When something bad happens, we ruminate on it for hours. When something good happens, we forget about it in a second. Small steps of appreciation are powerful!
I didn’t know this was called a milestone post, but I wrote mine in Sunday’s newsletter. CulinaryWoman’s third birthday was this week. culinarywoman.Substack.com
I’ve been a Substacker for almost nine months and have now written several “update” articles on the growth of my newsletter and always include personal observations that have jumped out at me (because of the great reader and subscriber metrics Substack provides).
My first such piece was at 80 days in. Amazingly, Citizen Free Press (one of the most popular news aggregators on the planet) picked up the story. I got almost 400 new subscribers from this effort, including many paid.
Here’s that article. Note that I was not shy about reporting my numbers.
Skip forward to last month and I published my first “Subscription Drive” article. That article didn’t get as many reads - but it did produce approximately 25 more “paid” subscribers, which I MUST get if I am going to continue doing this.
One editorial point or suggestion: Many readers would love to have a button where they can make tiny token “gratuity” type payments to support their favorite writers. They might already be tapped out on paid subscribers, but would like to throw a nickel or a quarter to their favorite writers from time to time. I hope Substack’s founders are considering such an option. It could be an initiative that keeps a lot of us doing what we’re doing.
This is the "micro-payment" idea, which I think could revolutionize media and journalism. If you happen to write a story that goes viral or even semi-viral, you could make enough revenue to support yourself and family for a month. Substack could do this IMO. I've even got a business proposal on how this could work if a Substack executive wants to contact me, I'll send you this pdf document.
I think this is a billion-dollar idea that would also save real journalism. Every writer in the world - professional or amateur who could produce high-interest articles on limitless topics - would benefit.
People keep telling me I should do the same thing. Thanks for the link. Any feedback from other Substackers on how this is working out? Is it hard to set up?
If you look at Sadbook Collections' Ko-fi, you can see that there's been some success with the method.
I do think that the subscriptions model is more powerful and sustaining. (Saying this as someone who's done both with our business & it really probably comes to what you like best and how you support the model. Donations is a different vibe and needs a different approach than subscriptions. What feels better to you? What could you really get behind? :)
Speaking of key metrics, I know what mine is ... If I am going to be able to continue as a Substack author. I need to have at least 1,000 paid subscribers. This would equate to roughly $40,000 in annual (gross) income from my job as a free-lance writer. This is not enough to support my family of four, but my wife is a school teacher, so with her salary we should be able to comfortably cover all our bills in low-cost Troy, Alabama.
Now I need to not only get to 1,000 paid subscribers, I need to keep this minimum level.
Right now - nine months into this project - I have 140 paid subscribers .... so I have a long way to go.
I also pay attention to the ratio of total subscribers to paid subscribers. Right now I have 4,089 total subscribers so I think my "paid' ratio is about 3.3 percent (I haven't done the math). So I need to up this key percentage to, say, 5 percent.
In other words, if I could get to 20,000 total subscribers and 5 percent are paid, I am at 1,000 total paid subscribers. The question is how long will it take me to get to these levels (20,000 total subscribers and 1,000 paid subscribers) ... and can I hang on that long?
I know many people don't write for the money or even need to make any income ... but plenty of us freelance writers DO need to make a minimum income. Particularly for those of who write about "taboo" topics that the mainstream press won't write about, this bottom-line metric is a huge deal - for ourselve and arguably for the country (at least those who are not happy with the journalism they get from the legacy or establishment press).
This is why I am very interested in Substack's very smart founders perhaps introducing a "micro payment" - option that would allow readers who don't want to commit to an annual subscription to still support their favorite writers from time to time with a very small "gratuity." This might be as little as a nickel per read. If a story reaches 20,000 readers (which plenty of mine have), that would generate $1,000 if all 20,000 paid me a nickel in thanks for my article.
Most of my many articles that have generated at least 15,000 "reads" haven't generated me any revenue.
I'll be curious to see how many Substack authors are still "hanging in there" 12 to 20 months from now. This said, I know the Substack founders are doing everything they can to help its writers, which helps the company as well.
Fantastic advice. My publication, Invariant, recently crossed the 1-year mark. To commemorate, I wrote a piece celebrating and sharing my (partly unconventional) process and journey, which many have said is helpful:
Yes, I do an every 6 months review of the Most Viewed articles (clickable), Most Commented newsletters, and also the Wine Wanderings statistics on viewership that Substack provides. 42 States and 45 countries....This gives my subscribers a chance to catch a newsletter they may have missed. I put a bit of a teaser to each article with a photo. At the end of the review, are the most "clicked" wine recommendations for the 6 months. Cheers!
I like the idea of a Most Viewed articles! :) Anything to be truly helpful to subscribers, which that feels like it is. (I know I liked hearing from Elle Griffin about what her top articles have been. It made it easy to go straight to them.)
I've created 2 milestone posts since I started my substack at the start of this year! The first was mainly to explain why I created a substack and the second was to celebrate my first 100 subscribers. My 6th month mark will be in July but I think I'll wait until the 1 year mark or 250 subscribers to write another milestone post 😊
When does everyone decide to share a milestone posts and how often do you share one?
It would never occur to me to make a post about it. I did do a Note on the 100 milestone, though. Hmm. Food for thought. Nothing wrong with celebrating a milestone, after all.
Especially if you have a personal connection with your readers. Most of mine are Florida people expecting Florida stuff, not so much stuff about me. I’m too boring anyways 😜
Oh, lovely, Claire, also the coincidence of the solstice! I hadn’t thought of the number of posts as a celebration but will keep it in mind--I’m eager to celebrate more anyway 🎉 (in general, in life)
Thank you for putting this post together--I found it really inspiring and am filing it away for my next milestone (hitting 1,000 free subs soon and one year on Substack in Oct/Nov).
For anyone else, I’d recommend focusing on the celebration, excitement and magic that you feel about people inviting you into their inbox ✨ Whether people care about your experiences with Substack or not, they will resonate with that sense of celebration + excitement, however you express it :)
Thanks for sharing this advice. I have shared my milestones on Notes and received applause from other writers. But next time onward, I will also share it with my readers.
Well, I am one subscriber away from having to write one of these posts (999 subscribers). I have been pleasantly surprised by how many people have wanted to hear my rather niche thoughts on agricultural philosophy and Wendell Berry!
This past year Substack has become a blog / newsletter hybrid for me. I've really loved writing longform and having a robust commenting system for discussions.
When something bad happens, we ruminate on it for hours. When something good happens, we forget about it in a second. Small steps of appreciation are powerful!
https://romanshapoval.substack.com/p/messyaction1#details
This is so true.
Thanks 🙏 Nathan. Takes constant daily practice to inspire and breathe in the good, but possible!
I didn’t know this was called a milestone post, but I wrote mine in Sunday’s newsletter. CulinaryWoman’s third birthday was this week. culinarywoman.Substack.com
I can confirm that “Milestone Articles” …. Work!
I’ve been a Substacker for almost nine months and have now written several “update” articles on the growth of my newsletter and always include personal observations that have jumped out at me (because of the great reader and subscriber metrics Substack provides).
My first such piece was at 80 days in. Amazingly, Citizen Free Press (one of the most popular news aggregators on the planet) picked up the story. I got almost 400 new subscribers from this effort, including many paid.
Here’s that article. Note that I was not shy about reporting my numbers.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/what-ive-learned-in-80-days-as-a?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Skip forward to last month and I published my first “Subscription Drive” article. That article didn’t get as many reads - but it did produce approximately 25 more “paid” subscribers, which I MUST get if I am going to continue doing this.
Pro-tip: Don't be afraid to ask for the sale!
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/the-importance-of-the-2-percent?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
One editorial point or suggestion: Many readers would love to have a button where they can make tiny token “gratuity” type payments to support their favorite writers. They might already be tapped out on paid subscribers, but would like to throw a nickel or a quarter to their favorite writers from time to time. I hope Substack’s founders are considering such an option. It could be an initiative that keeps a lot of us doing what we’re doing.
This is the "micro-payment" idea, which I think could revolutionize media and journalism. If you happen to write a story that goes viral or even semi-viral, you could make enough revenue to support yourself and family for a month. Substack could do this IMO. I've even got a business proposal on how this could work if a Substack executive wants to contact me, I'll send you this pdf document.
My email is:
wjricejunior@gmail.com.
I think this is a billion-dollar idea that would also save real journalism. Every writer in the world - professional or amateur who could produce high-interest articles on limitless topics - would benefit.
It's interesting to consider. That's definitely a different business model :).
In the meantime, I've seen some Substackers use a hybrid model by dropping Ko-fi into their posts, like this (scroll to the bottom)...
https://sadbook.substack.com/p/an-ai-would-never-do-this-purpose-of-mistakes
People keep telling me I should do the same thing. Thanks for the link. Any feedback from other Substackers on how this is working out? Is it hard to set up?
Take It Spanish also does this (example: https://takeitspanish.substack.com/p/copy-3-2-1-spanish-comer-en-espana ). You could ask how it's working out. :)
If you look at Sadbook Collections' Ko-fi, you can see that there's been some success with the method.
I do think that the subscriptions model is more powerful and sustaining. (Saying this as someone who's done both with our business & it really probably comes to what you like best and how you support the model. Donations is a different vibe and needs a different approach than subscriptions. What feels better to you? What could you really get behind? :)
Speaking of key metrics, I know what mine is ... If I am going to be able to continue as a Substack author. I need to have at least 1,000 paid subscribers. This would equate to roughly $40,000 in annual (gross) income from my job as a free-lance writer. This is not enough to support my family of four, but my wife is a school teacher, so with her salary we should be able to comfortably cover all our bills in low-cost Troy, Alabama.
Now I need to not only get to 1,000 paid subscribers, I need to keep this minimum level.
Right now - nine months into this project - I have 140 paid subscribers .... so I have a long way to go.
I also pay attention to the ratio of total subscribers to paid subscribers. Right now I have 4,089 total subscribers so I think my "paid' ratio is about 3.3 percent (I haven't done the math). So I need to up this key percentage to, say, 5 percent.
In other words, if I could get to 20,000 total subscribers and 5 percent are paid, I am at 1,000 total paid subscribers. The question is how long will it take me to get to these levels (20,000 total subscribers and 1,000 paid subscribers) ... and can I hang on that long?
I know many people don't write for the money or even need to make any income ... but plenty of us freelance writers DO need to make a minimum income. Particularly for those of who write about "taboo" topics that the mainstream press won't write about, this bottom-line metric is a huge deal - for ourselve and arguably for the country (at least those who are not happy with the journalism they get from the legacy or establishment press).
This is why I am very interested in Substack's very smart founders perhaps introducing a "micro payment" - option that would allow readers who don't want to commit to an annual subscription to still support their favorite writers from time to time with a very small "gratuity." This might be as little as a nickel per read. If a story reaches 20,000 readers (which plenty of mine have), that would generate $1,000 if all 20,000 paid me a nickel in thanks for my article.
Most of my many articles that have generated at least 15,000 "reads" haven't generated me any revenue.
I'll be curious to see how many Substack authors are still "hanging in there" 12 to 20 months from now. This said, I know the Substack founders are doing everything they can to help its writers, which helps the company as well.
Fantastic advice. My publication, Invariant, recently crossed the 1-year mark. To commemorate, I wrote a piece celebrating and sharing my (partly unconventional) process and journey, which many have said is helpful:
https://invariant.substack.com/p/writing-for-the-long-run
Yes, I do an every 6 months review of the Most Viewed articles (clickable), Most Commented newsletters, and also the Wine Wanderings statistics on viewership that Substack provides. 42 States and 45 countries....This gives my subscribers a chance to catch a newsletter they may have missed. I put a bit of a teaser to each article with a photo. At the end of the review, are the most "clicked" wine recommendations for the 6 months. Cheers!
Most Commented. Nice. A variation on that can be to do a roundup of the comments, if it makes sense to do so. We like to share readers' favorite lines, for instance: https://everydaypoems.substack.com/p/top-10-dip-into-poetry
I like the idea of a Most Viewed articles! :) Anything to be truly helpful to subscribers, which that feels like it is. (I know I liked hearing from Elle Griffin about what her top articles have been. It made it easy to go straight to them.)
How do you find your most viewed articles Tricia?
I've created 2 milestone posts since I started my substack at the start of this year! The first was mainly to explain why I created a substack and the second was to celebrate my first 100 subscribers. My 6th month mark will be in July but I think I'll wait until the 1 year mark or 250 subscribers to write another milestone post 😊
When does everyone decide to share a milestone posts and how often do you share one?
It would never occur to me to make a post about it. I did do a Note on the 100 milestone, though. Hmm. Food for thought. Nothing wrong with celebrating a milestone, after all.
It's almost six months for me, so I'm going to do a reflection on that, I think.
I’m not sure my audience would care about my milestones on substack. Maybe, they would. Not sure.
Milestones are fun, so they may well enjoy. It's perhaps less about caring than about creating a celebration that people can enter in to. :)
Yeah I think it’s fun and a nice way to reflect on our collective journey if using Substack more than an email newsletter? ✨💜
I've been wondering that, too, but I'm thinking to frame it more as a reflection piece about the journey more than a milestone.
Especially if you have a personal connection with your readers. Most of mine are Florida people expecting Florida stuff, not so much stuff about me. I’m too boring anyways 😜
Pfff, nonsense talk 😄
I still think it's a post worth exploring. Nothing to lose!
☺️☺️
Thanks for the feature everyone, I think this is my first Substack feature!
You've been crushing it, Conor. I'm excited for the future and for where you take Investment Talk.
Thanks for the mention!
We used a 12-year birthday Milestone post to move our whole publication to Substack! :) Celebration is enlivening.
https://everydaypoems.substack.com/p/every-day-poems
This was my post celebrating 250 posts 🤓💗💗🤓 https://open.substack.com/pub/creativelyconscious/p/happy-summer-solstice?r=506nf&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Perhaps should have put that in the title? My birthday one was April and I did a sub discount which drove 11 new paid subs 🥰✨✨✨📱
Oh, lovely, Claire, also the coincidence of the solstice! I hadn’t thought of the number of posts as a celebration but will keep it in mind--I’m eager to celebrate more anyway 🎉 (in general, in life)
Such a nice way to approach life! I’m all in on that idea too. ✨🎁
Merci 😘 french 🙏 please
Thank you for putting this post together--I found it really inspiring and am filing it away for my next milestone (hitting 1,000 free subs soon and one year on Substack in Oct/Nov).
I wasn’t sure about doing a milestone post myself, but did one at 6 months-ish and it was really fun with lots of good conversation: https://open.substack.com/pub/astridbracke/p/lessons-from-six-months-on-substack?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For anyone else, I’d recommend focusing on the celebration, excitement and magic that you feel about people inviting you into their inbox ✨ Whether people care about your experiences with Substack or not, they will resonate with that sense of celebration + excitement, however you express it :)
I'm just trying to get to 10 subscribers lol.....quickstockwriteups.substack.com......Have a wonderful weekend everyone
what strategies have you tried so far, Cliff? :)
I do it more for fun. :) More of a getaway from the stresses of life but love the platform and all the great writers and content. :)
Thanks for sharing this advice. I have shared my milestones on Notes and received applause from other writers. But next time onward, I will also share it with my readers.
Well, I am one subscriber away from having to write one of these posts (999 subscribers). I have been pleasantly surprised by how many people have wanted to hear my rather niche thoughts on agricultural philosophy and Wendell Berry!
I recently shared 10 Lessons from 10 Years of Blogging: https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahshotts/p/10-lessons-from-10-years-of-blogging?r=836c5&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
This past year Substack has become a blog / newsletter hybrid for me. I've really loved writing longform and having a robust commenting system for discussions.