Lessons I’ve Learned from Growing My Substack as a Writer
I’ve been writing blog posts for my website since 2021 when I launched my online course, Kick Start Your Book With Karen. I was sharing my experience about becoming a traditionally published author along with writing and publishing tips.
I always enjoyed it but eventually it became a bit limiting. I realized I wanted more freedom to include other themes in my writing, which is when I discovered Substack.
I was initially hesitant about setting up a Substack but two things attracted me to it:
The community of writers
The paid subscription model
It took me a while to decide on a title and the topics I wanted to write about but I came up with A Writer Abroad as it covered two areas where I have a lot of experience;
Writing (obvs.)
Moving and living overseas
While I wanted more creative freedom, my primary goal was to offer readers value in the form of education and inspiration so choosing themes where I had first-hand knowledge was important to me.
My second goal was to grow my readership - with so many like-minded people on the platform, it made sense to leverage that.
My final goal was to learn from and connect with other experienced writers - I love Emma Gannon’s The Hyphen, Annie Ridout’s Substack about creativity and family life, and Letters from Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I’ve been on Substack just under three months now and while it will never replace my blog, I’m enjoying the community, the growth in subscribers, and writing about a wider variety of topics. To me, it's like an extra social media platform but for long-form content.
I still share writing and publishing tips, but having an online space where I can share more personal experiences has been enjoyable and hopefully useful for readers.
I’ve learnt a lot during this process, so I thought I’d share a few lessons I’ve learnt since starting A Writer Abroad.
Substack really is a friendly, supportive writing community. Sometimes, writing online can feel like you’re sending your work into a void, but the sense of community seems to be a cornerstone of the platform.
You have a lot of creative freedom. One of Substack’s principles is that publishers own their content and have complete editorial control. It’s sort of like having your own mini-magazine. Usually, with a blog it’s niche so this opens up a lot of possibilities for writers.
A free press and free speech are fundamental to a trustworthy media system. (Substack)
It’s relatively easy to set up. I was worried I would be spending hours learning a new platform but it’s fairly intuitive. That being said, it’s still relatively new and it doesn’t have some of the functions that are on other newsletter platforms, such as list segmentation.
Sharing your work consistently is important if you want to grow your subscriber base. Like most things in life, consistency equals growth.
The social media graphics Substack creates to promote each article are extremely useful. Yes, the designs are limited but it beats having to design them yourself. I do wish there was the option to remove the Substack watermark though.
There are a lot of professional writers on Substack so you have to be really good to stand out. This can be either motivating or disheartening depending on your mood.
Substack’s model is that writers should be paid for their work. I wrote for free for years which gave me an opportunity to build up my writing portfolio. However, there comes a point where it’s simply not sustainable. Too many writers are not being paid, or being underpaid, for their work. This platform is a step in the right direction to put more emphasis on the value of the arts.
Great work is valuable and deserves to be rewarded with money. (Substack)
The design options of the newsletter are limited but less choice means a quicker set up and therefore more emphasis on the writing. When I used Mailchimp as a newsletter service, I would spend hours on all the design elements which was just a way for me to procrastinate.
It’s described as a newsletter platform but I see it more as social media for long form content. It also offers options for video and podcast so it’s getting harder to define exactly what Substack is.
It’s easy to get lost in the Notes section - set a time limit.
There’s an authenticity to many of the articles on Substack which I love - writers are not just writing for the sake of clickbait and eyeballs.
Monetization takes strategy and patience. Initially, I had the impression that getting paid subscribers would be easy, which isn’t the case, so don’t give up the day job just yet. I say strategy but when I read how other writers have monetized, it seems quite varied with a lot of trial and error.
Collaborations work really well and have helped grow my subscriber list.
Substack can be time-consuming and I am in awe of people who are sharing essays several times a week. I hope to build up to that but with other writing projects and family responsibilities, I’m focusing on posting consistently once a week.
Use the analytics - it’s been really interesting to see that most of my subscribers don’t come from social media but from people sharing the email. I also use the analytics to see which topics resonated with people and which didn’t.
Finally, and most importantly, it’s the quality of your writing that keeps people coming back for more. I believe readers are looking for articles with a distinct authorial voice and either useful, inspirational or humorous content - if you can do all three, more power to you!
Coming back to my goal of growing my readership, I started my Substack just under three months ago and have grown my subscribers by 23%. I still have a long way to go but I’m happy to see people enjoying it which makes me love it even more.
What have been your experiences with Substack?
