Thanks for sharing these details! I love seeing insights into other people's stats and processes. So far I am finding BlueSky to be a viable alternative to Twitter, mostly because, as you mentioned, they're not suppressing links. It's the most engagement I've had on posts in years, and so far my follower count seems to be continuing to increase as long as I'm continuing to post. I'm excited to see where it goes!
That is good to hear and I think the Starter Packs feel like a good way to find like-minded people too. Hopefully it will continue to be a good place to be :)
Thanks for sharing this! I had. two piece get boosted early this year on Medium and ended up making over $200 on a short list piece, which was... unexpected. It's certainly not something I can rely on (boosting is mysterious), but it was a fun little ride, and I'll definitely aim to publish a few times on Medium in 2025.
That is great! I made $150 on one humor piece that was boosted and that is more than a lot of humor often pays, but on the other hand I made less than $2 on one non-boosted piece. So definitely a mixed bag but still feels worth trying to submit some things to the publications hosted there in 2025.
I am a long-time Medium writer, new to Substack, and I'm so glad to have found your pub. This was super interesting. It's going to help me think about my writing goals for 2025 too -- besides publishing my first Substack post. ;) Thanks for sharing!
Oh good and I was happy to recently discover your humor writing on Medium too. Always good to know more fellow parenting humor writers. I'm curious to hear how you've found Medium for humor writing as a long-time writer there too!
Re: social media, I've had some early success with Bluesky and find it to be a net positive (on the social media, not life, scale). I don't get much engagement but my follower count keeps ticking up, either from inclusion in Starter Packs or perhaps people following me without engaging with my posts. I have a big milestone coming up next summer with my novel being published so I'm optimistic I can hit an inflection point on the platform.
Threads was working for me but Insta was a total dud; I hate Meta so much it was easy to pull the plug on both.
Funny enough, I've had the most success on Notes but I -- like Brandon Taylor's viral essay -- find it grating. Just yesterday I deleted all my Notes and re-stacks (for a second time!) and I don't plan to use Substack's social media features beginning in 2025. I know this will cost me some subscribers, but I think the ROI in terms of attention and time will be a justifiable offset.
I'm keeping my newsletter going, of course, but to grow I'm gonna need more organic discovery and more sharing from current subscribers. We'll see if that pans out.
This is all really interesting and I appreciate your willingness to cut off what is not working. I think I take too long to do that sometimes (e.g. Twitter). I think I missed that viral essay but will need to go look at it. I did see someone saying that Notes may get you subscribers but they may not be your ideal readers, which is something to think about. I honestly think recommendations from like-minded Substacks might be one of the better ways for people to find us.
Blue Sky feels net positive for me too and I think for you with your book coming out it's good because there are a lot of journalists on there. I'm also seeing a creep up in subscribers without being there much I think because of the starter packs.
One thing I remember hearing on a podcast (I think Publishing Rodeo) is that Twitter was sometimes helpful for book sales in part because the right people (people writing about books for pubs) were on there and would sometimes be introduced to a book that they would add to a roundup they were writing. I could see Blue Sky having a similar effect.
Recommendations are huge, but ironically many great pubs recommend me but they're in adjacent categories. This means a lot of recommendation flow ends up bailing pretty quickly -- doing napkin math here because Substack doesn't provide that level of granularity.
I'm definitely optimistic Bluesky is where the "literati" have migrated and feel optimistic I'll make good connections over time. We shall see!
Ah, thanks for that link was just searching for it. It's so interesting because a lot of what he describes is how I've felt about other social media but not Notes, I generally feel like my feed is more playful/not annoying currently but the algorithm gods could always change that.
One thing I've also been thinking about with BlueSky is that it has brought up some of my not-favorite parts of Twitter (writer envy, people commenting without reading an article, etc.) and so I'm trying to be mindful of how to make the experience more what I want it to be.
In any event, in the meantime, if 2025 could just hold off on introducing any other social platforms, that would be great.
Every platform is vibes and I think perhaps I'm just a little Substacked out. I'm well aware I'm part of what makes Substack annoying. :-)
I def agree Bluesky has issues. I only like it because people are following me!
But, in all seriousness, I don't like the lack of control on Notes, and I do think Bluesky has introduced some neat features. Just this morning I built several "Lists" so I can narrow my following to certain people and types of content. This way I can check in on what I want without being overloaded with dreadful political takes. Definitely a feature to explore. You can find my lists on my profile page if you want to see what I've done.
Thx for sharing your year in review. Congrats on the freelance pubs and 2k subscribers! I want to know more about your full time teaching. Do you expect your writing to ever replace your teaching income?
Thank you! My full-time teaching job is as an Instructor teaching undergrads and at this point, I have been there almost 20 years and don't really want to try to make writing replace my full-time income. When I was younger, I thought that sounded appealing but now less so both because I like my teaching job and because I don't think I'm cut out for the hustle culture that feels like it comes with making a full-time salary as a writer these days.
Right now for things like freelancing and Substack, I like that I have the freedom to step back from it at times.
But I have been thinking a bit about retirement/future plans and can imagine a scenario where I'm making less income from my teaching job and more from writing-related income (definitely not anywhere close to that right now).
I think things both in higher ed and the freelancing world are probably also going to shift a bit in the next few years, so it may be a bit about seeing what happens too.
Instructor is my position title but I teach writing classes -- mostly business writing but sometimes special topics (including humor writing) but there is more demand for business writing (because business just has a lot more majors) so that is the course I tend to teach the most.
I'm now curious about you -- do you focus on Substack/writing as a main gig or more of a side gig?
You’re an angel 😇 for sharing all this, Vicky! It’s so helpful to see how others other writers be writer-ing especially with family and work commitments. I’m in a similar boat. Thank you for clarifying it wasn’t 21 new pieces of content! I had a small conniption before I saw that caveat - how is she fitting it all in?! Really interesting to hear your take on medium. I haven’t published anything there yet and I’m a bit torn as to whether it’s worthwhile or just focus on my own audience here. I guess different content suits different platforms better and if you get boosted, there can be a reasonable payday. Lots to think about here - thanks again! 🙏
Yes, definitely not 21 (and some of those I had written from 2023 and some were just pitches that theoretically don't take as long to write as a full piece).
I think there are some pros/cons to Medium and I know some people duplicate content to Medium and Substack which is another possibility for some pieces.
I wondered about the rules of cross posting across both. Is Medium ok with work being shared elsewhere when it’s for paid subscribers only on their platform?
I love this! Seeing other writers' behind-the-scenes is so helpful, and I like your reasons listed for the what might make certain freelance opportunities worth it.
Thank, Sarah! Yes, I think I'm trying to think it through more than I used to. I think there are a variety of reasons to do it but sometimes my reasons were maybe not thought through very well.
I so feel this, even with creative projects. Because my initial tendency is to be like, I WANNA DO ALL THE THINGS. But if I stop and actually process and go through the reasons, its like, ok, but do you REALLY want to do ALL the things?
I really appreciated this reflection
Thanks, Nina :)
Thanks, Julie, this was really interesting!
Of course -- thanks for reading!
Thanks for sharing these details! I love seeing insights into other people's stats and processes. So far I am finding BlueSky to be a viable alternative to Twitter, mostly because, as you mentioned, they're not suppressing links. It's the most engagement I've had on posts in years, and so far my follower count seems to be continuing to increase as long as I'm continuing to post. I'm excited to see where it goes!
That is good to hear and I think the Starter Packs feel like a good way to find like-minded people too. Hopefully it will continue to be a good place to be :)
Thanks for sharing this! I had. two piece get boosted early this year on Medium and ended up making over $200 on a short list piece, which was... unexpected. It's certainly not something I can rely on (boosting is mysterious), but it was a fun little ride, and I'll definitely aim to publish a few times on Medium in 2025.
That is great! I made $150 on one humor piece that was boosted and that is more than a lot of humor often pays, but on the other hand I made less than $2 on one non-boosted piece. So definitely a mixed bag but still feels worth trying to submit some things to the publications hosted there in 2025.
I am a long-time Medium writer, new to Substack, and I'm so glad to have found your pub. This was super interesting. It's going to help me think about my writing goals for 2025 too -- besides publishing my first Substack post. ;) Thanks for sharing!
Oh good and I was happy to recently discover your humor writing on Medium too. Always good to know more fellow parenting humor writers. I'm curious to hear how you've found Medium for humor writing as a long-time writer there too!
Re: social media, I've had some early success with Bluesky and find it to be a net positive (on the social media, not life, scale). I don't get much engagement but my follower count keeps ticking up, either from inclusion in Starter Packs or perhaps people following me without engaging with my posts. I have a big milestone coming up next summer with my novel being published so I'm optimistic I can hit an inflection point on the platform.
Threads was working for me but Insta was a total dud; I hate Meta so much it was easy to pull the plug on both.
Funny enough, I've had the most success on Notes but I -- like Brandon Taylor's viral essay -- find it grating. Just yesterday I deleted all my Notes and re-stacks (for a second time!) and I don't plan to use Substack's social media features beginning in 2025. I know this will cost me some subscribers, but I think the ROI in terms of attention and time will be a justifiable offset.
I'm keeping my newsletter going, of course, but to grow I'm gonna need more organic discovery and more sharing from current subscribers. We'll see if that pans out.
Happy Holidays and here's to a productive 2025!
This is all really interesting and I appreciate your willingness to cut off what is not working. I think I take too long to do that sometimes (e.g. Twitter). I think I missed that viral essay but will need to go look at it. I did see someone saying that Notes may get you subscribers but they may not be your ideal readers, which is something to think about. I honestly think recommendations from like-minded Substacks might be one of the better ways for people to find us.
Blue Sky feels net positive for me too and I think for you with your book coming out it's good because there are a lot of journalists on there. I'm also seeing a creep up in subscribers without being there much I think because of the starter packs.
One thing I remember hearing on a podcast (I think Publishing Rodeo) is that Twitter was sometimes helpful for book sales in part because the right people (people writing about books for pubs) were on there and would sometimes be introduced to a book that they would add to a roundup they were writing. I could see Blue Sky having a similar effect.
Here's the essay: https://blgtylr.substack.com/p/why-im-thinking-of-ending-things
Recommendations are huge, but ironically many great pubs recommend me but they're in adjacent categories. This means a lot of recommendation flow ends up bailing pretty quickly -- doing napkin math here because Substack doesn't provide that level of granularity.
I'm definitely optimistic Bluesky is where the "literati" have migrated and feel optimistic I'll make good connections over time. We shall see!
Ah, thanks for that link was just searching for it. It's so interesting because a lot of what he describes is how I've felt about other social media but not Notes, I generally feel like my feed is more playful/not annoying currently but the algorithm gods could always change that.
One thing I've also been thinking about with BlueSky is that it has brought up some of my not-favorite parts of Twitter (writer envy, people commenting without reading an article, etc.) and so I'm trying to be mindful of how to make the experience more what I want it to be.
In any event, in the meantime, if 2025 could just hold off on introducing any other social platforms, that would be great.
Every platform is vibes and I think perhaps I'm just a little Substacked out. I'm well aware I'm part of what makes Substack annoying. :-)
I def agree Bluesky has issues. I only like it because people are following me!
But, in all seriousness, I don't like the lack of control on Notes, and I do think Bluesky has introduced some neat features. Just this morning I built several "Lists" so I can narrow my following to certain people and types of content. This way I can check in on what I want without being overloaded with dreadful political takes. Definitely a feature to explore. You can find my lists on my profile page if you want to see what I've done.
I get that and will check out the lists. I do think I need to just spend some more time on there to get a feel for how to best use it!
Thx for sharing your year in review. Congrats on the freelance pubs and 2k subscribers! I want to know more about your full time teaching. Do you expect your writing to ever replace your teaching income?
Thank you! My full-time teaching job is as an Instructor teaching undergrads and at this point, I have been there almost 20 years and don't really want to try to make writing replace my full-time income. When I was younger, I thought that sounded appealing but now less so both because I like my teaching job and because I don't think I'm cut out for the hustle culture that feels like it comes with making a full-time salary as a writer these days.
Right now for things like freelancing and Substack, I like that I have the freedom to step back from it at times.
But I have been thinking a bit about retirement/future plans and can imagine a scenario where I'm making less income from my teaching job and more from writing-related income (definitely not anywhere close to that right now).
I think things both in higher ed and the freelancing world are probably also going to shift a bit in the next few years, so it may be a bit about seeing what happens too.
Teaching must be fulfilling not to mention enjoying a steady paycheck. What are the details of an Instructor course? Teaching how to teach?
Instructor is my position title but I teach writing classes -- mostly business writing but sometimes special topics (including humor writing) but there is more demand for business writing (because business just has a lot more majors) so that is the course I tend to teach the most.
I'm now curious about you -- do you focus on Substack/writing as a main gig or more of a side gig?
You’re an angel 😇 for sharing all this, Vicky! It’s so helpful to see how others other writers be writer-ing especially with family and work commitments. I’m in a similar boat. Thank you for clarifying it wasn’t 21 new pieces of content! I had a small conniption before I saw that caveat - how is she fitting it all in?! Really interesting to hear your take on medium. I haven’t published anything there yet and I’m a bit torn as to whether it’s worthwhile or just focus on my own audience here. I guess different content suits different platforms better and if you get boosted, there can be a reasonable payday. Lots to think about here - thanks again! 🙏
Yes, definitely not 21 (and some of those I had written from 2023 and some were just pitches that theoretically don't take as long to write as a full piece).
I think there are some pros/cons to Medium and I know some people duplicate content to Medium and Substack which is another possibility for some pieces.
I wondered about the rules of cross posting across both. Is Medium ok with work being shared elsewhere when it’s for paid subscribers only on their platform?
I love this! Seeing other writers' behind-the-scenes is so helpful, and I like your reasons listed for the what might make certain freelance opportunities worth it.
Thank, Sarah! Yes, I think I'm trying to think it through more than I used to. I think there are a variety of reasons to do it but sometimes my reasons were maybe not thought through very well.
I so feel this, even with creative projects. Because my initial tendency is to be like, I WANNA DO ALL THE THINGS. But if I stop and actually process and go through the reasons, its like, ok, but do you REALLY want to do ALL the things?
Yes, I very much relate!