While I was away on vacation, Situation Normal hit 1,000 subscribers. Actually, let me rephrase that. After nearly two years of hard work, I accomplished my subscriber goal for Situation Normal! Normally, I write slice of life humor about hapless bud tenders
I relate to the bit on perfectionism so much. I was able to fight it enough to get started, but it's back every time I sit down to write the next newsletter. I'm glad to see others who've struggled with it have been able to overcome it too.
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!
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.
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!!!
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. :)
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!
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!
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, 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. ;-)
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.
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.
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.
I relate to the bit on perfectionism so much. I was able to fight it enough to get started, but it's back every time I sit down to write the next newsletter. I'm glad to see others who've struggled with it have been able to overcome it too.
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!
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.
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!!!
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. :)
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!
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!
congratulations. I have the same goal and am pushing consistently towards it...
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!
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. ;-)
Wow! Thanks! I am blown away. I don't get blown away much. Once in 2003, and a couple of times back at Woodstock. Nice.
This is great! Celebrating with you. So appreciate the practical advice for those of us on the substack writing train. Thanks!
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.
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.
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.
To paraphrase Yogi Berra, “If you see a fork in the road, subscribe to Situation Normal”.