I’m sorry I didn’t send a newsletter this week. I didn’t write it.
Lessons from 6 ¾ months on Substack
Hi Friend,
I’ve just marked The Conversation’s first six months here on Substack. Technically 6 ¾ but who’s counting?
Heads up, this is not a “How I made 6 figures on my first 15 minutes on Substack post.”
Or “How I went from 0 – 10k followers last night.”
That’s not my story. Or, honestly, my goal.
The Substack success hacks and how to stay sane tips already exist.
But I wanted to reflect on what I’ve learnt as I hit this mini- milestone. To track back on how I think I started to find my way –and the times I didn’t.
Isn’t that we’re all doing most days?
So, what is Substack anyway?
In case you didn’t jump onto the 2023 “Having A Substack” trend, a little explainer.
Substack calls itself “a new economic engine for culture.” It’s essentially a publishing platform - to the web, email and via its app.
The big news: on Substack writers can monetise their work through reader paid monthly or annual subscriptions. This is a good thing. Great writing, creativity and culture should be valued and rewarded.
So now you have everyone from Liz Gilbert through to Dominic Cummings writing and earning a living on Substack. Next to chefs and regular wellness experts and therapists. Celebrity and otherwise. It’s category-agnostic but a natural habitat for writers and journalists; Emma Gannon stands out as a Substack myth in the making.
1. Should you make the Substack leap?
Friends and clients often ask me whether they should move their existing newsletter over to Substack.
I’ve been to Substack masterclasses where brand ambassadors tell you it’s a question of exporting your email list and pressing go.
Six months in, I’m here to tell you it’s not.
All newsletter marketing demands strategy, time, and care. Substack is no exception.
If anything, I’ve had to invest more in supporting my writing and email marketing.
Resharing.
Reposting.
Restressing about how a post performs.
And this is the crux of it.
Because it’s all so transparent – a wide-open platform fueled by post likes and comments, rather than your own private Mailchimp dashboard – the pressure feels more.
I’m still figuring out my newsletter cadence here. The Conversation was previously fortnightly. That doesn’t feel enough to support meaningful growth on Substack. There’s a pressure to grow which means it feels like failing when you don’t.
I know I’m not alone.
Most days on Substack a creative business owner or writer - also with a life and to-do-list, maybe a pet - will send a note out: “I’m sorry I didn’t send a newsletter this week. I didn’t write it.”
All that to say, I give a lot of time and energy to writing The Conversation. It’s the heart of my marketing. And Substack offers it a place to breathe longer, a life outside of inboxes. In conversation with other writing.
It’s also allowed a space where I can connect through my poetry more confidently, just as a little extra. In this way, it’s kind of been essential to my creative journey.
If you write a lot in your business anyway, Substack is for you. But it doesn’t work for everyone. I expect many businesses and creatives will follow in Louise Tigell’s steps.
2. Substack-as-a-learning platform
My big reveal: Substack-as-a- learning platform.
Joining Substack, I expected to connect with a network of other newsletter writers and creators. I was met with a thriving hotbed of courses, workshops, book clubs, challenges. Of course, for Substackers looking to monetise newsletters, this is a way to bring additional incentive and value to their community. Audio and video are also being rolled out.
There’s a host of creatives offering Substack success strategies and consultancy (I recommend Sarah Fay and Claire Venus) but the education offer extends beyond Substack itself. You have everything from investment to tarot through to parenting. Maya C. Popa’s Poetry Today offers craft workshops that I would happily (and have) paid good money for. I get to work with a lecturer, incredible poet, and be in community for around £7 a month.
A whole host of creative business circles and communities have also sprung up.
At the start of the year, I signed up for Summer Brennan’s A Year of Writing Dangerously workshop. I had previously been thinking of taking a creative writing masters. I feel less inclined to now.
3. Expect overwhelm, comparisionitis and next level community
Substack Overwhelm is real. It can feel like starting a new school late into term, and you just can’t break into the popular gang.
The comparisonitis.
The hierarchies.
There are category leaderboards making you feel very exposed, and frankly, a bit crap.
But, where in life do these systems not exist? From the playground to the office, I’d wager cool girl cliques exist in retirement homes.
Margaret Atwood and Clover Stroud write here. How do you not feel like Accrington Stanley coming face to face with Man City and Jack Grealish’s hairband?
Like with all creative endeavours, you have a choice.
You can whinge. Moan. Talk yourself out of committing to whatever your marketing/ business/ writing goals are.
Or you can find a reason to show up anyway.
And, as a beloved poetry mentor suggests, “tune that s**t out”.
Because the community is next level. My network’s expanded and deepened in the last six months. The potential for collaboration is huge (on my Substack to-do-list). Somehow, it’s spilled over to my friendships and into new ones. This includes a whole new creative support group (hi Hannah Ashe, Jo Linney, Leah Pitt, Ellie Klime, Sara Dalrymple, Kate Darracott, Angharad James, Tanya Lynch) and collaborations (Bella Foxwell) and Nelly Bryce - thank you!)
My creative and business life is better on Substack.
4. Substack’s still a social media platform
Let’s be honest, Substack is a social media platform.
It celebrates high numbers.
There are ticks in different colours, coding and validating your work. Which can feel like you.
You have to feed it to succeed.
Let’s take Notes. Non-Substackers: this is like Twitter/ X for short-form posts, images, links to share with your Substack network.
Fueling Notes drives Substack growth. No question. But do you, as a business owner/ marketer/ creative with a life really have the bandwidth to game this? Do you want to?
Another case of tech pulling you away from your purpose – to read more, write well, connect deeply.
Doing my last VAT, I was appalled at the number of paid Substack subscriptions I’d inadvertently accumulated. This includes an annual sub of £40 on a misjudged, panic Substack buy which is the same as my Red magazine subscription. A magazine that offers a range of voices, perspectives, stories.
There’s only so much one person can consume. And spend. Do it intentionally.
Your business and work and your writing exist outside Substack. So do you.
In the throes of many deadlines, I skipped last week’s newsletter. Instead, I responded to an exciting new business enquiry. Developed some media pitches for a client. Finalised my poetry manuscript.
All things that still fuelled my business and creativity intentionally. Deliberately.
It’s easy to get caught up in one part of our business or our marketing. To get sucked into other people’s metrics and success stories.
Substack is one strand in the multitude of things you do as a creative, a business owner, a marketer.
Find your own version of success. Stick to that.
That said, if my Substack goals were to deepen community, build my personal brand and grow my writing life, then every box has been ticked.
Will I stay here forever? Undecided.
Glad I made the leap? Every time.
Tell me where you are- thinking about making the move to Substack? Do you love every second you spend here? Or are you sitting this one out?
Comments below.
As always, I appreciate any shares on The Conversation. See you next week (for sure) with a shorter newsletter (thank you if you made it this far).
With love,
Antonia
My favourite Substack pieces lately:
This piece from journalist Anna Codrea-Rado is all you need to get going.
Lucy Werner’s recent piece is full of growth tips.
Nicola Washington asks if Substack is really “The Great Escape” from social media it seems to be.
Kate Harvey shares her Letters From Therapy growth story in a gorgeously honest way.
Thanks for your super thoughtful and funny perspective on this. I did have a chuckle at the school and clique references. I came on here Feb 2023 and still wound up feeling like I’d turned up a few terms too late. I enjoy the reading and connecting with folks and deepening relationships that didn’t have that container to flourish before, and I’m also not sure about Substack as a platform and I’m also continuing to feel things out. But it’s great to have homies like you here while I do that!
Thanks for this perspective. I've just made the leap to Substack and it's so good to have this reminder about clear intentions and not comparing to others.