How to Split One Draft into a Substack Note and Essay
One draft can feed a Substack Note and a full essay. Generic "turn this into a newsletter" prompts add restack counts, famous subscribers, studies, and a Twitter-style 1/17 thread. None of that was in the draft. The Note then reads like engagement bait, and the essay quietly claims data you cannot show.
The matching generator is the Substack Note and Essay Split from One Draft prompt. Browse related cards in the PromptDig library (Browse more prompts). When a filled run survives, share the version you actually use (Share a prompt).
Spine first: claims that are actually in the draft
Pull three to five claims that already exist. Drop anything that would need a new fact. If the draft says you stopped putting "quick wins" in decks after a team asked for the spreadsheet, that is a claim. If it does not contain a percent lift, do not add one.
Subscriber counts are allowed only when you typed them from a dashboard. Open rates stay out unless they are in Inputs. "Nobody restacked that" is a dry author line, not a metric to dress up with a number.
Banned claims belong on the card: guaranteed ROI, named hospitals, clinical advice, fake restacks. The compliance pass should quote hits and cut them.
Notes are short and public, not a thread
A Note is one to four short paragraphs inside your character cap. One idea. No "thread (1/17)." No fake @mentions. End with a CTA only if you requested one: reply, subscribe, restack, or none.
Substack Notes are not X. Numbering like 1/12 is a tell that the generator ported the wrong network.
If Voice is dry, do not add pep. If Voice forbids TED cadence, the Note should not open on a stage.
Essay, paywall mark, and what you refuse to invent
Six title tests, 60 characters or less, with counts printed. Mark one recommended. No numbered listicles unless the draft is a list.
Subtitle and dek: dek under 140 characters. Essay body is a cut, reorder, and line-edit of the draft, not a new reporting piece. Mark [PAYWALL] on its own line at the placement you chose (after the hook, after section 2, or none). Everything above the mark must stand alone for a free reader. If the rule is none, do not insert a fake wall.
The paid restack hed is one sentence a paid reader can restack without collapsing the free hook.
What you cut, in five bullets. If you wanted a stat the draft lacked, list it under Missing. Do not add it. If the paid section was supposed to be a 30-minute workshop and the draft has no transcript, scaffold the section and say so. Do not mint a fake transcript.
Thumbnail text, four words max, plus alt text. No fake charts. Links only from the links you provided.
Fill the card, then run
Paste the draft you already wrote. Caps and paywall rule are hard. Empty studies stay empty.
Draft: [Paste]
Publication and typical reader: [Pub]
Free vs paid intent: [Free / paid / hybrid]
Paywall placement: [After hook / after section 2 / none]
Voice: [Voice]
Things I must not claim: [Banned]
CTA I actually want: [Reply / subscribe / restack / none]
Length caps: [Note chars, essay words]
Links I may use: [Links or none]
The split is an edit, not a research pass. When a run keeps the checklist free, marks the workshop as scaffold, and refuses a fake restack count, share that filled card. Other operators need the same spine-and-cut habit.
If the Note cap is 400 characters, print the count on the Note. If the essay cap is 700 words, print that too. Caps are part of the job, not a suggestion the model can overflow because the scene was vivid.