For regular readers, this post is a deviation from what I normally write about. The next post will be back to regular programming. This post is mainly for writers who also read this, so if you’re not a writer, this post is very worthy of a skip.
Faux Holy Grail
The amount of articles I read about how to succeed on writing platforms is astounding. The truth is, none of the advice you’ll read is really that good. I see the value in helping new writers onboard and figure out the basic mechanics, but beyond that, the Hold-Your-Hand-to-the-Promised-Land economy is meh.
I think people trying to help writers find an audience are well-meaning. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. But, in the end, the end result is still bad. More on that later.
I think the best advice you can get is from someone who’s at the pinnacle of their craft; find the top ten writers in whatever category you’re in and see if they’ve talked about their journey to success. And then, probably ignore most of the advice you’ll come across, because if you look for enough advice almost every gem of knowledge you find will be contradicted by someone else with equal authority.
The reason for this is that every person’s path is different. Take a bird’s eye view. If there was a defined path to success—and I’ll assume we’re talking about monetary success here—then everybody who cares would follow it. If you’ve been online in the last decade, there are tons of people who want to do well. And, last time I checked, this holy grail eludes most people. Maybe, just maybe, there isn’t one. Surprise!
Most writers, old and new, get trapped in this advice purgatory. They chase so much online wisdom that they get stuck trying the same things over and over. The experts say this should work and it isn’t working for me so I must be doing something wrong. This is why most advice givers are ineffective, even if they don’t mean to be.
Do as I say, not as I do
Have you asked yourself any of the following questions?
What’s the best time to post an article?
Do I need a niche? If so, what are good niches?
Do I need to be on Notes and how do I do well on it?
How long should my articles be?
How often should I post?
I’ve asked myself every single one of these questions and then some. I’ve read articles trying to answer these things. I’ve researched writers I like to see what they do. The result? Not a damn thing.
Here are the answers I’ve trial & errored my way to:
I post in the mornings because I asked some friends when they want to receive my emails and they said in the morning. Yay, market research!
I wrote an article about this, and I still don’t have an answer. Your guess is literally as good as mine, if not better.
Yeah, I’m active on Notes because it’s fun. I have no idea how to “do well” on it, though. Some of my posts get tons of likes and others not a peep.
I’ve experimented with everything from bite-sized daily pieces (single paragraph length) to long form weekly essays. Both styles do well to attract different audiences.
Some big names post a few times a month, some others everyday. I’ve played around with daily articles to once or twice a week. I didn’t notice any real difference.
I’ve gone down the internet rabbit hole: tuning into online help sessions and talks. I’ve tried different methods to get my little corner of the internet out there. It’s worked (depending on what scale you’re using). I’m super pleased with how far this has come. Regardless, I’ve wasted too much time trying to find the right way to do things; instead, I should’ve been trying to do different things from the get-go to find what works for me.
What works in reality
What does actually work for me? Playing around with new ideas and methods myself. I don’t take anyone’s advice as gospel. Most importantly, I trust my gut. Why? You are not the person who’s giving you the advice. You don’t have the same audience as them. You don’t have the same writing style either. You’re living in a different world, because you are you.
The only concrete advice I think worth sharing is the following:
Post things.
Stick around.
That’s it. Why…so…vague? You might be picking up on this by now: there are no magic answers. Regardless, some explanation:
Posting things is exactly how it sounds. Post what you want to create. And, yeah, that could anything. There’s tons of text-based content already on here, so maybe the next new thing is audio or video only. Maybe it’s still text. I don’t know.
You won’t see tangible results if you post one thing and bail. If you’re posting with an audience of 0, then, unless you get picked up by the almighty algorithm, you might be the only person to read it.
Oh my god that’s so disheartening! You are correct.
You don’t need any more advice. And, for the love of all that is holy, if you’re starting out please don’t pay someone to help you grow. First, see if you even like writing publicly. Are you going through a phase? Will you even be doing this in six months?
In the 9 months I’ve consistently been writing, I’ve reached about 100 subscribers. That’s pretty cool for me. Writing is a hobby, and it’s cool to see that people that I don’t even know enjoy reading what I publish. It’s all about perspective. 100 subscribers to some people will be a joke, to others that might be the biggest milestone they can fathom.
If you’re looking for a ray of hope, there are people who grow way quicker.
, someone you should check out, probably just his writing (he might be in a relationship), started in November 2023 and has thousands of subscribers and a coveted bestseller’s checkmark already.
His growth has been a rocket ship by my standards. If you read his article, or his newer one that’s a follow-up, you’ll see he has his own unique take on growth. Like I said earlier, everyone has a different path and viewpoint. You have to do what works best for you.
Takeaways
All that being said, go out there and write, and stick around to see what happens. Most importantly, don’t take anything that I say here too seriously either. I could be completely wrong. That’s the fun part about writing. It’s trial & error. What works as a writer/Substacker with my worldview and personality might be sacrilegious to someone else.
Spend more time doing and stop wasting your time following every hack someone publishes about making it big.
Honestly if I'm summarizing this correctly you are saying:
1. Look for advice from the best of the best first.
2. Iterate quickly early on and see what works.
This is pretty much my way of learning anything new. It works really well.
An interesting article and thanks for the mention. if you want my two cents I think it's probably harder to grow under a pseudonym, people find it kind of easier to connect to a face, a person. But that being said I can totally understand how freeing it must be as well.
Ultimately I think growth is a mix of luck (right place right time), forcing your luck a bit (working reciprocity, creating a community) and most importantly finessing one's voice.
x r