Seven hard-earned lessons from rebuilding on Substack and reaching Bestseller status in 1 year, with the practical steps behind each one. Written for professionals building their own presence.
From one Melanie to another...thanks for sharing your experience on building your Substack. I'm approaching 10 months myself.
I have found the same in that Notes drives the reads, subscribers and followers, but even more effective is commenting on the notes and posts of others. I don't find a benefit to going more than 1-3 times a day. I got a couple of ideas to experiment with from this and appreciate it.
Over the last couple of weeks I feel like LinkedIn is throttling my posts. 400 impressions is considered good… very wary of investing in a platform after Twitter turned into X. Substack is different.
Reach has dipped for nearly everyone this year, so 400 impressions is less a verdict on your writing and more a nudge to work with the algorithm: spending fifteen minutes commenting on other people's posts just before and after you publish still makes a genuine difference to who sees yours. LinkedIn rewards conversation over broadcasting, and the two platforms can feed each other rather than compete. Have you tried using your LinkedIn presence to point readers towards your Substack?
Thank you. I have tried but not very successfully. I have 2000+ followers on LinkedIn but only about 10% perhaps are on my Substack. Welcome any tips 🙏
Thanks for the detailed account of your journey. I love the contrast between (foolishly) looking to create “one brilliant article” vs showing up daily!
Thank you for the clarification about the initial pricing.
I remember listening to you last year during a Brenda Meller's workshop where you explained the higher price.
It's helpful to now have a different insight.
From one Melanie to another...thanks for sharing your experience on building your Substack. I'm approaching 10 months myself.
I have found the same in that Notes drives the reads, subscribers and followers, but even more effective is commenting on the notes and posts of others. I don't find a benefit to going more than 1-3 times a day. I got a couple of ideas to experiment with from this and appreciate it.
Wishing you continued success.
Over the last couple of weeks I feel like LinkedIn is throttling my posts. 400 impressions is considered good… very wary of investing in a platform after Twitter turned into X. Substack is different.
Reach has dipped for nearly everyone this year, so 400 impressions is less a verdict on your writing and more a nudge to work with the algorithm: spending fifteen minutes commenting on other people's posts just before and after you publish still makes a genuine difference to who sees yours. LinkedIn rewards conversation over broadcasting, and the two platforms can feed each other rather than compete. Have you tried using your LinkedIn presence to point readers towards your Substack?
Thank you. I have tried but not very successfully. I have 2000+ followers on LinkedIn but only about 10% perhaps are on my Substack. Welcome any tips 🙏
Nice article retired just about the time LinkedIn was on a fast path, before MS had it. So I had/have an account there but rarely use it. Take care.
Thank you for sharing this article. Thumps up for year II .
Thanks for the detailed account of your journey. I love the contrast between (foolishly) looking to create “one brilliant article” vs showing up daily!
Great insights here! Notes are like the songs that invite people to check out the full album (Posts).
What an amazing success story!
Thank you - it does feel a bit surreal but I'm enjoying showing people how I built it so they can replicate with their own LinkedIn presence
Yes and so many great tips. Always enjoy reading your posts.