One Year on Substack: A Review
On tumbleweed, getting paid, the tsunami, going viral, growth, overwhelm, delight, and the future!
I’m Kate, a psychotherapist writing about personal growth, for you to flourish in a life you love! Upgrade here for Friday The Bloom Sessions, self-discovery tools, meditations and if you’d like to support my work. Thanks for being here!
Hi friends
It has been a year since I first clutched my laptop against my broken heart, and hope spilled from my fingertips onto these pages. My mission as I began writing Letters from Therapy on Substack was to share beauty from the therapy room here for you prise open the window and let light shine into your soul.
Here, I share the highs, lows, subscriber growth, tumbleweed, going a bit viral, getting paid, conversion rates, overwhelm and what’s next for my publication. You might have to click below to read the full article, which you’ll also find on my Substack Letters from Therapy page.
Fear
I knew starting a Substack newsletter was a big commitment. The decision to start circled in my mind for months. I was driven by a bursting bank of 16 years of therapy knowledge with no outlet. I’d had to stop my therapy work after Covid. I already lost so much in my life, I couldn’t bear to lose this too, it was where much of my sense of purpose and meaning live.
Hope
I had insights tucked inside every cell in my body from this rewarding work, that I knew could help you connect more deeply with yourself, and find purpose in your beautiful, messy lives, despite everything. I knew how we can feel more whole, embrace all our strangeness, feel more at ease with ourselves, to suffer less, and my beating heart told me I must.
Someone told me I could write well, which lit this fire, and here I am.
I dreamed of creating something here that would feel like therapy. Using words and tools for deep, transformative experiences that could even change a life. Substack’s unique platform offered me a chance to channel my calling in a new way, to help brave souls like you rise into themselves.
“Thank you so much Kate this was incredibly powerful for me.” Rosine
Foundations
Finding Substack teachers
and helped me shape this space into something real. Their welcoming communities, along with learning to write better with the incredible , and finding Substack wisdom from , , , and the community on Substack, gave me the foundation I needed. I could to translate my experience into this publication, and produce 80+ posts with thousands of transformative self-discovery journaling questions and exercises. See the contents page here.Tumbleweed
Writing a newsletter feels cruel sometimes! It really stings when you pour your heart into something and you’re not even sure if it’s reached anyone. Maybe it was the wrong time, or maybe it was just shit writing. I often have posts with 1,600 views and under 20 likes. Shall I get my coat? As
recently said on notes, if you like a post, please like it. To give feedback, and to let the writer know you’re reading, so they won’t pack it in.But then one of you will comment and let me know how a post impacted you, changed things for you, and I remember why I’m writing.
“I feel so much better about myself and accepting me for me. Thank you x” Fiona
Productivity
I created 80+ posts over the year, and I can hardly believe it was me that did that. I managed to keep showing up each week despite fluctuating health, finances, life changes like my daughter leaving home for uni, and a close family member in and out of hospital. My plan for scheduling posts ahead went out the window, but I managed to keep up.
I shared my posts on themes of personal growth and creative living, from meditations to the new format of The Bloom Sessions with therapeutic journalling reflections and exercises to help you become, well, you.
Sticking to an editorial calendar isn’t for me. I felt stifled by it, so I’m keeping it free. I do have a list though, but like to follow my nose as to what is next, and your ideas if you have them. I now have an embarrassing bank of over 100 drafts which I’ll finish and share over the coming year.
I settled on Fridays to post for my paid members, for continuity, but these can also be saved and revisited whenever it suits you. I always reply. I share free posts when I can (I do like a Sunday post, when I have more time to reply to comments), free posts will likely be every other week.
My highlights are the new Bloom Sessions, my series on grief, and the Heal Your Past series. My most liked post is about resilience: When Life is Unstable, You Don’t Have to be, and an early post I reshared, Taking the Road Less Travelled is a favourite.
“As I came to the end of regular therapy, I knew I would need a little scaffolding around me, and feel that’s just what you give me. So thank you. For being brave, consistent and supportive to me. I am very grateful.” Vanessa
Delight
Finding you all here is like finding a family. 2,000+ beautiful human souls like you chose to press ‘subscribe’ in 2024. (Yes, some of you are probably bots, but hey, even bots need love! The people who make them certainly do.) All of us are here, finding our way to flourish with integrity in this difficult world. You are nestled into the chambers of my heart, and it beats stronger now.
The testimonials and comments you share often feel like popping candy to a child hunched on a dreary corner under grey skies. They are the light that keeps me going on tough days.
My paid members are a kaleidoscope of courageous butterflies, who create ripples of beauty and truth not only through your own souls, but out across the world, in 73 countries.
In these dark times, we truth seekers are the ones shining our light ever brighter, and keeping us all from the abyss. The soft breeze from your wings drives me forward.
Kinship
The friendships I've found here are pure gold, including irl friends, and so much camaraderie between Substack writers on notes. Through
Sparkle community, I found incredible souls like , , , , and .’s Heart Leap community zooms keep me accountable, even when I loose my flow, or life gets in my way.I connected with therapists like
, , , , and .I met
, , , , , , and and others at a talk with author and . Amy and Kate now organise meet ups for Substack writers in London and Surrey to connect and inspire each other. We're all walking this path together.Recommendations
I am blown away that 60 publications now recommend Letters from Therapy. Special shout out to my top referrers
, , , , and .I bumped into old friends and acquaintances on Substack from my creative days on Instagram like
, , , , , and .“I’m so glad to have found you on here… you have inspired and helped me in so many wonderful ways. Thank you for all that you do.” Eva
Time, Money and Value
I spend more on chocolate each week than the cost of my paid membership. On Substack, we believe writers should be paid for our work. On the other hand, much of the services offered here are ridiculously cheap compared to other contexts, often costing tens or hundreds of times more elsewhere. We need big subscriber numbers for these low prices to work. Pricing is hard when the value is priceless, you want to be generous, and yet you are hoping to make a living.
Because some people dip in and out of subscriptions, and I know that self discovery work often doesn’t happen in one sitting, I make my annual subscription half the price of my monthly to encourage people to stay and give it a go, and feel the difference. They get workbooks and all sorts so it’s great value from the start.
Just like you, I have hopes and dreams, like earning a full income again one day. To make a good living, I’ll need to find 500-1000+ true fans (paid subscribers): only 930 to go! Maybe unrealistic dreams are sometimes possible. I take a very long-term view. Very, very long.
My goal is to continue to write weekly and add value here, and become a bestselling Substack publication this year, with 100 paid subscribers. As Substack guru
often says: We have time. We have so much time.“Thank you, Kate, this is so useful, it has led me to deep reflection.” Jane
Overwhelm
My brain is bursting with ideas, hence the hefty drafts folder. My phone notes app smokes with more. I won't overwhelm you with extra posts because that only passes that overwhelm on to you. I unsubscribed from some newsletters that post too often, as I can’t keep up. Are you the same? Quality over quantity. Deeper, not wider.
It takes me about 2-3 full days to complete a post like this. Even shorter posts sometimes take just as long. I’m working on reducing this but I don’t want to cut corners: I don’t see the point in writing for writing sake. Given the topic I write about, it has to have value and meaning. I want to transform how you think and feel about yourself for the better, because that, and you, are what keeps the world vibrant, loving, and hopeful.
The amount of brilliant writing here sends my head spinning, so I’ve learned to read a few favourites, and let go what I can’t read, as it’s impossible to keep up with everything.
Healing
This space has been healing for me too. Losing my therapy practice felt like losing a limb. But pouring these ideas onto these pages helped me find my balance again. Your presence allows me to keep my calling, my sense of purpose alive.
Sharing personal experiences, especially that post about lifelong grief, and the viral note I mention below, has been profoundly therapeutic, with the wave of compassion that came back to me from strangers. I also found others who have overcome so much, and write with such beauty, like
who has a real life book out soon!“This is absolutely wonderful! It reinforces and echoes exactly the things that my awesome therapist says to me too! So sensible, helpful, down to earth, actionable! Thank you so much and I am going right now to subscribe!” Linn
Tsunami
There are big names now flooding to Substack, making us small writers feel like tiny fish in an expanding ocean of whales and marlin. But that's also beautiful. I’m okay being plankton. We're part of something growing, a community of truth-seekers and thinkers. Let’s remember that the big fish bring readers too. What an incredible thing! We need more authentic voices in this age where truth and integrity are being eroded.
Going Viral
The note I shared about my life story got 1,500+ likes and brought 700 new beautiful souls here within 1 month in October.
That was bloody lucky, and made up for the dip when I had less time to spend writing in the summer before my daughter left for University. It was one of the most healing and validating experiences of my life. Thank you to all you who are reading now because you read my story, when in my own life, the same story is what made so many turn away.
My growth in subscribers was generally steady, with some peaks after popular posts, and troughs unmistakably linked to my being less active on notes, and even spending less time writing.
“Thank you for these wise words. I am going on a self discovery journey, just changed career but not sure I have made the right choice, and peri-menopause also isn’t helping. Your writing encourages me to carry on learning about myself and finding my light bulb moments. Thank you.” Yean
The Year Ahead
With an archive of 80+ posts, and a whole years worth of experience, I feel rather accomplished and excited for what’s next. I know I can meet the commitment of this newsletter for my paid members and my free community who may join when ready. I have plans to:
Keep writing every week.
Keep Friday Bloom Sessions for paid going.
Create psycho-educational masterclasses on big topics like boundaries, relationships, personal development.
Thank you for being here, for reading, for engaging. Your likes, restacks, and comments make a huge difference. I'd love to hear your thoughts: What topics inspire you? What would you like me to write? If you write on Substack, how is it going?
With so much love and gratitude,
Kate
P.S. Don’t forget to like, comment and share!
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway
I love this so much ❤️. I love being plankton - we are essential as plankton!! My drafts folder is also bursting and it’s been so wonderful to have met you irl. Here’s to you, your gorgeous and wise words, and to Substack friendships 💕
As a psychotherapist it's been great to see what's possible here! Congratulations on your first year! 🎉