Strategy stuff we’re saying right now
Hi everybody, Linda here. My colleague Hanne in Substack Writer Development, who works hand-in-glove with top writers, contributed a post to our internal company blog, running down her well-honed advice on how writers can grow on Substack.
I thought it was terrific, so I asked for her permission to share it with you. Here’s Hanne, on strategic moves you can make today to expand your readership and boost your income on Substack:
Build the muscle of always telling your free subscribers what they’re missing out on. It’s very easy to create two lovely walled gardens—free and paid—and that’s not good for growth. Every time you publish something paid, stop and ask yourself, have I told free people this was coming in some way? Have I shared the best paid stuff free subscribers have missed out on anytime recently? Can I do that better, in a direct email to free subscribers, or in headers or footers? Am I using free previews?
Write good manifesto/high-level reflection posts often. They are great for growth. Use every excuse (anniversaries! new growth! new projects!) you have to recommit yourself to your project, and your readers, and explain to them all over again what this is and what you’re doing. Take advantage of every chance you can to reflect on this in a big way; use it to rope your readers into this journey with you even more. Remember how great your announcement post was (if you had one)? The readers who joined you along the way probably haven’t ever even heard this stuff.
Develop good support-based language on why to subscribe—it’s very valuable stuff. Sit down and write out all the reasons to subscribe that are not about what readers get, but about what they are supporting. What is the philosophy a reader is supporting, and that they want to have more presence in the world? What is the ideology they are helping support? What is the community they are joining? Why does all that matter? Once you have a bunch of that language, there are so many places to use it for effective conversion: the about page, headers, footers, subscribe button captions, that manifesto post you’re going to write again sometime soon.
Use all the spaces we give you to talk to your readers. Headers and footers can be valuable real estate. Make them do real work for you. They are a great place to highlight in your own voice the most important, current things you want readers to know (why to subscribe, upcoming content, previous paid stuff you missed)—and the more natural it is, the more attention readers will pay to this prime spot.
Find a sustainable, regular rhythm—possibly by alternating types of content. Many, many writers talk about the pressure to write often and how hard that is—and then suffer from burnout. How can you give your community more of a voice on stage? How can you craft smart “out of office / on vacation” messages (and not pause subscriptions!)? Can you do more office hours/discussion threads where your readers talk to each other? Can you plan for some guest posts (also great for growth!)? Is there a new format—like a voice memo or a short video—that might feel easier to you? Can you share some raw background material and make your readers feel they’re seeing the sausage get made, and are part of the creative process?
Collaborate with other Substacks. Whose work and audiences do you want to tap into? Who is recommending you that you could develop deeper connections with? Can you create some kind of content collaboration with these other Substack writers—interviews or guest posts? Could you create positive “recommendation squads”, all recommending each other so they can ride the same growth wave? Can you create interesting mutual discounts with another Substack writer?
Have a good About Page. This is your billboard to the world—make use of it. If you don’t do this right, how will any potential subscriber know what they’re signing up for? You’re just relying on them to stumble across one viral post and then browse a few and see others they like. A good About Page is your book jacket. Awesome About Pages will be very clear on their mission and why to become a paying subscriber; they’ll maximize that supportive subscription language, and share a flavor of the best articles and content.
Hope these suggestions spur some ideas and inspiration for you!