How I Went From 50 to 400 Subscribers in Two Months

Starting last year, I wrote 55 consecutive weekly essays here.

Over a year later, I had 53 subscribers to show for it.

I poured my heart and soul into my weekly essays and shared them anywhere I could.

I wrote about things I’m passionate about—like history, philosophy, and music—whatever felt alive on a given week. A lot of it was just me trying to put my thoughts in order and share wisdom I’ve gained over the years.

It was useful and rewarding, but I actually want people to read my stuff.

I didn’t have good answers for questions like “why should people subscribe? Why should they open one of my essays?”

I wanted to improve my writing, and find better answers to these questions. I knew I needed help.

I swallowed my pride and hired a writing coach, Chris James. It was way outside my comfort zone, but it turned out to be a great experience for me.

Chris suggested I change my publication name, which was “Sam Jamieson’s Newsletter” at the time. I decided to go with “Blue Collar Scholar.” A name I thought up for myself years ago, which I think fits me pretty well. I changed my profile picture, bio, about page, everything.

The changes were all much more intentional and personal than what I previously had. Before, I didn’t put much thought or time into my offering.

As soon as I made these changes, I saw a bump in subscribers. At the same time, I started talking about different things, so I don’t know which moved the needle more, but I know that both changes helped.

In February, I posted this note:

Before this, my most successful note may have had five likes. I posted hundreds of notes throughout 2024, and most got zero likes. I started thinking–what do people on Substack want to talk about? Coffee shops were a subject I frequently noticed come up. I don’t really like to work in coffee shops, so I asked the question.

This note was a clear dividing line in my trajectory on Substack. Afterward, my notes started getting more attention.

A few days later, I asked another question. I noticed a lot of people on Substack talking about sobriety. I am not sober at all. I thought it could be a good conversation starter, and it was.

When I started working with Chris, he asked, “What are your stories?”

I started rattling some off, and I realized “wow. I have a lot of stories.”

One of them involved a brief period of my life in which I robbed a few drug dealers.

He asked, “How many writers on Substack do you think have robbed a drug dealer?”

I said, “I don’t know, I bet there’s a few.”

He said, “No. I think there’s one.”

After one of our sessions, I posted this note—a kind of summary of the stories I had told him that day.

So far, it’s garnered me 134 subscribers.

About a week later, my mom mentioned that she had seen this note. We had what I thought was a worthwhile interaction that might be relatable, so I shared it.

From this one, 44 free and one paid subscriber.

For the next month or so, it seemed like every note I posted would get at least 30 likes, often 100. I would frequently open my Substack app in the morning to see over fifty notifications. It was overwhelming. People were incredibly supportive of me and my journey. My screen time skyrocketed. I felt the need to respond to everyone, which was impossible, but I came close. A couple months have passed, and the engagement has fallen off a cliff, which I’m ok with.

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It had occurred to me to share some of the stories from my past, but I was scared. Eventually, I decided to just send it. If I was ever going to do it, now was as good a time as any.

While all this was happening, I published a three-part series on how my car got burned down back in 2009. I think this series delivered on what people thought they would get when they signed up.

In Short:

I decided to take my writing more seriously. I wanted to go deeper, to work harder, and I enlisted some help via a writing coach.

I would guess that I got around 90% of my recent subscribers from Notes.

I created a more compelling offering.

I revealed more about myself through my landing and profile pages.

I tried to use humor and authenticity.

I went back and changed the titles and thumbnails of some of my previous work to make it more compelling. Previously I didn’t put much thought into images and titles. Chris convinced me of the importance of these aspects.

The fact that it’s possible to grow on Substack alone is amazing.

It seems to be within reach for anyone who wants it.

There are many ways to do it.

The way I did it was authenticity, vulnerability, and hard work.

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Thank you so much for reading!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

-Sam