How This Substack Creator Became a Bestseller in 8 Months (With Less Than 2,500 Subscribers)
Substack Growth PodcastShow Notes
In this episode, I’m joined by Benjamin Hies, and we break down how he turned his publication, Digital Citizen, into a Substack bestseller (with 100+ paid subscribers) and a thriving online business. If you want to learn how to attract more paid subscribers - and turn your publication into multiple sources of revenue - you’re going to love this episode.
---- Benjamin is part of our private Substack coaching program.
If you want to apply for private Substack coaching so we can personally help you grow and monetize your publication faster, click here: https://form.jotform.com/260063396621051
(Limited spots available.)
---- Subscribe to Benjamin's publication here: https://www.clubcitizen.co/ ----
Here’s exactly what we cover: - The biggest mistake Benjamin made on Substack: writing for “everyone” instead of one clear reader (02:52) - The curse of knowledge: why writing basic content often performs best (05:45) - How Benjamin became a Substack Bestseller in 8 months (12:20) - The exact content + pricing strategy that pushed him past 100 paid subscribers (13:37) - Why paid subscriptions are just the starting point of monetization, not the end goal (24:49) - How Benjamin added a $5,000 consulting offer to his Substack (26:22) - What new Substack creators who want to build a business on the platform should start doing (28:38) - Why Benjamin recommends being “impatient with actions, but patient with results” (29:45)
And much, much more…
More from Substack Growth Podcast
If you’re ready to turn your Substack into real income and not just a growing list, that’s the work we do inside the Substack Accelerator. It’s direct coaching from the Write • Build • Scale team, built around one outcome: Becoming a Substack Bestseller and building a real business on top of your publication.
If you’re ready to turn your Substack into real income and not just a growing list, that’s the work we do inside the Substack Accelerator. It’s direct coaching from the Write • Build • Scale team, built around one outcome: Becoming a Substack Bestseller and building a real business on top of your publication.
Between being on Substack almost every single day for the past two years and working with 100s of coaching clients and course students, I’ve had the chance to look closely at a lot of Substack publications. More than a thousand by now. And the patterns are clear… The newsletters that grow, that build loyal audiences, that actually make money, they do certain things differently than the average Substack publication, in particular in three key areas. Let’s dive straight in. ---- 💰 Want to Become a Substack Bestseller? You’re invited to our brand-new masterclass, How to Become a Substack Bestseller in Less Than 12 Months. During this live training, I’ll share the exact system behind attracting paid subscribers, becoming a Substack Bestseller, and using the platform to grow your business. You’ll leave the Substack Bestseller Masterclass with a clear roadmap to turn your publication into real income.
Most Substack creators are sitting on a goldmine of growth tools they’re barely using. They publish their newsletter, maybe post a Note here and there, and then wonder why growth feels so slow. Substack has built some genuinely powerful features specifically designed to get your work in front of new people. The problem is that most creators either don’t know about them or don’t use them consistently enough to see results. At Write • Build • Scale, we’ve used these features to grow our publication to over 48,000 subscribers, so everything I’m sharing here is backed by real experience, not theory. Let’s dive straight in. ---- 🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit 📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: https://writebuildscale.substack.com/
I’ve spent a lot of time studying the top Substack creators — the people in the top 1% of the platform, both in terms of audience size and paid subscribers. What’s interesting isn’t just what they do. It’s what they don’t do. Because eliminating some of the habits and behaviors that keep you stuck is often one of the fastest ways to make progress. Here are the three things the top 1% Substack creators don’t do, and what they focus on instead. ---- 🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit 📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: https://writebuildscale.substack.com/