Would you say your experience--even on this rapid journey--maps reasonably well to the zero-phase and on? Do you have any strategies that are helping your growth that have not been mentioned in the article here?
Yes, although I think collab pieces are very likely to be at the center of my personal strategy. I can go out and rattle some cages to come up with a few subscribers here and there, using a ton of energy... or I could write every day, but leverage some of that content so I have guest authors and just people I'm quoting and linking to, etc. I can give you a few recent examples if you're interested, but I'm also just getting this phase started. So far, so fun! And, maybe most importantly: sustainable.
Sustainable is key! That is smart--using collaborations to help balloon your content which you already find sustainable. Please keep us posted and share if you think any part of this model can be improved!
Though--the struggle is real, to find a balance between "reading I enjoy" and "reading I ought to do". Niche-reading should be enjoyable but a lot of it, in my experience, is just to keep tabs on what is going on in the broader community. I don't engage with it all that much. I could surely engage more but I might be at a phase where that's less necessary?
You make a good point, I follow a few psychiatrists/psychologists, but often I'm not that interested in reading about dry policy issues and other niche things I already know. But it's important, so I'll try to set aside time to read/comment on these things more often.
Great advice but I'm exhausted reading and thinking about all that ! For me, this is fun and I suppose a hobby, given that I have another line of work which can be draining on what little cognitive ability I have. If I ever take writing more seriously, your thoughts here are golden and to return to!
Yes--that's actually worthwhile to mention. If you are writing for fun, throw this whole thing out and just do your thing and have fun with it. I love what you're putting out so far, so if it ain't broke don't fix it!
I think I’m currently in early growth phase according to this. Getting subscribers organically without knowing why, but still hardly any engagement. Also maps out with how I just wrote out ideas for paid elements of my substack, so nice timing there.
Glad the timing worked out and that you can map yourself onto this fairly well. Each phase will take variable amounts of time so it is good to be conscious of where we came from and where we are going!
I think I'm in that phase as well; either that or somewhere in the network/zero phase. This does map out very nicely, and provides some solid goals for where I want to end up. Well done, Scoot!
Scoot, Hambone, et al., I can’t tell you how genuinely surprised I am to read such a thoughtful post from your collective. This is not the Scoot I exchange barbs with in Notes. And to learn that you have an MBA as well? I’m shocked to say the least. Is Gibberish the home for all of your articles like this? I can’t tell you how much I eat up this business strategy stuff.
I think there’s probably some value in understanding the lifecycle of various platforms and products. It can certainly help you figure out the appropriate strategies to consider, but I think most of us are in those beginning phases. Maybe you could do a follow up article that doesn’t expand on what you’ve already said, but rather addresses different topics that newbies should consider.
For example, I’ve been reading various business strategy/development books for decades. Probably hundreds of books by now. I’ve been following Seth Godin (marketing guy) since the 90’s. Like every blog post, every book, a lot of his podcasts. I’ve absorbed so much of his thinking into my own that many times my default response to something will be based off of how a tactic I picked up from him.
I have paid for a subscription to Ben Thompson’s Stratechery for about five years now. I read it obsessively and listen to all of his podcasts (Sharp Tech, Stratechery, Dithering).
I don’t know if you’ve heard people say this, but there’s a rumor that when the Substack founders pitched their idea to venture capitalists that they basically said, “We’re going to make Stratechery in a box.” They referenced Ben Thompson’s newsletter because it’s the most successful and most well-recognized paid newsletter in the tech industry. He pulled it off by cobbling together his own solutions for membership, payments, etc. Substack was built on the idea of them offering all of the things he needed to pull off his newsletter to all of us. I don’t know whether the founders look up to Thompson or just saw a need in the market that they could address. Regardless he was an inspiration to them.
You know who inspired Ben Thompson? Bill Simmons. Simmons was a bartender when the internet first started to go mainstream. He was also a sports nut. Every day after closing down the bar and getting home at 3 or 4 in the morning, he’d go home and write these e-mails where he would analyze all the games he’d seen while tending bar. He’d provide analysis for how players could be better used, criticize different sports trades, or make fun of different things that were going on in the sports world.
After all of the books, blog posts, and podcasts I’ve listened to you know the big thing that stands out in my mind from all of this stuff? It was when Ben Thompson spoke about Bill Simmons. He said (and this is from memory and paraphrasing other bits of the conversation). You know why he didn’t go straight to bed after working till early in the morning? It’s because he wanted his e-mail to be sitting there and ready for the moment that his friends woke up. He wanted to beat the local paper. He wanted to beat the TV announcer. He wanted to be the guy they all turned to when they wanted to find out about sports. It was about his passion and his dedication. If you follow sports at all, you’re probably already familiar with Simmons work. He ended up leaving the bar, starting a popular blog, worked for ESPN for a while, started a popular podcast that he’s still doing, and is now an executive at Spotify. He was also the guy who inspired Ben Thompson to start Stratechery because Thompson realized that he could write about technology as passionately as Simmons wrote about sports.
I think the very first thing all of us need to do is to really latch on to that type of passion. If we really develop that type of drive, then, we can figure out the rest. The tactics and strategy are things that can be taught or picked up during a question and answer session. The passion though— that has to come from within.
There is definitely no substitute for passion. Passion can enable anyone to succeed at any thing, anywhere. Passion is what makes you want to do something because not doing it feels like an insult, it’s not even an option. Substack offers the most easily accessible tools, such that even the laziest person (possibly yours truly) can make a halfway successful publication. Passion is part of the formula that can take a good pub to great!
And yes-ish, this is where I write about writing. I’ll put a link to the tag in the sidebar thing and share it with you once ive verified ive got tags on the relevant articles. I originally planned to write about writing once a month but after Hiatus I dialed it back to “whenever lightning strikes” which as you can tell is rarely!
This is a great article, very informative analysis of SubStack. Safe to say I'm in Growth and Network still and will likely be for months, if not a year. I also, vaguely, know what my early innovation will be, if and when I get there, but first I have to build trust with readers (and grow the subscriber base).
100 paid subs seems like a lot but I can see why you've set that as the break point between Growth and Early Maturity, these are the people who are your core base; the ones unlikely to unsub, your 'True Fans' as it were. I'd think Late Maturity is over a thousand paid (though only 2 fiction 'Stacks appear to have that currently).
On the other hand I think this entire cycle happens on a micro level within itself. So in the Growth Phase you have surges and drop offs, sub drives and unsubs, panic over writing and publishing, innovations, etc. For instance the last week or so I've been quite low energy and, as a result, haven't been on Notes, reading, or commenting as much and gained less subs as a result.
Great article and analysis that I see only becoming more accurate and informative in the future :)
Absolutely the best "how to" article I've read so far. Thank you for taking the time to put together a well organized, succinct road map. I'm new to the platform and would recommend this to anyone wading into the waters of Substack.
I saved this one, Scoot, so I can go back and refer to it as, hopefully, I grow as a writer and my readership grows with me. Great pointers! Thank you!
I love the hustle!
<---- growth phase for sure for me - zero to 160 in 9 weeks! But I also post daily, so time is compressed somewhat.
Notes are killing it right now.
Notes are an incredible tool. And 160 in 9 weeks is a rapid pace! Keep it up!
Thank you! I'm "doing the thing", as the kids say.
Right now, I have no plans to monetize via paid subs until reaching 1000. I hope to be there by December. Let's sprint together!
Would you say your experience--even on this rapid journey--maps reasonably well to the zero-phase and on? Do you have any strategies that are helping your growth that have not been mentioned in the article here?
Yes, although I think collab pieces are very likely to be at the center of my personal strategy. I can go out and rattle some cages to come up with a few subscribers here and there, using a ton of energy... or I could write every day, but leverage some of that content so I have guest authors and just people I'm quoting and linking to, etc. I can give you a few recent examples if you're interested, but I'm also just getting this phase started. So far, so fun! And, maybe most importantly: sustainable.
Sustainable is key! That is smart--using collaborations to help balloon your content which you already find sustainable. Please keep us posted and share if you think any part of this model can be improved!
Leaving this in my email inbox to read more in depth later.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
You have A TON of great advice here, Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Great post, some very useful advice here.
I already knew it, but this has reminded me - I need to get better at networking with others in my niche.
It cannot be understated as a tool!
Though--the struggle is real, to find a balance between "reading I enjoy" and "reading I ought to do". Niche-reading should be enjoyable but a lot of it, in my experience, is just to keep tabs on what is going on in the broader community. I don't engage with it all that much. I could surely engage more but I might be at a phase where that's less necessary?
You make a good point, I follow a few psychiatrists/psychologists, but often I'm not that interested in reading about dry policy issues and other niche things I already know. But it's important, so I'll try to set aside time to read/comment on these things more often.
Great advice but I'm exhausted reading and thinking about all that ! For me, this is fun and I suppose a hobby, given that I have another line of work which can be draining on what little cognitive ability I have. If I ever take writing more seriously, your thoughts here are golden and to return to!
Yes--that's actually worthwhile to mention. If you are writing for fun, throw this whole thing out and just do your thing and have fun with it. I love what you're putting out so far, so if it ain't broke don't fix it!
Thanks! I just write about whatever pops into my head -this week I think it may be St Aidan. We'll see.
I think I’m currently in early growth phase according to this. Getting subscribers organically without knowing why, but still hardly any engagement. Also maps out with how I just wrote out ideas for paid elements of my substack, so nice timing there.
Glad the timing worked out and that you can map yourself onto this fairly well. Each phase will take variable amounts of time so it is good to be conscious of where we came from and where we are going!
I think I'm in that phase as well; either that or somewhere in the network/zero phase. This does map out very nicely, and provides some solid goals for where I want to end up. Well done, Scoot!
Thank you! Glad it seems to work. Keep tabs on things and let me know how things go! Good luck with your goals!
Scoot, Hambone, et al., I can’t tell you how genuinely surprised I am to read such a thoughtful post from your collective. This is not the Scoot I exchange barbs with in Notes. And to learn that you have an MBA as well? I’m shocked to say the least. Is Gibberish the home for all of your articles like this? I can’t tell you how much I eat up this business strategy stuff.
I think there’s probably some value in understanding the lifecycle of various platforms and products. It can certainly help you figure out the appropriate strategies to consider, but I think most of us are in those beginning phases. Maybe you could do a follow up article that doesn’t expand on what you’ve already said, but rather addresses different topics that newbies should consider.
For example, I’ve been reading various business strategy/development books for decades. Probably hundreds of books by now. I’ve been following Seth Godin (marketing guy) since the 90’s. Like every blog post, every book, a lot of his podcasts. I’ve absorbed so much of his thinking into my own that many times my default response to something will be based off of how a tactic I picked up from him.
I have paid for a subscription to Ben Thompson’s Stratechery for about five years now. I read it obsessively and listen to all of his podcasts (Sharp Tech, Stratechery, Dithering).
I don’t know if you’ve heard people say this, but there’s a rumor that when the Substack founders pitched their idea to venture capitalists that they basically said, “We’re going to make Stratechery in a box.” They referenced Ben Thompson’s newsletter because it’s the most successful and most well-recognized paid newsletter in the tech industry. He pulled it off by cobbling together his own solutions for membership, payments, etc. Substack was built on the idea of them offering all of the things he needed to pull off his newsletter to all of us. I don’t know whether the founders look up to Thompson or just saw a need in the market that they could address. Regardless he was an inspiration to them.
You know who inspired Ben Thompson? Bill Simmons. Simmons was a bartender when the internet first started to go mainstream. He was also a sports nut. Every day after closing down the bar and getting home at 3 or 4 in the morning, he’d go home and write these e-mails where he would analyze all the games he’d seen while tending bar. He’d provide analysis for how players could be better used, criticize different sports trades, or make fun of different things that were going on in the sports world.
After all of the books, blog posts, and podcasts I’ve listened to you know the big thing that stands out in my mind from all of this stuff? It was when Ben Thompson spoke about Bill Simmons. He said (and this is from memory and paraphrasing other bits of the conversation). You know why he didn’t go straight to bed after working till early in the morning? It’s because he wanted his e-mail to be sitting there and ready for the moment that his friends woke up. He wanted to beat the local paper. He wanted to beat the TV announcer. He wanted to be the guy they all turned to when they wanted to find out about sports. It was about his passion and his dedication. If you follow sports at all, you’re probably already familiar with Simmons work. He ended up leaving the bar, starting a popular blog, worked for ESPN for a while, started a popular podcast that he’s still doing, and is now an executive at Spotify. He was also the guy who inspired Ben Thompson to start Stratechery because Thompson realized that he could write about technology as passionately as Simmons wrote about sports.
I think the very first thing all of us need to do is to really latch on to that type of passion. If we really develop that type of drive, then, we can figure out the rest. The tactics and strategy are things that can be taught or picked up during a question and answer session. The passion though— that has to come from within.
There is definitely no substitute for passion. Passion can enable anyone to succeed at any thing, anywhere. Passion is what makes you want to do something because not doing it feels like an insult, it’s not even an option. Substack offers the most easily accessible tools, such that even the laziest person (possibly yours truly) can make a halfway successful publication. Passion is part of the formula that can take a good pub to great!
And yes-ish, this is where I write about writing. I’ll put a link to the tag in the sidebar thing and share it with you once ive verified ive got tags on the relevant articles. I originally planned to write about writing once a month but after Hiatus I dialed it back to “whenever lightning strikes” which as you can tell is rarely!
This is a great article, very informative analysis of SubStack. Safe to say I'm in Growth and Network still and will likely be for months, if not a year. I also, vaguely, know what my early innovation will be, if and when I get there, but first I have to build trust with readers (and grow the subscriber base).
100 paid subs seems like a lot but I can see why you've set that as the break point between Growth and Early Maturity, these are the people who are your core base; the ones unlikely to unsub, your 'True Fans' as it were. I'd think Late Maturity is over a thousand paid (though only 2 fiction 'Stacks appear to have that currently).
On the other hand I think this entire cycle happens on a micro level within itself. So in the Growth Phase you have surges and drop offs, sub drives and unsubs, panic over writing and publishing, innovations, etc. For instance the last week or so I've been quite low energy and, as a result, haven't been on Notes, reading, or commenting as much and gained less subs as a result.
Great article and analysis that I see only becoming more accurate and informative in the future :)
Totally legit conversation; thanks Scoot!
Absolutely the best "how to" article I've read so far. Thank you for taking the time to put together a well organized, succinct road map. I'm new to the platform and would recommend this to anyone wading into the waters of Substack.
Really glad you found it useful! Feel free to share it far and wide--I hope it helps people truly thrive here on Substack!
I saved this one, Scoot, so I can go back and refer to it as, hopefully, I grow as a writer and my readership grows with me. Great pointers! Thank you!
I am glad you found it helpful! Hopefully more wisdom to come--any topics you have questions about that you would find helpful for me to talk about?