How I grew my newsletter subscribers from 0-500 in 4 years
There’s this awkwardness in starting a newsletter and spending all that time pouring your heart into your words, and then sending the email into the void where maybe nobody will read it. You want to find readers first, and then put the work in. But that’s not the deal we have, as writers.
Years ago, I was at a podcast conference, and on stage, one of the highly-ranked speakers told us the very first social media post from announcing her podcast is still on her Facebook page, from nearly 10 years prior.
Guess how many likes it got, she asked the audience.
People guessed two, or three. But, no.
The answer is zero.
One of the main takeaways from that conference was to relish the time when your audience is zero, or less than ten, and when those people are you, your mom, and your best friend. You can fumble. You can experiment. You can work out the kinks in your process.
I would apply the same advice to your newsletter.
There’s this awkwardness in starting a newsletter and spending all that time pouring your heart into your words, and then sending the email into the void where maybe nobody will read it. You want to find readers first, and then put the work in. But that’s not the deal we have, as writers.
We produce a body of work first. Then the readers come.
(Then, we get to keep telling stories, though with higher stakes, because now, we worry about saying the wrong thing and losing our people and everything we built.)
In this post, I’m going to give you a peek behind the scenes into what channels grew my newsletter to 500 subscribers over four years.
If you’re having an Inception moment, yes: If you’re reading this newsletter, you may have come in on one of the channels I’ll be talking about! I wonder if you can remember which one it was? While we’re going to talk about numbers, I’m also going to emphasize that what makes growth meaningful is connecting with real people (like you).
This newsletter has been primarily about astrology, writing, and intuitive living. It’s been used to promote online courses, 1:1 coaching and intuitive sessions, live events, and my book.
Whether you’re building a newsletter as a home for your writing, a place to build an audience for a book launch, or to promote a business, I hope you’ll find my experience useful.
Be sure to drop me a question in our private comments section to talk more about newsletter growth and what you’re launching!