Great read. I am not holding my breath for this platform as a means of total income yet. But this is the reason why I started it. I have been living with Severe RA for more than ten years all while working as a power plant operator working a DuPont swing shift schedule. It’s not getting any better and my hands are my hands are wearing down. Good luck all.
This is such a refreshing and grounded take Sinem. There's so much hype around Substack right now - with people treating it like a magic bullet for overnight success, so I really appreciate your honesty about the actual grind involved!
This is such an honest read - thank you Sinem! For me, it's getting the time to engage on here around my full time work! And seeing the negative impact on growth when I don't get to dedicate the time to the community.
Thanks for reading, Jen. I'm glad this resonated, and trust me, you're not alone in struggling to find the time to be active besides your full-time job. It does take a huge commitment, and sometimes we just have to take sacrifices and accept that we can't be perfectly consistent. :)
Knowing that I am not alone helps! I’d love to know others approaches to staying consistent and what truly helps on here when you have limited time to dedicate to it around full time work!
The Notes trap is the one nobody wants to talk about.
Most creators figure out that great writing isn’t enough. Far fewer figure out that visible traction isn’t enough either. A viral Note that pulls followers instead of subscribers is just building someone else’s algorithm, not your own foundation.
What finally clicked for me: the platform rewards consistency before it rewards reach. The readers who show up for the tenth issue trust you differently than the ones who found you through a post that happened to land.
That distinction changes everything about how you build.
Gee. Thanks for this article. So we should focus on building things people generally pay money for. I think a great way to verify that is to check what people stastically pay money relevant to your target product. Say courses--look up what alternative courses people buy and why. I also would like to say I already went all in on Substack a month ago. Thanks for this counterintuitive and crucial article.
For those of you interested on learning the importance of revenue tracking as opposed to follower or even subscriber tracking I strongly recommend Matt Giaro's recent article:
Main thing you have mentioned….it needs a team, what I’ve learned that you don’t need to rush into everything, because the algorithm will change immediately when a certain stream behavior is met. It’s drawing and surfing your intentions and actions. I’ll keep up and continue to learn these technicalities. Why? Because if you apply for a master-degree in a university then you have to pay before the course, but the content is available at front. Substack is that kind of university were everybody is running free around within it’s platform, and the smartest thing you have could have done is in fact ….to team up. Honestly that’s why my 4 paid-tiers are my 4 cornerstones to start with. And before building something out of it …..I need to get to know them….So I need to read there content before . And that takes time…Taking a gamble here whether it will lead to something. Like learning without knowing . And all this with only handwritten content without AI corrections on writing, drawing and photos.
I'm still pretty new here, and one thing I've already noticed is how different Substack feels from other platforms.
Posts come and go on social media, but a subscriber feels like someone who's chosen to hear from you again. That's a different kind of relationship, and I'm starting to see why so many writers value it.
Oh, so true. I couldn't agree more. Plus, the library you build here with your publication has a much longer shelf life than traditional social media posts as well!
That's such a great point. I love writing, so the idea of building a library of content that can continue to be discovered months or even years later is incredibly appealing. It feels much more like building an asset than creating content for a feed.
wow this is something i really needed to read. i was thinking that my subscribers were growing slowly, but i guess that if i can reach the audience i want to reach, it doesn’t matter if i don’t even have 200 subscribers.
i think that for us writers, getting tons of likes and hype is like sugar on our tongues, but i guess coming back to the basics and remembering why we’re here is worth it.
Wonderful summary! The thing holding me back is that this is a retirement project for me. I’ve found a comfortable rhythm scheduling daily free-for-everyone articles about 2 months in advance, and scheduling about 4 “hey look at me” notes a day (the jury’s still out on whether that’s doing me any good, marketing-wise). I understand that the path to real income is converting free subscribers to paid subscribers and paid subscribers to customers for consulting services and other paid products. Because I want to stay retired, I’ve been hesitant to advertise consulting services (say, providing sermon illustrations on demand on a topic of someone’s choice) because I know my clientele is preachers who often work last-minute on writing their sermons. That means that, if I’m successful, I could end up with a scheduling bottleneck on Fridays and Saturdays, which could seriously cut into the freedom I’m enjoying in retirement. Also, I’d love to see some demographics on what percentage of Substack participants (those who read notes, anyway) are preachers. Is a breakdown of Substack participants by occupation even available?
I understand how that type of breakdown would be useful for you, but no, it's not available. That's normal, because you also wouldn't find that type of breakdown on any other platform. That being said, I do understand that you face a tough situation deciding if you want to give up your freedom to do that kind of work. I would completely understand if, in your particular case, the paid tier as the primary monetization channel would make more sense!
I fully appreciate your sharing this info. But what about the fees? Today I got my 3rd founding member subscription for $500. Hey, I like being recognized for my work. It feels great to be paid at last. But I'm being sent $435 of that due to S's steep fees (and smaller Stripe ones). I'm grateful for the platform, and it is win/win but this is not what I expected. It doesn't feel justified or grateful of Substack. Do you just shrug it off?
I have a very simple opinion on that: Payment fees are normal and part of running a business online. I also pay fees on Teachable, Gumroad, or PayPal when I sell my products there. In my opinion, it is actually justified because what's the alternative?
I would much rather pay that kind of fee and know that payments are processed securely and properly, instead of looking for weird workarounds that require a lot more time, attention, and possibly even a skill set that I don't have.
I totally understand the disappointment, and I know that you are not alone thinking that way, but my personal take is different.
That's a good take on it and I will follow you on that. But I never saw anything when I was setting up Stripe or whatever I had to do to be paid that said how much the fees were so that I knew what I was to expect. And these fees weren't taken out of the first 2 founding memberships, so the fees for the 3rd one landed with quite a thud.
Thank you for this honest response. Even though I'm not even those to having to worry about monetary issues, I fully understand why the fees are what they are.
Been loving building on here vs. LinkedIn. Still use LinkedIn for career side, but its turned into AI slop and transactional relationships to the maximum. What I like here on Substack is that there isn't as much pressure. People show up for you in genuine ways.
And although there are still problems with the algorithm here and there, there isn't much to complain about. One of the few social media platforms that celebrates vulernability/authenticity 🙌
Good read Sinem. 💯 In the money, that most advice is as useless as the hacks posted. I rather have a loyal base of readers who subscribe than a following for the sake of numbers.
This is a great read and full of useful tips. I’m been in and out of Substack and now going all in.
My book, Purpose Before Profit has been published and I want to use it and Substack as platform to share my thoughts on leadership.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer and want to use the platform to generate some income to see me through the next 6 months of treatment.
I wish you all the best for the treatment and hope that you'll enjoy using Substack as a place to share your work with more people!
I just unlocked a one-year subscription to our paid tier for you so you can access all our resources behind the paywall. I hope that they will be useful for your journey! :)
You're welcome! I had 4 women in my close family fighting cancer over the past 3 years, so I'm thrilled to see people with your energy and am rooting for you! Your work is precious and I hope it reaches and serves many people.
Thank you for sharing this. It helped me organize some of my own thoughts about Substack and opened up perspectives I hadn’t really considered before.
What stayed with me most was the distinction between building followers and building subscribers, and the reminder that growth only matters if it supports something meaningful.
As someone who is still quite new here, I found myself asking a different question after reading: not just how I want to grow, but what I actually want to build.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and honest piece. 🌿
Great read. I am not holding my breath for this platform as a means of total income yet. But this is the reason why I started it. I have been living with Severe RA for more than ten years all while working as a power plant operator working a DuPont swing shift schedule. It’s not getting any better and my hands are my hands are wearing down. Good luck all.
The first engineering person i have encountered on Substack. Well done.
Engineering person, I am not. Mechanically inclined, yes. Motivated, yes.
This is such a refreshing and grounded take Sinem. There's so much hype around Substack right now - with people treating it like a magic bullet for overnight success, so I really appreciate your honesty about the actual grind involved!
Thanks, Paul! So glad this resonated!
Very welcome!
This is such an honest read - thank you Sinem! For me, it's getting the time to engage on here around my full time work! And seeing the negative impact on growth when I don't get to dedicate the time to the community.
Thanks for reading, Jen. I'm glad this resonated, and trust me, you're not alone in struggling to find the time to be active besides your full-time job. It does take a huge commitment, and sometimes we just have to take sacrifices and accept that we can't be perfectly consistent. :)
Knowing that I am not alone helps! I’d love to know others approaches to staying consistent and what truly helps on here when you have limited time to dedicate to it around full time work!
The Notes trap is the one nobody wants to talk about.
Most creators figure out that great writing isn’t enough. Far fewer figure out that visible traction isn’t enough either. A viral Note that pulls followers instead of subscribers is just building someone else’s algorithm, not your own foundation.
What finally clicked for me: the platform rewards consistency before it rewards reach. The readers who show up for the tenth issue trust you differently than the ones who found you through a post that happened to land.
That distinction changes everything about how you build.
Gee. Thanks for this article. So we should focus on building things people generally pay money for. I think a great way to verify that is to check what people stastically pay money relevant to your target product. Say courses--look up what alternative courses people buy and why. I also would like to say I already went all in on Substack a month ago. Thanks for this counterintuitive and crucial article.
For those of you interested on learning the importance of revenue tracking as opposed to follower or even subscriber tracking I strongly recommend Matt Giaro's recent article:
https://mattgiaro.substack.com/p/why-i-stopped-chasing-substack-subscribers?r=7vyohm&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Main thing you have mentioned….it needs a team, what I’ve learned that you don’t need to rush into everything, because the algorithm will change immediately when a certain stream behavior is met. It’s drawing and surfing your intentions and actions. I’ll keep up and continue to learn these technicalities. Why? Because if you apply for a master-degree in a university then you have to pay before the course, but the content is available at front. Substack is that kind of university were everybody is running free around within it’s platform, and the smartest thing you have could have done is in fact ….to team up. Honestly that’s why my 4 paid-tiers are my 4 cornerstones to start with. And before building something out of it …..I need to get to know them….So I need to read there content before . And that takes time…Taking a gamble here whether it will lead to something. Like learning without knowing . And all this with only handwritten content without AI corrections on writing, drawing and photos.
I'm still pretty new here, and one thing I've already noticed is how different Substack feels from other platforms.
Posts come and go on social media, but a subscriber feels like someone who's chosen to hear from you again. That's a different kind of relationship, and I'm starting to see why so many writers value it.
Oh, so true. I couldn't agree more. Plus, the library you build here with your publication has a much longer shelf life than traditional social media posts as well!
That's such a great point. I love writing, so the idea of building a library of content that can continue to be discovered months or even years later is incredibly appealing. It feels much more like building an asset than creating content for a feed.
wow this is something i really needed to read. i was thinking that my subscribers were growing slowly, but i guess that if i can reach the audience i want to reach, it doesn’t matter if i don’t even have 200 subscribers.
i think that for us writers, getting tons of likes and hype is like sugar on our tongues, but i guess coming back to the basics and remembering why we’re here is worth it.
thanks for sharing this! ✨
Very well said, Alex. I couldn't agree more!
Great article!!! Thanks so much for the insight!!
Thanks for reading! So glad it resonated! :)
Wonderful summary! The thing holding me back is that this is a retirement project for me. I’ve found a comfortable rhythm scheduling daily free-for-everyone articles about 2 months in advance, and scheduling about 4 “hey look at me” notes a day (the jury’s still out on whether that’s doing me any good, marketing-wise). I understand that the path to real income is converting free subscribers to paid subscribers and paid subscribers to customers for consulting services and other paid products. Because I want to stay retired, I’ve been hesitant to advertise consulting services (say, providing sermon illustrations on demand on a topic of someone’s choice) because I know my clientele is preachers who often work last-minute on writing their sermons. That means that, if I’m successful, I could end up with a scheduling bottleneck on Fridays and Saturdays, which could seriously cut into the freedom I’m enjoying in retirement. Also, I’d love to see some demographics on what percentage of Substack participants (those who read notes, anyway) are preachers. Is a breakdown of Substack participants by occupation even available?
I understand how that type of breakdown would be useful for you, but no, it's not available. That's normal, because you also wouldn't find that type of breakdown on any other platform. That being said, I do understand that you face a tough situation deciding if you want to give up your freedom to do that kind of work. I would completely understand if, in your particular case, the paid tier as the primary monetization channel would make more sense!
I fully appreciate your sharing this info. But what about the fees? Today I got my 3rd founding member subscription for $500. Hey, I like being recognized for my work. It feels great to be paid at last. But I'm being sent $435 of that due to S's steep fees (and smaller Stripe ones). I'm grateful for the platform, and it is win/win but this is not what I expected. It doesn't feel justified or grateful of Substack. Do you just shrug it off?
I have a very simple opinion on that: Payment fees are normal and part of running a business online. I also pay fees on Teachable, Gumroad, or PayPal when I sell my products there. In my opinion, it is actually justified because what's the alternative?
I would much rather pay that kind of fee and know that payments are processed securely and properly, instead of looking for weird workarounds that require a lot more time, attention, and possibly even a skill set that I don't have.
I totally understand the disappointment, and I know that you are not alone thinking that way, but my personal take is different.
That's a good take on it and I will follow you on that. But I never saw anything when I was setting up Stripe or whatever I had to do to be paid that said how much the fees were so that I knew what I was to expect. And these fees weren't taken out of the first 2 founding memberships, so the fees for the 3rd one landed with quite a thud.
Thanks, Sinem.
I'm sure you didn't receive the full sum for the first two founding members either, though. Did you already take a look at the breakdown of the payments? Here's the info on the usual breakdown of the fees: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037607131-How-much-does-Substack-cost
Right! They gave me 472 for the 1st two. I thought that was steep. I'll check out the link. Thanks.
Thank you for this honest response. Even though I'm not even those to having to worry about monetary issues, I fully understand why the fees are what they are.
Been loving building on here vs. LinkedIn. Still use LinkedIn for career side, but its turned into AI slop and transactional relationships to the maximum. What I like here on Substack is that there isn't as much pressure. People show up for you in genuine ways.
And although there are still problems with the algorithm here and there, there isn't much to complain about. One of the few social media platforms that celebrates vulernability/authenticity 🙌
Food for thought
Good read Sinem. 💯 In the money, that most advice is as useless as the hacks posted. I rather have a loyal base of readers who subscribe than a following for the sake of numbers.
This is a great read and full of useful tips. I’m been in and out of Substack and now going all in.
My book, Purpose Before Profit has been published and I want to use it and Substack as platform to share my thoughts on leadership.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer and want to use the platform to generate some income to see me through the next 6 months of treatment.
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Chris!
I wish you all the best for the treatment and hope that you'll enjoy using Substack as a place to share your work with more people!
I just unlocked a one-year subscription to our paid tier for you so you can access all our resources behind the paywall. I hope that they will be useful for your journey! :)
That’s incredibly generous of you and thank you. I’m limited on what training I can deliver at the moment; what I can do is learn and write.
You're welcome! I had 4 women in my close family fighting cancer over the past 3 years, so I'm thrilled to see people with your energy and am rooting for you! Your work is precious and I hope it reaches and serves many people.
God loves open-handed givers, because He is an open-handed giver. Our role model!
Thank you for sharing this. It helped me organize some of my own thoughts about Substack and opened up perspectives I hadn’t really considered before.
What stayed with me most was the distinction between building followers and building subscribers, and the reminder that growth only matters if it supports something meaningful.
As someone who is still quite new here, I found myself asking a different question after reading: not just how I want to grow, but what I actually want to build.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and honest piece. 🌿
Thanks for reading and for your thoughtful reply, Anna. I truly appreciate it, and I'm so glad that this was insightful for you! :)