I was doing the whole "growth mindset" because that's what everyone and their aunt are preaching on social. Grow, scale, make sales, etc. Then a writing community on Facebook mentioned that I should check out Substack and Bluesky. Needless to say, I spend a lot less time on Facebook and Twitter. Like a fraction of what I used to. I love this place, and I'm learning so much.
Inevitably, the people espousing those extreme growth tactics are the ones who then show up in all the feeds, because their lives are dedicated to manipulating algorithms.
There’s an increasing amount of that around here as well, now that Those People have noticed a new place to mess with, but it’s fortunately easy to mute!
Simon, you have me with the word ‘cultivate’ straightaway. Thank you for being such a reasoned contributor here, being fettered to ‘growth’ is what has gotten us in such trouble as a species.
Thanks for reading! Even though I'm ultimately talking about 'growth tactics', I'm always at pains to not be....one of *those* online advice people. We all know the type!
I still believe that education is a real world changer and should be accessible to as many people as possible, that's why I make all the newsletters I create on video game development freely available. :)
I found their newsletter group promos, aimed at finding interested subscribers, quite useful. It’s all handled in a slick and automated way, so is fairly minimal in terms of effort.
Back in the day authors were encouraged to share the promos on social media. I’m not sure how that works these days, with all the social platforms being nerfed. It could be that it’s not as effective as it once was, alas - while our routes to being published have grown, our options for promoting the work and finding readers has shrunk in recent years.
Thanks, that explains more. I'm trying the traditional route for my novels, but I might do a collection of short fiction at some point, so perhaps it could work for me then.
I'm not a fan of social media - especially the Twitter-like Notes - but I think a good way to interact is just to comment on things you read that you've subscribed to. At least, that's about as much as I'm willing to do.
I only engage with Notes because — so far — it’s been very focused on interesting writing discussions, in my experience. I’ve never been on a social media platform before which respects my actual interests to that degree.
That said, US politics has overwhelmed almost everything for the last week (understandably), so Notes became far less interesting. That seems to be reverting now.
But yeah — be all mean steer clear. Probably a wise move, long-term!
I think it'll get more Twitter-like with time. And I find the number of people on there talking about writing - usually, their writing - a bit boring, if I'm honest. While I'm happy to talk about writing in the context of a comments section to a post - as we're doing now - I want Notes to show me things I might find interesting outside of that. But it seems my feed has been shaped by those I follow, who seem to be writers. Or maybe just everyone sees that, regardless of who they follow.
Such valuable advice, as always! I especially appreciate the little reminder about tailoring your welcome email with helpful links & using BookFunnel, which I might give a try soon.
Personally, I feel like experimenting with a small fraction of paid content so I recently introduced a monthly "lab notes" update about what I've been reading, writing & otherwise loving in the past month. I think of it more as a thank you, a little goodie for those who do choose the paid sub & obviously it's only a very small part of my newsletter. (It also hasn't gotten me more paid subs so far, which is in line with your learnings too.)
I like that a lot. It's something I'd really like to do, but haven't quite figured out what it would be or how to fit it into the schedule. There's a difference between offering something extra to paid subs, and expecting that extra material to actually convert free > paid. People will subscribe for various reasons, but I don't think that access to exclusive content really works for the sort of thing I do in terms of a conversion incentive - but once someone IS a paid subscriber, getting exclusive stuff is a great perk.
Hm. I think I might need to think about this some more. :)
Not to lie, a small part of me keeps hoping I'll get more paid subs with whatever new thing I introduce but at the end of the day, it's not enough of a reason for any of the writing I do. I always remind myself that I wrote whole novels & felt fulfilled doing it even without showing them to anyone.
Anyway, glad you like the idea & it got you thinking. :)
Hi Simon, I have enjoyed reading these 2 posts. I have had a similar experience on Substack, although I don't write fiction here, but may do in the future. I did a similar thing with going paid, it didn't work for me either, so I went back to all free. I was honest with my paying subscribers about what I was doing, I sent them personal emails about it. I expected I would lose them. But that's not what happened. 4 let their subscriptions run out at the end of a year, the rest resubscribed at the end of their first year, and I have gained 1 since. So I would agree with you that these people are not so much buying my work, but suporting me, and probably also believe that creatives should be paid for their work.I have a grand total of 17 paying subscribers out of a total of 3.8k. Not many, but they mean a lot to me. I also add a Buy me a Coffee to my newsletters, for people who want to support me but maybe don't want the commitment of subscribing, or can't afford to subscribe. Thanks for sharing your experiences here. We can all learn so much from each other.💕
The other aspect is that if you do set things up in a more 'buy a product' way, you're then committed to delivering on that product. For those of us who are writing because we love writing, or love the subject we're writing about, that can end up being a bit of a trap, I think. It's easy to start prioritising getting X number of 'products' out each month, rather than just focusing on writing quality material.
That is so true! I felt under a lot of pressure to 'produce content' and felt guilty if I couldn't. It definitely affected my creativity and contributed to lack of inspiration and not enjoying writing anymore.
Thank you SO much for this. As someone who's made lots of content over the years, but has never found a place in the social media bot hellscape to 1) post/host my work, and 2) promote and find people, it's been deeply frustrating. And of course, traditional publishing routes are miserable even if it's not your debut. My sister told me about SubStack and I immediately searched how to publish novels on there. I found your articles about that, and have since been lost in a K. Jones portal (an infinitely more enjoyable space than any doom spiral on social media).
Your writings, informative articles, demonstrations and insights are so helpful, thank you. And most of all they are heartening. I agree, creators are fed up. And the more people realize "oh we can just help each other out and create our own platforms for our own needs" the better. I just joined but super excited to delve in here. And once I get some $$$ I want to subscribe. Excellent work, thanks again so much.
Glad to hear that I’ve been helpful! I suspect there will always be frustrations with trying to find audiences, but I’ve certainly enjoyed trying to do so around here. :)
Thanks for these two articles, Simon. Every article I read of yours is giving me inspiration and clarity around how I'll nurture my own newsletter. Yay! 😁
I was doing the whole "growth mindset" because that's what everyone and their aunt are preaching on social. Grow, scale, make sales, etc. Then a writing community on Facebook mentioned that I should check out Substack and Bluesky. Needless to say, I spend a lot less time on Facebook and Twitter. Like a fraction of what I used to. I love this place, and I'm learning so much.
Inevitably, the people espousing those extreme growth tactics are the ones who then show up in all the feeds, because their lives are dedicated to manipulating algorithms.
There’s an increasing amount of that around here as well, now that Those People have noticed a new place to mess with, but it’s fortunately easy to mute!
Simon, you have me with the word ‘cultivate’ straightaway. Thank you for being such a reasoned contributor here, being fettered to ‘growth’ is what has gotten us in such trouble as a species.
Thanks for reading! Even though I'm ultimately talking about 'growth tactics', I'm always at pains to not be....one of *those* online advice people. We all know the type!
I knew that Simon, but cultivate is so much kinder, more patient somehow and I’m glad of your input here.
I still believe that education is a real world changer and should be accessible to as many people as possible, that's why I make all the newsletters I create on video game development freely available. :)
Wonderfully helpful and funny. Thanks, Simon.
😆
I don't know much about BookFunnel. I'd be interested to read more about your experience with it and any recommendations.
I thought I must have written in detail about it somewhere, but this looks like the closest Iive got: https://simonkjones.substack.com/p/writing-for-the-market-vs-for-yourself?utm_source=publication-search
I found their newsletter group promos, aimed at finding interested subscribers, quite useful. It’s all handled in a slick and automated way, so is fairly minimal in terms of effort.
Back in the day authors were encouraged to share the promos on social media. I’m not sure how that works these days, with all the social platforms being nerfed. It could be that it’s not as effective as it once was, alas - while our routes to being published have grown, our options for promoting the work and finding readers has shrunk in recent years.
Thanks, that explains more. I'm trying the traditional route for my novels, but I might do a collection of short fiction at some point, so perhaps it could work for me then.
Love this.
I'm not a fan of social media - especially the Twitter-like Notes - but I think a good way to interact is just to comment on things you read that you've subscribed to. At least, that's about as much as I'm willing to do.
I only engage with Notes because — so far — it’s been very focused on interesting writing discussions, in my experience. I’ve never been on a social media platform before which respects my actual interests to that degree.
That said, US politics has overwhelmed almost everything for the last week (understandably), so Notes became far less interesting. That seems to be reverting now.
But yeah — be all mean steer clear. Probably a wise move, long-term!
I think it'll get more Twitter-like with time. And I find the number of people on there talking about writing - usually, their writing - a bit boring, if I'm honest. While I'm happy to talk about writing in the context of a comments section to a post - as we're doing now - I want Notes to show me things I might find interesting outside of that. But it seems my feed has been shaped by those I follow, who seem to be writers. Or maybe just everyone sees that, regardless of who they follow.
Such valuable advice, as always! I especially appreciate the little reminder about tailoring your welcome email with helpful links & using BookFunnel, which I might give a try soon.
Personally, I feel like experimenting with a small fraction of paid content so I recently introduced a monthly "lab notes" update about what I've been reading, writing & otherwise loving in the past month. I think of it more as a thank you, a little goodie for those who do choose the paid sub & obviously it's only a very small part of my newsletter. (It also hasn't gotten me more paid subs so far, which is in line with your learnings too.)
I like that a lot. It's something I'd really like to do, but haven't quite figured out what it would be or how to fit it into the schedule. There's a difference between offering something extra to paid subs, and expecting that extra material to actually convert free > paid. People will subscribe for various reasons, but I don't think that access to exclusive content really works for the sort of thing I do in terms of a conversion incentive - but once someone IS a paid subscriber, getting exclusive stuff is a great perk.
Hm. I think I might need to think about this some more. :)
Not to lie, a small part of me keeps hoping I'll get more paid subs with whatever new thing I introduce but at the end of the day, it's not enough of a reason for any of the writing I do. I always remind myself that I wrote whole novels & felt fulfilled doing it even without showing them to anyone.
Anyway, glad you like the idea & it got you thinking. :)
Hi Simon, I have enjoyed reading these 2 posts. I have had a similar experience on Substack, although I don't write fiction here, but may do in the future. I did a similar thing with going paid, it didn't work for me either, so I went back to all free. I was honest with my paying subscribers about what I was doing, I sent them personal emails about it. I expected I would lose them. But that's not what happened. 4 let their subscriptions run out at the end of a year, the rest resubscribed at the end of their first year, and I have gained 1 since. So I would agree with you that these people are not so much buying my work, but suporting me, and probably also believe that creatives should be paid for their work.I have a grand total of 17 paying subscribers out of a total of 3.8k. Not many, but they mean a lot to me. I also add a Buy me a Coffee to my newsletters, for people who want to support me but maybe don't want the commitment of subscribing, or can't afford to subscribe. Thanks for sharing your experiences here. We can all learn so much from each other.💕
That sounds very similar indeed!
The other aspect is that if you do set things up in a more 'buy a product' way, you're then committed to delivering on that product. For those of us who are writing because we love writing, or love the subject we're writing about, that can end up being a bit of a trap, I think. It's easy to start prioritising getting X number of 'products' out each month, rather than just focusing on writing quality material.
That is so true! I felt under a lot of pressure to 'produce content' and felt guilty if I couldn't. It definitely affected my creativity and contributed to lack of inspiration and not enjoying writing anymore.
Thank you SO much for this. As someone who's made lots of content over the years, but has never found a place in the social media bot hellscape to 1) post/host my work, and 2) promote and find people, it's been deeply frustrating. And of course, traditional publishing routes are miserable even if it's not your debut. My sister told me about SubStack and I immediately searched how to publish novels on there. I found your articles about that, and have since been lost in a K. Jones portal (an infinitely more enjoyable space than any doom spiral on social media).
Your writings, informative articles, demonstrations and insights are so helpful, thank you. And most of all they are heartening. I agree, creators are fed up. And the more people realize "oh we can just help each other out and create our own platforms for our own needs" the better. I just joined but super excited to delve in here. And once I get some $$$ I want to subscribe. Excellent work, thanks again so much.
Glad to hear that I’ve been helpful! I suspect there will always be frustrations with trying to find audiences, but I’ve certainly enjoyed trying to do so around here. :)
Love the sketch in the middle. The summit could be finishing a project or story and celebrating in the sun's rays.
Loved listening to your newsletter tips, especially as a Substack newbie. Thanks!
Thank you. Really helpful advice for newbies like me.
Ah, happy to help, Fran!
Thanks for these two articles, Simon. Every article I read of yours is giving me inspiration and clarity around how I'll nurture my own newsletter. Yay! 😁
I found this really useful. Thank you.
Thanks for reading!
Excellent insights, Simon. I'm going back to part one now, because I'm a rebel and refuse to do things in the proper order. See: My writing career. 😜
You’re such a non-linear person, Meg.
😁