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.
Fantastic advice! I started my newsletter 3 weeks ago to improve myself and learn something new. I wondered if I have room for growth with just the substack community as I don't have other audiences to draw from (ex: Instagram, X)
Pietro, there's always room for growth without social media. I started here in Sept (5 months ago) and have not shared any posts socially but I'm on track to hit 400 subs by next month.
Slow and steady, pay attention to your audience and fully engage with them. It'll definitely pay off.
Hey Kristi, I guess you raise an interesting question. Is Notes here on Substack social media or not? I saw yesterday's challenge and the results of 30 subs came through Notes, so some say it's social media. There's even an algorithmic ranking there 😁 some are afraid Substack will turn into a social media platform.
I mean, I guess Notes is a social platform for sure. But there's a huge difference between Notes and other ones because it's internal. Everyone on Notes is part of the Substack writing community. We don’t have to go outside of it if we don't want like we would have to with Medium. There's nowhere to share and have conversations on Medium.
Hi Pietro, sure! Take my YouTube channel for instance. I started it at around the same time as my newsletter but due to pregnancy and other stuff I didn't manage to pump out one video per week. I'm at 30 long form videos now but now have 1,000 subs which is awesome. If I wouldn't have started 2022 I wouldn't be where I'm now.
It takes a while. we need to be patiente On Substack you belong to the top 6% of publishers when you manage to write 40 newsletter issue.
Hi Kristina! It's inspiring to hear about your YouTube growth. I remember watching your videos before deciding to start my newsletter. Aiming for that top 6%! 🚀
Love the continued inspiration, thank you! I’m at issue 37 of my free weekly newsletter and now at 540 subscribers. It’s definitely about taking it day by day and one subscriber at a time
I already passed 100 ;-) Although I'm still not earning with it, the fact that I can do it consistently is very rewarding (never managed to write a blog). Great success for me :-)
I remember when you told me about not succeeding in blogging. I'm super super proud of you that you're managing to pump out newsletter after newsletter! I turned on my paid button after 3,500 subscribers. Only you know when the has come, Mariusz.
Seeing all the successful paid newsletters I see the amount of work they put and that I still haven't got enough time to do a double weekly issue with a 9 to 5 and family. So the only thing I can right now is to turn on paid and ask for a dollar :D
😂 with my newsletter it's the same. I'll try to transform.mine into a biweekly newsletter though .. however today I woke up with an earn infection . Let's see how long it takes until I break my streak. The extra posts will be for paying subs. You can add Kofi, Buy me a coffee, Patreon, etc
🔥 Yup! In Dec I hit 52 Free weekly issues. It’s been an impressive experience. Not at Dickie or Kristina numbers (yet) - but also hasn’t been the goal. I wrote recently about how those 52 issues were my public Learning Journals. Also a wealth of content in my “library”.
Although now seeing things pick up speed here on Substack. 🙌
Hi David, I think Substack is shipping so many great growth features which help us. However, we need to be careful. Subscribers can also become a vanity metric when we collect them. I'll soon share more because I'll make some spring cleaning so my email list will get smaller but healthier.
No matter how big your audience is, the important thing is that people would pull out their credit cards and pay you.
It often feeld hard for me. I think no one cares. Then, yesterday, I got 2 paid subs and said to myself: I can do this! Let*s continue
In my slow build, I've gone into my email list every few months and pruned. In the first 6 months, it stung a bit because I didn't have a lot. But I also recognized the vanity metrics. :)
It's cool to see the recent growth on Substack (so many internal subscribers), but I also wonder if this starts to become a bit like Medium in a 'follow-for-follow' type approach?
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.
I’m on my 18th issue and counting. I broke the publishing chain once or twice until now, but I got back on track. I decided to start The Craftsman Mindset as a learning experience, and publishing 52 issues was the goal I’ve set for myself.
The strategy until now was to write for 15-30min every day, however, I think I need to rethink my approach to make time also for growing the necessary skills beside the writhing part.
Hi Kenny, great question. I think the one about turning stories into ebooks, my hero story from zero to 1,000 subs and when share some personal updates
Thank you for the great article. I've been publishing chapters for the book I'm working on on a roughly one-chapter-per-week cadence, and your article gives me further inspiration to keep up a once-a-week pace and consistency.
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.
Excellent concept! Writing is an art! We have to cultivate to write and express our views on a particular subject what we like in decent way. It gives more clarity to the viewers and listeners in a clear and crystal manner. Communication is key for everything. Effective communication gives effective results. Consistency gives ability with better understanding. Learning is a continuous process. Kristina's newsletter helps us in many ways if we study and understand. Above all let us implement. Action alone gives the best results. Performance keeps to the next level in reality. Do it right now is the best policy. All the best.
Tomorrow I hit 53 issues released. Its the past 6 months I have been posting weekly.
To post weekly can do wonder, not only as a newsletter but also for Youtube etc. But to make something that people would want to follow, share, connect etc, well that is hard one for me. Maybe one day I will figure it out. 😊
Hey Jetzt, as far as I'm concerned I figured it out on my way. I started with parenting anecdotes, personal stories and relationships advice. Then I switched to social media, meta stories. Now I write about Medium, Substack, newsletters, online writing. 🎉 To 35 newsletter issues. Make sure to share the link. I'll restack it to celebrate your win
Being new to your writing, Kristina, and to this community/process (nerves and all!), this is an encouraging peek into your topical journey. Thanks for this nugget... goes a long way for this nervous but hungry little bird!!
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
Fantastic advice! I started my newsletter 3 weeks ago to improve myself and learn something new. I wondered if I have room for growth with just the substack community as I don't have other audiences to draw from (ex: Instagram, X)
Pietro, there's always room for growth without social media. I started here in Sept (5 months ago) and have not shared any posts socially but I'm on track to hit 400 subs by next month.
Slow and steady, pay attention to your audience and fully engage with them. It'll definitely pay off.
Btw keep me posted because I'd love to include your growth in a video, if you like to?
I will, definitely. I'm also planning to reach out to you shortly with something else. Stay tuned!
I guess your coaching business?
No, actually I've just started doing virtual assistant work for Substackers. I love it!!
That's what I meant! You're a VA or VC now 👍
Hey Kristi, I guess you raise an interesting question. Is Notes here on Substack social media or not? I saw yesterday's challenge and the results of 30 subs came through Notes, so some say it's social media. There's even an algorithmic ranking there 😁 some are afraid Substack will turn into a social media platform.
I mean, I guess Notes is a social platform for sure. But there's a huge difference between Notes and other ones because it's internal. Everyone on Notes is part of the Substack writing community. We don’t have to go outside of it if we don't want like we would have to with Medium. There's nowhere to share and have conversations on Medium.
100% that's why I love it too
Mastodon? 😂
Ah yes...heard of it but I had already lost interest on Medium when it came out.
Thanks Kristi. I'm so happy about your 5-month journey, and it's giving me hope.
I'll follow your advice, and I can't wait to get to the end of the year to see the results.
Hi Pietro, sure! Take my YouTube channel for instance. I started it at around the same time as my newsletter but due to pregnancy and other stuff I didn't manage to pump out one video per week. I'm at 30 long form videos now but now have 1,000 subs which is awesome. If I wouldn't have started 2022 I wouldn't be where I'm now.
It takes a while. we need to be patiente On Substack you belong to the top 6% of publishers when you manage to write 40 newsletter issue.
Hi Kristina! It's inspiring to hear about your YouTube growth. I remember watching your videos before deciding to start my newsletter. Aiming for that top 6%! 🚀
You're welcome! Enjoy the journey ✨️
I'm in the same boat, Pietro! & I'm having so much fun already :)
Love the continued inspiration, thank you! I’m at issue 37 of my free weekly newsletter and now at 540 subscribers. It’s definitely about taking it day by day and one subscriber at a time
One subscriber at a time. Love that!
I'm addition, subscribers can also become a vanity metric.
It's about engaged subscribers, people who are opening your emails and would buy from you.
I'll share more insights from a marketing and psychologists perspective son in my letter. 💌
However, 👏🎉 500 is amazing!!!
I already passed 100 ;-) Although I'm still not earning with it, the fact that I can do it consistently is very rewarding (never managed to write a blog). Great success for me :-)
I remember when you told me about not succeeding in blogging. I'm super super proud of you that you're managing to pump out newsletter after newsletter! I turned on my paid button after 3,500 subscribers. Only you know when the has come, Mariusz.
I'm cheering you on! 👍
Seeing all the successful paid newsletters I see the amount of work they put and that I still haven't got enough time to do a double weekly issue with a 9 to 5 and family. So the only thing I can right now is to turn on paid and ask for a dollar :D
😂 with my newsletter it's the same. I'll try to transform.mine into a biweekly newsletter though .. however today I woke up with an earn infection . Let's see how long it takes until I break my streak. The extra posts will be for paying subs. You can add Kofi, Buy me a coffee, Patreon, etc
Get well soon!
I did think about some sort of Patreon. But getting paid for learning isn't working :D I guess I need to deliver more value! :-)
It's crucial to become clear on what value you bring and how you serve others. Keep me posted. I bet you'll find your way
🔥 Yup! In Dec I hit 52 Free weekly issues. It’s been an impressive experience. Not at Dickie or Kristina numbers (yet) - but also hasn’t been the goal. I wrote recently about how those 52 issues were my public Learning Journals. Also a wealth of content in my “library”.
Although now seeing things pick up speed here on Substack. 🙌
Hi David, I think Substack is shipping so many great growth features which help us. However, we need to be careful. Subscribers can also become a vanity metric when we collect them. I'll soon share more because I'll make some spring cleaning so my email list will get smaller but healthier.
No matter how big your audience is, the important thing is that people would pull out their credit cards and pay you.
It often feeld hard for me. I think no one cares. Then, yesterday, I got 2 paid subs and said to myself: I can do this! Let*s continue
Yes - good one - and agreed.
In my slow build, I've gone into my email list every few months and pruned. In the first 6 months, it stung a bit because I didn't have a lot. But I also recognized the vanity metrics. :)
It's cool to see the recent growth on Substack (so many internal subscribers), but I also wonder if this starts to become a bit like Medium in a 'follow-for-follow' type approach?
Always a balancing act... And just wrote about this in my latest post yesterday, the differences between 'having' (chasing metrics) and 'being'. https://www.boxcutter.co/p/is-it-possible-to-be-a-soul-preneur
Just read it and restacked!
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.
Thank you so much. I think I needed to read this - at 5 am on a Sunday morning :D Your advice got me out of bed and writing a new article!
https://hejfabienne.substack.com/p/why-i-am-failing-to-be-consistent?r=1mq2or&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Ah Fabienne! We know each other from YouTube, am I right? :D
Yes, wow, you remember! That's correct! :D
Of course! I:) There are more Germans here. We should connect somehow. Greetings from the coast, Kristina
I’m on my 18th issue and counting. I broke the publishing chain once or twice until now, but I got back on track. I decided to start The Craftsman Mindset as a learning experience, and publishing 52 issues was the goal I’ve set for myself.
The strategy until now was to write for 15-30min every day, however, I think I need to rethink my approach to make time also for growing the necessary skills beside the writhing part.
Hi Alex, awesome 52 newsletter issues = you belong to the top 4% of publishers here. Most stop. That's an achievement. I'm rooting for you.
Congrats on 58 editions! Which ones are your favourites?
Hi Kenny, great question. I think the one about turning stories into ebooks, my hero story from zero to 1,000 subs and when share some personal updates
Nice! Let me check those out :)
Thank you for the great article. I've been publishing chapters for the book I'm working on on a roughly one-chapter-per-week cadence, and your article gives me further inspiration to keep up a once-a-week pace and consistency.
Hi Matt, that's super smart!
Keep me posted.
I'm cheering you on!!
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.
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
Restacked & subscribed! Looking forward to learning from you and everyone here. 🤩
You will and also will find your OWN way because there's no "right" way to do newsletters
Motivating! Thank you Kristina!
That's what I wanted to hear and do. Thanks! I'm cheering you on
Thank you so much 😊
Love!
Excellent concept! Writing is an art! We have to cultivate to write and express our views on a particular subject what we like in decent way. It gives more clarity to the viewers and listeners in a clear and crystal manner. Communication is key for everything. Effective communication gives effective results. Consistency gives ability with better understanding. Learning is a continuous process. Kristina's newsletter helps us in many ways if we study and understand. Above all let us implement. Action alone gives the best results. Performance keeps to the next level in reality. Do it right now is the best policy. All the best.
Do it right now. Start yesterday. Your future self will thank you for it :D So true!
Thank you Kristina God!
Tomorrow I hit 53 issues released. Its the past 6 months I have been posting weekly.
To post weekly can do wonder, not only as a newsletter but also for Youtube etc. But to make something that people would want to follow, share, connect etc, well that is hard one for me. Maybe one day I will figure it out. 😊
Hey Jetzt, as far as I'm concerned I figured it out on my way. I started with parenting anecdotes, personal stories and relationships advice. Then I switched to social media, meta stories. Now I write about Medium, Substack, newsletters, online writing. 🎉 To 35 newsletter issues. Make sure to share the link. I'll restack it to celebrate your win
Being new to your writing, Kristina, and to this community/process (nerves and all!), this is an encouraging peek into your topical journey. Thanks for this nugget... goes a long way for this nervous but hungry little bird!!
Hi Bree, I can so relate and feel you. I'm rooting for you and am here if you need any help.
Thanks, Kristina! Surely one of the main reasons your writing resonates with so many. Your support of this process, to the individual, is palpable. 🧡
Hope you're feeling good. Just wanted to check in. Let me know if you need any help. I have an open chat this weekend ❤️
Good and cruising along, but will keep your offer in mind… my not-so-secret weapon!
Hi Jezz, 🎉 congrats!! That's awesome. You planted the ☘️ and it will grow. Just trust the process. Where and how do you link to your newsletter?
I link and mention my newsletter via my Youtube & Carrd. (and some social media via carrd)
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