ok i haven't gotten there yet but I will soon you gotta believe me i'm 5 away but my son is crying so i gotta get him up even tho he refuses to subscribe in spite of KNOWING dada only needs 5 more wtf
I have no idea who this "Alex Dobrenko" man is or why he tagged me. Is this a cry for help of some kind? My girlfriend just laughed at the "sneeze" insult. Should I sue?
Good tips though. I think tip no. 1 is absolutely bang-on.
And further to that:
I know we all agonise about showing up enough and sending out newsletters regularly enough (I'm writing this while overdue on my latest one), but I reckon Alex is right: hardly anyone remembers us until we show up in their Inboxes. On average, everyone's too overwhelmed to remember us. So maybe the best thing we can do is work on our stuff until it's Really Really Damn Good and THEN send it out, because until it arrives, nobody cares, so we'd better make a good job of MAKING them care.
Anyway, whoever this "Alex" is, he clearly needs professional help, but he's not wrong about this newsletter stuff.
Don't tell him I responded to his random, out-the-blue mention. He'll just start acting like we're, you know, good friends or something. And that would be intolerable.
It's like you reached into my brain and pulled out all my deepest Substack insecurities and then gave me the secrets to the universe. Bookmarking this for my next regularly scheduled Substack spiral!!!
I’m trying to figure out how to be moderately successful/not a total failure on Substack without selling my soul. I don’t have the energy to make it a big thing. I write hard and I write my best, but I’m not already a famous writer so I feel like I need to do 6666 other things to make it work and I say “ok I will” but then I get overwhelmed and next thing I know I’m asleep on the couch drooling on myself and/or my dog.
How in the world do you gain subscribers that aren’t friends or family from real life ? I’ve got 37 wonderful subscribers who all feel compelled to subscribe bc they love me independently. Boring! I want strangers and randos!
Woof indeed! I like posts like this and read them always but i think there is a certain flavour which each person brings to their 'how i got to 340320430 subbies' posts and i only read the ones that have a flavour i like. does this make sense?
I wrote an album over the last year, kind of wrote it on substack, and it was really cool, and i'm wondering... should I release my album via substack somehow? is that something that could work? I am heavily debating whether to ask someone substack-smart like Erin Shetron for advice on this... that is my 'biggest thing' im figuring out about substack right now, i think. man i said 'substack' so many times in this paragraph
One good thing about my life that has nothing to do with the internet is that i went to the gym today and did muscle-person things and it felt pretty good
11. Be an idiot. This is exactly how I’ve approached my Substack. My baseline is I’m the biggest dumb stupid idiot that has ever written and so what? I’m writing now suckers so come look at my pictures and read my ridiculous stories and if you take it seriously than you’re the stupid one because I don’t take it seriously at all (I take it so seriously)
This is so wonderful, Alex!! I think every new writer on Substack would benefit from reading this as part of getting into a rhythm. Thank you for sharing.
This was so funny and so liberating. Most of the time I despise these “how to get famous on Substack” things because my favourite way to feel is that it’s out of my control. Writing regularly? Writing well? Nothing to do with it!
But thank you! This made me feel good 💓made me smile and my favourite tip was the rerun, something I’ve thought about but never done.
“And also big ups to the confabs which is a writer’s group I made with Anne Kadet , Jane Ratcliffe , and Michael Estrin – they listen to my bullshit and care about me like I’m family and that means more and more the longer I think about it dang.” Aww I feel the same!!!
I write mostly about food and culture, but not really about cooking (nobody cares) and historically have tried to include a recipe (that nobody made) in each post because that’s what the internet tells you is the product of value for a “food blog.” I’m working through whether to drop recipes for some/all posts (doesn’t matter).
But really, this substack gave me a place to be weird and creative in the comments. I love it.
I have no idea who this "Alex Dobrenko" man is or why he tagged me. Is this a cry for help of some kind? My girlfriend just laughed at the "sneeze" insult. Should I sue?
Good tips though. I think tip no. 1 is absolutely bang-on.
And further to that:
I know we all agonise about showing up enough and sending out newsletters regularly enough (I'm writing this while overdue on my latest one), but I reckon Alex is right: hardly anyone remembers us until we show up in their Inboxes. On average, everyone's too overwhelmed to remember us. So maybe the best thing we can do is work on our stuff until it's Really Really Damn Good and THEN send it out, because until it arrives, nobody cares, so we'd better make a good job of MAKING them care.
Anyway, whoever this "Alex" is, he clearly needs professional help, but he's not wrong about this newsletter stuff.
Don't tell him I responded to his random, out-the-blue mention. He'll just start acting like we're, you know, good friends or something. And that would be intolerable.
BAT 4 EVER
It's like you reached into my brain and pulled out all my deepest Substack insecurities and then gave me the secrets to the universe. Bookmarking this for my next regularly scheduled Substack spiral!!!
I’m trying to figure out how to be moderately successful/not a total failure on Substack without selling my soul. I don’t have the energy to make it a big thing. I write hard and I write my best, but I’m not already a famous writer so I feel like I need to do 6666 other things to make it work and I say “ok I will” but then I get overwhelmed and next thing I know I’m asleep on the couch drooling on myself and/or my dog.
3. Whether or not to start a Substack.
IM NOT CRYING YOURE CRYING
How in the world do you gain subscribers that aren’t friends or family from real life ? I’ve got 37 wonderful subscribers who all feel compelled to subscribe bc they love me independently. Boring! I want strangers and randos!
Woof indeed! I like posts like this and read them always but i think there is a certain flavour which each person brings to their 'how i got to 340320430 subbies' posts and i only read the ones that have a flavour i like. does this make sense?
I wrote an album over the last year, kind of wrote it on substack, and it was really cool, and i'm wondering... should I release my album via substack somehow? is that something that could work? I am heavily debating whether to ask someone substack-smart like Erin Shetron for advice on this... that is my 'biggest thing' im figuring out about substack right now, i think. man i said 'substack' so many times in this paragraph
One good thing about my life that has nothing to do with the internet is that i went to the gym today and did muscle-person things and it felt pretty good
11. Be an idiot. This is exactly how I’ve approached my Substack. My baseline is I’m the biggest dumb stupid idiot that has ever written and so what? I’m writing now suckers so come look at my pictures and read my ridiculous stories and if you take it seriously than you’re the stupid one because I don’t take it seriously at all (I take it so seriously)
I swear there’s some deep issue in America with produce. Carrots are sweet. Please!
Inspiring and useful I read all 6666 points, I didn’t skim and jump straight to the end skipping over the middle they are all there!
This is so wonderful, Alex!! I think every new writer on Substack would benefit from reading this as part of getting into a rhythm. Thank you for sharing.
This was so funny and so liberating. Most of the time I despise these “how to get famous on Substack” things because my favourite way to feel is that it’s out of my control. Writing regularly? Writing well? Nothing to do with it!
But thank you! This made me feel good 💓made me smile and my favourite tip was the rerun, something I’ve thought about but never done.
Here’s to ya!
“And also big ups to the confabs which is a writer’s group I made with Anne Kadet , Jane Ratcliffe , and Michael Estrin – they listen to my bullshit and care about me like I’m family and that means more and more the longer I think about it dang.” Aww I feel the same!!!
I write mostly about food and culture, but not really about cooking (nobody cares) and historically have tried to include a recipe (that nobody made) in each post because that’s what the internet tells you is the product of value for a “food blog.” I’m working through whether to drop recipes for some/all posts (doesn’t matter).