My Substack has been declining for two years
I've been too ashamed to talk about it. Now, I'm going to show you my actual stats, talk about failure, common patterns of behaviour with a subscription model and what definitely does work on Substack
When you’re running a business, online, and bringing in parts of your personal life, there’s a temptation to only show the glossy bits. The success stories, the book deals, the course launches that bring in £10,000+, the Substack stats on the up.
After all, if part of your business is teaching business, what happens when yours is in decline? How can you teach someone how to launch and grow on Substack when your growth has stunted, plateaued or started to reverse?
Well, I value honesty. This is a personal and business value.
And I think we have a duty to share a fuller version of our work/lives, not just the ‘success’, if we’re going to share anything at all. So today, I’m going to tell you the story of my Substack steadily declining, because I’ve learnt from it (and you can, too).
There’s a caveat here. My personal Substack has been slowly declining - so a failure of sorts, though I still have hundreds of paid subscribers, so not a total failure, more on that towards the end - but, I’ve launched another Substack that is, excitingly, thriving.
In fact, my newest Substack - The Creative Way Collective - is just two months old, and I’m already earning nearly as much, from that one, as I am from my personal Substack, the one you’re reading now, which is over three years old.
(Not to mention the joy of connecting with other writers, over there.)
I have a third Substack, We Hyperfocus, that is pootling along; neither failing nor succeeding, financially. That one is about the mission, but I will also tell you, in time, about what I’m going to start offering over there to try monetising it differently.
Basically, I’ve set up and I run three Substacks, with quite different intentions, and now I can tell you what works, what doesn’t, what to try and how to avoid a slow decline like mine, which I’m now working to correct.
Growth and decline
I’ve been writing on Substack for three years and four months. In the first year, I saw fast growth. It peaked after a year and a half and for the next year and 10 months, it slowly declined. In terms of revenue, it’s now half what it was at its peak.
In that time, I’ve written a lot of personal essays, plus some self-development pieces and business tips. I’ve used it like a creative playground, experimenting with writing styles and I’ve also invited readers to join my ‘The Creative Way’ online courses.
At points, I’ve being quite stubborn about writing whatever I fancy, as this is the creative way. But, we can take a creative approach while also giving readers what they are asking for. After all, we are here, on Substack, to earn a living as writers.
(And, there’s a way to honour your creative freedom and integrity, while also popping on your business hat. To be both artist and entrepreneur. Creative and teacher. More on that later.)
I thought about giving up
Since the dip began, I’ve considered giving it all up so many times. Subscription models feel amazing when they’re on the up but when people leave, it’s a little kick every time. An ego kick. A financial kick. A kick to your creative energy.
Especially as my home-life has been very challenging, these past few years.
However, I know that the only Substack writers who will succeed are those who persevere. And I want to be one of them. I want to succeed. I want to work towards not just getting back to where I was but surpassing it.
I’m actively returning to my goal of 1000+ paid subscribers.
And I want to bring you along for the ride because this is the crunchy middle. The bit we can all bite into. The exciting moment where you decide that in spite of the decline - and failure - you’re going to keep going. And go harder. Properly challenge yourself.
I’m now going to share a graph of my entire three and half years on Substack, including revenue, free subscribers and paid subscribers. I’ll explain the high points and the drops - and share my new plan-of-action.
Next week, I’ll write more about my other two platforms: The Creative Way Collective and We Hyperfocus. What I’m doing on those two, what I’ll try next and how much I’m earning from them. Plus, what they’ve taught me about how to approach this one.
Here’s my new bio for this Substack:
Work/life essays that will help you to grow a freelance career, move through failure, reach for success and remain hopeful. Hope is the golden thread. From Annie Ridout (author, journalist, poet, coach, mother and entrepreneur)
