
Discover more from On Substack
This is the first in an interview series designed to share the nuts and bolts of how writers have gone independent and grown their audiences on Substack. This interview was originally shared as part of Substack Grow, and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
We invited Caroline Chambers, who writes What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, to share insights on how her Substack has grown to 3,000 paying subscribers.
What’s your Substack about in one sentence?
What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking tells you what to cook when you don’t feel like cooking. I did not bury the lead with my title.
What do you offer readers?
A new recipe every Sunday that is family-friendly, takes under one hour, has less than 15 ingredients, and dirties as few dishes as possible.
Growth by the numbers
Started a free newsletter: March 2020
Moved to Substack and went paid: December 2020
Free subscribers: ~11.5k
Paid subscribers: ~3k
Why did you decide to go paid?
I started a weekly newsletter in March 2020 on Squarespace when my recipe development clients stopped all of our projects due to COVID. I began cranking out free content via my Instagram and my newsletter. I was able to grow my following on Instagram pretty quickly. Before I hit 10k Instagram followers and got the “swipe up” option, I would leave a “question box” on my Instagram stories and let people write their email, which I would manually add to my newsletter list. It was laborious, but totally worth it.
I literally had a lightbulb moment one day in early December 2020 where I thought, “What if I turned that book proposal that got rejected last year into a paid newsletter?” I had considered self-publishing a cookbook, but I just wasn’t excited by the idea. A paid newsletter felt fresh and exciting. I hired someone to design my logo, registered the Substack, and launched a couple weeks later!
Read Caroline’s launch announcement on Substack and Instagram.
Content strategy
Schedule: Once a week, but Caroline is considering publishing more often. “I’m giving the audio a shot, answering a question that I prompted people to leave in the comments on this week’s post.”
Paid posts: Weekly recipe that comes out on Sunday.
Free posts: Monthly recipe on the first Sunday of every month.
Pricing: $35 annually - the average price of a cookbook.

What is the sharpest insight you can offer other writers about growing a Substack publication?
Talk about it constantly on social media. I talk about it almost daily on my Instagram stories, sharing a photo of one of the recipes that someone tagged me in, or sharing my creative behind-the-scenes process. The people who don’t want to subscribe can either subscribe, ignore, or unfollow me. If they unfollow you, who cares? They aren’t supporting your work anyway; you don’t need them.
How do you remind readers that they can subscribe for more paid content?
When I send the unpaid newsletter on the first Sunday of every month, I usually run a promotion like “summer sale” or “Valentine’s sale.” I get tons of new subscribers every time I run a sale.
My paid newsletter has a header that I switch between a message like, “If you’re receiving this and you’re not yet a paid subscriber, consider joining to receive a new recipe each week,” and “Need a unique gift for someone? Send ‘em a subscription to my newsletter!”
Takeaways
The paid launch moment is crucial. Caroline’s launch was her largest growth day.
Bridge the gap between conventional and new publishing models. When traditional publishers did not sign on to Caroline’s proposal, she struck out on her own and communicated with readers in language they could understand: “Subscribe for $35/year, the price of a cookbook.”
Consider markdowns. Caroline found that readers love a bargain: “Anytime I run a sale I see a significant uptick.”
Celebrate milestones. Caroline recently earned the same amount of money through her Substack as she did for her first cookbook published through a major publishing house. She celebrated with readers by offering a “who needs a publisher?!” discount and got 99 new paying subscribers in about 12 hours, for just $5 less than the normal annual price.
To learn more about growing your readership on Substack, take a deep dive into our recaps of Substack Grow, a series of six workshops on everything from developing a strategy to going paid:
I tried the Instagram tacktick with the question box - immediate success 🌟 Thanks a lot for this little tip!
This was super useful. I guess I need reinforcement for the basic idea of "promoting oneself", and this helped!
When you make special offers like $5 off on an annual subscription, how do you manage the expectation of subscribers who have paid the full price? Don't they feel bad?
Just seeing this -- no one has even been upset about this! I figure it's just like when you buy something at a store and it goes on salt the next week - darn! But oh well!
They may not see the offer if it is sent to free subscribers only.
But isn't that deceiving? I'm sure none of us would like to be treated that way.
It's like when you buy a pair of jeans and they go on a sale a month later. Bummer, but oh well!
🙄
Great read, thanks for sharing! As someone who writes a newsletter that touches on cooking among other things this is very useful!
Actually, you did not bury the "lede" in your title.
I do like most anything Caroline Chambers cooks or says . . . .
Great insights! I just launched a few days ago and will give these ideas a try.
Great idea, paid cookbook newsletter, probably easier for readers/subscribers than buying a cookbook because the recipes are arriving in bite-sized chunks (yes I did a bit of word play there) it means they are more likely to read it because it's one recipe, and does what it says on the tin (another word play yay) and can be cooked in under x minutes. Keep up the great work!
A back massage chair is most effective when a person uses it as the instructions suggest — usually in 15–30-minute sessions. Longer sessions will not provide greater benefits.
https://techypes.com/best-massage-chairs/
A wood jigsaw might help you cut different wood materials with smoothness, comfort, and accuracy. Adding to that, the latest tools are designed lightweight and ergonomically to help fellow wood designers in the best possible manner.
https://bestchainsaws.com.au/best-jigsaw/
Very helpful -- thanks!
I love all these resources, they're so useful. Starting my newsletter has been the most exciting and joyful experience and I'm so glad I found a home for my writing. Thank you! 💖
how did you import images to it, i don't know because i am new
Nice
I just signed up for her newsletter! Thanks for the awesome article!
Good strategies at work! I love to hear these success stories.
If anyone wants to feel motivated to work in the kitchen, the movie Kings of Pastry (2009) is great! It’s a documentary about the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF), a competition for the title “Best craftsman of France in Pastry” that is held every four years.
Life Lesson: Don’t let adversity — difficulties, misfortune — stop you.
https://moviewise.substack.com/p/there-is-no-bad-news-there-are-only