Five common new newsletter mistakes

A little freebie to start 2025...

Happy Friday, writers!

We’re back today with another Grow Your Newsletter post.

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Today we’re talking about five common mistakes that new newsletter writers make. They’re easy to avoid, too - I even made some of them myself.

Prioritising monetisation immediately

Earning money from a newsletter is amazing. Having strangers online actually pay for your work is especially exciting. You dictate what you write about, how much you charge, how often you actually write. It might not become something you live off, and the idea that Substack or another newsletter provider is some sort of ‘Get Rich Quick’ scheme is simply untrue, but it can be a way to monetise your writing, even if it’s effectively pocket money.

Ultimately, to build up a paid audience, you are going to want to build a free audience first. It will be disheartening to start a Substack, paywall all of your content immediately, and then become discouraged by the lack of new subscribers. But even if you’re an experienced writer, you need to give people a reason to part with their money in order to read your content.

Paywalls can be challenging to determine. Personally, I think it’s always good to have something that you write that is for your free subscribers. For me that’s the weekly newsletter (24 hours after paid subscribers receive it) but it means that everyone gets a taste of what a subscription to my newsletter might include. If I don’t show all of you the full posts each week, why would anyone want to upgrade to see all the extra content?

But early on? Everything was free. At that point, for me, it was simply about growing the audience. I never planned to turn this Substack into a business of sorts, though that is what it has become. But posting regularly, with lots of free and easy-to-read content (plus quite a lot of self-promotion), is what helped me to grow. If I’d monetised everything from day one, I’m not sure I’d have been able to grow in the way that I have.

Try looking at your newsletter objectively. If it wasn’t you running it, would you be paying immediately to read all the content? Think about how established your newsletter is, what your audience looks like and the sort of content you might actually monetise before doing so. It might be a little bit of trial and error, but growing your free audience first would be my top tip. You can convert some of those free subscribers to paid at a later date with quality and consistency.

Inconsistent posting schedule

I’ve written about consistency previously, especially in my post from last week. I think this is one of the most obvious mistakes that new newsletter writers make. They write, post and promote and feel discouraged by the growth. But it’s at this challenging point that it’s important to keep going!

Imaging you are browsing through Substack for a new newsletter to read. You find one that sounds interesting, so you look at the posts. There was one last week, but the one prior to that was three weeks earlier. And weeks before again. You read on the profile that they post regularly, but there is no evidence of it. So why sign up?

Growing a newsletter takes time. But consistency is a huge part of creating something reliable and‌ memorable for your readers. It’s easier said than done but you have to keep going. Keep writing, keep posting. Even if one week it’s a shorter post. Just something that shows you’re serious about what you’re doing.

If you really want to focus on a success metric, I would choose open rates. I have actually found this a challenge recently because as my subscriber list grows, my open rate - very slowly - decreases. But in the early days, my open rate looked amazing and this was a really motivating boost to encourage me to keep writing. When I had 70 subscribers but I knew 50 of them opened and read the content, that was a big reason for me to keep going - even on the days it felt difficult.

And even 50 is a lot, when you think about it. A few dozen strangers taking the time to subscribe to and read your content? That’s genuinely something to be proud of. I know I was at the time - I would excitedly text my Mum every time I hit a new milestone, even when it was before I hit triple digits!

Neglecting the details

Have you written a newsletter bio? Have you written your short description? Do you have a publication theme? Developed your ‘About’ page? Changed the layout of your Substack site? Well, if not… Why not?

The simplest advice I can offer for this on Substack is to head over to your Substack website, click on your publication settings and go through every single thing, one at a time. I actually kept mine rather basic for a while and I regret not honing in on the details earlier than I did.

Have a browse through your settings to check you have all the details covered. You might play around with the content and keep changing it until you’re happy, which is all fine. But getting these details covered early can help improve the professionalism of your newsletter, which in turn is helpful when potential new readers see it for the first time.

Something smart and professional is encouraging because it helps your work seem trustworthy and shows that you really care about what you are writing. It doesn’t take long, either. Just a few simple sentences about your work will be helpful.

Failing to promote it

I have seen a few writers complain about not getting any views. I have had a couple of people message or post in the past about having written and posted and then… Nothing happened. Well, what have you done to promote it? Substack itself is a hosting website, even if features such as Notes exist to help you with promotion.

Notes really is a great place to start. You can share there, repost your latest work and share with those who might want to read it. But what else can you do? Well, I always take the time to share my latest post on Twitter, Bluesky and LinkedIn. I’ve built social media followings on all three from 0 and it’s a useful place to share mywork.

I might also share posts in relevant online communities. For a while I would share relevant posts on Reddit (in places where self-promotion was allowed). I would DM those who might be interested. Add a link in a comments section of a relevant post. You do have to put in the work to find your readers, they are unlikely to just arrive at your doorstep after you’ve published.

Don’t wait for them to come to you. Be proactive. And build those social networks beyond just the newsletter. Only a couple of my social media posts each week are my actual newsletter posts. Otherwise I’m tweeting, engaging, commenting and liking within the community. That helps build visibility and in turn will bring you more readers.

Trying to do too much

It’s tempting to want to post every single day. To write thousands of words. Pack in multiple topics. While the enthusiasm is great, too much can be both overwhelming for your readers (leading to them unsubscribing or to lower open rates) or simply causing burnout for yourself, especially if immediate success doesn’t come your way.

I always advise new newsletter writers to stick to one or two key topics in their posts. And the overall newsletter to stick within some kind of topic (this might differ if you want to use your space as a personal blog, though you might still want consistent themes).

Your posts themselves needn’t be too long, either. 800-1200 words is the sweet spot for me, especially with a blog style post. Making them a little shorter or a little longer at times is fine too. But you want something that’s easy to read. If you’re just starting out, why bombard your readers with too much?

You want to create something manageable. Easy to read. Accessible to newbies. Of course there are some newsletters (if you are gradually sharing a novel, for example) where readers expect more. But otherwise it can be off putting. Keep the length manageable and it will benefit your readers, as well as saving you time.

Readers will engage more with content that feels streamlined and intentional. You don’t have to share everything in a single email - you always have the next issue to cover something else!

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What mistakes did you make when starting your newsletter? What did you wish you knew earlier? Share your thoughts in the comments!