Someone emailed me how they would paywall their work after 90 days, and was looking for some thoughts and ideas on growth and such.

First — are you “married” to the paywall? Is this paying your rent right now? I don’t want to say anything flippant if it’s keeping the lights on. But since you mention wanting to ditch it, I get the feeling you’re still figuring it out, just like we all are.

I experimented with a paywall for a while, and I hated sending my newsletter to five people at a time. I appreciated the money and support, but I didn’t appreciate that my best work was only being seen by a few people. What if the post that deeply resonated with one paid member could have attracted 100 new readers?

Every piece we put out into the world is a chance for the right person to find it. Especially when you’re just getting started. You’re coming up on a year on Substack. There are people who have just discovered you, maybe told their friends, and a large part of your work is inaccessible until they pay.

I fully believe we all need to get paid. But I think we need to build trust first. And we build trust when we’re our most comfortable selves, instead of worrying about paywalls, page counts, SEO, all of that. Get your work out there in ways you can sustain. A website and a newsletter, for example. When you start adding TikTok, long-form YouTube, and everything else, that’s where things get hectic.

The more of yourself you put out there, the more people can see and feel and read, the faster you’ll discover how they actually want to support you.

I started my Substack in 2021 and didn’t rebrand to until 2023. That’s when I started hosting Zoom calls, just kind of like, “I want to talk to more people about this stuff.” And that’s when I discovered people really wanted to talk about it, too. And that some of them would pay to be part of it. Not in some guru-funnel way, but genuinely: I had to try a bunch of different things before I found what worked for me.

Reduce friction. Get to the core of what you want to be doing, without giving yourself too many side gigs to make it work.

This from Amie McNee:

“You have to learn to continue to hold your art when people are apathetic about it, because you will know your creation has something to give before the institutions do, before the culture does. It is hard to be the first that knows, but it is the artist’s job to come first.”

The artist’s job comes first. If people walk out of the venue during your show, it is not your job to change the music you are playing.

​Sean Gordon co-owns Taffeta Music Hall in Lowell, MA, and makes helpful videos on Instagram for bands and independent artists about getting booked, talking about their work, building an email list, and more.

​He’s doing the stuff from the venue side that we talk about from the artist side, so this will be an informative conversation from a new perspective!

​We’ll also talk about Taffeta’s memberships program, email lists, community, and what IRL marketing looks like when it’s working.

​This is a conversation, not a seminar. You are absolutely encouraged to ask questions and geek out with Sean about all of this stuff.

Thursday, June 4 from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
REGISTER HERE → https://luma.com/sqflzmgu

On our recent “Find Your People On Substack” call we talked about finding our people, which of course led to building an audience, getting more subscribers.

But what if we think beyond mere subscribers?

We dream of reaching a big audience, but what does it mean if we’ve got no one to lean on? On our lowest days, who are the people that we can text or get on a phone call with?

We don’t just need a big subscriber count, we need good people in our corner.

Come to our FINDING YOUR PEOPLE ON SUBSTACK – SATURDAY EDITION this weekend.

Forget algorithms, there’s a whole world of possibility right in front of you via people’s Substack profile (here’s mine).

ONE: Click on that subscribers link, and you can see who subscribes to their publicaiton, their followers, and who they follow (note: sometimes this is hidden per user).

TWO: Click that Likes & Replies link, and you’ll see everything they liked and replied to.

THREE: Finally, click Reads and find out what they’re reading.

This isn’t just on Substack of course… if I remember correctly you can see who people are following and liking on Twitter, or LinkedIn.

This is like a very public digital “thanks list” on the internet, like we used to read in CD and cassette booklets when we were younger.A band would thank a series of bands, publications, people, and then you would seek them out – it was divine, like a recommendation from the bigger sibling you never had, maybe.

This is just a fun and easy way to discover – FOR YOURSELF – some interesting people. Make use of your good taste, trust your gut, and find your people.

Saw this while walking around Portsmouth, NH, from the “Public Poetry Project.” This is run by the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program, where they organize submissions from poets to be featured in businesses around town.

There are people who would love your work and they aren’t even on social media – they might just be out walking around town!

Don’t let the 0.02% of your recent unsubscribes influence what you send to the 99.98% subscribers who chose to stick around.

If you want to send more newsletters, but you’re afraid of upsetting your current subscribers, just do it. I bet most of your audience would love to hear from you more often, and for everyone else? Oh well.

Are you in this to please other people, or to serve your own deep inner desire for joy? Our best work comes when we are in alignment with ourselves, rather than trying to please a tiny fraction of our email list. Let ’em go.

We’re not for everybody, but the people who stick around are your people (for now).

This isn’t about growth hacks or audience building, it’s about finding your people on Substack (and beyond).

Step by step instructions are for putting together Ikea furniture, not building fanbases. We’re dealing with real people, with complex lives, not shelving units. Through the tension of talking with strangers about our work, we gain understanding, and see the possibilities through the eyes of other people, and their journeys traveled to get there.

Our Escape Pod Zoom calls provide the on ramp to such conversations. Finding our way with intention, because we’re done hoping or wishing for an algorithm to magically deliver us our biggest fans, right?

Thursday, May 28 from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
Register here → https://luma.com/84g45pka

Saturday, May 30 from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Register here: https://luma.com/j33otsdz