It Took Me 18 Days to Make a $1000 Writing on Substack
Here's How I Did It and How You Can Too
Today, I’m celebrating my 22nd day writing on Substack! My newsletter, Deni Sahaya - Live•Write•Create 💞, has earned me $2,020 so far—that’s an average of $91.81 a day just from doing what I love: sharing tips on how to get your writing noticed, monetized, and how to create the life you want by following your passion.
I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s really simple! Once you start digging into easily available info, you’ll be surprised at how quickly the path becomes crystal clear.
I know you might be thinking my newsletter took off because writing about how to make money from writing is a profitable niche. But in reality, it’s actually one of the hardest to profit from.
Why?
Well, the truth is, a lot of writers love to fantasize about making tons of money, but less than 1% are actually willing to invest $5 a month into something that will change their lives. When they realize what it actually takes to go from passion to paycheck, they tend to run away and upgrade their Netflix subscription instead.
The good news is, if your newsletter is about almost anything other than writing, your chances of turning it into an income are much higher. I’m not exaggerating—check out the top 20 highest-earning newsletters on Substack and judge for yourself.
Niche aside, the platform itself has a lot going for it.
Just look at this growth: According to SimilarWeb, Substack had 82.85 million visits in August 2024 alone. Analytics show it had 4.8 million organic search visitors (people finding Substack articles directly through Google or other search engines). In August, the majority of traffic, 61.92%, came from the U.S., followed by the U.K. at 7.47%, and Canada at 5.01%.
If my newsletter keeps growing at this rate, I’ll bring in $33,513 over the next 12 months (equivalent to a full-time salary in the UK ). But I believe it’ll grow much higher—in fact, I’m projecting at least a 5x increase by my one-year anniversary, which would be $167,568 in 365 days, or about $459 a day. I’ll explain how to forecast your newsletter’s growth in more detail during our MasterMind meeting.
I’ve already written about why I’m so confident in these projections in my article, Why Substack Is the Best Place to Write in 2024, so I won’t go into that now. Instead, I want to share something super exciting that I’m confident will help your newsletter grow by at least 5% in the next 24 hours.
Grab a cuppa, and let’s get started!
I Grow My Substack Newsletter by $91.81 per day. Here’s How Easily You Can Too!
I’ll be honest—I’m not a Substack guru, but I do know a thing or two about monetizing writing, and I tend to do it fast. Before I started writing on Medium a year ago, I spent three years quietly building blogs. Personal blogs are still a big part of my life, but even for SEO consultants and marketing executives like me, it can take a good 4-12 weeks to see any real return on my investment.
While blogs have their perks (a story for another day), let’s focus on Substack.
What really draws me to Substack is its built-in advantages: millions of visitors each month, a vibrant community, and impressive domain authority (92/100). This high authority means your articles can rank well in search results, making it easier for people from all over the world to discover and subscribe to your newsletter!
Building this level of authority on your own blog would take years, thousands of backlinks, extensive high-quality content, and possibly a team of expert copywriters. I’m not suggesting you should cancel your WordPress subscription—all I’m saying is that Substack can help you grow your personal blog and help you earn from your newsletter right away!
Here’s how I do it.