How a Substack Newsletter Became Bestseller Using The Right Strategy
The small strategic shifts that turned daily posting into real growth and loyal readers.
Have you ever had a lot to say, but were afraid of how it would be received by those around you?
*All examples are real people, names have been changed out of respect for their privacy.
Joanna has a poetry newsletter.
There she writes poems related to personal experiences. About love, loss, and grief.
No matter how good the content is, it doesn’t reach a large audience, and more importantly, the audience it does reach doesn’t seem to respond to it.
She does everything the Substack gurus tell her to do, writes every day, posts three notes a day, promotes herself in every way she knows how, but something is missing.
There is no progress. There is no engagement, almost no one reads her content. And instead of growing, her growth is stagnant. What’s more, she is losing subscribers.
And she pours her heart out with every poem, knowing that what she writes is pure gold.
How Joanna decided to stop following tricks and focus on strategy.
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Until then, she had been writing about her pain and sharing her experiences. But the audience just didn’t resonate with her work.
The first step she decided to take was to shift the focus from “This is how I feel” to “This is how YOU probably feel, but can’t express.”
The second and perhaps most important step was to understand who her reader was. And that wasn’t to answer the question “Who do I want to read me?” but “Who already responds to what I write even a little?”
She began to analyze the little she had.
And she asked herself a few simple questions:
Which poem has the most views?
Which one has even 1–2 replies?
Which lines have people quoted?
Which posts have been shared (if any)?
And somewhere among the answers, we came to a great conclusion: Most often, your audience is a version of yourself from 1–3 years ago.
To understand what the content should consist of, I asked her a few questions that she had to answer:
When did you start writing?
Joanna: I started writing 2 years ago when I broke up with my fiancé.
What were you going through at the time?
Joanna: I felt devastated, alone, and confused. I wanted the pain to stop. Poetry was my only remedy.
What were you searching for on Google?
Joanna: Quotes about breakups, lots of Pinterest pins related to love, pain, and breakups.
What words were you missing?
Joanna: I wanted someone to tell me what I was actually writing about. I wanted someone to comfort me with the words that flowed from my broken heart.
The conclusion was this: without realizing it, Joanna was her own ideal reader.
All that was left was to shape the content so that it would speak to her audience.
So instead of limiting ourselves to breakups, we also included poems about grief, loneliness, and healing.
Then her task was to observe:
Which posts have the highest open rate?
Which ones generate the most comments?
Which ones elicit the strongest reaction, such as reposting?
In her next post, she improved the format of her posts by ending with a question to the reader.
This is something that many people fail to do, but it is the most powerful tool “Which topic is closest to you right now?
– Breakup
– Loss
– Loneliness
– Healing”
The change came when one of the readers wrote a comment saying, “I’m going through the same thing. Thank you for making me feel seen.”
Soon after, the number of comments increased, and others followed, such as:
“I recently broke up with my girlfriend, and your words made me feel less lonely.”
“Your poems are medicine for my soul.”
“Thank you for giving voice to my thoughts.”
That was the sign.
All that remained was to declare herself by correcting her bio.
From “I’m going through a breakup and writing poems about it,” she moved on to “I help people feel better through my poetry.”
The only thing left to do was to strengthen the posts. There were a few missing elements that we added.
We added a call to action at the end of each poem.
“If you are going through the same thing, I would be happy to hear from you.”
“If you want to read more of my work, you can check out my book of unpublished poems.”
“I want to reach as many people as possible, so if you feel seen in this poem, subscribe to me.”
The reason for all these changes was that engagement doesn’t come on its own. It has to be provoked.
Joanna reviewed her work and realized that the content was good, but its positioning was not.
The problem is often not the quality, but the way it is presented.
The change she made was insignificant at first glance, but it significantly increased engagement
A brief context before the poem (2-3 sentences)
A photo that resonated with her
A small personal note
This created a connection between her and her audience. It was no longer just her and her poems, but shifted the focus to her readers.
And the end result has already started working for her.
She imagined who her ideal reader was and started writing for them, not for everyone.
Her engagement increased because she now knew how to touch her readers in the right way.
Her newsletter went from being a “personal diary” to soul therapy that people look forward to and share because it makes them feel understood.
She now knew how to address her audience because she knew what their pain was and how to describe it.
This noticeably changed even the texts she used to promote her work.
Joanna’s example works for poetry as well as philosophical essays and mental health, etc.
But what about all the “gurus” who say you should stick to one niche?
What do we do when inspiration comes from more than one place and we want to show it to the world?
If you’re not sure which niche you’re in, let me tell you some good news—you don’t have to box yourself in!
Instead of asking “What topic should I choose?”, try asking:
Who do I want to help right now?
You can have multiple interests.
But your audience needs one clear reason to follow you.
Clarity doesn’t mean limitation.
It means direction.
My advice is:
Don’t choose a niche. Choose a core pain point that you love to address.
You can write about five topics, but if they all solve the same type of problem, that’s already a direction.
For example, you can write about psychology, productivity, books, and personal stories.
But if everything helps, for example, “people who feel invisible to the world around them to be seen” — that’s already positioning.
If you feel stuck like Joanna
DM me so we can turn your message from invisible to noticeable.
And we can include you in the next post.
If you’re ready to build a clear message and offer, start with The Branding Masterclass
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True, Many times the content is really amazing just we lack in execution
Really wonderful tips and useful article
Thanks for sharing and keep writing 💫
Just highlighting this part
Joanna reviewed her work and realized that the content was good, but its positioning was not.
She now knew how to address her audience because she knew what their pain was and how to describe it.
The move from “this is my pain” to “this might be yours too” is such a subtle but game-changing shift. It’s not about diluting your voice, it’s about aiming it. Love how clearly you broke this down.