Newsletter growth
It’s what everyone wants to know. How the heck do you get readers? And in the case of writing a newsletter, how do you get subscribers?
I’ve been doing this for years and still haven’t worked it out. But below you’ll find my best guesses.
How to (very, very slowly) cultivate a fiction newsletter: part 1
Writing fiction is hard. Finding readers is even harder. Achieving success, regardless of how you personally measure it, is near impossible.
How to (slowly) cultivate a fiction newsletter: part 2
There’s a reason I’ve used the word ‘cultivate’ in the title of these articles, rather than ‘grow’, or any of the other icky LinkedIn-style corporate terms.
Please don't ask for subs and follows
Today’s post is a bit of a PSA. And perhaps wishful thinking on my part.
How Substack's recommendations system can be used by fiction writers
Being a writer of fiction is hard. Actually writing the text in the first place is astonishingly difficult, both in terms of finishing it and making it any good. But then comes the fiendishly difficult bit: the part which is akin to the alchemists of old, trying to transform lead into gold.
How to help new readers get on board a long-running serial
Today’s post is for all you writers of serials. be they fiction or non-fiction.
Don't be scared of doing author events
I used to be utterly, cripplingly terrified of public speaking. With a bit of training and practice, I’ve come to really enjoy it, and I reckon pretty much anyone can have that same change.
Designing your newsletter's About page
In the video I guide you through how to make your publication feel like yours and make sense to your audience:
Writing for the market vs for yourself
I’ve used a service called BookFunnel to help grow my list for several years. In fact, many of you reading this probably found the Write More newsletter through a BookFunnel promo (hi! 👋). A whopping 54% of my subscribers have joined up this way, and it was especially useful in the early days.
Post-scarcity entertainment
There is now infinite stuff. It was always the case that a human lifetime is not long enough to be able to experience all that humans have created: go back a couple hundred years and there were already too many books to read, too many paintings to see. The 20th century added radio, magazines, photographs, TV, film, comics, video games. The 21st century has already contributed blogs, vlogs (does anyone still use that term?), self-publishing, tiktoks. Whatever comes next.