On Substack
Will we all become Substack millionaires? Probably not. But can we build something meaningful, connect with readers who truly value our work.
Let's talk about Substack, shall we? And let’s start with the figures:
17,000+ writers are earning extra cash on Substack---writing. The top 10 collectively make more than a cool $25 million annually. Hell, even back in 2020, that figure was $7 million. It's enough to make you want to sprint to HR with your resignation letter, isn't it?
But here's the thing: those numbers? They're real, but they're also incredibly misleading. They demonstrate the potential, yet it differs for everyone.
"You can set up a newsletter, start writing, and make money within minutes." -- For some lucky souls, maybe. For the rest of us? It's a grind. It is a beautiful, maddening, occasionally soul-crushing grind.
But here's why I'm writing this and why you should stick around: because despite the challenges, despite the nights I've spent refreshing my stats page and wondering if I'm shouting into the void, I still believe in this dream. And I think you do too.
That's why I've started this "On Substack" section in my Coffee Break Newsletter. It's not a guide to instant success or a blueprint for going viral. It's a raw, unfiltered look at what it really takes to carve out your space in this crowded landscape. I'm trying everything—the conventional, the unconventional, and the downright weird—to make this work, and I'm sharing it all with you.
Why? Because I'm tired of the overnight success!" stories that leave us mortals feeling like failures. I want to create a community of writers who are in the trenches together, figuring this out: one subscriber, one post, one small victory at a time.
So, if you're still reading, if you're nodding along and thinking, "Finally, someone who gets it," then welcome. This is for you. This is for us—the full-time employed dreamers, the late-night writers, the ones who believe there's more to life than Excel spreadsheets and mind-numbing meetings that never resolve a thing.
Will we all become Substack millionaires? Probably not. But can we build something meaningful, connect with readers who truly value our work, and maybe, just maybe, turn this dream into a sustainable reality? I believe we can.
Thank for this post. Substack feel intimidating because when you start you share your work with zero subscribers people don't look. But I feel like for it's the place that you can build a real community.
Smallstack is great for new writers here. It’s purely for those with under 1000 subscribers & for those who’d like to read work from the hidden new publications