Month 6 of How About This has finished at the end of October. It’s been a good month!
I’ve continued the minimum 4 days/week publication schedule, with a few extra posts thrown in. In the interest of continuity, here’s the stats to date:
Traffic (visits)
Month 1 – May 2022: 431 visits (first post was May 3, 2022)
Month 2 – June 2022: 1,900 visits - 440%+ increase
Month 3 – July 2022: 15,681 visits - 798% increase
Month 4 – Aug 2022: 15,698 visits - less than 1% increase
Month 5 - Sept. 2022: 12,016 visits - 23.4% decrease
Month 6 - Oct. 2022: 17,179 visits - 43.0% increase
I continue to think of this newsletter and related activities as a 20+ year initiative and it’s been a good month along that journey.
Subscribers (e-mail subscribers only):
Month 1 – May 2022: 15 subscribers
Month 2 – June 2022: 59 subscribers - 393% increase
Month 3 – July 2022: 210 subscribers – 356% increase
Month 4 - Aug 2022: 368 subscribers - 75.2% increase
Month 5 - Sep 2022: 444 subscribers - 20.7% increase
Month 6 - Oct 2022: 607 subscribers - 36.7% increase
I’ve surpassed my 2nd subscriber growth goal, doubling my original goal of 300. A lot of that growth comes directly from the Substack network (referrals, recommendations, etc.), which is pretty cool. At this point, any new subscriber is a pleasant surprise.
I’ve also been Recommended by 37 other Substack publications, which is satisfying. I’d love to get 50 Recommendations by the end of 2022 but Recommendations must be earned (again, note to self).
PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE HERE
Just to reiterate what I wrote in a post last week:
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.
As of Nov. 3, I am offering paid subscriptions 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 will be monthly and annual paid subscription choices, plus another tier for really incredibly supportive (and generous) readers - I guess we could call them TOP H.A.T.T.E.R.s or something. :)
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 reader, to contribute financially. I am just putting it out there to anyone who would like to contribute to the future growth of this newsletter.
Should any kind souls decide to subscribe, 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)
Graphic design for the newsletter (not one of my strengths…)
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 your support and become a paid subscriber, look for this button when you have the newsletter open in your E-mail or in your browser:
Click on the button and you’ll get a menu of choices to help you choose the level of support you’d like to provide.
SIX MONTH ANNIVERSARY CONTEST WINNER
The winner of a Leuchtuurm1917 hard cover A5 notebook will be announced very soon! Very very soon!
NEXT STEPS
Keep on going! And, as always, it’s better to be a H.A.T.T.E.R. than a hater.
Congrats on the growth, Mark! HAT is proof that consistently putting out strong work is the “secret sauce” to growth.
You’re inspiring me to post more than once a week. I’ve always thought I’m being spammy by posting more than that.
I want to start writing a short fiction and an essay per week if possible.