Running Up That Hill
Little effort, yet more subscriptions: truly Stranger Things!
I’ve been on a bender into the non-Substack world. (Wait … there’s a non-Substack world? 😲 Is it upside-down?)
I’m working half-time for a company developing an ever-more useful (though probably-not-sentient) AI.
In the other half of the time, I’ve completed a few legal research projects and celebrated the return of Kate Bush 🏃♀️⬆️⛰️
The weird thing is, while I’m doing non-Substack things, people keep subscribing. Not just to Sub Pub – even to publications I don’t promote (until now) such as This is Not a Newsletter.
Sure, the new subscriptions are free, not paid. What else could I expect?
Even when I published multiple posts per week, I got only a few paid subscriptions. (I vow that when I start Sub Pub up again in earnest, I will search hard for the elusive secret to paid publishing success and report to you anything I find.)
So why the new subscribers?
The Substack app?
Recommendations from other Substackers?
Posts from the archive that occasionally resonate?
Luck?
I’m guessing all of the above.
You publish enough … you get forward momentum and support from the community … you’ll be running up that road, you’ll be running up that hill ...
I mean, seriously, Kate Bush did nothing but permit use of a song in Stranger Things, and it’s number 1 in the world.
If there’s hope for Kate (and for Max), there’s hope for us too. (I’m not sure that makes any sense … but just go with it.)
May your Substack and mine be running up that hill with no problems.
It's true that after a while things just sort of acheivetheir own momentum. I am glad I hung on through a long, long plateau when it seemed like nothing was happening. And yes, the new recommendations system seems to be benefitting everyone! It's really great.
I ended up gaining about 300 new subs in the past week and half. Jesse Ventura's new substack added mine to their recommended list and they started coming soon after. I assume most of the new folks don't know what I do but, they didn't leave after they received my snarky & sarcastic introduction email or my latest newsletter.
In the meantime, because Substack doesn't provide any idea of who unsubscribed on free subscriptions, I create a Google Sheet that does that for you. I was going to reach out since you write about substack. I'm providing it as a free tool for those who want it. If you are interested, I'll send you the link. Is your email the standard, subpub @ ss (dot) com. (obscured to avoid spam). Let me know if you are interested.