How About This - the seventh month update
Over 210 days later, this Atlantic Canadian newsletter keeps marching onward
The time, it flies. How About This has been active for seven months.
Every month I publish an update about the state of the newsletter so let’s get to it. I’m going to a more detailed update every 3 months. The next detailed update will be at the end of January 2023.
By the Numbers
If you’d like a reference point for comparison, please refer to the month six update.
Traffic: views increased a bit since last month, moving from 17.2 K to about 19 K (note that sometimes a visitor may generate multiple views against a single post, so the numbers are somewhat inflated).
Subscribers: there are at least 717 subscribers as of the end of November, which is an increase of 110 subscribers since last month (I’m writing this a few days in advance so I’ll true up the numbers later on). I also have two paid subscribers (thanks so much, you two!) I’ll mention paid subscription options near the end of this update.
Open Rate: I don’t believe I’ve published an update about this before but my open rate is normally between 46% - 52%, which I’ve read is good for a newsletter that publishes multiple times per week. Some posts hit 56% and a few have reached or exceeded a 60% open rate.
Substack Recommendations: up to 44, thanks so much! Would love to hit 50 before the end of 2022!
By the Words
I enjoyed this month’s interviews, another great set. I was reasonably happy with the Curious Realizer posts. But what I’ve enjoyed the most during the past couple of months are the great comments and feedback people have been leaving when they’ve enjoyed a post:
The “great notebook” post received a lot of great comments and discussion, which was a lot of fun. I learned about even more ways to spend money on notebooks, so thank you all for your contributions, even as my bank balance dwindles.
I knew that writing about (not drinking) coffee would provoke some feedback but fountain pens also drew out some great recommendations. And, of course, tea was mentioned by some of our British H.A.T.T.E.R.s. *cough* Rebecca H. *cough*
And finally, I’ll mention my Twitter swan song, in which I talked about my reasons for leaving the site after 15 years. I didn’t see my departure coming a year ago, that’s for sure.
All this to say, How About This does feel like a community to me (a couple of you have even referred to something called a H.A.T.T.E.R.-verse…) As your M.A.D. H.A.T.T.E.R.1, I’d like to thank everyone who has left a comment or dropped me an email, these are greatly appreciated. I know that Substack is continuing to release more features to enhance community and when they become available to Android users I’ll be able to experiment with them.
BY THE BUY - PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS OPTION
How About This is a free publication and it will remain free for the foreseeable future. It’s a labour of love for me and I get great personal satisfaction out of everything involved. But I would certainly like to do more.
Paid subscriptions are available as an option for H.A.T.T.E.R.s who would like to provide monetary support to this endeavour. Following the Substack model there are monthly and annual paid subscription choices, plus another TOP H.A.T.T.E.R.2 tier for really incredibly supportive (and generous) readers.
Paid subscriptions can be purchased for $6 US/month or $60 US/year. The TOP H.A.T.T.E.R. tier… well, you can look it up… ;)
VERY IMPORTANT: I have no plans to put any of my regular content behind a paywall at this time. At this stage it’s far more important to me to keep the newsletters I’ve published available to anyone who might want to read them.
I am working on acknowledgements, thank yous, rewards, etc. for those who choose paid subscriptions that don’t involve paywalled content, more to come.
There is absolutely no obligation on you, dear H.A.T.T.E.R., to contribute financially. I am just putting it out there to anyone who would like to contribute to the future growth of this newsletter. Here’s how I would use the money (short term goals):
Promotion and marketing of this newsletter (to continue to spread the word and attract additional subscribers) - including free notebook giveaways every few months, I’m able to start stocking up on a few of these.
Graphic design for the newsletter (hoping to do some work on this soon!)
Additional hardware/equipment to support the newsletter (i.e. dedicated laptop computer, etc.)
Any/all of these things would help expand both the quality of How About This and this newsletter’s reach.
If you want to show additional support and become a paid subscriber, please contact me if you need any assistance in doing this.
LOOKING AHEAD
I may change the publication frequency soon as I’m not sure that I can sustain a publication calendar of four days/week over the long term. I’ll probably be cutting back to three days/week. More details to follow as plans become better defined. I’d like to keep providing the same level of content so I may change when and how certain types of material appears.
That’s it for the month seven update. Thanks so much for your support, regardless if you are a new or long time reader. And, as always, it’s better to be a H.A.T.T.E.R.3 than a hater.
M.A.D. H.A.T.T.E.R. - Mark Andrew Dykeman, How About This Terribly Engaged Ruler.
TOP H.A.T.T.E.R. tier is what Substack calls Founding Members.
H.A.T.T.E.R. - How About This Terribly Enthusiastic Reader
Huzzah, Mark! Love that your little space is growing!
Definitely revisit publishing frequency as it's a fine balance between your ability to put out valuable, relevant content versus being in people's inboxes too often. Burning out and losing readers is a double whammy.
On that note, I would love to talk to you sometime. Let me know if a 20-minute call could be squeezed somewhere in your December schedule!
Congrats! And thanks for the bit about open rate -- I keep forgetting to check what a "good" rate is, though I understand it varies by publication rate and (probably) number of subscribers.