The Hard Truth About Substack Growth

Why Most Creators Are Wasting Their Time

I'm going to say something unpopular.

Something that might make a few people unsubscribe.

But if you're serious about growing your Substack, you need to hear it:

90% of the content you're creating right now is a complete waste of your time.

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The Inconvenient Math of Newsletter Growth

Let me share some data from my journey to 46K subscribers.

When I analyzed my last 50 posts:

• 7 posts drove 68% of my total subscriber growth

• 12 posts drove 27% of my growth

• The remaining 31 posts? A measly 5% of my growth

That means 62% of everything I wrote was essentially worthless for growth.

And I suspect your numbers might be even more lopsided.

The Premium Creator Paradox

Here's where it gets really interesting.

The creators who charge the most for their newsletters ($15-25/month) actually publish LESS frequently than those charging $5-7/month.

Premium creators average 5.4 posts per month. Budget creators average 11.7 posts per month.

Yet premium creators convert free-to-paid at 2.8x the rate of budget creators.

Let that sink in: Less content, higher conversions, more money.

What's Really Going On Here?

The difference isn't frequency. It's strategy.

Premium creators understand something fundamental: it's not about how MUCH you publish. It's about publishing the RIGHT things.

They've cracked the code on:

1. Which topics trigger massive sharing

2. Which headlines drive unstoppable curiosity

3. Which formats convert readers to subscribers

4. Which offers convert subscribers to paid members

This isn't guesswork or intuition. It's pattern recognition.

The Pattern Recognition Advantage

When I analyzed the top 1% of newsletters by growth rate, I found striking patterns:

• They use counterintuitive headlines that challenge assumptions

• They create strong positions that force readers to pick sides

• They focus on transformation over information

• They build monetization into their content strategy from day one

Most importantly: They recognize what's working and double down ruthlessly.

My Personal "Less is More" Revelation

I'm going to be honest: I fell into this trap myself.

For about a month, I was publishing DAILY, convinced that more content meant more growth. I was on the content hamster wheel, constantly stressed about what to publish next.

Then something unexpected happened. I entered my second trimester of pregnancy, and suddenly medical consultations took priority. I physically couldn't maintain my daily publishing schedule anymore.

I was terrified. I thought my growth would plummet. I thought subscribers would leave in droves.

The exact opposite happened: my growth rate almost doubled.

With less time to write, I became ruthlessly strategic. Each post had to count. I focused on quality over quantity, deep value over surface-level content. I published maybe 3 times per week maximum, concentrated on building multiple passive income streams, and still did daily Notes—but with an emphasis on value rather than volume.

This accidental experiment taught me the most valuable lesson of my creator journey: less is more when it comes to good content nowadays. Your audience doesn't want more of you—they want the best of you.

That's why I spent the last 3 months building Substackulous—to systematize this pattern recognition advantage and help creators escape the "publish or perish" trap.

(For those who missed it, Substackulous is now live for waitlist members. If you're not on the waitlist, general enrollment will open in April.)

The 80/20 Rule of Substack Growth

Even if you don't have access to Substackulous yet, you can start applying this principle today:

1. Look at your top 3 performing posts

2. Identify common elements (topic, format, headline style)

3. Create 5 variations on those winners instead of 5 completely different posts

4. Ruthlessly abandon topics that don't drive growth metrics

This approach feels wrong to most creators. We're taught to be varied, to cover different angles, to show our range.

But the data doesn't lie: specialization beats variety for growth, every single time.

What This Means For You

If you're serious about growing your Substack, you have two options:

Option 1: Keep throwing content at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Option 2: Get strategic about identifying what works for YOUR specific audience and double down relentlessly.

Most will choose Option 1 because it's comfortable. It feels productive to publish frequently, even when those posts don't move the needle.

For those brave enough to choose Option 2, I have something special.

For Paid Subscribers Only: The Tags Workshop

One of the most underutilized growth levers on Substack is the tagging system, which can boost discovery by up to 327% when used correctly.

I recently ran a workshop breaking down my complete system for using tags to dramatically accelerate growth. This workshop normally sells for $97, but I'm making it available to all paid subscribers at no additional cost.

Inside, I reveal:

• The 28 tag categories that drive maximum discovery

• How to research the perfect tag set for your specific niche

• My "tag rotation system" that increased my discoverability by 214%

• The exact tag combinations that led to my posts being featured by Substack

Upgrade to Paid Membership to Access the Tags Workshop Now: