Hey Alberto, what a goldmine of useful information that I'm sure you wish you had a year ago. I am super grateful to have the benefit of your experience now!
The guidance and time-saving advice are priceless. You have shared what many creators on Substack refuse to acknowledge, which is that many of the same rules of content creation apply here that work on the other channels.
The more time I spend here, the less it seems like a great way to monetize and much more of a social opportunity to meet genuinely interesting people and some darn good writers. That is reward enough.
I appreciate John's comment below. I am pretty sure that it's about finding an audience and providing value wherever is the right place for your niche and your content.
Excellent! I’m so happy you found Substack and it’s working for you. Your observations and analysis of your Substack experience will help many writers. I will definitely incorporate some of your suggestions! Thank you!
Great to see how things have gone for you over the past year. Seems that we are on very similar paths on this platform. After putting in a year of time on here, I'm at 1200/15 for subscribers/paid subscribers. I tried a bunch of things early on (very similar to you) without much success. And to be honest, I really "gave up" on Substack about 6 months ago - meaning that I just post articles now (3 per week) and when I post them, I create a Note to promote the article, I copy/paste into LinkedIn, and I leave it at that. My rate of subscriber increase stayed the same, even after I "simplified" the process.
All the other hype (How to do this and how to do that to get X subscribers and X dollars on Substack) - I've just turned it completely off. Almost all of it is contradictory and fluffy anyways.
And honestly, where I've had the greatest success in the past 6 months - Medium. I've averaged $1000/month on Medium writing only 8-10 articles a month. Last month I made $1700 on the strength of 3 Medium boosts.
So bottom line, in my opinion - you can't really put much weight on what each individual person is saying (ie. "Medium is Dead!").
On Medium, I write mostly tech stuff - on data visualizations and data storytelling. I've been at it for 2 years now and have about 23K followers.
I also write the occasional personal-experience article - I've had a few of those boosted as well - but my bread and butter is definitely data science stuff.
Thanks for sharing your insights, it's been interesting to see what's gone viral and what's gotten barely any likes in my niche. Doesn't seem like there is any rhyme or rhythm.
Hmm I guess you're in a business niche so that'd probably where it will start. But I'm sure if you keep up with the quality of your work and actively contribute it will stand out
Never read a more honest article about substack before. I relate to the dichotomy of “to write about substack or not.”And interesting point about anti -productivity 😉. I should know it’s in my bio. I think this is a natural cultural pushback against the past few years of hacks and hustle…I fully expect the pendulum to swing back at some point but I don’t think we’re there yet.
Great. I love the honesty and the transparency here.
Thanks for the lessons you have shared here...it is really helpful.
Thank you!
How's it going on Substack?
Hey Alberto, what a goldmine of useful information that I'm sure you wish you had a year ago. I am super grateful to have the benefit of your experience now!
The guidance and time-saving advice are priceless. You have shared what many creators on Substack refuse to acknowledge, which is that many of the same rules of content creation apply here that work on the other channels.
The more time I spend here, the less it seems like a great way to monetize and much more of a social opportunity to meet genuinely interesting people and some darn good writers. That is reward enough.
I appreciate John's comment below. I am pretty sure that it's about finding an audience and providing value wherever is the right place for your niche and your content.
Thanks again, much appreciated!
Thank you.
Which are the most inspiring writers you found on Substack?
Excellent! I’m so happy you found Substack and it’s working for you. Your observations and analysis of your Substack experience will help many writers. I will definitely incorporate some of your suggestions! Thank you!
Thank you!
What will you incorporate?
Hi Alberto,
Great to see how things have gone for you over the past year. Seems that we are on very similar paths on this platform. After putting in a year of time on here, I'm at 1200/15 for subscribers/paid subscribers. I tried a bunch of things early on (very similar to you) without much success. And to be honest, I really "gave up" on Substack about 6 months ago - meaning that I just post articles now (3 per week) and when I post them, I create a Note to promote the article, I copy/paste into LinkedIn, and I leave it at that. My rate of subscriber increase stayed the same, even after I "simplified" the process.
All the other hype (How to do this and how to do that to get X subscribers and X dollars on Substack) - I've just turned it completely off. Almost all of it is contradictory and fluffy anyways.
And honestly, where I've had the greatest success in the past 6 months - Medium. I've averaged $1000/month on Medium writing only 8-10 articles a month. Last month I made $1700 on the strength of 3 Medium boosts.
So bottom line, in my opinion - you can't really put much weight on what each individual person is saying (ie. "Medium is Dead!").
My. 02.
Wow!
This is very interesting.
What are you writing about on Medium?
On Medium, I write mostly tech stuff - on data visualizations and data storytelling. I've been at it for 2 years now and have about 23K followers.
I also write the occasional personal-experience article - I've had a few of those boosted as well - but my bread and butter is definitely data science stuff.
Interesting.
It seems so random. I talked with very established writers that almost never get Boosted.
Thanks for sharing your insights, it's been interesting to see what's gone viral and what's gotten barely any likes in my niche. Doesn't seem like there is any rhyme or rhythm.
No, virality isn’t predictable.
Especially on Substack Notes, which is changing very fast.
Not a bad thing though, it avoids people gamefying it too much and hopefully keep the community vibe going.
In my niche, there's already a lot of "gamification" unfortunately.
Hmm I guess you're in a business niche so that'd probably where it will start. But I'm sure if you keep up with the quality of your work and actively contribute it will stand out
Never read a more honest article about substack before. I relate to the dichotomy of “to write about substack or not.”And interesting point about anti -productivity 😉. I should know it’s in my bio. I think this is a natural cultural pushback against the past few years of hacks and hustle…I fully expect the pendulum to swing back at some point but I don’t think we’re there yet.
Thanks.
I can't see the world in black and white. My pendulum is always swinging.
(Mixed metaphors!!!)
I'd love to see more nuance.