13 Newsletter Writers Share Their Best Advice for Growing Your Substack
Newsletter tips to grow your email list
Hello Bleeders!
My biggest Substack,
, hit 5K subscribers a couple of weeks ago, just ahead of the three-year anniversary. It’s been such an awesome journey. Over the past six months, I’ve been increasingly active and inspired on this account, so I’m now gearing up to launch a paid subscription over here, as well. In fact, I’m currently offering a deep discount for early subscribers.My newsletters are a big part of my creative and business ecosystem, and I’m obsessed with the editorial art and audience-building science that goes into it. I’m gearing up to teach a one-day newsletter workshop tomorrow (details below), so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to review growth advice from the newsletter series.
Before we get into that, check my Subs and Chill Q&A, which got a second life in a recent edition of the
newsletter.
What’s your #1 tip for writers trying to grow their existing newsletter?
of :
Engage with others! Comment authentically. Read other newsletters and share your favorite quotes with a personal anecdote. Find ways to collaborate with newsletters that have bigger sub counts than you. It's all about community, baby.
of :
Keep putting out content! I can be somewhat of a perfectionist, which slows me down when publishing work, and I’ve learned that not every post will be an A+. That’s just the truth of it, and that’s okay. That said, some of the articles I thought were the weakest have been the most beloved by my readers, so you never know!
of :
Figure out your funnel and never, ever sell at the top of your funnel. In 2023, my subscriber funnel typically worked like this:
User reads my tweets -> User follows my Twitter account -> User sees the value I provide for free on Twitter -> User subscribes to newsletter for more value -> User sees the value I provide for free at the beginning of each paid post -> User converts to paid subscription for fullest value
Since Twitter was the top of my funnel, I almost never mentioned paid subscriptions to my newsletter. In general, nobody wants to be sold anything, so my best advice is to provide as much value as you can for free. Just like with anything in life, if you give more than you take, growth will find you.
of :
Lean on your fellow writers who also write newsletters. We’re all just trying to carve our respective spaces here, so it’s important to have friends who share both your excitement, frustration, and everything in between. By doing so, you’ll receive invaluable advice. Someone might be like, “Hey, have you thought about putting an audio feature behind a paywall?” And you might be like, “No, but I’ll try that!” Before long, you’ll be able to pay it forward. My best friend, Tara, and I voice-note each other all day long, and a lot of our conversations are about creativity and how we can continue to push the boundaries of ours, and that has inspired a lot of the content I have published. Have an open mind and an open heart, and the rest will follow.
of :
Make friends and participate in the community in which your work is centered—not only to spread the word about your newsletter but to continue to refine and deepen your own knowledge. That’s super important. But at the end of the day, the best way to grow your newsletter is going to be to give value and give it generously. If you do this and do it consistently over time, the newsletter will grow, no matter whether you paywall everything or paywall nothing or participate in Notes or not or have an illustrator or not, or whatever. This has proven true again and again. Some of the most successful and lucrative newsletters on Substack are 100 percent free, including
’s . Other highly successful newsletters paywall everything. So it’s not about the paywalls. It’s about content. If the content is exceptional, the newsletter should grow. It might be slow. But it should happen. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen, though, even when the work is really good, and I think that’s important to acknowledge, too. Beautiful work doesn’t always get found and rewarded. It often does, maybe even usually, but not always. And that’s one of the frustrating truths about making a life as a creative person.
of :
Consistency and joy. If you find your newsletter to be a slog, figure out why so you can transform it into something you look forward to creating.
of :
Engage, engage, engage! It’s the internet—to paraphrase a slightly raunchier phrase, if you can imagine it, there’s a community based around it. Go find those people and start talking to them. Don’t just tell them about your newsletter; actually engage with them!
of :
Read and support the writing of others and build your network of writers. And don’t be afraid to dick around and take risks while you’re growing.
of :
BE INTERESTING! And useful. Think about the value of someone spending ten minutes reading what you’ve written. Is it to inspire them? Give them new information? Create a community? Curate funny or informative links, or put together a list of opportunities you’ve seen. Don’t regurgitate the same things other people are saying. Find and interview fascinating people. Write about a book you love that was published in 1987. Not to be too “Apple in 1997,” but really, think different. So many writing and productivity newsletters can feel the same. But if you aren’t developing your unique voice as a writer, what are you even doing?
Diana Ostrom of Faraway Places:
I’ve found personally that growing the newsletter and making the newsletter better are completely unrelated. For me, being on Flodesk—which is to say, publishing without the community-growth advantages of Substack—means that my growth is directly proportional to traffic to my website. That means that to grow, I really need to understand and anticipate what I can post that people will search for, and then write and optimize those blog posts so that they’ll be found.
of :
Be patient! Building an audience requires time and consistency. Connect with other writers.
of :
blast that shit everywhere: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, everywhere you have followers, make sure they know you put up a new post.
of Amber Petty’s Newsletter:
Focus on what the reader gets from your newsletter. It doesn’t matter if you only write poems about green hummingbirds to send people writing contest tips—your reader will get something from what you do. So, instead of saying, “Sign up for my newsletter,” something like “Get a flutter of poetic beauty every week” or “Want to win a writing contest? This’ll help!” helps the right readers want to see more.
Sub-tip: You have to market yourself. You have to. I know. It’s not ideal. But you have to. It could be as little as asking a friend to share your newsletter. As long as you do something to tell people you have a delightful newsletter, that’s marketing, and it’ll make all the difference.
Sign up for Courtney’s upcoming workshop:
Start a Newsletter to Supercharge Your Platform, Network & Business
A newsletter is a no-brainer in the Substack and ConvertKit era, which has seen newsletters like Morning Brew and The Hustle turn into multimillion-dollar businesses. James Clear’s 3-2-1 Newsletter helped launch his bestselling book Atomic Habits. I think every writer should have a newsletter.
Join me TOMORROW, Saturday, November 2nd, for a practical seminar where I’ll guide you through starting or up-leveling your newsletter! You’ll cover everything from finding your niche and crafting a compelling concept to coming up with a sustainable content strategy and marketing smarter, not harder. You'll walk away with the tools to build a thriving email list that elevates your audience, network, and business.
So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️
Your turn. What’s YOUR #1 newsletter growth tip?
Let’s connect on social media! I’m @courtneykocak on Twitter/X and Instagram. For more, check out my website courtneykocak.com.