My Six Month Anniversary on Substack
I made it six months. May 9, 2022 was the day I signed up for Substack. I didn’t know what was going to happen when I joined Substack. I had seen someone on a news program and they kept saying he wrote on Substack. I told myself, “I need to check this out.” When I was trying to figure out if I should join, I reviewed three other options. Those other options didn’t allow for posting of comments. I wanted that option, so I chose Substack. I am so glad I did.
Being on Substack has changed my life. For the good. I have met so many nice people along the way. There are a few of you that I consider friends. We may not live near each other, or have met in person, or even talked on the phone, but I feel close to some of you. We have shared personal things about our lives on here. We sure have had some laughs.
Substack is one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. It’s so easy to participate and learn more about other people and their interests. I love the interaction.
For this sixth month anniversary, I thought I would go through a top five list with these categories: Funny stories, Not Funny stories, and the Losers. I’ll give you a brief on each with links to the stories. This way, if you are new, you might not have read these stories, and you can go back and read them.
There was talk a few times on Substack’s Office Hours about not paying attention to the numbers (views) for your stories and to pay attention to just writing. This is true. But I have a confession to make, I do pay attention to the numbers. This is the only way I know which writing you like. If I write a story about something that doesn’t get many views, I know not to do that again.
Top 5 - Funny Stories
I can tell you that the funny stories are the overwhelming favorite out of all my stories. And who wouldn’t like something funny? We are living in tough times right now. We all need a laugh. I have so much fun writing these stories. I laugh along as I write them. I think to myself, “Wait until they read this one!”
Each story will have the number of views beside the story. I have linked all the stories, so you can go back and read them, or read them for the first time. Now without further adieu, here are the top 5 Funny stories.
1) Close Encounter With A Shark (298) – This was a complete shocker for me. #1 the story was more about my friend P doing the hard work. I got a huge bump from The Sample with 161 views. I still marvel at this. A lot of people like sharks or at least wanted to find out what happened with one.
2) Who Stole My Underwear!? (66) – Obviously, the headline caught everyone’s attention. It’s not everyday that someone talks about losing their underwear.
3) How Not To Transport A Mattress (65) – I wish I had taken a photo of this but I didn’t have a camera back then when this happened. Another adventure with my friend P. It was difficult but I can laugh about it today.
4) You Need To Get The Money Now (62) – Who knew when I went to that bank that it would be gone. Or that I would write about it and tell the whole world about it.
5) Three Guys With Something In Common (50) – I knew this would get some views but I didn’t think it was going to make it into the top 5.
Top 5 - Not Funny Stories
These are the informative stories. Some of these have surprised me at how many views they have received. The totals on the top one continue to rise and with an upcoming mention, will probably go higher.
1) My Journey Through Art (96) – I wanted to talk about my journey through art. I knew some of my subscribers had done their own versions of art and I thought I could explain my journey. I don’t have any sales yet but I’m working to figure out some other areas where I can put my artwork, so I can bring some sales in. If you know of anyone, feel free to send them the link.
2) Underwater Mystery (61) – Fiction – I didn’t realize how many people liked fiction. This is how I started writing. I fell in love with reading fiction and I had several stories I had made up over the years. Then I started writing fiction. I wanted to enter a contest to see if I could win some money. The truth is I needed the money.
3) High School Typing Class (47) – I had fun in this class and writing this story. I got to learn about other people’s experiences as well with the comments.
4) What Does It Take To Post On Substack (43) – If you search on this headline on Google or DuckDuckGo, you’ll see this is a popular headline. In fact, some of the people have come from the search engines. Sometimes when composing your headline, it’s good to see if that will come up in the search engines. I talk about writing in my notebooks, my laptop, and my desktop PC to get the writing up on Substack.
5) My Photography Hobby (40) – To get all these views for looking at my photos shows that people are interested in picture taking. This won’t be the last time I post photos I have taken.
Top 5 - The Losers
These are the stories that fell flat on their faces. It was very obvious that these stories were not interesting. They were interesting to me but not the reader. I thought about whether to list the bottom 5 here or just list a few. Let’s see what I came up with.
1) I Was A Delivery Driver 3 Times (16) – I guess since I wasn’t an actual driver, it didn’t happen with this one. I should have renamed this one. It should have been delivery person. Because I didn’t drive the packages over to their destination. I actually walked.
2) Drought – We Need Rain (15) – This was a bomb. I guess people didn’t care about the area and what was going on.
3) Books, Books, And More Books (15) – I talked about books I had recently read. A few were all about being a copywriter. Those I can understand why no one would be interested. I also read Austin Kleon’s “Show Your Work” book.
4) I’m Hungry (14) – A woman who was standing in the median holding a sign. I don’t know why this one didn’t go over very well.
5) Watch SpaceX Rocket Soar Into Space (14) – The photo I used as the first photo was taken from Unsplash. But the second photo I posted was from my window, only 10 miles away. I thought it would be interesting to see a real live photo of the rocket soaring into the atmosphere. I think I might have gone a little overboard with describing intricate details about the rocket.
Funny vs. Not Funny
I thought you’d be interested in this statistic. The funny stories beat the not funny stories. As of this writing, I have written 13 funny vs. 15 not funny. The funnies have it at 784 to 514.
Stats
As you can see, I’m a statistical person. I keep track of all the numbers. Everything is located inside a spreadsheet with formulas to calculate everything.
How Many Subscribers Do I Have
All of these views should add up to a lot of subscribers. That’s just not true. I have 19 subscribers. I think a lot of people are viewing it via shares and just finding it through recommendations on other’s pages.
Recommendations
I thought you might want to hear some stats here. As of this writing, the following people have received subscribers through my recommendations.
Mark @ The Fyve Spot - 2
Mark @ How About This - 1
Rebecca @ Dear Reader, I’m lost - 1
To see the other recommendations, you can click this link.
The Next Six Months
Let’s hope the next six months go as good as the first six. I have had so much fun!
Conclusion
I’m encountering some hard times now. I will probably talk about it here unless I get a miracle. But I know my subscribers will understand. I enjoy writing all the funny stories. I have a list with 50 more funny stories. I hope to keep posting on a weekly basis. I’m just not sure what is going to transpire in the next few weeks.
Until next time, happy reading.
-Matt
I am embarrassing late to the party here, but hopefully better late than never.
Firstly, congratulations on six months.
Secondly, I have conflicting views about writing articles that are likely to garner more views, for the following reasons:
* I find it impossible to make that sort of prediction. The only certainty seems to be the inverse relationship between the amount of time I spend on an article and the traction it gains.enjoy
* In my other newsletters and websites I've discovered that many more people lurk than comment. or they may comment ages later (as I am doing here!).
* Also, the number of readers per article: I wonder how accurate the stats are.
*I prefer to write what I enjoy.
* Having said all that, I confess to becoming a little despondent at the slow growth in subscribers, but then my wife tells me that my very first newsletter (not Substack) took a long time to gain a substantial (4 figure) following. What keeps me going is the sheer enjoyment of writing, and the knowledge that some people enjoy reading it.
Like you I consider many writers and readers here as friends.
I think it's quite a privilege to be able to read the works of fine writers such as yourself.
Enjoy the next sixth months, Matt!
Congratulations on six months of writing & keep up the good work! I hope that whatever difficulties you're facing now will be resolved quickly and completely. Sending lots of positive thoughts, Matt.