Your newsletter isn’t converting and you can’t figure out why.

I can. In 15 minutes.

The Substack Newsletter Audit: a personalized video review of your positioning, homepage, offers, and conversion flow — plus a 90-day action plan so you stop guessing and start fixing.

$450. Five-day delivery. Five spots per month. Satisfaction guaranteed.

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Someone just gave you their email address.

They trusted you with a piece of their inbox—a place they guard more closely than their front door.

And you said… nothing.

If your welcome email is the default Substack “Thanks for subscribing!” message—or worse, blank—you just wasted the highest-open-rate email you will ever send.

Welcome emails get 50–80% open rates.

Your regular newsletter gets 30–40% on a good day.

And you left the high-open one empty?

The Open Loop Welcome Strategy

Most welcome emails are a handshake and a brochure. “Here’s who I am, here’s what you’ll get, see you next week.”

Mine is a conversation starter.

And it converts.

My welcome email does three things in under 200 words: it acknowledges their decision, it segments them without them knowing it, and it creates an open loop that makes them reply.

The moment someone responds to your email, they stop being a subscriber. They become a person who talked to you. And people who talk to you buy from you.

That reply is everything. Three things happen the moment someone responds.

1. Your emails don’t land in spam folders. Replies signal to email providers that your emails are wanted, so your sender reputation and deliverability improves.

2. The relationship starts. They’re not a subscriber anymore. They’re a person who talked to you.

3. You learn exactly where they are. Which means you know exactly what to offer them next.

The Framework: How I Structure My Welcome Email

Part 1: Acknowledge + Set Expectations (2 sentences)

Thank them. Tell them what’s coming.

That’s it.

Part 2: The Segmentation Question

Subscribe now

Read more

Your newsletter isn’t converting and you can’t figure out why . . .

I can. In 15 minutes.

The Substack Newsletter Audit: a personalized video review of your positioning, homepage, offers, and conversion flow — plus a 90-day action plan so you stop guessing and start fixing.

Five-day delivery. Five spots per month. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Get Your Audit →

Paid subscribers get first access.

———

A subscriber emailed me last week: “I’ve been sending my newsletter weekly for a year, and I only have 273 subscribers. I’ve tried everything. Can you help me?”

I took a look and could instantly see why:

47 published posts. Solid writing. Clear About page.

Her homepage said: “Subscribe to my weekly newsletter for personal development tips.”

That’s it.

That was the pitch.

No social proof. No transformation promise. No content sections. No reason for a stranger to give up their email address, much less open their wallet.

She was confused about why growth was slow.

I was confused about how she had any subscribers at all.

Your Substack homepage is not a blog directory.

It’s not a landing page for your ego.

It’s a sales page.

And if it doesn’t sell the experience of subscribing, people will leave without ever seeing your best work.

Here’s the formula I use—and teach—that converts.

1. Lead With Transformation, Not Topic

Bad: “Subscribe to my weekly newsletter about digital marketing.”

Good: “From struggling creator to five-figure newsletter in 90 days.”

No one wakes up wanting to subscribe to a newsletter on a topic.

They want a result. They want to see themselves in your promise.

My homepage doesn’t say “I write about newsletters.” It says what my readers will become.

There’s a reason 7,200+ people signed up.

Subscribe now

Read more

14 new subscribers. Overnight. While I was literally unconscious.

I hadn’t posted a Note, sent a newsletter, or done a single thing to grow my audience in three days because I was recovering from a head cold and binge-watching old seasons of The Great British Bake Off.

So where did they come from?

Google.

Specifically, one article I wrote seven months ago that ranks for a search term my ideal readers regularly use. That single post has brought me dozens of subscribers without me lifting a finger.

* Last 30 days subscribers from search, social & AI

I use it as a hero post in a rotation with other posts. And if you’re not writing them, you’re leaving hundreds (maybe thousands) of subscribers on the table every single year.

Today I’m showing you exactly how to create your own.

What Is a Hero Post? (And Why Newsletter Creators Need One)

A hero post is a comprehensive, evergreen article strategically designed to rank on Google and bring you passive subscribers month after month.

Think of it as pillar content for your newsletter. Unlike your regular posts that speak to existing readers, a hero post is written for strangers who are actively searching for answers in your niche.

Here’s what makes a hero post different from your regular newsletter:

Regular post: Written for people who already know you. Timely, personal, conversational. Great for engagement, but invisible to Google.

Hero post: Written for people who don’t know you yet. Evergreen, searchable, comprehensive. Designed to answer a specific question your ideal reader is Googling right now.

Think of regular posts as conversations with friends. Hero posts are the welcome mat for strangers.

You need both. But I see many publications with only the first kind and wonder why their subscriber growth depends entirely on how much they hustle on Notes.

Why Is Your Substack Invisible on Google?

Here’s something most creators don’t realize: Substack has massive domain authority.

Domain authority is Google’s trust score for websites. The higher it is, the easier your content ranks. Substack’s domain authority is in the 90s (out of 100). For comparison, most personal blogs sit around 20-40.

This means your Substack posts have a built-in SEO advantage your old WordPress blog never had.

So why aren’t you showing up on Google?

Because you’re writing for your existing subscribers, not for search.

You’re using cute headlines like “The Thing I Learned Last Tuesday” instead of “How to Start a Newsletter in 2026.” You’re writing timely content that’s irrelevant in three weeks. You’re treating every post the same when some posts should be designed to work for you forever.

The creators who figured this out are playing a different game entirely. They publish one or two strategic hero posts per quarter that rank on Google and bring passive subscribers month after month. Then they fill in between with their regular content.

It’s not either/or. It’s both.

How to Write a Hero Post That Ranks on Google

Here’s the step-by-step process I use to create hero posts that drive organic traffic to my newsletter.

Want the Full 2026 Playbook?

Hero posts are just one strategy in my 2026 toolkit. I’ve mapped out everything changing on Substack in 2026 and how to stay ahead of it.

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Substack 2026: What’s Coming and How to Prepare →

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Read more

Some get no traction whatsoever. Some explode.

Last month, one Note got 260 comments. Another got 3.

Same person writing both. Same time of day. Same audience.

So what was different?

The 260-comment Note:

I gave my 20s to diapers and dishes. My 30s to meetings and mergers. My 40s to a company that would replace me in a day.

At 54, I gave something to myself. A Substack. A voice. A space that’s mine. It’s never too late to stop living for everyone else.

The 3-comment Note:

You won’t always be applauded for choosing peace. But you’ll never regret it.

Both are true. Both are valuable.

But one invited conversation. The other stated a fact.

Here’s the pattern I’ve tracked across thousands of Notes:

Questions > Statements
Stories > Tips
Vulnerability > Authority

The Notes that perform best don’t just deliver value. They create space for others to contribute.

When I share a personal story with a lesson, people often share their own stories.

When I share a hot take, people scroll.

When I ask a question I’m genuinely curious about, people show up to answer.

The mistake I see people make often:

They post Notes like they’re broadcasting wisdom from a mountaintop.

But Substack isn’t a stage. It’s a coffee shop.

The creators with 10K+ engaged subscribers aren’t necessarily the smartest in the room. They’re the best at making everyone else feel smart.

Your experiment this week:

Post one Note that ends with a genuine question you’re curious about.

Not “What do you think?” (lazy)

Not rhetorical (performative)

A real question where you’ll read every single answer and respond.

Then reply to every response, even if it’s brief.

Watch what happens to your profile views.

Broadcasting gets likes. Conversation gets subscribers.

P.S. - If you’re serious about building a newsletter business in 2026, my paid members get step-by-step guides in my Tuesday deep-dives.

Subscribe now

I'm teaming up with WriteStack founder Orel Zilberman to show you how to turn Notes into 10+ daily subscribers.

Free Notes Workshop January 13 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time (US):

REGISTER FOR THE FREE NOTES WORKSHOP

Now, about that Note that brought in 514 subscribers . . .

I posted over 1,400 Notes in 2025.

Most got decent engagement. A few went viral-ish with more than a thousand likes.

But one Note brought in 514 subscribers—more than any other single piece of content I created all year.

Here’s what made it different.

The Note:

That’s it. Pure generosity. No strategy. No hooks. Just genuine support for other creators.

The results:

• 1,400 likes

• 1,000 comments

• 230 restacks

• 514 subscribers (tracked directly to this Note)

Compare that to my other high-performing Notes:

• “I gave my 20s to diapers and dishes...” (2,800 likes, 262 comments) = 105 subscribers

• “Your first 50 Notes will get ignored...” (728 likes, 169 comments) = 74 subscribers

The pattern I discovered:

Tactical wisdom performs well. Vulnerability gets engagement.

But generosity converts.

When you show up to genuinely support others, people notice. They check out your profile. They subscribe because they want to be around someone like that.

Your experiment this week:

Post one Note where you offer something valuable with zero expectation of return.

A thread promoting other creators.
An offer to answer questions in your DMs.
A list of resources you love.

No pitch. No hidden angle. Just pure value.

Then watch what happens.

Tactics get attention. Generosity gets subscribers.

Are you ready for more strategies like this? Join my paid membership and get weekly step-by-step guides on how to grow and monetize your Substack.

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Join us on January 13 at 10 a.m. Mountain Time (US).
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Why Are My Newsletter Open Rates So Low?

I’ve been analyzing Substack newsletter headlines for 11 months now.

Not casually scrolling and thinking “hm, that’s interesting.”

I mean tracking and documenting them on a spreadsheet that would make my corporate marketing colleagues proud (and slightly concerned about my work-life balance).

Here’s what I notice: There’s one word that shows up most often and is the behind low open rates.

The word is: “How.”

“How to grow your newsletter.” “How I got 1,000 subscribers.” “How to write better headlines.”

It feels safe, specific, and like you’re delivering obvious value.

But chances are that’s not the case. Here’s what’s happening:

Your Readers Are Exhausted

They’ve seen 47 “how-to” headlines this week. From you. From your competitors. From every productivity guru and business coach fighting for space in their inbox.

The word “how” signals effort. It says: “This email requires work from you. You’ll need to take notes. You’ll need to implement something. You’ll need to focus.”

And on a Tuesday at 7:43am, when they’re scrolling through 89 unread emails with a coffee in one hand and a toddler screaming in the background, guess what they do?

They skip it.

They’ll “read it later.” (They won’t.)

And we all know that if your subscribers aren’t opening your emails, they’re not reading your content. They’re not clicking your links. They’re not buying your products.

And it only compounds from there because email providers notice this. Low open rates tell Gmail and other providers that your emails aren’t wanted, which means more of your carefully crafted newsletters end up in spam or promotions folders.

Every skipped email makes the next one even easier to skip. You’re losing opens and training your audience to ignore you.

Email Subject Lines That Get Opened

I’m not just going on gut feeling here.

Read more

Spam filters are getting stricter. Gmail and Yahoo rolled out new sender requirements and email providers are cracking down on bulk senders.

Everyone’s talking about authentication protocols, engagement rates, and sender reputation. It all makes sense. Nobody wants spam clogging their inbox. Tighter filtering rules protect users. It all sounds good.

Until it happens to you.

Until clients start sending you screenshots of your newsletter sitting in their spam folder. Until you realize your carefully crafted emails—the ones you spent hours writing—are being filtered out before recipients even see them.

That’s when email deliverability stops being an abstract concept and becomes your immediate crisis.

For me, it started with three messages in the same week. Three different clients, three different email providers, same problem: “Carrie, I haven’t seen your newsletter in a while. I checked spam and there it was.”

My first reaction? Denial. Maybe it’s just them. Maybe they accidentally marked me as spam once and their filter learned the wrong thing. Perhaps it’s a glitch.

Then I checked my open rates. 45% in August. 38% in September. 32% by early November.

That’s not a content problem. That’s a deliverability problem.

I dug into my subscriber data and found the culprit: about 1,000 people who hadn’t opened a single email in over six months. Not occasional opens. Not low engagement. Zero. Complete radio silence for half a year.

I spent about a week scanning articles for email deliverability news, reviewing email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and checking email marketing forums. I talked to other creators who’d dealt with deliverability crises. The consensus was clear: I had to remove the inactive subscribers.

But knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things. I’d worked hard to build that list. Deleting nearly 1,000 people meant stepping backwards by more than a month and going from 5,800 subscribers down to 4,800. What would sponsors think? What would my community say?

As I struggled with what I knew I had to do as a marketer and what I didn’t want to do as a creator, I resolved to send a re-engagement email: “Still want to hear from me? Click here to stay subscribed.”

Out of 1,000 people, 33 clicked.

The other 967 were silent.

So I deleted them. All 967.

My subscriber count dropped like a boulder rolling off a cliff.

It felt awful. But within 72 hours, my open rates jumped from 32% to 39%. My emails stopped landing in spam folders. And somehow—inexplicably—new subscribers started coming in at 10-25 per day again instead of the 3-6 I’d been stuck at for a month.

Technically, cleaning my database shouldn’t impact new subscriber acquisition. But the correlation was impossible to ignore.

If you’ve been watching your open rates decline, if you’re landing in spam folders, or if you suspect your list is quietly sabotaging you, this framework will show you exactly how to diagnose the problem, remove the dead weight, and rebuild your sender reputation—without killing your entire list in the process.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

Want my full email deliverability guide?

Paid subscribers can find it in the Creator Tool Vault and in an email I sent earlier.

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Purchase the guide in my online store.

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What Email Deliverability Really Means

Here’s what most creators miss: inactive subscribers aren’t neutral. They’re poison.

Email deliverability is the percentage of your emails that actually land in inboxes—not spam folders, not promotions tabs, not the void. And most creators assume it’s about content. Avoid spammy words, limit links, write clean subject lines, and you’ll be fine, right?

Wrong.

Content is only 20% of the equation. The other 80% is sender reputation and engagement.

Every time you send an email to someone who doesn’t open it, email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook track it. They monitor these signals across every send:

• Open rate (what percentage of recipients open your emails)

• Click rate (what percentage click links inside)

• Time to deletion (how quickly people delete without reading)

• Spam complaints (how many people mark you as spam)

• Inactive subscriber ratio (how many people never engage, ever)

When a significant portion of your subscribers consistently ignore your emails, those providers make an assumption: “This sender’s content isn’t wanted. Maybe it’s spam.”

They downgrade your sender reputation. Your emails get filtered to spam folders and promotions tabs—not just for inactive subscribers, but for everyone on your list, including people who actually want to hear from you.

This creates a compounding death spiral:

Stage 1: You accumulate inactive subscribers (people who signed up but stopped engaging).

Stage 2: Your overall engagement rate drops because you’re sending to more people who don’t open.

Stage 3: Email providers notice the declining engagement and lower your sender reputation.

Stage 4: Your emails start landing in spam folders and promotions tabs, even for engaged readers.

Stage 5: Fewer people see your emails, so engagement drops further.

Stage 6: Your sender reputation tanks completely, and growth flatlines.

You end up working harder, publishing more consistently, creating better content, yet your metrics still decline. You can’t figure out what’s wrong because you’re doing everything right on the content side. But behind the scenes, your dirty email list is an ever-growing problem that won’t go away on its own.

The damage compounds invisibly. You don’t wake up one day with a 15% open rate. It slides gradually—47% to 45% to 42% to 38% to 32%—and you keep blaming content quality, headlines, or timing.

When your engagement metrics drop below certain thresholds—generally around 20-25% open rates—email providers start filtering your content more aggressively. Even your most engaged subscribers might not see you anymore.

Here’s the kicker: you won’t always know it’s happening. Substack and most email platforms report “delivered” emails, but “delivered” just means the email reached the recipient’s server. It doesn’t mean it landed in their inbox. It could be sitting in a spam folder, and your platform will still count it as delivered.

By the time you realize the problem, your sender reputation is already damaged. Rebuilding takes months of consistent, high-engagement sends.

But deliverability isn’t the only casualty. A dirty list also impacts:

Your revenue: If only 30% of your list sees your sales email because the other 70% is in spam or promotions, you’re leaving money on the table.

Your growth velocity: Poor deliverability hurts your visibility in email provider recommendation algorithms. When Gmail stops trusting your sender reputation, it’s less likely to surface your newsletter to potential new subscribers.

Your sponsor appeal: Sponsors care about engagement rates, not just subscriber counts. A list of 5,000 with 45% open rates and 8% click rates is objectively more valuable than 10,000 with 25% open rates and 2% click rates.

Your time and creative energy: You’re spending hours crafting emails that a significant chunk of your list will never see. Every subject line you test, every story you refine, every CTA you optimize—it’s all invisible to people who aren’t opening.

The opportunity cost is massive. And most creators never realize it until it’s too late.

Those 967 inactive subscribers on my list weren’t unsubscribing. They weren’t marking me as spam. They were just ignoring me. And that silence was killing my sender reputation.

The framework below helped me identify inactive subscribers, run a re-engagement sequence, and remove those dragging me down.

The result? Open rates climbed. Emails stopped landing in spam folders. New subscriber growth jumped from 3-6 per day back to 10-50 per day—a number I hadn’t seen since October.

Read more

At first, I brushed it off.

Spam filters are temperamental, right?

But then I checked my analytics.

My open rates had been sliding for months. What used to hit 38-45% was now limping along at 28-32%. And my new subscriber growth, which had been a steady 10-50 people per day back in October, had slowed to a crawl. Some days I’d only get three or four sign-ups.

I kept publishing. Kept showing up. Kept wondering why my newsletter felt like it was slowly suffocating.

Then I dug into my subscriber list and found the culprit: 967 people who hadn’t opened a single email in over six months.

Not one.

They weren’t engaging with my content. They weren’t clicking links. They were just sitting there, dragging down my sender reputation with every email I sent.

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I stared at that number for about 20 minutes before I did anything, while my inner marketing professional was telling me what I already knew.

Delete them? Really?

I’d worked so hard to get those 967 subscribers. It seemed like a complete waste to remove them.

And it meant stepping back more than a month of progress. Going from 5,800 subscribers down to 4,800 felt awful.

What would sponsors say? What would my community think? Was I really about to undo weeks of growth?

As a 20-year marketing professional, I knew in my heart it was the right move. But knowing something intellectually doesn’t make it feel any less anxiety-provoking.

My finger hovered over that delete button for longer than I’d like to admit.

Then I did it. I removed all 967.

The Real Cost of a Dirty Email List

Here’s what most creators don’t realize: inactive subscribers aren’t neutral. They’re actively hurting you.

Every time you send an email to someone who doesn’t open it, email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook take note. They’re watching engagement rates across your entire list. When a significant chunk of your subscribers ignore your emails, those providers start to assume your content is unwanted. Maybe even spammy.

So they downgrade your sender reputation. Your emails start getting filtered to spam folders and promotions tabs, not just for the inactive subscribers, but for everyone. Including the people who actually want to hear from you.

This creates a vicious cycle:

• More inactive subscribers = worse deliverability

• Worse deliverability = fewer people see your emails (even engaged readers)

• Fewer opens = even worse sender reputation

• Even worse sender reputation = your growth stalls completely

You end up working harder, publishing more consistently, and watching your metrics decline anyway. You can’t figure out what’s wrong because you’re doing everything right. But behind the scenes, your dirty list is sabotaging you.

And it’s not just about open rates. A dirty list impacts:

Your revenue: Fewer people seeing your emails means fewer people clicking on offers, upgrading to paid, or buying your products.

Your growth: Poor deliverability can hurt your visibility in email provider algorithms, which may impact recommendations and discovery (I can’t prove this, but the correlation I saw was too strong to ignore).

Your sponsor appeal: If you’re pitching sponsors, they care about engagement rates, not just subscriber counts. A list of 5,000 with 45% open rates is worth more than 10,000 with 25% open rates.

Your time and energy: You’re spending hours crafting emails that a chunk of your list will never see. That’s wasted creative effort.

The scariest part? You might not realize it’s happening until it’s too late. Open rates decline gradually. Growth slows imperceptibly. You keep blaming your content, your headlines, your timing. But the real problem is lurking in your subscriber data, invisible until you go looking for it.

What Happened When I Finally Hit Delete

The day I removed those 967 inactive subscribers, I saw improvements almost immediately.

My open rates started climbing back up. Not dramatically at first, but noticeably. Within a week, I was back above 35%. Clients who’d been missing my newsletters suddenly started seeing them again.

But here’s the part that really surprised me: I got 19 new subscribers that same day. Nineteen. I hadn’t seen numbers like that since October.

Now, technically, my database status shouldn’t impact how many new people find and subscribe to my newsletter. But the correlation was impossible to ignore.

For three months, I’d been stuck at 3-6 new subscribers per day. The day I cleaned my list, that number jumped back to double digits and has stayed there since.

Was it coincidence? Maybe. But I don’t think so. Better deliverability might have improved how email providers ranked my content. Or maybe my emails started showing up in “recommended” sections again. Whatever the mechanism, things had changed.

It reaffirmed what I already knew: those 967 subscribers weren’t helping me. They were costing me. Every single day.

Best Practices for Email Deliverability & What I’m Not Telling You (Yet)

In this week’s Tuesday paid edition, I’m walking through the exact process I used to identify, segment, and remove inactive subscribers without nuking my list. I’ll show you:

• The specific criteria I used to decide who stays and who goes

• How to export and analyze your subscriber data (even though Substack doesn’t make this easy)

• The re-engagement sequence I tested before deleting anyone

• How to monitor your sender reputation and deliverability

• The metrics that actually predict newsletter growth and revenue

• How to grapple with the emotional side of removing people you worked hard to earn

This isn’t about arbitrarily cutting people. It’s about understanding who’s actively engaged, who might come back, and who’s dragging you down. There’s a method to it, and I’ll give you the exact step-by-step framework inside the paid edition.

♻️ If you found this helpful, hit share or “Re-Stack” to help others! ♻️

Need Personalized Help?

If you’re dealing with declining open rates, spam folder issues, or stagnant growth, let’s talk.

I offer Clarity Call Power Hours where we’ll audit your newsletter, diagnose what’s not working, and build you a custom action plan.

Book your Clarity Call here →

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Good Reads

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Something fundamental is changing in how newsletters generate revenue.

The old playbook said: grow your list, get more eyeballs, scale your reach. Success meant thousands of subscribers, viral posts, and massive audiences.

That model still works if you have venture funding or can sustain years of growth before monetization. For the rest of us, there’s a different path emerging.

Here’s what I see happening with revenue right now.

The creator with 50,000 followers who can’t sell a $27 ebook. The newsletter with 10,000 subscribers is struggling to fill a $297 workshop. The influencer with massive reach but zero conversion.

Then look at the opposite: creators with 500 engaged subscribers running six-figure businesses. Newsletters with small lists that have waitlists for every offer. Communities so connected that new products sell out in hours, not because of scarcity tactics but because people genuinely trust the creator to solve their problems.

The difference isn’t list size. It’s relationship depth.

Revenue follows understanding. The more precisely you know your subscribers—their challenges, their timelines, their readiness to invest—the faster you can create solutions they’ll actually buy.

This is the model that works when you can’t outspend or outgrow the competition. You out-understand them instead.

Here’s precisely how to build it.

Why Less Is More

Having thousands of subscribers who barely know you is worse than having dozens who trust you completely.

The attention economy taught us to optimize for reach. Get more eyeballs. Grow the list. Scale the audience.

However, reach alone doesn’t guarantee revenue.

The intimacy economy works differently:

• Revenue comes from depth, not breadth

• Conversion happens through understanding, not persuasion

• Growth comes from referrals by people who have experienced fundamental transformation

• Retention stays high because you’re solving problems for real humans

When you chase numbers, you create content for an abstract “ideal reader” who doesn’t exist. When you build relationships, you develop solutions for people whose names you know and whose challenges you understand.

The stakes aren’t just about making more money with fewer subscribers, but instead building a sustainable newsletter business that doesn’t require you to constantly feed the content machine to survive.

The Intimacy Advantage Framework

It’s easy to believe that the path to revenue looks like this:

More Subscribers → More Opens → More Clicks → More Sales

That’s the attention economy model. It works if you have massive scale or venture funding to burn through while you build it.

The intimacy economy model looks different:

Deep Relationships → Precise Understanding → Relevant Offers → Higher Conversion → Strong Referrals

Here’s how it breaks down:

Read more

My answer: “About 15 minutes.”

Her response: “Wait, that’s it? I’m spending an hour a day on Notes and getting nowhere.”

That conversation reminded me why I needed to write this. Because the difference between Notes that waste your time and Notes that build your newsletter isn’t about effort. It’s about system.

You can post Notes for hours every day and get nothing. Or you can spend 15 strategic minutes and get 10+ subscribers.

I know because I did both. Four months of the first way. Six months (and counting) of the second.

Let me show you what changed.

Want the complete Notes system with all the specific formats, exact posting strategies, and conversion techniques?

Join me for my live Notes to Subscribers Masterclass on November 4, 2025. I’m walking through everything I use to get 10+ subscribers per day from Notes—the specific Note formats that convert, how to get consistent engagement, and exactly what to post (and when) for immediate results.

Register now →

RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Why So Many Notes Fall Flat

During my four-month Notes drought, I believed the issue was with my content. Or my niche. Or the algorithm not favoring me.

I was wrong on all three counts.

The problem was that I was treating Notes like social media posts. Quick thoughts. Random insights. Whatever felt right that day.

Subscribe now

Read more

At least, that’s what you thought.

You’re showing up on Substack to post Notes every single day. Sometimes twice a day. You’re sharing insights from your newsletter. You’re commenting on other people’s posts. You’re putting yourself out there.

And you know what you’re getting in return?

Three likes. Maybe a generic comment from someone who clearly didn’t read past the first line. And only a few or zero new subscribers.

Meanwhile, you see other creators posting Notes that blow up. Hundreds of likes. Dozens of comments. And you just know they’re getting subscribers from it because their numbers keep climbing while yours stay flat.

So you start wondering: what am I doing wrong?

The Four Months I Wasted on Notes

I need to tell you something that may or may not make you feel better: I was there too, and not that long ago.

For four months, I posted Notes almost daily. I shared newsletter excerpts. I asked questions. I tried to be helpful. I watched other people’s Notes take off while mine got maybe five likes if I was lucky.

I’d refresh my subscriber count multiple times a day, hoping to see it tick up. Nothing.

The worst part was that I couldn’t figure out what I was missing. It seemed like I was just doing what everyone else was doing. Post a Note. Hope for the best. Repeat tomorrow.

But my subscriber growth was painfully slow. I only had 11 subscribers after my first 90 days. I kinda sorta understood Notes, and I was starting to think maybe Notes just didn’t work for me. Maybe my content wasn’t interesting enough. Maybe my niche was too small. Maybe I should just focus on LinkedIn or Twitter instead.

Then something happened . . .

Month Three

I got mad and I got stubborn. Instead of giving up on Notes, I decided to study them as if I were about to take the LSAT. Because honestly, I don’t like to lose.

I spent an entire month analyzing every creator who was crushing it with Notes. Not just glancing at their posts, but really studying them and what worked and what didn’t.

What formats were they using? When were they posting? How were they structuring their Notes? What were they saying in the comments? How were they mentioning their newsletter without being pushy?

I built a spreadsheet with the patterns I noticed. I tested everything I learned. I adjusted. I tested again.

And then it happened.

My Notes started converting. Not just getting likes. Converting to actual subscribers.

First it was two or three subscribers a day from Notes. Then five. Then ten. At one point, 71% of my new subscribers were coming directly from Notes.

Not from LinkedIn or an outlier viral post. From Substack Notes alone.

The Great Notes Misunderstanding

Here’s what I figured out during that month of obsessive studying: Notes aren’t just short social media posts on Substack.

I noticed many people treating them like short-form X content. They post random thoughts trying to appear profound, share a quote from their newsletter, ask a question, and hope they bring engagement.

But hope is not a strategy and that’s why it doesn’t work.

The creators getting 10+ subscribers per day from Notes aren’t posting randomly. or hoping the algorithm favors them. They’re not crossing their fingers that someone will stumble across their profile and subscribe.

They’re using a strategic system designed to get attention, engage and win the hearts and minds of their readers.

And once you understand the system, Notes become the most powerful growth tool Substack has. Better than SEO. Better than cross-promotions. Better than any external traffic source you’re grinding away on.

Because Notes let you build real connections with people who are already on Substack, already reading newsletters, and already looking for their next subscription.

Why Some Notes Don’t Convert

Here are some typical scenarios you might be experiencing right now.

You’re posting content that gets a few likes but no comments. Or you’re getting comments but they’re surface-level. Or you’re getting engagement but none of those people are clicking through to subscribe.

Maybe you’re sharing excerpts from your newsletter, but nobody seems interested in reading the full thing. Perhaps you’re asking questions, but the conversations aren’t unfolding as you'd hoped. Maybe you’re trying to be helpful, but your advice is getting lost in the feed.

I can assure you that none of the above is due to your content being bad. It’s not because you’re in the wrong niche. It’s not because the algorithm hates you.

It’s because the Notes you’re posting aren’t designed to convert browsers into subscribers.

There’s a specific way to structure a Note so people don’t just like it and scroll past.

There’s a specific way to mention your newsletter so it feels natural instead of feeling like you’re selling it to people, and there’s a specific way to engage in comments that turns casual interactions into genuine connections.

And most creators never figure this out because it’s not intuitive. Substack doesn’t provide instructions on how to do this. You have to either spend months testing like I did, or learn from someone who already cracked the code.

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Ready to turn your Notes into a subscriber magnet?

I’m hosting a live Notes to Subscribers Masterclass on Tuesday, November 4, and I want you to join me. I’ll walk you through the exact system I use to get 10+ subscribers per day from Notes.

You’ll learn the specific Notes formats that convert, how to get consistent comments and shares, and exactly what to post (and when) for immediate results.

Grab your spot →

Limited to 20 attendees for quality Q&A. Includes free bonus: The Substack Engagement Playbook.

Here’s What Changes When You Get This Right

When you figure out how to use Notes strategically, you gain subscribers (and yes, some paid as well). When you gain subscribers, you can build your community. And when you build that community, you can monetize your expertise and share it with them.

Instead of hoping someone discovers your newsletter, you’re building relationships with potential subscribers every day.

Instead of one-way communication, you’re sparking conversations that matter. Instead of watching your subscriber count crawl, you’re seeing consistent daily growth.

And the best part is that it doesn’t take hours. The creators I studied who were killing it with Notes weren’t spending all day on the platform. They were spending 15-20 minutes a day, tops.

But those 15-20 minutes were strategic. They knew exactly what to post. They knew exactly how to engage. They knew exactly how to turn that engagement into subscribers.

That’s the difference between posting Notes and using Notes as a growth system.

What’s Next

In Tuesday’s deep dive for paid members, I’m walking through how to build your own Notes system. I’ll give you a deliberate, repeatable approach to turn Notes into your primary subscriber source.

I’ll show you the strategic framework behind Notes that convert, why most Notes fail, and how you can grow your publication.

And if you want the complete system with all the specific Note formats, exact posting strategies, and conversion techniques I use, join me for the live Notes to Cash Masterclass on November 4.

I spent six months figuring this out through trial and error. You’ll learn it in 60 minutes.

Register for the Notes to Subscribers Masterclass →

You’ll also get The Substack Engagement Playbook as a bonus—20 fast tactics to boost your Notes reach and convert lurkers into subscribers.

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See you Tuesday (or in the masterclass),
Carrie

Got questions? Drop into my chat where I help my community build a portfolio of paychecks from one newsletter.

But what really struck me was how many of you wanted to know the next step. Not just "why do newsletters fail" but "how do I actually avoid that fate?"

So let's talk about it. I'll walk you through the exact system I use to plan my content, making it easy to publish twice a week without ever staring at a blank page, wondering what to write about.

Be Realistic About What You're Signing Up For

When you start a newsletter, you're not just committing to writing when inspiration strikes. You're building a content machine that needs to be fed consistently, whether you feel like it or not.

I've been at this consistently since April, and nobody tells you that some weeks you'll have amazing ideas flowing and other weeks, you'll feel like you have nothing valuable to say and would rather curl up and take a nap.

The difference between successful newsletters and those that fail has nothing to do with inspiration and everything to do with having a system that works even when your brain doesn't.

My Content Foundation: 5 Pillars That Build Businesses

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Read more

Someone joins my chat, excited about their newsletter idea. They've got their first few posts planned out, maybe even written. The energy is infectious—I love seeing that spark.

Three months later? Radio silence.

I reached out to a few of these creators to understand what happened. The story is always the same: "I ran out of things to write about." Or worse: "I got bored with my topic."

Here's what I wish I could tell every new newsletter creator before they hit publish on their first post: You're not signing up to write about 100 different topics. You're signing up to write about 5 topics in 100 different ways.

Subscribe now

Most people think they need endless variety to keep their newsletter interesting. That's backwards thinking.

The newsletters that thrive are the ones that go deep, not wide. They take one core concept and explore every angle, every nuance, every application until their readers become experts alongside them.

When I started publishing consistently in April, I worried about the same thing. What if I run out of Substack growth tactics to share? What if people get tired of writing about the same strategies?

But my readers don't want variety for the sake of variety. They want mastery. They want to understand one thing so thoroughly that they can actually implement it and see results.

I've now published twice a week for five months and have never once struggled to find something valuable to write about. Not because I'm particularly creative, but because I have a system.

The secret isn't having more topics—it's having deeper frameworks.

Instead of writing about "10 ways to grow your newsletter" one week and "how to write better subject lines" the next, I focus on the same core concepts but approach them from different angles:

• The contrarian take (what everyone gets wrong)

• The beginner's approach (start here)

• The advanced strategy (next level tactics)

• The case study breakdown (real examples)

• The common mistakes analysis (what not to do)

Same topic. Five completely different newsletters. Five different value propositions for your readers.

This is exactly what separates newsletters that last from newsletters that fizzle out.

If you're starting a newsletter (or feeling uninspired with your current one), ask yourself this: Are you prepared to write about your core topic from every conceivable angle for the next year or longer? If the answer is no, you either need a different topic or a better framework.

In Tuesday's paid newsletter, I'm sharing the complete content planning system I use, including the exact framework that keeps me publishing consistently without ever running out of ideas. Including the specific angles and approaches that turn one topic into months of valuable content.

Subscribe now

Speaking of sustainable systems, if you want the complete framework for growing your newsletter once you've got your content strategy dialed in, grab my Growth Hacks Playbook. It's 25+ proven strategies that turn consistent publishing into consistent growth.

GRAB THE PLAYBOOK

The newsletters that succeed long-term aren't the ones with the most creative topics. They're the ones with the most strategic approach to the topics they choose.

Choose wisely. Plan deeply. Publish consistently.

Want to explore this topic further? Join me in my chat where I have an active community of thinkers and builders.

Starting September 9th: Substack 360 Group Coaching Cohort

Ready to turn your newsletter into a portfolio of paychecks? I'm taking 10 creators through 6 weeks of live coaching using the complete system I used to build multiple income streams from one Substack.

For 6 weeks of live sessions, we'll build together:

• Week 1-2: Your subscriber conversion machine & profitable niche strategy

• Week 3-4: Digital products and offers that sell

• Week 5-6: Partnership strategies & automated revenue systems

This isn't another course you'll buy and never finish. It's 6 weeks of live group coaching where we build your real business together, with personalized feedback every step of the way.

Early Bird Special: The first 5 people save 50% off the regular price - $997 $498

If you're ready to transform your newsletter from hobby to business, grab one of the 9 remaining spots and use Code SEPT50 at checkout for the early bird pricing.

Secure Your Spot →

SAVE YOUR SPOT!

You know that feeling when you're juggling five different AI tools, copying and pasting between tabs, and somehow taking longer than when you did everything manually?

Yeah, I lived there . . . for months.

I had Claude open in one tab, ChatGPT in another, Canva somewhere else, and I was constantly losing my train of thought, switching between platforms. My "AI-powered workflow" was more like AI-powered chaos.

Then I had a conversation with my business mentor that changed everything.

He asked me, "If you had an assistant, would you make them work in five different offices with no way to communicate with each other?"

Of course not. But that's exactly what I was doing with my AI tools.

The Integrations and Workflow That Made Sense

AI tools become exponentially more powerful when they can reference the same information and build on each other's work.

Instead of treating each tool as a separate employee, I began treating them as a connected team with shared resources and clear handoffs.

Here’s exactly what I did:

Read more

Ready to Build Your $100K Newsletter Revenue Engine?

The Substack 360 group coaching cohort starts September 9

✅ 6 weeks of live group coaching
✅ Complete STACKS system course
✅ AI coaching assistants for 24/7 support
✅ Weekly accountability & feedback in a private group

By Halloween, you'll have:

• A validated, profitable niche

• Growing subscriber base

• Multiple revenue streams launched

• Automated systems that scale

Early Bird: Save $200 before August 20th → Reserve Your Spot

Limited to 10 people.

Normally $997 → Early Bird Special: $797

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This could be the turning point where your newsletter becomes your main income source.

My Sunday Morning Coffee Got Cold

Last Sunday morning, I sat down with my usual giant mug of coffee to catch up on newsletters. I subscribe to way more than most people because it's part of how I stay on top of what works and what doesn't.

But instead of my usual quick scan-and-delete routine, I decided to actually read all 27 of them from start to finish. I wanted to understand why some newsletters make me drop everything to read them, while others get deleted before I finish the first paragraph.

Twenty-seven newsletters later (yes, I counted), my coffee was stone cold and I had filled three pages of my notebook with observations.

Here's what hit me: only 4 of those 27 newsletters felt like they were written by real people having real conversations. The same robot could have written the other 23. They used the same phrases, structures, and predictable patterns.

However, what surprised me the most was that a few of them appeared not to have been written with the aid of AI, yet they just sounded like they were, because somewhere along the way, we all forgot how to sound like ourselves when we write.

The four newsletters that stood out broke every "professional writing" rule I've ever learned. They used contractions. They told imperfect stories. They sounded exactly like the person would sound if they were sitting across from me explaining their ideas with their hands and interrupting themselves to add important details.

That's when I realized we need to talk about this.

The difference lies in authenticity without worrying about producing a polished piece with perfect prose (see how I wove in alliteration there? AI can’t do that very well).

Genuine authenticity in newsletter writing means writing in a way that feels natural, sharing stories from your lived experiences, and maintaining a consistent voice across every touchpoint, whether that's in your newsletter, chat, on a call, or during a live session. Your readers and community should always feel like you are speaking directly to them, in person, whether or not you used AI to assist with the content.

Today I'm sharing how to create engaging, relatable newsletter content that sounds like you and I’m including how to use AI effectively without losing that authenticity.

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The Foundation: Writing Like You Speak

As any writer will tell you, it’s possible to have different voices for different formats. However, when the gap between the different voices is so large that the author is unrecognizable, it creates distrust and discord in the reader’s mind.

For example, a creator may have two distinct voices: their authentic voice, which they use in live events, and their "writing voice." Their writing voice is formal, distant, and sounds like they swallowed a business textbook.

The secret to engaging newsletters is to close that gap.

Here are some ways to write like you speak:

Use contractions. Don't write "I will" when you'd say "I'll" in conversation. Don't write "cannot" when you'd say "can't." This simple change makes your writing feel more conversational.

Write in your natural rhythm. If you speak in short, punchy sentences, write that way. If you tend to elaborate and explain, let that come through in your writing. Don't force a rhythm that isn't yours.

Use the words that come naturally. If you wouldn't say "leverage" in casual conversation, don't write it in your newsletter. If you naturally say "figure out" instead of "determine," go with "figure out."

Maintain your personality quirks. If you tend to ask rhetorical questions when you talk, do that in your writing too. If you use specific phrases or have a particular way of explaining things, let that come through.

The Power of Real Stories

The difference between newsletters that get forwarded and newsletters that get deleted often comes down to whether or not they’re believable.

I have seen AI generate some wild claims about my success or create an entirely fictitious case study, which I replace with real experiences. And worse yet, I see people using fake case studies in their newsletters, on landing pages, in emails, and in social media content.

It immediately casts doubt on their entire character (and newsletter). Readers can distinguish between real stories and those based on lived experiences, and those that are generic or fabricated.

What makes a story "real" in newsletter terms:

Specific details that couldn't be made up. Instead of "I recently had a conversation with a client," try "Last Tuesday, during my 3 PM call with Beth, she said something that made me pause." If the story isn’t real, don’t include it.

Actual emotions and stakes. Don't just share what happened — share how it felt and what was at risk. "I spent three hours writing what I thought was my best newsletter ever. When it got zero replies, I questioned whether I knew anything about my audience at all."

Outcomes you didn't expect. The best stories include surprises, plot twists, or lessons that challenged your assumptions. These moments make readers think "I would never have guessed that."

Imperfections Matter. Don't just share the before and after. Share the confused, uncertain, trial-and-error middle part. That's where readers see themselves and relate to what you have to say..

The 5 Biggest Authenticity Mistakes Newsletter Creators Make

Mistake #1: The Humble Brag Disguised as Vulnerability Sharing "failures" that are success stories in disguise. "I was so overwhelmed by all the opportunities coming my way..." This isn't vulnerability; it's bragging with a thin veneer of relatability.

Mistake #2: The Generic Personal Share Opening with something personal that has no connection to your content. "Yesterday I went for a walk and it made me think about productivity." If the personal detail doesn't directly relate to your insight, it feels forced.

Mistake #3: The Inconsistent Voice Being warm and conversational in your newsletter but formal and corporate on social media or sales pages. Your audience notices these inconsistencies and it erodes trust.

Mistake #4: The Advice Without Context Sharing frameworks and strategies without explaining how you discovered them or why they work. "Here are 5 ways to grow your newsletter" is less compelling than "After trying 47 different growth tactics, these 5 are the only ones that moved the needle for me."

Mistake #5: The One-Size-Fits-All Authentic Copying someone else's "authentic" style instead of developing your own. Authenticity isn't a template, framework, or formula. It's your unique way of sharing your expertise.

My Stucture for Engaging Newsletter Content

Here's the structure I use for my deep-dive newsletters that keeps people reading from start to finish:

The Real Moment Opening: Start with something that actually happened to you recently. Not a hypothetical, not something you read about, but a real moment from your life that connects to the topic.

The "Here's What I Realized" Bridge: Connect your story to a bigger insight or lesson. This is where you transition from personal narrative to actionable content.

The Framework or System: Share your method, broken down into clear, step-by-step instructions. Use specific language and real examples. Don't just say "create valuable content". Instead, explain precisely what valuable means and show examples.

The Implementation Plan: Provide them with clear instructions on what to do next. Not "think about this" or "consider trying". The more specific actions you provide, the more likely they are to implement them and come back for more. I do this every Tuesday in my newsletter for paid subscribers. It’s a deep dive with an action plan that readers can implement immediately.

The Real Stakes Close End with why this matters. What happens if they implement this? What happens if they don't? Make it real and specific to their situation.

The Atomic Essay Alternative

A lot of newsletter creators are drawn to atomic essays — those short, sharp, 250-500 word newsletters that make one clear point quickly.

I don't use this format much because it doesn't allow for the narrative and conversational style that I use to tell relatable stories and build real connections. But if you do prefer brevity, here's how to make atomic essays feel authentic:

Start with a micro-story. Even in 500 words, you can share a small, specific moment. "This morning, while reading replies to last week's newsletter..."

Make one clear point. Resist the urge to cover multiple ideas. Go deep on one insight rather than covering several at a surface level.

End with a clear next step. Even short newsletters should give readers something specific to do or think about.

The key with atomic essays is making every word count while still maintaining your authentic voice.

Using AI Without Losing Your Authentic Voice

AI can be incredibly helpful for newsletter creation, but only if it is used correctly. The goal isn't to have AI write your newsletter, but rather to use AI as a thinking partner and writing assistant while maintaining your unique voice.

One Way to Sound Like Yourself with AI: Master Your Prompts

AI won’t respond in your voice with vague instructions like "write a newsletter about productivity." The output will sound generic and robotic.

Here's how I use AI for newsletter writing:

For ideation and research: I use Perplexity or ChatGPT-5 to explore ideas, find supporting data, or research what others are saying about a topic. I might ask: "What are the most common newsletter engagement challenges creators face in 2025?"

For writing assistance: I use Claude and Kortex with particular instructions about my voice and style. I might prompt: "Write in a conversational tone like you're explaining this to a friend. Use short paragraphs, contractions, and practical examples. Start with a real scenario, then explain the framework, then give specific implementation steps." I have created knowledge bases and projects in all the AI tools I use, making it easier to achieve better results.

For social content: I use ChatGPT-5 to help adapt newsletter content for different platforms. Then I refine the writing in Claude, if needed.

The Custom GPT Approach

You can also create a custom GPT or AI agent trained on your specific writing style. Feed it examples of your best content, give it detailed instructions about your voice, and refine based on actual output.

Even with the best prompts and custom training, you'll still need to review every word and rewrite 10-20% of the output. AI should accelerate your process, not replace your judgment.

Red Flags That Scream "This Was Written by AI"

Your readers are becoming increasingly adept at identifying AI-generated content. Here are some telltale signs that immediately signal AI writing:

Words and phrases that real people rarely use:

• "Game-changer" (unless you're talking about actual games)

• "Dive deep" or "deep dive" (I use this one but sparingly)

• "Unlock" (unless you're talking about actual locks)

• "Leverage" (in non-financial contexts)

• Fluff

• Landscape

Sentence structures that feel robotic:

• "Not only X, but also Y" (occasionally fine, but AI overuses it)

• Overuse of em dashes — like this — in every paragraph

• Starting too many sentences with "Also" or "Additionally"

• Overuse of the word “actually”

Artificial conversation patterns:

• "The truth?" followed by a revelation

• "Spoiler alert:" when nothing is actually being spoiled

• "Here's the thing..." used multiple times (I use this once in a while because I often say this when speaking)

Generic transitions and filler:

• "At the end of the day"

• "When all is said and done"

• "It's no secret that"

The key is awareness. If you use one of these occasionally, it's fine. If you use multiple AI markers in a single piece of content, readers will dismiss it as not authentically yours, and it makes it harder for people to trust you, let alone want to read your work.

The Template Balance

I think templates can help maintain consistency and structure in your newsletters. I’m a teacher and I share information in particular ways that help readers make progress. I've developed my own format because my Tuesday deep dives follow one specific structure, and I use a different format for my free content, as it doesn't delve as deeply.

But the challenge with templates is that they can also make your content sound formulaic, even if you're not using AI.

How to use templates without sounding robotic:

Treat them as starting points, not rigid rules. Your template should guide your structure, but your authentic voice should fill in the details.

Vary your approach. Don't start every newsletter the same way, even if you're using the same overall structure.

Let your content dictate the structure sometimes. If a particular story or insight doesn't fit your usual template, it’s ok to adapt the template to the content, not the other way around.

There are many great templates available on platforms like Typeshare, but the goal is to create your unique style of delivering your expertise. What works depends entirely on your audience and your natural communication style.

Your Implementation Plan

Here's what I want you to do this week:

Audit your last three newsletters. Do they sound like you? Would someone who knows you recognize your voice in the writing? If not, what's missing?

Record yourself explaining your next newsletter topic to a friend. Then write your newsletter using the same language and tone as that recording. Notice the difference?

If you use AI, audit your prompts. Are you providing specific instructions about voice and style, or simply requesting generic content? Refine your prompts to be more specific about the tone you want to convey.

Check for AI red flags. Even if you're not using AI, scan your writing for those telltale words and phrases that make content sound artificial. Be on the lookout for AI phrases and jargon that may have become part of your vernacular.

The goal is authenticity and having a consistent voice across all touchpoints. Your subscribers want to hear from you, not from a polished version that sounds like everyone else.

When you write in a conversational tone, share authentic stories from your experiences, and maintain a consistent voice across all your content, something magical happens: your newsletters stop feeling like content and start feeling like conversations.

That's when people stop just reading your newsletters and start forwarding them, replying to them, and seeing you as the go-to person in your field.

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What's your biggest challenge with authentic newsletter writing?

Please drop a comment and let me know. Let’s start an authentic conversation about authenticity.

Have questions? You can find me in my Chat community Monday - Friday.

♻️ If you found this helpful, please share it with others. ♻️

Last week, I gained 89 new subscribers. Zero came from my newsletter posts. Zero came from LinkedIn. Zero came from guest appearances or collaborations.

All 89 came from Notes I wrote in less than 30 minutes total.

And before you think this is some cheery pep talk, let me be clear: I struggled with Notes for months. I'd post thoughtful observations, share valuable insights, ask engaging questions—and watch them disappear into silence with 3 likes and zero comments.

Meanwhile, other creators seemed to effortlessly rack up hundreds of engagements and convert casual browsers into devoted subscribers.

The difference wasn't their writing skill. It wasn't their following size. It was that they understood something about Notes that I completely missed.

The Growth Problem Nobody's Talking About

Most Substack creators are trapped in the content hamster wheel.

They spend 3-5 hours crafting the perfect newsletter. They optimize every headline, polish every sentence, and hit publish with high hopes. Then they watch their subscriber count barely budge.

Sound familiar?

I was stuck in this exact cycle. Publishing weekly, creating valuable content, sharing everywhere—and growing at a glacial pace. Each post felt like my hard work wasn’t appreciated.

The frustrating part is that my content was good. Maybe even great. But being good at content creation doesn't automatically translate to audience growth.

That's when I got obsessed with figuring out what works on Substack.

My Obsessive Notes Research Project

I turned into a complete Notes nerd.

For three months, I screenshot every high-performing Note I could find. I tracked engagement patterns across different niches. I tested the same Note at different times of day. I even used AI to analyze commonalities across 73 viral Notes.

What I discovered shocked me.

The creators crushing it with Notes weren't just randomly posting good content. They were using three specific Note formats that consistently outperformed everything else.

These weren't marginally better—they were 5-10x more effective at driving engagement and subscriber conversions.

And here's the best part: they're stupidly simple to create.

Subscribe now

The Algorithm Reality Check

Before I share the three Note types, let me bust some myths that are probably keeping you from fully executing:

Myth 1: Timing matters most - I posted identical Notes at 7 am, noon, and 8 pm. The performance differences? Negligible. What mattered was the Note structure, not the clock.

Myth 2: You need a big following - False. Some of my highest-converting Notes came when I had under 1,500 subscribers. The algorithm rewards engagement rate, not the number of followers.

Myth 3: Shorter is always better - Wrong. My longest Notes often performed best. Value trumps brevity every time.

Here's what actually moves the needle:

• Early engagement is everything. The first 30 minutes determine if your Note goes wide.

• Comments > Likes. Notes with 8 comments and 15 likes outperform those with 3 comments and 40 likes.

• Consistency compounds. Regular posting improves all your Note performance.

• Format matters. Visual hierarchy beats walls of text, even with identical content.

The 3 Note Types That Actually Convert

After analyzing 73 viral Notes and testing dozens of my own, three clear winners emerged. These formats work across every niche I studied.

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🚨 NOTES-TO-SUBSCRIBERS MASTERCLASS: JULY 31, 10 A.M. PT (replay available)

Turn Your Notes Into Subscribers: Get the 10-a-day system I used to go from 0 to 3,000 subscribers in 90 days.

I'm revealing the exact Notes strategy that's helped dozens of creators turn casual browsers into committed subscribers (and paying customers).

What you'll learn:

• The 6 types of Notes that convert strangers into subscribers

• My "Notes-to-Newsletter" funnel that runs on autopilot

• The psychology behind why people subscribe from Notes vs. regular posts

• Live Q&A where I'll answer your Notes strategy questions

This isn't theory - I'll share real examples, actual conversion data, and the step-by-step system I use daily.

This Thursday, July 31st at 10 AM PT - Grab your spot!

RESERVE YOUR SPOT!

Can't make it live? Register anyway - all attendees get the replay.

Last week, I opened my Chat and found this message waiting for me:

"You're the only person I follow who's talking about how to grow and monetize a newsletter. It's not that others are bad, but I need focus. I tried following multiple good methods and ended up applying none. I follow you because I see myself in what you write."

I stared at that message for a full minute.

Not because it was incredibly touching (I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes), but because it perfectly captured why some creators build businesses while others build audiences.

The creators making real money aren't the ones with the biggest reach. They're the ones whose subscribers can't imagine following anyone else.

The Message That Changed How I Think About Community

That subscriber message wasn't just nice feedback. It was proof of something I'd been testing for months: the intimacy economy beats the attention economy every single time.

But here's the part that really got me: he almost didn't share it.

He said: "I didn't want to leave this thread empty. I assume you already know everything I've said—but sometimes, even what's known needs to be said."

Think about that psychology for a moment. This person felt compelled to contribute to an empty thread because he didn't want me to think my community wasn't engaged. That's not audience behavior. That's family behavior.

The Real-Time Impact I Never Expected

Here's another message from another Chat session the same week in a Notes boost where she shared her note and included this message:

"Actually prompted from a conversation you started here about how to define your substack proposition... I'm exploring the definition of the word expert."

This subscriber didn't just consume my content about positioning—she took it and ran with it, using our conversation as a springboard for deeper thinking about her work and turned it into a Note..

This is what happens when you build relationships instead of just growing follower counts.

Your community doesn't just read your content. They:

• Apply it immediately

• Build on your ideas

• Reference past conversations

• Feel personally invested in contributing back

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Why "You're the Only Person I Follow" Is Pure Gold

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Meanwhile, I was celebrating my first $100 month.

It stung.

I was doing everything the "experts" said:

• Publishing high-quality content twice a week

• Building my email list organically

• Engaging authentically with my community

But somehow, I was missing the business-building piece entirely.

Sound familiar?

You open Substack each week, stare at the dashboard, and wonder what successful creators know that you don't. How are they turning their newsletters into real businesses while you're still hoping someone might buy you a coffee?

Here's the uncomfortable truth I discovered...

While most creators are focusing on subscriber counts and open rates, the smart ones are:

• Using built-in community features to identify high-value service opportunities

• Leveraging welcome sequences to filter for serious buyers from day one

• Building strategic partnerships that generate referrals automatically

• Creating revenue streams that most creators don't even know exist

The wake-up call came when I realized I was treating Substack like a hobby instead of a business platform.

So I spent the next 60 days obsessively studying how six-figure creators actually use this platform. I reverse-engineered their strategies, tested every feature I'd been ignoring, and discovered something shocking...

Most creators are using maybe 20% of Substack's actual business-building potential.

They're leaving money scattered everywhere. Overlooking client-attraction tools. And making it way harder than it needs to be.

Here are the six features that completely changed my business:

Read more

I call it the everything bagel.

Here’s a real example I saw last week: I share thoughts on life, productivity, marketing, thought leadership, and change management.

In the spirit of the everything bagel, I want to tackle the question I get asked all the time: What niche should I choose for my newsletter?

The answer isn't always obvious, and many creators get caught in what I call the "Messy Middle" – not broad enough to attract scale, but not focused enough to build a loyal following.

Let’s explore two powerful strategies – hyper-scale and hyper-niche – and how to find the perfect niche for your newsletter.

Hyper-Scale vs. Hyper-Niche: Which Path is Right for You?

Let's get straight to the point: Your niche is the foundation of your entire newsletter strategy. Choose wisely, and you'll set yourself up for growth, engagement, and monetization. Choose poorly, and... well, let's just say you'll be spinning your wheels.

The key is to avoid the "everything bagel"—that uncomfortable space where you're neither broad enough to appeal to a mass audience, nor focused enough to truly resonate with a specific group. I see so many creators get stuck here, and it's a real momentum killer.

Hyper-Scale: The Mass Appeal Strategy

What it is: Targeting a very broad audience with content that appeals to a wide range of interests. Think general news, business, lifestyle, etc.

Pros: Huge potential audience (millions or even tens of millions), attracts advertisers seeking maximum reach.

Cons: Intense competition, lower engagement rates (harder to build a personal connection with readers), requires significant resources to create killer content consistently.

Examples: News aggregators, general business publications.

Ask Yourself: Do you have the resources and expertise to consistently create high-quality content for a very broad audience? Are you comfortable competing with established players in a crowded market?

Hyper-Niche: The Laser Focus Strategy

What it is: Targeting a very specific audience with content that caters to their unique interests and needs. Think a newsletter for left-handed guitar players, artisanal cheese enthusiasts, or AI-powered accounting for startups.

Pros: Less competition, higher engagement rates (easier to build a loyal following), more opportunities for targeted monetization (selling specialized products or services).

Cons: Smaller potential audience, requires deep knowledge of the niche, can be challenging to scale beyond a certain point.

Examples: Industry-specific newsletters, newsletters for hobbyists or enthusiasts.

Ask Yourself: Are you obsessed with a specific topic with a dedicated audience? Can you create content that truly solves their problems or enhances their lives? Are you comfortable serving a smaller, but highly engaged, audience?

Moving Beyond Theory: Finding Your Niche

Okay, so you understand the difference between hyper-scale and hyper-niche. But how do you actually choose the right niche for your newsletter? Here's my simple four-step framework. I use this with all my clients, and it works like a charm:

Start with Your Passion: What topics genuinely excite you? What do you enjoy learning about and sharing with others?

Identify a Problem: What problem can you solve for your target audience? What need can you fulfill?

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