John Nelson

@behindthegospels · Behind the Gospels · Substack profile · History

Compare Share

John Nelson has 12,553 followers on Substack as of Oct 31, 2026. On the latest board read, Nov 6, 2026, they were #93 on Substack's History Bestsellers board. 54 publications recommend them, 2 of them new in the last 30 days, and they recommend 7.

Followers read 7 days ago · Boards read 2 h ago

Last read Oct 31, 2026 (UTC). Followers are not email subscribers. Substack lists only the newest 50 recommendations for each publication, so a recommender count of 50 or more is a floor. History starts Oct 31, 2026; Substack publishes nothing earlier.

Followers: 12,553; read Oct 31
Last 7 days: first number on Nov 7
Last 30 days: first number on Nov 30
Subscribers: 11K+; rounded by Substack
Paid subscribers: 100+; bestseller badge 100+
Recommended by: 54; +2 in 30 days
Recommends: 7
Bestsellers rank: #93; History

Followers by day

Tracking since Oct 31, 2026. This is the first reading. Substack doesn't publish past follower counts, so history starts the day I first read a writer and grows by one reading every 3 days (daily if it's on your watchlist). The 7-day change appears on Nov 7, the 30-day change on Nov 30. Recommendation dates below go further back: they're Substack's own.

One reading a day, the last of the day. Marked: leaderboard steps (into the top 25, top 10, or #1). Followers are people who follow John Nelson on Substack; they aren't email subscribers.

Show as a table

Daily readings
Date	Followers	Change	Subscribers	Paid band
Oct 31, 2026	12,553		11K+

Leaderboard positions

Board	Rank now	Best on record	Reads on it
History Bestsellers	#93	#93	4 of 4
History Rising	#31	#26	4 of 4

Rank on each read

Rank on each read of each board. Each cell is the leaderboard rank; empty means not in the top 100.
Writer	Oct 3107:00	Oct 3113:00	Oct 3119:47	Nov 621:50	Move
History Bestsellers	95	95	96	93	▲2
History Rising	82	26	26	31	▲51

I read every board once a day.

Recommendations

54 publications recommend John Nelson; 2 started in the last 30 days. John Nelson recommends 7, and 3 of those recommend back. Lists read Oct 31.

The 9 largest publications on each side, by followers. Bigger dot, more followers. Orange: started in the last 30 days. Gray dots: publications I don't track, so no follower count.

When the recommendations started

Live recommendations by the month each began, using Substack's own start date. Removed ones aren't listed by Substack, so they don't appear. Substack shows only the 50 newest recommenders, so before Oct 2025 (outlined) I see only those from the 6,392 publications whose full lists I read.

Show as a table

Recommendations started per month
Month	Started
2024-06	1
2024-07	1
2025-05	1
2025-10	5
2025-11	5
2025-12	4
2026-01	6
2026-02	4
2026-03	2
2026-04	3
2026-05	3
2026-06	8
2026-07	5
2026-08	3
2026-09	1
2026-10	2

Recommended by

Alex O'Connor90k followers · started Jun 2024
Bentham's Bulldog32k followers · started May 2025 · mutual
Amos Wollen9.9k followers · started Aug 20, 2026 · mutual
David Armstrong7.5k followers · started Jul 2024 · mutual
Mystic Skepticstarted Oct 31, 2026new
Martìnstarted Oct 29, 2026new
starsigmusstarted Sep 26, 2026
El Substack de Balmesianostarted Aug 16, 2026
Amir's Substackstarted Aug 15, 2026
Personal Hobbies and Thoughtsstarted Jul 28, 2026
Tudor-Vlad's Substackstarted Jul 21, 2026
Arbad's Substackstarted Jul 20, 2026
Bailey's Bookshelfstarted Jul 14, 2026
Arwen's Substackstarted Jul 3, 2026
Vestígiosstarted Jun 25, 2026
Polymathstarted Jun 18, 2026
Torin's Substackstarted Jun 13, 2026
August's Substackstarted Jun 10, 2026
ShaynaElia's Substackstarted Jun 10, 2026
Ananya's substack- Brainwaves and Brushstrokesstarted Jun 4, 2026
Nina's Substackstarted Jun 4, 2026
Stevie's Substackstarted Jun 2, 2026
Mar Abiertostarted May 19, 2026
Strandsstarted May 7, 2026

All 54

Val's Substackstarted May 2, 2026
Tin Magalosstarted Apr 28, 2026
Noman Sohailstarted Apr 22, 2026
CubicleFan723's Substackstarted Apr 14, 2026
Where Attention Settlesstarted Mar 25, 2026
Willy's Substackstarted Mar 24, 2026
Il Substack di Marcostarted Feb 26, 2026
Logic Absurdstarted Feb 19, 2026
Il Substack di G.Rstarted Feb 18, 2026
Keralidealist's Substackstarted Feb 6, 2026
Le Substack de Camillestarted Jan 24, 2026
David's Substackstarted Jan 24, 2026
MOHAMMAD's Substackstarted Jan 24, 2026
Valeriy's Substackstarted Jan 21, 2026
Weekly Review of Public Scholarshipstarted Jan 19, 2026
Bilgun's Substackstarted Jan 18, 2026
Gap Fearstarted Dec 18, 2025
Telosstarted Dec 11, 2025
Riiruu's Substackstarted Dec 10, 2025
Alfred's Substackstarted Dec 4, 2025
The Sacred Lazy One's Substackstarted Nov 15, 2025
Meryll's Substackstarted Nov 12, 2025
Louis Monthly Newsletterstarted Nov 11, 2025
Louis - Lettre Mensuellestarted Nov 10, 2025
Vojislav's Substackstarted Nov 7, 2025
Logical Reflectionsstarted Oct 2025
a B1T 0f Th0ughtstarted Oct 2025
Abenezer's Substackstarted Oct 2025
Hatice's Substackstarted Oct 2025
jm's Substackstarted Oct 2025

Recommends

Bentham's Bulldog32k followers · started May 2025 · mutual
Amos Wollen9.9k followers · started Feb 26, 2026 · mutual
David Armstrong7.5k followers · started May 2025 · mutual
Sophia in the Shellstarted Jul 31, 2026
This Isle is Full of Noisesstarted Apr 5, 2026
Contingent History started Aug 2025
Science & Religion Caféstarted Mar 2024

Substack lists the 50 newest recommenders of each publication. I add every recommendation found in the full lists of the 6,392 publications I read, so writers with many recommenders may still be missing a few small ones. "Started" is Substack's date.