording. Dictation gives you text in the draft that you can edit before sending.
Yes. Comment boxes are ordinary text fields.
Rougher before editing, more personal after. Substack readers respond to the second.
There is a permanent free tier of 100 minutes a month. Pro costs $7.99/month and raises the limit.
Also dictate in: Ghost · Medium · Mailchimp · see all apps