How I grew my paid Substack

Hi, I’m Alex! If you don’t know me, I’m a poet, poetry workshop facilitator, toddler-mom, bird-watcher and nature lover from Canada. I’m a wee bit witchy, and a whole lot mouthy about the issues I’m passionate about. I write a lot of poetry about socio-political and environmental issues, but also about birds and love and trauma and life.

Recently I had the good fortune of achieving $10,000 USD in annual revenue on Substack. Some people in my community asked me how I did it. So, I want to share what I’ve learned. I can practically hear the conservatives whispering, “You learned how to make money in a competitive market? Gatekeep that knowledge!!”

No thanks. That’s not how we roll here. Mi casa es su casa. There’s more than enough for everyone.

Ok, now for some advice.

I have found the platform to not be very user friendly. If you’re new to Substack, I suggest watching some videos or reading some advice on how to navigate the platform or you can become quickly discouraged.

I have noticed some newbies on here paywalling their content right away. The trouble is that readers don’t have a chance to learn your voice and connect, without being immediately locked out. I have heard advice that it’s best to build your following to at least 500 before you start paywalling, and after you do that, don’t paywall everything. I paywall one out of roughly every four posts and that’s because those posts are craft writing posts for my paid subscriber group. Even so, I don’t paywall the entirety of those craft posts. I share about a third of the content for free. I try to be as generous as I can, because I know the value of this sort of open-hearted generosity in building relationships and community.

Substack is not Instagram. People here don’t want your highlights reel or your outfit of the day (unless it’s a fashion account). Respectfully, the demographic on Substack trends older (and wiser) than other platforms. In my experience, readers here are looking for niche insight, intelligence and honesty. Readers here want to learn something, or feel something, or both.

One of my best pathways to finding community here has been through using notes, not posts. I use notes to share poems, short funny anecdotes about my life and thoughts on writing, reflections on trauma and current events, and more. When I share my poetry through notes, readers are extremely generous, sometimes even writing lengthy, thoughtful analyses of the poems. People on Substack want to be intellectually stimulated, and I love that about this space.

This is still social media! Reading and commenting on other peoples’ posts and making friends is so important, especially when you’re just starting out. No one will find your work in a vacuum. Be social, be generous with your energy (if able) and be friendly.

This has been a big factor for me, for making money here. Some accounts DO garner a lot of paid subscriptions through just articles, and power to them. However, when I started out on here, I knew that I wanted to offer something else. My paid subscribership offers monthly 1.5 hour poetry writing circles with video playback (through Zoom), feedback to every poem written-in circle and a monthly dedicated craft newsletter.

I had a brief stint in advertising before realizing the corporate world was not for me. That stint did teach me about demographics. If you want people to join you in what you’re doing you have to be confident in what you’re doing. What am I doing? I’m running a poetry reading/ writing group called “The Messy Writers Club” where I teach and where we read and write poetry from a place of vulnerability and radical authenticity. It took me awhile to land on the name “The Messy Writers Club” but that name is everything for me. It embodies courage around living a vulnerable, creative life out loud and through your writing.

It can really help you if you are starting out with a decently large or engaged platform elsewhere. When I started on Substack, I had about 3000 followers on Instagram. I told them many times about what I was doing over here, invited them to join, shared posts, and even offered discounts. As I mentioned before, I used to work in advertising, as well as sales and marketing, so this part of things doesn’t irk me too much (though it did much more at first because I wasn’t accustomed to marketing myself.) If it’s uncomfortable for you, just start by sharing your articles on your other platforms and inviting people to join you over on Substack.

If you don’t have a readership or followers on a different platform, please don’t be discouraged. While I can’t offer advice specific to that situation, I do believe that following some of the other advice here will help you to grow your readership too!

I try to be as clear as possible about what being a paid member of the Messy Writers Club entails. Transparency is key and I certainly always want people to feel they are getting fair value. This started by getting clear on what I wanted to offer myself, and then making sure that I market these offerings consistently and honestly here and on Instagram. (By the way if you want to connect on Instagram, my account handle is the same @alexdawcreates)

I love shouting out cool things that people in The Messy Writers Club are doing. I want to celebrate their wins. That’s part of the community vibe I want to create. I have never liked it when people are stingy with their support (like those lurkers who read your content, enjoy it but then won’t even put a like on it because they feel shy or embarrassed or something). The vibe here is the opposite. I’m always trying to cheer you on! I even try to cheer on folks with similar offerings as me (“competitors”) because I firmly believe there’s more than enough room at the table for us all.

By the way, there’s also an option on here to “recommend” other accounts. You can recommend accounts that inspire you, and they may just recommend you back. It’s a great way to reach new, like-minded readers!

That’s a wrap! Please like, comment and share this if this has been helpful to you!

PS: Are you a Messy Writer?! You are always invited to join my writing community. Paid subscribers get monthly, virtual 1.5 hour poetry workshops with video playback (alternating Tuesday nights and Saturday afternoons), feedback from me to poems written-in circle (constructive and positive) and an exclusive monthly newsletter with craft advice and a writing prompt.