Hack your 'Stack: 10 Tips

Indie insights from my first year on the platform

On February 13, 2023 I started here with my first post—Happy Valentine’s Eve to me and my effort to achieve a regular writing practice in a major midlife/momster reboot of my brain/creativity. Over a year later, I have amassed a full archive of weird and wonderful weekly posts and grown a small but steady and real readership. And—bonus!—I also earn some side-money in the process, for which I’m extremely grateful. While I have your interest, I’d love for you to check it out.

Meantime, for the Substackers among us, here’s some of my scrappy, somewhat underdog tips on how I’ve started here and continue to grow, albeit in small strides, daily:

1. BEGIN WITH WHO YOU KNOW

At exactly the one year mark on the platform, I’d gone from 0 to 316 subscribers. And I earned $5,400. This all began with a handful of loved ones and self-liked posts.

I started secretly behind the scenes by seeding the platform with a bunch of posts just direct to the website—since I had no readers yet—and making my site look a little lived in. I recycled some of my old blog posts, when still relevant, from my time on Tumblr, and back-dated things accordingly.

I “liked” all my own posts first, so they didn’t look so desolate and lonely, which I wrote about once here:

Like Yourself First

When I was ready with my first real new intro post and a website that looked substantial enough, I composed an email and shared the link with everyone in my Gmail contacts. I phrased that as something of a “hey, I’m cleaning my contacts and would love to know if this is still how to reach you, and meanwhile, here’s what I’m up to: introducing my new newsletter.”

Welcome HOME!

I also carried over a lite list, if you will, of about 100 of subscribers I had amassed from my Tumblr days. But honestly, these people seemed like the shells of largely odd and fake addresses, so if anything, the number looked better than nothing and just made me feel good.

From this initial mass email to all my contacts, I lured dozens of friends and family to subscribe, and earned instant money as some opted in with founding-member level support or regular paid memberships. Which brings me to,

2. ACCEPT PAYMENTS FROM THE START

If I hadn’t had set up the monetization option, I wouldn’t have earned this immediate seed money from the people who were most willing to support me from the start. I know many people feel differently about this on this platform and think you should reach 500 or 1,000 readers first or whatever standard they have of financial- worthiness. I say you are worthy Right Now. Writers need to be paid! I took the why-not approach, plus I am a hustling single mom who deserves this! I was still sharing all my content for free regardless, but offering readers a tip-jar sort of philosophy of: if you like it enough to give back a little, your support is welcome and extremely appreciated. I earned $1,200 this way in the first year, which was a great immediate motivation to keep at it when people have already proven they are so invested. I want to keep writing as much for them as for myself.

3. MAKE IT YOUR OWN

Since I called my ’Stack “Home|Body” it was fitting to have a blast decorating my house here. Have fun making your space your own, reflecting the themes of your writing and your personality, arranging the furniture and choosing paint colors as if moving into a new home. The visuals matter as much as the words themselves. My power color, for instance, is red; so the links and accents needed to be red.

The more content I amass, the more I enjoy organizing things via tags—I have arranged my homepage by topic (which you can do from the “customize” button under site design in the “Basics” section of your settings, and create tags in the “Website” section of the your settings). Using tags like this has also often inspired trilogies (or longer) where I realize I have embarked on a bigger topic that will require multiple articles in a series, like say, Loneliness, Monsters, or Aliens, oh my! (endless possibilities in all). So it both organizes and inspires to use these tools of tags. I love a good container to play in and it helps to always have more ideas in the queue.

Also on that organizational note, I created different page links in the header menu to reflect different categories of my writing:

• Bookshelf is an external link to my own website where I sell my books and link to other projects directly.

• Junk Drawer is where I’ve gathered a lot of my smaller misc. sort of posts that predated the launch of my Substack.

• Pipe Dreams is where I put fiction—which going forward I may or may not have behind a paywall.

• Sleepy Hollow, inK. contains some of my local writing based on the lower Hudson Valley region where I reside.

• Off-Gassing is a targeted series where I depart from my usual quirky essays to outline my approach to nearing net-zero on my house/life, so I figured this deserves its own section.

All of this of course is specific to me and my particular take on things, but you too can use Pages and Tags in creative ways to craft a real website unique to you and your vision. I made many of these pages by creating a new Substack “section” (organized under “Sections” in your Settings). I don’t mail to any different sections nor have subscribers specific to them; there’s just my main list on my main newsletter section. I rather just relabel these posts after they’ve sent to reorganize where I want them to live ongoing. (And for pages you’re just linking to, you can arrange them under “Navigation” in your settings).

Your About page, your landing page, and all your welcome emails, are also important places to personalize and let your style, voice and character show (all under the “Branding” section of your settings). I’ve added nice recommendation quotes to my About page as they come in, and continually tweak it as my vision clarifies and shifts—adding a legend, a map, FAQs, whatever floats my boat. I’m about to add to this page and welcome emails some of my “greatest hits” or personal faves people new here may otherwise miss from the archives.

4. BASK IN PASSIVE GROWTH

With this frenzy of newslettering happening out there these days and so much great content for readers to navigate, there’s a market for many aggregators to create directories. There are many websites trying to pair the right readers with the right newsletters. After making the minor initial effort of getting myself listed anywhere that would have me, I get a few subscribers regularly. Here’s a list I gathered of such newsletter directories—your updates welcome, as this landscape is ever-changing:

Boost Your Substack

Recommendations on our Substack platform are also a great way to sit back and let the readers trickle in. The more you recommend other Substacks, the more others might return the favor. The best is going one step further to give them a blurb and getting one in return. Just by being among their favorites and getting in front of their readers, you’ll win some of your own through the generous osmosis of this platform.

5. OUT OF THE BOX INCOME

My secret to further financial boosting may be unique to me, but might make you think of an alternative off-platform approach to monetizing:

Yes, I got $1,200 last year from my actual subscribers which was amazing and surpassed all expectations, but then I went further on that and syndicated in a local online (formerly on paper) paper. The Hudson Independent pays me weekly for the privilege of me reposting whatever I’m already writing here direct to their Lifestyles section. So that earned me an additional $4,200 last year; and I’m on track to get an additional $5,200 this year. That’s not financial freedom but boy does that make life a hell of a lot nicer.

Because I have this second outlet that pays me no matter my subscriber base, it has taken all the pressure off this—removing the focus on the numbers game side of things at least.

I was approached by my local paper because the publisher was among those who got my email when I first announced my launch. I used to be a local reporter, including for that particular paper, so they had a pre-existing relationship with me and were happy to welcome me back to their lineup. But this time, it could be entirely on my terms, which I made clear in a meeting with the publisher over a beer. I already had a commodity and they wanted in on it. They need content, and I’ve got it at the ready. So add to my “friends and family” base now, my colleagues and neighbors. And the web grows wider.

Perhaps you have some professional/creative connection out there who might consider a similar arrangement for you and your work. Substack doesn’t have to be your only home for these words, but might be a jumping-off point.

6. INSIDE-OUTSIDE PROMO

Social media gives me hives and I used to use it sparingly at best. I tried to keep Facebook for people I actually knew by face and post photos of my kids and such for relatives, but that all felt obligatory and weird (and these kids are now teens and won’t let me share anything publicly about them.) So I converted my thinking about social to purely transactional and intentional. Get in and out, friend anyone, and pretty much just share my newsletter links. I have 3x more friends now and counting (few of them “real”) and yet I spend way less time there. I do the same on Insta, X, LinkedIn. Just make the rounds each time I post weekly and leave it at that.

Of all the platforms, LinkedIn’s algorithms seem the most friendly to sharing outside links, and my stats on Substack seem to show that the most external folks migrate from that platform. That said, if you’re just sharing links, you’re not adding much value to anyone’s lives and on one much cares, so you’ve got to pad things in a question, something conversational, anything to make it less of what reeks of pure-promo.

I make sure my Substack is the link now that people see wherever I go, so in the vein of decorating, I have real business cards, and a linked business card look as my Gmail auto-signature:

In-house, there’s now Notes, merci dieu. And I love that it’s kind of our own ecosystem—these writers with these writerly posts and so much supportive cheerleading! Granted, I have hardly cracked this code and my Notes largely go unheeded (unliked/unnoticed) but, it helps to comment, especially on Notes with less likes, and now we have the Follow feature, to maybe not grow our subscribers directly, but all in the interest of community-building.

Which brings me to,

7. BE A GOOD CITIZEN

Substack offers so many ways to lift each other up, and you really do grow just from genuinely and actively participating in this grand community. So much so that it becomes addictive and you might have to wrench yourself out to get your real work of writing done.

I’ve decided, as much as possible, to replace all empty and numbing social scrolling urges with just using Notes instead. Yes, it’s still social but it’s so much more satisfying and is furthering my cause here, if not always directly as I mentioned. It’s important to just give with no expectation of getting back. Just be nice and supportive with no agenda. Karma will come.

I’ve had some luck finding targeted groups on Reddit that relate to whatever topic I’m writing about that week (like some net-zero subgroups when I was posting a series on getting my house off gas and fully electric.) There are also Substack Writers groups on Facebook that can, if not sharing links directly, help connect you with like-minded folks on the platform as well.

Beyond commenting, subscribing, recommending, following, and sharing, (and maybe writing an extra under-the-hood advice column such as this!), collaborations are the best way to make friends and grow readers here. Host another writer you love for a themed Q&A session; welcome a guest post. When you share a post with another byline, then the other collaborator will share too and everyone benefits.

In this vein, I created a little collective for creative introverts (aren’t we all?) with a 10-question Q&A called Introvert’s Outreach I do with whoever bravely raises their hand to participate. Care to participate? Let me know!

8. ALWAYS BE ABSORBING

The best part of reactivating a regular writing habit is how it supercharges my brain. My neurons are now firing in heightened listener/receptor mode, collecting ideas everywhere and always. I’m in the flow where everything I read/watch/see/hear/touch/taste/smell connects and relates to something I’m working/want to work on. Other Substacks are great fodder for your further ideas. Everything you experience in living a full life feeds the inventive machine.

I feel good, and safely padded, knowing I always have a bunch of ideas kicking around in the hopper. So not only do I always have about 20 draft ideas only partially formed in the queue but I also use the Microsoft To Do list app (on my desktop and phone) to keep many more key words and themes there. Knowing there’s no shortage of essay ideas to keep me going indefinitely gives me the confidence that I won’t suffer any writer’s block.

9. EMBRACE CHANGE

My favorite part of this platform is how you really have room to be whoever you want to be. Want to suddenly start a podcast? Great! Feel like creating a handful of Substacks for every occasion, do it. Decorate as you see fit. Come or go but carry with you your own damn readership.

Infinite flexibility—embracing change—is all part of the special sauce of how you may succeed here. If something’s not working, tweak it. Analyze your topics and see what your readers like most. Do more of what they love the most. If unsure you can poll them directly. You can follow their lead, or better yet, you lead them where you find yourself gravitating. The more I write, the more fun I have writing these exploratory sciencey-confessional essays where I both mix some nerd data with some raw storytelling. The more fun I’m having, the more readers will have a good time hanging on my couch. If I’m learning, they will too. I like to make things multi-sensory and have a video, a song, an image gallery. Play! It’s your world. Enjoy it.

10. DO THE WORK

For me, writing weekly has been just right. If it becomes too much—as sometimes it risks feeling but never enough just yet to make a change—I will shift it to biweekly. The idea here is you’re in charge and should find a rhythm that is most sustainable for the long term and fits in with your already full life. Your readers will happily accommodate whatever you do, and frankly they won’t notice if you back down a little since everyone’s drowning in subscriptions as it is.

Someone wiser than me on this platform said commit to a schedule that works for you, and then do a little less just to play it extra-safe. She said, if you think weekly will be fine, do every other week instead so you don’t come to regret that. I didn’t exactly follow that advice, but it does sound good.

Whatever it is, just be regular about it for your own sanity and organization. And just keep doing the work, numbers be damned. The more you forget the numbers, the better they will get. Do the work because you love it not because you feel obligated. If your work is good, it will pay off. Promise!

A weird goal I have is to actually bring my numbers down soon, to cull. I’ve decided that when I hit 500 subscribers, I’m going to get a haircut—that is, I’m going to cut out the people that aren’t “real” from my subscriber list. The ones that never clicked on a thing and probably don’t even exist, most of them from that first carryover from the old Tumblr. It will trim the list but raise my open rate. I will have a tighter list of more engaged readers. Each of them is so hard won, a gift, and then I will be able to see them better. I believe I’ll feel a pinch just for a moment and then hit new levels of growth. Because the real measure of success here is engagement.

What’s the best advice you’ve gotten from your favorite Substack mentors? Share here.

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