Substack Diaries: How May became a month of transformation

May 2024 recap and numbers

Jun 07, 2024

Gratitude spotlight: Heartfelt thanks to

Harneek Chawla

from Harneek’s Substack,
Han Swierstra
from The Orkney Outpost, and
Jill_KeyWellnessllc
from Jill’s Substack! It means so much that you upgraded. Forever grateful.

May is a big month for me.

This time last year, I left my job and travelled up to be with my mum for her operation.

This year, it is eventful in a different way, and a lot of it has to do with you.

In April’s Substack recap, you held space for me and encouraged me to be brave and turn on paid. In my journey to heal my relationship with money and worth, this was a big step for me. Your supportive words helped me more than you know. I feel so lucky to have such wise people in my tribe.

Another eventful thing happened: I hit 1,000 (1K) subscribers!

Isn’t Emily Charlotte Powell is just the sweetest! She kindly sent this to me

When you sit with 7 subscribers for 8 months, 1K seems incredibly out of reach.

My hubby asked me recently what I enjoyed about Substack and what’s kept me going.

I remembered back to when I started writing every single week. A big part that kept me going were those first few readers who made me feel like I was no longer writing out to the void.

It prompted me to write this Note recently. Here’s an excerpt:

I think a lot of us started writing because we could no longer ignore the nudge inside us (and we would probably write, whether we had an audience or not).

For me, connection was a big part of my writing. When I write, I want people to feel less alone in their journey and Substack has provided a way to do that.

So to those of you who have just started writing or have dreams to write, treasure those first few readers.

Don’t worry about the numbers or trying to replicate what others are doing to “grow”. Nurture your community, go out and find new and interesting writers and lean into what makes you, YOU!

To those generous souls who support and comment on our publications, you are the MVP that help keep us going!

I’ve decided to switch things around. I’m putting my numbers down the bottom. As we head into bigger numbers, it may be a bit triggering for people. I want to give you the option to not look at them if you think the comparison will make you feel bad. When I started sharing my numbers, I thought it would be a fun way to take you on my journey. However, I know we are all human and I’m the first to admit that I have had the comparison monster creep on my shoulder and whisper thoughts in my mind like, “they started after me”, “how come I don’t have [fill in the blank]”, “I wish I could get paid too”. I never want my journey to cause those feelings in people, but I do want to keep taking you behind the scenes. Please let me know how it’s sitting with you.

Things I tried:

I did a call-out on Notes for pieces about reimagining success and got a tremendous response. As someone who is on a journey to heal from hustle culture, I knew that Substack was rich with people writing about this topic. I received a lot of submissions and collated it all (and more have poured in on the comments section) so we can all enjoy and discover some fantastic new writers!
I started a paid subscription with no paywall. Turning on the paid option while keeping everything free felt incredibly good. Honestly, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. This was more of an experiment in opening myself up to receiving. Giving my time and energy on Substack has been easy and deeply fulfilling, but preparing myself to receive was a different story. So how did it go? It’s been truly touching and humbling. I recently shared experience in a DM with
Anne Kadet
, who inspired me to try this model. (Check out her Note that inspired me in this post—I also share the unexpected outcome after turning on the paid feature.)
Make a one-off contribution
(I know that some of you wish you could but are unable to, I totally understand, I feel your support and am so grateful for it!)

What I learned:

I don’t have control of what happens after I push publish. With May being a big month, I had big feels. I opened up my heart about my struggles with turning on paid and learned that I can lean on my community for help. I took a moment to reflect on life after leaving my job, and the comment section was hugely affirming and made me realise I wasn’t the only one on this path. I shared about overcoming my fear of turning on paid and put together lots of resources for those who are looking to turn on paid. It was the first time all my pieces got over 1K views each (including the collection and find my tribe series). It made me reflect about how I never know which pieces are going to be shared, I never know which pieces will be opened by email or read through the app, I never know if a piece will get comments. I don’t have control over whether someone will then subscribe. So much is out of my control after I push publish. If I fixate on the numbers I would go nuts and it will steal the joy I have here. All I can do is surrender and write from the heart. (And let’s not forget nurture my community as they nurture me.)
Guest contributions take time and need to be managed. I've been lucky enough to get asked to contribute to other people's publications, which is exciting. My first collab with
Marika Páez Wiesen
was about doing an experiment to curb my night-scrolling habit. She made the whole process super easy, plus, I ended up with a lovely new friend! But honestly, I forgot how much time it actually takes. I've been working on a draft recently, and wow, it really eats up the hours! I think I'll need to limit myself to one guest piece a month.
There is a way to add a button for recommendations! I have been asked many times, how do you get the recommendation button that appeared at the bottom of some of my pieces. Substack puts it there, so it’s out of our control. HOWEVER! I found a link. I tried it and I think it works!
- Create a custom button
- In the “Enter text”, write whatever you like. I wrote “Recommend writers you enjoy!” in last month’s recap
- In the “Enter URL”, copy and paste https://your.substack.com/publish/settings/recommendations
- This should take that person to their recommendations tab in their Dashboard. Pretty cool right!
- Also, some writers don’t use Recommendations a lot, so they may feel uncomfortable if you ask them to recommend you. Another tip from last month’s recap, “I wouldn't suggest recommending a writer with the expectation of receiving one in return. Instead, focus on spreading positivity! Generously recommend writers you enjoy and leave them an encouraging comment. You're sure to brighten their day!”
Recommend writers you enjoy!

What I’m struggling with:

Do I always include a spiel about upgrading? Or should I leave it out? Should it be on some newsletters and not others? Should I go back to previous newsletters and update that there is an option to upgrade now? These are the thoughts that are rattling around in my head. I have no idea what the right answer is.

May (real) numbers

WARNING: If you get triggered/feel bad when you see other people’s numbers, skip this! Do not read on.

I love it when people open up about their journey, especially the nitty-gritty details of starting something new. Here's me, sharing it all, stepping into the Substack world with no email list to my name.

Total subscribers: 1077

Started: 0
April-Nov: 7
Dec: 20
Jan: 163
Feb: 196
Mar: 175
April: 161
May: 355 loooovely people joined! 🥰 Thank you and welcome! 👋

Total posts: 26

Apr: 1
Oct: 1
Dec: 6
Jan: 5
Feb: 4
Mar: 4
Apr: 4
May: 5
I’ve been posting every week since the start of December. I took a week off in March.

Total recommendations: 97 (18 written recommendations)

Dec: 1
Jan: 14
Feb: 15 (2 new written recommendations)
Mar: 13 (4 new written recommendations)
Apr: 18 (4 new written recommendations)
May: 36 AMAZING subscribers recommended musings by mika, thank you, thank you! 🥰 (I also received 8 new written recommendations, which was so generous and kind💕)

Total subscribers from recommendations: 312

Jan: 6
Feb: 14
Mar: 50
Apr: 78
May: 151 of you joined through recommendations in May! 😱

NEW! Paid subscribers: 4

May: 4

Revenue: NZ$163.28 (Approx: US$101.31, £79.16)

May: Gross: NZ$163.28 (After 10% Substack fees, 2.9%+30 cents per transaction Stripe fees: NZ$139.30, US$86.43, £67.53)

✍️ Let me know in the comments: How do you feel when you see other’s numbers?

Make a one-off contribution

If you’ve found the Substack Diaries helpful, and you’re in a position to do so, here is the link to upgrade (currently NZ$55 a year (as of today US$34/£27)). If you are unable to, or are happy to stay on the free subscription, that is totally ok with me too! I’m just glad you’re in our supportive community.