Dicky Bush from Ship 30 for 30 went from zero to millions. He built his audience through consistency and a newsletter. I did the same. You can do it too.
A month ago I took the plunge into Substack. I’m a podcaster and my stretch goal is to publish 2 episodes a week (interviews) for the next year. So far, I’m overachieving a bit at 12 episodes this first month. It’s just beginner’s enthusiasm 🤷🏻
But the twin principles - quality and consistency - seem to hold true. So, fingers crossed 🤞🏻. If I stay the course my life will likely be different. If nothing else, I will have met a lot of cool people and spread some love around.
This is me at 51 weeks! I have 201 newsletters in those 51 weeks. I started a writing workshop course in person and online. I have posted poems weekly, sometimes even daily and I have a weekly SPAWN session, runs on Thursdays and I do poem giveaways and this month a song title poetry challenge. Most my events and challenges are free. I also started a podcast. All in the 51 weeks! Who would have thought. I've learnt so much about Substack in the process and found people who read and support what I do. Who knew!?
My Substack newsletter, Shaking the Tree https://garybloomer.substack.com/ celebrates its first anniversary on May 3. I’ve published twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) every week since May of last year. Has this changed my life? Not really. Not yet. But who knows? Maybe the next year will see a bump in subscriptions.
Your insights about starting with a topic you're passionate about are on point. I've struggled to be consistent with writing online because the topics I thought I was passionate about were things I've already exhausted everything I had to say about them. What got me to start my newsletter was picking topics closer to my values vs my "passions." Now, I'm writing about topics that resonate with me personally, and not limiting myself by a specific niche.
Thanks Kristina - I really appreciate all that I am learning from you!
Yesterday I published my 31 article here on Substack and I have published 23 articles on Medium 🔥
I remember when I would fret for hours before pressing Publish. What you are saying is so true - when I stopped worrying about what people would think, put my head down and committed to being just 1% better each day - the magic started to happen 🪄
I'm around week 60 or 70. I really believe that putting out one to two newsletters a week has made me consistent and rekindle my joy of writing. My goal when I started was to hit 100 subscribers by the end of my first year. I hit that goal in 3 months and 3x that goal by the end of the year.
I'm so glad I starred when I started for what it has done for me. I don't have a thousand subscribers or any paid subs but I have the joy of writing.
A newsletter a week seems palatable. This for addressing that ‘ topic dry out after a couple of post’ was thinking if I start then dry out then what? But then answer is write about something else -there giving myself permission to be all my multi-faceted self and not feel like I have multiple personality disorder 💡
I certainly believe its possible that witing 52 newsletters can change your life, I just don't know that its possible for me. I enjoy creating writing and I don't want to serialize my debut novel thats coming out later this year, so I haven't a clue what I'd write about. I'm certainy passionate about mental health and living well with Depression, but I don't know how to turn that into a newsletter and if I did write about that, I'm not sure how I'd manage 52 without repeating myself over and over again. Sigh
Good advice. I started my blog, The Celiac Scientist, in Nov 2022 and gained only 40 followers in the first 12 months. This was because I was only posting sporadically. Since Nov 2023 I have tried to post regularly and my uptake of subscribers has steadily but consistently climbed each week. With a bit more work on promotion and using other media like TikTok, Medium etc I think this could grow exponentially.
Hi Urva, that's wonderful! I'm cheering you on..if you need any help let me know. My Substack School experience start next week 🎒 it's included when you become a paid member. I wish you all the best ❤️ would love to see you inside
Congratulations on your success. This did not work for me. I had to stop 31 weeks in because I was not receiving new subscribers beyond the initial group of 13 subscribers Substack sent me about a week into publishing my first newsletter. I received a trickle of others through my outside efforts, but that was it.
I'm not writing a newsletter that takes me hours per week to plan, compose, add citations, edit, and post for 2 dozen subscribers, most of them deadbeats who never like, restack, or comment, and half of them with suspiciously fake-sounding emails that behave like bots.
To top it all off, Substack refused to respond to (and fix) the software bug technical issues I was having building a second newsletter, to begin distributing this year.
A complete and utter waste of valuable and precious "free" time. I would like to have those 31 weeks of time back and I would tell others that the newsletter gravy train is not going to work for many people, despite the endless announcements that I hear to the contrary.
Sorry to hear that. It's sad when you have t ch headaches for weeks. It's natural that you may not see an immediate growth. It takes a while. I enabled the paid button for instance after one year.
This is a good story of how consistency wins the day. Back in May, I came off a 31-vote loss running for Mayor of my hometown. Afterwards, I was encouraged to continue to share my thoughts and ideas about our community. That was the impetus for the Civic Capacity Newsletter. Well, I figured I would be good if I could find something to write about every third day. Back in December, something clicked, and I found that there are enough stories in my hometown to write something 6 out of every 7 days in a week. It’s a tall order, but it has been fun.
I don’t expect Civic Capacity to grow much; 557 subscribers (36 paid) has been a nice surprise for a newsletter that is exclusively devoted to things happening in a small midwestern city of 26,000 people.
But, I am always surprised when a story takes off, or we get a flux of new subscribers or a meet a stranger on the street who talks about something that they have read on Civic Capacity.
Oh, those help, the loneliness comes in from the fact where there isn't a ton of people writing about the same stuff I am, so it's not always easy to bounce ideas off of others. Most of the interactions I have about my work come from off-line conversations I have folks that read and interact with my ideas, which is helpful, but it keeps the potential audience very closed. In other words, the audience ithat is being created will always be very narrow, but very, very invested.
A month ago I took the plunge into Substack. I’m a podcaster and my stretch goal is to publish 2 episodes a week (interviews) for the next year. So far, I’m overachieving a bit at 12 episodes this first month. It’s just beginner’s enthusiasm 🤷🏻
But the twin principles - quality and consistency - seem to hold true. So, fingers crossed 🤞🏻. If I stay the course my life will likely be different. If nothing else, I will have met a lot of cool people and spread some love around.
This is me at 51 weeks! I have 201 newsletters in those 51 weeks. I started a writing workshop course in person and online. I have posted poems weekly, sometimes even daily and I have a weekly SPAWN session, runs on Thursdays and I do poem giveaways and this month a song title poetry challenge. Most my events and challenges are free. I also started a podcast. All in the 51 weeks! Who would have thought. I've learnt so much about Substack in the process and found people who read and support what I do. Who knew!?
Great story! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
Thank you Mark!
My Substack newsletter, Shaking the Tree https://garybloomer.substack.com/ celebrates its first anniversary on May 3. I’ve published twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) every week since May of last year. Has this changed my life? Not really. Not yet. But who knows? Maybe the next year will see a bump in subscriptions.
Your insights about starting with a topic you're passionate about are on point. I've struggled to be consistent with writing online because the topics I thought I was passionate about were things I've already exhausted everything I had to say about them. What got me to start my newsletter was picking topics closer to my values vs my "passions." Now, I'm writing about topics that resonate with me personally, and not limiting myself by a specific niche.
Thanks Kristina - I really appreciate all that I am learning from you!
Yesterday I published my 31 article here on Substack and I have published 23 articles on Medium 🔥
I remember when I would fret for hours before pressing Publish. What you are saying is so true - when I stopped worrying about what people would think, put my head down and committed to being just 1% better each day - the magic started to happen 🪄
This is helpful advice!
I have thought about publishing a newsletter twice a week.
How long do they need to be?
I'm around week 60 or 70. I really believe that putting out one to two newsletters a week has made me consistent and rekindle my joy of writing. My goal when I started was to hit 100 subscribers by the end of my first year. I hit that goal in 3 months and 3x that goal by the end of the year.
I'm so glad I starred when I started for what it has done for me. I don't have a thousand subscribers or any paid subs but I have the joy of writing.
A newsletter a week seems palatable. This for addressing that ‘ topic dry out after a couple of post’ was thinking if I start then dry out then what? But then answer is write about something else -there giving myself permission to be all my multi-faceted self and not feel like I have multiple personality disorder 💡
"3 - Discover Your Passions:
Starting with a topic you’re excited about is a common misconception.
Often, people find that after a few posts, they’ve exhausted what they had to say about it.
This is actually a positive development! It allows you to pivot and explore new areas that genuinely ignite your passion.
Experimentation is key in the early stages of your journey."
This is exactly where I'm at right now, so I loved to read this :) Thank you Kristina!!
I certainly believe its possible that witing 52 newsletters can change your life, I just don't know that its possible for me. I enjoy creating writing and I don't want to serialize my debut novel thats coming out later this year, so I haven't a clue what I'd write about. I'm certainy passionate about mental health and living well with Depression, but I don't know how to turn that into a newsletter and if I did write about that, I'm not sure how I'd manage 52 without repeating myself over and over again. Sigh
Good advice. I started my blog, The Celiac Scientist, in Nov 2022 and gained only 40 followers in the first 12 months. This was because I was only posting sporadically. Since Nov 2023 I have tried to post regularly and my uptake of subscribers has steadily but consistently climbed each week. With a bit more work on promotion and using other media like TikTok, Medium etc I think this could grow exponentially.
I’m 5 months in and doubled my post rate, so I can keep consistent - therefore, this post gives me such hope in building something here.
I’m curious about Medium - what have you gained from posting on there? 😊
Thanks for sharing this. I started my Nutrition substack most recently and this is helpful.
Hi Urva, that's wonderful! I'm cheering you on..if you need any help let me know. My Substack School experience start next week 🎒 it's included when you become a paid member. I wish you all the best ❤️ would love to see you inside
Congratulations on your success. This did not work for me. I had to stop 31 weeks in because I was not receiving new subscribers beyond the initial group of 13 subscribers Substack sent me about a week into publishing my first newsletter. I received a trickle of others through my outside efforts, but that was it.
I'm not writing a newsletter that takes me hours per week to plan, compose, add citations, edit, and post for 2 dozen subscribers, most of them deadbeats who never like, restack, or comment, and half of them with suspiciously fake-sounding emails that behave like bots.
To top it all off, Substack refused to respond to (and fix) the software bug technical issues I was having building a second newsletter, to begin distributing this year.
A complete and utter waste of valuable and precious "free" time. I would like to have those 31 weeks of time back and I would tell others that the newsletter gravy train is not going to work for many people, despite the endless announcements that I hear to the contrary.
Sorry to hear that. It's sad when you have t ch headaches for weeks. It's natural that you may not see an immediate growth. It takes a while. I enabled the paid button for instance after one year.
This is a good story of how consistency wins the day. Back in May, I came off a 31-vote loss running for Mayor of my hometown. Afterwards, I was encouraged to continue to share my thoughts and ideas about our community. That was the impetus for the Civic Capacity Newsletter. Well, I figured I would be good if I could find something to write about every third day. Back in December, something clicked, and I found that there are enough stories in my hometown to write something 6 out of every 7 days in a week. It’s a tall order, but it has been fun.
I don’t expect Civic Capacity to grow much; 557 subscribers (36 paid) has been a nice surprise for a newsletter that is exclusively devoted to things happening in a small midwestern city of 26,000 people.
But, I am always surprised when a story takes off, or we get a flux of new subscribers or a meet a stranger on the street who talks about something that they have read on Civic Capacity.
www.civiccapacity.com
Wow, William. That's super exciting. Great paid/free ratio. Also super interesting that you're doing something NewsBreak does, local news!
Keep me posted and let's stay connected so I can feature you in a story this year.
Absolutely. It has been a great ride, often lonely, but still one that is very fulfilling to try.
It can be lonely. THat's why there's Notes, the social media platform on Substack :D
Oh, those help, the loneliness comes in from the fact where there isn't a ton of people writing about the same stuff I am, so it's not always easy to bounce ideas off of others. Most of the interactions I have about my work come from off-line conversations I have folks that read and interact with my ideas, which is helpful, but it keeps the potential audience very closed. In other words, the audience ithat is being created will always be very narrow, but very, very invested.
Already subscribed and can't wait for Substack School!!!
Hi Melissa, just sent the first news video for paid subs only. Hope you like it