What I Learned Helping 1000+ Substack Writers 1:1
Real Substack growth doesn't come from virality; it comes from knowing your Substack DNA
After helping 1000+ Substack writers 1:1, hundreds in the Premier, and tens of thousands here on SW@W in the past three years, I’ve learned that real Substack growth doesn’t come from virality; it comes from knowing your Substack DNA—what makes your Substack you.
It’s not your marketing “niche” or what makes you “unique” or “different.”
That’s superficial.
It answers the question most of my clients—which range from CNN correspondents to people with no following who’ve never published—ask:
What will make someone subscribe or pay to subscribe to my Substack about ______ when there are so many other Substacks about _______?
Often, they’re surprised when I tell them that people don’t subscribe to your Substack; they subscribe to you.
Your Substack DNA
Your Substack DNA is the core of what makes your Substack you.
It’s the operational blueprint you need to create based on your goals, expertise, talents, skills, obsessions, and interests, translated into the right type and mode for Substack.
Does it really make a difference?
When my clients and Premier members discover their Substack DNA (and have a goal, i.e., focus), their Substacks take off and convert. Period.
Laura Belin—one of Iowa’s outstanding political reporters, according to The Washington Post, and one of Substack’s best—emailed me over the holidays that she doubled her paid subscribers in 2025 by doing the goal-setting process I take you through in this month’s workshop (paid subscribers and Premier members, watch the 15-minute highlight reel here).
After two years to reach 200 paid subscribers, she started 2025 with 210, setting a goal of 300 total paid and a stretch goal of 400.
As of 12/31/2025: 400 paid subscribers. Last night: 406 paid. No viral notes. Just twice-weekly (smart, DNA-driven) posting, each generating zero to three paid subscriptions, plus a super-savvy fundraising event.
Laura’s Substack DNA is clear, palpable—and she knows how to communicate it when she invites people to subscribe and subscribers to pay. Yes, she reports on Iowa politics, but people subscribe to her, someone who lives Iowa politics. You read her posts, and it’s like you’re breathing it in. Yes, it’s in-depth reporting, but people could get that elsewhere. They want it from Laura, someone who’s an Iowa politics scholar/savant.
Her paid strategy is deeply rooted in her DNA: No paywall.
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Are there really 1.8 million Substacks?
Highly, highly doubtful. I would go so far as to say no.
Substack has never revealed how many Substacks there are, and this stat comes from a highly unreliable source.
We could spend all day speculating on the number of total Substacks—75,000? 200,000? All sorts of estimates are thrown around.
What we do know: Substack has more than 32 million free subscriptions—this from Hamish McKenzie in 2025. That’s a lot of people subscribing—plenty to go around.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how many Substacks there are.
There are a lot of Substacks—always have been.
And the ones that rise (whether they’re written by celebrities like Dolly Parton or James Patterson or Lizzo or people with huge followings or no following at all) are those that exude a kind of DNA—a distinct architecture and singularity and genuine humanness that makes people want to have them in their inboxes and give them money.
It’s not about celebrity. Just look at how many celebrities have very small followings, and people who came to Substack with nothing have the same number of subscribers.
If you see yourself as “posting content,” then yes, the number of Substacks matters. You compete with other faceless Substacks filled with “stuff” (weekly posts, chat threads, etc., etc.) about a “topic.”
But if you build a Substack with a strong foundation rooted in your Substack DNA, you and your Substack will stand out.
Exclusively for paid subscribers and Premier members
