Grow: How Justin Gage wrote for his past self and built an audience of 30,000
Grow: How Justin Gage wrote for his past self and built an audience of 30,000
The Grow interview series is designed to share the nuts and bolts of how writers have gone independent and grown their audiences on Substack. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
We invited Justin Gage, who writes Technically, to share how he crystallized his value proposition while leaning into his skill set and interests—and gained an audience of nearly 30,000 readers.
What’s your Substack about in one sentence?
Technically explains software engineering topics like APIs and containers in simple, easy-to-understand language.
Who reads your Substack?
My readership includes people who want to understand software but aren’t software engineers. There are a lot of readers who work at tech companies with engineers (PMs, customer support, and operations) but also people working at banks, consulting firms, healthcare companies, and more.
What do you uniquely offer readers?
Technically was born out of my own frustration with trying to understand software as a non-computer-science major (although I am technical). Content on the web breaking down topics like APIs is obtuse—either too basic or too complex. It’s not accessible and not centralized.
Technically is unique because it’s one place to go for people who want to understand and grow their technical chops without learning to code, and I try to hit the right level of detail for each post.
You have a very clear perspective on what Technically is and who reads it, as you share on your About page. How did you reach this clarity?
I have a really good sense of what non-technical people need because I’m basically writing this newsletter for myself five years ago. Being your own audience makes things clearer!
I also have a good deal of marketing experience. I try to implement best practices for copywriting, calls-to-action, and positioning, namely being really specific and pithy about what you do so your audience can compartmentalize and understand you.
I have a really good sense of what non-technical people need because I’m basically writing this newsletter for myself five years ago.
Growth by the numbers
Started Substack and went paid: January 2020
Free subscribers: almost 30,000
Paid subscribers: around 2,000
Why did you start on Substack?
I was coming off a stint as a data scientist and getting ready to start a new job at a small startup doing growth, so Technically started as a side gig for me, and still is.
I was sitting in the airport in Tokyo with seven hours to kill before my flight, and the idea for it just kind of popped into my head. I tweeted to see if people might be interested in a newsletter that broke down software engineering in simple terms and the tweet did decently well, so I got to writing.
At first, I was worried that people wouldn’t like it and wouldn’t pay for it. I think every newsletter writer worries about those things. And most newsletters will fail if you’re trying to be a celebrity. But there’s a lot of room for good content out there.
At first, I was worried that people wouldn’t like it and wouldn’t pay for it. I think every newsletter writer worries about those things. And most newsletters will fail if you’re trying to be a celebrity. But there’s a lot of room for good content out there.
What’s your content strategy?
Cadence: I publish once every two to two and a half weeks, which I’m aware is relatively infrequent for paid newsletters. It’s the most common reason people give when they unsubscribe—that I don’t publish frequently enough. But I have a full-time job, so it’s hard.
Types of posts: Basic explainers (for example, What’s an API?), which are free; company breakdowns (What does dbt do?), which are mostly paid; and deep dives (details on production databases), which are paid.
What’s the sharpest insight you can offer other writers about growing a Substack publication?
I think the hardest thing about running a successful newsletter is writing about the same exact topic every week for years and years. This is why most people stop writing, I think; they just get bored.
Accordingly, you need to write about something that makes sense for you to write about, that you care about, and that fits you. I write about technical stuff because I’m a software engineer and a writer. It makes sense. Sadly, a lot of people are out there writing newsletters about things that they think their colleagues, future bosses, or potential customers want to hear—but if it’s not authentic, it won’t last.
Sadly, a lot of people are out there writing newsletters about things that they think their colleagues, future bosses, or potential customers want to hear—but if it’s not authentic, it won’t last.
What has been a meaningful moment for the growth of your publication?
IBM’s new sales director recommended Technically at a conference for IBM’s entire sales team, and that added something like 4,000 free subscribers in a week. Earlier on, friends of mine (shoutout to Shomik Ghosh) shared on their accounts, and that led to big bumps. So there have been big moments where someone of consequence shared the newsletter and it led to a huge jump in subscribers.
Who’s another Substack writer you turn to for guidance and inspiration?
My favorite writer right now is Robert Simonson. He writes The Mix, a newsletter about cocktails and food (things I really care about). It’s far away from Technically, but the principles are the same: he writes unique, interesting content specifically for his audience, in a way that only he could do.
Takeaways
Being your own audience can make your strategy clearer. Justin is writing Technically for himself five years ago. This helps him deeply understand who his readers are and why they subscribe: a non-technical person trying to better understand engineering.
Writing about what you care about is important for sustainability. If it’s what you think people want to hear from you rather than what you care about, it likely won’t last.
Draw analogous inspiration. While The Mix is about an entirely different subject, it shares foundational principles: find a unique topic for a specific audience.
What questions do you have for Justin that we didn’t ask? Leave them in the comments!
To read more from this series on growing your publication, see our interviews with Noah Smith, Carissa Potter, Jørgen Veisdal, Anne Byrn, Nishant Jain, Michael Fritzell, Glenn Loury, Erik Hoel, Jessica DeFino, Mike Sowden, Elizabeth Held, Jonathan Nunn, Polina Pompliano, Michael Williams, Judd Legum, and Caroline Chambers.
Grow: How Justin Gage wrote for his past self and built an audience of 30,000