Ross Gay has 38,935 followers on Substack as of Oct 31, 2026. On the latest board read, Nov 6, 2026, they were #89 on Substack's Literature Bestsellers board. 57 publications recommend them, 2 of them new in the last 30 days, and they recommend 7.
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
- 38,935
- read Oct 31
- Last 7 days
- first number on Nov 7
- Last 30 days
- first number on Nov 30
- Subscribers
- 18K+
- rounded by Substack
- Paid subscribers
- 100+
- bestseller badge 100+
- Recommended by
- 57
- +2 in 30 days
- Recommends
- 7
- Bestsellers rank
- #89
- Literature
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.
Show as a table
| Date | Followers | Change | Subscribers | Paid band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 2026 | 38,935 | 18K+ |
Leaderboard positions
| Board | Rank now | Best on record | Reads on it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Literature Bestsellers | #89 | #89 | 4 of 4 |
Rank on each read
| Writer | Oct 3107:00 | Oct 3113:00 | Oct 3119:47 | Nov 621:50 | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Literature Bestsellers | 90 | 90 | 90 | 89 | ▲1 |
I read every board once a day.
Recommendations
57 publications recommend Ross Gay; 2 started in the last 30 days. Ross Gay recommends 7, and 1 of those recommend back. Lists read Oct 31.
When the recommendations started
Show as a table
| Month | Started |
|---|---|
| 2025-02 | 2 |
| 2025-03 | 3 |
| 2025-08 | 4 |
| 2025-09 | 2 |
| 2025-11 | 4 |
| 2025-12 | 4 |
| 2026-01 | 11 |
| 2026-02 | 3 |
| 2026-03 | 3 |
| 2026-05 | 4 |
| 2026-06 | 3 |
| 2026-07 | 5 |
| 2026-08 | 2 |
| 2026-09 | 5 |
| 2026-10 | 2 |
Recommended by
George Saunders449k followers · started Mar 2025 · mutual
Suleika Jaouad378k followers · started Mar 2025
Katherine May101k followers · started Jul 22, 2026
Elissa Altman49k followers · started Jul 20, 2026
Carrie Newcomer33k followers · started Mar 2025
Shauna James Ahern3.1k followers · started Jun 24, 2026
Jenner Fox | The Song Circle1.9k followers · started Sep 10, 2026
Sarah Orman1.1k followers · started Feb 2025
Andrew Lavers279 followers · started Feb 2025- Renee's Substackstarted Oct 27, 2026new
- Christine's Substackstarted Oct 22, 2026new
- *my juicy little universe*started Sep 25, 2026
- Feelings Layoverstarted Sep 24, 2026
- morgan's Substackstarted Sep 17, 2026
- Gretchen's Substackstarted Sep 7, 2026
- Sha's Substackstarted Aug 8, 2026
- Lulu's Substackstarted Aug 2, 2026
- Between Usstarted Jul 30, 2026
- Kathleen's Substackstarted Jul 6, 2026
- Sanjeev's Substackstarted Jul 2, 2026
- Nick Viau's Substackstarted Jun 22, 2026
- Jyoti's Substackstarted Jun 5, 2026
- Gloria Huhstarted May 14, 2026
- Rachel's Substackstarted May 5, 2026
All 57
- oldbird's Substackstarted May 4, 2026
- Issy's Substackstarted May 1, 2026
- Where Light Landsstarted Mar 27, 2026
- You don't have to read this, it's literally my diarystarted Mar 25, 2026
- Slow Songsstarted Mar 19, 2026
- Carrie's Substackstarted Feb 25, 2026
- Khot's Substackstarted Feb 16, 2026
- Dianna's Substackstarted Feb 13, 2026
- Substack von ILONAstarted Jan 11, 2026
- Bertha's Substackstarted Jan 7, 2026
- Cherrie's Substackstarted Jan 4, 2026
- Susan's Substackstarted Jan 4, 2026
- Kelly's Substackstarted Jan 3, 2026
- Carol's Substackstarted Jan 3, 2026
- Mary's Substackstarted Jan 2, 2026
- Ellen's Substackstarted Jan 2, 2026
- Substack von andreastarted Jan 2, 2026
- Xuxu's Substackstarted Jan 1, 2026
- Lindsay's Substackstarted Jan 1, 2026
- Wordsmith's Substackstarted Dec 18, 2025
- Valeria's Substackstarted Dec 10, 2025
- Substack von S.M:started Dec 4, 2025
- Habibu's Substackstarted Dec 1, 2025
- Brandy's Substackstarted Nov 24, 2025
- From Under the Rugstarted Nov 13, 2025
- Tricia's Substackstarted Nov 2025
- LESLIE's Substackstarted Nov 2025
- Tilli’s Substackstarted Sep 2025
- Community’s Substackstarted Sep 2025
- Annie’s Substackstarted Aug 2025
- Jeremy’s Substackstarted Aug 2025
- Lauren’s Substackstarted Aug 2025
- Marje’s Substackstarted Aug 2025
Recommends
- George Saunders449k followers · started Feb 2025 · mutual
Patti Smith398k followers · started Feb 2025
Austin Kleon385k followers · started Feb 2025
Wendy MacNaughton166k followers · started Feb 2025
Junot Díaz46k followers · started Feb 2025
Harmony Holiday29k followers · started Feb 2025- A letter from Pádraig Ó Tuamastarted Feb 2025
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.
Recommended by the same publications
Writers who share the most recommenders with Ross Gay. Useful for finding peers, and for sponsors looking for similar audiences.
- 5 shared
Suleika JaouadThe Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad
378k followers - 5 shared
Jenny RosenstrachDinner: A Love Story
146k followers - 5 shared
Maggie SmithFor Dear Life with Maggie Smith
100k followers - 4 shared
Priya ParkerGroup Life by Priya Parker
119k followers - 4 shared
Hanif KureishiTHE KUREISHI CHRONICLES
88k followers - 3 shared
Nadia Bolz-WeberThe Corners by Nadia Bolz-Weber
241k followers - 3 shared
Carson EllisSlowpoke
72k followers - 2 shared
Austin Kleon@austinkleon
385k followers
Who recommends writers like this one
Publications that recommend at least two other Literature writers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers (92 writers in that group), but not Ross Gay.
- recommends 7 of them
Sarah Fay, PhD@sarahfay - recommends 7 of themAlthea’s Substack
- recommends 6 of them
Alexandra Auder@alexauder - recommends 5 of them
Andrea Bartz@andibartz - recommends 5 of them
Karin Gillespie@karingillespie - recommends 4 of themMaggie Smith@maggiesmithpoet
- recommends 4 of them
Narratively@narratively - recommends 4 of them
Summer Brennan@summerbrennan - recommends 4 of them
Alison Krupnick@alisonkrupnick - recommends 4 of themCulturissime LITTÉRATURE
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<a href="https://stackblade.app/w/rossgay"><img src="https://stackblade.app/badge/rossgay.svg" alt="Ross Gay on Substack: follower count" height="28"></a>
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Card for a website
A small live card with followers and recommendations. Iframe, 360 by 190.
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