35
30 Comments

200+ New Subscribers from Pocket Hits!

I read Pocket Hits almost every day and it's one of the only emails that I'm subscribed to.

Today, I woke up to it in my inbox, but this time it was titled with my article: https://imgur.com/a/lHokev7

I literally thought I was dreaming (partially since I just woke up and partially because I normally only see articles from large publishers like Fast Company in there) but clicked through and saw over 100 live readers in my analytics. One of my subscribers actually reached out to let me know as well! https://imgur.com/a/k2yGvrQ

So far, 17k people have read it through Pocket alone, leading to over 200 more subscribers. 8 hours later, there are still over 100 active readers. It's so crazy what kind of traffic a single newsletter can drive!

If only every day started like today. 😄

Here's the link to the email for those curious! https://getpocket.com/explore/pocket-hits/2019/writing-is-thinking-learning-to-write-with-confidence-21244

  1. 2

    Hi @stephsmith, this was one of the articles that I saved to pocket for reading this morning. Havent read it yet. But kudos to you. And congrats. Keep it up

    1. 1

      Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy reading it, when you have the chance.

  2. 2

    Hey @stephsmith how did you manager to get it featured? Did you e-mail the editors or apply for Pocket Publishers?

    Would love try this out.

    1. 1

      Hey Fermin, unfortunately AFAIK they don't take submissions and instead select from the articles already trending on Pocket. I didn't contact anyone for the feature!

  3. 2

    Congrats @stephsmith!

    This is a very good article indeed. I love the fact that you put quality before anything else, I'm trying to do exactly the same with my own blog.

    I really think that the amount of content out there is crazy, but real quality content is rare. This article share your story as a writer and it's very inspiriting. I really like your workflow, I will look at mine and see what I can improve in there.

    Thanks for that!

    1. 1

      Thanks so much, Matthieu!

      I totally agree with you. The barrier to entry is low (which is great in some ways), but has just led to such a sea of content. IMO the best way to stand out is to focus on quality.

      Best of luck!

  4. 2

    @stephsmith I'm curious — if you paid for getting into their newsletter would the price be worth 200 subscribers?

    1. 1

      Definitely not! I believe their sponsorships are crazy expensive, although I don't know the exact amount. I think could be worth it if you have an article that ties into some paid product.

  5. 2

    Success! I know you have 50 themes for new posts upcoming...
    Maybe it will be worth it sharing the new ones with their editors directly

    1. 1

      Not a bad idea! No clue who I would send to though and I'm sure they get a ton of these requests. But certainly worth considering!

    1. 1

      Thanks so much, Piotr!

    1. 1

      🙌🙌

  6. 2

    One of the many unintended consequences of writing really high quality stuff. Congrats Steph. Awesome!

    1. 1

      Such a nice compliment! Thanks Harry! 😊

    1. 1

      Thanks Slav!! 🤗

  7. 2

    Hi Steph,

    This is awesome.
    How did you manage to get featured? Did you submit your article somehow?

    1. 2

      Just asked Steph this - she didn't submit! Since Pocket's where people save stuff to read later, she's guessing more people saved her article and got picked to be included in their huge newsletter :) Btw congrats again Steph!

      1. 2

        Hi Shin, thanks!

        1. 1

          Thanks for responding, @toomanytabss!

          @maxshash, as Shin said, I didn't submit it anywhere and I don't think they actually accept submissions (unless paid). From what I gather, they look at the articles already trending on Pocket and select from those! Makes sense, because they're already getting some data on what people are interested in. 😊

          1. 1

            Thanks for sharing.
            It means you wrote a really good article 😊

  8. 2

    Awesome!! Congrats Steph. How does they find and decide to feature you? Maybe one of the Pocket Hits editor is your subscriber😊

    1. 1

      Hey Alex! Thank you!

      I haven't looked into it closely, but I believe they select articles "trending" on Pocket (meaning people saving it for later) and then select from those!

      1. 1

        If so then this is much better for you^^
        It means that people saved your articles directly from your site.. So they are very engaged in your content.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 49 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 28 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 15 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments