Why I Instantly Became a Paid Subscriber to "Craft with Kat"
How Kat Lewis attracts new subscribers to her Substack
Hello Bleeders!
I found
by through a Google search and signed up for her paid subscription within fifteen minutes because she had an offering so good I couldn’t resist: a successful query letter she had written.So when I decided to infuse my
newsletter course with the wisdom of my favorite newsletter writers, I knew I had to reach out to Kat.Unsurprisingly, she was incredibly generous in sharing her behind-the-scenes process in a comprehensive and tactical way. This Q&A is so freaking good. Enjoy!
What’s the basic premise and tagline of your newsletter?
KL: Craft with Kat publishes practical craft lessons for writers.
I post lessons from the novel writing course I taught at the University of South Florida. All of my craft lessons are informed by my industry experience as a video game writer.
When and why did you start your newsletter?
KL: I launched Craft with Kat in October 2022. A month before, I had posted a thread on Twitter/X about how writing for video games made me a better novelist. The thread went viral, and I realized that there was an audience for the craft content I had already created as a college instructor.
Who’s your main audience?
KL: Our main audience is early career writers who want to publish a novel with a traditional publisher.
How is your newsletter differentiated from the other newsletters in your niche?
KL: A lot of newsletters in the creative writing space are about lifestyle or the business of publishing. Craft with Kat provides concrete, step-by-step lessons that guide readers through the science of writing plot.
Each lesson opens with a specific learning objective, and our posts demystify the writing process with clear definitions, examples from diverse storytelling media, and guiding questions that help you apply the lesson to your own story.
Craft with Kat takes the “mushiness” out of the writing process by giving writers measurable goals and a map to accomplish those goals.
What’s your editorial strategy? Including: What kind of content are you focused on offering? What’s your publishing cadence? How far in advance do you plan your content calendar?
KL: Our main focus is educational content, and I publish weekly posts on Sunday. Craft lessons and AMAs are posted monthly. During the other weeks of the month, I post newsletters about personal development, writing for video games, and the business of writing.
Outside of the craft lessons, one of our most popular posts is about querying agents and the three things I wish I had done differently.
When it comes to the content calendar, I write down the topic and main ideas for each weekly post at the beginning of the month. Then, I write each individual post a few days before its publication date.
I’m taking a short break from weekly posts while I finish a revise and resubmit request for my novel, but we’ll return to our usual posting schedule in April.
How many subscribers do you have?
KL: 1,400 and counting.
Do you offer paid memberships? If so, explain when and why you turned that on, what your subscription offering includes, the cost, and how many subscribers are part of your paid community.
KL: Yes, all of our craft lessons are available for paid subscribers. For $5 a month (or $45 a year), paid subscribers receive access to monthly craft lessons, AMAs, and our supportive community in the comment section. I also occasionally offer free benefits to paid subscribers, such as free query letter reviews.
I actually turned on subscriptions right at launch. When the Twitter thread I mentioned earlier went viral, my followers doubled from 2.5K to 5K overnight, and I felt relatively confident that there would be an audience for subscription-based content. Throughout 2023, 10 percent of our subscribers were paid subscribers.
Have you tried any other methods of monetization?
KL: I have not, but I plan on launching an online course in the near future. I polled our community last summer for feedback on the type of class they’d be interested in. The response was great, and I look forward to building online courses for our community.
Tell us about your newsletter’s growth trajectory. What have been the most effective ways for you to promote your newsletter? Did you have any growth spurts, and what did you learn from those?
KL: Up until April 2023, the top of my marketing funnel was Twitter. I’d post threads or tweets summarizing our lessons, and our community grew from 0 to 1,000 in six months, with 10 percent of those subscribers being paid subscribers.
Most of the growth spurts came when I posted tweets related to my querying agent guides. This experience taught me that evergreen content for my niche is anything that illuminates the publishing process for early career writers.
Unfortunately, Twitter is no longer an effective platform for Substack growth. In April 2023, Twitter made its shift to becoming X, and Elon Musk deprioritized external links (Substack links in particular) in the X algorithm. The algorithm as a whole has changed wildly. This time last year, I had a tweet get 10 million views with a mind-boggling amount of engagement. Now, even if I don’t post content with links, I can barely get 200 views and 10 likes on the standard writing content I was posting with moderate success last year.
All this is to say that I know what kind of content works for growth, but I need to find a new platform to use as a funnel. I have plans to post short-form video content on YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram, but I have to finish my book first. If you have any other suggestions for growth, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Editor’s note: I had a very similar experience. Twitter was THE reliable method of newsletter promotion in the early days of and there were Substack integrations that made it super easy to post. This relationship no longer exists. Boo!
What’s been your most popular content, and your guess as to why?
KL: Our most popular post, hands down, is “How To Write a Query Letter.”
A few months ago, I took Alex Finn’s X (Twitter) Growth Masterclass, and in that class, he said that the most effective content speaks to a person’s dreams, challenges, or fears.
Since our audience is early career writers, their main dream is publishing a book with a traditional publisher. The first step to publishing a book, after writing the book, is signing with an agent. This how-to guide for writing query letters helps our readers accomplish their dreams, and that’s why it’s our most popular post.
Since taking Alex Finn’s class, I ask myself the following guiding questions before I draft any piece of paid content:
How does this post address the reader's dreams?
How does this post address the reader’s challenges?
How does this post address the reader’s fears?
Content that speaks to a reader’s dreams, challenges, and fears is valuable content, and readers pay for value.
How has your newsletter served your career as an author?
KL: In 2023, Craft with Kat often paid for my groceries. I live in South Korea, where produce is notoriously expensive. I’m so grateful that I can talk about writing and earn enough that I can buy a carton of strawberries without feeling like I’m splurging.
Along with that, I actually reference the lessons and worksheets in my newsletter when I’m working through problems in my own stories. Having an archive of the tools in my own writer’s toolbox has truly streamlined my writing process. As a whole, it’s been really rewarding that I can share what’s worked for me as a writer and exchange ideas with our community members.
What’s your #1 tip for writers who want to start a newsletter?
KL: If your goal is to have fun, your niche doesn’t matter too much. You can just explore whatever interests you. But if the goal is to make money (even if it's just a little bit of side cash), your niche should be narrowed down to two concrete topics that can each be described in one to three words. For example, I write about writing fiction and personal development.
After you pick your niche, the next step is to decide on your content type. In general, there are three types of “growth” content that you can monetize:
Entertainment:
Examples: Skits, Memes, Games, Humor Writing, etc.
Educational:
Examples: How-to Posts, Market Podcasts, Data Visualizations, etc.
Process:
Examples: How It’s Made, Documentation of a Unique Process
Once you have your niche and content type, ask yourself the guiding questions about dreams, challenges, and fears before you create each piece of content.
What’s your #1 tip for writers trying to grow their existing newsletter?
KL: 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.
Shout out another writer-newsletter that you admire and enjoy consuming.
KL: I love the interviews in Alyssa Matesic’s
. I also recently subscribed to , and ’s essay, “Monster-in-Residence,” is phenomenal.Thanks so much, Kat!
➡️
’s first craft lesson is available for free: “Freytag Who? A New Plot Diagram”➡️ Subscribe to Craft with Kat and follow
@katjolewis on Twitter/X and Instagram.P.S. If you want to start a newsletter or take it to the next level, check out my newsletter course for . It’s honestly some of my best teaching work, and it’s a steal: half the posts are free, and the other half are just $10!
So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️
What’s your main writing project right now? Are you working on a newsletter, an article, an essay, a novel, a screenplay…? Let me know in the comments below.
Let’s connect on social media! I’m @courtneykocak on Twitter/X and Instagram. For more, check out my website courtneykocak.com.
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Amazing advice! Thank you, Kat!!
I'm working on a draft of a novel and will probably *also* become a paid subscriber to Kat's newsletter because this looks invaluable! Especially as someone who can get overwhelmed and likes having structure. (Also hi from another collegiate level writing instructor!)