MMM, I'm going to be the fly in the ointment here. I post every week. I have people telling me in the comments that I'm writing "high art" (I mean, somebody actually said that.) I have republished pieces that came from magazine acceptances, and I have used notes and chat to spread the word. I've been here a year, and my followers are very steadily increasing. I don't have a paid tier yet but my subscribers are going up little by little, almost to 100. The problem is that in the last few weeks, my open rate is going down. It's going to affect the stack ranking of this awful, awful platform. I mean, I'm not a hamster on a wheel, and I'm not a machine. So, IDK. Don't know how to fix the problem of the damn open rate. A lot of people just come to Substack and look for me there. They have inboxes full of emails they never open. Why am I penalized for this?
Excellent piece, as usual Erica. I stand meekly to the side when I stand beside you, because I've only got the one Substack, and I fell like a real slacker. Sure, it's definitely divided into two separate parts, FREE and PAID, but the thing people don't know, is that the FREE part is the one that matters most to me. That's the one where I put my novellas and novelettes up. The one where I read them out, because now I enjoy reading them out. I believe in consistency. I believe in scheduled releases. The only reason I even have a paid site, is because three friends paid me two days after I started this. I felt I had to give them something, so I tried to write a serial novel because I didn't know what else to do. I mean, how's that work? Now I've got 31 paid subscribers, and four or five of those are comped. (In Canada, I'm pretty sure we spell that compt, but we won't go there.)
I believe Substack is the best thing that could have happened to me. I might not get rich being here -- okay, I definitely won't get rich here -- but I'm leaving something behind. And it's a big part of who I am. And that's important to me, because if I've learned anything, it's that time goes by way too quickly. I have a page from my desk calendar on the wall with a push pin through it, telling me the date of my workplace accident (as if I don't know when that was) and it says 2022. January. In three months, it'll be three years. That's time going fast. And if I've got 20 years left...? Well, I'd better get to work.
I like that you took the time to publish this, thank you. I still don't fully know what Substack is for (and for whom) but whatever someone trying to achieve here, these behaviors probably won't help them get it.
MMM, I'm going to be the fly in the ointment here. I post every week. I have people telling me in the comments that I'm writing "high art" (I mean, somebody actually said that.) I have republished pieces that came from magazine acceptances, and I have used notes and chat to spread the word. I've been here a year, and my followers are very steadily increasing. I don't have a paid tier yet but my subscribers are going up little by little, almost to 100. The problem is that in the last few weeks, my open rate is going down. It's going to affect the stack ranking of this awful, awful platform. I mean, I'm not a hamster on a wheel, and I'm not a machine. So, IDK. Don't know how to fix the problem of the damn open rate. A lot of people just come to Substack and look for me there. They have inboxes full of emails they never open. Why am I penalized for this?
Excellent piece, as usual Erica. I stand meekly to the side when I stand beside you, because I've only got the one Substack, and I fell like a real slacker. Sure, it's definitely divided into two separate parts, FREE and PAID, but the thing people don't know, is that the FREE part is the one that matters most to me. That's the one where I put my novellas and novelettes up. The one where I read them out, because now I enjoy reading them out. I believe in consistency. I believe in scheduled releases. The only reason I even have a paid site, is because three friends paid me two days after I started this. I felt I had to give them something, so I tried to write a serial novel because I didn't know what else to do. I mean, how's that work? Now I've got 31 paid subscribers, and four or five of those are comped. (In Canada, I'm pretty sure we spell that compt, but we won't go there.)
I believe Substack is the best thing that could have happened to me. I might not get rich being here -- okay, I definitely won't get rich here -- but I'm leaving something behind. And it's a big part of who I am. And that's important to me, because if I've learned anything, it's that time goes by way too quickly. I have a page from my desk calendar on the wall with a push pin through it, telling me the date of my workplace accident (as if I don't know when that was) and it says 2022. January. In three months, it'll be three years. That's time going fast. And if I've got 20 years left...? Well, I'd better get to work.
I'm coming up on 1 year, and my imagination THANKS me for it. What a ride 😊
Great piece. Thanks bro
Yesssss! I'm so glad you posted this. I've been on a real downer this week and the negativity on here has definitely been part of it.
I like that you took the time to publish this, thank you. I still don't fully know what Substack is for (and for whom) but whatever someone trying to achieve here, these behaviors probably won't help them get it.
Preach! Louder for the people in the back!
“Number pimping,” I love it! 😂 (also, I may be guilty of this but I swear I only did it once and then I felt weird ha ha) Thank you for this article!