How I grew my newsletter from 0 to 2.9K subs in 6 months

Hi Indie Hackers! Long time reader, first-time poster. I felt imposter syndrome about posting here but I've been encouraged by folks I'm seeing to share more!

6 months ago, I started a newsletter called Product Life. Every week, I share a framework on product management or navigating life. After 25 weekly emails, the newsletter has grown to 2.9K subscribers!

I want to share some non-fluffy, actionable lessons I’ve learned while building this list. I try to include data/examples where possible. Here they are:

Getting Started 🎬

1) Start with Substack: I realized the goal of your early tools is to make writing and collecting emails painless. Substack does this really well. You can always change later if you want more features.

2) Brand it: 20 minutes before sharing my first post, I decided to name the newsletter Product Life. I went to Canva to make a simple logo and banner image. I’m happy I did this — it made the newsletter feel more like a publication than my own diary.

3) Choose topics you care about: Don’t write what you think you should write. Write about a topic you actually care about. Why? Because you have to keep writing about it. Your enthusiasm for the topic will be painfully obvious to readers.

4) Don’t be shy: Launch! Get your first subscribers by sharing with your friends and on social media. Having readers will make you more accountable for your writing practice. You’ll also get feedback and data (like shares, likes and views). Trust me, writing with no feedback is demoralizing.

5) Publicly commit to shipping: Tell your readers when they can expect your next newsletter. This is an excellent way to force accountability.

😰 Imposter Syndrome

6) The best teachers are often respected peers: I learned that people like to learn form someone that is close to their current situation. For me, that meant someone who was relatively new to product management rather than a product expert.

7) Personal works better: On this note, I learned that people don’t care about generic advice. They want to know how you did it! I struggle with putting myself into the story too much (I don’t want to be egotistical or narrow) but I try because people get the most value from that.

8) Teach people 2-3 years behind you: I’m forgetting where I heard this advice but it is spot on. Imagine someone in your shoes 2-3 years ago. There’s probably a lot you could teach them! Sharing how you learned these things is very helpful.

📩 Distribution

9) The highest ROI system: @harrydry’s method of content distribution has worked so well for me.

In a nutshell, you 1) publish your newsletter, 2) tailor the content of the newsletter to a post on each distribution channel, 3) share. Definitely read Harry's article for more details.

Here's an example of how I did it:

Feel free to use my article, Twitter thread and LinkedIn posts as templates

10) Tap into underused markets: Don’t feel tied to the platforms that others use. LinkedIn and Facebook Groups, for example, have been the best for me. Occasionally, I’ll get a spike on Twitter but it isn’t consistent. Here are some stats from my last 90 days to see the relative size of each channel:

11) Distribute where your style does well: I’m not great at witty quips (😅) so Twitter doesn’t match my strength. I’m better at long-form pieces and actionable templates — which happen to do better on LinkedIn/Facebook. Lean into your style.

12) Hook readers: There’s two way that I’ve seen content perform well on social media. Steph Smith’s guide for Twitter explains this really welll

✍️ Writing

13) It gets easier: my first pieces were taking me 8-10 hours to finish. Last week’s article took 3-4. You’ll get better and faster at publishing.

14) Timeboxing: You’ll spend as much time as you give yourself to write. If you commit to shipping after 3 hours, you’ll create a finished product in 3 hours.

15) Systems: Find a rhythm that works for you. I write well in 1 hour, sessions before work on weekday mornings. I’m a big fan of my “creative hour” and it makes me more productive throughout the day.

16) Good enough: I write weekly. Some people write bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly. Adjust the length and fidelity to your writing cadence. I don’t think I can write in-depth, researched masterpieces like Li Jin or Wait But Why so I don’t hold myself to that quality standard. But I am good at condensing medium-sized ideas into short posts — so I stick with that!

17) Find peers: It’s awesome to learn from others who are publishing regularly. Share ideas, learn from their experiences and try to help each other out where possible! Specifically, I’ve learned a lot from @lindaxyz of Product Lessons , @janel of BrainPint / NewsletterOS and Arinze of Arinze’s Weekly . They've given me a lot of support, advice and examples to work from!

18) Ask people what they like: Send a quick email/survey to some of your subscribers. Ask them what they like, what they don’t and for a testimonial of your newsletter. This survey gave me a really clear direction of what was working (real stories on how I build products) and what wasn’t (generic frameworks, shallow industry analysis).

Thanks for reading, I hope that was useful. I'm eager to keep learning and contributing to this community.

Keep in touch of Twitter or through my Newsletter