A few weeks ago, I was at a work event struggling to contain my hangover within heavily applied foundation and a strong coffee, when a writer friend of mine asked me how it was going on Substack. “Because,” she said, with the kind of honesty I appreciate especially in certain circles when everyone is pretending to have The Best Life Ever, “I constantly feel like I am failing at it.”
“Me too,” I replied, “me too.” I then went on to share a version of why that is, which I’ll attempt to expand on here.
After a year of being on Substack, there is a lot I still don’t understand about it. I cannot figure out what consistently works and what doesn’t, and if it wasn’t for the community on here and being able to chat with the lovely humans who follow my work, I’d probably quit. In fact, let’s borrow a teaspoon of my friend’s honesty and say: I have been on the verge of quitting for about a month.
Substack encompasses a broad spectrum of writers and readers – from those who do it for a hobby to those who are seasoned writers outside of the platform, who do it as a full-time job. The reason why I love it so much, is that it allows a level of egalitarianism where I can access good writing from a much wider range of people, from different backgrounds. I can’t speak for the US, but in the UK, most journalism is piss-poor when it comes to this kind of representation whether we are talking about race or economic backgrounds. We are what we read, but there are also limits to what we can access, and I truly think Substack has helped change this for the better.
However, there is no getting away from the fact that despite having written five books, having a respectable following on Instagram due to the long captions I write on my posts, and having a 20+ career in journalism, I feel like I am failing on here. I’m not getting the level of engagement I want, my paid subscriptions have been plateauing for over six months, and while my free subscribers are steadily rising, that isn’t reflected in engagement.
I begin every post wondering if anyone is going to care what I’m going to write about
Although I have levels of confidence in my writing that at times border on the obnoxious, on here, I begin every post wondering if anyone is going to care what I’m going to write about. This is not the writer I know I am. This is the writer I used to be in my early twenties, riddled with neuroticism.
Alongside being a writer, I have a ton of experience in the digital world due to previous roles working at Microsoft and HuffPost. This matters, I think, when it comes to talking about Substack because success on here isn’t just about writing good pieces. Anecdotally, a lot of writers I know are mostly social media averse, and their understanding of how tech corporations work, and how content is recirculated is not always their strong point.
Most of them may be worrying that their writing is terrible and that’s why it isn’t doing well, without having an understanding that any platform publishing your work plays a hand in whether it is successful depending on its infrastructure and how it recirculates content.
Most editorial platforms go through similar life stages, and seeing that Substack is doing a big push around video confirms it is on track in its life cycle. Video is always the next big thing that is brought in to help with growth – anyone who works in media/editorial may remember the over-inflation of video in the mid 2010s that was the undoing of a lot of media companies, my previous employers included. Not that I’m saying Substack is remotely doing this, more that any pivot to different types of media on a platform that inherently is about reading, should be taken with a pinch of salt.
A lot of the ways in which eyeballs are drawn to content is not quite the same on Substack. On other editorial sites, there is SEO strategy, social media (which in this case translates to Notes although I don’t think it has the same transference in terms of views) and third-party platforms that push readers back to the site. There is endless analysis of content that worked well, repeated attempts to recreate it even if it risks editorial integrity.
I have no interest in pursuing this type of strategy on Substack. Even writing about it makes me want to heave – which is why, despite being good at it, I left that corporate world to do my own thing.
I’ve tried a number of things over the last year: being more present on Notes, offering live chats, publishing twice a week, sales on paid subscriptions, giveaways of paid subscriptions, recirculating older content, unlocking paywalled content. Every month or so there is a new secret tip unveiled and it works for about as long as a balloon holds its shape at a kid’s birthday party. Genuinely - if anyone has any tips that work, please tell me because I’m at my wits end.
It appears that I may need to make my peace with certain things on here, if only to maintain my own sanity and continue to keep my newsletter running.The first is that I don’t have the luxury of removing the paywall on some of my content. Although I know that making the whole thing free will immediately reduce the pressure, it’s my livelihood and in order to justify being on here, I have to somehow make a living (however small) from it.
The second is that there are a lot of different factors at play that aren’t just about your writing. In the UK there is a cost of living crisis and people are careful about what they spend their money on. There’s also the matter of email. Are your newsletters going to your subscribers’ junk? Are they subscribed to too many and don’t have the time to read yours - which is in no way a reflection of your writing but more about their lack of curation?
The third, is that I don’t think the platform as yet, has evolved enough to support writers outside of the US market in a way that meets their expectations. It’s hard to tell because my algorithm is tailored to me, but on the app, the posts that seem to be recirculated heavily are US-based, and usually are current affairs-led. That doesn’t mean to say I haven’t had posts that have been successful, more that on a weekly basis, the cut through feels hard. If I wanted to write about current affairs, I’d write for the newspapers here - it simply isn’t the kind of stuff I want to be writing about here with any regularity.
The fourth is that in order to feel good about my writing, I have to write what I want, versus what I think will do well on here. I have been guilty of doing that the last few weeks, and while they are pieces I want to write, I think I’ve forgotten the whole point of Substack. The reason I joined was to have a place where I could write what I wanted, and to be experimental, and weird, and have fun with it. You can’t be experimental and weird if you’re obsessively looking at the number of likes a post has and trying to game it.
The fifth, is to acknowledge that most people find it tough on here, and most of us don’t know what we are quite doing. And that is okay. It is still a relatively new platform that is trying to find its feet at the same time as we are. In the same way that it evolves and grows, we can also find ways to evolve and grow in a way that keeps our mental wellbeing at the heart of it.
And finally, the sixth is to identify what matters most to you. For me, it’s the community on here. It’s not just the supportive comments but people sharing parts of their lives with you like little flickers of gold. That’s what I love, and that’s what keeps me going.
Overall, do I regret the year of being on here? Not at all. I’ve read so much incredible work that I would never have access to elsewhere. I’ve been able to try different writing styles that match my mood at any given time. I’ve been able to write with the freedom I don’t have in any other part of my life.
Do I wish it wasn’t quite so hard to figure out how to grow? Sure. But in the same way that I write books because it matters to me and I love it versus whether it will sell a million copies (although, wouldn’t that bloody be nice), perhaps the same is true on here. I’d love to know your thoughts however, and how you’ve been finding it.
I’m not a writer, so I don’t use Substack in any sort of professional capacity. I’m a psychologist and one of the reasons I do what I do is because I believe in the value of making a difference, even if just for one person. To that end - your writing Poorna is one of the highlights of my day/week/month. Ever since I read Chase The Rainbow I’ve pre-ordered every book you’ve written and either devoured it in a couple of days or saved it as a delicious treat for my next holiday. I’ve never tended towards fiction because I find real life fascinating enough but I still gobbled up your fiction books! We’re about the same age and have similar taste in music and fashion with similar views on friendship, family and dating relationships but there’s differences in our cultural backgrounds and parenting status which means I’ve learnt so much from the eloquent way you describe your experiences. I paid up as a subscriber as soon as you offered it and am currently reading your sister’s book so I just want to say really that your writing has enriched my life, I can’t possibly be the only one who feels like this and I’d be devastated if I lost your work!
*whispers* substack is a bit shit