Then I see the group you and I and so many of our friends are in: We achieve some success (my Tranith Argan fantasy serial has almost 500 subscribers, putting me #2 when you search for “fantasy”), but not the big-time success of the famous authors who get thousands of subs quickly. We are happy with our success (I never thought I’d get this many subs), we keep contributing, we are happy to meet each other.
It’s like the business world: a few people are the CEOs and billionaire startup founders. The rest of us are like the people who get a steady paycheck and take two vacations a year and enjoy life.
True! There's definitely a third group, but I think it thins out as people tend to "give up" when they don't see numerical or financial success (unfortunately). I think we just have to be honest with ourselves when we join Substack - are we writing for financial gain? To increase our audience? For personal fulfillment? Then stay true to that reasoning. I think I'll share a Note about this today.
Yes, this is so true! I remember when first joined Substack I didn’t know what to write ended up writing on content creation. Then the post slowly merged to how to write on Substack. I had double the subscribers I have now but every time I went to write I realized I didn’t love my niche
I decided to shift to poetry and start from scratch. It’s much more fulfilling but the growth way slower
It's such a frustrating dichotomy at times. It makes sense that people want to pay for advice that they think will bring them financial gain, but the rat race tends to suck the creativity out of people. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I see the same two groups.
Then I see the group you and I and so many of our friends are in: We achieve some success (my Tranith Argan fantasy serial has almost 500 subscribers, putting me #2 when you search for “fantasy”), but not the big-time success of the famous authors who get thousands of subs quickly. We are happy with our success (I never thought I’d get this many subs), we keep contributing, we are happy to meet each other.
It’s like the business world: a few people are the CEOs and billionaire startup founders. The rest of us are like the people who get a steady paycheck and take two vacations a year and enjoy life.
True! There's definitely a third group, but I think it thins out as people tend to "give up" when they don't see numerical or financial success (unfortunately). I think we just have to be honest with ourselves when we join Substack - are we writing for financial gain? To increase our audience? For personal fulfillment? Then stay true to that reasoning. I think I'll share a Note about this today.
Yes, this is so true! I remember when first joined Substack I didn’t know what to write ended up writing on content creation. Then the post slowly merged to how to write on Substack. I had double the subscribers I have now but every time I went to write I realized I didn’t love my niche
I decided to shift to poetry and start from scratch. It’s much more fulfilling but the growth way slower
It's such a frustrating dichotomy at times. It makes sense that people want to pay for advice that they think will bring them financial gain, but the rat race tends to suck the creativity out of people. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thank you for the mention