My Three-Month ‘Stackiversary and Insights for Writers with Under 200 Readers

grab a cup of tea, this is a long one

Hi, it’s me, and this is my garden. I remember capturing this selfie because it was a good hair day and only now notice the smudge of dirt on my forehead from doing my gardening chores. I’ve been using this garden-smudged image as my headshot for over a year, which actually checks out because I’m all about Keeping It Real. Another thing I noticed just now is how much I loved this exact hairstyle when I was 22. There’s something to unpack there.

Me in my garden, late summer 2021.

It’s been three months since I officially launched this newsletter on September 21st. Before launching, I posted a Coming Soon! link to Facebook announcing my new writing project. Fifteen friends signed up immediately, including three who paid cash money for the upgrade. I was stunned. I still am. I’m a card carrying member of the Imposter Syndrome Club and genuinely didn’t expect to be compensated for such insecurities. 

Thank you Jen and Nicole for being the first and second subscribers to Jen Zug Writes, and thank you Marina, Julie, and Shannon for being my first three paid subscribers. I know you all personally as friends who don’t engage because of optics or obligation, so thank you for being my early confidence-boosters.

Writing at our dining room table. Just outside the frame, Ruthie’s baking a cake and Thomas & Bryan are watching a movie. I have an office at the back of the house, but sometimes I like to be around people. Alone together, as it were.

I’m a writer living in Seattle with very few credentials to prove this claim. Unless you count lengthy Facebook ramblings and a stream-of-consciousness blog that had its heyday from 2006-2010. I’ve talked about publishing books ever since I was a kid. Have I done this yet? No. Nevertheless, if you ask me what I am or what I do, I always answer that I’m a writer. But at some point I have to get over fear and procrastination to earn my spot in the WRITER category of the World Manual of Belonging. Like the REAL stamp on dairy products you buy at the store. Please accept me as your squishy ball of mozzarella.

---

How It Started

This summer I found myself with some extra free time when my department went through a reorg and I was laid off from a job I had for only five months. I updated my resume and applied for unemployment. I re-read Designing Your Life to figure out what I wanted to do next. The book refresher led me to some actionable goals for writing, and I adjusted my job search from a broad role (general communications) to a specialist role (grant writing or technical writing) so I would have more time, energy, and brain space to invest in these goals.

And here we are.

How It’s Going

When I launched Jen Zug Writes I had a few loosely-defined objectives: 

• Build a writing habit

• Build an audience

• Test my ideas

• Write my book

Build a writing habit: This is going well. Excellent, actually! I spend time daily in my Writer Mind – sometimes drafting, sometimes outlining, sometimes editing, and sometimes scribbling on sticky notes I attach to my wall, desk, or monitor. I feel confident that I have a solid momentum established so I’ll stick with it even after I start working full time again.

Build an audience: This is in process, but looks promising. I’ll write more about the numbers below, but in terms of finding new readers, Substack is aggressive about pushing its own network as a source of new subscribers. It’s an enjoyable place to network with and discover other writers, but I’m hesitant to put all my eggs into the one basket. Substack is its own universe, like the MCU, and sometimes I want to venture out to hang with Star Wars fans. Did that metaphor give me street cred? I was very proud of it. You can help me build an audience by sharing Jen Zug Writes with someone you know who appreciates middle aged women oversharing on the internet!

Test my ideas: There are things I like writing about and things people like reading about. I’d like those things to be the same things! For now, I’m simply throwing my essay spaghettis at the wall to see what sticks. Have you ever thrown spaghetti at the wall? I don’t recommend leaving it there until it dries because eventually when you move out of the apartment you’ll end up having to sand and repaint the kitchen wall. So I’ve heard. Anyway, “Does it resonate?” and “Is it useful?” — these are the two questions I continually ask myself so as to avoid publishing like a stream-of-thought personal journal entry. I’d like my work to have usefulness outside of my own headspace. Since I can’t read your mind, I evaluate success based on likes, comments, open rates, views, etc. More on that later.

Write my book: In January 2020 I made a rough outline of my book and drafted three chapters. Then the pandemic hit. For some, this may have simplified scheduling and made for more time at home to write. But at the time, I was working at a transitional housing program for women experiencing homelessness, so my work stress went up as I continued going into the office throughout the pandemic. Once I got home every night, my brain could only handle British baking shows. 

But now, on the cusp of 2023, I’m ready to dive in again. My book is a parenting memoir about navigating the difficult events of life with our kids – like explaining death to a four year old, or getting an email from the middle school about a student who died of an overdose, or how to not freak out when your five year old says she doesn't want to be friends with Black people anymore. I’ll be working on this in the background while I continue to maintain a weekly newsletter cadence.

I’m curious: Are you a parent? Would you read this book? Let me know in the comments.

---

The Numbers

This is where I get nerdy. If you’re here for the bad humor and self deprecation, keep scrolling to the next section for some helpful links. If you’re interested in seeing the nitty gritty of someone who didn’t launch a newsletter with an already-intact audience from their very successful journalism career - this section might interest you.

Subscriber Growth Chart

1. Links shared on social media. You can see three-ish bumps where I posted links to my Facebook and Instagram feeds. These initial subscribers are my friends and family.

2. Slow and steady growth through September and October. Nothing earth shattering, but I’m pleased that I had an average of 1-3 new subscribers every time I posted.

3. November 2nd I published the first post in a 3-part series on community. Knowing that the social media algorithm sometimes hides my posts, I sent the link directly to friends and invited them to subscribe. I did this via my personal gmail account and Facebook Messenger.

4. November 9th I published the 2nd post in my series on community. My personal story is connected to a larger story within evangelical culture that gets talked about a lot on Twitter. It got noticed, and my link was retweeted by someone who has 32k Twitter followers.

5. Continued slow and steady growth.

Substack says they see 5 - 10% of free subscribers convert to paid, with 10% being a rate to aim for. So far I’m in that window at 9%. Why do I have a paid option if all my posts are free? I’m glad you asked. A paid option exists for you to say, “Hey, I love your voice and I want more of it. Here’s a couple bucks. Keep going.” Yes, I’m saying money sometimes does buy love.

View Counts by Date

• As you can see, my views peak every Wednesday when I post, and I get around 150-200. I love how each week it looks like my stats are flipping me the bird.

• I experienced a higher view count in November when I published a three part series and did some personal outreach to gain new subscribers. The super tall one is when I was retweeted by someone with 32k followers.

• Looks like I’ve had consistently higher view numbers in between post days since then.

Email Open Rates

I was maintaining open rates above 70% for many weeks until the November growth spurt. Kinda bummed they dropped, but I think these numbers are still good. It’s also the holidays, which adds a second possible variable impacting the drop.

My Insights

Overall, I’m pleased with the slow and steady growth — it’s what I can manage with the time I have available. I like the relationship between quality writing, consistent posting, and organic networking, with occasional bursts of luck and serendipity. If and when I want to grow faster, I’ll put more effort into marketing myself. I keep reminding myself I’m here primarily to practice a writing habit and test my ideas.

If I continue at my current average monthly subscriber rate, I should have around 300-350 free subscribers by the end of my first year (July 2023). I think? Is that how math works? I won’t be making any leaderboard appearances with this growth pace, but it’s manageable for the time I have available and is a safe baseline expectation to measure against. I’d love to see open rates stay above 50%.

My late summer garden at twilight, 2022.

I’m a gardener, and in the gardening world, it’s recommended that when you move to a new property, you wait a full year before starting a garden or changing anything about the landscaping. The idea is that you need all four seasons to consider how the sun changes its arc, where the wind comes from, and how the rainwater pools or drains. In the first year at our current home, I learned the beautiful birch tree in our back yard shaded the existing garden boxes most of the day, but our front yard was the sunniest spot on our property. In year two, we moved our garden to the front where it thrives in full sun.

This is how I’m approaching my first year on Substack — I’ll work with what I have for awhile and wait to see what happens. I have the luxury of not being in a hurry and the constraint of having limited time in my schedule to take big swings.

I’m happy to answer any questions about these numbers and my approach to growth in the comments. If you have a Substack, I’d love to know how your experience has been getting started.

---

Favorite Post Roundup

Because I had a significant subscriber growth spurt in early November, I wanted to share a sampling of essays from the first few months that you may have missed:

The History of Birthdays (link)

I write about all the times I stepped into new things. 

Today is My Birthday (link)

I write about why I started this new writing project. 

Is my Childhood Piano Teacher the Reason I’m in Therapy?! (link) 

I write about my tendency to lead with fear, and my first memory of being afraid.

My Mom Died Last Year (link)

I write about the absurdity of life marching on when all I want to do is grieve.

My Community Origin Story (link)

The first in a 3-part series on why community is important to me.

You can access more in the archives here.

This post is uniquely business-y and numbers-y, so be sure to subscribe if you want to get future stories and deep thoughts from me in the new year. I’ll be writing about how I handled a long stretch of unemployment, imposter syndrome, my conversation with a TV celebrity, the time my three-year-old dropped the f-bomb in front of my mom, and my parenting rule that rules all other rules. Among other things.

---

Final Thoughts

It’s been a weird year. I started my job in January, lost my job in May, launched my newsletter in August/September, signed an employment agreement in November, and I will start my new job in January. It feels full circle and surreal. Wasn’t I just here starting a new job in the new year? I appreciate you being here, and for reading all the way to the end, you get five gold stars!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Until next time,

Jen

p.s. Jen Zug Writes is going on a two-week hiatus for the holidays. I’ll see you in the new year!