I want to start off by saying right from the get-go, that I LOVE it here on Substack. I'm retired, so I've got a lot of time to play around, screw up, and figure things out. I worked in a blue-collar job all of my life. I had one job. I started it when I was 19, and recently retired. I didn't always have access to a computer, and when I finally got one, I didn't have the finances to take classes to help me figure out how to use the damn thing. I started on WORD 2, and worked my way up. Then I got a Mac, and had to start all over again.
So I'm not very tech savvy, which has actually worked out for me. All I knew how to do was write the stories I write. I didn't Blog, because I worked swing shift and couldn't commit to it. Besides, it didn't interest me. I write fiction. Period. I'm not an essayist. I leave that to everyone else.
So when I came to Substack a year and a half ago, it was still pretty new itself. I've grown with it, you could say. I learned how to use NOTES; ditched the idea of CHAT; embraced Recommendations and Cross-posting. I sit back and listen to people complain that Substack doesn't do this and doesn't have that, and shrug my shoulders. I don't know what half that shit is they're complaining about. All I know is that I can put my stories up, and not have to worry about how long they are. That's always been a problem, bringing a story in under the recommended word length. I like long "Alice Munro" type stories. Who doesn't? And if you don't, you don't have to sign up with me.
But I love SUBSTACK. For all the faults it may have, it has just as many opportunities. I never made a dime in all the time that I've been writing. Anything I've published, was on one of those "Free" sites. I thought it was just a stepping stone on my way up to getting paid. Now, I have people actually paying me so they can read my stuff. It's not a lot; but it could be. I don't worry about it. I don't market myself. I just write my stories and put them on my 'Stack, and if you want to read them, fine. If you don't, that's fine too.
I believe, and have always believed, that if the quality of writing is there, people will come. It might take time, but hey, I've got some of that. At 65, I probably have about 20 years to make something of myself; 25 if I take care of myself. I might have approached things differently if I was 30, or 40, but I'm not. So I just write my stories, support those I can, and hope people will read me, and after reading, support me because they feel I've earned it. I've dropped my yearly SUBSCRIPTION rate down to $30 (Can), and plan to leave it there.
I don't have a lot of subscribers. I'm sitting at 420...why does that number sound so familiar? I've got 16 PAID. So I'm making money! Me! I'm now a professional writer. And all I have to do is write, which is something I've always done. I get to reinvent myself into the person I've always dreamed I would be...a writer. SUBSTACK gave that to. They want to take 10%? I was making nothing before I got here. They can, because as a labourer all my life, the fact they pay their staff about $56/hour is awesome!
So while it may have it's problems, I just look at them as growing pains...hiccups.
As Kristi says below, the thing that sets Substack apart is that it offers a unique space for writers, and particularly writers with a fairly refined sensibility (at least in my circles). And yet one of the core mythologies of the platform is that anyone can earn a primary income eventually. So the success stories that get trotted out make a lot of folks who came here originally just wanting to stop writing into the void at lit mags or other trade publications, and have some genuine interactions with readers, feel like they're failing somehow.
I spent part of last year flailing with this a bit, trying to find the lever that would nudge more free subscribers to upgrade, trying one ridiculously unsuccessful live workshop with a replay (I feel stupid just thinking about it) that led to ZERO upgrades and not a single purchase through the Stripe checkout link I created. I've promoted this thing on LinkedIn, too, where I have a decent following 3K+, and it's a quality course, but conversion has been bupkus.
So I'm learning that what draws people to me on Substack, and what drives upgrades, is quality content, typically offered for free, that makes people want to support me, personally. That is actually a welcome revelation, because it means that I can follow my original instincts of just WRITING, without trying to contort myself into a branding hustle that goes nowhere.
The windy upshot of all of this is that Substack does have a kind of messaging problem if it continues to frustrate writers that it explicitly drew to the platform for a different purpose than the one that continually gets flogged as the measure of success on the platform. For instance, I've been told that interviews don't do well in converting paid subscribers. But you know what they do well at? Building community, giving people meaningful life stories to connect to their own. I'm curious about people's lives, and so I harvest their stories, sometimes with practical goals for job seeking, etc, but sometimes not. And I'd like to continue doing that without trying to find the lever that makes me more money. Because the energy required to find that lever and the tedium of working it effectively week in and week out...that's not why I came to this platform.
I've found a similar thing, Josh. The people who upgraded to Paid did so because they like my work. Nevertheless, I keep thinking I ought to give them more value for money, even though that wasn't their motivation in most cases. I still keep on trying though. I find the constant stream of emails telling me how to earn thousands, or how other people are, quite dispiriting. One thing I like about Karen's newsletter is that it seems like it's not constantly bragging plus all the suggestions are doable.
I had a thought today, that perhaps offering some exclusive content to paying subscribers is still worthwhile, even if it doesn't drive upgrades. Perhaps retention could be a worthy goal in itself? Showing appreciation for those who support you can take many forms, but offering some paywalled content is one of them, even it's not the lever for converting more paying subscribers.
Yes Joshua, retention and making payers feel valued is a biggie. I used to write to every new paid subscriber personally, offering them a one-on-one Zoom and discounts to my website store. Most said no but the ones who said yes to the call have stuck around as subscribers. I think they value that 'feeling special' thing.
I like this topic because for me, it's also a love/hate relationship. I LOVE blogs and the billions of ways you can customize them. But you're soooo right that blogging can be a huge time waster with the constant fiddling around. I suppose the whole point of Substack is to WRITE though. If people wanted all that marketing and sales junk then Substack probably isn't what they'd choose. The lines here are blurred because it started out as a platform for good writing but for thousands of people, writing isn't enough. They just want to sell all the things.
I’m an avid blogger on WordPress and find most people follow me there in Reader, which doesn’t show them the website and all the pretty details I spent time working on. They just read the words. So, yes, spending time prettying up the website is not exactly wasted but can interrupt my writing flow because of this idea that the site needs to look ‘just so’. Less is more on the graphics, perhaps?
Yep, social networking (anathema to me) and promotion (another hard one for me) is the elephant(s) in room—though I follow and comment on Substacks that matter to me; there are many. No matter: I still love what I'm doing on Substack and think it's the best thing to come along EVER for writers, teachers, and thinkers. So check me out if you can spare a sec. xo ~ Mary
As someone new to substack, I think this is very helpful. It certainly doesn't put me off using substack, but does make me consider that I need to continue to think broadly about my marketing and promotion. I'm a blog, podcast, author with a book coming out in April '24, so this resonates with me
Regarding the money Substack take from us once we have paying subscribers. I see it as a team effort. I do the writing and attracting readers. Substack provide a platform I genuinely feel positive about using. That hasn't been the case with other platforms. The better I do, the better Substack does
Instead of being annoyed about the amount Substack takes we can reframe it to "I love that Substack is making so much money from me, that means I'm making more money too." I don't believe in ditching the provider that helped you just because they rightly take a slice of the profit pie.
Promotion outside of Substack is the bane of my life. I post on LinkedIn and begrudgingly do so on Instagram and it tires me.
BUT I think I'll be following Jessica De Fino, the writer behind The Unpublishable newsletter piece of advice. She recently was interviewed and said it was essential to promote outside of Substack network by being quoted in articles, doing podcasts or writing for publications mentioning in your bio you have a newsletter. Another thing I found interesting in what she said is to promote your newsletter as a newsletter not as a Substack newsletter. She advised to just see Substack as a provider, a platform hosting your newsletter to avoid being pigeonholed in its ecosystem and reduced to the platform.
One thing I'd say though is that in the past I used to have a newsletter on Mailchimp and promoting it was super hard. It felt like one needed to already have a following to start one. The mixture of blogging and newsletter of Substack makes it easier to promote. I mean building an audience of 200+ subscribers following a launch that was marked by a one-month hiatus is to me quite remarkable.
Good suggestions here. I agree with Jessica, about not branding your newsletter as 'Substack'. I also recommend you not call your newsletter a 'newsletter'. When you talk about it call it a publication, a magazine, or even a community of [insert name of audience].
Your suggestion to call it a publication, a magazione or a community is quite intriguing to me. Do you recommend it because it sounds more professional? Or is it because calling it a newsletter sounds very blogg-ish?
Yes I'm proud to get to 15K but in dollar-for-hour terms (and living in an expensive city) I'm definitely not at a corporate salary level for my writing yet.
Great read, thanks for the effort! If they could add segmentation and email sequences / drip campaigns it would be the best thing ever, in my opinion 👀
Substack's segmentation features have come a long way in the past year, Cornelius. You can now do some quite granular filtering of your subscriber list, based on their actions (opens, clicks, etc.), and then send targetted one-off emails to those subscribers. No sequences/drip campaigns yet though.
I’m also surprised they don’t have email marketing tools and an open API. I’m wondering if it’s to focus on the social network part of the platform and reduce potential spam.
Also, I’m assuming it’s 10% fees + 3% from Stripe. I know a lot of people are unhappy about fees. I remember when Gumroad raised theirs to 10% they had a lot of backlash. But they are developing the platform and it’s a matter of judging how much it would cost to do it ourselves. It’s a choice to make based on much we’re willing to pay to get the results off platform!
There are always trade-offs. Thanks for highlighting the main Substack ones, Karen. Just starting here and there's a lot to learn. Each platform/app is different.
I disagree you don't have to market/self-promote as much on Medium. The platform pretty clears plays favourites and when I was on it, established popular writers *always* got chosen for distribution no matter how good or bad what they wrote was. And since it got so 'wokenized', it's even harder for those not towing the extremist woke party line to get distributed if not downright downranked. No matter which platform you're on, you have to promote *outside* as well.
Is there some kind of "for dummies" type course, or step-by-step action guide for self-promoting your newsletter on Substack that a primate like myself can follow? After months of just posting my content, hoping that the winds of fate would bring my audience to me, I've realized that the only way to build a readership is to put yourself out there, pushing your content on a daily basis.
Problem is, I suck at social media. I don't know how to instagram, twitter, or any of that stuff. I've been better about using notes and leaving comments on other pieces that I like (hello!), but beyond that I'm just grasping at straws here.
I fully agree with what you said. I suspect the two of my main gripes, lack of email marketing features and website options won't change anytime soon. Substack wants to differentiate itself from the other platforms by being a mix of social media for creators and a writer subscription revenue service. This is my understanding.
Thank you for this. I’m just starting a poetry newsletter and navigating the pros and cons of Substack is taking time and experience. This article was really helpful. Appreciate the insight as I share my collection and work to grow my readership.
I want to start off by saying right from the get-go, that I LOVE it here on Substack. I'm retired, so I've got a lot of time to play around, screw up, and figure things out. I worked in a blue-collar job all of my life. I had one job. I started it when I was 19, and recently retired. I didn't always have access to a computer, and when I finally got one, I didn't have the finances to take classes to help me figure out how to use the damn thing. I started on WORD 2, and worked my way up. Then I got a Mac, and had to start all over again.
So I'm not very tech savvy, which has actually worked out for me. All I knew how to do was write the stories I write. I didn't Blog, because I worked swing shift and couldn't commit to it. Besides, it didn't interest me. I write fiction. Period. I'm not an essayist. I leave that to everyone else.
So when I came to Substack a year and a half ago, it was still pretty new itself. I've grown with it, you could say. I learned how to use NOTES; ditched the idea of CHAT; embraced Recommendations and Cross-posting. I sit back and listen to people complain that Substack doesn't do this and doesn't have that, and shrug my shoulders. I don't know what half that shit is they're complaining about. All I know is that I can put my stories up, and not have to worry about how long they are. That's always been a problem, bringing a story in under the recommended word length. I like long "Alice Munro" type stories. Who doesn't? And if you don't, you don't have to sign up with me.
But I love SUBSTACK. For all the faults it may have, it has just as many opportunities. I never made a dime in all the time that I've been writing. Anything I've published, was on one of those "Free" sites. I thought it was just a stepping stone on my way up to getting paid. Now, I have people actually paying me so they can read my stuff. It's not a lot; but it could be. I don't worry about it. I don't market myself. I just write my stories and put them on my 'Stack, and if you want to read them, fine. If you don't, that's fine too.
I believe, and have always believed, that if the quality of writing is there, people will come. It might take time, but hey, I've got some of that. At 65, I probably have about 20 years to make something of myself; 25 if I take care of myself. I might have approached things differently if I was 30, or 40, but I'm not. So I just write my stories, support those I can, and hope people will read me, and after reading, support me because they feel I've earned it. I've dropped my yearly SUBSCRIPTION rate down to $30 (Can), and plan to leave it there.
I don't have a lot of subscribers. I'm sitting at 420...why does that number sound so familiar? I've got 16 PAID. So I'm making money! Me! I'm now a professional writer. And all I have to do is write, which is something I've always done. I get to reinvent myself into the person I've always dreamed I would be...a writer. SUBSTACK gave that to. They want to take 10%? I was making nothing before I got here. They can, because as a labourer all my life, the fact they pay their staff about $56/hour is awesome!
So while it may have it's problems, I just look at them as growing pains...hiccups.
I came here to write...
As Kristi says below, the thing that sets Substack apart is that it offers a unique space for writers, and particularly writers with a fairly refined sensibility (at least in my circles). And yet one of the core mythologies of the platform is that anyone can earn a primary income eventually. So the success stories that get trotted out make a lot of folks who came here originally just wanting to stop writing into the void at lit mags or other trade publications, and have some genuine interactions with readers, feel like they're failing somehow.
I spent part of last year flailing with this a bit, trying to find the lever that would nudge more free subscribers to upgrade, trying one ridiculously unsuccessful live workshop with a replay (I feel stupid just thinking about it) that led to ZERO upgrades and not a single purchase through the Stripe checkout link I created. I've promoted this thing on LinkedIn, too, where I have a decent following 3K+, and it's a quality course, but conversion has been bupkus.
So I'm learning that what draws people to me on Substack, and what drives upgrades, is quality content, typically offered for free, that makes people want to support me, personally. That is actually a welcome revelation, because it means that I can follow my original instincts of just WRITING, without trying to contort myself into a branding hustle that goes nowhere.
The windy upshot of all of this is that Substack does have a kind of messaging problem if it continues to frustrate writers that it explicitly drew to the platform for a different purpose than the one that continually gets flogged as the measure of success on the platform. For instance, I've been told that interviews don't do well in converting paid subscribers. But you know what they do well at? Building community, giving people meaningful life stories to connect to their own. I'm curious about people's lives, and so I harvest their stories, sometimes with practical goals for job seeking, etc, but sometimes not. And I'd like to continue doing that without trying to find the lever that makes me more money. Because the energy required to find that lever and the tedium of working it effectively week in and week out...that's not why I came to this platform.
I've found a similar thing, Josh. The people who upgraded to Paid did so because they like my work. Nevertheless, I keep thinking I ought to give them more value for money, even though that wasn't their motivation in most cases. I still keep on trying though. I find the constant stream of emails telling me how to earn thousands, or how other people are, quite dispiriting. One thing I like about Karen's newsletter is that it seems like it's not constantly bragging plus all the suggestions are doable.
Yes! I like Karen's series for the same reason.
I had a thought today, that perhaps offering some exclusive content to paying subscribers is still worthwhile, even if it doesn't drive upgrades. Perhaps retention could be a worthy goal in itself? Showing appreciation for those who support you can take many forms, but offering some paywalled content is one of them, even it's not the lever for converting more paying subscribers.
Yes Joshua, retention and making payers feel valued is a biggie. I used to write to every new paid subscriber personally, offering them a one-on-one Zoom and discounts to my website store. Most said no but the ones who said yes to the call have stuck around as subscribers. I think they value that 'feeling special' thing.
I like this topic because for me, it's also a love/hate relationship. I LOVE blogs and the billions of ways you can customize them. But you're soooo right that blogging can be a huge time waster with the constant fiddling around. I suppose the whole point of Substack is to WRITE though. If people wanted all that marketing and sales junk then Substack probably isn't what they'd choose. The lines here are blurred because it started out as a platform for good writing but for thousands of people, writing isn't enough. They just want to sell all the things.
I’m an avid blogger on WordPress and find most people follow me there in Reader, which doesn’t show them the website and all the pretty details I spent time working on. They just read the words. So, yes, spending time prettying up the website is not exactly wasted but can interrupt my writing flow because of this idea that the site needs to look ‘just so’. Less is more on the graphics, perhaps?
Yep, social networking (anathema to me) and promotion (another hard one for me) is the elephant(s) in room—though I follow and comment on Substacks that matter to me; there are many. No matter: I still love what I'm doing on Substack and think it's the best thing to come along EVER for writers, teachers, and thinkers. So check me out if you can spare a sec. xo ~ Mary
Yes, Mary is a hidden jewel!
Thank you, Josh!
Same here. If I could bear to self-promote more I'd probably have more subscribers, but still.
As someone new to substack, I think this is very helpful. It certainly doesn't put me off using substack, but does make me consider that I need to continue to think broadly about my marketing and promotion. I'm a blog, podcast, author with a book coming out in April '24, so this resonates with me
Thanks!
Regarding the money Substack take from us once we have paying subscribers. I see it as a team effort. I do the writing and attracting readers. Substack provide a platform I genuinely feel positive about using. That hasn't been the case with other platforms. The better I do, the better Substack does
Instead of being annoyed about the amount Substack takes we can reframe it to "I love that Substack is making so much money from me, that means I'm making more money too." I don't believe in ditching the provider that helped you just because they rightly take a slice of the profit pie.
OK, I guess I'll stick around for a while then...
Yeah!
Promotion outside of Substack is the bane of my life. I post on LinkedIn and begrudgingly do so on Instagram and it tires me.
BUT I think I'll be following Jessica De Fino, the writer behind The Unpublishable newsletter piece of advice. She recently was interviewed and said it was essential to promote outside of Substack network by being quoted in articles, doing podcasts or writing for publications mentioning in your bio you have a newsletter. Another thing I found interesting in what she said is to promote your newsletter as a newsletter not as a Substack newsletter. She advised to just see Substack as a provider, a platform hosting your newsletter to avoid being pigeonholed in its ecosystem and reduced to the platform.
One thing I'd say though is that in the past I used to have a newsletter on Mailchimp and promoting it was super hard. It felt like one needed to already have a following to start one. The mixture of blogging and newsletter of Substack makes it easier to promote. I mean building an audience of 200+ subscribers following a launch that was marked by a one-month hiatus is to me quite remarkable.
Good suggestions here. I agree with Jessica, about not branding your newsletter as 'Substack'. I also recommend you not call your newsletter a 'newsletter'. When you talk about it call it a publication, a magazine, or even a community of [insert name of audience].
Hello Karen,
Your suggestion to call it a publication, a magazione or a community is quite intriguing to me. Do you recommend it because it sounds more professional? Or is it because calling it a newsletter sounds very blogg-ish?
Hi Karen, I wrote about this exact topic ... yesterday I think. Here's my post. API etc is also good to add.
Here's the link for everyone to read with friend link (don't have to pay for it): https://medium.com/online-writing-101/why-louise-quit-substack-after-1-5-years-and-why-she-still-recommends-it-25fb406b4c3c?sk=2e8108fd6ab9510a7d0218c14afd2e3f
I think 15K is AWESOME, Karen. I also mentioned you in my recent video on YouTube :D https://youtu.be/a9LyKuHvpVQ?si=AMhA-bwXK6HmZ5-U
Thanks Kristina,
Yes I'm proud to get to 15K but in dollar-for-hour terms (and living in an expensive city) I'm definitely not at a corporate salary level for my writing yet.
Great read, thanks for the effort! If they could add segmentation and email sequences / drip campaigns it would be the best thing ever, in my opinion 👀
Substack's segmentation features have come a long way in the past year, Cornelius. You can now do some quite granular filtering of your subscriber list, based on their actions (opens, clicks, etc.), and then send targetted one-off emails to those subscribers. No sequences/drip campaigns yet though.
Thanks, will check it out 🍻
I’m also surprised they don’t have email marketing tools and an open API. I’m wondering if it’s to focus on the social network part of the platform and reduce potential spam.
Also, I’m assuming it’s 10% fees + 3% from Stripe. I know a lot of people are unhappy about fees. I remember when Gumroad raised theirs to 10% they had a lot of backlash. But they are developing the platform and it’s a matter of judging how much it would cost to do it ourselves. It’s a choice to make based on much we’re willing to pay to get the results off platform!
There are always trade-offs. Thanks for highlighting the main Substack ones, Karen. Just starting here and there's a lot to learn. Each platform/app is different.
I disagree you don't have to market/self-promote as much on Medium. The platform pretty clears plays favourites and when I was on it, established popular writers *always* got chosen for distribution no matter how good or bad what they wrote was. And since it got so 'wokenized', it's even harder for those not towing the extremist woke party line to get distributed if not downright downranked. No matter which platform you're on, you have to promote *outside* as well.
Is there some kind of "for dummies" type course, or step-by-step action guide for self-promoting your newsletter on Substack that a primate like myself can follow? After months of just posting my content, hoping that the winds of fate would bring my audience to me, I've realized that the only way to build a readership is to put yourself out there, pushing your content on a daily basis.
Problem is, I suck at social media. I don't know how to instagram, twitter, or any of that stuff. I've been better about using notes and leaving comments on other pieces that I like (hello!), but beyond that I'm just grasping at straws here.
Hi Dan, You're right, you need to actively get your work out there to grow. (sucks!)
I have written some guides for self-promotion without social media, and your comment prompted me to put them into a 'playlist'. Which is here: https://pubstacksuccess.substack.com/p/playlist-how-to-get-more-subscribers Hope you find it useful.
This is fantastic, Karen! I will definitely be running through these. Thanks for putting it together! 😄
I fully agree with what you said. I suspect the two of my main gripes, lack of email marketing features and website options won't change anytime soon. Substack wants to differentiate itself from the other platforms by being a mix of social media for creators and a writer subscription revenue service. This is my understanding.
Thank you for this. I’m just starting a poetry newsletter and navigating the pros and cons of Substack is taking time and experience. This article was really helpful. Appreciate the insight as I share my collection and work to grow my readership.