The Mystery of Readers on Substack
Answering the Age-Old Question
One day, after I’d been on Substack a few weeks, it dawned on me: are we all writers here? Every few days that question hits someone else. It happened today, and I checked to see how long he’s been here: a month. It’s like clockwork, and since we’ve been there, it’s not fair to complain. Instead, I thought I’d attempt to answer the question.
Are there readers on Substack?
Yes, but it’s too early in the lifecycle of your newsletter for them to have found you yet.
Thank you and good night.
What?— You were expecting something more? Okay, fine. Let’s get to it.
Where are the Substack readers? The case is afoot.
But let’s take care of some business first—in 3parts:
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Some of my essays are for paid subscribers only.
Now let’s talk about writing better right now
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."
Ray Bradbury
The early days on Substack are hard. Initial growth is slow. Everywhere you look you see other writers, and it can be discouraging. We can’t resolve all those issues in one reading, but we can talk about being found by readers. We can put that one fear at ease.
Before we do that, however, this is important. If right now, your audience is only other writers, embrace that fact. Help one another. Encourage one another. Read each other’s stories and comment and share. If you need help finding a group that will do that with you, check out the chat at Literary Salon. Yes, it’s open to paid subscribers only due to spam issues, but a paid subscription is currently $10 a year.
We share posts in the chat, and we read and interact with the posts.
However you do it, show off your work. Build a reputation. It doesn’t matter if those initial readers are all writers, too.
You do this long enough, you’ll know—any reader is a miracle.
But, having said that, you still want to know about those “pure” readers, don’t you?
The Mystery of Readers on Substack
By the way, if this isn’t your first post with me, you might have noticed a new trend. My posts have taken on a pattern. I have an introduction to the topic, but that’s interrupted by “business in 4 easy steps.” I then say let’s get into the topic, and I begin by approaching it from one direction which leads to the title of the piece, like only now it’s just begun. I continue with the topic from the core angle of the piece, but at some point I come to a natural break in the essay. That’s when there’s an interlude suggesting you check out my essay table of contents, although I don’t call it that. The essay continues, usually with its final point, and when it concludes, I then offer to introduce you to other authors on Substack.
Does it work? I honestly don’t know yet. Here are the clicks from a recent essay that’s had 636 views in the last three days. 10% clicked like, and only 6% clicked a link—but some of these obviously clicked more than one.
11 visited my book promotion. 4 visited the newsletter for my Bookmotion clients. 2 checked out other authors on Substack. 1 managed their account, and 2 visited my essay table of contents.
Popular knowledge tells us to limit calls to action because people get confused. Have I overcome that or would responses be higher if I didn’t present so many options? Compared to an earlier essay, I get more engagement per view but convert fewer readers to subscribers.
It’s something I’ll need to take into consideration. Maybe instead of the table of contents CYA:
I’ll show you the advanced prose techniques you need to take your writing to the next level:
Maybe what I need is to isolate the subscribe CYA.
Not yet subscribed to Literary Salon?
Some of my essays are for paid subscribers only, but you can also subscribe for free:
I don’t know, though. That seems a bit much with the two buttons.
We’re Supposed to Be Talking About Readers
I know, but that point is—what do you do with them once you’ve got them? When you’re small is a great time to experiment.
Substack suggests you turn on the option for paid subscribers and forget about it. Make everything free in your early months, and I agree. One day, you’ll write something that impacts people in ways you didn’t expect and they’ll take out a paid subscription. Just do it.
Of course, once that happens you’ll want to worry about giving them something that’s just for them. Don’t do it. They didn’t ask for it. Just keep doing your thing. There’s little that will kill your spirits like trying to keep up a series for three people.
Eventually, you’ll experiment with content for paying subscribers. The advice I often heard was make your best stuff free, and I didn’t understand that for a while. I’ll tell you what I’m doing right now, and seems logical but who knows?
I quit trying to make one series free and another paid. Also, I don’t simply put my entire archive under a pay wall. If essays are popular with the general public, I want them to have access. It seems that’s what will bring more subscribers. You see the logic, right?
So my most popular essays are free.
As a matter of fact, if someone is new here and doesn’t know me yet, there are essays and stories I don’t want them to read. Some of those work better with fans and friends, people who have gotten to know me and like me. They’re more willing to take on the difficult pieces without running for high ground. Those pieces should be for paid subscribers.
Logical, no? The crowd-pleasers are free. The more challenging pieces are behind a paywall.
I’m Losing Patience. What About Readers?
But I answered that already: Are there readers on Substack?
Yes, but it’s too early in the lifecycle of your newsletter for them to have found you yet.
Most of the people on Notes have a Substack publication of their own. Not everyone, but most anyone who you’ll see or who will see you. Don’t worry about it. Put it out of your mind. Work with what you’ve got and grow. As you grow, Substack will recommend you to more people. Some weeks that growth will be strong and full of people without publications. Do those people read? Yes, and I’ll tell you how to check in just a moment.
First, I’ve got another point to make about growth.
Write something. You need a book to give away. Offer it on Bookfunnel. When I have an opening, I manage Bookfunnel accounts at a discount, but you can DIY for $100 a year. You participate in promotions and give away a book in exchange for a subscription. It’s the best way for a fiction author to grow his newsletter. Even when Substack starts working for you, some weeks will be better with one tool and not the other, and suddenly that will switch. It’s great when you don’t have to rely on one source.
Anyway, when you see me talking about Bookmotion, that’s what I’m talking about.
By the way, if you want more readers for your serial, I have an effort coming up that won’t cost you anything. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get involved when it starts.
Substack and Bookfunnel sends you readers, and yes you can check on what each one is doing but that’s no fun. It’s also impossible when you grow to any kind of size at all.
You don’t care what everyone is doing. You want to focus on your most faithful readers.
Go to your Subscribers page. Click on “Columns,” and you’ll be given all sorts of fun options. I like “Days active (last 30 days),” “Posts seen (last 30 days)”, but what works for you may be different.
I’ve cut it off at my email so that I’m not revealing things about anyone else, but it shows how many of the last 30 days a subscriber has been active posts a subscriber has seen in the last thirty days. If you click on the column heading, it will sort your list accordingly from highest to lowest. These are people you want to take care of.
[It took me far too long to realize this, but days active just means how often they’re active on Substack—not whether they’re engaging with your material.]
Sometimes, the people who interact the most have no publication. If they didn’t come from Substack, they might not even have an account. These are your “pure” readers.
Case closed.
Some final thoughts.
You can remove columns as well. You’ll see I’ve taken out the one that tells me if someone is paid or free and how much money they’ve spent. I don’t want to see that here.
Also, remember that this system has limitations. Apple and other email providers block out ability to know if a reader has opened an email.
That’s all—except for a reminder to subscribe and check out other authors on Substack.
—Thaddeus Thomas
Looking for more fiction writers on Substack?
Best damn advice article I've read about Substack.
Loved this bit about turning on paid: "Of course, once that happens you’ll want to worry about giving them something that’s just for them. Don’t do it. They didn’t ask for it. Just keep doing your thing. There’s little that will kill your spirits like trying to keep up a series for three people."
This is so true, worrying about it will only add stress and probably lead to throwing in the towel.
I've often come across the advice to 'cull' your list. I don't really have a list to cull but I also didn't know that some email providers give users the option not to let the sender know. Are you saying that applies to Substack email subscribers or did you mean like Mailer Lite etc - or is it true for ALL?