The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!
Today we invited the writers who participated in Substack Grow to share what they learned about building a loyal readership and kickstarting paid subscriptions.
Some territory covered in Substack Grow included:
How do you set realistic goals for growth? To get started, check out our goal-setting guide.
How might you go about crafting a launch announcement post? Judd Legum of Popular Information used his launch announcement to make a call to free readers to support accountability journalism.
What ongoing tactics might you use to grow your free list? In our session on growing your free email list, Ali Abouelatta of First 1000 shared how he uses a schedule to keep on track with routine promotional tasks, like posting on social media and online groups.
Drop your questions and insights on growth in the thread and we’ll do our best to supercharge each other.
Our team will be in the thread today with Substack Grow writers from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EDT answering questions and sharing insights with you.
Hi friends! My grow advice is to write as though you already have a giant audience because you never know who's reading. Even when I had 25 subscribers, I took time to try and write a good product. That paid off when one of my handful of subscribers (hi Ashley!) highlighted me in a story she wrote for bookriot. I got 600 subs out of her article. And best of all, Ashley and I are friends now!
I write a book recommendation newsletter and she published on BookRiot, a site beloved by readers. So I got in front of exactly the kind of people who make up my audience.
I wrote Ashley and a bunch of other book bloggers emails when I launched saying that I liked their work and was doing my own thing. That one email led me here!
Indeed, especially since I've been teaching a college class (Literature and the Visual Arts) that began with comparing book and film "1984" and finding so many comparisons that the students could understand: is Big Brother now Amazon and Apple (Hi Alexa! Hi Siri) and reminding them that when they speak to their devices, the devices are listening!
You all showed up in a big way today and offered sharp insights to your fellow writers! Thank you for being here, engaging with the community, and writing on Substack.
We'll be back next week at the same time and place for Office Hours. In the meantime if you're looking for more resources on growth, you can visit: https://substack.com/grow
Keep going,
Katie + Bailey + Rose + Andrew + Peter + Kevin + Maria + Rob
This is totally counter-intuitive but the only reason Salty Popcorn is still going (and growing) is because I've not allowed myself to focus on the numbers. It took 10 months to reach 100 subscribers and most of my friends & family that have signed up don't actually read it — including my mum!
Metrics, goals and KPI's are great but they've weighed me down so much in the past that other projects died in a matter of weeks. If the sole purpose you're writing a newsletter is to gain a massive audience it's going to be hard to stay motivated.
Write about something you're passionate about. Celebrate every subscriber milestone and, most importantly, enjoy it — it's the only way you'll manage to invest countless hours in something that will pay little to no money in the short term...
I agree. I took over a year to reach 100 (free) subscribers, and sometimes it was hard to keep going when very few people seemed to value what I was writing. However I did get the occasional piece of feedback that people liked my work, and I'm writing about things that matter to me (science and the environment). My numbers have picked up in the last few months, due to me putting a lot of hard work in, and I've now got double the number I had 3-4 months ago, so that's encouraging. But the main thing that keeps me going is my interest in my subject matter.
I realize this isn’t the point of your comment, but I’m so happy to read that your mom doesn’t read your work because my mom doesn’t either! I thought I was the only one!
I wanted to reiterate something I shared with the Grow people last night. As we learned within Grow last night, persistence is the key. If you are discouraged because you don't have 1000 free subscribers yet, or 100+ paid members, don't give up.
The important thing is to keep writing and sharing, even when it feels like you're spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Most people who are doing well have simply been doing for a while, either on Substack or on a different platform, and have built up a following. You can do that too. So keep writing, telling your friends, sharing on social, and so forth. Join newsletter swaps, do guest posts, contact other Substack writers, join the Substack Writers Discord group, etc. And if nothing seems to be working, try changing things up. Try writing about something a little different, do an interview, have a guest writer, do a discussion thread, or change up your artwork. See what works and what doesn't.
Absolutely. You make a valuable point about connecting with other writers. It's been great to see other people doing what I'm doing and struggling with the same things that I'm struggling with. It makes keeping going easier. But for me, that's also the point where my growth started to pick up. Partly, that's because writers I connect with have subscribed, but that's a small part of it. Mostly, it's because I've got ideas from talking to others. It's made me try new things and those new things have brought me more readers.
That's awesome! And I should point out - my newsletter is still pretty small. I'm not one of the people who can brag about a 4 or 5 figure subscription list. But I know it will keep growing and that keeps me going.
Thank you for this comment Jackie. Definitely feeling the discouragement this week so thank you. Can you speak more to your experience with newsletter swapping? That’s a new idea to me.
Oh no, don't get discouraged! Your newsletter looks great, and it looks like you're producing great content. It sounds like you just need to get the word out.
So there are a couple ways this could work. You could invite another food writer to do a guest newsletter, and/or offer to do one on someone else's. Substack folks suggest writing cold emails to writers in your field, so other Substack food writers would be a good start.
Alternately you can promote someone's newsletter in yours, say at the end, and ask them to do the same. So for example, I might say in my newsletter, "check out the great work Kamea is doing on Tasty Salt Real, where she posts great recipes and quick food prep tips." and then link to you. And in your newsletter, you would do something similar for me.
Also just FYI, on your pinned post, you have an image for "3 rules for successful homecanning" but you misspelled "successful." I would definitely fix that. :)
Here’s my advice for reframing the idea of growth, away from numbers and money and toward connection.
Try to measure growth in other ways than numbers of people who have subscribed to your newsletter. Are you doing work that matters to you? Did you learning something from writing the piece you sent out that day? Did one person tell you that something you wrote affected them? That’s growth.
I’ve been earning my living on the internet since 2005, starting with a space for writing I created that became the first gluten-free blog in the world. Gluten-Free Girl was my space to play, to create, to write stories, and share my joy. The fact that people arrived meant I created a community. And that community was everything to me.
Look, I fell for the numbers game eventually. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and every other form of social media didn’t exist when I began this. I started believing the hype that I needed to GROW by numbers and likes and follows. But it was all smoke that dissipated. The fire has always been to connect, to create community, and to create something that mattered with me.
Right?! I’M OG for sure. But I keep doing this because I’m fascinated with how people communicate with each other. Whenever a new social media becomes THE thing, I spend a lot of time thinking about WHY it’s reaching people. And Substack is the same.
I love this approach. I’ve been on the internet consistently since about 2003 too, and while I don’t think about the WHY of specific platforms a lot, I do like to think about how and why people connect and follow each other. It’s an interesting sub-category of human connection.
Shauna -- It's good to see you here, and see you writing about finding your joy!!! I'm gluten/dairy/grain/sugar (nightshade, etc.) free, but am taking a loser approach with my newsletter as opposed to my cookbook. I truly understand if you are already stretched thin... but would you consider mentoring me while I get started on Substack?
Wow! Thank you Shauna for shedding light on measuring growth in terms of how much I’ve learned from sending out newsletters is a milestone that should be celebrated. I’ve been trying to convince myself that for sometime but yah got caught up in smoke of the numbers and likes.
I was surprised when the Substack folks quoted me for the day of Grow yesterday! They asked the group we learned from the program and this was my answer:
The most important discovery I made over the past few months running a newsletter is how much easier and more fun it can be when you know a group of other newsletter writers. Solo projects can create a lonely feeling, especially if your readership is small or quiet, which is likely the case for any writer just starting their journey. It feels like writing into a void. You may begin to question whether the newsletter is worth pursuing. I recommend joining a Discord or a writing group to share your work, your ideas, your frustrations, and your strategies. Growth is a long, tough road. No need to travel it alone.
I've been writing the-line-between.com (TLB), a biweekly newsletter about art in progress, for about 6 months now.
I have under 1K total readers (free+paid) and 14% are paying. People can pay $5/mo, $50/year, or $100/year for founding. I think it would have been better to charge $6/mo, $60/year, $120/year. Why not? This probably wouldn't have felt like much of a difference to folks signing up but would have added up to a big diff for me. Oh well, stuck with it now I guess.
I write every 2 weeks and publish at the same time (7pm EDT) same day (Tuesday) like clockwork, I change the preamble and footer every time because I'm playing around with wording and calls to action, and this seems to happen organically.
What's worked well for my ramp-up (resulting in a sign up, quite often a membership) is cold emailing every single person I know, even if they’re distant acquaintances. It's probably not very efficient but I write a personal message to each person; there's no batch emailing or copy-pastes. And I kind of like it that way for now. I want to start real conversations, and I want to create real relationships for folks with my content.
Certainly, this is a short-term thing but I’m going to exhaust it before I try other things too—we’ve only so much time in a day. I try to send out 10 emails once a week or so but admittedly I’ve missed a lot of weeks…still, I aim to do this weekly.
Every single member pays right now even though the main content has been and will likely remain, free for everyone. Many are founding members at $100/year. One, who’s not someone I even really know, decided to pay way way over the multiple, which was a shock. I’ve been humbled by the support. I haven’t done ads.
This is perhaps not the most ""growth-hacky"" advice but I feel like I'm in it for the long game, and I want to build a strong foundation of loyal readers, not just grow in number. I’m ok with a fewer number of loyal readers with initially slower growth for now, v. a huge number with ostensibly faster growth (but potential for more churn). I believe it will compound.
I started playing around with a "bonus issue" format where I send out 2 newsletters: the free one is very much a complete newsletter as usual, full of what I hope is useful content—but it serves as an organic lead-in to the bonus content that is for members only, which goes out as a supplemental issue.
Basically the free newsletter kind of functions as a sort of meaty teaser to the paid one, while still—I hope—providing a lot of value, and without feeling salesy or click-baity.
In the free one, I show a bit of the latest work on my animated short, and I explicitly state that Members will get to see the full deep dive on process + a secret Vimeo to the animation so far, with sound and subtitles. It's like a little extra treat! And I get to celebrate with my most invested readers as I go. Win win.
I’m going to be playing around with how I provide bonus content because I don’t want members to feel like they’re getting bombarded all the time. Probably will do something diff next issue (in 2 weeks).
I'm thinking of also writing a Medium article soon within a well-known design publication on that platform (I do this every now and again to help with exposure) about what I've learned so far + the process of designing a newsletter and the experience of reading. (I'm also a product designer, so I think I tend to approach writing a newsletter from a system design mindset.)
Thanks for sharing Coleen! I launched my substack last month without sharing within my network (few friends know about it), so the close to 200 free subscribers are mostly strangers to me. What guidance might you provide in cold emailing those who are reading my work? (esp those who have high engagement, ex. multiple opens to every weekly issue - I'm seeing this displayed as a "star system" in my writer's dashboard.
That's awesome about your experience so far! But I haven't engaged that way with existing free subscribers yet, but I'd like to. I'm learning as I go, I'll try to share in articles and such in the future. I normally publish these on Medium, and then publicize on Twitter. I'm @colbay everywhere BTW if you want to keep an eye out.
Coleen! Thank you for sharing so thoughtfully. As Hamish says, Substack's model is all about building long-term relationships with readers. Your steady, personal approach seems well suited to do that. I know *huge* writers on Substack still do these fundamentals - e.g. email or message 30 people about a new post every time they publish, with personalized messages
Hi Coleen! This is super detailed advice -- thank you. I did have a quick follow-up. Could you share a bit about what your reach-out email to your contact list looks like? I'm getting ready to launch my newsletter and I'm a bit worried that reaching out to family/ friends/ acquaintances for support will be annoying or look needy to them
Hi Ellyn! Omg, every email is pretty different—it really depends on the person and the relationship, but for folks I know well, I guess I just say hi, start with a catch-up—then just introduce my newsletter, why I'm doing it, what I hope the value to be. I link to my animated short from last year, because part of my newsletter is sharing the progress on one animated short annually. I want to show that I'm serious and that there's actual art being produced. I think it's helpful to see concrete things to attach value to, even though that may be unfortunate. But it's just easier for folks.
I try to not be gross and transactional; rather than "give me money," I focus on the fact that I believe in what I'm doing so I'm asking for support. And I AM genuinely interested in building these relationships.
I'm open and vulnerable in these emails, about why I want the support. Also, I make sure to say that there's "zero hard feelings if it's not their thing, please ignore if so."
I'm super up front too about the fact that there's a paid tier, but that it's not required to pay to get value. "Any level support is appreciated—just signing up means a lot to me." And I mean that.
Lastly, sometimes these emails get long, but I think I like my short, pithy ones best. My emails have definitely evolved with iteration!
14% is terrific, Coleen. You are clearly writing exactly what your audience wants to read, and that's a job magnificently well done.
I like the idea of bonuses a lot. Been thinking of that re. my own stuff. Any way you can pleasantly surprise an audience, that pays off handsomely in all sorts of ways. I know we have to set and meet expectations, but it's also fun to strategically exceed them here and there, and see how folk react. Usually well, I'd say.
Hey all. Michael of Brent and Michael are Going Places here. We just passed a thousand people on free list with not sixty full subscriptions. We really started doing a social media push about two months ago, which took us from about four hundred to where we are today.
I wrote up a pretty lengthy post about my philosophy and strategy for anyone who is interested.
I will check this out! I feel like I've been doing quite a bit of experimenting, but so far my best method has been handing out business cards IRL. Started skimming, curious to see how reddit has worked for you..
Making business cards is actually on my to-do list. I'm constantly telling people about my newsletter or novels that I'm serializing there, and it would be nice to have something I can give them. I just haven't done it yet because I can't decide if I want to make them to promote my overall newsletter or specifically for my novels. But it's coming! :)
IRL, huh? That would rarely work for us. LOL. Reddit has been very interesting and now sends us the second most number of folks. (Way behind Facebook.) I've learned that Reddit is a tricky beast and you have to tread carefully. But if you do tread carefully, and follow the rules, and genuinely participate, it can reap rewards.
Reddit's generated some subscribers for me, definitely. It's a lot of work though. I'm lucky I already had a profile with years of good flair, which no doubt helps.
I only post in one community that is quite small and very engaged.
Some reddit users dislike that I am 'promoting' in my posts, because I include a link to Substack but most don't mind so long as I add real value in the post itself.
Last year I made some moo cards for my substack, but then everything shut down due to the pandemic. I've just dusted them off as part of a second push forward.
Hey friends! My big advice from Grow, in terms of setting realistic goals for growth, is to beat The Fear by consolidating the things that scare you into one hour on your schedule. So, for instance, if promoting your writing freaks you out or makes you anxious, don’t force yourself to do it all week long. Sit down for one hour and schedule out your tweets, your IG posts, your emails to friends, etc. (There are plenty of free tools to help you do this!) Then you only have to be brave once instead of trying to make your brain be brave all the time.
Oh, I brought this up in our small group during Grow last night, but I figure it’s relevant here too. I got on Twitter back in 2008–yup, back when there was still a universal timeline. I’ve been tweeting consistently for THIRTEEN YEARS (yikes) but it’s only been in the past one year that I’ve broken 1000 followers. I had been tweeting about my writing, my newsletters, etc for all that time and mostly hearing crickets back for 12 years. And then one day something clicked and now a lot more people see my work. So keep going! Keep tweeting! Hopefully it won’t take 12 years for you to get noticed, but even if it does, that’s okay! It’s not the time that matters!
Launched my weekly Substack last month! It's been an incredibly fun ride so far.
I've reached 180+ free subscribers in these past few weeks, which is crazy given I haven't yet shared within my network (very few of my friends know that I started a Substack 😅 )
Some things that have helped me grow:
1) People really do value high-quality content. 2 out of 5 of my pieces have generated the most traffic and signups. These also happen to be the pieces I put the most time and effort into. I was afraid that people's attention spans are now too short for long-form content, but I was pleasantly proven wrong.
I’ve counseled several patients and families with EDS/hypermobility spectrum during my clinical training but am by no means an expert! Sounds like you have a much more firsthand/intimate experience with EDS.
I find that writing a thread and then linking at the end works better, but if you don’t have time for that (I never do) I find that posing a question in the tweet and using the link to answer it also works well.
ah, that's a great idea! Yeah, usually I just try to share it with a single tweet + link the day I publish. If I have time / it seems to be resonating with people, I'll go back and write a longer thread later in the week.
I look for Twitter accounts relevant to the story I am posting, and address the post to them: @BobDylan @Beatles @[radio station that plays that kind of music], then the post, and Twitter's generic hashtags: #classic rock #new music #streaming TV. Like everything, it's hit and miss, so a Bob Dylan post picked up new readers and subscribers, but a long (2,600 words) George Harrison post did not. Lesson: write shorter, more often.
I tweet at LEAST FIVE TIMES ---5 different tweets/photos---for each newsletter, usually more. (A tweet's half-life is 20 minutes.) I space my tweets throughout the day. I watch the "link clicks" like a hawk---and ignore the "likes." If a tweet is not working, I delete it, and come up with a new one. I watch what's trending on twitter and check if I have written a newsletter about it. If something is trending that I have written about, I compose a tweet with the trending hashtag. A few days ago Rep. Lauren Boebert was trending. I immediately tweeted this. https://twitter.com/ejeancarroll/status/1448349955257733123 It received 7,000 LINK CLICKS! It was like manna from heaven. It's fun, it's exhausting, and keeps the old brain fired up!!
You have the maddest skillz, E. Jean! But it's what we gotta do. I call it "playing Twitter." Like, what are you doing upstairs, sweetie? "I'm playing Twitter."
I'm going to nurture my twitter feed much more, and engage there again. It doesn't seem to work for me to just post the notice and move on. No one picks up from there.
I started my paid subscriptions in early September. It's been a good experience for me so far with ~4% conversion.
This month I reached 1000 free readers! Tomorrow I'm sending out a celebratory post with multiple offers - invites, book giveaways, and discounted subscriptions - to see if I can pull more people to the paid subscription.
I think it's important to know why one is choosing the paid route. It may sound harsh but it can't simply be that because we put in a lot of work, we deserve to be financially supported. Every writer should deeply and dispassionately consider their value proposition from the point of view of their readers. This means also identifying who their readers are and understanding what they signed up for.
I think it helps to grow your readership if you are able to narrow your content to a niche subject area. This niche area can even be "your true voice". But the process of cultivating your niche means writing a lot. So I would also advise all newsletter writers, especially if you're new to writing online, to write 5x more than they share with the world.
Having lots of readers is great. Having no readers is a great time too. There is great freedom in anonymity. Play games, write in different styles, explore genres and voices. Going too early to paid can lead to typecasting yourself, and so can going to an audience with every single thing you ever write.
I've been drawing SneakyArt for close to 5 years. In the newsletter, I write about my art, the circumstances of its creation, and articulate ideas around my work. It makes me a better artist and thinker to do that, and I believe I am able to demonstrate that to my readers. The free readership of the newsletter is a subset of my Instagram following (8-10% conversion), and I wonder if that is a good metric to assess my growth. The paid readership is a further subset of the newsletter readership and I guess I should think of them as my true true fans.
I am curious to learn how other people measure their growth and set goals.
Do you know if it's possible to write a short "blurb" for each piece that will grab people, rather than just having a title (like "Will Semantics Inspire You?") and then the subtitle (like "An interview with Paul Pietroski")? In my piece here (https://join.substack.com/p/will-semantics-inspire-you) that got 7 out of 8000 people to join, I think a blurb might be useful to give a sense of what the piece is all about!
You can include something like that in the header / footer (which are editable from your settings pages or the post itself!). Not sure if that's helpful. Animation Obsessive does a great job of summarizing their posts at the top of each email - http://animationobsessive.substack.com/
1: I made a comment in response to the post with a laundry list of questions, but I included in the comment Katie's responses to 50% of the stuff so those ones don't need to be answered. Do you see that comment?
2: Would it be possible to turn Substack Grow into a step-by-step system? There's a daunting range of things that you can do to improve your Substack, so I'm currently trying to break things down. It's like the gym...the gym is overwhelming until you break it down into "put on your shoes" and "pick up your backpack" and "walk to the gym"...that's an extreme breakdown but you get the point! The idea is that things become manageable/stress-free when you "spoonfeed" people things task by task. I think that much of the stress is from not knowing where to start, just like a store with 30 brands of toothpaste will cause anxiety, whereas if there are only 2 then you choose one and feel no anxiety about the decision.
Did you guys see my super-long comment? I made a comment in response to the post with a laundry list of questions, but I included in the comment Katie's responses to 50% of the stuff so those ones don't need to be answered. Do you see that comment?
Journalists use nut grafs that perform this role: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph But I've also seen folk do what old-timey fiction writers used to do: an italicized pre-summary to goive the reader an idea of what happens in the chapter. Eg:
(italics) "In which Andrew leaves a comment about short blurbs, and Mike weighs in, amongst others." (end italics)
I always write a brief blurb welcoming people to my publication and describing what the post will be about. I found that this was helpful because the next piece of content is an image with a caption, and without the blurb, the caption is what social media displays! I think it's also helpful for new subscribers or people who followed a link on social rather than getting an email with the headers etc.
For setting goals, I have a written list of things I want to tackle and write about, hopefully turning them into something useful. A list of "enthusiasms", I guess (but only the ones that have a wider lesson in all the things I write about). It's a list that's growing all the time. That's my direction into my topic (curiosity, attention, wonder and, increasingly, hopefulness). But if I measured my progress against that, I'd see myself getting more and more behind every week. 😁
I launched the paid version of my newsletter a bit over a month ago, after spending 6 months growing my free list. So far, I'm just short of 700 on my free list and 30 paying subscribers. (A really nice thing: almost all those subscribers paid for a year up front. That was a *whew* moment for me. Something like that really gives you faith.)
I'm now measuring the growth of my paying subs in terms of seasons. I've just started season 3 of my newsletter, and at the end of each season (around 8 weeks) I will do a mini "relaunch" to everyone on my free list. So I've given myself a target number of new subs by the end of every season - presumably most coming in at the end, and hopefully a few others along the way.
Seasons sounds like a good time-frame to work with. I think I update my strategies far too quickly, without giving them enough time to express themselves. A consequence of sharing on Instagram for years!
That people prefer the annual subscription is also my happy conclusion. It reassures me to see they have faith in me. :)
If you're feeling like you update too quickly - which topics? Are there ones which you'd love to return to? Because - why not? Which ones were you disappoionted to move onwards from? I bet they'd be fun to return to in more detail, for yourself & for your audience...
One thing that's been working great for me is thinking in "plot arcs" - the things I previously mentioned that I can return to in later posts, to reinforce and build upon. Building the argument in more detail - while *also* sending new readers back to my earlier stuff. It's proving good for engagement and it's helping me join the dots in my writing, creating a body of argument that's spanning multiple posts.
I reckon this approach might come in useful later, if I want to, say, create a book from anything I've dug up along the way...and if so, it turns out I've been "training" my readers to think about this stuff a bit longer than usual, meaning they might buy the book!
Yes, it's not so much about the posts for me. Since I talk about what I draw, I never run out of subjects that are tied by a thematic undercurrent - i.e. I draw what is interesting to me, so I am able to talk about what was interesting to me that week. I think it will also naturally lead to the book I'm putting together.
I'm more concerned about promotion strategies, the frequency of asking people to subscribe, the frequency and therefore value of making "special offers", and juggling the kinds of content I want to share free vs paid - art, writing related to art, writing related to things I read, the ideas from my podcast.
Right. (Sorry for my stock-wrong-endedness!). And yeah - I guess one issue with having a set promotion strategy is that in theory, you're mostly marketing to the same audience. Asking the same people to sign up every time, instead of finding fresh new pastures to yell into. Experimentation is the friend of the innovative self-marketer, and all that.
Growth is a relentless pursuit. It takes persistence and most days will feel like you're scratching and clawing to get to your goals.
I'm constantly networking with other writers, joining and engaging in writing communities, doing swaps when it makes sense, asking to be a podcast guest, and posting and replying daily on social media. You never know when the stars will align and the right person will share your writing or retweet you and bring in an influx of new subscribers with them. It can feel like a full-time job with terrible pay at times, but the connections you make along the way—both with other writers and with subscribers—will make it all worth it in the long-run.
We should all be in it for the long run because we love the process and because we have to share our ideas with the world.
"99 public subscriptions" sounds like the writer only has 99 subscribers. But actually it means that the writer subscribes to 99 newsletters. Perhaps it would be clearer so say "currently reading 99 public newsletters"?
This is a count found when the writer's name is clicked, on the author's page below their description. Rather than "99 public subscriptions" another option may be "supports 99 newsletters," or the aforementioned, "currently reads 99 newsletters."
Lyle, I LOVE your Newsletter name! Thanks for the encouragement. I'm nine weeks in, getting great engagements and organic growth but I want it to be even faster. I'm aiming for 144K subscribers (!!!) Your words reminded me not to be too impatient, thank you.
I shared the link to this earlier but I figured I'd just go ahead and post the whole thing here for those that are interested.
Tips on Using Social Media to Grow Your Substack
One of the most important tools in growing your Substack is using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Quora and other platforms.
Using social media over the past two months, we've gone from adding less than five new free subscribers a week to averaging more than thirty, including one day where we added more than forty.
Our email list just passed 1000 sign-ups, with more than 50 paid subscriptions.
We ramped up our social media efforts in mid-August and have added more than six hundred new subscribers.
I've been asked quite a bit how we do that without being spammy, so I thought I'd share some of my observations.
A) Make a Plan
Look at what social media platforms you’re already active on and decide which one or two make the most sense for you to grow your Substack. This might be because you’re already active on them. Or because there is something about your Substack that would fit especially well there.
For us the answer was clearly Facebook since I was already very active on several relevant groups. Some I have been active on for years.
If you’re already active on groups that are right for you, begin thinking about how you can start converting some of those participants to newsletter subscribers (more on that in a moment). If you’re not already active on relevant groups, become active on them so you can begin appropriately sharing your content.
At the same start thinking about what other platforms might be relevant and useful for you.
Based on Substack’s own suggestion, I created a Reddit account and gradually became more active there. I’ll have more to say on that in a bit. I’ve now done the same with Quora as well.
We were also somewhat active on Twitter but over the month have considerably ramped up our efforts there.
B) Be Genuine
It isn’t enough to just a join a Facebook group or subreddit, tell people you have a newsletter, and expect people to sign up.
First you need to join groups that are actually relevant to you and with which you can genuinely interact. If you can’t do be genuine, you’re pretty much doomed to fail.
Our Substack is about our lives as a gay digital nomad couple traveling the world. So I’m not going to join a Facebook group for people into sailing or extreme sports or dating after the age of fifty, pretend I’m interested, and then leave a comment or two and a link. Instead, I belong to groups that either specifically relate to being a digital nomad, travelers in their fifties (our age), long-term travelers, and gay related topics.
Being genuine also means that before you begin trying to get people to sign up, you need to respond to other people's posts with real comments and contribute appropriate things of value to the group that don't include you pitching your newsletter.
People can usually smell a fake a mile away.
Also be sure to follow the rules. One group to which I belong allows businesses to post links to their business every Tuesday, so that is exactly what I do by sharing a newsletter I think will be genuinely helpful. (And also interacting the rest of the week with other people’s comments and sharing relevant posts that aren’t our newsletter.)
And if you’re in doubt about sharing something, contact the moderator. This is helpful in two ways. First, it shows them you aren’t there to just spam their group. Second, it makes them aware of you and much more likely to take you seriously, which is always a good thing.
I started my newsletter in March and committed to publishing weekly. It’s given me the external pressure (in a good way) to keep going and in the process my readership has steadily grown and like anything you practice, my writing and my posts (I hope!) have improved. There was a quote I heard last night on Substack and I’ll paraphrase: We have no choice but to get better.
Thanks to Substack for providing this platform, structure and incredible support.
Some things that I’m trying: 1. Commit an afternoon to creating multiple social media posts — written and graphics — to promote your newsletter. Use Canva or similar to create templates and reusable elements. Make some strictly promotional (what your newsletter is about), others can be about content (pull quotes from issues) and others can be lead magnets (a bonus piece of content you can create just for subscribers). Set yourself up with a social media management platform (Publer, Hootsuite, Buffer) so you can set these as an calendar that will post to multiple sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) in automated and recurring fashion so you've got a constant stream of exposure. Don't worry about doing "too much": the constant news stream on any platform means you need repetition to get noticed, even by your followers. 2. Don't be afraid to ask your social network to share to their followers. 3. Look for podcasts in your area and reach out to be booked as a guest, this is both a great way to get the name of your newsletter out there, a transcript can be new content for your newsletter and/or promotions.
Reaching out to podcasts also seems like a great approach to me. When I was publishing my book, I was told that podcasters are in a "buyers" market - they always need new interviewees
A thing I was reminded of from yesterday's session, from a talk by the excellently-brained Mason Currey: (https://masoncurrey.substack.com/): if you're not achieving "balance" with your work routine, maybe that's a feature and not a bug.
I've been a f/t writer for ten years and I have never overcome my tendency to attack my work like a dog: 100% mad work-related zoomies for a certain period, and then collapse in a heap and feel self-indulgently sorry for myself for a while. And now I'm starting to realise that lurching from flat-out activity to totally self-indulgent laziness & back again isn't necessarily a sign I'm maniacally writing myself off a cliff...
What works, works. If it looks crazy and scatterbrained to other people, that's their problem. If it feels sustainable (and exciting) to you, nuts to more "sensible" methods. You've found what you need. If it's not broken, don't persuade yourself you need to fix it.
If you're getting the things done that need to be done (e.g. publishing a newsletter on schedule, doing the promotions, getting the day job done, eating, sleeping, and having downtime to spend with friends, family, pets, books, and Netflix) then it's working. But if something isn't getting done, or is being done poorly (or if you're frazzled or frustrated) then it's time to reexamine your schedule, process, or priorities.
I participated in the Substack Grow programme to learn more about Substack, how to use it and get the best out of the process and system. What I have taken from the process is that a routine, publishing regularly and keep evolving are important.
I found the 6 weeks of late night Zooms (midnight!) were incredibly useful and I came away with at least one nugget every session. My goal is now to mould that experience and learning into a plan and a newsletter that add value to the audience I want to attract.
A good example of a nugget was to promote the newsletter wherever you can. I have it on every page of my website, I have in my email signature, it goes out on social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) every time I post. It did not take long to do all that. Next goal is to find a format that I like for the newsletter. Work in progress.
My thoughts and reactions to the process are:
be honest and share your thoughts and ideas freely. Get started and you will learn how to create your own style, format and creativity. The more you share people will find their way to you, word of mouth is the best way of finding your own audience. It will take time and it will have its moments. Be determined and do not take criticism personally, I know that we do but it is part of the apprenticeship of writing. Time is the key factor and that is one I have not yet fully mastered but I hope that I will get into my routine for writing soon! Good luck to all on the Grow programme. It has been a fun time and I have learnt many useful things from the Substack team and the group of writers involved!
Having serialised my fiction online since 2015, my advice is less Substack-specific, and focuses more on looking after yourself as a writer, because you have to be in this for the long haul for it to work -
Be ambitious, but look after your health.
Being creative can be a struggle, but you don't have to suffer.
Set clear goals but make them achievable; don't set yourself up for failure.
Remember why you're doing this; don't get lost in the woods.
Readers are giving part of their life to your writing.
You are so right - the LONG HAUL. I was so regular in posting at the beginning then just let life and client work take control. Grow got me to think back to the earlier days when I was keen for it again.
After Substack Grow, I made an effort to reach out to pre-existing groups on Facebook that focus on the same subject as my newsletter (in this case, the Moon). I've also joined FB groups where fellow Substack writers congregate to share tips and ask for advice. So far that's been really helpful for finding interested subscribers.
What do you love about Will Dowd's Substack? I love it too (based on looking at it just now), but I'm curious about specifically what you guys love about it! :)
It's better to find groups that focus on the same things you write about. In my case, I'm in a lot of writer/author groups, and when someone asks about something I've written about, I'll share a link. That has led to a number of subscribers.
The key is to never create your own thread with "Hey everyone read my Substack" because that comes across as spammy and many groups forbid self-promotion anyway. But a helpful post about something relevant to the group is usually welcome.
I only know that one, and I've been disappointed that there's not a lot of engagement in the group, mostly people just sharing their newsletter, sometimes without even making the effort to tell people what it's about. I'm on Elle's discord group and that's much better. If you look for a comment from Jackie Dana here, she posted a link to it.
And there was a lot of anger, hostility, and judgment there. I bailed out and blocked it. I'll never go back. It seem(s) to need active monitoring for insult and hate speech.
Hi Will! I recently watched the 1995 movie "Apollo 13" directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. It was great and sent me on a journey to learn more about the Apollo missions and the moon (a true lunatic!). I would love to know if you have any impactful/meaningful movies that you would be willing to share as a Guest Writer on "moviewise: Life Lessons From Movies." https://moviewise.substack.com/s/-guest-posts
My advice for growth? Resilience. It is a slow process, a sisyphean task. But you must do it! You must constantly share, promote, and deliver great content. No one will do this for you. There is no easy hack or service. There is just you and your desire to make it happen. Write great content. Share on socials. Interact with your audience. Rely on yourself and not paid advertising as it rarely works. And never give up!
I dread that word 'marketing'. Some of us writers chose this field just so we could do what we love without having to be present in the here and now, trying to sell ourselves. To me it's the ugliest part of the craft, and of course I suck at it. I can't even bring myself to ask for paid subscriptions. LOL.
I'm not looking for advice. I probably wouldn't take it, anyway. Just wanting to let you know that some of us believe that, yes, we CAN be just writers. We'll just never make a living at it.
I have a writer friend who posted an essay on Medium about breaking up with their audience. One thing stuck with me: “I’m not a brand. I’m a person.” It’s hard because there’s an exchange that takes place starting with your visibility, the reader’s attention, and your hooks to get them to stay. But if you don’t promote, then who will?
I understand the need to promote. Of course I do. The problem comes from my own feelings about promoting. My hatred for promoting is almost visceral, and I feel that way not just about my own work, but when I see a writer working overtime to get people to read their stuff. It's painful. It's embarrassing. It's not writing, it feels like pandering.
Love a good therapist. Would recommend… but yes, I totally get. Some days I’m like, read it or don’t. I don’t want to beg people to see my value. Promotion without pandering… 🤔 Want to write an article together about it? 😂
We can focus on the work, cross promote, and not feel icky.
Believe it or not, this has been a struggle for writers and artists for centuries. Unless someone was fortunate enough to have a patron, it's always been a hustle, and some of us are better at it than others. Just think of poor Van Gogh, one of our greatest artists but worst self-promoters ever.
Well I definitely appreciate the free platform, until Substack starts paying me for my newsletter, I won’t consider them a patron. But I know that’s just a matter of time. 😉
Indeed. haha And of course everyone and all our newsletters are the content of their platform and business model. I'm glad its here, it gets me writing!
True. If someone stumbles upon a cache of treasure, that’s the enticement. There’s also better retention and longevity when there’s always great content. No need to stress, just stay the course.
Question: I have both free and paid subscribers (about 3000 free and 60 paid), but when I go to Substack's main page, I'm do not see my newsletter "discovered" in my main topics. I promote the newsletters on various appropriate social media platforms, too. How do I get more Substack visibility?
Me too. It sounds just a bit like a "Catch-22"...which I'll be posting about later today in relation to Credit Scores-:). It seems that in order to get "featured" by Substack you must already have a lot of paid subscribers. Why not add to that mix by featuring a few new writers with what you think is high quality content, regardless of their subscriber base.
This is something I'm also keen to know more about! My newsletter was featured for a week on the front page, which was great, but it would be even better if I could get ranked as one of the top ones in the topics. I'd like to know what I need to reach that (lots of subscribers? lots of paying subscribers? views?)
I've also been having discoverability issues on Substack. When you search my niche, my newsletter ranks beneath newsletters that have been inactive for almost a year, or only have only had a "coming soon" post for months.
Hi Tricia! You're headed in the right direction by having lots of subscribers. For our leaderboards, we focus less on what drives clicks and engagement and more on signals that indicate reader satisfaction like larges numbers of active, paid subscribers.
We know how important this is and we're currently working to expand pathways to discovery for more writers on the platform.
Yes... I'm eagerly awaiting Substack to better facilitate the "matchmaking" process between writers and readers. For readers - better recommendations for relevant and interesting newsletters. For writers - more potential readers who may be interested in engaging in their work.
So far, it feels like both the work of the writer and reader role is self-initiated. As a writer starting a newsletter from scratch, I need to do ALL of the heavy-lifting in distribution (mostly via Twitter).
Hi Andrew, Thank you for your message. I'm at 9 months on Substack now and will do a special 1 Year Celebration event in December hopefully to entice a higher conversion of free-to-paid subscribers. In my industry, many journalist write to get advertisers so highlighting accountability and free journalism might be a good incentive. Perhaps (when COVID is less of an issue) a Wine Country trip for paid subscribers would be another incentive. I'll look at the pathways to discovery on the platform and hopefully see Wine Wanderings a little higher on the Stack in the future.
I'm looking for someone to act as a substack mentor!!
I am debilitated by a chronic illness, and would really appreciate some guidance. My plan is to use all the revenue generated by my paid subscriptions to fund my ongoing medical expenses. THANK YOU to anyone who has the interest and bandwidth to help - x
I can't really help with content-specific issues (as I don't know much about producing a cookbook), but I'm always happy to help fellow writers. Are you in the Substack Writers Discord? That would be a great place to ask for help, feedback, or even a pep talk if things aren't going well, and then you can private message people there as well.
I'm a recipe developer working on my first cookbook. So my newsletter will consist of recipes + other food chat, links to favorite producers, artisans, articles, etc. And it will be monthly. I am looking for someone who is willing to help me launch and build some initial momentum.
Rachel, I see that you live in SD. I do, too (Carlsbad), and I have some professional experience in food/wine journalism. I would be happy to help. Maybe we can discuss what you envision as help with a launch and building momentum.
Some thoughts about keeping going and motivation based on my experience of sending a weekdaily newsletter for the past 13 months. A big part of building a loyal audience is showing up consistently.
> Energy to keep writing:
I have started and stopped *a lot* of writing projects over the years. What I’m doing now – short daily emails with one illustration, one idea and one song (from Spotify, not my own) –is a form that fits my interests and skills better than anything I’ve done before. I love doing it! The fact that it connects with people is a bonus. Even when it’s hard work, I love it enough to keep going.
> Motivation:
I am a graphic designer in my day job. It’s a good job, but the reason I do it is to fund my real job – writing every day for my subscribers. My real job doesn’t pay yet. It’s still my real job. My boss is kind of a bastard. He insists that I show up every single day. He doesn’t give me a day off when I’m not in the mood. He expects quality when I want to phone it in.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing as a job. At least, that’s how my personality works.
> Sustainability:
I came up with a year’s worth of ideas for material before I started, so I would never be scrambling to find something to write. I’ve used less then half of that initial bundle of ideas because new stuff shows up along the way.
I keep my posts short. I’m only writing about 2000 words/week.
I usually have a guest author for one week each month.
I switched to Substack after my 95th email. I’m doing one throwback post each week until all the newsletter is on Substack.
I take a week off at Christmas and two weeks off in the summer.
I’ve streamlined my process for building the posts in Substack so they only take a few minutes.
All these things help keep it fun and not overwhelming.
Over the Substack Grow period, I tried a few different tactics and have gotten some growth out of each one. I signed up on every newsletter directory that I could find, then I did a post swap with the awesome Mahima Vashisht of Womaning in India. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I started recording my posts. I am finding that quite a few people download the recordings, so I will keep doing that as a service.
Hello, everyone. Great to join the community. I started a newsletter about album closers last month (please check it out!) and I'm really enjoying seeing my work presented in a professional and organised manner that has always put me off writing outside of someone else's website. I'd be interested in how to schedule tweets from scheduled posts!
Love the publication! Just subscribed. Unfortunately no way yet to schedule tweets from scheduled posts, but will definitely pass that feedback along to the product team
As a growth hack, I'm working on the paid promotion side more now. I'm still in the ideation and data collection stage, but my plan is to start advertising my newsletter on relevant platforms on a fixed monthly budget. I'll try different platforms (newsletters, blogs and websites) of writers with bigger reach. Post a 3 month trial with different platforms I'll release my observation document to help other writers in the community to help them understand what might work for them and what might not depending on their subject matter and niche.
We have a twitter pod of Substack writers who help boost each other's tweets and get new eyeballs, message me @youtopianJ on twitter and I will add you to it, I have found it helpful.
Thanks for putting on these Threads. I always get ideas on how to promote my work through different media. I was wondering what success other writers have had in translating their work and Posting it on their sub-domain at the same time as their English version. Google has a pretty good translator program though it sometimes misses the nuances, but it's a lot better than having to learn a language. I am considering making a German and French version of my monthly posts about life on the Canadian Prairies. Any comments?
I just started a Spanish version of my monthly newsletter in September. I first played with the idea of making it a section of the English version but it just didn't seem right. I have had many problems with Google translate so I use someone on Fiverr I've tested to translate for me. I am going to try to continue the Spanish version at least through the end of the year but if interest doesn't pick up, I may end it. (I should note, I write for a very specific niche audience of occupational safety professionals who deliver workplace training).
How can you encourage new people to read posts and sign up when they are faced with the paywall that isn’t clear can be free signup ? The “none” option doesn’t make sense to most people. I get feedback on social media all the time that they hit paywall on free posts.
I feel like I've tapped out my social networks, but every few weeks I have a conversation with someone who follows me on multiple accounts who has never heard of my newsletter. I post about it all the time! Every time I bring it up in conversation that person then goes and signs up and loves it. Any advice here? I've tried paid advertisements on social but they don't convert at all. And really, I'm just trying to get free sign ups, I convert about 10% of my free signups to paid which I think is a pretty good rate. My newsletter is me trying out different products, hobbies, jobs, diets, and more. https://scottbedgood.substack.com/
You might try sending a personal email introducing your Substack to contacts in your network? Sometimes social media can be a blur and something more direct might get peoples's attention.
People tend to scroll through social media feeds and you are competing with everyone else they follow so it isn't you. I have thousands of followers and still only convert a small percentage. I say keep writing and keep promoting.
I've made a lot of small tweaks, but the biggest thing overall is just looking at my open rate as a marker of success because it measures engagement. The total number of views is seductive, but knowing that people are opening the newsletter is really meaningful and tells me I'll likely have some success once I launch my paid newsletter.
I feel less shame about constantly linking to the Substack, too. I also just keep believing my readers are out there. Pop culture and creativity aren't niche, but poetry is. I'm going to keep going, and Grow has helped me feel confident that I can continue to reach people, even if incrementally.
Making more of an effort to get to know other newsletter writers and my readers. Not just in the "networking" way, which is certainly a part of it - but actually having proper chats, some long emails, making new friends. This matters to me in two ways:
- 1) Because it just feels good (this newslettering lark can get very lonely if you let it)...
- 2) it's an opportunity to practice the incredibly important skill of listening, so you can actually understand and have a far better shot at being helpful, instead of staying in your own head all the time and presuming you understand what everyone else is wrestling with, both on the writers and readers sides of things. And when you can be genuinely helpful, it's much easier to get attention.
I started my newsletter a little too much on the "lock myself in a room" side of things (partly because, pandemic). Grow has corrected me in the right direction.
Absolutely that. I was an indy travel writer for a while, and crossing paths with other travel writers when you're out on the road was always the best, the *best* part of the job. (With the food a close second. Especially in Greece.) And we all used to go to conferences mainly driven by the chance to hang out en-masse...
We all need to get in the same room occasionally, whether virtual or actual, to be reminded of how wildly interesting everyone else is. :)
I agree. I'm slowly starting to build some connections with other writers as well. Writing is a solitary activity, and while I enjoy that, connecting with other writers feels really inspiring.
Literally! Chats I've had with other writers have directly led me to new ways of thinking and investigating stuff. Being able to glimpse the world through other people's eyes occasionally, especially if they're fellow writers, is a huge source of creative inspiration. (And it feels damn good, too.)
I agree that "everything is amazing," and I also agree that "being able to glimpse the world through other people's eyes occasionally" is very enriching, and key to communicating effectively. It's a great skill to develop, and maybe not surprisingly, movies provide great examples, scenes, that show how to do this: https://moviewise.substack.com/p/communication-insights-from-movies
I am a historian, and I have just finished writing a historical novel, set in World War II. With Adolf Hitler blockading Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Stalin refusing to feed or evacuate the city's population, the book is about how a group of poets, musicians, dancers and artists overcome hunger and cold by channeling their Russian cultural heritage. More broadly, it's about the triumph of human will over political totalitarianism. I have authored six books, for trade and academic presses, and would like to publish this one as a serial production on Substack. Is there someone I can talk to about the Substack book publication process?
There are several authors publishing serial fiction who are part of the Discord group and I'm sure they'd be happy to talk with you. Geoffrey Golden posted a link somewhere in this thread.
None of this is intuitive to me -- I am old school print journalism. And, no, the set up link doesn't help. I haven't quite grasped how the layout works although I've looked at many -- newsletters, sites what do we call it? Not sure I have a grasp of the language either. I'm a mess online. But a damn good writer who still has something to say. Sigh
1. as someone who loves to cook, I *love* your premise of "Do you love a recipe that comes to you on the back of envelope? Let's find them..."
2. I get where you're coming from. My two cents is to approach with less is more. That means:
a. You've got your slogan - I would use the "Coming Soon" page to flesh it out a little more.
* How many times per week will you be writing?
* Will it be writing only? Or will it be audio, too?
Think about how the reader would summarize your mailing to a stranger in the shortest number of words, or with the least amount of logical statements (e.g., "they wrote A is true but B is not and look out for C").
b. Start writing. These are impermanent posts. Moreover, you can go back and edit them.
c. Layout you'll figure out through trial and error. So keep it simple: write a title, subtitle, and a post. No one needs to impressed by layout and because you're not a graphic designer by trade, no one is going to be looking to you for layout.
2: You said something tonight about regular calls to action, regular "hooks" to hook the reader, and regular "reminders" about the "story"? Did I write that down correctly? If that doesn't ring any bells, then I will need to ask Katie and others if they remember this advice!
3: I will make a "Welcome" thing like you have and link to my best pieces in it.
4: I will hire a graphic designer (someone with an aesthetic similar to your own, actually) and get them to make some personalized art for my Substack and put that art on the "Welcome" thing and also on my "About".
5: I got some advice to establish a presence in communities relevant to my Substack, but that's maybe impossible when I constantly rotate between a wild range of topics. Maybe I shouldn't be pessimistic about that, though, and it should be possible to first identify where my highly-viewed pieces have been posted and then visit those communities.
6: One of the first things that the Grow people asked me when I said that I had 8000 views and only 7 sign-ups was something about "headers" and "footers". I'll have to check with Katie if she remembers what they said. It must have been important because they brought it up right away I think (or maybe it was the second thing that they asked after first establishing that I had the "Subscribe Now" buttons in place).
7: Do you know if it's possible to write a short "blurb" for each piece that will grab people, rather than just having a title (like "Will Semantics Inspire You?") and then the subtitle (like "An interview with Paul Pietroski")? In my piece here (https://join.substack.com/p/will-semantics-inspire-you) that got 7 out of 8000 people to join, I think a blurb might be useful to give a sense of what the piece is all about!
And here are some questions that I posed and that Katie generously responded to!
Hi Katie! Just a couple things.
1: The Substack Grow celebration tonight was really great and I really enjoyed it and really benefited from it! Thanks so much for doing it!
3: I noticed that you can see a "Welcome to the SneakyArt Post" thing if you go to Nishant's Substack: https://sneakyart.substack.com/. That's an important thing for me to implement.
4: Nishant's "Welcome" thing that I just mentioned—and also his "About" page—have a lot of visual stuff, so that I need to eventually implement some visual stuff too because right now my Substack only has one photo of myself and that's my only visual element.
5: I haven't implemented much stuff from Substack Grow. I get too overwhelmed by large/complex systems/machines like the system/machine of branding/promoting a Substack, and so I find it challenging to break things down into bite-sized chunks and then pursue tasks one at a time. I think that everyone experiences this barrier to doing something—the gym is a fantastic example because you just want to know what exercises to do and you get overwhelmed with the 1000s of options of different exercises—but I intend to break everything down into tasks and implement everything over time.
6: I would love to get feedback on my pieces from you or Bailey or Jasmine or others, but that's the kind of thing that you usually pay big bucks for! Nishant gave me some generous free advice, though, when he said that my piece was like a word wall that pushes people away rather than pulling people in. This is a piece that got 8000 views and only a pathetic 7 free sign-ups, which is an impressively abysmal conversion rate: https://join.substack.com/p/will-semantics-inspire-you.
Sincerely,
AVW
Hey Andrew,
1. Thanks for being part of Grow!
2. I dig this framing. Not attentions spam but consideration span.
3. A welcome post is a great use of the pin post. Unfortunately it seems the about page can be hard for some readers.
4. Based on our conversation last night and your comment here, sounds like visuals are top of mind. Session #3, building a home for your publication, might be good to revisit.
5. It’s on my mind that we could create a bite size version of all the materials we covered in Grow. It was a lot. Please lmk how it goes if you decide to break it down like that.
6. That’s awesome that you had so much traffic. This is a really robust interview and a warm intro to start. A few things come to mind.
- since this has 50 questions with all sorts of different insights, perhaps you might add a “takeaways” section of sorts that gives people the highlights at the beginning or end. This could help with the consideration span.
- consider adding buttons and perhaps using the Judd Leggum approach. Just before the button to subscribe, include some context of how interviews with people like Will fit into your greater publication. “If you liked this, I do more of this plus xyz.” https://grow.substack.com/p/grow-how-popular-information-rallies
- including images of Will and the subjects you discuss.
I got these responses on the 7th thing that I posed to Nishant (about blurbs):
[from Bailey]
You can include something like that in the header / footer (which are editable from your settings pages or the post itself!). Not sure if that's helpful. Animation Obsessive does a great job of summarizing their posts at the top of each email - http://animationobsessive.substack.com/
[from Mike Sowden]
Journalists use nut grafs that perform this role: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph But I've also seen folk do what old-timey fiction writers used to do: an italicized pre-summary to goive the reader an idea of what happens in the chapter. Eg:
(italics) "In which Andrew leaves a comment about short blurbs, and Mike weighs in, amongst others." (end italics)
In terms of communities, Nishant wrote up a nice piece about using Reddit. Although I've been there for 10 years, I was anxious about going into a new subreddit and sharing my content because that can be like walking into a minefield. Finally, I tried it, posting a piece I had written about a bridge here in St. Louis, in the St. Louis subreddit. I got some amazing feedback and that has been my best-performing piece to date.
I don't think most of my newsletter articles have an obvious subreddit for sharing, but when I publish more local content (I have a new section called Unseen St. Louis) I will continue with the above strategy, and perhaps after a few more posts I'll start building a following there.
How many topics do you write about? My issue is that literally every piece is pretty much a different community! I guess I have a couple focuses, but it's pretty much all over the place!
My main Story Cauldron section is about quirky places you can find stories in everyday life. Which is a roundabout way of saying, I write about all kinds of things! 😂 Then I also have a section for my Unseen St. Louis, which loosely ties into that concept but is also a bridge to my fiction, which is set in St. Louis.
I would say my audience would be people who are writers and/or avid readers, or others who are curious about the world and enjoy eclectic content. In other words, people like myself. I most enjoy newsletters that examine odd or unusual things about the world, that make me think about things in a new way, or that teach me something new. And that's what I hope to achieve with mine. (And now I think I maybe need to rewrite my About page!)
Hi Katie, Wondering if Substack will be offering another "Grow" opportunity? I was put on a waiting list for the first one, but didn't get called in. Since then I have actually started my Substack. Thanks!
I started my Substack in July and progress has been slow. I try to network with other writers, promote, and have been done a guest series, but not much yet. I’m hopefully that staying the course, putting out good work, and looking for new opportunity will help grow my subscribers. I think I’m on the right track so far.
I think it’s worth reminding myself that every success story is based on perspective and a different timeline. Some pop off right away, get a viral article, or have a previous audience. Some are wading in with virtually nothing, so to have a few free sign ups is success.
1. How are people using other platforms to network and promote?
2. How do you talk about yourself?
3. Have collaborations been helpful?
4. Any new strategies for growth I haven’t considered?
It took me eight months and a lot of luck to pop on Hacker News and go viral, so keep at it. I constantly promote and share my substack across socials, with every new person I meet, and always go guest posts. Keep trying everything, what works is what works.
Just in case you haven't seen this summary yet, our team documented all of the tactics we've seen work for writers to grow their lists here - https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4
Comments and community! I lose so much engagement and community becuase people just default to comments on twitter, facebook (or none) because comments here are so clunky., not working with mobile Safari, not able to edit, etc. If we could get people on an app, they would be on a continual read (not scroll) and hold them in one place.
Hey everyone :) literally just started my Substack this past week, writing about funny houseplant fails, successes, offering a plant advice column etc... if you are into that you can check it out here: https://jnihmeyvasdi.substack.com/
So far I've been embedding them in YouTube. I guess if you don't want the videos to be public over there, you could always embed a video and set it to private.
I've seen a number of comic creators do big launch drives. They are known quantities, so people (myself included) were excited to sign up as paid subscribers immediately. But for my own Substack, it seems like doing a big paid launch push right at the start (without any free content up) would not work as well. Do you recommend doing a soft launch and then a proper paid launch once you had a good amount of free posts up?
I started with 10 free posts and then added 3-4 per month for first 6 months (started 121220) until i had about 30 articles then I did a soft launch to my 356 email list and social media platforms. I only have 1 annual and 1 monthly subscriber so far but in the past 60 days I have started to get organic traffic (about 30 people i do not know), so i think time is certainly a player on our side or team. Writing consistently is also key. I am now debating going to a donation approach (after participating in Substack Grow classes and reading Substack Interviews), rather than relaunching a special paid membership during the upcoming holidays. Any thoughts would be appreciated ... i write a self-publishing newsletter.
I am a comic creator, you can see my substack. I want to provide a lot of value and hit a certain point of free subscribers before launching paid. Build the content library first.
We had a fair bit of content up when we went paid, but we actually did it without a big launch. We're currently over a thousand email signups and almost sixty paid. Obviously, no idea what those numbers would be if we had done a big push when we turned on paid.
I know you don't like marketing. I know you don't like promoting, especially self-promotion, but it is needed. Promote the hell out of your work, persistence always overcomes resistance. Keep going no matter what, happy to do shout outs and help you where I can.
Hi. I write about the convergence of legacy media, audio, gaming, e-commerce, and the Creator’s Economy. My audience is primarily investors and C-suite executives. It is small, but concentrated with leaders.
The overall one is, Be cynical about the audience's attention span.
1. That means you have basically your first three sentences to grab their attention (five, if you include header and sub-header).
2. Write those first three sentences with the assumption someone is half-looking at their smartphone, every time. You do it, we all do it, so you know what catches your attention. Write those first three sentences to *that*.
3. When editing, think about how the reader would summarize your mailing to a stranger in the shortest number of words, or with the least amount of logical statements (e.g., "they wrote A is true but B is not and look out for C").
The clearer you are in holding someone's hand through your thinking, the clearer they will be in telling someone else why they should read you.
4. If you can't summarize it in your head simply, assume your reader can't either. So, revise towards the simplest summary possible but which still reads compelling.
5. Set constraints around your word count. You won't always hit those constraints, but it will force you to tighten your writing and serve #3 better.
6. What's more efficient for you to write is also more efficient for your audience to read.
So, borrow tactics from other writers who you find easier to read. I like using simple sentences followed by long quotes to build logical arguments, which I like in Ben Thompson's Stratechery.
7. Make sure you you talk to and/or email with engaged readers regularly. They will help you evolve your thinking and iterate your value proposition.
8. Yes, you will need to push beyond your comfort zone, but don't do it alone. Ask readers in #7 if the idea sounds directionally right. If they push back, fine-tune the idea and come back to them once, maybe twice, but no more.
9. Growth in awareness is also growth, but it isn't directly measurable on Substack. It will be evident in other areas like podcast appearances and invites to be quoted in articles.
10. (NOTE: my favorite) Your value proposition is going to evolve. That's ok. Ruthlessly refine it into the simplest possible, two-to-three word statement each time it evolves.
That process is awful to go through (truly), but the outcome will clarify what to prioritize next.
11. Less is more. Write about what you know & think about what *logically* relates to that or can be easily researched.
Write to educate (or to entertain), not to impress.
Your subscribers want to be educated. They are subscribers b/c they've already been impressed.
They're not hard rules (I violate #5 regularly), but they have led to better outcomes.
I see some Grow writers are already here! Would love to do a quick roll call.
Can I get a 👋 from those who participated in Substack Grow?
Hi friends! My grow advice is to write as though you already have a giant audience because you never know who's reading. Even when I had 25 subscribers, I took time to try and write a good product. That paid off when one of my handful of subscribers (hi Ashley!) highlighted me in a story she wrote for bookriot. I got 600 subs out of her article. And best of all, Ashley and I are friends now!
Woah! 600 subs!!! Huge
Wow is right! Maybe Ashley could be my friend? Does she like Lizzie Borden?
Great advice and I try to do the same—you never know who's reading and if it will resonate...
Hi Elizabeth!
Congratulations on that explosion in subscriptions; that is incredibly impressive and amazing! :)
How did you manage to get 600 subs out of Ashley's article? I can only dream of success like that at this point in my Substack career!
Sincerely,
AVW
I write a book recommendation newsletter and she published on BookRiot, a site beloved by readers. So I got in front of exactly the kind of people who make up my audience.
I wrote Ashley and a bunch of other book bloggers emails when I launched saying that I liked their work and was doing my own thing. That one email led me here!
That’s a really good idea! Was it just a cold email, or did you already know them?
Wow! So great Elizabeth! :)
so good! love hearing this!
What a great tip Elizabeth! That’s a milestone & thannk you for sharing with us!!
Love that Elizabeth! Thanks for sharing.
Congo
Eyoop! <--- Northern English for "hello".
I am familiar with that saying.
Speaking on behalf of House Stark, you are welcome at Winterfell anytime, sir.
Good one!
Am I writing to you? I don't get it
👋 Hey y’all!
👋
👋
🙌
I was in four of the sessions. Missed the first two on vacation. So great!
Hello! I was in Grow for all 6 sessions. Thanks for putting it together!
👋
Here
that's a great title for your substack!
Indeed, especially since I've been teaching a college class (Literature and the Visual Arts) that began with comparing book and film "1984" and finding so many comparisons that the students could understand: is Big Brother now Amazon and Apple (Hi Alexa! Hi Siri) and reminding them that when they speak to their devices, the devices are listening!
I'm here.
Hi!
Hey
I did
👋
Yeahhhhhh
heyyyy
👋
👋
You all showed up in a big way today and offered sharp insights to your fellow writers! Thank you for being here, engaging with the community, and writing on Substack.
We'll be back next week at the same time and place for Office Hours. In the meantime if you're looking for more resources on growth, you can visit: https://substack.com/grow
Keep going,
Katie + Bailey + Rose + Andrew + Peter + Kevin + Maria + Rob
I dig this and have added it to my weekly calendar! Thanks, Team Substack for being rad!
Thanks again for all you do!
Here’s what’s helped me grow over the last year…
This is totally counter-intuitive but the only reason Salty Popcorn is still going (and growing) is because I've not allowed myself to focus on the numbers. It took 10 months to reach 100 subscribers and most of my friends & family that have signed up don't actually read it — including my mum!
Metrics, goals and KPI's are great but they've weighed me down so much in the past that other projects died in a matter of weeks. If the sole purpose you're writing a newsletter is to gain a massive audience it's going to be hard to stay motivated.
Write about something you're passionate about. Celebrate every subscriber milestone and, most importantly, enjoy it — it's the only way you'll manage to invest countless hours in something that will pay little to no money in the short term...
But as you grow, you'll reap what you sow.
I agree. I took over a year to reach 100 (free) subscribers, and sometimes it was hard to keep going when very few people seemed to value what I was writing. However I did get the occasional piece of feedback that people liked my work, and I'm writing about things that matter to me (science and the environment). My numbers have picked up in the last few months, due to me putting a lot of hard work in, and I've now got double the number I had 3-4 months ago, so that's encouraging. But the main thing that keeps me going is my interest in my subject matter.
This is the real deal. Write about something you find interesting. You'll get better regardless of the numbers.
I realize this isn’t the point of your comment, but I’m so happy to read that your mom doesn’t read your work because my mom doesn’t either! I thought I was the only one!
I wish my mom didn't read my work sometimes. It has its downsides. ;)
Ha! I guess that's true.
Har! Asha!
As you say, "When my foundation is strong, I can shake the foundations of the world."
The annoying thing is she’s a sub - so she’s dragging down my open rate! 😅
Could seem a bit cold, but I think you can remove subs that haven't opened an email in a while!
I'll take that!
I wanted to reiterate something I shared with the Grow people last night. As we learned within Grow last night, persistence is the key. If you are discouraged because you don't have 1000 free subscribers yet, or 100+ paid members, don't give up.
The important thing is to keep writing and sharing, even when it feels like you're spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Most people who are doing well have simply been doing for a while, either on Substack or on a different platform, and have built up a following. You can do that too. So keep writing, telling your friends, sharing on social, and so forth. Join newsletter swaps, do guest posts, contact other Substack writers, join the Substack Writers Discord group, etc. And if nothing seems to be working, try changing things up. Try writing about something a little different, do an interview, have a guest writer, do a discussion thread, or change up your artwork. See what works and what doesn't.
But above all else, just keep going.
To help you take the next step with your newsletter, I wrote up some quick tips (incuding a link to the Discord I mentioned above). Maybe one or more of these will help you out. https://storycauldron.substack.com/p/so-you-have-a-substack-what-next
Absolutely. You make a valuable point about connecting with other writers. It's been great to see other people doing what I'm doing and struggling with the same things that I'm struggling with. It makes keeping going easier. But for me, that's also the point where my growth started to pick up. Partly, that's because writers I connect with have subscribed, but that's a small part of it. Mostly, it's because I've got ideas from talking to others. It's made me try new things and those new things have brought me more readers.
That's awesome! And I should point out - my newsletter is still pretty small. I'm not one of the people who can brag about a 4 or 5 figure subscription list. But I know it will keep growing and that keeps me going.
Thank you Jackie, and hello! Thank you for so regularly showing up <3
Thanks! The Thursday threads are so fun for me! :)
Thanks so much, Jackie—extremely helpful advice.
I agree wholeheartedly!
Exactly!
Good advice, Jackie!
thanks so much. big help
Thanks for this, Jackie!
Thank you for sharing this. It's very helpful.
Thank you for this comment Jackie. Definitely feeling the discouragement this week so thank you. Can you speak more to your experience with newsletter swapping? That’s a new idea to me.
Oh no, don't get discouraged! Your newsletter looks great, and it looks like you're producing great content. It sounds like you just need to get the word out.
So there are a couple ways this could work. You could invite another food writer to do a guest newsletter, and/or offer to do one on someone else's. Substack folks suggest writing cold emails to writers in your field, so other Substack food writers would be a good start.
Alternately you can promote someone's newsletter in yours, say at the end, and ask them to do the same. So for example, I might say in my newsletter, "check out the great work Kamea is doing on Tasty Salt Real, where she posts great recipes and quick food prep tips." and then link to you. And in your newsletter, you would do something similar for me.
Also just FYI, on your pinned post, you have an image for "3 rules for successful homecanning" but you misspelled "successful." I would definitely fix that. :)
Here’s my advice for reframing the idea of growth, away from numbers and money and toward connection.
Try to measure growth in other ways than numbers of people who have subscribed to your newsletter. Are you doing work that matters to you? Did you learning something from writing the piece you sent out that day? Did one person tell you that something you wrote affected them? That’s growth.
I’ve been earning my living on the internet since 2005, starting with a space for writing I created that became the first gluten-free blog in the world. Gluten-Free Girl was my space to play, to create, to write stories, and share my joy. The fact that people arrived meant I created a community. And that community was everything to me.
Look, I fell for the numbers game eventually. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and every other form of social media didn’t exist when I began this. I started believing the hype that I needed to GROW by numbers and likes and follows. But it was all smoke that dissipated. The fire has always been to connect, to create community, and to create something that mattered with me.
In that way, I feel like I’m always growing.
I love that. It’s really what my whole Substack is about is connection. Gotta lean into that. Great reminder. I get lost sometimes.
We all get lost sometimes. But I truly believe that everything, everything, everything is about connection in the end.
Man that's a long time to be writing on the internet! Good on you
Right?! I’M OG for sure. But I keep doing this because I’m fascinated with how people communicate with each other. Whenever a new social media becomes THE thing, I spend a lot of time thinking about WHY it’s reaching people. And Substack is the same.
I love this approach. I’ve been on the internet consistently since about 2003 too, and while I don’t think about the WHY of specific platforms a lot, I do like to think about how and why people connect and follow each other. It’s an interesting sub-category of human connection.
Hi, Shauna! Great meeting you on Grow!
You too, Jolene! Let’s connect more!
Definitely!
Shauna -- It's good to see you here, and see you writing about finding your joy!!! I'm gluten/dairy/grain/sugar (nightshade, etc.) free, but am taking a loser approach with my newsletter as opposed to my cookbook. I truly understand if you are already stretched thin... but would you consider mentoring me while I get started on Substack?
I would be thrilled to help. Send me an email at shaunamahern@gmail.com. Let’s talk.
Shauna, I emailed you - it may have ended up in your spam folder. Looking forward to connecting with you!!!
Wow! Thank you Shauna for shedding light on measuring growth in terms of how much I’ve learned from sending out newsletters is a milestone that should be celebrated. I’ve been trying to convince myself that for sometime but yah got caught up in smoke of the numbers and likes.
Dope!
Thanks.
I was surprised when the Substack folks quoted me for the day of Grow yesterday! They asked the group we learned from the program and this was my answer:
The most important discovery I made over the past few months running a newsletter is how much easier and more fun it can be when you know a group of other newsletter writers. Solo projects can create a lonely feeling, especially if your readership is small or quiet, which is likely the case for any writer just starting their journey. It feels like writing into a void. You may begin to question whether the newsletter is worth pursuing. I recommend joining a Discord or a writing group to share your work, your ideas, your frustrations, and your strategies. Growth is a long, tough road. No need to travel it alone.
Substack Writers Unite Discord: https://discord.com/invite/q9S4feaDVz
I agree totally. Take every chance you get to connect. Many times you try it may not work, but one day it will.
Is that just fiction?
No, there are plenty of non-fiction writers, too.
Good to know. I guess when I first looked it happened to be a lot of fiction writers. I'll look again.
In the "roles" thread ask for the "non-fiction" tag. I've learned a lot from the fiction writers too, even though I'm a science and environment writer
There are plenty of both. ^_^
Sorry this is so long!! But wanted to share.
I've been writing the-line-between.com (TLB), a biweekly newsletter about art in progress, for about 6 months now.
I have under 1K total readers (free+paid) and 14% are paying. People can pay $5/mo, $50/year, or $100/year for founding. I think it would have been better to charge $6/mo, $60/year, $120/year. Why not? This probably wouldn't have felt like much of a difference to folks signing up but would have added up to a big diff for me. Oh well, stuck with it now I guess.
I write every 2 weeks and publish at the same time (7pm EDT) same day (Tuesday) like clockwork, I change the preamble and footer every time because I'm playing around with wording and calls to action, and this seems to happen organically.
What's worked well for my ramp-up (resulting in a sign up, quite often a membership) is cold emailing every single person I know, even if they’re distant acquaintances. It's probably not very efficient but I write a personal message to each person; there's no batch emailing or copy-pastes. And I kind of like it that way for now. I want to start real conversations, and I want to create real relationships for folks with my content.
Certainly, this is a short-term thing but I’m going to exhaust it before I try other things too—we’ve only so much time in a day. I try to send out 10 emails once a week or so but admittedly I’ve missed a lot of weeks…still, I aim to do this weekly.
Every single member pays right now even though the main content has been and will likely remain, free for everyone. Many are founding members at $100/year. One, who’s not someone I even really know, decided to pay way way over the multiple, which was a shock. I’ve been humbled by the support. I haven’t done ads.
This is perhaps not the most ""growth-hacky"" advice but I feel like I'm in it for the long game, and I want to build a strong foundation of loyal readers, not just grow in number. I’m ok with a fewer number of loyal readers with initially slower growth for now, v. a huge number with ostensibly faster growth (but potential for more churn). I believe it will compound.
I started playing around with a "bonus issue" format where I send out 2 newsletters: the free one is very much a complete newsletter as usual, full of what I hope is useful content—but it serves as an organic lead-in to the bonus content that is for members only, which goes out as a supplemental issue.
Basically the free newsletter kind of functions as a sort of meaty teaser to the paid one, while still—I hope—providing a lot of value, and without feeling salesy or click-baity.
You can see an example here, it's my latest public issue: https://www.the-line-between.com/p/11-still, the bonus issue (which I guess only staff can read), is https://www.the-line-between.com/p/11s-still
In the free one, I show a bit of the latest work on my animated short, and I explicitly state that Members will get to see the full deep dive on process + a secret Vimeo to the animation so far, with sound and subtitles. It's like a little extra treat! And I get to celebrate with my most invested readers as I go. Win win.
I’m going to be playing around with how I provide bonus content because I don’t want members to feel like they’re getting bombarded all the time. Probably will do something diff next issue (in 2 weeks).
I'm thinking of also writing a Medium article soon within a well-known design publication on that platform (I do this every now and again to help with exposure) about what I've learned so far + the process of designing a newsletter and the experience of reading. (I'm also a product designer, so I think I tend to approach writing a newsletter from a system design mindset.)
Thanks for sharing Coleen! I launched my substack last month without sharing within my network (few friends know about it), so the close to 200 free subscribers are mostly strangers to me. What guidance might you provide in cold emailing those who are reading my work? (esp those who have high engagement, ex. multiple opens to every weekly issue - I'm seeing this displayed as a "star system" in my writer's dashboard.
That's awesome about your experience so far! But I haven't engaged that way with existing free subscribers yet, but I'd like to. I'm learning as I go, I'll try to share in articles and such in the future. I normally publish these on Medium, and then publicize on Twitter. I'm @colbay everywhere BTW if you want to keep an eye out.
Awesome! Just followed from my Health & Wealth account, @healthwealthgen
Coleen! Thank you for sharing so thoughtfully. As Hamish says, Substack's model is all about building long-term relationships with readers. Your steady, personal approach seems well suited to do that. I know *huge* writers on Substack still do these fundamentals - e.g. email or message 30 people about a new post every time they publish, with personalized messages
Thanks Bailey! Yeah I *loved* Hamish's inspirational note yesterday with the Ed Sheeran anecdote.
Thanks for this, Coleen!
Amazing
Hi Coleen! This is super detailed advice -- thank you. I did have a quick follow-up. Could you share a bit about what your reach-out email to your contact list looks like? I'm getting ready to launch my newsletter and I'm a bit worried that reaching out to family/ friends/ acquaintances for support will be annoying or look needy to them
Hi Ellyn! Omg, every email is pretty different—it really depends on the person and the relationship, but for folks I know well, I guess I just say hi, start with a catch-up—then just introduce my newsletter, why I'm doing it, what I hope the value to be. I link to my animated short from last year, because part of my newsletter is sharing the progress on one animated short annually. I want to show that I'm serious and that there's actual art being produced. I think it's helpful to see concrete things to attach value to, even though that may be unfortunate. But it's just easier for folks.
I try to not be gross and transactional; rather than "give me money," I focus on the fact that I believe in what I'm doing so I'm asking for support. And I AM genuinely interested in building these relationships.
I'm open and vulnerable in these emails, about why I want the support. Also, I make sure to say that there's "zero hard feelings if it's not their thing, please ignore if so."
I'm super up front too about the fact that there's a paid tier, but that it's not required to pay to get value. "Any level support is appreciated—just signing up means a lot to me." And I mean that.
Lastly, sometimes these emails get long, but I think I like my short, pithy ones best. My emails have definitely evolved with iteration!
Hope this helps.
Coleen, thanks so much for your time and for this response! Super helpful once again. Very much appreciate it. Cheers!
Great ideas! Thanks.
14% is terrific, Coleen. You are clearly writing exactly what your audience wants to read, and that's a job magnificently well done.
I like the idea of bonuses a lot. Been thinking of that re. my own stuff. Any way you can pleasantly surprise an audience, that pays off handsomely in all sorts of ways. I know we have to set and meet expectations, but it's also fun to strategically exceed them here and there, and see how folk react. Usually well, I'd say.
(Correction, the issues posted are from a month ago, I've published another set of free+bonus since then: https://www.the-line-between.com/p/12-ruthlessly + https://www.the-line-between.com/p/12s-member-only-supplemental)
Hey all. Michael of Brent and Michael are Going Places here. We just passed a thousand people on free list with not sixty full subscriptions. We really started doing a social media push about two months ago, which took us from about four hundred to where we are today.
I wrote up a pretty lengthy post about my philosophy and strategy for anyone who is interested.
https://brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.substack.com/p/my-tips-on-using-social-media-to/comments
I will check this out! I feel like I've been doing quite a bit of experimenting, but so far my best method has been handing out business cards IRL. Started skimming, curious to see how reddit has worked for you..
Making business cards is actually on my to-do list. I'm constantly telling people about my newsletter or novels that I'm serializing there, and it would be nice to have something I can give them. I just haven't done it yet because I can't decide if I want to make them to promote my overall newsletter or specifically for my novels. But it's coming! :)
Old school, I love it.
IRL, huh? That would rarely work for us. LOL. Reddit has been very interesting and now sends us the second most number of folks. (Way behind Facebook.) I've learned that Reddit is a tricky beast and you have to tread carefully. But if you do tread carefully, and follow the rules, and genuinely participate, it can reap rewards.
Thanks for this. I have found Reddit to be difficult to understand. But perhaps I just need to invest more time into understanding the culture.
It really is its own thing and takes time to get. I put it off forever, but am glad I finally took the dive.
Reddit's generated some subscribers for me, definitely. It's a lot of work though. I'm lucky I already had a profile with years of good flair, which no doubt helps.
I only post in one community that is quite small and very engaged.
Some reddit users dislike that I am 'promoting' in my posts, because I include a link to Substack but most don't mind so long as I add real value in the post itself.
Last year I made some moo cards for my substack, but then everything shut down due to the pandemic. I've just dusted them off as part of a second push forward.
Just bookmarked your tips for future reading — soon! Thanks.
Thank you, Michael. This is great information!
My absolute pleasure. Most of what I know I learned from other people!
Dope
Hey friends! My big advice from Grow, in terms of setting realistic goals for growth, is to beat The Fear by consolidating the things that scare you into one hour on your schedule. So, for instance, if promoting your writing freaks you out or makes you anxious, don’t force yourself to do it all week long. Sit down for one hour and schedule out your tweets, your IG posts, your emails to friends, etc. (There are plenty of free tools to help you do this!) Then you only have to be brave once instead of trying to make your brain be brave all the time.
Oh, I brought this up in our small group during Grow last night, but I figure it’s relevant here too. I got on Twitter back in 2008–yup, back when there was still a universal timeline. I’ve been tweeting consistently for THIRTEEN YEARS (yikes) but it’s only been in the past one year that I’ve broken 1000 followers. I had been tweeting about my writing, my newsletters, etc for all that time and mostly hearing crickets back for 12 years. And then one day something clicked and now a lot more people see my work. So keep going! Keep tweeting! Hopefully it won’t take 12 years for you to get noticed, but even if it does, that’s okay! It’s not the time that matters!
Great point!
Brilliant!!!
Launched my weekly Substack last month! It's been an incredibly fun ride so far.
I've reached 180+ free subscribers in these past few weeks, which is crazy given I haven't yet shared within my network (very few of my friends know that I started a Substack 😅 )
Some things that have helped me grow:
1) People really do value high-quality content. 2 out of 5 of my pieces have generated the most traffic and signups. These also happen to be the pieces I put the most time and effort into. I was afraid that people's attention spans are now too short for long-form content, but I was pleasantly proven wrong.
2) For the pieces I'm really proud of, I tease it on Twitter a few days before posting. Usually get a few signups and it puts people on the lookout for it. Example: https://twitter.com/healthwealthgen/status/1446897417920471041?s=20
Still have a lot to learn — but I'm here to play the long game and grow (both numbers-wise and as a writer/person!)
Ha - just followed your link to Twitter - my husband just happens to work for Bionano!!
Wow, no way! Small world 😄 Let me know what he thinks of the piece / what I'm wrong about/missed, haha.
We love the company, they announced something exciting yesterday so keep an eye out for a press release!!
Super cool that you're a genetics specialist -- is EDS on your radar much?
I’ve counseled several patients and families with EDS/hypermobility spectrum during my clinical training but am by no means an expert! Sounds like you have a much more firsthand/intimate experience with EDS.
Yep, unfortunately I have EDS. Did you hear that the researchers at MUSC recently discovered what they think is the genetic basis for hEDS?
Don’t think I came across- feel free to link me!
good tips thanks
Glad you found it helpful!
Good on you!! Congrats and welcome.
Thanks Bailey! Happy to be here.
I'd love to hear from others on how they use Twitter:
do you find posting just a single tweet with a Substack link OR writing a longer thread (basically summarizing your piece) generates more interest?
I find that writing a thread and then linking at the end works better, but if you don’t have time for that (I never do) I find that posing a question in the tweet and using the link to answer it also works well.
ah, that's a great idea! Yeah, usually I just try to share it with a single tweet + link the day I publish. If I have time / it seems to be resonating with people, I'll go back and write a longer thread later in the week.
That’s a good idea!
Agree! Putting information about the post in question form works well on social media.
I look for Twitter accounts relevant to the story I am posting, and address the post to them: @BobDylan @Beatles @[radio station that plays that kind of music], then the post, and Twitter's generic hashtags: #classic rock #new music #streaming TV. Like everything, it's hit and miss, so a Bob Dylan post picked up new readers and subscribers, but a long (2,600 words) George Harrison post did not. Lesson: write shorter, more often.
I tweet at LEAST FIVE TIMES ---5 different tweets/photos---for each newsletter, usually more. (A tweet's half-life is 20 minutes.) I space my tweets throughout the day. I watch the "link clicks" like a hawk---and ignore the "likes." If a tweet is not working, I delete it, and come up with a new one. I watch what's trending on twitter and check if I have written a newsletter about it. If something is trending that I have written about, I compose a tweet with the trending hashtag. A few days ago Rep. Lauren Boebert was trending. I immediately tweeted this. https://twitter.com/ejeancarroll/status/1448349955257733123 It received 7,000 LINK CLICKS! It was like manna from heaven. It's fun, it's exhausting, and keeps the old brain fired up!!
You have the maddest skillz, E. Jean! But it's what we gotta do. I call it "playing Twitter." Like, what are you doing upstairs, sweetie? "I'm playing Twitter."
I'm going to nurture my twitter feed much more, and engage there again. It doesn't seem to work for me to just post the notice and move on. No one picks up from there.
Brilliant, Christina, I have just added 'Tease on Twitter a few days prior' to my weekly SOP checklist. Thanks for the idea!
Love it!
That tweet is supreme!
I started my paid subscriptions in early September. It's been a good experience for me so far with ~4% conversion.
This month I reached 1000 free readers! Tomorrow I'm sending out a celebratory post with multiple offers - invites, book giveaways, and discounted subscriptions - to see if I can pull more people to the paid subscription.
I think it's important to know why one is choosing the paid route. It may sound harsh but it can't simply be that because we put in a lot of work, we deserve to be financially supported. Every writer should deeply and dispassionately consider their value proposition from the point of view of their readers. This means also identifying who their readers are and understanding what they signed up for.
I think it helps to grow your readership if you are able to narrow your content to a niche subject area. This niche area can even be "your true voice". But the process of cultivating your niche means writing a lot. So I would also advise all newsletter writers, especially if you're new to writing online, to write 5x more than they share with the world.
Having lots of readers is great. Having no readers is a great time too. There is great freedom in anonymity. Play games, write in different styles, explore genres and voices. Going too early to paid can lead to typecasting yourself, and so can going to an audience with every single thing you ever write.
I've been drawing SneakyArt for close to 5 years. In the newsletter, I write about my art, the circumstances of its creation, and articulate ideas around my work. It makes me a better artist and thinker to do that, and I believe I am able to demonstrate that to my readers. The free readership of the newsletter is a subset of my Instagram following (8-10% conversion), and I wonder if that is a good metric to assess my growth. The paid readership is a further subset of the newsletter readership and I guess I should think of them as my true true fans.
I am curious to learn how other people measure their growth and set goals.
I wrote this piece about using Reddit as a creative that may be useful to some: https://www.sneakyartist.com/blog/reddit-101
And I wrote about what I consider the mislabeling of the term "short attention span" - https://www.sneakyartist.com/blog/short-attention-span
I hear you are the reddit master!
Being #1 this year on r/mildlyinteresting, I can confirm I make the most mildly interesting content on the internet! 😂
Truth!
Do you know if it's possible to write a short "blurb" for each piece that will grab people, rather than just having a title (like "Will Semantics Inspire You?") and then the subtitle (like "An interview with Paul Pietroski")? In my piece here (https://join.substack.com/p/will-semantics-inspire-you) that got 7 out of 8000 people to join, I think a blurb might be useful to give a sense of what the piece is all about!
You can include something like that in the header / footer (which are editable from your settings pages or the post itself!). Not sure if that's helpful. Animation Obsessive does a great job of summarizing their posts at the top of each email - http://animationobsessive.substack.com/
Thanks so much!
1: I made a comment in response to the post with a laundry list of questions, but I included in the comment Katie's responses to 50% of the stuff so those ones don't need to be answered. Do you see that comment?
2: Would it be possible to turn Substack Grow into a step-by-step system? There's a daunting range of things that you can do to improve your Substack, so I'm currently trying to break things down. It's like the gym...the gym is overwhelming until you break it down into "put on your shoes" and "pick up your backpack" and "walk to the gym"...that's an extreme breakdown but you get the point! The idea is that things become manageable/stress-free when you "spoonfeed" people things task by task. I think that much of the stress is from not knowing where to start, just like a store with 30 brands of toothpaste will cause anxiety, whereas if there are only 2 then you choose one and feel no anxiety about the decision.
this is excellent feedback. Thank you! We are going to noodle on it.
Did you guys see my super-long comment? I made a comment in response to the post with a laundry list of questions, but I included in the comment Katie's responses to 50% of the stuff so those ones don't need to be answered. Do you see that comment?
Journalists use nut grafs that perform this role: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph But I've also seen folk do what old-timey fiction writers used to do: an italicized pre-summary to goive the reader an idea of what happens in the chapter. Eg:
(italics) "In which Andrew leaves a comment about short blurbs, and Mike weighs in, amongst others." (end italics)
I always write a brief blurb welcoming people to my publication and describing what the post will be about. I found that this was helpful because the next piece of content is an image with a caption, and without the blurb, the caption is what social media displays! I think it's also helpful for new subscribers or people who followed a link on social rather than getting an email with the headers etc.
What Bailey said. And I would also consider using the subtitle as the space for your blurb.
For setting goals, I have a written list of things I want to tackle and write about, hopefully turning them into something useful. A list of "enthusiasms", I guess (but only the ones that have a wider lesson in all the things I write about). It's a list that's growing all the time. That's my direction into my topic (curiosity, attention, wonder and, increasingly, hopefulness). But if I measured my progress against that, I'd see myself getting more and more behind every week. 😁
I launched the paid version of my newsletter a bit over a month ago, after spending 6 months growing my free list. So far, I'm just short of 700 on my free list and 30 paying subscribers. (A really nice thing: almost all those subscribers paid for a year up front. That was a *whew* moment for me. Something like that really gives you faith.)
I'm now measuring the growth of my paying subs in terms of seasons. I've just started season 3 of my newsletter, and at the end of each season (around 8 weeks) I will do a mini "relaunch" to everyone on my free list. So I've given myself a target number of new subs by the end of every season - presumably most coming in at the end, and hopefully a few others along the way.
We shall see how that goes. :) Early days.
Seasons sounds like a good time-frame to work with. I think I update my strategies far too quickly, without giving them enough time to express themselves. A consequence of sharing on Instagram for years!
That people prefer the annual subscription is also my happy conclusion. It reassures me to see they have faith in me. :)
If you're feeling like you update too quickly - which topics? Are there ones which you'd love to return to? Because - why not? Which ones were you disappoionted to move onwards from? I bet they'd be fun to return to in more detail, for yourself & for your audience...
One thing that's been working great for me is thinking in "plot arcs" - the things I previously mentioned that I can return to in later posts, to reinforce and build upon. Building the argument in more detail - while *also* sending new readers back to my earlier stuff. It's proving good for engagement and it's helping me join the dots in my writing, creating a body of argument that's spanning multiple posts.
I reckon this approach might come in useful later, if I want to, say, create a book from anything I've dug up along the way...and if so, it turns out I've been "training" my readers to think about this stuff a bit longer than usual, meaning they might buy the book!
I'm starting to appreciate the value of discovering and pointing to plot arcs in my writings, and also the importance of reusing older posts!
Ah, you said "strategies" - I may have got the wrong end of the stick here. :) Oops.
Yes, it's not so much about the posts for me. Since I talk about what I draw, I never run out of subjects that are tied by a thematic undercurrent - i.e. I draw what is interesting to me, so I am able to talk about what was interesting to me that week. I think it will also naturally lead to the book I'm putting together.
I'm more concerned about promotion strategies, the frequency of asking people to subscribe, the frequency and therefore value of making "special offers", and juggling the kinds of content I want to share free vs paid - art, writing related to art, writing related to things I read, the ideas from my podcast.
Right. (Sorry for my stock-wrong-endedness!). And yeah - I guess one issue with having a set promotion strategy is that in theory, you're mostly marketing to the same audience. Asking the same people to sign up every time, instead of finding fresh new pastures to yell into. Experimentation is the friend of the innovative self-marketer, and all that.
Growth is a relentless pursuit. It takes persistence and most days will feel like you're scratching and clawing to get to your goals.
I'm constantly networking with other writers, joining and engaging in writing communities, doing swaps when it makes sense, asking to be a podcast guest, and posting and replying daily on social media. You never know when the stars will align and the right person will share your writing or retweet you and bring in an influx of new subscribers with them. It can feel like a full-time job with terrible pay at times, but the connections you make along the way—both with other writers and with subscribers—will make it all worth it in the long-run.
We should all be in it for the long run because we love the process and because we have to share our ideas with the world.
Thanks for being here Lyle! Well said inded
"99 public subscriptions" sounds like the writer only has 99 subscribers. But actually it means that the writer subscribes to 99 newsletters. Perhaps it would be clearer so say "currently reading 99 public newsletters"?
or, "currently reading 99 newsletters"?
This is a count found when the writer's name is clicked, on the author's page below their description. Rather than "99 public subscriptions" another option may be "supports 99 newsletters," or the aforementioned, "currently reads 99 newsletters."
Well said.
Yeahhhhhhh
Lyle, I LOVE your Newsletter name! Thanks for the encouragement. I'm nine weeks in, getting great engagements and organic growth but I want it to be even faster. I'm aiming for 144K subscribers (!!!) Your words reminded me not to be too impatient, thank you.
Thank you, Karen!
I shared the link to this earlier but I figured I'd just go ahead and post the whole thing here for those that are interested.
Tips on Using Social Media to Grow Your Substack
One of the most important tools in growing your Substack is using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Quora and other platforms.
Using social media over the past two months, we've gone from adding less than five new free subscribers a week to averaging more than thirty, including one day where we added more than forty.
Our email list just passed 1000 sign-ups, with more than 50 paid subscriptions.
We ramped up our social media efforts in mid-August and have added more than six hundred new subscribers.
I've been asked quite a bit how we do that without being spammy, so I thought I'd share some of my observations.
A) Make a Plan
Look at what social media platforms you’re already active on and decide which one or two make the most sense for you to grow your Substack. This might be because you’re already active on them. Or because there is something about your Substack that would fit especially well there.
For us the answer was clearly Facebook since I was already very active on several relevant groups. Some I have been active on for years.
If you’re already active on groups that are right for you, begin thinking about how you can start converting some of those participants to newsletter subscribers (more on that in a moment). If you’re not already active on relevant groups, become active on them so you can begin appropriately sharing your content.
At the same start thinking about what other platforms might be relevant and useful for you.
Based on Substack’s own suggestion, I created a Reddit account and gradually became more active there. I’ll have more to say on that in a bit. I’ve now done the same with Quora as well.
We were also somewhat active on Twitter but over the month have considerably ramped up our efforts there.
B) Be Genuine
It isn’t enough to just a join a Facebook group or subreddit, tell people you have a newsletter, and expect people to sign up.
First you need to join groups that are actually relevant to you and with which you can genuinely interact. If you can’t do be genuine, you’re pretty much doomed to fail.
Our Substack is about our lives as a gay digital nomad couple traveling the world. So I’m not going to join a Facebook group for people into sailing or extreme sports or dating after the age of fifty, pretend I’m interested, and then leave a comment or two and a link. Instead, I belong to groups that either specifically relate to being a digital nomad, travelers in their fifties (our age), long-term travelers, and gay related topics.
Being genuine also means that before you begin trying to get people to sign up, you need to respond to other people's posts with real comments and contribute appropriate things of value to the group that don't include you pitching your newsletter.
People can usually smell a fake a mile away.
Also be sure to follow the rules. One group to which I belong allows businesses to post links to their business every Tuesday, so that is exactly what I do by sharing a newsletter I think will be genuinely helpful. (And also interacting the rest of the week with other people’s comments and sharing relevant posts that aren’t our newsletter.)
And if you’re in doubt about sharing something, contact the moderator. This is helpful in two ways. First, it shows them you aren’t there to just spam their group. Second, it makes them aware of you and much more likely to take you seriously, which is always a good thing.
Then begin posting.
Which brings me to...
Apparently, this is too long for a comment. So here is the link to the rest. https://brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.substack.com/p/my-tips-on-using-social-media-to/comments
Thanks for coming and sharing Michael!
The truth "People can usually smell a fake a mile away."
My pleasure. Substack is my full time job now!
My Gawd in Heaven! Your open rate is through the roof! Congratulations!
I started my newsletter in March and committed to publishing weekly. It’s given me the external pressure (in a good way) to keep going and in the process my readership has steadily grown and like anything you practice, my writing and my posts (I hope!) have improved. There was a quote I heard last night on Substack and I’ll paraphrase: We have no choice but to get better.
Thanks to Substack for providing this platform, structure and incredible support.
Hi wonderful Jolene!
Bailey! Right back at ya! :)
Some things that I’m trying: 1. Commit an afternoon to creating multiple social media posts — written and graphics — to promote your newsletter. Use Canva or similar to create templates and reusable elements. Make some strictly promotional (what your newsletter is about), others can be about content (pull quotes from issues) and others can be lead magnets (a bonus piece of content you can create just for subscribers). Set yourself up with a social media management platform (Publer, Hootsuite, Buffer) so you can set these as an calendar that will post to multiple sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) in automated and recurring fashion so you've got a constant stream of exposure. Don't worry about doing "too much": the constant news stream on any platform means you need repetition to get noticed, even by your followers. 2. Don't be afraid to ask your social network to share to their followers. 3. Look for podcasts in your area and reach out to be booked as a guest, this is both a great way to get the name of your newsletter out there, a transcript can be new content for your newsletter and/or promotions.
"Don't worry about doing too much" is *so* important to keep in mind. I try to remind writers of that all the time.
Reaching out to podcasts also seems like a great approach to me. When I was publishing my book, I was told that podcasters are in a "buyers" market - they always need new interviewees
Great plan!
Yeahhhhhhh
A thing I was reminded of from yesterday's session, from a talk by the excellently-brained Mason Currey: (https://masoncurrey.substack.com/): if you're not achieving "balance" with your work routine, maybe that's a feature and not a bug.
I've been a f/t writer for ten years and I have never overcome my tendency to attack my work like a dog: 100% mad work-related zoomies for a certain period, and then collapse in a heap and feel self-indulgently sorry for myself for a while. And now I'm starting to realise that lurching from flat-out activity to totally self-indulgent laziness & back again isn't necessarily a sign I'm maniacally writing myself off a cliff...
What works, works. If it looks crazy and scatterbrained to other people, that's their problem. If it feels sustainable (and exciting) to you, nuts to more "sensible" methods. You've found what you need. If it's not broken, don't persuade yourself you need to fix it.
If you're getting the things done that need to be done (e.g. publishing a newsletter on schedule, doing the promotions, getting the day job done, eating, sleeping, and having downtime to spend with friends, family, pets, books, and Netflix) then it's working. But if something isn't getting done, or is being done poorly (or if you're frazzled or frustrated) then it's time to reexamine your schedule, process, or priorities.
Agreed. The time to reassess is where something important in your life is not getting done that absolutely should get done.
Then I'm not crazy after all!
Great point!
I participated in the Substack Grow programme to learn more about Substack, how to use it and get the best out of the process and system. What I have taken from the process is that a routine, publishing regularly and keep evolving are important.
I found the 6 weeks of late night Zooms (midnight!) were incredibly useful and I came away with at least one nugget every session. My goal is now to mould that experience and learning into a plan and a newsletter that add value to the audience I want to attract.
A good example of a nugget was to promote the newsletter wherever you can. I have it on every page of my website, I have in my email signature, it goes out on social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) every time I post. It did not take long to do all that. Next goal is to find a format that I like for the newsletter. Work in progress.
My thoughts and reactions to the process are:
be honest and share your thoughts and ideas freely. Get started and you will learn how to create your own style, format and creativity. The more you share people will find their way to you, word of mouth is the best way of finding your own audience. It will take time and it will have its moments. Be determined and do not take criticism personally, I know that we do but it is part of the apprenticeship of writing. Time is the key factor and that is one I have not yet fully mastered but I hope that I will get into my routine for writing soon! Good luck to all on the Grow programme. It has been a fun time and I have learnt many useful things from the Substack team and the group of writers involved!
Thank you to everyone.
Looking forward to reading, Paul!
I have a load of 1950s kitchen utensils I use for photoshoots. They are so much more fun that the functionl modern ones I think.
I agree!
Thanks for a simple, easy tip: adding a link to your email signature. Will do that today!
Adding a link to your Substack from your personal website is a great way to improve your SEO! Good on ya.
Having serialised my fiction online since 2015, my advice is less Substack-specific, and focuses more on looking after yourself as a writer, because you have to be in this for the long haul for it to work -
Be ambitious, but look after your health.
Being creative can be a struggle, but you don't have to suffer.
Set clear goals but make them achievable; don't set yourself up for failure.
Remember why you're doing this; don't get lost in the woods.
Readers are giving part of their life to your writing.
One reader is amazing. You'll get more.
You are so right - the LONG HAUL. I was so regular in posting at the beginning then just let life and client work take control. Grow got me to think back to the earlier days when I was keen for it again.
It's very difficult! Especially once that initial fiery enthusiasm cools.
Are there any plans to build a referral system within Substack? This would be a great way for writers to grow their audience
Tell us more about what you'd want!?
Something like viral loops, something where our readers can refer other readers and we can track/reward them
Just popping by to say this would be very cool!
I second this.
After Substack Grow, I made an effort to reach out to pre-existing groups on Facebook that focus on the same subject as my newsletter (in this case, the Moon). I've also joined FB groups where fellow Substack writers congregate to share tips and ask for advice. So far that's been really helpful for finding interested subscribers.
Will! It was so nice to see you in the audience last night. There are so many fans of yours on our team.
Hi Bailey! The feeling is mutual—I've loved every single Substack Grow event. You guys rock!
What do you love about Will Dowd's Substack? I love it too (based on looking at it just now), but I'm curious about specifically what you guys love about it! :)
This has worked tremendously well for us as well.
Are there other Substack Facebook groups beside 'Substack Writer'? That doesn't seem to get much traffic.
It's better to find groups that focus on the same things you write about. In my case, I'm in a lot of writer/author groups, and when someone asks about something I've written about, I'll share a link. That has led to a number of subscribers.
The key is to never create your own thread with "Hey everyone read my Substack" because that comes across as spammy and many groups forbid self-promotion anyway. But a helpful post about something relevant to the group is usually welcome.
Thanks. I belong to several FB writer pages but many of them are for Medium. I need to find others.
I only know that one, and I've been disappointed that there's not a lot of engagement in the group, mostly people just sharing their newsletter, sometimes without even making the effort to tell people what it's about. I'm on Elle's discord group and that's much better. If you look for a comment from Jackie Dana here, she posted a link to it.
Thanks, Melanie.
And there was a lot of anger, hostility, and judgment there. I bailed out and blocked it. I'll never go back. It seem(s) to need active monitoring for insult and hate speech.
I don't recall seeing that, but it's rather ineffective the way it is now.
Among many other things in a thread with one individual, he called me out for being ignorant for using the word "storytelling" as one word.
Well, that IS pretty earth-shattering. LOL. But I'm with you. If I'm not getting anything out of a group I'm outta there.
Hi Will! I recently watched the 1995 movie "Apollo 13" directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. It was great and sent me on a journey to learn more about the Apollo missions and the moon (a true lunatic!). I would love to know if you have any impactful/meaningful movies that you would be willing to share as a Guest Writer on "moviewise: Life Lessons From Movies." https://moviewise.substack.com/s/-guest-posts
Thanks for your consideration!
What a cool idea for a newsletter! I would love to contribute. Can I check back in with you in the new year, when I'll have more time on my hands?
Great! Thanks Will! Just email moviewise@icloud.com when you're ready! Thanks again!!
Will do! Until then, happy movie-watching.
My advice for growth? Resilience. It is a slow process, a sisyphean task. But you must do it! You must constantly share, promote, and deliver great content. No one will do this for you. There is no easy hack or service. There is just you and your desire to make it happen. Write great content. Share on socials. Interact with your audience. Rely on yourself and not paid advertising as it rarely works. And never give up!
I know it's hard for a lot of writers but we can't just be writers. Our second but equally important job is marketing ourselves.
I dread that word 'marketing'. Some of us writers chose this field just so we could do what we love without having to be present in the here and now, trying to sell ourselves. To me it's the ugliest part of the craft, and of course I suck at it. I can't even bring myself to ask for paid subscriptions. LOL.
I'm not looking for advice. I probably wouldn't take it, anyway. Just wanting to let you know that some of us believe that, yes, we CAN be just writers. We'll just never make a living at it.
I have a writer friend who posted an essay on Medium about breaking up with their audience. One thing stuck with me: “I’m not a brand. I’m a person.” It’s hard because there’s an exchange that takes place starting with your visibility, the reader’s attention, and your hooks to get them to stay. But if you don’t promote, then who will?
I understand the need to promote. Of course I do. The problem comes from my own feelings about promoting. My hatred for promoting is almost visceral, and I feel that way not just about my own work, but when I see a writer working overtime to get people to read their stuff. It's painful. It's embarrassing. It's not writing, it feels like pandering.
I don't know. Maybe I should see a shrink? LOL.
Love a good therapist. Would recommend… but yes, I totally get. Some days I’m like, read it or don’t. I don’t want to beg people to see my value. Promotion without pandering… 🤔 Want to write an article together about it? 😂
We can focus on the work, cross promote, and not feel icky.
LOL. I just subscribed to your Substack. Great stuff there!
Fair enough!
Believe it or not, this has been a struggle for writers and artists for centuries. Unless someone was fortunate enough to have a patron, it's always been a hustle, and some of us are better at it than others. Just think of poor Van Gogh, one of our greatest artists but worst self-promoters ever.
In a way, Substack is our patron since we receive the whole infrastructure at no cost to us.
Well I definitely appreciate the free platform, until Substack starts paying me for my newsletter, I won’t consider them a patron. But I know that’s just a matter of time. 😉
Indeed. haha And of course everyone and all our newsletters are the content of their platform and business model. I'm glad its here, it gets me writing!
True. I was looking into newsletter platforms when I found Substack.
I’m sure it’s unimaginable today when we think of his body of work! That gives me an idea for a future post.
Yay! (Just as long as it doesn't involve cutting off any body parts!)
I cut up body parts for a living but that’s a separate story!
Okay now THAT is article-worthy!
Of course! LOL
I am rubbish as self promotion. Learning, though!
Not rubbish at all! You are simply at the start of learning. That's an entirely different thing.
Indeed...
It is all about the hustle and marketing but you need good content as well, no, great content.
True. If someone stumbles upon a cache of treasure, that’s the enticement. There’s also better retention and longevity when there’s always great content. No need to stress, just stay the course.
Question: I have both free and paid subscribers (about 3000 free and 60 paid), but when I go to Substack's main page, I'm do not see my newsletter "discovered" in my main topics. I promote the newsletters on various appropriate social media platforms, too. How do I get more Substack visibility?
Count me as another person who would like better search and discoverability features within Substack itself!
Me too. It sounds just a bit like a "Catch-22"...which I'll be posting about later today in relation to Credit Scores-:). It seems that in order to get "featured" by Substack you must already have a lot of paid subscribers. Why not add to that mix by featuring a few new writers with what you think is high quality content, regardless of their subscriber base.
This is something I'm also keen to know more about! My newsletter was featured for a week on the front page, which was great, but it would be even better if I could get ranked as one of the top ones in the topics. I'd like to know what I need to reach that (lots of subscribers? lots of paying subscribers? views?)
I've also been having discoverability issues on Substack. When you search my niche, my newsletter ranks beneath newsletters that have been inactive for almost a year, or only have only had a "coming soon" post for months.
Substack has previously said they are aware of the discoverability issue and are working on it. Fingers crossed!
Hi Tricia! You're headed in the right direction by having lots of subscribers. For our leaderboards, we focus less on what drives clicks and engagement and more on signals that indicate reader satisfaction like larges numbers of active, paid subscribers.
We know how important this is and we're currently working to expand pathways to discovery for more writers on the platform.
You can read more about our leaderboard here: https://on.substack.com/p/why-we-have-a-leaderboard
Yes... I'm eagerly awaiting Substack to better facilitate the "matchmaking" process between writers and readers. For readers - better recommendations for relevant and interesting newsletters. For writers - more potential readers who may be interested in engaging in their work.
So far, it feels like both the work of the writer and reader role is self-initiated. As a writer starting a newsletter from scratch, I need to do ALL of the heavy-lifting in distribution (mostly via Twitter).
Hi Andrew, Thank you for your message. I'm at 9 months on Substack now and will do a special 1 Year Celebration event in December hopefully to entice a higher conversion of free-to-paid subscribers. In my industry, many journalist write to get advertisers so highlighting accountability and free journalism might be a good incentive. Perhaps (when COVID is less of an issue) a Wine Country trip for paid subscribers would be another incentive. I'll look at the pathways to discovery on the platform and hopefully see Wine Wanderings a little higher on the Stack in the future.
Hanging out to see responses. Thanks for asking.
I am also wondering about this.
I'm looking for someone to act as a substack mentor!!
I am debilitated by a chronic illness, and would really appreciate some guidance. My plan is to use all the revenue generated by my paid subscriptions to fund my ongoing medical expenses. THANK YOU to anyone who has the interest and bandwidth to help - x
I can't really help with content-specific issues (as I don't know much about producing a cookbook), but I'm always happy to help fellow writers. Are you in the Substack Writers Discord? That would be a great place to ask for help, feedback, or even a pep talk if things aren't going well, and then you can private message people there as well.
Thank you, Jackie! Two great writers have offered to help, so I think my plate is now full :)
Hi Rachel! Tell us more. Are you looking for an experienced writer to help you navigate writing your own publication?
I'm a recipe developer working on my first cookbook. So my newsletter will consist of recipes + other food chat, links to favorite producers, artisans, articles, etc. And it will be monthly. I am looking for someone who is willing to help me launch and build some initial momentum.
Rachel, I see that you live in SD. I do, too (Carlsbad), and I have some professional experience in food/wine journalism. I would be happy to help. Maybe we can discuss what you envision as help with a launch and building momentum.
That would be lovely - thank you!! How would you like to connect?
Some thoughts about keeping going and motivation based on my experience of sending a weekdaily newsletter for the past 13 months. A big part of building a loyal audience is showing up consistently.
> Energy to keep writing:
I have started and stopped *a lot* of writing projects over the years. What I’m doing now – short daily emails with one illustration, one idea and one song (from Spotify, not my own) –is a form that fits my interests and skills better than anything I’ve done before. I love doing it! The fact that it connects with people is a bonus. Even when it’s hard work, I love it enough to keep going.
> Motivation:
I am a graphic designer in my day job. It’s a good job, but the reason I do it is to fund my real job – writing every day for my subscribers. My real job doesn’t pay yet. It’s still my real job. My boss is kind of a bastard. He insists that I show up every single day. He doesn’t give me a day off when I’m not in the mood. He expects quality when I want to phone it in.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing as a job. At least, that’s how my personality works.
> Sustainability:
I came up with a year’s worth of ideas for material before I started, so I would never be scrambling to find something to write. I’ve used less then half of that initial bundle of ideas because new stuff shows up along the way.
I keep my posts short. I’m only writing about 2000 words/week.
I usually have a guest author for one week each month.
I switched to Substack after my 95th email. I’m doing one throwback post each week until all the newsletter is on Substack.
I take a week off at Christmas and two weeks off in the summer.
I’ve streamlined my process for building the posts in Substack so they only take a few minutes.
All these things help keep it fun and not overwhelming.
Thanks for sharing this insight Jeff!
"Keep it fun and not overwhelming." Great advice
You’re welcome. Hopefully it’s useful to some folks.
Over the Substack Grow period, I tried a few different tactics and have gotten some growth out of each one. I signed up on every newsletter directory that I could find, then I did a post swap with the awesome Mahima Vashisht of Womaning in India. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I started recording my posts. I am finding that quite a few people download the recordings, so I will keep doing that as a service.
Do you know how many you got from the newsletter directories?
I am in a bunch, the results have been whatever but they help with SEO.
<Michael slowly moves newsletter directories back into the to do column>
It looks like I got 14 from Inbox Reads and one from Mereku over the past month. I can't really tell if I got others.
Thanks. I've been putting it off as it seemed like there were other more valuable things to do. It's good to hear some actual numbers.
Here I am wondering what a newsletter directory is...
Newsletter directories are like the old phone book, but online. If I want to read about climbing, I might go to a newsletter directory and see what's there. Here is an article that lists newsletter directories. There are lots of them! https://www.newslettercrew.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-newsletter-directories
Congrats on trying some worthwhile experiments and seeing results!
I second that Congrats!
Hello, everyone. Great to join the community. I started a newsletter about album closers last month (please check it out!) and I'm really enjoying seeing my work presented in a professional and organised manner that has always put me off writing outside of someone else's website. I'd be interested in how to schedule tweets from scheduled posts!
Love the publication! Just subscribed. Unfortunately no way yet to schedule tweets from scheduled posts, but will definitely pass that feedback along to the product team
As a growth hack, I'm working on the paid promotion side more now. I'm still in the ideation and data collection stage, but my plan is to start advertising my newsletter on relevant platforms on a fixed monthly budget. I'll try different platforms (newsletters, blogs and websites) of writers with bigger reach. Post a 3 month trial with different platforms I'll release my observation document to help other writers in the community to help them understand what might work for them and what might not depending on their subject matter and niche.
Let's see how it all pans out for Berkana 😊
how does the key words we put in our profile work. I search using them and either nothing comes up or someone else's comes up. Please respond.
John
We have a twitter pod of Substack writers who help boost each other's tweets and get new eyeballs, message me @youtopianJ on twitter and I will add you to it, I have found it helpful.
Hey! Tried to message you but looks like non-mutuals are blocked from initiating a message with you!
Strange, follow me and I will message you back and add you.
Followed you!
will do
Thanks! Just mentioned you in a tweet from @gabthinking (couldn't message you directly for some reason.
Got it! Thanks! Look forward to helping each other...
Yes, it's really helpful. Join us.
Thanks for putting on these Threads. I always get ideas on how to promote my work through different media. I was wondering what success other writers have had in translating their work and Posting it on their sub-domain at the same time as their English version. Google has a pretty good translator program though it sometimes misses the nuances, but it's a lot better than having to learn a language. I am considering making a German and French version of my monthly posts about life on the Canadian Prairies. Any comments?
I just started a Spanish version of my monthly newsletter in September. I first played with the idea of making it a section of the English version but it just didn't seem right. I have had many problems with Google translate so I use someone on Fiverr I've tested to translate for me. I am going to try to continue the Spanish version at least through the end of the year but if interest doesn't pick up, I may end it. (I should note, I write for a very specific niche audience of occupational safety professionals who deliver workplace training).
This publication could act as inspiration - two separate publications, one in Spanish and one in English: https://latampolitik.com/
https://www.aliciakennedy.news/ also uses sections to separate her writing in Spanish from her writing in English
How can you encourage new people to read posts and sign up when they are faced with the paywall that isn’t clear can be free signup ? The “none” option doesn’t make sense to most people. I get feedback on social media all the time that they hit paywall on free posts.
Yes, I vote for 'Free'. But why the delay? Is there some reason to keep it at 'None'?
Great news ! I think it needs to be more clear in the text of that wall too. Something like “free to read with signup”.
Great! It really should be changed...
I feel like I've tapped out my social networks, but every few weeks I have a conversation with someone who follows me on multiple accounts who has never heard of my newsletter. I post about it all the time! Every time I bring it up in conversation that person then goes and signs up and loves it. Any advice here? I've tried paid advertisements on social but they don't convert at all. And really, I'm just trying to get free sign ups, I convert about 10% of my free signups to paid which I think is a pretty good rate. My newsletter is me trying out different products, hobbies, jobs, diets, and more. https://scottbedgood.substack.com/
You might try sending a personal email introducing your Substack to contacts in your network? Sometimes social media can be a blur and something more direct might get peoples's attention.
Hmm, not a bad idea. I'll give it a shot! Thanks.
People tend to scroll through social media feeds and you are competing with everyone else they follow so it isn't you. I have thousands of followers and still only convert a small percentage. I say keep writing and keep promoting.
I'd love to know what the biggest change you've made to your approach on promoting your newsletter has been, since participating in Substack Grow
I've made a lot of small tweaks, but the biggest thing overall is just looking at my open rate as a marker of success because it measures engagement. The total number of views is seductive, but knowing that people are opening the newsletter is really meaningful and tells me I'll likely have some success once I launch my paid newsletter.
I feel less shame about constantly linking to the Substack, too. I also just keep believing my readers are out there. Pop culture and creativity aren't niche, but poetry is. I'm going to keep going, and Grow has helped me feel confident that I can continue to reach people, even if incrementally.
Yeahhhhhhhhhh
Making more of an effort to get to know other newsletter writers and my readers. Not just in the "networking" way, which is certainly a part of it - but actually having proper chats, some long emails, making new friends. This matters to me in two ways:
- 1) Because it just feels good (this newslettering lark can get very lonely if you let it)...
- 2) it's an opportunity to practice the incredibly important skill of listening, so you can actually understand and have a far better shot at being helpful, instead of staying in your own head all the time and presuming you understand what everyone else is wrestling with, both on the writers and readers sides of things. And when you can be genuinely helpful, it's much easier to get attention.
I started my newsletter a little too much on the "lock myself in a room" side of things (partly because, pandemic). Grow has corrected me in the right direction.
Love this. Being independent shouldn't mean being alone!!
Absolutely that. I was an indy travel writer for a while, and crossing paths with other travel writers when you're out on the road was always the best, the *best* part of the job. (With the food a close second. Especially in Greece.) And we all used to go to conferences mainly driven by the chance to hang out en-masse...
We all need to get in the same room occasionally, whether virtual or actual, to be reminded of how wildly interesting everyone else is. :)
I agree. I'm slowly starting to build some connections with other writers as well. Writing is a solitary activity, and while I enjoy that, connecting with other writers feels really inspiring.
Literally! Chats I've had with other writers have directly led me to new ways of thinking and investigating stuff. Being able to glimpse the world through other people's eyes occasionally, especially if they're fellow writers, is a huge source of creative inspiration. (And it feels damn good, too.)
I agree that "everything is amazing," and I also agree that "being able to glimpse the world through other people's eyes occasionally" is very enriching, and key to communicating effectively. It's a great skill to develop, and maybe not surprisingly, movies provide great examples, scenes, that show how to do this: https://moviewise.substack.com/p/communication-insights-from-movies
I just signed up on the free (or none) option..happy to chat anytime
Thank you! I'll take you up on that. :)
Great question, Cole !
i'm like someone who is
riding a marble horse
the one who has
lost the reins in a place
desolate and unknown
like a bird running in panic
to break out of a trap
i wonder where will
this horse of mine
at last be housed
-Rumi
Love this!
I am a historian, and I have just finished writing a historical novel, set in World War II. With Adolf Hitler blockading Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Stalin refusing to feed or evacuate the city's population, the book is about how a group of poets, musicians, dancers and artists overcome hunger and cold by channeling their Russian cultural heritage. More broadly, it's about the triumph of human will over political totalitarianism. I have authored six books, for trade and academic presses, and would like to publish this one as a serial production on Substack. Is there someone I can talk to about the Substack book publication process?
There are several authors publishing serial fiction who are part of the Discord group and I'm sure they'd be happy to talk with you. Geoffrey Golden posted a link somewhere in this thread.
If you're wondering about how to serialize a book, this interview and recap may be a helpful resource: https://on.substack.com/p/spotlight-on-fiction
Wow this sounds like an amazing book I'd love to read! Are you curious about publishing your book on Substack in serial posts?
Yes! I just starting my Substack blog last month, so I'm thinking I should build my audience more first, but yes, yes and yes! :-)
I'm still struggling to get set up and running before I even attempt audience. Where can I get set up help
Love the whole IDEA of "endangered recipes!" Substack has a heavenly platform, Lari! YOU CAN DO IT!
Your title "Endangered Recipes" is such a fun play on words
Thank you, basically the title sold my book in 2001
Perhaps this resource could help? https://on.substack.com/p/setting-up-your-substack-for-the
Hi Lari. Can you share some of the challenges you're experiencing?
None of this is intuitive to me -- I am old school print journalism. And, no, the set up link doesn't help. I haven't quite grasped how the layout works although I've looked at many -- newsletters, sites what do we call it? Not sure I have a grasp of the language either. I'm a mess online. But a damn good writer who still has something to say. Sigh
So, my two cents in getting set up after quickly looking at your initial set up (and I have a thread below, too: https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours-18/comment/3242471):
1. as someone who loves to cook, I *love* your premise of "Do you love a recipe that comes to you on the back of envelope? Let's find them..."
2. I get where you're coming from. My two cents is to approach with less is more. That means:
a. You've got your slogan - I would use the "Coming Soon" page to flesh it out a little more.
* How many times per week will you be writing?
* Will it be writing only? Or will it be audio, too?
Think about how the reader would summarize your mailing to a stranger in the shortest number of words, or with the least amount of logical statements (e.g., "they wrote A is true but B is not and look out for C").
b. Start writing. These are impermanent posts. Moreover, you can go back and edit them.
c. Layout you'll figure out through trial and error. So keep it simple: write a title, subtitle, and a post. No one needs to impressed by layout and because you're not a graphic designer by trade, no one is going to be looking to you for layout.
Is this helpful?
You are my new best friend, Andrew. Not sure how you can see what I have been noodling as I thought I wasn't visible but in this case, helpful.
Lari, I just subscribed to your newsletter. Can't wait to see where you take it. :)
Happy to help and excited to see where you take it! Feel free to hit me up with more questions (andrew @ parqor dot com)
[NOTE: I can see your Substack because within Substack your profile links to it. Basically your account and your Substack are one and the same]
Nicely done, Andrew!
Melanie and Jackie...huge thank you. That's really helpful and I appreciate it. I'll definitely check this out.
Here are some things that I posed to Nishant that I would love to get responses to!
1: I will take notes on your excellent piece here and make sure to incorporate those insights into my Substack! https://www.sneakyartist.com/blog/short-attention-span
2: You said something tonight about regular calls to action, regular "hooks" to hook the reader, and regular "reminders" about the "story"? Did I write that down correctly? If that doesn't ring any bells, then I will need to ask Katie and others if they remember this advice!
3: I will make a "Welcome" thing like you have and link to my best pieces in it.
4: I will hire a graphic designer (someone with an aesthetic similar to your own, actually) and get them to make some personalized art for my Substack and put that art on the "Welcome" thing and also on my "About".
5: I got some advice to establish a presence in communities relevant to my Substack, but that's maybe impossible when I constantly rotate between a wild range of topics. Maybe I shouldn't be pessimistic about that, though, and it should be possible to first identify where my highly-viewed pieces have been posted and then visit those communities.
6: One of the first things that the Grow people asked me when I said that I had 8000 views and only 7 sign-ups was something about "headers" and "footers". I'll have to check with Katie if she remembers what they said. It must have been important because they brought it up right away I think (or maybe it was the second thing that they asked after first establishing that I had the "Subscribe Now" buttons in place).
7: Do you know if it's possible to write a short "blurb" for each piece that will grab people, rather than just having a title (like "Will Semantics Inspire You?") and then the subtitle (like "An interview with Paul Pietroski")? In my piece here (https://join.substack.com/p/will-semantics-inspire-you) that got 7 out of 8000 people to join, I think a blurb might be useful to give a sense of what the piece is all about!
And here are some questions that I posed and that Katie generously responded to!
Hi Katie! Just a couple things.
1: The Substack Grow celebration tonight was really great and I really enjoyed it and really benefited from it! Thanks so much for doing it!
2: Nishant did an incredible blogpost about attention span that's really useful for Substack Grow to look at: https://www.sneakyartist.com/blog/short-attention-span.
3: I noticed that you can see a "Welcome to the SneakyArt Post" thing if you go to Nishant's Substack: https://sneakyart.substack.com/. That's an important thing for me to implement.
4: Nishant's "Welcome" thing that I just mentioned—and also his "About" page—have a lot of visual stuff, so that I need to eventually implement some visual stuff too because right now my Substack only has one photo of myself and that's my only visual element.
5: I haven't implemented much stuff from Substack Grow. I get too overwhelmed by large/complex systems/machines like the system/machine of branding/promoting a Substack, and so I find it challenging to break things down into bite-sized chunks and then pursue tasks one at a time. I think that everyone experiences this barrier to doing something—the gym is a fantastic example because you just want to know what exercises to do and you get overwhelmed with the 1000s of options of different exercises—but I intend to break everything down into tasks and implement everything over time.
6: I would love to get feedback on my pieces from you or Bailey or Jasmine or others, but that's the kind of thing that you usually pay big bucks for! Nishant gave me some generous free advice, though, when he said that my piece was like a word wall that pushes people away rather than pulling people in. This is a piece that got 8000 views and only a pathetic 7 free sign-ups, which is an impressively abysmal conversion rate: https://join.substack.com/p/will-semantics-inspire-you.
Sincerely,
AVW
Hey Andrew,
1. Thanks for being part of Grow!
2. I dig this framing. Not attentions spam but consideration span.
3. A welcome post is a great use of the pin post. Unfortunately it seems the about page can be hard for some readers.
4. Based on our conversation last night and your comment here, sounds like visuals are top of mind. Session #3, building a home for your publication, might be good to revisit.
5. It’s on my mind that we could create a bite size version of all the materials we covered in Grow. It was a lot. Please lmk how it goes if you decide to break it down like that.
6. That’s awesome that you had so much traffic. This is a really robust interview and a warm intro to start. A few things come to mind.
- since this has 50 questions with all sorts of different insights, perhaps you might add a “takeaways” section of sorts that gives people the highlights at the beginning or end. This could help with the consideration span.
- consider adding buttons and perhaps using the Judd Leggum approach. Just before the button to subscribe, include some context of how interviews with people like Will fit into your greater publication. “If you liked this, I do more of this plus xyz.” https://grow.substack.com/p/grow-how-popular-information-rallies
- including images of Will and the subjects you discuss.
Hope that helps!
I got these responses on the 7th thing that I posed to Nishant (about blurbs):
[from Bailey]
You can include something like that in the header / footer (which are editable from your settings pages or the post itself!). Not sure if that's helpful. Animation Obsessive does a great job of summarizing their posts at the top of each email - http://animationobsessive.substack.com/
[from Mike Sowden]
Journalists use nut grafs that perform this role: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph But I've also seen folk do what old-timey fiction writers used to do: an italicized pre-summary to goive the reader an idea of what happens in the chapter. Eg:
(italics) "In which Andrew leaves a comment about short blurbs, and Mike weighs in, amongst others." (end italics)
In terms of communities, Nishant wrote up a nice piece about using Reddit. Although I've been there for 10 years, I was anxious about going into a new subreddit and sharing my content because that can be like walking into a minefield. Finally, I tried it, posting a piece I had written about a bridge here in St. Louis, in the St. Louis subreddit. I got some amazing feedback and that has been my best-performing piece to date.
I don't think most of my newsletter articles have an obvious subreddit for sharing, but when I publish more local content (I have a new section called Unseen St. Louis) I will continue with the above strategy, and perhaps after a few more posts I'll start building a following there.
How many topics do you write about? My issue is that literally every piece is pretty much a different community! I guess I have a couple focuses, but it's pretty much all over the place!
My main Story Cauldron section is about quirky places you can find stories in everyday life. Which is a roundabout way of saying, I write about all kinds of things! 😂 Then I also have a section for my Unseen St. Louis, which loosely ties into that concept but is also a bridge to my fiction, which is set in St. Louis.
I would say my audience would be people who are writers and/or avid readers, or others who are curious about the world and enjoy eclectic content. In other words, people like myself. I most enjoy newsletters that examine odd or unusual things about the world, that make me think about things in a new way, or that teach me something new. And that's what I hope to achieve with mine. (And now I think I maybe need to rewrite my About page!)
Hi Katie, Wondering if Substack will be offering another "Grow" opportunity? I was put on a waiting list for the first one, but didn't get called in. Since then I have actually started my Substack. Thanks!
Awesome Joan! We are noodling on what to do next with Grow. Any thoughts on what topics you most need us to cover / would like help with?
I will think about this and add my two cents soon... Thanks for asking!
Happy Thursday from St. Louis, aka 'the Lou.'
Ahoy there Jim!
I started my Substack in July and progress has been slow. I try to network with other writers, promote, and have been done a guest series, but not much yet. I’m hopefully that staying the course, putting out good work, and looking for new opportunity will help grow my subscribers. I think I’m on the right track so far.
I think it’s worth reminding myself that every success story is based on perspective and a different timeline. Some pop off right away, get a viral article, or have a previous audience. Some are wading in with virtually nothing, so to have a few free sign ups is success.
1. How are people using other platforms to network and promote?
2. How do you talk about yourself?
3. Have collaborations been helpful?
4. Any new strategies for growth I haven’t considered?
It took me eight months and a lot of luck to pop on Hacker News and go viral, so keep at it. I constantly promote and share my substack across socials, with every new person I meet, and always go guest posts. Keep trying everything, what works is what works.
Just in case you haven't seen this summary yet, our team documented all of the tactics we've seen work for writers to grow their lists here - https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4
Thank you!
THIS is so extremely helpful! Thank you!
need to talk to a real
?
How comes there is no app to use the site.
Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement! Just out of curiosity - what things would you like to do in the app // how would you like to use it?
Comments and community! I lose so much engagement and community becuase people just default to comments on twitter, facebook (or none) because comments here are so clunky., not working with mobile Safari, not able to edit, etc. If we could get people on an app, they would be on a continual read (not scroll) and hold them in one place.
Hi Rob. Are you writing yo me? Call or text me, 802-279-5897
Hey everyone :) literally just started my Substack this past week, writing about funny houseplant fails, successes, offering a plant advice column etc... if you are into that you can check it out here: https://jnihmeyvasdi.substack.com/
House Plant FAILS?? I love it!!!
haha thank you! :)
Welcome, Jasmine!
thank you! :)
Hi all. Looking forward to call. 2 technical Qs: is there a way to embed video in my blog posts? And why so few options in the “share” feature? Thx
Yes! You can embed YouTube and Vimeo simply by putting the link in the doc
What other places would you want to be able to share to directly?
So far I've been embedding them in YouTube. I guess if you don't want the videos to be public over there, you could always embed a video and set it to private.
I've seen a number of comic creators do big launch drives. They are known quantities, so people (myself included) were excited to sign up as paid subscribers immediately. But for my own Substack, it seems like doing a big paid launch push right at the start (without any free content up) would not work as well. Do you recommend doing a soft launch and then a proper paid launch once you had a good amount of free posts up?
I started with 10 free posts and then added 3-4 per month for first 6 months (started 121220) until i had about 30 articles then I did a soft launch to my 356 email list and social media platforms. I only have 1 annual and 1 monthly subscriber so far but in the past 60 days I have started to get organic traffic (about 30 people i do not know), so i think time is certainly a player on our side or team. Writing consistently is also key. I am now debating going to a donation approach (after participating in Substack Grow classes and reading Substack Interviews), rather than relaunching a special paid membership during the upcoming holidays. Any thoughts would be appreciated ... i write a self-publishing newsletter.
I am a comic creator, you can see my substack. I want to provide a lot of value and hit a certain point of free subscribers before launching paid. Build the content library first.
We had a fair bit of content up when we went paid, but we actually did it without a big launch. We're currently over a thousand email signups and almost sixty paid. Obviously, no idea what those numbers would be if we had done a big push when we turned on paid.
I’m curious—how are other writers promoting their work on Reddit or Hacker?
I post it and hope on Hacker News, it worked out once, but rarely does.
Intriguing notion...
I know you don't like marketing. I know you don't like promoting, especially self-promotion, but it is needed. Promote the hell out of your work, persistence always overcomes resistance. Keep going no matter what, happy to do shout outs and help you where I can.
That's great to know, thank you. I'd love a shoutout or too for @YourGoalLine
Hit me on Twitter @youtopianJ and we can go from there.
Is it possible to add audio to a pre-existing post?
Unfortunately not possible right now. But will pass along this feedback to the product team!
That would be great, because I have yet to make time to record, before I publish... I'm working on that, though.
Thank you!
Hi. I write about the convergence of legacy media, audio, gaming, e-commerce, and the Creator’s Economy. My audience is primarily investors and C-suite executives. It is small, but concentrated with leaders.
I posted a thread on tips I've learned about how to write on Substack on Twitter in ways that leads to more sharing and growth: https://twitter.com/aagave/status/1448494121396707329
I'll post them here, too:
The overall one is, Be cynical about the audience's attention span.
1. That means you have basically your first three sentences to grab their attention (five, if you include header and sub-header).
2. Write those first three sentences with the assumption someone is half-looking at their smartphone, every time. You do it, we all do it, so you know what catches your attention. Write those first three sentences to *that*.
3. When editing, think about how the reader would summarize your mailing to a stranger in the shortest number of words, or with the least amount of logical statements (e.g., "they wrote A is true but B is not and look out for C").
The clearer you are in holding someone's hand through your thinking, the clearer they will be in telling someone else why they should read you.
4. If you can't summarize it in your head simply, assume your reader can't either. So, revise towards the simplest summary possible but which still reads compelling.
5. Set constraints around your word count. You won't always hit those constraints, but it will force you to tighten your writing and serve #3 better.
6. What's more efficient for you to write is also more efficient for your audience to read.
So, borrow tactics from other writers who you find easier to read. I like using simple sentences followed by long quotes to build logical arguments, which I like in Ben Thompson's Stratechery.
7. Make sure you you talk to and/or email with engaged readers regularly. They will help you evolve your thinking and iterate your value proposition.
8. Yes, you will need to push beyond your comfort zone, but don't do it alone. Ask readers in #7 if the idea sounds directionally right. If they push back, fine-tune the idea and come back to them once, maybe twice, but no more.
9. Growth in awareness is also growth, but it isn't directly measurable on Substack. It will be evident in other areas like podcast appearances and invites to be quoted in articles.
10. (NOTE: my favorite) Your value proposition is going to evolve. That's ok. Ruthlessly refine it into the simplest possible, two-to-three word statement each time it evolves.
That process is awful to go through (truly), but the outcome will clarify what to prioritize next.
11. Less is more. Write about what you know & think about what *logically* relates to that or can be easily researched.
Write to educate (or to entertain), not to impress.
Your subscribers want to be educated. They are subscribers b/c they've already been impressed.
They're not hard rules (I violate #5 regularly), but they have led to better outcomes.
Hope these help!
These are great! Thank you!
Good Morning!
Good morning, Ed! Nice to see you here again.