What I’ve learned from starting a Substack newsletter

It has been three months since I started writing this newsletter. During that time, I’ve learnt a lot about newsletters but also a lot about myself. When I started, I didn’t really know what I was looking to do but I knew I needed to do something to take myself away from scrawling through my phone every evening. So I gave it a go.

This is what happened…..

When I first started my blog, I had no idea what to expect. I had a passion for writing and wanted to share my thoughts and ideas with the world, but I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in reading them. However, I decided to take the leap and start my blog anyway, and I'm so glad I did.

In the beginning, my blog was a small, personal project that I worked on in my spare time. I wrote a few posts and shared them on my social media accounts, but I didn't see much traction. I knew I needed to put in more effort if I wanted to grow my audience and make my blog a success.

That's when I decided to focus on promotion. I started reaching out to other bloggers and influencers in my niche and building relationships with them. I also began using social media and other platforms to promote my blog and attract new readers.

As I continued to promote my blog and write new posts, I started to see an increase in my followers and website traffic. I also began to receive positive feedback from my readers, which motivated me to keep going.

One of the key to success for my blog was planning my post. I started to plan out my content well in advance and made sure to publish new posts regularly. I also made sure to diversify my content, so I wasn't just writing about the same thing all the time. This helped to keep my readers engaged and coming back for more.

Overall, I've been thrilled with the progress I've made with my blog. It's been a journey filled with challenges and obstacles, but it's also been incredibly rewarding. I've built a community of loyal readers and made connections with other bloggers and influencers. I can't wait to see where my blog takes me in the future.

If you're thinking about starting a blog, don't be afraid to take the leap. It's a lot of work, but it's also incredibly rewarding. Just be sure to stay focused, keep promoting, and always be open to new opportunities."Thanks for reading. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Why I started a newsletter

The main catalyst for starting this newsletter was a YouTube video by Ali Abdaal. He spoke at length about the benefits of writing a newsletter and I thought “why not give it a go”.

I was also looking for something to do in those little bits of time in between running baths for children and getting ready to watch the television in the evening. It’s those small chunks of time when I used to look at my phone and probably watch videos covering the latest news. I knew I was“doom scrolling” articles, getting deeper and deeper into depressing topics. It was really bad for my mental health. I knew it was, so I needed something to take me away from that habit.

The newsletter was one of those things that filled that time and it became really interesting to see where it would go. It quickly became a project to see what you could achieve if you put all those little bits of time to good use.

So, what’s the newsletter about?

I’ve written about mental health and exercise and getting out in the open. I’ve written about data and how to create a data strategy and about my experiments with social media. In essence, I’ve been exploring subjects that interest me in the hope that someone else might interest be interested in too. I don’t take myself too seriously and I certainly don’t take my writing too seriously. It was really just a case of seeing where it goes.

In fact what I’ve discovered is that I actually quite enjoy writing. This is probably the thing that surprised me the most about writing a newsletter. I was never amazing at writing during my school years and since then I’ve written technical notes and technical reports but never really written for enjoyment.

Firstly, I realised that I’ve actually got quite a bit to say. It may not all be interesting to everybody but there’s some stuff in the brain that may be interesting or at least useful to some other people. I’m a natural introvert so video formats would scare me but being able to write something down and share it gives a medium that I’m more comfortable with.

But the most surprising thing has been the community element to it. I probably envisaged writing articles and sending them out into the ether with little feedback coming the other way. The reality is that there is large and engaged community of writers and bloggers on Substack that are always happy to support and share their knowledge. That has been really heartwarming at times. So thank you for creating this community of writers.

Great writers such as bring different cultures to you and if you want more of a economics based post then always has an interesting take on the world such his recent post on the crazy European gas situation.

Although I’ve spent quite a bit of time sitting here on my own writing the newsletter it’s actually been a really sociable activity. I’ve made a lot of new connections found out about newsletters by other people. There is a real community online that is supportive and provides constructive feedback.

I feel like a little piece of the internet has been created by me

Maybe this sounds a little strange but it’s great having your own little part of the internet. It’s always there, morning, noon and night. Always LIVE and always accessible by everyone on the planet. That’s amazing really. I can dedicate that space to whatever I feel my subscribers will enjoy. Love it.

So why did I choose Substack?

There are many different options out there these days to create a newsletter. LinkedIn now has a newsletter option, Twitter bought Revue and there are of course other platforms that can help you manage an email list.

As I explained above there is a real community feel to Substack. In fact, nearly a quarter of my subscribers have come directly from the Substack community.

You also own your list of email addresses. Creating on other platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter may be easier to leverage their algorithm to spread the word but you are dependent on their platform for hosting and we can all see the troubles at Twitter that could make you a little nervous about that.

Substack also has the option of going paid. I should say at this point that I have no immediate intention to go paid but I like the thought of maybe one day going down that route. Who knows. The platform is versatile enough to allow you to have some free and some paid content. Or you could have all your content free, but people could pay to engage with your posts and join your community. Horses for courses.

Substack works as half newsletter and half blog. It works in a traditional newsletter way by allowing you to build your email list and then you can send out a regular newsletter to those on your list. It also works as a blog where your posts are presented in a website style with a landing page and the ability to create different sections to your own website.

Substack is very easy to use. It doesn’t have the versatility of Wordpress or similar platforms but that is the beauty of it. You can start a Substack today and begin writing straight away and it looks great without much effort.

Substack’s cross promotion is strong and getting stronger. You have the ability to recommend other newsletters to your readers on your home page. So far, I have generated about 30 subscriptions for other newsletters by cross promotion. Top on my recommendation list are and . You will also notice here that by “@mentioning” other substacks it creates a dynamic link so you can check them out. Nice.

What next?

I still feel I’m finding out what I enjoy writing about and most importantly what people find interesting!

I’m tempted to create a dedicated section to “Improving your LinkedIn game”. I’ve been reaching out to people and helping them improve their LinkedIn in so I feel I have something to offer here.

I’m just keen to see where it goes and test out where I can support people thorough sharing what I’m learning about. As long as I’m doing that then it’s worth carrying on!

If you think someone your network would find this interesting please feel free to click the button below to share a link. The more the merrier. I would also love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Please also feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn - Martin Prior.

Looking for great newsletters and blogs to sign up to? Try The Sample

Each morning, The Sample sends you one article from a blog or newsletter that matches up with your interests. When you get one you like, you can subscribe to the writer with one click. Sign up here.

Also, if you have a newsletter you would like to promote, they offer a great service that gets your writing out there to a new audience.