Dispatch #3: What Substack subscribers want
“It’s not about the sentence; it’s about the person behind it.”
Listen to the podcast version here ↑
Your weekly behind-the-scenes view into what works and what’s really happening on Substack—with the platform’s leading Growth Strategist, Sarah Fay.
I’m still supercharged (in a great way) by having traveled to the Substack Summit last week in New York City. I made it as efficient as possible: a car picked me up at 4 a.m., I flew out of O’Hare, landed at LaGuardia, a car drove me to the venue, I spent the entire day riveted and not tired at all, a car picked me up, I flew out of LaGuardia, landed at O’Hare, a car picked me up, and I was home with the cats by 11 p.m.
That’s a long way to go and a lot of energy to spend on a one-day summit on the future of media and how Substack and Substack writers now fit into it as media founders on par with, if not The New York Times, then one section of the paper.
But it was important to be in the room to feel what’s happening and where Substack is going. The energy of a platform can be felt in live events based on the energy, or, to use an overused, silly word, the vibe.
Here are some of the words I’d use to describe the summit: fun, warm, committed, ambitious, not-taking-oneself-too-seriously, connected, inspired, inspiring.
On to this week’s dispatch…
Today: why the era of giving your best work away for free may be over; which skills are about to gain and lose value on Substack; why slow, steady growth is the only kind that matters.
Words I heard a lot:
Fun: I heard this a lot. It started with Substack CEO Chris Best’s opening remarks. Then Dylan Abruscato of TBPN in conversation with Emily Sundberg said, “You can have all the money in the world and all the recognizable last names in the world on your project and you can have the best distribution, but it’s really hard to compete with people having more fun than you.”
I say this to my clients all the time: Substack is supposed to be fun.
But (and this is important) that doesn’t mean Substack isn’t hard work. If you’re doing something you truly believe in, if you aren’t using AI to write and think for you or cutting corners or making it stressful when it doesn’t need to be and not wasting your energy reading about growth hacks from myriad people, hard work is fun.
Taste. I love that this word kept coming up. Taste is style and voice. It’s perspective, which Chris Best pointed out as one of the hallmarks of a great Substack. Taste is you. Taste is what people subscribe to, stay subscribed to, and pay for. It’s not easy because it’s deep work and takes effort and a lot of trial and error, but it’s what will help you grow professionally, creatively, emotionally, intellectually, and financially.
Other words: freedom, the direct-relationships era, digital-first companies, brand partnerships/sponsorships/deals (more on this to come).
Words I didn’t hear:
AI. Or at least not in the way you might think. In other rooms and on Notes, people discuss whether it’s okay to use AI to write or think for/with you. For the Substack writers in that room—with some of the biggest names and highest earners—that’s not even a consideration.
It was more about how we’ll be valuable in the age of AI. Jasmine Sun talked about the skills that will go up versus down in value:
Static content will go down; interaction, production will go up—the work and life behind the words on the page. The value of polish will go down; personality, charisma, style, voice, taste (there it is again) will go up.
I love this quote from Jasmine: “It’s not about the sentence; it’s about the person behind it.”
Content. Except when Suzy Weiss said that the word is not allowed at The Free Press. I don’t think the word should be allowed anywhere on Substack either.
Going viral. Because most of the people in that room have been building their platforms and Substacks for years and decades and growth that’s slow and steady is growth that has substance.
Being there confirmed what I already knew: Substack is founded and run by really, really good people.
Subtstack is a platform, and it’s flawed like any platform. And we’re so used to being on platforms run by nefarious people who take advantage of writers and artists and visionaries that it’s easy to assume that any change has some sort of malicious or self-serving intent.
But I wouldn’t be here helping you if that were true of Substack. (I’m not on any other platform for a reason.)
Someone once criticized me for being too easy on Substack and maybe I am. But that’s because I work with writers and creators like you every day and am blown away by what I’ve seen people achieve on here: building platforms and getting agents and book deals and speaking engagements; creating new revenue streams—however small—or being able to make Substack their full-time jobs; having subscribers read and pay for their work; being cited in The New Yorker when they started with 400 subscribers a few years ago; and creating, as Chris Best put it, something great, something that will change the world.
What’s next:
My interview with an Atlantic reporter about Substack
How to pitch Substacks for lives (and how not to)
What’s helped my clients most on Notes
This weekend’s How to Use Substack to Grow (or Fuel) a 5- or 6-Figure Business Intensive (more on this below)
All my best,
P.S. Don’t miss this! How to Use Substack to Grow (or Fuel) a 5- or 6-Figure Business Intensive
How to Use Substack to Grow (or Fuel) a 5- or 6-Figure Business Intensive
On Saturday, June 6 (12–3:30 pm CT), join Jeannine Ouellette, Nadine Kenney Johnstone, and me for a 3-hour intensive on how to make Substack the central driver of your business, not just another place where you post.
Can’t make it live? Not a problem. You’ll receive the Substack-Fueled 6-Figure Business Cheat Sheet with templates and a complete overview and video and audio (!) replays available within 36 hours. Investment: $185.
Join this week’s Notes Boost Community and our paid-subscriber 24/7 Substack Help Chat.
SW@W homepage | Premier homepage | Substack Starter Pack | 24/7 Help Chat | Manage your subscription | 1:1 Strategy Sessions
Wow Sarah. That is a long day, but we appreciate you going to the summit and getting the inside scoop for us!