Nine months ago, I published a post called “How I make six figures on Substack”. I know, it’s quite a grabby headline, but the main reason I wrote it was because I was amazed! Substack still felt like a bit of a secret party and I wanted other writers to know about it. I also personally know a lot of people (women, especially) who dare not discuss money. I know many writers who are scared to follow up on invoices, sign terrible payment deals with publishers, never ask for more and accept fees that are way too low for what they’re worth. It’s a tricky, emotional, weird subject. But I’m happy to talk about these topics behind my paywall, because it’s a safer space to discuss things.
The Internet has evolved and we don’t need to reach big numbers of people to spark a meaningful connection. We can speak to a micro-community. We don’t have to broadcast endlessly on social media to lurkers. We can cultivate smaller communities full of people we trust. We can discuss things with people who want to opt-in. And, earn money! I don’t necessarily want to discuss personal learnings or topics with anyone, it feels too broad and untethered, but I do like discussing it with my community here. I enjoy using the Internet to open up conversations that will benefit all of us.
Anyway, a lot of people read that article, and then it got re-shared by Substack HQ itself, so many more people read it. I haven’t written a ‘how-to’ post since — it’s not what I’m here for, I’m here to write. No-one creates a 6-figure business overnight, it takes years of community building and ironically often doing a lot of things for free first— but I wanted to write the piece because I wanted to point a big arrow towards what platforms like Substack can offer. The possibility. Not everyone will earn money from a newsletter or dedicate their life to writing online — but I found the results interesting, and I always like to share what’s interesting. I send out these free emails occasionally in the hope that you’ll join and enjoy all of my posts.
The other day I received a depressing 87p royalty statement from a very old book I wrote, while simultaneously earning a lump sum —which would equate to a whole book advance—from Substack. How could I not want to share that information? Writers have often felt powerless to big corporations, and I’m glad to see it might be changing.. slightly, slowly.
Anyway, I enjoy talking about the business of writing — and it’s something I intend to do more of over on The Hyphen. I thought I’d share some previous posts from the archive, in case of interest — a little nudge to join the community!
Previous posts you might enjoy:
