The Winner is...

Substack. And Bill.

Dear Subscriber,

I hope you had a marvellous Christmas (if that’s your thing) and end of year break (if you got one!). Happy New Year to you.

Just dropping you a quick note to announce the winner of the special draw for new paying subscribers of Pubstack Success.

Reminder:

Free subscribers get focused, authentic advice about Substack by someone who’s been where you are now and wants to see you grow and thrive, including dozens of no-BS Substack tutorials.

Access the tutorials here.

Paid subscribers get instant access to my exclusive Substack Starter Kit with a guidebook, templates, checklist and cheatsheet + 2 bonus downloadables and share their appreciation for the most helpful, authentic advice about Substack you’ll find, by someone who genuinely cares about your Substack journey 😊.

Check out the Substack Starter Kit here.

The winner is…

If you became a paying subscriber between 10th November and 31st December 2025, you were automatically entered into a draw for a chance to win a one-to-one coaching package with me (valued at $963).

Today I put on my nerd glasses, exported a list of new subscribers and used a random number generator to pick the winner. The winner is Bill R. Congratulations! [Bill, I have emailed you separately].

Thank you to everyone who upgraded during the past months. It’s been a pleasure hearing from you and watching you grow.

The other big winner for 2025 is Substack itself, which saw phenomenal growth in new readers and writers. If you haven’t launched yet, it’s not too late. Substack 2026 is like Bitcoin 2017: the early adopters have settled in, but there’s still plenty of opportunities, and the platform is going from strength to strength. Join the party now and watch your investment grow.

Substack 2026 is like Bitcoin 2017: the early adopters have settled in, but there’s still plenty of room to grow.

What’s next?

I’m currently working on a new template pack to complement the Substack Starter Kit.

It will include a branding pack (Canva image templates for banners, headers, logos and more); content planner, one-off payments set-up guide, reader feedback form, AI policy template, ROI calculator, post performance spreadsheet and more.

It’s going to be fabulous, and it’s going to be for paying subscribers… stay tuned!

In the meantime, I’ll continue to show up in your inbox every week, with no-nonsense guidance about doing better on Substack, starting with How to Write Substack Notes (as a human), which will hit your inbox on Thursday.

Until then,

P.S. Need to get in touch? Reply to any of the emails I send, or use the Substack DM feature (access DM (direct message) by clicking on my profile pic at the top of this post, then find the button that says ‘Message’).