Amazon is a store with infinite shelf space. Substack is on the way to becoming a library/newsstand with infinite shelf space. Self-promotion is hard. I've failed at it for all of my 75 years. But it doesn't work very well anyway. Seth Godin, the guru of all things marketing, stresses the concept of a "minimum viable audience". It's exceptionally difficult to provide a plethora of topics in the hope that it will attract readers looking for a variety of topics - they already have that just by being on Substack. Instead narrow your focus to more specific interests. I would start by looking at your previous posts to see which ones got the most likes. That might help to determine your target audience. Once you know that, work to surprising and delighting just them. They will bring the others, via restocks, notes, and the like. Consider that Mark Twain didn't do horror, and Stephen King is know for it. But each were/are successful in their genre. My Substack is just a hobby, a diversion. The real writing I do for money is apps, focused on a very narrow niche. My sales are less than a rounding error on the Apple spreadsheet, but it's enough to sustain life in retirement. At least so far.
Thanks, Jim. I think you make a very good point. I'm playing around with the idea of providing a more focused core 'offering' with the occasional excursion into other areas. Still figuring out how to do that as well as possible, but that might just be paralysis by analysis ;).
Without a life goal (or in my case an afterlife goal) people lack commitment to that goal and periodically chase shiny objects. Stay the course. Be the beacon they return to.
Comparing the read rate of a newsletter to an echocardiogram is quite a tall order, even for the most widely read newsletters. Encouraging a sense of community might be helpful and incorporating more interactive elements like these polls. As you wrote in one of your previous editions, one of the bravest things we can do is create community.
Thanks for your insights, Nita. Community building will be key, for sure, which makes me think I'm trying to do too much/appeal to too wide an audience. So, random thought, I'll probably have to either narrow down, or find a clearer way to 'segment' the writing.
Amazon is a store with infinite shelf space. Substack is on the way to becoming a library/newsstand with infinite shelf space. Self-promotion is hard. I've failed at it for all of my 75 years. But it doesn't work very well anyway. Seth Godin, the guru of all things marketing, stresses the concept of a "minimum viable audience". It's exceptionally difficult to provide a plethora of topics in the hope that it will attract readers looking for a variety of topics - they already have that just by being on Substack. Instead narrow your focus to more specific interests. I would start by looking at your previous posts to see which ones got the most likes. That might help to determine your target audience. Once you know that, work to surprising and delighting just them. They will bring the others, via restocks, notes, and the like. Consider that Mark Twain didn't do horror, and Stephen King is know for it. But each were/are successful in their genre. My Substack is just a hobby, a diversion. The real writing I do for money is apps, focused on a very narrow niche. My sales are less than a rounding error on the Apple spreadsheet, but it's enough to sustain life in retirement. At least so far.
Thanks, Jim. I think you make a very good point. I'm playing around with the idea of providing a more focused core 'offering' with the occasional excursion into other areas. Still figuring out how to do that as well as possible, but that might just be paralysis by analysis ;).
Very insightful.
Without a life goal (or in my case an afterlife goal) people lack commitment to that goal and periodically chase shiny objects. Stay the course. Be the beacon they return to.
Beautiful comment, thanks Geoff!
Good subtitle 👌
Appreciate it, thanks!
Comparing the read rate of a newsletter to an echocardiogram is quite a tall order, even for the most widely read newsletters. Encouraging a sense of community might be helpful and incorporating more interactive elements like these polls. As you wrote in one of your previous editions, one of the bravest things we can do is create community.
Thanks for your insights, Nita. Community building will be key, for sure, which makes me think I'm trying to do too much/appeal to too wide an audience. So, random thought, I'll probably have to either narrow down, or find a clearer way to 'segment' the writing.