Teletype.in and Telegraph: simple platforms for publishing notes from Obsidian

Introduction: when simplicity matters more than functionality

Not everyone needs a full-fledged site with a connection graph and complex setup. Sometimes you just want to take a ready note from Obsidian and quickly share it with the world — without fiddling with GitHub, domains and server settings.

It’s for exactly these cases that Teletype.in and Telegraph exist — two platforms that let you publish quality text content in a matter of minutes.

When to choose simple platforms?

✅ You want to test the idea of publishing notes ✅ You need to quickly share a specific note ✅ Simplicity matters more than advanced features ✅ You’re targeting a Russian-speaking audience ✅ You don’t want to spend time on technical setup

A comparison with other solutions

Criterion	Obsidian Publish	Quartz	Teletype.in	Telegraph
Cost	$10/month	Free	Free	Free
Setup time	10 minutes	1-2 hours	2 minutes	30 seconds
Wiki-links	✅	✅	❌	❌
Connection graph	✅	✅	❌	❌
Beautiful design	✅	✅	✅	⚡
Russian-speaking audience	❌	❌	✅	⚡
Publishing speed	⚡	⚡	⚡⚡	⚡⚡⚡

Teletype.in: a platform for thoughtful reading

Teletype.in is a Russian-language platform for publishing long texts, created by the vc.ru team. It focuses on quality content and comfortable reading.

The philosophy of Teletype

Teletype was built as a “middle path” between social networks (where content quickly gets lost in the feed) and full-fledged blogs (which require technical knowledge).

Key principles:

📖 A focus on the text — nothing extra, just the content
🎨 Beautiful typography — pleasant to read from any device
👥 A quality audience — people come for useful content
🔍 The ability to find your publications through search and recommendations

The advantages of Teletype for Obsidian users

1. Compatibility with Markdown

Teletype supports the main Markdown elements you use in Obsidian:

# Headings of all levels
**Bold text** and *italics*
- Lists
- Bulleted and numbered
 
> Quotes look beautiful
 
`Code` and code blocks:

2. Automatic typography

The platform automatically:

Adds the correct quotation marks („ ” instead of ” ”)
Replaces hyphens with dashes where needed
Optimises spacing and line breaks
Makes the text more readable

3. A built-in audience

Teletype already has an active community of readers interested in:

Technology and innovation
Productivity and self-development
Business and startups
Education and science

How to publish notes from Obsidian on Teletype

Step 1: Preparing the note in Obsidian

Choose a finished note with quality content
Remove the wiki-links and replace them with regular links or text
Check the formatting — use standard Markdown
Add an introduction and conclusion for the external audience

An example of adapting a note:

Before (for Obsidian):

# The Zettelkasten method
 
Linked to [[PARA Method]] and [[Second brains]].
 
Main principles:
- Atomicity of notes
- Connections between ideas  
- Unique identifiers
 
See also: [[How I use Obsidian]]

After (for Teletype):

# The Zettelkasten method: how to create a living knowledge base
 
Zettelkasten isn't just a note system, but a way of thinking that helps generate new ideas through connections between existing knowledge.
 
## What is Zettelkasten?
 
Zettelkasten (German for "card index") is a note-taking method invented by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann...
 
[a detailed explanation without internal links]
 
## Conclusion
 
This method pairs perfectly with other knowledge-management systems, such as the PARA Method and Tiago Forte's "Second Brain" concept.

Step 2: Registration and profile setup

Go to teletype.in
Register via email or social networks
Set up your profile:
- Add an avatar and a description
- Add links to your other resources (YouTube, Telegram)
- Choose topics you’re interested in to personalise the feed

Step 3: Creating and publishing an article

Click the “Write” button in the top menu
Enter the article title
Copy the adapted text from Obsidian
Add a cover (recommended size: 1200×630 pixels)
Set up tags for better discoverability
Preview the article and publish it

Step 4: Optimising for the audience

Effective titles:

“How I organise knowledge in Obsidian: the PARA method in practice”
“5 Obsidian plugins that changed my approach to notes”
“From chaos to a system: my journey to productive thinking”

Useful tags:

Best practices for Teletype

1. The structure of a successful publication

# A catchy headline with value
 
*A short description of what the reader will get*
 
## Introduction (the problem/context)
- What's the essence of the problem?
- Why does it matter?
- What will be in the article?
 
## The main part (the solution)
- Concrete steps
- Examples from personal experience  
- Screenshots and illustrations
 
## Conclusion (takeaways + a call to action)
- What to do next?
- Where to learn more?
- How to contact the author?

2. Types of content that work on Teletype

🔥 Goes down very well:

Personal experience using tools
Step-by-step guides and instructions
Reviews and comparisons of services
Stories of success and failure
Philosophical reflections on productivity

❌ Works poorly:

Purely technical articles without context
Translations without adaptation
Notes that are too short (< 1000 characters)
Content with no personal experience

3. Interacting with the community

Activity in the comments:

Reply to all comments on your articles
Comment on other authors’ publications in your niche
Ask questions, start discussions

Networking:

Follow authors with similar interests
Share interesting publications on social media
Mention other authors in your articles (with their consent)

Telegraph: instant publishing for quick ideas

Telegraph is a minimalist platform from the Telegram team for instantly publishing texts. It’s built for the cases when you need to quickly share a thought without unnecessary formalities.

The philosophy of Telegraph

Telegraph embodies the principle of maximum simplicity:

🚀 Instant publishing — from idea to link in 30 seconds
🔒 Anonymity — you don’t even need to register
📱 Mobile optimisation — perfect for reading in Telegram
🌐 Global availability — works everywhere without restrictions

When to use Telegraph

Ideal scenarios:

✅ Quickly publishing an insight after reading a book ✅ Sharing notes with participants of a course or workshop ✅ Testing ideas before a full-fledged article ✅ Anonymously publishing sensitive content ✅ Creating a FAQ for a Telegram channel

Not suitable for:

❌ Content that needs regular updating ❌ Building a personal brand (anonymity) ❌ SEO promotion (poor indexing) ❌ Complex articles with lots of images

How to work with Telegraph

Step 1: Preparing the content in Obsidian

Telegraph supports very limited formatting, so the note needs to be simplified as much as possible:

Supported:

Headings (only H3 and H4)
Bold text and italics
Links
Images (one per paragraph)
Simple lists

NOT supported:

Code and code blocks
Tables
Complex formatting
Obsidian wiki-links

An example of adaptation:

The original note in Obsidian:

# 3 principles of effective notes
 
## 1. Atomicity
Each note = one idea. See [[Zettelkasten]].
 
```javascript
const note = {
  id: generateId(),
  content: "single idea"
}

2. Connectedness

Notes should link to each other through wiki-links.

3. Actionability

Each note should answer the question: “What do I do with this?”


*The adapted version for Telegraph:*
```markdown
### 3 principles of effective notes

### Principle 1: Atomicity

Each note should contain only one idea. This makes it easy to find the information you need and combine ideas with each other.

**Bad:** a note "Productivity" with everything in it
**Good:** separate notes "The Eisenhower Matrix", "The Pomodoro Technique", "The two-minute rule"

### Principle 2: Connectedness

Notes shouldn't exist in isolation. Create connections between related ideas — it helps you see the big picture.

### Principle 3: Applicability

The most important question for any note: "What do I do with this?" If there's no answer — the note turns into information junk.

**Try it right now:** open any of your notes and ask yourself how you can apply this information in practice.

Step 2: Creating a publication

Open telegra.ph in your browser
Enter the article title
Add the author’s name (or leave it anonymous)
Paste the prepared text
Click “PUBLISH”
Save the link — you’ll only be able to edit the article from the same device

Step 3: Distribution

Where to share Telegraph articles:

In comments on social-media posts
In Telegram channels and chats
As supplementary materials for videos
When answering questions in communities

An example of use:

A question in a chat: "How is it best to organise notes?"

Your answer: "Here are three principles that help me: 
telegra.ph/3-principa-effektivnyh-zametok-01-15

If you need more detail — I can record a separate video"

Telegraph + Telegram: the perfect pairing

Integration with a Telegram channel

Telegraph was originally created for integration with Telegram, so there are unique features here:

1. Instant preview Telegraph links open right in Telegram without going to the browser

2. Beautiful previews Telegraph automatically generates attractive previews for Telegram

3. Reading comfort Articles are optimised for reading on mobile devices

Usage strategies

Strategy 1: Extended descriptions

A Telegram post: "5 Obsidian plugins for beginners 🧠"

A short list in the post + a link to Telegraph with a detailed description of each plugin

Strategy 2: FAQs and guides

Frequently asked questions → a Telegraph article "Answers to popular questions about Obsidian"

Pin it in the channel for permanent access

Strategy 3: An archive of insights

Every week you publish a Telegraph with a collection of your best thoughts and discoveries

Workflow: from Obsidian to publication

A weekly publishing ritual

Monday: Reviewing notes

Look through the notes from the past week
Choose 2-3 of the most interesting ideas
Assess their readiness for publishing

Wednesday: Preparing the content

Adapt the chosen notes to the platform’s format
Add context for the external audience
Create catchy titles

Friday: Publishing

Publish the main article on Teletype
Create a short version in Telegraph
Share the links on social media

A tag system for tracking

In Obsidian, add special tags to your notes:

---
tags: 
  - publication/ready
  - platform/teletype
  - topic/productivity
  - audience/beginners
---

This will help you:

Quickly find content for publishing
Avoid re-publishing
Analyse which topics go down better

Automation via Dataview

Create a “Content plan” note in Obsidian with an automatic selection:

TABLE file.ctime as "Created", tags as "Tags"
FROM #publication/ready 
SORT file.ctime DESC

Monetisation and growing your audience

Teletype: building expertise

Growth strategies on Teletype:

1. Serial content Create series of connected articles:

“Obsidian for beginners: Part 1, 2, 3…”
“30 days with a new productivity system”
“Weekly insights about digital tools”

2. Interactivity

Run polls in the comments
Answer readers’ questions with separate articles
Invite discussion at the end of each publication

3. Cross-promotion

Mention Teletype in your YouTube videos
Add links to the video descriptions
Integrate it with your Telegram channel

Monetisation through Teletype:

Direct monetisation:

Advertising in articles (native integration)
Affiliate links to tools
Promoting your own products

Indirect monetisation:

Bringing an audience to YouTube
Growing subscribers on Telegram
Building an expert image

Telegraph: a support tool

Telegraph isn’t suitable for direct monetisation, but works great as a supporting tool:

Telegraph’s roles in a content strategy:

Testing ideas — quickly check the audience’s reaction
FAQs and support — answers to common questions
Supplementary materials — extensions to the main content
Personal productivity — publishing thoughts for self-analysis

Analytics and optimisation

Tracking effectiveness

Teletype analytics:

The number of article views
The dynamics of subscribers
Activity in the comments
Clicks on external links

Telegraph metrics:

The number of views (basic statistics)
Traffic analysis via external services (bit.ly, ow.ly)
Feedback in the comments where you share the links

Optimising content

A/B testing of titles:

Publish the same idea with different titles on different platforms:

Option A (Teletype): “How I increased my productivity by 40% with Obsidian” Option B (Telegraph): “3 simple Obsidian settings that will change your life”

Analyse which approach works better.

Optimising the publishing time:

Teletype: publications on weekdays from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 19:00 to 21:00 work best
Telegraph: the optimal time depends on your audience on Telegram

A comparison with other platforms

Teletype vs Habr

Criterion	Teletype	Habr
Audience	Wide	IT specialists
Barrier to entry	Low	Medium (moderation)
Typography	Excellent	Good
Monetisation	Limited	Good
Community	Friendly	Demanding

Telegraph vs Yandex.Zen

Criterion	Telegraph	Yandex.Zen
Simplicity	Maximum	Medium
Monetisation	No	Yes
Algorithms	None	Aggressive
Audience	Telegram	Wide
Control	Full	Limited

Conclusion: choosing your path

Teletype.in and Telegraph aren’t a replacement for a full-fledged site or blog, but additional tools in a content creator’s arsenal. Each platform solves its own tasks:

Use Teletype.in if:

✅ You want to seriously focus on creating content ✅ You’re targeting a Russian-speaking audience ✅ You value beautiful typography and design ✅ You’re ready to regularly publish quality articles ✅ You need feedback from an interested community

Use Telegraph if:

✅ You need to quickly share an idea or insight ✅ You actively run a Telegram channel ✅ You want to test the reaction to your content ✅ You prefer anonymity or minimalism ✅ You create supporting materials (FAQs, guides)

A combined strategy:

The most effective approach is to use both platforms together:

You generate ideas in Obsidian
You test quick thoughts in Telegraph
You develop the best ideas into full-fledged articles on Teletype
You scale successful content into YouTube videos
You automate the process via a tag system and workflow

Remember: the main thing isn’t the platform, but the regularity of creating quality content. Start with the tool that seems most comfortable to you, and then experiment with other formats.

Your notes from Obsidian contain valuable knowledge — don’t let them gather dust in a private vault. The world needs your ideas, and simple platforms make the publishing process as accessible as possible.

Follow the updates of this guide on my channel and on Telegram. Share your publishing experience — together we’re building an ecosystem of open knowledge!

Elton Labs