If You Can't Make Money On Substack, It’s Probably Not Your Fault

Most newsletters make less than $5,000 a year.

I’d built an audience of 45,000 on Medium. I’d been writing full-time for seven years. I thought Substack would feel like an extension of that. Just a new platform, same skills.

But three months in, I had fewer than 500 subscribers.

Most posts got under ten views. I’d refresh the stats page a few times a day like maybe the numbers had updated behind the scenes and I just needed to reload.

They hadn’t.

So I changed my profile photo. Rewrote my bio. I even spent a few afternoons leaving thoughtful comments on other newsletters hoping someone might click through and find mine.

Still nothing.

I started reworking old pieces that had done well on Medium. Tried to make them shorter. Punchier. Gave them stronger headlines. It didn’t help.

By then, I’d stopped cooking real meals.

Not because I couldn’t. Just because I didn’t feel like standing in the kitchen acting like the day had gone well.

I wasn’t falling apart.

But I was starting to wonder why I wasn’t getting traction on Substack.

I’d done everythi…