Substack Creator Match vs Talks.co: Which One Should You Use?

Substack just launched Creator Match.

I’ve had a look at it, and honestly, I think it’s a useful addition if you’re trying to grow a publication on Substack.

It helps you find other publishers with similar interests and audience sizes, then suggests potential collaborations and lets you message them directly. Substack says those collaborations can include cross-posts, recommendations, podcast episodes, and sharing each other’s work in Notes.

Pretty handy.

But Creator Match is limited to creators on Substack. If you want to find relevant creators beyond Substack, across podcasts and other platforms, there’s another option worth looking at.

Talks.

Talks lets you discover creators regardless of which platform they use, and its new Substack filter lets you specifically narrow those results to creators who are also publishing on Substack.

Creator Match helps you discover people inside the Substack ecosystem. Talks helps you discover relevant creators beyond it.

Podcasting is one of the biggest ways those collaborations happen on Talks, and if you specifically want creators who are also active on Substack, you can use Talks’ Substack filter.

What Substack Creator Match Does 🔎

Creator Match lives inside your Substack publisher dashboard.

It looks for creators with similar audience sizes and interests, then ranks potential matches based on how promising the collaboration could be for both sides. You can message those creators directly from the dashboard.

One limitation: Creator Match currently gives you just 20 suggested matches.

The idea is pretty simple: find other people publishing around similar topics, then work together to introduce each other’s audiences to something new.

• What it can help with: Finding Substack publishers who could be a good fit for cross-posts, recommendations, Notes, podcast episodes, or other collaborations.

• What makes the matching useful: You’re starting with people who already publish on Substack and have some overlap in interests or audience size.

• What happens next: You reach out directly and see if there’s something worth doing together.

For a Substack creator, that’s useful. Just keep in mind that you’re still only looking within the Substack ecosystem.

And that’s where I’d look at Talks differently.

Talks Is THE Spoken-Word Sibling of Substack 🎙️

Think about what you’re actually doing when you publish a Substack post.

You’re taking an idea, an opinion, an experience, or something you’ve learned and putting it in front of an audience.

A podcast does the same thing through conversation:

• You get another person involved.

• You ask questions.

• They challenge your thinking.

• You tell stories.

• You get into the details that might never make it into a written post.

• Then that conversation goes out to another audience.

That’s a pretty powerful way to grow.

You can create a Talks profile as a podcast host, podcast guest, or both, add your interests and expertise, then browse potential matches.

Paid plans also give you advanced filters for things like episode activity, episode count, mailing list size, and more.

And now there’s another filter I think Substack creators should pay attention to:
Talks Substack filter.

Find Podcast Hosts Who Already Publish on Substack 🔗