What I've learnt from my first year on Substack

How to grow an audience writing online

Hello, I’m Molly and I write about my slow and simple life in the Scottish Highlands. Please subscribe to support my work and to read more of my stories. You can also find me on YouTube and shop my Slow Scottish Store and sustainable Teemill Clothing.

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Choosing Substack over social media was a pivotal move in my career and its one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I’ve been writing on here for a full year now and never looked back.

I’ve achieved what I intended, which was to have a platform to write regularly and foster a deeper connection with my community.

From a business point of view, although I had 10 times more followers on my Instagram last year (20K vs now 2K on Substack), I’ve found the engagement and conversation rate on terms of selling paid products to be far higher on Substack.

Below I’ve shared the key lessons that have made this move to Substack a success.

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Its not just a newsletter or a social media

When I first moved over to Substack, my primary intention was to use it to publish a weekly newsletter, without paying the high fees on my website.

I was attracted to the simplicity of this platform and intrigued as many of the creators I follow had also started a Substack.

But its so much more than a newsletter publisher.

Substack has evolved rapidly since I started here. Its a place to foster real connection and conversation. The launch of Notes makes it even easier to share quick thoughts and ideas, without the distracting adverts or the calculated algorithms of social media.

Substack’s chief executive said the aim of this platform was to ‘allow writers and creators to run their own media empire’, and, unlike social media, creators ‘own’ their audience email’s, which puts them in a much stronger position.

Its such refreshing place to create content.

You don’t need to use all the features to grow

Its feels like every week Substack is launching a brand new feature for creators to try.

Its exciting but it can also feel overwhelming. Where do you even start?

I’m adamant that you don’t need to use all the features Substack offers to grow an audience. As I wrote in my previous post about my success as a content creator, I favour a ‘less is more’ approach when it comes to my business and life in general.

Rather than being distracted by all the tools, I’ve targeted those that I enjoy using and where I can consistently provide real value.

I focus on publishing my weekly posts and dabble on Notes when it suits me, usually as a way to share work that I’ve found inspiring. For me, this is more than enough.

If you do want to learn more about the feature’s Substack offer, I recommend keeping an eye onSubstack Writersfeed for all the latest information. Claire Venusalso publishes regular tips and advice about how to grow on Substack on her Sparkle on Substackpage, which is well worth a follow.

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Before I continue, I’d to know if you want more content from me about writing and growing an audience online? Please do vote below!

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Write essay’s, not newsletters

One of the first things I learnt when I started writing on Substack was that the word ‘newsletter’ is misleading.

Instead of lots of ‘newsy’ posts, Substack creators focus on publishing long form, high value content that is more like a blog.

I consider each of my Substack posts to be essay’s in themselves and I like to take time to regularly hone my writing craft, with Skillshare being my preferred platform for learning.

My all time favourite writing class continues to be Roxane Gay’s ‘Creative writing: crafting personal essays with impact'. In this class, I learnt the importance of research and how it adds depth to your writing, in addition to how to balance looking inwards and outwards, to better connect with your audience.

You want your audience to be excited to open your newsletter every week. Its the most effective way to ensure they keep coming back for more.

You can grow your Substack without social media

When Substack launched in 2017, its mission was to help writer’s reach audience’s that value them. In my experience, this is one of the things that Substack does best.

Apart from my YouTube, I don’t have any other social media to share my Substack on, yet my numbers continue to grow.

When I look at my stats, one of my top sources for views and subscriptions come from Substack user’s sharing my work and recommendations. Word of mouth is the most powerful way to grow, which feels far more organic and rewarding than confusing algorithms.

Its worth investing time building a genuine community on Substack, rather than just sharing links on social media.

Quick tips

Before I finish, I thought I’d share some quick tips when it comes to creating content and growing on Substack -

• Include a couple of introductory sentences about your Substack in every post, ideally at the beginning, so new users can quickly understand your content and are more likely to subscribe.

• Use buttons. I always include a ‘subscribe’ and ‘share’ button in my posts.

• Weave any links you’d like to share into your writing to give them more context, rather than just sharing them as a list

• Include engaging photos in all your posts, as these are shown in previews, and can encourage more clicks

• Tag other creators where relevant and they may be kind enough to share your work!

• Ask questions so you can increase engagement from your audience

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I’d love to hear about your experience as either a writer or a reader of Substack, so please do share this in the comments.

Until next week,

Molly xx

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