The Biggest Newsletter Advice You Need to Hear - from 40 Successful Creators
The advice you need might be here
Newsletter Circle is your go-to source for building a successful newsletter business.
This year, I spent most of my time studying what works on Substack and talking to Substack creators. I did written in-depth interviews and hosted Live conversations. Most of my guests are Substack Bestsellers who reached 100 paid subscribers. Some passed 1,000.
I also spoke with a few other creators from other newsletter platforms, who all nailed either growth or monetization.
The start of a new year is when we see the most newsletter launches and fresh decisions. So, as we move toward 2026, I went back to those conversations with 40 successful creators and gathered their answers to this single question:
What would it be if you had the right to give one piece of advice to aspiring newsletter creators?
I’m grateful to my guests because they all took the time to craft the most helpful insights. They looked back at their challenges and were transparent about what they had experienced. With their transparency, they supported my mission to encourage mutual learning among newsletter creators and build a community around shared lessons.
I couldn’t thank them enough. But, again, thank you so much for being part of Newsletter Circle!
That said, before you dive into, I’d like to remind you of 3 things :
1. There Is No One Playbook. Pick What Fits You.
In the answers, some themes came up again and again:
• Show up and publish consistently
• Know who you are writing for and what they need
• Find an angle that sets you apart
• Be okay with mistakes. Test, try, and learn as you go
• Share your work and promote it
• Build real relationships with your readers and with other writers
But here is the part we often forget.
Every piece of advice comes from a creator’s own path.
There is always a whole story sitting behind each answer. A personal journey that shaped how they see things when they gave those answers.
This is why I am linking the full interviews. If something resonates, go back and read the story behind it. The context will help you understand why that creator chose that advice at that moment in their journey and whether it fits where you are right now.
This part matters because not every suggestion will match your current stage.
Take this as an example. Some creators start paid subscription right away and recommend it with confidence. They already know their readers, or they have experience building online audiences. Some are strong at selling and promoting their work. Others simply have more time to allocate. If you are in a similar position, go for it.
But if you are starting from zero with no online audience, your path will look different. Focus on showing up, defining who you are writing for, learning their needs, and shaping your content and growth strategy around that insight. Let paid subscriptions wait until the foundation is strong.
2. We Are All Beginners at Something
Even though I asked for advice for aspiring creators, many answers reflect the challenges of creators at all stages.
You might be writing consistently for a year, but still feel shy about promoting your work. So the advice about showing up might be the one you need.
Take a moment to reflect on where you are struggling the most right now.
Let the advice that resonates most be a signal. A gentle nudge toward what you may need to work on next.
3. What is your biggest newsletter advice? Newsletter Circle Community Round-up
Last but not least, I’d like to hear from you.
No matter how small or big your list is.
We all have some learnings and there are always people who are a few steps behind us. So, if you have any big advice or learning to share with other newsletter creators, add your answer in the form below. I plan to gather and share the answers.
Ok, now, it is time to hear the biggest advice from 40 successful creators, mainly Substack Bestsellers. (P.S. My answer is in the end.)
1. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes
Matt Trinetti & Lindsey Trout Hughes from Writers' Hour Magazine
“Treat your newsletter as a gift. In the words of Steven Pressfield:
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”
Even if you’re writing for self-expression or exploring something personally, if you’re publishing with a goal to grow a readership, you have to put yourself in your readers’ shoes.
Personal rule of thumb: I write for me, but I edit for you.”
2. Listen to your audience
Amy Suto from ✍️ Make Writing Your Job
“Write what you love, but listen to your readers. Try and find that intersection of what you love writing about and what your audience loves reading!
Don’t take marketing for granted: understand how to get your writing out there. If you do, you’ll be unstoppable.”
3. Serve one specific person
David McIlroy from How to Write for a Living
“Find the one thing you’re super passionate and knowledgeable about and double down on that.
Don’t try to be all things to all people - just aim to serve one specific type of person and work hard to understand their pain points.”
4. Find a real issue that you can keep talking about for a long time
Evann Ryan from Bite Club
“My advice would be to write and talk about what you’re most passionate about. If you can niche that topic down even further and become a leader in that category, even better. I could have focused just on vegan recipes, but I took it further and made it specifically about high-protein vegan recipes because I know that’s a big issue for vegans and vegetarians.
Be specific and make sure it’s something you can’t get enough of, because it’s going to take a lot of work to get noticed in a constantly changing algorithm.”
5. Build two-way conversations
Tom Kuegler from The Writing Long Game
“Talk to ChatGPT about everything. Use it to think through what you want to write about, how you could monetize, analyze posts that are doing well or poorly—everything.
But more importantly, get deeply involved in the community. A lot of people struggle on Substack, wondering why they’re not getting views, and it’s because they’re not talking to anybody. You’re not part of the community and nobody knows who you are. You have to give in order to receive, especially when you’re starting out.”
Brennan Dunn from Create & Sell
“Newsletters are a fantastic way to do internal market research. Ask your audience what they need from you. Keep your ear to the ground. Listen to what they’re sharing. Take what they say and create products or services that fix those problems.
A great newsletter is a two-way conversation done at scale.”
6. Focus on depth
Jeremy Caplan from Wonder Tools
“Write less. Use the Smart Brevity approach to focus on the core thing you have to say. Cut out at least 10% of every post before you send it. Cutting 20% is better.
Narrow your subject. Focus on a distinct subset of things that you care about so you can delve deep in a distinct way.”
Disclaimer: Jeremy Caplan shared this advice in our first interview in 2023. This year, we came together again for a Substack Live, which you can find in the above link. It’s a treasure of newsletter insights, just saying!
7. Have a voice and stay true to it
Jamie Northrup from Minimalist Hustler Daily
“Write in your voice, write in your style. You want people to join based on who you are and what your personality is, the stuff you share.
If you do it the other way, where you’re just following people’s advice and you don’t enjoy it, it shows. If you’re just sharing AI content, no matter how human-like the AI content can get, if you’re not in it, behind it, doing the Notes, engaging with people, it doesn’t look real or doesn’t match, then people are going to know. So it’s just easier to be real. I’m not saying you can’t use AI for certain things, and you can’t use templates for other things, but make sure you’re putting your touch on it. And that, to me, is the key.”
8. Build a system first. Scale from there.
Alex McFarland from AI WriterOps
“Start building systems. No matter how small at first.
Most creators get trapped in the daily grind—what am I writing today, what’s for tomorrow—and they burn out before they ever build momentum. Instead of thinking in individual posts, think in systems that can generate multiple pieces of content from a single idea.
Build your knowledge base first. Feed your AI assistant everything it needs to know about your voice, your frameworks, and your audience. Then create workflows that let you co-write rather than starting from scratch every single time.
The creators who master this systematic approach will have a massive advantage while everyone else is still manually crafting each piece. AI isn’t just a writing tool—it’s your co-creator, co-organizer, and project manager. Use it like one.”
9. Your knowledge can reach more people when it’s packaged differently
Michael Simmons from Blockbuster Blueprint
“There’s a skill of packaging. And it’s a weird thing to be selling knowledge. You know, it’s just words on a page. You know, you could go to an article for free.
And I remember just really feeling perplexed by that. If you don’t understand why people buy knowledge, it’s really hard to sell knowledge. So you almost need to have a model in your head of what causes people to purchase. So I would say one thing is that sometimes just a different packaging of your ideas can drastically influence whether people pay attention to it, whether people assign a value to it. I think it’s personally really hard to write articles and then expect people to pay just to support you. I think maybe that was more powerful when it was less crowded.
With that said, I think courses are something that people value. You can write an article, or you could turn that article into a course, and people value that.”
10. Make mistakes. Embrace them.
Paweł Huryn from The Product Compass
“You will be wrong. A lot. And that’s okay. Getting things right requires trying and failing over and over again.
If you could optimize just one thing, maximize the speed of learning. The best time to start is now.”
11. Experiment relentlessly
Danielle Desir Corbett from Grants For Creators
“You won’t know your full potential unless you give [insert your idea] a try. Whatever you’ve been thinking about repeatedly, put it out there.
Experiment, and give it your all when you find what’s working.”
12. Be realistic about monetization
Amber Katz from Things I Buy As A Civilian
“If you love writing and have a subject you can’t shut up about, that’s Substack-worthy! If you do what you love, the money will come, but I don’t recommend starting a Substack to make money.
It takes time to build an audience and readers can tell when you love what you do.”
13. Stay consistent & show up regularly
Matthew Campbell from Wedding MusicLetter
“The biggest piece of advice for any newsletter writer is consistency. People want to be able to trust you and get accustomed to whatever writing frequency you set.
For my newsletter, I send it every Wednesday at 5 am PST no matter what. I also send my new and trending wedding songs newsletter on the last day of the month, no matter what.
It’s funny knowing my newsletters rarely get opened on Fridays and Saturdays because most wedding professionals are busy working those days and don’t read emails. However, if the last day of the month lands on a holiday or those two days, it still gets sent.”
James Lavish, CFA from The Informationist
“I’d say the most important advice for an aspiring newsletter creator would be to be consistent and show up, regardless of whether anybody is reading yet.
Because if what you’re writing is good, they will arrive sooner or later.”
Dmitri from Analog Cafe
“I think consistency is a defining characteristic of an email newsletter. There are certainly successful exceptions, but I think it helps to give the readers an expectation (e.g., “monthly”) and deliver on that.”
14. Be patient
Claudia Faith from Wander Wealth
“Trust the process. Give it time. Most people give up too early and never get to see what could have been. Be patient. Keep writing. Trust yourself. You’re building something powerful, even when it’s quiet.”
15. Don’t be obsessed with numbers
Kathleen Schmidt from Publishing Confidential
“I would say just keep writing and don’t pay too much attention to subscriber numbers and the leaderboard. I see way too many people obsessing over the leaderboard, and that, to me, is not productive.”
16. Invest in building genuine relationships
Kat River from The Mother Makers
“Network and community building are your superpowers. People want to be received by their work, but they are often not willing to put themselves out there.
Building genuine relationships is 10x more powerful and impactful than trying to restack your post to Notes and hope for the best.
Find writers who are writing on similar topics to you (Through the Substack categories or go down little wormholes until you find people you like), and get amongst their communities.
Comment on things with meaningful thoughts, get back to other people’s comments, and show up regularly. This not only has others find you but has you feeling more emotionally invested in the space beyond your own publication.
Speak other writers’ names in rooms of opportunity/recommend them on your Substack and share their names with others and watch as the generosity becomes reciprocated.
This is how you build here sustainably.
The second would be to master your craft and become a better writer. Edit, edit again, simplify your message, fluff it up here and there, and enjoy the process of refining your skills.”
17. Don’t let self-doubt beat you
Jesse Colombo from The Bubble Bubble Report
“Don’t underestimate the potential of paid newsletters—or how many people are willing to pay for content they find valuable.
Self-doubt is normal, but my advice is to push through it and take the leap: launch your newsletter, create high-quality, unique content, promote it consistently, and give it time to grow. You might be surprised by just how far it can take you.”
18. Be real, consistent and enjoy the process
Caroline and Tony from The Nest Egg
“1. Consistency - showing up regularly (not necessarily weekly - choose a schedule which is right for you) helps build trust from your readers and also trust in yourself and confidence in your ability to show up for your writing practice.
2. Authenticity - it may sound a little corny but if I had to choose to veer on the side of personal over-sharing vs maintaining a ‘professional’ veneer, I’d pick the over-sharing every time. Being real and relatable goes a long way.
3. Write for yourself. If you find the process valuable and it helps you be better in your work, then it’s worthwhile and you’ll find the motivation to continue. If others enjoy your content and find it helpful, then its a bonus. Enjoying the process helps take the pressure off.”
19. Make people feel something
Ana Calin from How We Grow
“Stop begging people to care.
No one owes you their attention. Not your friends, not your followers, not even your mom. The internet is loud, and everyone’s fighting for a spotlight. So, earn it.
Be interesting. Have an opinion. Say something people disagree with. And please—stop posting “New newsletter just dropped!” like you’re Beyoncé. You’re not.
The fastest way to grow? Make people feel something. Annoy them, inspire them, make them laugh, just don’t be forgettable.
Boring newsletters die fast. Don’t be boring.”
20. Promote your content consistently
Lucy Werner from Hype Yourself
“Pace yourself. I see a lot of people coming out of the gate posting regularly and then being disappointed and unable to sustain that cadence.
Find a way to promote your newsletter that feels good to you and keep your cadence up where you can. Consider banking a few posts for later!”
21. Lean on community, creativity and consistency
Lindsay Johnstone from What Now? with Lindsay Johnstone
“These are the principles I lean on in all of my work. If you want to treat your publication as a business or as part of your business, then take it as seriously as you would a job. Show up for your community and remember to demonstrate the same levels of enthusiasm and support for others as you’d like them to show for you and your work.
Build genuine connections and invest time in cultivating relationships with other creators and your own subscribers.
Be responsive. Lean into what your community resonates with and, ultimately, remember that these things take time.
Substack is getting busier and noisier all the time, but don’t let that get you down when the troughs seem to outweigh the peaks. Just keep going. Do your work.”
22. Start before you’re ready
Kristina God from The Online Writing Club
“You’ll never feel 100% ready.
The secret?
Stop finding excuses (I’m tired. I don’t have time. I have a baby. I’m pregnant. I have a 9-5. I won’t make it. I don’t know how and where to start) Take action anyway. Show up for yourself, put yourself out there, and keep moving forward.
That’s how you get ahead of 99% of writers—not by waiting, but by doing and taking inspir-ACTION.”
Valentina Jemuović from Optivem Journal
“Start now, don’t wait.”
Chris Cerra from Remotebase
“Don’t wait. There will never be the ‘perfect’ moment; you just have to start, publish, and iterate. Publish, learn, publish, learn.
And network in the space – it’s crazy how many other newsletter operators I follow and DM and learn from.”
23. Keep going with the right mindset
George ~ FWN from The Freelance Writing Network
“Keep writing. Enjoy the small wins. You have 50 subscribers? Well, that’s amazing! Picture all the people who subscribe to you in one room and, even if the number feels small, you’ll get an idea of just how many people that is. Imagine having to talk in front of all of them, for example.
Keep writing and be consistent. In the early days it was quite hard to keep going at times when there was seemingly little financial or career benefit to me. But I did keep going. And where it can go, with the right mindset and approach, is something beyond anything you ever expect.
Not everyone will make a living off Substack or become a bestseller, but real opportunities to thrive really do exist for those with the right mindset."
Trust me, I used to be you!”
24. Love your subscribers
Karen Cherry from PubStack Success
“If you want to have an impact, that is either by earning good revenue or just by reaching more people, you need to approach your newsletter as if you’re building relationships with your readers. So that means primarily showing up really regularly at the same time every week and delivering amazing content to your readers every week.
And then just reminding them every single time, I remind my readers at least two times, sometimes three times in every post, ‘Hey, you can support me. Here’s what you get if you upgrade to paid.’
Just treat your subscribers like you absolutely love them, look after them, give them your very best staff and they will love you back.”
25. Collaborate with other writers
Sinem Günel from Write • Build • Scale
“Connect with writers in your niche as quickly as possible. The easiest way to grow your audience is to find them in places where they’re already hanging out. And if other creators trust you, they are much more likely to give you access to their audiences (given that you can deliver value to their audiences, of course).
It’s basically what you are doing here at Newsletter Circle, right? You are giving creators a stage. But you’ll only offer the stage if you have a track record or if you know and trust them.
Building these relationships isn’t always easy when you’re starting from scratch, but you can approach it with genuine curiosity. Engage with people’s content and think of different ways to add value to them.
If you have an audience of zero subscribers, start with people who have a couple of hundred, not with creators who have 10,000 subscribers.
Look for the writers who are similar to you. They don’t need to have huge audiences to be powerful collaboration partners for you.”
26. Set yourself apart
Adriana Tica from Ideas to Power Your Future
“Focus on finding your WHY, your BIG IDEA. Don’t write just another “marketing” or “AI” newsletter.
People looks for shared values, not re-hashed content. So, before your start writing, figure out what big change you want to see in the world. Then write like that change depends on your newsletter.”
Matt Brown from Extra Points
“Find a lane that is uniquely yours, one where you won’t get bored from writing and researching about every day. Then master that lane. If you do that, you’ll always have a job.”
Patrick Klepek from Crossplay
“Find a unique angle. Why are people coming to you over anyone else?”
27. Start with a small digital product under $100.
Derek Hughes from The Irresistible Writer By Derek Hughes
“If they’re new creators or they’re creating their first digital product, I encourage people to make quite small products. Even if it’s a course, go for seven modules that are just 10 minutes long, or seven email modules. Keep it quite small and charge under $100.
Because if it’s under $100, psychologically, it’s quite a quick click for people if they decide. The most important thing is to get sales and get a feel. I just want to test if it works. And then you could either keep it at the same price or push it up as you go. If it’s like $400, then you also put yourself under a lot of pressure as a creator.So, don’t start with some massive thing and then just do another product and another product. You can get a nice turnover of three or four grand every time you create a product, which is quite nice.”
28. Don’t start monetization with a paid subscription
Russell Nohelty from The Author Stack
“Your first sale probably won’t, and shouldn’t, be your membership. Try to think of other products, like courses and books, that can work with your membership, but give people discrete wins they can take without going all in on a membership with you.
People will usually need to subscribe for a long time before they become paying members, but they will buy a book much more quickly, even if it costs much more than a subscription and gives them much less.
People are very wary of subscriptions, and streamers aren’t doing us any favors by taking things off the platform, but they are still willing to buy a book from you. If you’re not packaging your work up at least once a year and selling it, then you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. I do that at least 1-2 times a year and it’s great.
Make sure to launch them on your own site or Kickstarter first, though, so you can capture their information. It’s great to have them as retailers, but I believe you should think of retailers as a funnel to your own direct pipeline.”
29. Start a paid newsletter right away
Yana G.Y. from Unplugged by Yana G.Y.
“Every writer should have a paid newsletter. Right now, I believe it’s the best way to grow online and Substack is the best place to do it.”
30. Give before you ask (if you want to build a community)
Veronica Llorca-Smith from The Lemon Tree Mindset 🌳🍋
“Give before you ask. Very often we are trying to create all these forums, ‘please join my webinar’ and ‘join this’ or ‘do that.’ But most people in your community also want to be seen, and they also want to be heard.
And so try to first engage with the people who are already supporting you the most. I didn’t know this until relatively recently. One thing you can do is, for example, look at your stats — who are your most engaged subscribers? You can actually see based on their activity. Is there something that you can do for them?
You can just send them a personalized message. I’ve done this in the past: ‘Thank you so much for being one of my most engaged readers. I really appreciate it. If there’s anything we can do together or collaborate, let me know.’ Same with Notes. If you can engage with the people who are already engaging with your content, if you can really start creating this community in a very organic way, the community is already there, right? So what can you do that brings people in?”
31. Kill your darlings.
Nika Talbot from The Shift
“Don’t get too hung up on your ‘niche’ and fitting into boxes as it will evolve as you do. People want to hear from YOU. Be yourself and bring all of yourself to your work – why do we have to separate life and work? Think about the transformation you want to offer. For me, that’s a struggling writer to AI-assisted solopreneur. AI will make us better humans because it’s giving us more time for ourselves and others. 😉
Sorry, there’s more…
Write fast, edit later. Kill your darlings (especially that intro). Short and sweet!
Have a full life, do interesting things, be interested in people and life and you’ll bring that energy and spark to it.
Take time off Substack and socials to avoid comparison-itis and more-itis.
Don’t worry about trying to sound clever or smart. Don’t be afraid of the mundane – it’s where most of us are, doing the same things daily, and it’s more real and relatable.
Share your fails as well as your wins – you’ll be far more interesting and useful. As Arnie would say: “Be useful!” 🦾”
32. Go all in!
Alex Dobrenko` from Both Are True
“If you write good enough for long enough, good things will probably happen. Everything else is noise.
I need this lesson for myself!”
Maya Say from Smarter Solopreneurs
“Go for it. And I mean, really go for it, not just start a newsletter and never post anything. Commit to posting once per week and writing one note per day. Give it a few months and you’d be surprised at the result.”
Before you go, here is my biggest advice:
“Substack is becoming a place where a full, owned content journey can take shape. Notes, Chat, Live Sessions, long-form posts. Each touchpoint has a role. When used together, they create a simple reader flow.
Early discovery → small interactions → deeper connection → newsletter subscription.
But Substack alone is rarely enough, no matter how often we see that message on Notes. If you start from zero and want to grow and monetize your newsletter, you need to show up where your ideal reader already spends time. Choose one social channel, repurpose your work, and build a small system that guides people back to your newsletter.
Putting all your eggs in one basket is always risky. And a newsletter grows faster when platforms support each other.
So my short version is this:
Use Substack as your home.
Use social media as your door.
Create a flywheel and let your content move people from one place to the other.”
Thank you for reading and see you next week.
Ciler
Find me on Substack Notes & LinkedIn
Thank you for this list. I can’t wait to try these out!
Fantastic article Ciler! Also, it's really cool to see how much valuable information you've collected and how you're able to combine it in different practical ways. Thanks, and have a great holiday season!