Diary of a Substack Growth Strategist #2
What really makes a Substack go viral
Your weekly dispatch from the front lines of Substack growth—with the platform’s leading Growth Strategist, me. Usually, the best stuff is below the paywall.
So…I spent yesterday talking about my death with a total stranger, a.k.a. an estate lawyer. (I love the idea that I have an estate—makes me feel very British, very Downton Abbey.) Nothing like talking about end-of-life choices and where you want your money to go after you’re in the grave for ninety minutes to make you appreciate cats on a whole other level.
And you—I so appreciate getting to do for you what no one else can do.
Today: What’s out (discounts over 25%, posts and more) what’s in (recap emails because your subscribers aren't always getting your posts), and what really makes a Substack go viral.
Client session spotlight
I’ve worked 1:1 with Janice Walton nearly every week for three years. As the 87-year-old writer of the Aging Well Newsletter, she brings readers the insider’s guide to aging well, sharing what really goes on mentally, emotionally, and physically as we do.
Something happened in early February, and her Substack went viral.
I looked into all the data to try to figure out why. Was it Notes? No. LinkedIn, where she’d started posting? No. Recommendations? No. The onboarding process? Substack support thought so.
The main thing was that the subscribers were engaged, sharing her posts, and staying subscribed.
So what did we start doing differently on February 6?
We started focusing on her writing and created a structure for her articles that would be familiar to her readers.
I love giving Substack writers everything they need to write well on Substack, which is different than writing well anywhere else. (This is why I teach a course called The Craft of Writing on Substack.)
We also structured her posts to follow a similar pattern: They say/I say, Experts say/What I’m finding.
I’m not suggesting you do it this way, especially if you’re an essayist. This wouldn’t apply, but there’s something you can do to make your posts familiar.
This is the key to Substack in 2026: Your writing and having a familiar structure for your readers to come to each week, or however often you post.
