Bring your readers over,then make it easy for new ones to join.
Import the list you already have, put a signup form on any site you run, let readers search your archive, and tell everyone about the one thing that matters this week.
TribeTale grows your list through the places you already control. Import a CSV from your current platform, embed a signup form on any website, and recommend publications you like so they can recommend you back. It does not have a discovery network that sends you strangers; Substack is better at that, and we say so.
Bring your list,with labels and paid links intact.
Upload a CSV of subscribers from any platform, match its columns to member fields, and everyone arrives with their labels, notes and subscription state.
Paid status works through Stripe, not a yes/no column. If a row has a "Stripe Customer ID" from the Stripe account you have connected, the member is linked to that customer and their subscription. Put "auto" in that column and the importer looks the customer up by email. "Complimentary plan" gives free access to your paid tier.
Re-importing is safe. If an email already exists, new labels are added, a blank name or note does not wipe the old one, and someone who had unsubscribed is not quietly subscribed again.
- 01
Open the importer
In Members, choose import and "Select or drop a CSV file". Any platform that exports a spreadsheet of subscribers works.
- 02
Match the columns
Each column in your file maps to a field: "Email", "Name", "Note", "Subscribed to emails", "Stripe Customer ID", "Complimentary plan", "Labels" or "Created at". Step through sample rows to check, and set anything you do not want to "Not imported".
- 03
Label the batch
Add labels under "Label these members". Every import is also tagged with an "Import" label carrying the date and time, so you can find this batch later.
- 04
Import
Press "Import members". Large files, and any file with Stripe IDs, run in the background and you get an email when they finish. Rows that fail come back as a "Download error file" CSV with the reason on each line.
- Substack
- Substack exports subscribers as a spreadsheet and it imports here directly. Paying subscribers are billed through Substack, so that billing cannot move to your Stripe account; plan a message asking them to subscribe again.
- beehiiv
- beehiiv's subscriber export imports directly. There is no beehiiv post importer, so the archive does not move in one click.
- Posts are separate. A full Ghost export imports intact; Substack and beehiiv archives come across by hand or with a converter.
- A note can be up to 2,000 characters, and "Subscribed to emails" must be true or false.
A subscribe boxon any site you run.
Copy a small embed code and paste it into any page that accepts HTML; people who sign up there land in your Members list.
The form asks for one thing, "Your email address". The reader then sees "Now check your email!" and must click a confirmation link before they are added, which keeps typos and fake addresses off your list.
Each signup records the page it came from, marked as an embed, so the Growth tab in Analytics can show which outside site is working.
- 01
Find it in settings
Go to Settings, Growth, "Signup forms" ("Grow your audience from anywhere on the web") and press "Embed".
- 02
Pick a layout
"Branded" shows your publication's icon, title and description, and lets you set a "Background color" of Dark, Light or your accent. "Minimal" is just the email field and button.
- 03
Label the signups
Choose "Labels at signup" so everyone from this form is tagged, for example "podcast-page". Make one form per place you embed it.
- 04
Copy and paste
Press "Copy code" and paste it anywhere you'd like the signup to appear: an old blog, a portfolio, a link-in-bio page.
- Email only: the embed does not collect a name or take payment. Paid signups happen on your site.
Recommend writers you like,and see who recommends you.
A list of other publications you pick, shown to new members right after they sign up; it is cross-promotion between sites you choose, not a discovery engine.
Where the other site supports it, a signed-in reader gets a one-click "Subscribe" button and a confirmation email from that site, instead of a link out.
- 01
Add a publication
In Settings, Growth, "Recommendations", press "Add recommendation", paste its "URL", and edit the "Title" and "Short description" (up to 200 characters).
- 02
New members see it
After signing up, readers get "Welcome to" your publication with "a few other sites you may enjoy". You can also share the list with its own link.
- 03
Track it both ways
"Your recommendations" shows the clicks or signups each one sent. "Recommending you" lists sites that recommend you, with "Recommend back".
- Substack
- Substack's recommendations sit inside a network with a reader app, and it puts new readers in front of writers better than anyone. Ours only reach the readers of sites you have swapped with.
- beehiiv
- beehiiv has built-in audience discovery. We do not; growth here comes from your own list and the publications you choose to trade with.
- Nobody gets recommended to you automatically. You find partners yourself.
Your archive,searchable from any page.
A search popup on your site that finds posts, tags and authors as readers type.
Search runs on the server rather than in the reader's browser, so it does not slow down as the archive grows. It matches post titles, tag names, author names and the full text of every post.
Members-only and paid posts are only searchable by readers who can already read them, so search never gives away what is behind the paywall.
- 01
Publish as usual
Every published post is searchable. There is nothing to build or install.
- 02
Readers open search
From the search button in your theme. The box reads "Search posts, tags and authors".
- 03
Results as they type
After two characters, results group under "Posts", "Tags" and "Authors", with "Show more results" for long lists.
- Pages are not in the results, only posts.
- Tags and authors match on their names, not their descriptions.
One line across the top,shown to the people it is for.
A banner across every page of your site, with its own text, color and audience.
Visibility is what makes the bar useful for growth. Show an upgrade offer to free members only, a launch notice to everyone, or a thank-you to paying members, without the others seeing it.
Readers can close the bar. It stays closed for the rest of their visit and comes back when you change the text.
- 01
Write it
In Settings, Site, "Announcement bar", press "Customize" and type into the "Announcement" field ("Highlight breaking news, offers or updates"). Links are allowed.
- 02
Choose the color
"Background color": Dark, Light, or your accent color.
- 03
Choose who sees it
Under "Visibility", tick "Public visitors", "Free members" and, once paid subscriptions are on, "Paid members".
- One bar at a time, with no scheduling. To take it down, clear the text or untick every audience.
Questionsanswered plainly.
Will my paying subscribers keep paying after I import them?
Does the signup form work on a site that isn't on TribeTale?
Can I tell which signup form or page a member came from?
Will TribeTale send me new readers?
Can readers search inside the text of posts?
The rest of itone page per job.
Your tribe. Your tale.Your terms.
Join the waitlist. Bring your list over when we open, and keep every cent your readers pay you.