The Storyletter Substack

Less than 6 months after hitting my one year anniversary on Substack, I doubled my total subscriber count.

This was a combination of many things. Substack had added new features that connected writers together such as Recommendations and Mentions. But the real kicker has been staying consistent with my posting schedule. I publish at least twice a week, one involving the community, the other is a piece of free fiction from myself or someone else in the fiction sphere.

Marketing is difficult and because it's difficult I shy away from it. However, it's necessary to have places to share your work after it's been published. For this, the best method is to go as wide as possible. I created a Twitter, Minds, Facebook, Instagram, IndieHacker, LinkedIn, Wordpress, and YouTube channel (inactive at the moment). This way you establish a presence to many different viewers and potential readers. Another avenue I'm looking into is Kickstarter, but more on that in a future post.

There's this thing I like to call the "Serendipity Method". It's the act of making a discovery by accident. A happy accident, I might add. This method is about not getting caught up in the lack of engagement your posts or stories are receiving and simply enjoying the process of producing the applicable content.

When you're enjoying the creation of your content, someone somewhere will accidently happen across your work. When they do, it'll be a spark for them to look up your other work. This will lead them into a treasure trove of content that they will want to see even more of and they will follow/subscribe to you.

Serendipity. Just keep doing what you love, the rest will be a happy accident.

It was slow at first. It took 10 months to reach 100 subscribers. The grind was real. Plus, I was new to marketing myself and the newsletter. It was a large learning curve.

Then something happened. Substack added a new feature to their platform called Recommendations. This allowed writers to recommend their favorite Substacks to their followers and to every new subscriber.

In the 30 days following the addition of that new feature, I received 50% of my total followers. Hitting over 150 subscribers by my one year anniversary on Substack.

Features on Substack are, of course, outside of my control. What was in my control was the engagement, networking, marketing, hustling, and daily commitment to writing that also contributed to those first 150 followers. Yes, there was a feature that recommended my Substack, but other Substackers wouldn't have recommended me if I hadn't consistently engaged with them honestly and passionately.

I've made new friends this way that I've never met in person. Heck, I don't even know what they look like. But that's not the point. Engaging with people online in as human a way as possible is what breaks down the barriers and builds a network worth sharing.

Be yourself, be honest, and enjoy what you do. That's what I learned after writing for one year on Substack.

I didn't start out knowing exactly what to do. However, I started somewhere I was familiar with.

In 2015, I had founded a company called Stormfallen Entertainment LLC. However, I never followed through with it and it was costing me money annually for no real reason. I hadn't published any books at the time. So I ended up liquidating the company.

But at least I had figured out the process. I ended up going with ZenBusiness and they set up everything for me. It was quite simple and I would recommend them to others if asked who to go with. It cost a few hundred dollars but it was definitely worth the convenience.

It took less than 30 days for Storyletter XPress Publishing LLC to be born. Very happy I did it. :)

In July of 2021, I discovered Substack. This changed the way I approached my writing and how I was self-publishing my stories. I decided to no longer give away all of my writing as free content on a 3rd party service where I had no control over my own followers.

Substack allowed me to take ownership over my work and my subscribers. It provided me with a much needed perspective shift in order to value what I was doing and realistically look at writing as a viable alternative to substituting my primary job.

Since I decided to pursue self-publishing (indie publishing is a more accurate term), I realized I'd need to create a company in order to treat it like a real job. That's when I founded Storyletter XPress Publishing LLC.

Not only is the company a way for me to maintain ownership over my work, but it's allowed me to expand my reach by helping others pursue their dreams of becoming published. Whether it's through coaching, editing, ghostwriting, graphic design, or feedback, I've come to love everything about writing online.

It's no longer just a hobby. It's a passion. I hope to meet others just as passionate in what they're pursuing. Wishing every indie creator much success! ~ WM