# Substack Author Scraper (`romy/substack-author-scraper`) Actor

Substack Author Scraper extracts full public profiles of Substack writers by handle. Returns bio, social links (LinkedIn, Twitter, personal website), all newsletters they manage, and bestseller tier — no login required

- **URL**: https://apify.com/romy/substack-author-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Romy](https://apify.com/romy) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 author scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

### What does Substack Author Scraper do?

**Substack Author Scraper** extracts full public profiles of [Substack](https://substack.com) writers by handle. Returns bio, social links (LinkedIn, Twitter, personal website), all newsletters they manage, and bestseller tier — no login required. Runs on the Apify platform with scheduling, proxy rotation, and API access built in.

### Why use Substack Author Scraper?

- **Influencer outreach**: Find contact info and social profiles for newsletter sponsorships or collaborations
- **Creator research**: Discover who's behind a newsletter, their background, and other publications they run
- **Lead generation**: Build a list of newsletter authors in a specific niche with their social handles
- **Market mapping**: Identify the most active writers in a space and their publication portfolio

### How to use Substack Author Scraper

1. Open the actor on Apify and click **Try for free**
2. Enter one or more **Author Handles** (e.g. `finstoryai`, `doomberg`, `howtogrowanewsletter`)
3. Click **Start** — results appear in the **Output** tab within seconds

### Input

```json
{
  "handles": ["finstoryai", "doomberg", "howtogrowanewsletter"]
}
```

Also accepts full profile URLs:

```json
{
  "handles": [
    "https://substack.com/@finstoryai",
    "doomberg"
  ]
}
```

### Output

Each item is one author's full public profile:

```json
{
  "id": 346306310,
  "name": "AI In Finance",
  "handle": "finstoryai",
  "previous_name": "Storytelling for Finance",
  "photo_url": "https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/...",
  "bio": "AI is now everyone's problem. But you can catch up...",
  "profile_set_up_at": "2025-05-20T17:04:18.511Z",
  "userLinks": [
    {"type": "linkedin", "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/finstoryai/", "label": "LinkedIn"},
    {"type": null, "url": "https://finstory.ai", "label": "Website"}
  ],
  "publicationUsers": [
    {
      "role": "admin",
      "is_primary": true,
      "publication": {
        "id": 5076800,
        "name": "AI In Finance",
        "subdomain": "finstoryai",
        "hero_text": "Helping CFOs turn numbers into stories...",
        "payments_state": "enabled",
        "created_at": "2025-05-20T17:04:26.053Z"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

### Data table

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `name` | Author display name |
| `handle` | Substack handle |
| `bio` | Author bio |
| `photo_url` | Profile photo URL |
| `profile_set_up_at` | Date joined Substack |
| `userLinks` | Social links: LinkedIn, Twitter, website, etc. |
| `publicationUsers[].role` | Role in publication (admin, contributor) |
| `publicationUsers[].publication.name` | Newsletter name |
| `publicationUsers[].publication.subdomain` | Newsletter subdomain |
| `publicationUsers[].publication.payments_state` | Whether newsletter has paid tier |

### Finding author handles

The easiest way to find handles:

- From a newsletter URL: `howtogrowanewsletter.substack.com` → handle is `howtogrowanewsletter`
- From a profile URL: `substack.com/@finstoryai` → handle is `finstoryai`
- Use **Substack Newsletter Scraper** to discover newsletters, then extract the `author_handle` field to feed into this actor

### Pricing

- **$0.05** per run start
- **$0.01** per author scraped

Scraping 100 authors costs approximately **$1.05**.

### FAQ & Disclaimers

**Is scraping Substack legal?** This actor only accesses publicly available profile data through Substack's official API — the same data visible to anyone without logging in.

**Can I get email addresses?** No — email addresses are private and not exposed in public profiles.

**Support:** Open an issue in the Issues tab. Custom solutions available on request.

# Actor input Schema

## `handles` (type: `array`):

List of Substack author handles to scrape (e.g. \['finstoryai', 'howtogrowanewsletter']). Also accepts full profile URLs.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "handles": [
    "finstoryai",
    "howtogrowanewsletter"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "handles": [
        "finstoryai",
        "howtogrowanewsletter"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("romy/substack-author-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "handles": [
        "finstoryai",
        "howtogrowanewsletter",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("romy/substack-author-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "handles": [
    "finstoryai",
    "howtogrowanewsletter"
  ]
}' |
apify call romy/substack-author-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,romy/substack-author-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bvswZm2mgSKAWaLWl/builds/n6qckJCGGV9Fb9QH8/openapi.json