Jørgen Veisdal, who writes Privatdozent, shares insights on how he’s created an archive of evergreen posts that continues to serve as the best marketing to grow the audience.
Great, that's a good model I hadn't thought of. I was thinking of not importing my back catalogue too fast, in order not to overwhelm, and because posts go off the radar too quickly, but importing and then forming them into a paid archive might work. I can also see ways to create essentially online courses via archiving specific threads...
Thanks Gary. If you can organically interlink new content to archive (i.e. paywalled) content as well, over time you'll create a web of links ala Wikipedia that essentially requires devoted fans to subscribe in order to enjoy the publication to the fullest. Ironically, they'll have most of the content in their email, but reading in a browser or app and clicking between articles is just so much more convenient.
Same. It's really smart. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to add content that would encourage paid subscriptions, but this is an organic way of doing that.
This is a really smart take. Most of my posts are evergreen as well, but I always battle between 1) Wanting my work to reach as wide an audience as possible (i.e. free); 2) Wanted my work supported financially (i.e. paid), so I can keep lights on, but also expand what I'm able to offer my readers, including time writing! --- Finding the sweet spot there is ideal, and keeping my one profile, once a week, seems key to that. Thanks Jørgen for input!
Look at that subscriber base pop in March of 2020!!
Helpful stuff here! I often think of Twitter and Instagram to help draw a crowd, buts it’s been difficult finding people with similar interests as me. I didn’t even think of Reddit - which I can see helping to find that specific group.
Thanks for sharing this and it's always good to see different use cases. I've been writing my newsletter for a year, stopped for a while and recently switched to Substack. I'm still testing the waters and not rushing to go paid yet.
By the way, what did you do in March to get that big boost in total subscribers? Was it something on reddit that went viral?
Interesting. Subscriber to interaction ratio looks bad on that stack though. Is that from building off reddit or is the skeptic community just that much more active on substack?
You have a point Jestre, I'm certainly behind on the community-building aspect of Substack. Perhaps because my content doesn't really interact with other pubs, yet
Although I'm not a scientist, I very much enjoy Privatdozent. I'm old enough to be familiar with the iconic scientists Jørgen writes about and shares photos of, and I find the strange reality of Quantum Physics fascinating. I didn't realize that my writing is "evergreen"! I will think of ways to connect older pieces with recent ones. Thanks for these great ideas.
Jørgen, I really like your payment model. And having links in current posts to archived material is a great strategy. My subject matter isn't historical but because it is based on timeless principles, my posts are also evergreen. Thank you for explaining how to leverage the value in older posts.
Poštovani gospodine Veisdal, zahvaljujem na ovom divnom intervjuu. Pošto se i sam bavim pisanjem o odredjenim ličn̈ostima iz istorije tj. Ličnostima iz 19. Veka, mnogo ste mi pomogli sadržajem Vaših odgovora.
Great, that's a good model I hadn't thought of. I was thinking of not importing my back catalogue too fast, in order not to overwhelm, and because posts go off the radar too quickly, but importing and then forming them into a paid archive might work. I can also see ways to create essentially online courses via archiving specific threads...
Thanks Gary. If you can organically interlink new content to archive (i.e. paywalled) content as well, over time you'll create a web of links ala Wikipedia that essentially requires devoted fans to subscribe in order to enjoy the publication to the fullest. Ironically, they'll have most of the content in their email, but reading in a browser or app and clicking between articles is just so much more convenient.
Same. It's really smart. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to add content that would encourage paid subscriptions, but this is an organic way of doing that.
This is a really smart take. Most of my posts are evergreen as well, but I always battle between 1) Wanting my work to reach as wide an audience as possible (i.e. free); 2) Wanted my work supported financially (i.e. paid), so I can keep lights on, but also expand what I'm able to offer my readers, including time writing! --- Finding the sweet spot there is ideal, and keeping my one profile, once a week, seems key to that. Thanks Jørgen for input!
Great information! Thanks Jorgen for sharing!
Thanks Carey!
Look at that subscriber base pop in March of 2020!!
Helpful stuff here! I often think of Twitter and Instagram to help draw a crowd, buts it’s been difficult finding people with similar interests as me. I didn’t even think of Reddit - which I can see helping to find that specific group.
Good luck and thanks for sharing!
Thanks Jorgen for sharing this, and great publication!
Thank you Victoria! 🙏🏼
That's a brilliant way to give a benefit to paid subscribers. Thanks for the idea
You're welcome Cali and thanks!
I have taken a look at the Privatdozent but why was the last post made in May? Judging by the look of it, the Privatdozent looks quite abandoned.
Hi Jaroslav. Paternity leave! I've let subscribers know via email that I'll be back asap
Thanks for sharing this and it's always good to see different use cases. I've been writing my newsletter for a year, stopped for a while and recently switched to Substack. I'm still testing the waters and not rushing to go paid yet.
By the way, what did you do in March to get that big boost in total subscribers? Was it something on reddit that went viral?
Interesting. Subscriber to interaction ratio looks bad on that stack though. Is that from building off reddit or is the skeptic community just that much more active on substack?
You have a point Jestre, I'm certainly behind on the community-building aspect of Substack. Perhaps because my content doesn't really interact with other pubs, yet
Although I'm not a scientist, I very much enjoy Privatdozent. I'm old enough to be familiar with the iconic scientists Jørgen writes about and shares photos of, and I find the strange reality of Quantum Physics fascinating. I didn't realize that my writing is "evergreen"! I will think of ways to connect older pieces with recent ones. Thanks for these great ideas.
Jørgen, I really like your payment model. And having links in current posts to archived material is a great strategy. My subject matter isn't historical but because it is based on timeless principles, my posts are also evergreen. Thank you for explaining how to leverage the value in older posts.
This was nice and Digest.
My question is, my newsletter is about curating news sources and social media threads that breaks down concepts about cryptocurrency.
My newsletter: https://cryptofada.substack.com/
My Target audience is non-crypto/blockchain platfirm users, new users and average crypto enthusiast.
But I do not have so much time for marketing, hence have decided to move from publishing twice a week to once weekly.
Do you think I should quit or write at my pace?(weekly)
Do you think writing once a week will later lead to paid subscription which I hope for?
Poštovani gospodine Veisdal, zahvaljujem na ovom divnom intervjuu. Pošto se i sam bavim pisanjem o odredjenim ličn̈ostima iz istorije tj. Ličnostima iz 19. Veka, mnogo ste mi pomogli sadržajem Vaših odgovora.
Great to learn, thank you Jorgen!
Oh, I am so intrigued by the archiving of old content for paid subs only. That’s a great model.
Check out https://tracinginsights.substack.com/ if you're interested in Formula1