Pressmark helps good writing find readers. It never posts without you. Engage is a ranked list of small, kind things you could do today: follow a writer, like or restack a post, reply with something worth saying, or welcome a new subscriber.
The feed and its reasons#
Choose Refresh to build today's feed. It takes a moment, and the page shows its progress. Each suggestion says what the action is (follow, like, comment or reply, restack, restack with a note, recommend, message, or welcome message), who and which post it is about, and why it was suggested. When your publication profile has keywords, you also see which of them matched. If one of your own posts fits, it is shown with a link, and the reading time tells you how long the post takes.
Some suggestions lift up smaller writers in your field. Nothing is expected back.
If the feed is empty, Refresh builds it from the writers and posts you track. Add seeds on Growth, and fill in your publication profile in Settings, under About your publication.
The control dial#
For each kind of action you choose how much Pressmark does once you approve an item:
- Off. The kind is not suggested at all.
- Suggest. Pressmark suggests it. You do it yourself in Substack, then mark it done.
- Guided. Pressmark opens the exact place in Substack and copies the text. You click, then mark it done. This is the default.
- Send for me. Pressmark sends the approved item itself, within your safety limits. It is off by default, and it needs your Substack account connected. It uses Substack's private interface, not a published one, and Substack's terms forbid auto-responders and automated activity, so you take that risk. The Send for me button shows this beside it, and appears only while the dial for that kind is still on Send for me. If it cannot send, Engage shows the reason and the guided steps instead.
Messages and recommendations stop at Guided. Pressmark never sends a direct message; you always do.
Read first#
For a comment, a restack note or a message, the draft stays hidden until you have opened the post. Choose Open post. It opens in a new tab, and then the draft appears. The idea is simple: your reply should answer what the post actually says.
Edit before sending#
For comments, restack notes and messages, Edit before sending is on by default. The draft appears in an editor, and you confirm the text yourself, changed or not. It is your voice, so you decide the words.
The quality gate#
Every drafted comment, reply and restack note is checked for five things:
- Generic praise. A reply that only says it was great.
- Does not answer the post's point. A reply that could sit under any post.
- Only promotes. A reply that mostly points to your own post.
- Links to another site. A link to a site you did not choose. Check it or take it out.
- Would take your share over the limit. The reply links your own post, and that would put the share of such replies above your limit.
If a draft is flagged, you see each flag with its reason. You can edit the text. Or you can choose Use it anyway, which says you have read why it was flagged and still want it. The choice is yours.
The self-promotion share#
At the top of the page, one quiet line shows how many of your finished replies linked your own posts, and your limit. By default at most one reply in three links your own posts. Drafts are written to stay within it. When a draft linked your own post and that would go over your share, Pressmark takes the link out and says so on the item.
Accept, edit, skip and block#
- Accept approves the item. What happens next follows the control dial.
- Edit changes the text before you accept.
- Skip drops the item.
- Not this person adds them to your blocklist. They are never suggested or acted on again.
- More, Never with this publication blocks the whole publication, not only one person.
Accept all likes, follows and restacks approves those simple items in one step. It never covers comments, notes, messages or recommendations. Items it leaves for you are listed with the reason, for example when something is on your blocklist or the kind is switched off. It covers the current feed.
The guided run#
Once you have approved items in Guided mode, choose Start guided run. It walks through them one at a time:
- Enter opens the place in Substack.
- C copies the text.
- D marks the item done and moves on.
- S skips it for now. It stays approved, and you can come back to it.
- Escape, or Leave the run, takes you out.
Limits and timing#
The warm-up, a lower cap on Pressmark's own sends, starts at your first Substack sign-in. Daily limits reset at midnight in your time zone, and approving an item you do by hand counts against its limit. Sends keep a fixed gap and are refused until it has passed, never random delays. If Send for me is refused, the message beside the item says why and when it may go.
What Pressmark never does#
- It never posts, likes, follows, restacks, comments or messages without you approving that item.
- It never sends a direct message.
- It never touches people, publications or words on your blocklist.
- It never uses random delays or varying limits to look human. Pacing is a fixed daily cap and a fixed gap between requests.