The Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem

How I’m building my Substack newsletters one step at a time with a supportive community

I love to write. I love to write about what I love.

Travel, relationships, books, deep insights, AI, photography, storytelling and a whole lot of interesting, sparkly, pretty topics that catch my eye.

I like to think I’m good at it, with people who follow me and a steady income on Medium. A pleasant little side hustle.

But lately there has been an elephant in the office. Medium itself. It caused us to create a comfort zone as it used to be a great place to write and interact.

Medium.com isn’t what it used to be, that’s for sure. I haven’t been alone in seeing my stories sag in reach and earning. Engagement dropped off. Earnings went into the glum zone.

Five years of building up a presence on Medium, working as an editor on several publications, enjoying a reasonable income, and things were sliding downhill. Other writers were complaining. Years of commitment and we were being abandoned by management.

Matters came to a head one morning when Dr Mehmet Yildiz, leader of the ILLUMINATION family of newsletters, closed his flagship publication ILLUMINATION-Curated — where I was a Senior Editor — and rebranded as Curated Newsletters. This was serious! And I saw the light.

Moving to Substack

Dr Mehmet has been putting more and more effort into Substack. He’s successful there, exploring and mapping the new terrain.

However, it has been a big step for me, moving out of my shrinking comfort zone on Medium to a whole new world on Substack.

I’m not a newsletter person. I’ve fiddled with MailChimp in the past but it didn’t really grab me. Too much work, not a coherent writing system. I’m a real lazybones when it comes to difficult things. Make myself a cup of coffee and look at the birds in the garden. That’s more like it!

Substack, wow! Now this is a whole carefully-thought-out world. I can create a newsletter with a few clicks and begin writing with a few more. The most difficult part was hooking up to my Stripe account so I could get paid. And that wasn’t difficult.

It might be simple to begin with but I could see that if I wanted to customise it, really make it my own, there were stacks of options. 

Substack is something I can enjoy.

And I am

I’ve been smiling pretty much full-time since taking the first steps on my Substack path. It’s fun. The Notes on Substack is something special. It is much more interactive than regular social media platforms.

I’m enjoying writing. I’m enjoying the community, I’m having a fabulous time putting together posts that I want my readers to enjoy.

The only problem is that there is so much to look at. So many writers all putting out great content.

And that, right there, is one very big difference from Medium. I was getting so very tired of seeing mediocre stories. AI stories and comments. Robot accounts producing a lot but nothing worthwhile. Clickbait drivel. 

And, amongst all the dross, good writers struggling to put out good stories and wondering why their readership and earnings were diminishing.

What could I bring to a newsletter?

It’s one thing to write to a site. People can come and look at my posts as they see fit. 

Quite different when it’s a newsletter and every story I write is packaged up in an email and dropped into the intray of every subscriber, usually with a little chirp and a splash notification.

I’d better make sure that interruption is worthwhile. 

One thing I know is storytelling. There are techniques and tactics. I can teach that.

I also know erotica. It’s fun to write, fun to read — if done well — and something that I suspect people want to know more about even if they don’t want to admit it.

There’s a good market for good erotica.

I set out to set up a newsletter for that purpose. Unclad Author is my cheeky name, intended to catch the eye; just a little whimsical, unexpected, intriguing.

After a week I added another for everything else. Just Britni is my casual space where I can republish classics and write new ones.

Those two will do me for now. 

Some of my best stories so far:

I have two publications.

Unclad Author:

• My Good Travel, Bad Sex Story
• My Good Travel, Bad Sex Story Analysis Part 1 (and Part 2)

Just Britni:

• The Night the Stars Aligned
• Hey, Alice the AI, Sling Me the Hot Goss on that Skank, Britni!
• Laneway Coffee

How can we grow together?

I’m interested in the platform. It’s new, it’s exciting, nobody is saying bad things about it. What can I learn? What can we learn?

Growing the audience. The journey is going to be all about the readers. No readers, no engagement, no money, no happiness. Three things I can do here:

1. Consistently create valuable, readable content. At least once a week come out with something good so that those readers who like your style will come back for fresh supplies.
2. Listen to the readers. Read their comments. Read their content. Answer their questions. 
3. Treat the readers as guests at your table. Look after them, feed them, respect them and you will automatically grow your Substack audience.

Substack subscriber count. Readers will become followers will become subscribers.

1. Give readers every easy opportunity to become subscribers. No hard sell but take the time to mention that if they don’t want to miss out on any of your posts, just become a subscriber. There’s no obligation, no pressure, but hey, look, here’s this “Subscribe” button at the end of every post.
2. Welcome them with a cheery email in your own voice. Make them feel that they are part of the community and you are glad they have arrived. Show them around. Introduce them. This personal attention — even if most of it is handled by carefully-worded emails and scripts — will boost Substack subscriber count.
3. Be aware of growth. Substack provides metrics on the author dashboard. There is a graph showing subscriber numbers and a table showing every possible data point. I particularly like the one giving each subscriber between 0 and 5 gold stars, according to engagement. I can identify at a glance — and sort them by number of stars — my core supporters.
4. Use Substack’s own referral and reward tools. It is, for readers who want to become subscribers, an internal affiliate program. For the reward of a few months of paid subscription rewards, they will promote your newsletter. This can snowball as more and more join your list and will boost your Substack subscribers.

What are the best practices for Substack growth? As Ryan Bingham says in Up in the Air, 

… make no mistake, moving is living. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We’re sharks.

If you want to succeed, you’ve got to grow. Swim out of your comfort zone.

1. Don’t just maintain a consistent publishing schedule, delivering valuable content regularly to keep subscribers engaged. Surprise them. Deliver that and a little more so there is always something new and delightful in their inbox.
2. Make the Substack analytics your friend. Track open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber growth. If the numbers turn around, you want to be on that immediately. Fix the problem and get back to growing your Substack brand.
3. Experiment with different content formats, such as interviews, polls, Q&As, or long-form articles, to cater to various reader preferences. Track each new form to see how it is received. If something is working, swim that way.

Make money from your newsletter. Admit it. It’s fun to write and have an audience but it takes time away from your other work and your family and friends. You want some reward for the effort.

1. The obvious way to monetize your Substack newsletter is to offer paid subscriptions and convert readers into paying customers. This is baked-in with Substack. Use the system. Offer extras for the paying customers such as communities and personal consultations.
2. Sell your own work through Substack. E-books, courses, artwork. Your best customers want more of you. They will happily pay a few dollars for your best work, especially if they can see a potential return on their Substack investment.
3. Partner with other providers. Carefully-chosen affiliate programs can return thousands of dollars, not just from paying subscribers but from anyone on the net who reads the posts after finding them through a web search. Load such posts down with SEO keywords and make them available for free.

Advertising your Substack newsletter. The best work in the world will go unread if nobody sees it. Get eyeballs on your work.

1. Nobody but the already sold will see your post first up. Everyone else will see a “teaser” thumbnail on a page of similar. Use eye-catching graphics and compelling subject lines to convert a glance to a click.
2. Give any potential readers a landing zone. Direct all to a page where the value of your newsletter is clearly communicated.
3. Craft a clear call to action in your posts to allow those you have convinced with words to take the next step.
4. Leverage social media — including Substack’s own internal Notes and Chat — to spark reader curiosity and drive them to your Substack page.
5. Work with other Substack creators to cross-promote each other’s newsletters. People want to be part of a community and when multiple newsletters work together they can draw more members into the tribe. 
6. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. Everyone has their own Substack newsletter marketing tips. See what works for others and maybe incorporate their ideas in your own way.

Effective writing tactics. You won’t draw readers in if your work is not compelling.

1. You need a strong brand, clear message, and unique voice to set your Substack newsletter apart from all the others.
2. Put quality ahead of quantity. Writing five pages of boring drivel every day for a year won’t win you any friends. Make every word count. Aim for a smile on the face of each subscriber when they see your email in their in-tray because they will be anticipating a treat. Keep that smile in mind as you write, delivering insightful, well-crafted content that resonates with your audience.
3. Engage with your readers. Let them know you care. You don’t have to respond to every one of hundreds of comments — and rest assured, you will get hundreds of comments if you are successful — just enough for readers to know that you are reading the feedback and there’s a chance they can attract your attention. 
4. Likes, comments, restacks are the currency of Substack. They snowball, raise visibility, attract more. Be generous with your own and welcome what you receive.
5. Read the writer resource pages for Substack success tips for writers. Try out their suggestions. They know their topic.

Increase engagement. You cannot take your audience for granted. Involve them as often as possible without being intrusive.

1. Ask questions, seek feedback, respond to comments. You want to keep your community aware and involved.
2. Take advantage of Substack’s A/B mechanisms to deliver tailored emails to different segments of your subscribers. One size doesn’t fit all. Some readers are transactional, some want cosy chat. Identify different styles and serve them well.
3. Run surveys and polls. People love to feel that their input counts — it definitely does — and by showing that you care about their views you will increase newsletter engagement on Substack. The readers will be your willing allies.

Promote your work. Be active in the wider community. If you are not visible, you stagnate and die.

1. Participate in relevant online discussions, forums, and communities, sharing your knowledge, letting your unique voice be heard, and subtly promoting your newsletter.
2. Take every chance to optimise your Substack content for search engines by incorporating relevant keywords and phrases, increasing organic visibility. Your best posts should be visible to everyone on the web, not just those you have already drawn into your community.
3. Host webinars or live events related to your niche, sharing your own valuable insights and presenting your Substack newsletter as a resource for further learning.
4. Watch what others in the field are doing to learn new and effective Substack promotion strategies that you can hijack for your own personal success.

Reach out to your audience. Find the people you want to read your content and be there for them in the best possible way.

1. Ensure your Substack newsletter is mobile-friendly. A significant portion of your audience will access it on their smartphones and through the app. When you are writing a post, use the “Preview” feature to check how it will look on desktop and mobile, web and app, paid and free and all the eight combinations of those alternatives.
2. Share your Substack posts on social media platforms, maximising visibility and driving traffic to your newsletter. This is a key component of optimizing Substack for maximum reach if you add a short note — just a couple of sentences or even a few words — enticing readers into clicking to see what treasure lies within. If they don’t click through they will never see all your hard work in crafting a killer post.
3. Make use of Substack’s SEO features to enhance your discoverability and attract organic subscribers. You can do this by checking the “Settings” on your Substack writing page and paying care to the wording of your headline, your SEO description, and the tags used in your post. These will be valuable “meta” data that will be used behind the scenes in making your post more visible to the right audience.

Be organised! If you have a plan you are one step ahead of those who are writing by the seat of their pants.

1. Use a content calendar to plan your newsletter topics in advance, ensuring a steady stream of valuable content. Even if it is just a bit of paper stuck on the fridge — or, in my case, a small whiteboard hanging on the back of my office door where it bangs and rattles each time I open or close the door — you are one step ahead of those who do nothing. I’m looking at a custom solution using Notion, More on this soon.
2. Provide a mix of your own original content and curated links to relevant articles or resources. If you see something you know your audience will enjoy, give them a share to it. You don’t have to do everything; some of the most popular websites are little more than a list of links to interesting resources.
3. Repurpose your Substack content into other formats, such as blog posts, social media posts, or podcasts, to expand your reach. Other media forms and platforms have different strengths and appeals to different consumers.
4. If you implement your own Substack content strategy for creators you will be in command, you will have a map of the path ahead, you will gain confidence and that will be apparent to your community. They will trust you as their guide.

You don’t have to do everything above. I certainly don’t and won’t. You want to stand out and if everybody is following the same path you are just one voice in a crowd. You will find your own best ways and strategies to find your audience, grow your community, and reap the rewards.

My guide, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, and His Supportive Community

I’ve begun on Substack at exactly the right time. Dr Mehmet — I’ve mentioned him above — has written a book called Substack Mastery and is publishing it, a chapter at a time and offering it as free on multiple platforms. He publishes them on his site Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights on Subtack.

He explained the purpose of the book here in Preface of My New Book “Substack Mastery” for Beta Readers.

For me, the most attractive part is that he leads a community of writers, guiding them to confidence and success. It is called Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community

This newsletter is to empower freelance writers and entrepreneurs of ILLUMINATION community both on Substack and Medium using our publications. By ILLUMINATION Curators

I cannot recommend him and his community too highly.

Summing up

I’m now putting most of my writing effort into building a Substack presence. I love the platform and have barely begun to touch the power, mainly because I’ve been having so much fun.

A few of the lessons I’ve picked up from discovering them myself, my years of experience in the Medium space, and from looking at what works for other Substack writers

I’m interested in hearing how others go. It’s fun to be around happy people!

Britni