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Austin Muhs's avatar

I am really excited for you brother. I agree slow and steady is better. I"m cranking out 1 short article a day so my growth has been by 1-2 subs a day on average; but I'm good with it. I just try to write relevant stuff and keep my mind on the pulse of society. I think as long as I do that then sub stack is a fun and interesting journey. I hope you feel the same and sometimes its the journey not the destination! May our writings all stay evergreen, so that we can finance our habit of putting words into silly arrangements for many years to come.

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Dariusz's avatar

Whenever my wife told me that my substack posts needed social media, I halfheartedly told her that social media was overrated. Now, I will use the phrase with conviction... Thanks!

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Mike Goodenow Weber's avatar

This is a bit unrelated, Michael, but I'm wondering what your favorite comic novel is. Or two or three? Or five? My favorite is The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle. Funniest novel I've ever read.

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Hi Mike! Love the question. Some favorites in no particular order:

1. Lamb by Christopher Moore

2. Lighting Rods by Helen DeWitt

3. The Dirk Gently books by Douglas Adams

4. The Sellout by Paul Beatty

5. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

6. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

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Mike Goodenow Weber's avatar

Cool. I'm going to buy and read the first four. Thanks!

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Heather Joelle Boneparth's avatar

I found this post after reaching my own 1,000-subscriber milestone for my newsletter, Our Tiny Rebellions. Ironically, this also happened for me during a vacation week. So much of what you write here confirms my own experience, too - about growth, community, and writing what you want, not what necessarily “fits.” Anyway, thank you for writing this. Here’s to more growth in 2023!!!

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Claire Robertson's avatar

Thank you for this post! I am quite new to publishing on Substack though I moved and old list from mail chimp over so have a bit of an audience. I feel like I am walking around in the dark a little so advice like yours is totally brilliant. Love you newsletter! And Happy New Year. :)

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Glad this post was helpful & welcome to Substack, Claire!

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Meg Oolders's avatar

I'm way late to this party! Congratulations on this amazing milestone. This was a great post, full of things I need to hear (repeatedly) on my writing journey. So, thank you. I will be sharing.

Also. Just needed to say how much I appreciate the Caddy Shack reference on your top shelf subscription notes. Sorry I couldn't buy into total consciousness this time around. I am still in the hemorrhaging money phase of my writing career, so I will be free loading for a while. Thanks for having a freebie option. I look forward to reading more of your work!

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Glad you got some value out of this post, Meg! And I’m always happy when someone gets one of my movie references 😁

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

My co-writer, Anthony, just wrote a whole post on our Substack called “Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” It’s a message that resonates well with readers. Congrats on your milestone!

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thank you!

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James F. Richardson's avatar

congratulations. I have the same goal and am pushing consistently towards it...

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Bowen Dwelle's avatar

I love how Substack is working for writers. I found you through Brad Berens and have just hit my own first milestone of 500 subscribers. I agree that it's all about community, and I love that I can put all of the skills and experience that I've developed over a lifetime of tech geeking, following links, making connections, using and building software, running conferences (and so much more, of course) to work now as a writer.

Congratulations on getting to 1000!

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thanks and congrats on hitting 500! Glad to hear we made this connection through Brad. Years ago, he hired me at iMedia, and I’ve met so many great people through Brad.

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Ricki Heller's avatar

Congratulations, Michael, on the milestone! I'm new to Substack, so this post was really helpful. So much of what you say reminds me of growing a blog in the early 2000s. What it seems to come down to is participating in the community, encouraging reader participation, and, of course, writing something that people want to read. As for social media, I couldn't agree more--I love being on Instagram, so I continue with it, but can count on one finger how many people have subscribed from there. ;-)

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thank you, Ricki! One of the things that first drew me to Substack was the fact that it seemed to be bringing back the blog, but with an e-mail kicker!

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Ricki Heller's avatar

And you can't beat that pairing! :)

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Exactly! Two old school internet technologies that pair so well together.

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Ricki Heller's avatar

True. . . but somehow makes me feel really ancient. Or maybe I just feel really ancient.

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Jenny Smith's avatar

This is great! Celebrating with you. So appreciate the practical advice for those of us on the substack writing train. Thanks!

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Glad this is helpful, Jenny!

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Sonia Ter Hovanessian's avatar

Hi there. I'm new to Substack, joined early September so am still uncovering all its nooks and crannies. It was recommended to me by a friend, also a writer. I do really love it and it's helped me so much be motivated to get my work out there and suddenly, there's a flurry of ideas queuing up inside my head. I really enjoyed reading your newsletter, I don't even know how it appeared under my radar, but needless to say I subscribed. It's a great talent to be able to be humorous, useful and practical all at once. Thank you! I too enjoyed hearing your trajectory and analysis of how your growth came about. I'm also a musician, my main craft, if you like, and the part I am worst at is self promotion, so I am scouring articles from Substack and like yours to understand how people are growing and even starting to earn, down the line. I'm not sure I understand fully about connecting with other writers - would you do it via comments and asking for reciprocal connections or is there another way that I'm missing? I am feeling brave enough right now in this thread, so here goes....

Here's one of my articles I wrote a few weeks ago that certainly had me giggling, as well as being very cathartic to read! If you feel you'd like to read it and even subscribe or recommend each other in some way, then that would make my day :) https://soniaterhovanessian.substack.com/p/when-the-hunted-become-the-hunters

(How did I do!??!)

Joking aside, thank you, also for the time you evidently spend in engaging with other writers in this community. It's a cool place to be discovering.

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Dennard Dayle's avatar

Great news, and great perspective. I think that in most online endeavors, it’s too easy to hit a gold prospecting mentality. I’m glad you’ve found a more sanity-friendly approach.

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thanks! I really appreciate that! And I gotta say I’ve learned a lot reading your newsletter and had fun doing it!

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ZM Spalter's avatar

Congratulations on hitting your goal. As soon as I finished reading your post I wrote down my personal subscriber goal for myself. It was a good reminder to actually be concrete about that particular milestone. Also "Failure is the price we pay for our wins" - that really resonated with me. I find I get too invested in the numbers and stats on the dashboard. Publishing consistently, taking breaks, and not being overly invested in perfection are good rules to follow. Thank you sharing your reflections.

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thanks! I'm really glad to hear that this piece resonated with you. Wishing you good luck with your goal. And now I'm going to go check out your newsletter because I'm always curious about expats and life in Japan.

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ZM Spalter's avatar

Thanks Michael 😄

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ZM Spalter's avatar

Just subscribed. The garage door install post made me do it 😂

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Awesome! That garage door story is how I lure people in 😂

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, “If you see a fork in the road, subscribe to Situation Normal”.

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thanks Paul! Yogi was wise and he great taste in newsletters!

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Elizabeth Marro's avatar

Congratulations, Michael! I appreciate everything in this newsletter. It's helpful and reassuring to know that slow and steady growth is the kinds that sticks. And thanks for the insights about social media. They confirm a feeling I've been having. Here's to more growth for your wonderful newsletter!

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Michael Estrin's avatar

Thank you for these kind words, and thank you for your excellent newsletter, it always gives me a spark!

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