How do you write a Substack post that resonates with readers and draws new subscribers to your Substack? In this post, I share one of my most successful Substack posts, along with insights into how and why it gained traction.. The post brought 287 new subscribers into the Caffeinated Writer Community, generated $656 in subscription revenue, and led to $7,200 in revenue from courses and one-on-one coaching. (The post has generated new subscriptions since I first recorded this video).
By “success,” I mean organic reader engagement, not views. Views are meaningless without engagement. Engagement is a measure of how many people commented on a post, shared it, and subscribed after reading it. Although likes do matter for the Substack algorithm, as a writer, I am far more enthusiastic about comments. It’s easy for readers to “like” a post without really reading it. Comments are more meaningful because they indicate that readers have spent time thinking about what you have to say and they want to be part of the conversation.
I wrote the body of the post more than a decade ago for an earlier version of my newsletter, and I added new information when I repurposed the post for Substack. The main source of paid subscriptions for this post may surprise you; it certainly surprised me!
It is not one of my longest posts. It is certainly not one of my most time-consuming posts. It is not a “how-to” post, and it is has nothing to do with Substack or sales. It’s a post about writing and finding a home for one’s writing.
