Subsync – RSS Sync for Substack vs Stealth Publish

This plugin allows you to prevent specified posts from being featured on the front page or in feeds, and from notifying external services of publication. Beneficial in instances where you want to publish new content without any fanfare and just want the post added to archive and category pages and its own permalink page. A “Stealth publish?” checkbox is added to the “Write Post” admin page. Posts which are saved with that checkbox checked will no longer be featured on the front page of the blog, nor will the post be included in any feeds. A stealth published post will also not notify any external services about the publication. This includes not sending out pingbacks, trackbacks, and pings to update services such as pingomatic.com. This behavior can be overridden via the ‘c2c_stealth_publish_silent’ filter (see Filters section). NOTES: Use of other plugins making their own queries against the database to find posts will possibly allow a post to appear on the front page. But use of the standard WordPress functions for retrieving posts (as done for the main posts query and the recent posts widget) should not allow stealth published posts to appear on the home page. If you use this plugin, you do not need to use my Silent Publish plugin as that functionality is incorporated into this plugin. Alternatively, if you like the silent publishing feature but want your new posts to appear on your blog’s front page and in feeds, then just use the “Silent Publish” plugin. The plugin records when a post is stealth published, so subsequent edits of the post will have the “Stealth publish?” checkbox checked by default. Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | Author Homepage Filters The plugin is further customizable via three filters. Typically, these customizations would be put into your active theme’s functions.php file, or used by another plugin. c2c_stealth_publish_meta_key (filter) The ‘c2c_stealth_publish_meta_key’ filter allows you to override the name of the custom field key used by the plugin to store a post’s stealth publish status. This isn’t a common need. Arguments: $custom_field_key (string): The custom field key to be used by the plugin. By default this is ‘_stealth-publish’. Example: /** * Defines a custom meta key to be used by Stealth Publish. * * @param string $custom_field_key The default custom field key name. * @return string */ function override_stealth_publish_key( $custom_field_key ) { return '_my_custom_stealth-publish'; } add_filter( 'c2c_stealth_publish_meta_key', 'override_stealth_publish_key' ); c2c_stealth_publish_silent (filter) The ‘c2c_stealth_publish_silent’ filter allows you to override whether the plugin also ensure the post gets published silently (i.e. without sending out pingbacks, tracbacks, and pings to update services). Arguments: $publish_silently (bool): Should stealth published posts also be published silently? By default this is ‘true’. $post_id (int): The ID of the post being published. Example: /** * Disable silent publishing for stealth published posts. * * @param bool $publish_silently True if the post is to be published silently. * @param int $post_id The post ID. * @return Always false. */ function override_stealth_publish_silent( $publish_silently, $post_id ) { return false; } add_filter( 'c2c_stealth_publish_silent', 'override_stealth_publish_silent' ); c2c_stealth_publish_default (filter) The ‘c2c_stealth_publish_default’ filter allows you to override the default state of the ‘Stealth Publish?’ checkbox. Arguments: $state (boolean): The default state of the checkbox. By default this is false. $post (WP_Post): The post currently being created/edited. Example: // Have the Stealth Publish? checkbox checked by default. add_filter( 'c2c_stealth_publish_default', '__return_true' );

Bring your Substack to your WordPress site. Subsync automatically imports your Substack posts into WordPress, making them searchable, discoverable, and part of your website. Perfect for Substack writers who want to maintain a presence on their own domain. Why Subsync? Own Your Content Keep a backup of your posts on your WordPress site. If you ever decide to move platforms, you’ll have all your content ready to go. Improve Discoverability Make your posts searchable on Google and accessible to readers who prefer your website over email subscriptions. Grow Your Audience Give readers multiple ways to find and engage with your content. Your website visitors can browse your entire archive without needing to subscribe. Set It and Forget It Once configured, Subsync runs automatically. New posts appear on your site within 24 hours of publication. Key Features Setup Wizard — Get started in under 2 minutes with our guided setup process Automatic Syncing — Daily or weekly sync keeps your WordPress site updated automatically Featured Images — Automatically imports and sets featured images from your posts Custom Post Type — Posts appear in their own section, separate from your regular blog Flexible Display — Use shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks to display posts anywhere on your site Smart Content — Shows post excerpts with “Read More” buttons that link back to your Substack Responsive Design — Mobile-friendly display works beautifully on all devices Missing Post Handling — Choose what happens when you delete a post (keep or draft) Clean Uninstall — Optionally removes all data when you deactivate Translation Ready — Fully internationalized and ready for translation How It Works Install and activate the plugin Enter your RSS feed URL (e.g., yourname.substack.com/feed) Run the initial sync to import your existing posts Add the [sstack_posts] shortcode or Gutenberg block to any page Your posts now display on your WordPress site! New posts are automatically synced daily (or weekly, your choice). Manual sync is always available if you want to update immediately after publishing. Display Options Shortcode Usage: [sstack_posts] — Show all posts (default 10, recommended) [sstack_posts count=”5″] — Show 5 most recent posts [sstack_posts orderby=”title” order=”ASC”] — Sort alphabetically You can also use [subsync_posts] or [substack_posts] (backwards compatibility). Gutenberg Block: Use the “Subsync Posts” block in the editor with live preview and visual controls for number of posts, sorting, and ordering. Perfect For Substack writers who want to maintain a website presence Newsletter publishers on any platform with RSS Content creators building a multi-platform audience Authors keeping a backup of their content Publications growing their SEO and discoverability Pro Version Features Upgrade to Subsync Pro for advanced features: Multi-Column Layouts — Display posts in 2 or 3 column grids Author Info Box — Display your bio, avatar, and subscribe button alongside posts Divi Module — Native integration with Divi Builder for visual page building Priority Support — Email support with faster response times Learn more about Subsync Pro → Privacy & Data Subsync does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data from your site visitors. The plugin only reads publicly available RSS feed data. No tracking, no analytics. External Services This plugin connects to external services to function properly: Substack RSS Feeds and Images * What: The plugin fetches your RSS feed from Substack and downloads featured images from Substack’s CDN * When: During sync operations (manual or automatic based on your schedule) * Data sent: Standard HTTP requests to retrieve publicly available RSS feed data and image files * Purpose: To display your Substack posts and their associated images on your WordPress site * Terms: Substack Terms of Service * Privacy: Substack Privacy Policy The plugin does not send any personal or sensitive data to external services. All data retrieved is publicly available content from your Substack publication.