Three years in, still at it

Tomorrow this here Substack turns three.

Photo by Jennie Brown on Unsplash

Just as a reminder, I said this last year.

My whole purpose in writing this Substack is to:

• Snatch back that which seems to have fallen by the wayside, the idea of limited and Constitutional government;

• Move the stones of wickedness and remind people occasionally that there is One who is greater than themselves and who is the rock we should build their lives on, and;

• Clear away the choking thorns of modern, worldly trends and “stuff” to concentrate on what is right and true.

As I see it, limited government with a basis of Judeo-Christian values is the most fertile soil for a revival, one where people will see the things of this world grow strangely dim, as the hymn says.

Put another way, I want America to bless God as much as He has blessed us.

At this time last year, I had 164 subscribers and that was about triple my number after year 1. I was growing pretty well until about the first of April this year, but since then I’ve been stuck in the 270-275 range. Yet followers still grow, and I’m close to 1,400 now - in one year I’ve gained almost 1,000. That’s nice that I have people that are perhaps noticing my Notes, but I’d rather have them as subscribers.

Over the last few months, I’ve seen a lot of scuttlebutt about how Substack is the place to be now for a journalist. Every week we hear about some former ink-stained wretch or recent TV personality who got canned starting their own Substack. Supposedly that’s bringing a lot of eyeballs and interest.

But when I looked at subscriber numbers - not just mine, but those I subscribe to - I didn’t really see a great deal of growth over the last month. And even though I’m a fairly right-leaning guy, I subscribe to several left-leaning sites as well. But the one which grew the most was actually the relatively new music site Bandcamp, with perhaps the honorable mention coming to columnist Salena Zito’s site. (Of course, she’s still a gainfully employed writer.)

The point is that the market seems to have maxed out for the contrarians, as they’re slowly gaining if at all. Meanwhile, those who begin their Substack journey with a big splash seem to be sucking out all the oxygen for the rest of us. It’s getting to the point where left-leaners coming to Substack for an “alternative” media can inhabit an information silo that they don’t have to leave now - one that’s the same as the mainstream.

What I am gaining, though, isn’t necessarily subscribers but friendships from afar. Resurrecting what used to be Sunday Evening Reading on my old site from years ago has worked to build some good writing relationships with some fellow Substackers. One thing I may do, though, is look for a few more subscriptions among those who are recommended by my friends but don’t necessarily have a lot of subscribers, so they get a little more exposure.

I realize I have somewhat of a niche since I talk more about issues and focus on a state that’s one of the smallest in the country, with its puny three electoral votes (and Three Stooges to boot.) But if I keep my eye on what I said above, I think I’ll be all right.

That being said, I won’t look the gift horse of additional subscribers in the mouth either.

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And, you know, it’s funny how things work sometimes. I had this piece put to bed until yesterday when I opened an e-mail from

Bill Rice, Jr.

My wife can see what I’m seeing …

In it, he talks about his stagnant subscription numbers as well as the declining amount of interaction he’s been getting from readers in terms of likes and comments. I think he’s actually been at this longer than I have, which means he has a longer trend line.

So I thought I would add my two cents.

It’s been my observation that a goodly share of my newer subscribers and most of my followers seem to be bots. These people have hundreds of “reads” and I suspect there’s no way they can read every one of those Substacks. (It’s hard for me to keep up on the regular and I only subscribe to about 60 or so. My goal is to get to 100 good ones to broaden MER a little more, preferably those that have under 1,000 subscribers and could use the exposure.)

Thus, it makes me wonder just how much of Substack’s growth is legit and how much is artificial. And that’s not unique to Substack - I get several social media friend requests a week and somehow they’re always good-looking women who can’t seem to notice that I’m happily married. But I had a follower the other day whose photo looked really familiar, meaning they’re trying to double-dip.

I think a lot of this began when Notes came into common usage. (And yes, I use Notes to promote my stuff too.) Moreover, there is an increasing share of people who do most of their writing on Notes, which takes advantage of the larger number of followers one generally has but potentially dilutes the audience for the rest of us.

The advantage of Substack over my old blog, though, is that I know the e-mail goes out to the subscriber. However, that doesn’t mean they open it or read the piece, which is something I noticed in the metrics and likely explains why my open rate now hovers in the high 20’s when it used to be in the 30's or more. Out of 270 subscribers, that means only maybe 70-80 open the piece and the rest of readership comes from the shares - which is why I stress them at the end now. (That’s a change I’ve adopted over the last few months, see below.)

Regardless, as long as the Good Lord is willing and the creek don’t rise, I will press on toward my mark. It’s bigger than political change.

Until my next post, you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.