How to Keep Your Substack Alive
Congratulations, you started a women’s health Substack! Now, what?
According to a recent article I read, Substack reports that 84% of all Substacks are abandoned within 10 weeks. That's a significant number.
Here are my top tips for keeping your Substack active to avoid becoming a statistic. By following these strategies, I gained 700 subscribers in the first six months of writing The Periprofessional, my first publication.
These are my original ideas based on my experience:
1. Manage Expectations
It's unrealistic to expect that you'll become an overnight sensation on Substack right away, especially if you don’t already have a following elsewhere that you’re bringing to this platform. It takes time to stand out, grow your audience, and find your rhythm. Give yourself permission to progress at your own pace; this isn't a competition against others.
2. To Note or Not to Note
Substack Notes is a useful tool within Substack for showcasing your work and introducing yourself to new audiences. However, building a following takes time here, too, so be patient if you don't gain attention right away.
The Substack Notes algorithm is new and may not function as you expect. If you feel frustrated, remember that the issue often lies with the algorithm, not with you.
For The Periprofessional side, I use Notes to discuss various aspects of my life outside of my Substack topic, although I occasionally promote my work as well. It’s the only place where I can share things that aren't focused on perimenopause, so I use it to connect with people outside of this interest.
For the Women’s Health 365 Collective, I use Notes to promote women’s health Substackers and their work, provide women’s health news, and share what we’re doing at the Collective.
You can use Notes similarly or combine both ideas. Whichever you choose, make sure to read and interact with others' posts too. Follow a few people whose work interests you. They may not reciprocate, and that’s okay. Make becoming a part of the Substack community a priority. Notes is a great way to jump in.
Notes can be a time suck, though, so be mindful of how much you're spending here to avoid impacting your publishing schedule.
3. Consistency Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg
Others who write about how to succeed on Substack always include consistency, and while I think this is an important aspect, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Instead, I believe focusing on reliability is more important and is the parent of consistency.
I can consistently publish articles every week, but if I’m not a reliable author and I don’t engage with my readers by replying to comments, responding to Notes, and addressing DMs, I risk giving the impression that I don’t value them.
My goal is to respond to everything within 48 hours, yet I usually respond much faster. Because of my responsiveness, people have come to trust me. No one likes to feel that they or their comment has been ignored. My readers know that if they take the time to comment, I’m going to take the time to reply.
4. Don’t Be A Lone Wolf
Substack is so much more fun when you make a friend or two. It’s sometimes hard to break in at the beginning when it seems everyone knows each other, but you’ll eventually meet people when you’ve been here for a while, show them your authentic self, and stay engaged.
Although it may be tempting to play the “I’ll subscribe to you, and you subscribe back” game, it’s not in your best interest in the long run. You want your subscribers to reflect quality, not quantity, or you’re just talking to dead air. You don’t want just numbers, you want reach. Your open rates will reflect that.
I take a peek at every subscriber on The Periprofessional to make sure that they are my target audience, and I will unsubscribe them if they aren’t. I share a lot of personal information and I want to protect my ability to share so freely.
That doesn’t mean I automatically unsubscribe men. It’s just as important that men understand perimenopause too. I look for motive. There are some suspicious men and bots who have been subscribing to only women’s Substacks. They are the ones that seem to DM with “Hey, cutie, how are you doing today?” There was a man who subscribed whose picture showed him as one man, but when he DM’ed me a few days later, his picture had changed to a completely different man. Unsubscribe.
There are other games that people play, like subscribing to you so that you feel obligated to subscribe back, and then they unsubscribe. Signing up for other’s Substacks without having an interest in the topic gets quickly overwhelming.
People have mentioned there are a lot of bots here, too (which I don’t really understand). Numbers are great, but that’s not my goal. I’m looking for the right audience, and I’d rather have 700 of the right readers than 2,000 of the wrong ones. This helps keep my open rate very high.
However, on the flip side, I have met some lovely, generous, funny people through Substack. Where else can a middle-aged American woman become friends with a university student in Bangalore? Or inspire a 20-year-old to have a conversation with their mother about her menopause experience. It’s all possible on Substack!
5. Find An Accountability Partner
It’s hard, especially in the beginning, to write article after article week after week (or even more frequently) when you get very little reward for your effort. The personal satisfaction is only sustainable for a short while. Soon enough, disappointment and frustration will set in, feeling like you’re not growing as fast as you’d like.
In these times, it’s helpful to have an accountability partner to help guide you through. This could be someone with experience with Substack or even someone outside of the platform who can provide encouragement and advice to keep you motivated, improve your efforts, and help you stick with it.
These are the things I keep in mind daily, especially when I may go a few days with no new subscribers (which can happen; it seems to be cyclical, and others have agreed). I hope they help keep you motivated and sharing your work. Substack is more fun the longer you stay!
If you enjoyed reading this article and think I could be a great resource to help you grow your Substack, please consider pledging your support! This can open the door to fun and creative ways to expand your audience and make your content shine even brighter.
Let’s team up and take your women’s health-focused Substack to the next level together!
Not ready to pledge yet? No worries; take your time and get to know me first. In the meantime, consider becoming a free subscriber. Anyone interested in women’s health is welcome!
