How I Grew My Substack Audience by Over 3,000 Subscribers in Under 6 Months

There's one Substack feature that made the difference and helped me grow 53% faster. And you can, too!

Everyone says the first 1,000 subscribers is super hard.

I hit this goal within 5 months writing on Substack - without writing consistently, having a cadence, while being pregnant, having a family with my hubby and work, you name it.

After this fantastic milestone for me as a part-time list creator, I reached 1,000 subscribers with recommendations less than six months ago:

Substack’s recommendations engine is powerful

• In the middle of January 2024, I had 3,300 subscribers and 900 subscribers from recommendations.

• In March, I already had more than 4,200 subscribers, with more than 1,000 subscribers coming from 222 other publications recommending me.

• Fast forward to today, I have 4,000 subscribers coming from 403 publications recommending me.

Recommendations on Substack are the most engaged subscriber acquisition channel!

If people ask me how my audience growth from zero to 7,900 subscribers within 21 months happened, I tell them:

Recommendations played a huge role in my subscriber growth.

If you build genuine relationships, most reciprocate your recommendation if they think it’s a fit and their ideal readers should discover your publication.

In fact, I attribute 53% of my Substack newsletter success to — can you fill in the blank? What is it? — recommendations.

Yep, free recommendations!

I didn’t invest a single dollar in paid recommendations or sponsorhips to promote my newsletter.

While growing my email list, I realized how powerful Substack’s recommendation engine is and that it helps me grow 53% faster.

I’m not alone

Even Substack rockstar Lenny Rachitsky shared that 78% of his subscribers were coming from other Substack newsletters recommending his publication.

Lenny writes about product and brand management, has more than 800,000 subscribers, tens of thousands of paid subscribers, and earns 7 to 8 figures with his newsletter.

The minimum implied revenue in February 2023 was $1.5M up to $15M.

photo credit: PressGazette

Money, Money, Money! Must be funny

My father used to work in finance and always said: get rich quietly.

For the corporate world this might be true but for my part-time online writing business this doesn’t sound like fun.

I love to share more about my growth because I know many writers who want to make a living writing, pay their bills and feed their families, such as my friend and minimalist book author

J.R. Heimbigner

, who finds my WOW-worthy stories inspiring.

For me building and growing (together with my members) feels more real. I also think getting advice from someone who has been through the trenches is smart as we fail our way forward.

So if I’m looking back to March 2024 and compare it to my paid susbcriber growth today I grew by 41%.

(Here are my wild earnings in my first ever Substack income report for you. In our LIVE, I’ll share some more.)

Psst! Good news!

• You don’t have to be an early adopter and top newsletter writer like Lenny Rachitsky to see awesome results.

• You don't have to be a bestselling author, TikTok dancer, Instagram superstar, or celebrity to see your subscriber numbers skyrocket.

Obviously, there’s more to it but my tip of the day:

Give recommendations a whirl and grow from the inside out!

Want to experience the same?

Most writers don’t know… Substack updated its recommendations engine in spring 2024.

As Substack reported in their official announcement:

“Early data show that this approach to Recommendations increases both the number of subscriptions that Substacks enjoy and the number of followers that individuals get, helping them amass large audiences that serve as a base for ultimately finding new paid subscribers.”

Want to know what’s hot and new?

I take a curious human over an uncurious every day.

Are you curious?

Then I hear you sing…

YES! Tell me more! Tell me more!

GIPHY

So I’m happy that today I can offer you a 60 min. SURPRISE workshop at 1pm EST about getting more subscribers with recommendations.

No worries, I won’t sing.

But after our session you’ll sing YOUR song to your new subscribers that will be joining your list.

GIPHY

I’m pulling back the curtain on…

• what Substack’s updates mean for you

• get to know Substack’s recommendation settings

• how Substack’s recommendations growth engine works

• the 4 surface areas where recommendations are shown now

• how to find others to recommend and ask for a collab

• how to get recommended by others

• how to get recommended by me

• how to write a blurb

• best practices

Our LIVE workshop will take place in 4 hours:

📅LIVE webinar at 1pm EST on Thursday, August 29 (replay will be available together with all other replays of past live sessions).

🔗Join us here. Just become a paid member and add the event to your calendar!

🔥 It’s nice to know the WHAT but you want to know HOW you take the first steps towards making that kind of growth happen.🔥

Inside Substack School, I’ll show you the EXACT (baby) steps to use Substack’s recommendations growth engine to take action TODAY!

GIPHY

🎉Access to Substack School for paid subscribers

All premium subscribers get a bit deeper and have access to my “Online Writing School” membership with the Substack School.

Be a part of it and join a lovely and vibrant community of more than 240 writers.

Find an A to your Q, chat with me, watch exclusive tutorial videos with insider tips, grow and make money writing on Substack with clarity, fun, and by doing what you love, writing.

Inside Substack School, I’ll show you the EXACT (baby) steps to use Substack’s recommendations growth engine to take action TODAY!

I’ve grown my email list to over 7,900 subscribers within 21 months. 4,000 are coming from recommendations.

• 🔥I’m handing my tactic over to you so you can start putting structure behind your 2024 list-building goals.

• ✨If I can make your newsletter transformation a little easier, I’m 100% here for it.

• 🏆As a member, I’ll recommend your Substack to my audience. You can connect with other tribe members (in your niche) and find collab partners. In addition, you can write a guest post for my newsletter to be seen by more people.

Don’t take it from me. Here’s what my members said about yesterday’s LIVE session with atomic, minimalist writer and tribe member

Jamie Northrup

I'll see you in there, friend!

❤️‍🔥Your feedback is just a spark but it’s enough to keep me going.❤️‍🔥

See you at 1pm EST in our live session.

Happy recommending,

Kristina

P.S. Liked it? Please share, like, and let me know what you think 💗 Your feedback is important and can spark many ideas. Thanks sooooo much!