Getting Started, My Subscriber Growth, Getting Paid and Ten Tips for Newbies. Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. Einstein. Have you ever felt a spark burn bright in your soul? Except you haven’t yet discovered how or where to set it free?I started my Letters from Therapy Substack with therapeutic ideas to nourish your soul, accept yourself and find deeper meaning at the start of 2024. 16 years of therapeutic work, and a life of love, loss and creativity has taken a new shape here. Thoughts of tumble weed and the shame of failure bounced around my mind as I stared at the blank page of Substack on my laptop. Although, maybe I’d found a home for that spark?
I’ve been here two months too. 🥳 I was also thinking of doing a “how it’s gone so far post” and yours was so interesting I think I’ll definitely do one now. Passing this kind of information on is so useful. So thank you!
Yay! Are you enjoying it? I found the other posts like this so helpful. It took me ages - I was going to do a one month on Substack but it moved to two! But it’s fun to reflect and hope it helps people xx
You have done such a great job of sourcing so much information into one helpful post. I am super grateful to be included! You are so lovely!
If I'm honest, I actually thought you'd been on here a lot longer! I love how you are so engaged in the community. Thank you again for putting together such a helpful post and congrats on your an awesome start on Substack.
I'm a Substack newbie as well, starting just after the first of the New Year 2024. Although I'd heard of Substack, even started an account a while back, I was not active on the platform until the encouragement of @BethKempton kicked me in the pants. So glad she did. She also kicked my writing life in the pants, a part of my life that had been on hiatus for way too long. I'm glad I found your niche here on Substack, Kate! I'll be down here, reading quietly :)
Are you enjoying it? I really value all the writing teachers here including Beth Kempton. Having that support and inspiration really raise our game! Read away as quietly or as loudly as you like! ☺️
Thanks so much for sharing this Kate. It's very helpful as a complete newbie (just over one week here). I hope to write as encouraging a post in a couple of months time. I’m starting my Substack as a form of accountability to myself. I have so many thoughts stuffed in my Notes app that never see the light of day. So this is a bit of an experiment to see if any of them are worth sharing! In fact, I created Tether & Tend almost exactly a year ago then (like you) ended up with Long Covid. That wiped out most of 2023 for me. So I'm here, hopeful of better things in 2024.
Release those notes! That’s great to use it for accountability, I’m sure it’s all worth sharing! Sorry to hear about long Covid. It’s been three years for me, up and down, though I’m better than I was. I hope yours has cleared and you have a brighter 2024 💛
Wow, Kate what a brilliant article and resource for those of us still finding g our way around here. I have much exploring and learning to do here, but have (astonishingly) managed to post something every week this year which feels good. It was so lovely to find you here and I very much appreciate your writing. x
I was so glad to find you too! I hope you find something helpful in there - I found it a steep learning curve but like you managed to post just over once weekly so I’m v happy about that! 💛
Started in November! Just made a personal goal and really pleased! I wish you luck and success and my only advice is be relentless with promotion- sure it puts off some people but those folks were never keepers. Your loyal readers stay and more arrive when everyone is excited for what’s next ✨
Love this 💛 I’m still under the two-month mark (I launched on January 21) — so it’s inspiring to hear your story and how you cultivated such a community and an audience. I’m always open to advice/tips on growing here 🌿
Oh have a read of some of those experts. I’m still learning as there is so much but I’m delighted to have started to build a nice community here. Good luck Rose! 💛
Love the transparency and I’m so impressed with much community you’ve built! I’m about 1 month into my Substack journey and the community is definitely the best part. Going to look through all these tags to find new substacks!
Love the straight to the point and honest reflective writing - a bonus on the top to be mentioned, thank you 🥰 I had no idea it came up in search so that’s always great to know! I know you’ll do fantastic on here ❤️
Hi Kate! Thanks for taking the time to outline all those parts of this for you.
I started in September 2023. I’ve grown slowly but consistently with no previous social media following. Sometimes I wish it was faster, but then other times I know I may feel overwhelmed if anything happens too fast. I’m a slow and steady kinda gal in life and it turns out in sharing my writing as well.
I think what’s been interesting to watch for me is how my writing has evolved as I’ve stayed consistent (one of your tenants). Just by committing to writing once a week I’ve grown a skill that I’d previously only let happen in my brain.
That’s so great Kaitlyn! For me showing up consistently without freaking out is something I’m really proud of, so up I understand that! My writing is improving too I think, though there is room for development! Slow and steady is good, I am grateful to have had a list to start with as it must feel even more intimidating starting from scratch. 💛
Definitely helpful. I launched about 1 1/2 years ago. Substack has continued to roll out features such as Notes, Following and improvements to navigating Recommendations. I’m trying to stay current and find the tools really helpful for growing and networking. Best of luck to you, Kate!
It’s time well spent. Substack as a platform is probably in a kind of infancy (I know you’re a therapist), so it’s like running on a log to stay current as they continue to grow and roll out new features. I think the best advice is to have a regular writing cadence and try to interact with other writers through the Substack tools. I post twice a week, every week. My Friday post is always free for everyone and then I designed an extra Tue post for my paid subscribers. I like the routine.
That sounds like a good cadence. I can’t quite manage twice a week, apart from when I started. I would like to - I’ll see if I can speed up or maybe do one shorter then I probably could. That may be a goal for the future for me! 🧡
That’s a good goal! Do what you can and have time for. I have the time at this point in my life and it’s been a way to focus on my literary side. Not that Critters is exactly literary, but still…find that comfortable cadence for your writing and you’ll have that flow in your life. Take good care and keep in touch.
If you started a substack, how were your first two months and do you have any tips?
Or do you have plans to write here and have a question?
If you wrote a post about your early days here please tell us about it!
Thank you for the mention Kate! Great post. 😊
Thanks for all your wisdom David!
I’ve been here two months too. 🥳 I was also thinking of doing a “how it’s gone so far post” and yours was so interesting I think I’ll definitely do one now. Passing this kind of information on is so useful. So thank you!
Yay! Are you enjoying it? I found the other posts like this so helpful. It took me ages - I was going to do a one month on Substack but it moved to two! But it’s fun to reflect and hope it helps people xx
Absolutely loving it!! 🧡
Me too! 🧡
You have done such a great job of sourcing so much information into one helpful post. I am super grateful to be included! You are so lovely!
If I'm honest, I actually thought you'd been on here a lot longer! I love how you are so engaged in the community. Thank you again for putting together such a helpful post and congrats on your an awesome start on Substack.
Thanks Mika! Love your work here, I’m glad more people are finding you! 💛
Warm thanks for the tag, Kate. Best of luck in your growth. To all of us getting paid a bit!
Cheers to that! My pleasure Julia, the same to you! 💛
I'm a Substack newbie as well, starting just after the first of the New Year 2024. Although I'd heard of Substack, even started an account a while back, I was not active on the platform until the encouragement of @BethKempton kicked me in the pants. So glad she did. She also kicked my writing life in the pants, a part of my life that had been on hiatus for way too long. I'm glad I found your niche here on Substack, Kate! I'll be down here, reading quietly :)
Are you enjoying it? I really value all the writing teachers here including Beth Kempton. Having that support and inspiration really raise our game! Read away as quietly or as loudly as you like! ☺️
Thanks so much for sharing this Kate. It's very helpful as a complete newbie (just over one week here). I hope to write as encouraging a post in a couple of months time. I’m starting my Substack as a form of accountability to myself. I have so many thoughts stuffed in my Notes app that never see the light of day. So this is a bit of an experiment to see if any of them are worth sharing! In fact, I created Tether & Tend almost exactly a year ago then (like you) ended up with Long Covid. That wiped out most of 2023 for me. So I'm here, hopeful of better things in 2024.
Release those notes! That’s great to use it for accountability, I’m sure it’s all worth sharing! Sorry to hear about long Covid. It’s been three years for me, up and down, though I’m better than I was. I hope yours has cleared and you have a brighter 2024 💛
Wow, Kate what a brilliant article and resource for those of us still finding g our way around here. I have much exploring and learning to do here, but have (astonishingly) managed to post something every week this year which feels good. It was so lovely to find you here and I very much appreciate your writing. x
I was so glad to find you too! I hope you find something helpful in there - I found it a steep learning curve but like you managed to post just over once weekly so I’m v happy about that! 💛
Started in November! Just made a personal goal and really pleased! I wish you luck and success and my only advice is be relentless with promotion- sure it puts off some people but those folks were never keepers. Your loyal readers stay and more arrive when everyone is excited for what’s next ✨
I love that, relentless promotion! and I notice you already have the tick so it’s obviously working for you! 💛
Love this 💛 I’m still under the two-month mark (I launched on January 21) — so it’s inspiring to hear your story and how you cultivated such a community and an audience. I’m always open to advice/tips on growing here 🌿
Oh have a read of some of those experts. I’m still learning as there is so much but I’m delighted to have started to build a nice community here. Good luck Rose! 💛
Love the transparency and I’m so impressed with much community you’ve built! I’m about 1 month into my Substack journey and the community is definitely the best part. Going to look through all these tags to find new substacks!
Thank you! It’s been so much friendlier than I imagined. There’s lots of homework for you here! Good luck with it! 💛
Love the straight to the point and honest reflective writing - a bonus on the top to be mentioned, thank you 🥰 I had no idea it came up in search so that’s always great to know! I know you’ll do fantastic on here ❤️
Thanks so much Elin! 💛
What a great post, thank you Kate! And well done on the growth, consistency and fabulous content 👏🏼
Thanks Larissa I’m glad you liked it! I stand on the shoulders of giants! 💛
Hi Kate! Thanks for taking the time to outline all those parts of this for you.
I started in September 2023. I’ve grown slowly but consistently with no previous social media following. Sometimes I wish it was faster, but then other times I know I may feel overwhelmed if anything happens too fast. I’m a slow and steady kinda gal in life and it turns out in sharing my writing as well.
I think what’s been interesting to watch for me is how my writing has evolved as I’ve stayed consistent (one of your tenants). Just by committing to writing once a week I’ve grown a skill that I’d previously only let happen in my brain.
That’s so great Kaitlyn! For me showing up consistently without freaking out is something I’m really proud of, so up I understand that! My writing is improving too I think, though there is room for development! Slow and steady is good, I am grateful to have had a list to start with as it must feel even more intimidating starting from scratch. 💛
I also started from zero with no social media presence other than a rarely used Facebook profile.
Thank you Kate!
I hope it’s useful Heidi! 💛
Definitely helpful. I launched about 1 1/2 years ago. Substack has continued to roll out features such as Notes, Following and improvements to navigating Recommendations. I’m trying to stay current and find the tools really helpful for growing and networking. Best of luck to you, Kate!
Yes I have spent so much time trying to understand it all! The best if luck to you too! 🧡
It’s time well spent. Substack as a platform is probably in a kind of infancy (I know you’re a therapist), so it’s like running on a log to stay current as they continue to grow and roll out new features. I think the best advice is to have a regular writing cadence and try to interact with other writers through the Substack tools. I post twice a week, every week. My Friday post is always free for everyone and then I designed an extra Tue post for my paid subscribers. I like the routine.
That sounds like a good cadence. I can’t quite manage twice a week, apart from when I started. I would like to - I’ll see if I can speed up or maybe do one shorter then I probably could. That may be a goal for the future for me! 🧡
That’s a good goal! Do what you can and have time for. I have the time at this point in my life and it’s been a way to focus on my literary side. Not that Critters is exactly literary, but still…find that comfortable cadence for your writing and you’ll have that flow in your life. Take good care and keep in touch.
Thanks for the shout out Kate, great progress, well done! 👏👏👏
A pleasure! Keep up the good work! 😄🏅