How I grew my readership at a glacial pace

The glitz and glam life of a writer!!! + warning, this post is just a big ol' long rant + for anyone who hasn't seen growth, in any part of their life, as fast as they'd hoped

This is how I grew my readership from zero to 300 in the most moderate speed you’ll ever read on the Internet. It’s thrilling, honestly. I outline everything I did — while unemployed and in my sweats — to see glacial growth over the last 20 months.

(Spoiler alert: I DID A F*CKING LOT SO DON’T FEEL BAD IF YOU HAVE SNAIL SPEED GROWTH IN READERSHIP… OR IN ANY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE, like losing weight, financial goals, getting that promotion, etc. YOU DO YOU, AT YOUR OWN SPEED!)

I started this newsletter in June 2022 to chronicle my mom’s stories. How she grew up in the Philippines without electricity and foraged for food in the forest. Then I could share it with my kids when my mom is no longer with us on Earth.

Back then, I had a handful of subscribers, all friends and family.

Then the newsletter morphed into something else. Because I morphed into something else. I said goodbye to my last paying clients in PR because I was creatively sad. I had no job. I am fortunate to have a partner whose job upholds our nice lifestyle.

Meanwhile, I went through an identity crisis.

If I don’t bring in money, I must bring in worth somehow, I thought.

If I finish a book, I can say I did something. So I started to write a memoir. But writing a book about your weird relationship with your dad is hard. I went to a writers conference in San Francisco and it lit me up because they told me I have stuff to do to be an author. I like concrete stuff to do! Like an A+ student, I wrote a list of all the things to accomplish so I can feel… accomplished?

The overlords at said conference say I need a “platform” while I write this book if I ever want an agent or a publisher, or anyone to buy my book, of which I only had 3 half-written chapters. But who cares! Just build an audience! But I had no social media following. I quit that evil place years ago because haven’t we all agreed it slowly kills us all?

They say write for yourself. They also say write for an audience. I tried to do both. I’ve been posting 1x a week almost every week for nearly 2 years.

At first, subscribers didn’t come. A trickle here and there, one or two every few weeks. Then I read about doing more more more. Focus on your SEO! Recommend and endorse writers! Collab with writers! Guest post! Promote your work! Did you know these take a lot of time? I don’t have a job and I can’t even do all of these.

I thought, maybe my writing just sucks. Or I’m a slow writer. That’s an easy answer. No one cares about me and my personal essays.

I’m just a regular middle aged lady who started a newsletter on a burgeoning writer platform with no online following.

Even with my nobody status, I kept pushing along. Substack has a social media section, called Notes, which I swore off for a long time but eventually jumped on the bandwagon. I went to Substack Hours (which is a weekly forum to help writers grow their readership) and found myself drowning in a million comments, questions, tips, and so many success stories. How people jumped from a few subscribers to thousands — and you can too!

Why didn’t I have a success story?

I spent hours (days?) editing and re-editing just one post. I ditched many nights of sleep in exchange for rewriting paragraphs under an arbitrary deadline I gave myself and no one cared if I missed. I updated my About page at least a few 26 times.

A couple times I wrote two times a week and every time I did it I wondered why the fuck I did it because, at the end of it, it feels like sprinting a marathon with steel-toed boots.

I wonder how many times I have ignored my kids because I was daydreaming about sentences and newsletter topics.

I paid money to 3 very smart people who consulted me on what I can do better or different. Some things I did, some I did not. Did it make a difference? I can’t really say for sure.

I hired my friend to do my logo and take headshots. Will people subscribe if I post this approachable fun-loving looking carefree version of Stephanie?!

I fussed over the “Subscribe” button and where to place it between my wall of words — is this button placement too pushy if I stick it right up top? But I want you to subscribe! But no pressure. But I sort of want you to click subscribe!??? (please?) What about the “Share” button, the “Leave a comment” button, why is this newsletter a goddamn double breasted jacket littered with buttons?!

Don’t even get me started on my obsession with figuring out if I could get more paid subscribers.

With no previous readership or following, it’s crazy hard to get free subscribers, let alone paid ones. (BTW, THANK YOU to all my paid subscribers. I have 12, mostly people I know IRL.)

Fun fact: the money I made from my 12 paid subscribers is enough to pay those 3 people I paid to help me grow my Substack. Not a cent more.

Then the over analysis. This person “Liked” it but why didn’t they subscribe?! Oh yes, duh. I don’t subscribe to everyone’s article I like but why not meeeee?!

I tried adding video to my posts. That was too much effort. I record audio of myself reading my work. Because I have zero editing chops I re-record and re-read the same piece an average of 10+ times before posting, another time suck but I enjoy it. Why does it take so many tries? The first 9 times of recording is when I screw up my words, when my intro sounds awkward, or when I realize what I wrote sounds ridiculous and makes no sense when I read it aloud.

I subscribe to A LOT of newsletters because I truly enjoy reading people’s work. Or I’m a glutton. Probably both. I want to read them all but probably read 10 percent. Who am I kidding, maybe 5 percent. I comment meaningfully if I can. I share work that speaks to me. Am I doing this to share my love for this or am I subconsciously doing this so I’ll get good newsletter karma and get the same engagement back? Either way, it all takes so much time and perpetuates my phone addiction.

Also, I have no idea if what I’m writing is totally insensitive to others’ “growth.” Is gaining 300 subs in 20 months a lot or a little? I feel like my growth is slow in comparison to all the high subscribed newsletters (1K to 25K!) I keep reading about.

It took me 8 months to get to 100 and probably half of those subscribers were just people I know personally. It took another 6 months to get to 200 subscribers. Then another 6 months to 300 subscribers (with a boost from a deeply personal piece I wrote a couple weeks ago). I’ve consistently had a 50-55% open rate.

I think that’s some solid growth and seems like people value my work. Old me in 2022 would have thought that isn’t good enough which sounds stupid to me now.

Can I tell you a secret? It’s really embarrassing. I once had a goal that I wanted 10K subscribers by end of 2024. BAHAHAH!

Now that I have 300+, I’ve run into a scaling problem. I am a considerate and grateful writer on this platform. Someone took the time to read my work and comment, I want to take the time to think through what they said and write back. I have connected with really amazing writers, readers, and subscribers here. I get to participate in thoughtful conversation through shared stories. I try to respond back to every single comment, every single note, meaningfully. I want to read and support others, especially those who have read and supported me. AND it’s a lot of time and energy to do this! How the heck can someone be mindful and thoughtfully engage with a much larger readership?

I guess I’ll have to find out.

I almost considered telling you I hope I continue growth at a glacial pace. But that doesn’t feel sincere.

I’m not really sure what I want for growth yet. All I know is that I’m happy with my readership. My goal this year is to have an “active and engaged readership” and I’m fulfilling it.

This entire post was, no doubt, a rant and maybe it sounded like I bitched about how I got here. But I truly have been enjoying the process of it all. The last 20 months of writing have been so rewarding even though it has been difficult at times. I’ve made memorable connections here. I’ve learned about so many different perspectives.

Do you remember how I wanted to build a “platform” so I can one day be an author? While that was the initial goal, I got more out of this process of writing that I didn’t know I needed. Writing can be isolating, which I love and hate. This growth in readership allowed this isolated writer feel a bit more connection.

I lied. I don’t write in isolation. I’m typically surrounded by multiple 4-leggeds. I need one of these.

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Thank you to

Carlos Greaves

, whose piece cracked me up so much I had to write about my massive growth experience, too. Also, this isn’t a jab at anyone whose growth skyrocketed, or to the amazing folks who share their expertise on how to mindfully and thoughtfully grow your readership on this platform. I often read/comment/share/like your work.

Here’s to all the slow and moderate speed growth newsletters and blogs out there!

How I Grew My Substack From 439 to 451 Free Subscribers In Just 11 Months