Happy Thursday, y’all! Please Like and Restack this issue to help increase its visibility on Substack. Thank you! And if you getting value from my articles, please consider supporting me by subscribing to Backstage Pass. Free subscribers get access to all articles as they come out, after one month, older articles are paywalled. Paid subscribers have access to all Backstage Pass content with no paywalls.
Progress Compounds Just Like Interest Does
Every month I give you an update on how Backstage Pass performed over the last month. It’s done to chronicle my publishing journey for both you and myself. Hopefully these updates are helpful and you can learn something from my experience to apply to and improve your own.
Let’s jump right into the topline numbers over the last 30 days:
Solid month as far as new subscribers, gaining about 1.5 per day. Views and Open Rate as down a bit, but that’s because I sent out a couple of emails last month to my 4 and 5-star subs that had really high open rates and decent views. So both Views and Open Rates were spiked from those emails and they just rolled off the 30-day window.
As
will tell you, compound interest is a magical component of financial planning. But in much the same way, progress also compounds. It’s hard to see and notice it in the day to day, but when you zoom out, it becomes more apparent.Case in point: Here’s the graph of my sub count over the last year:
So there’s a few things to note from this graph:
First, I imported 878 subs from an existing Mailchimp list on May 31st, 2024. The first issue of Backstage Pass here went out a couple of days later. That’s why you see the spike in subs at the start.
Second, notice that the number of subs actually went DOWN for the first month or so. This is a byproduct of importing a list that wasn’t that active. Those subs had been getting a new email once every 2-3 months, now they were suddenly getting 2 issues a week. It resulted in some unsubs.
Third, there was almost no growth for the first 6 months. From June 1st - November 30th, I added 60 subs. Exactly 10 a month.
But from December 1st - April 30th, I added another 190 subs.
For the first 6 months, I averaged 10 new subs a month.
For the next 5 months after that, I’ve averaged 38 subs a month.
10 vs 38. There’s the compounded progress. Number of monthly subs has increased by 380%.
I suspect most, if not all of you, can find similar improvement over the life of your Substacks. Just a reminder to not get so caught up on what’s happening today that you forget the progress made versus yesterday.
More stats:
This is Views over the last 11 months. I broke this down into weekly totals so it is easier to see the progression. When I started, 800 views in a week was good, now I average around 1,000 a week. Also if you look, you’ll note that Views really seem to jump up around December 1st. Same as subs did. Seeing decent increases in both key stats starting in December.
So it took basically 6 months of little or no growth, before noticeable increases began to kick in.
Recommendations are becoming a serious driver of growth for Backstage Pass. Roughly 20% of my subs currently come from recommendations, and I suspect that percentage will only increase. Thanks to
for all your support. When I look for creators to engage with, I start with these guys first. If you aren’t already, I would advise you start recommending Substacks that cover complimentary topics to your own, and writers who are engaging and creating great content.New Stats on Subscribers
Recently, Substack has added a ton of stats on each individual subscriber. Before, they would show you how long they had been subscribed, the number of emails they had received and opened, and that was about it.
Now, they show a ton of info on each subscriber. Here’s just a portion of the info you can see:
You access these stats by clicking your Dashboard, then Subscribers, then All Subscribers, then click the email for the subscriber you want to check.
BTW, according to Substack, this is officially the 100th email I’ve sent out! A couple of them were promos, so I’ve actually published around 96 or 97 articles, but it’s still a lot. The message I have for you, and really myself, is to keep going.
It’s very hard to see progress in the moment, and very hard to miss it when you back out and see your entire path. Focus more on the journey, and less on the steps you are taking today.
Mack
Backstage Pass teaches you how to better connect with your customers, readers, clients, or donors. The lessons shared here draw on my experience over the last 20 years building customer engagement strategies for companies like Adobe, Dell, Club Med, Ingersoll-Rand, and countless others. I give you real-world research, examples and tactics that show you how to create customer engagement efforts that drive real business growth.
My Tenth Month Publishing on Substack: Here's What I Learned
Happy Tuesday, y’all! Please Like and Restack this issue to help increase its visibility on Substack. Thank you! And if you are getting value from my articles, please consider supporting me by subscribing to Backstage Pass. Free subscribers get access to all articles as they come out, after one month, older articles are paywalled. Paid subscribers have …
Thanks for putting this together Mack! It's very informative and helps others. Congrats on your continued success!
@Mack Collier, thanks for the mention! I appreciate it more than you know. I love your updates. I look forward to your monthly update and bi-weekly articles. I may not always be able to comment, but I read them. I love your transparency and generosity in sharing your journey with us. I've learned a lot from you! Connecting in this matter is the most effective way to grow your readership and subscribers. And you have proven that! You are the first friend I made on Substack. I feel blessed and grateful! Here's to even more growth!