✍️ Desk of Amy Suto: 23 Things I’ve Learned About Growing My Substack in 2023

Why making money on Substack means freedom for writers.

Happy Wednesday! Today, ✍️ From the Desk of Amy Suto paid subscribers will get an exclusive issue about…

✨ What I’ve learned in the 6 months of writing on this Substack newsletter

🧪 What growth tactics worked — and what didn’t

📚 A status update on my goal of getting to 1,000 paid subscribers (or $96,000/year)

✍️ Why Making Money on Substack is Freedom for Writers

Sun streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows as you walk across smooth wood floors to your kitchen. It’s 9am and your morning routine differs depending on where you are this month — in a cabin by a lake in Patagonia? A villa on top of a hill in Italian wine country? As a traveling writer, you bop between trendy condos overlooking the Athens skyline to brownstones in Chelsea, Manhattan.

Morning sun means morning walk. You stroll down cobblestone streets to find espresso and greet the day. Maybe you even find morning breakfast out, enjoying cafe culture and eating some excellent shakshuka or avocado toast.

As you walk back to your home you get a ding on your phone — new paid subscriber! — and they’ve left you a note, telling you they’re looking forward to reading your next edition of your Substack newsletter, which you’re on your way to write.

In the morning and early afternoon you write and edit the next two editions for the week. Then, it’s time to go to your yoga class and get some lunch, where you’ll get another notification — new paid subscriber! — and your daily deposit of cash into your account from Stripe.

Maybe you’ll spend the afternoon reading the new book you picked up at a charming local bookstore. And this evening? Exploring the city with new friends. When you’re at dinner, they ask you: “how are you always so happy and calm?”

Your secret?

Simple: you’re a working writer who makes money from their own words.

No boss, no clients, no client calls, no deadlines for any projects except your own — in a word? Freedom.

Welcome to the life of being a working writer. Here’s how to get there: