Coffee Challenge #6
Step Stumble Step with the Slow Burn of Substack
Testimonials and summary of my Substack experience in response to CC6 — Coffee Challenge 6.
Like the plants that I love, my Substack newsletter is growing and resting in turn.
Since my last story on my Substack newsletter I have gained 10 new subscribers, stumbled in my efforts to stay consistent and received some lovely testimonials that give me the hope and inspiration that I strive to give others through delivery of weekly positive nature news stories.
Despite my lapse in weekly promotion, I am still finding that Wednesday and Thursday are the peak period for activity. This makes me wonder if I should change my release date to a Wednesday or Thursday rather than a Friday.
There’s a few things that I have discovered — steps in understanding if you will…
- When I explicitly ask for “likes” I seem to get more.
- My readers are reluctant to give feedback. I am yet to figure out why.
- A weekly newsletter delivered at a specific time is hard to maintain.
My Stumble
In the midst of moving house I encountered complications that meant that I missed a week. I couldn’t even notify my subscribers ahead of time or on the day. Life got in the way.
My response?
I sent an apology post as soon as I could get back to my laptop.
Effective?
Goodness knows! The apology post got a couple of lovely responses and some likes, but apart from that it’s been quiet. My statistics don’t appear to have suffered so hopefully that means that my readers are okay with my lapse.
Testimonials
I have received some lovely feedback in person from people I know and by email. It’s hard to choose the “best” testimonial as they all feed a writer’s soul and inspire me to continue.
When asking for testimonials I also asked my readers to specify how they would like to be credited or whether they would rather remain anonymous.
These three are the ones with most detail on the elusive why of subscription:
“I subscribe for the positive spin on environmental and sustainable living. Each week I learn something new! The information is encouraging and the tips are easy to apply to my everyday life! I especially like the “Children in Nature” ideas.” K.T. (by email)
I subscribe because I am interested in finding out more about how to live a nature-loving life. I really like the breadth of topics that you include in your newsletter — the plant information, how you set up your gardens, how you marvel at nature etc. That way I can skim through topics if I am not fully interested but I can still learn new things. — K. Keynes (by email)
Lovely, well organized, loaded with information, and fun to look at. Thank you, Jane. — Catherine (by comment on Substack)
My Conclusions from Testimonials
- LENGTH — I was concerned that my newsletter was too long but after receiving testimonials I think I can safely keep doing what I am doing.
- TOPICS — Children in Nature seems very popular. Currently, it is a once every four weeks section but I am considering making it weekly based on the response this section gets.
- ORGANISATION — I hadn’t consciously thought about my organisation but after receiving feedback I think this is one of the strengths of my newsletter. Readers appear to enjoy being able to use the graphics as markers to skim back and forth through the text depending on how much time they have to read.
A Big Thank You!
At this point, I would like to acknowledge how important this competition has been for my progress on Substack.
- Thank you to all those who have given encouragement, feedback and lovely comments on my Medium articles about Substack.
- Thank you to my new subscribers!
- Thank you to Coffee Times for running this competition and giving us a way to extend our understanding through our own experiences and reading about the experiences of others.
- Last, but definitely not least, thank you to the judges (Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Dr. Preeti Singh, Liberty Forrest, Author, Yana Bostongirl) for taking the time to peruse and assess between your own writing commitments and busy lives.
Other Medium Writers on Substack
Brace Yourself by Carolyn McBride
Illumination’s Newsletter by ILLUMINATION
Australian Foodie on Running by Australian Foodie
JenniferMichelle.Co by Jennifer Essary
If you have a Substack newsletter, please put the address in the comments and I will add you to this list and check it out myself!
My part one of the entry for Coffee Challenge 6 can be found here:
