By Briana Booker
SUBSCRIBE TO FROMGIRLTOGIRL.COM SUBSTACK.
What is Substack?
Substack,the email newsletter platform, features a simple interface to publish and help writers monetize posts on the web. The platform is now a go-to for journalists, editors or advertisement sales to get messages across.
Whether paywalled or published for free, you can grow your substack audience by participating in discussion threads to have conversations with subscribers.
Some great features Substack creators should consider are:
Substack for Podcasts, which allows audio creators to publish and grow their podcasts.
Substack is now beta testing a video player to help creators grow their audience.
Who are Substack Creators?
- Traditional writers ( Primary Creators)
- Media figures
- Journalists
- Thought leaders
- Musical Artists
How to start a Substack and be successful
It’s incredibly easy to sign up and start posting on Substack. Follow these steps, and you’ll be publishing in minutes.
Define your niche
Decide who is your audience and know their desires, concerns, viewing habits, and what they are willing to buy.
Sign up for a Substack account
You can use an email or sign up with your Twitter account. Substack’s Twitter integration makes it easy to link your contacts and feature your newsletter and bio. This works well for Substack creators who have a large Twitter following.
Create your publication on Substack
- Name your publication
- Write a summary and be sure to include what it is about and confirm your URL. The more creative and short the summary, the easier it will be to draw in subscribers. Get viewers excited about reading your content.
Import your mailing list
I decided to import some of Fromgirltogirl.com’s subscribers. I did it by uploading a CSV file to import contacts but Mailchimp, TinyLetter, or Patreon can make importing your mailing list easier. Just make sure your subscribers consent.
How to add subscribers to Substack
You manually add family, friends, and business associates to your subscriber list as a way to build a subscriber base. Don’t worry about the long haul way you will continue to grow subscribers, just get started.
I recommend signing up with a second personal email address to see your newsletter exactly as it looks to your substack subscribers.
Create a post on Substack
Once you’ve signed up, you’ll be directed to the Dashboard, where you can create a New post, New thread or New episode. The interface is straightforward: Write, format, and publish.
How to grow your Substack
Substack is a tool rather than a social network. Use marketing and promotional tools to grow your substack subscribers and monetize.
Here is how Fromgirltogirl.com can help you grow your substack subscribers and monetize.
Call to action
With 14+ years in drafting call-to-action copywriting , Briana Booker, Chief Editor of Fromgirltogirl.com, can help you fill in your posts with headers, footers, and buttons to make it easy for readers and viewers to subscribe to your newsletter, share your content, and comment on your posts.
Use social media
Always post your newsletters on social media. Break down your content via Twitter threads and screen shot key takeaways for Instagram or set up direct integration with Facebook.
Add Comments
Substack thrives on discussion. So make comments on related posts link back to your own Substack.
Build partnerships
Guest post on other people’s Substacks, interview other creators on your own, ask relevant accounts on social media to share your publication and make people pay for a sponsorship.
Substack did their own case study, following Ali Abouelatta and his blog First 1000 , where he describes how he gained over 20,000 subscribers within three years. Ali Abouelatta achieved this growth by engaging with his niche outside of the platform and marketing through Quora, Discord, WhatsApp and Slack.
Is Substack free?
As a publisher, Substack is free to create an account, and publish text or audio without paying for storage. Moreover, the majority of Substack posts are free to read.
It’s up to content creators whether or not to place their work behind a paywall. We recommend Substack creators offer a mixture of free and premium paid content to subscribers.
A subscription to a paid Substack averages around $5 a month but really popular substack pages have seen subscribers willing to pay up to $50.
How to make money on Substack
Make money on Substack by selling subscriptions to your content. Substack readers are willing to pay for good content. Sell more subscriptions in the following ways:
- Be Consistent. You want to convert your readers and viewers to loyal fans. The best way to do that is to publish regularly and be reliable. Publish free post on every designated day ( end of the week) and a paid post on another designated ( start of the week).
- Be Interesting. If you need a Substack editor, connect with Fromgirltogirl.com by emailing advertise@fromgirltogirl.com. Briana Booker will copy edit your work so substack subscribers can enjoy your content.
- Stay Free. Creating free content is the best way to build your subscriber base. Do not paywall any more than 50% of your content.
Is Substack worth it?
To market your substack use TikTok , Pinterest, and engage thought leadership, and stick to a content writing schedule or creation calendar. People become loyal subscribers by reading and viewing useful content or interesting information.
Post your Substack on your homepage, social media sites, company email signatures and anywhere you can display URLs or weblinks. This will help your substack search engine rankings so people can come across your Substack organically.