Esther

@thespike · The Spike · Substack profile · Literature

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Esther has 11,011 followers on Substack as of Oct 31, 2026. On the latest board read, Oct 31, 2026, they were #49 on Substack's Literature Bestsellers board. 54 publications recommend them, and they recommend 26.

Followers read 7 days ago · Boards read 6 days 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: 11,011; read Oct 31
Last 7 days: first number on Nov 7
Last 30 days: first number on Nov 30
Subscribers: 7.5K+; rounded by Substack
Paid subscribers: 100+; bestseller badge 100+
Recommended by: 54; none new in 30 days
Recommends: 26
Bestsellers rank: #49; 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.

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 Esther on Substack; they aren't email subscribers.

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Daily readings
Date	Followers	Change	Subscribers	Paid band
Oct 31, 2026	11,011		7.5K+

Leaderboard positions

Board	Rank now	Best on record	Reads on it
Literature Bestsellers	#49	#49	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
Literature Bestsellers	49	49	49	49	0

I read every board once a day.

Recommendations

54 publications recommend Esther. Esther recommends 26, and 10 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 Jan 2024 (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
2023-09	1
2023-11	1
2024-01	21
2024-02	1
2024-04	4
2024-05	2
2024-06	1
2024-07	3
2024-09	2
2024-10	3
2024-12	1
2025-01	2
2025-02	1
2025-04	1
2025-05	2
2025-08	1
2025-11	3
2026-03	2
2026-04	1
2026-09	1

Recommended by

Katie Clapham27k followers · started Mar 16, 2026 · mutual
Natasha Poliszczuk18k followers · started Nov 23, 2025 · mutual
Polly Vernon18k followers · started May 2024 · mutual
Kate Spicer10k followers · started Sep 2024 · mutual
Rebecca Humphries9.6k followers · started Sep 2023 · mutual
Claire Rigby1.4k followers · started Mar 28, 2026
Words with Bexstarted Sep 23, 2026
Sarah's Substackstarted Apr 20, 2026
The Emma Guns Showstarted Nov 19, 2025
Verity Brooksstarted Nov 2025
Day Dreamingstarted Aug 2025
Trash Culture with Francesca Steelestarted May 2025 · mutual
Susan Hill's Substackstarted May 2025 · mutual
Hoam’s Substackstarted Apr 2025
Una’s Substackstarted Feb 2025
Lucy’s Substackstarted Jan 2025 · mutual
Emmy Laybourne Fights Her Phonestarted Jan 2025
Poppy’s Substackstarted Dec 2024
Sublime Drizzlingsstarted Oct 2024
O Substack de Carolinestarted Oct 2024
Square Eyesstarted Oct 2024
Sue’s Substackstarted Sep 2024
Unmooredstarted Jul 2024
The Shit by Hannah Bettsstarted Jul 2024 · mutual

All 54

Elles’s Substackstarted Jul 2024
Dr.’s Substackstarted Jun 2024
Nikc’s Substackstarted May 2024
When Up Northstarted Apr 2024
Midulthoodstarted Apr 2024 · mutual
Chemins solitairesstarted Apr 2024
JoannaCB’s Substackstarted Apr 2024
We Need To Talk About Socialstarted Feb 2024
Manchan’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Leah’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Adulting- The Complaint's Department started Jan 2024
simone21blaskey@btinternet.com’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
L.Ramesh’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
The Lives of Othersstarted Jan 2024
Catherine’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Rosssa.com’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Great Mind Articlesstarted Jan 2024
Gerardo’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Frankie’s Wordsstarted Jan 2024
Christian’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Diane’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Josh’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Robert’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Noman’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
masoud’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
angela’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Mil’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Islam’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Flavor’s Substackstarted Jan 2024
Merry’s Substackstarted Nov 2023

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All 26

In Case You Missed Itstarted May 2023
this is me trying started Apr 2023

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.