724 Subscribers from One Note. Is Going Viral All It’s Cracked Up To Be?

The graphs, stats, problems, lessons, strategy, and the future.

Therapeutic Writers on Substack is a space to gain clarity, confidence, inspiration and community for mental health, personal growth and wellbeing writers. Tools, tips and behind the scenes at Letters From Therapy and my journey to becoming a Substack bestseller. Upgrade to ‘pro’ to get everything!

Hi friends

Have you ever gone viral?

In Autumn 2024 I wrote a very personal note that went viral, welcoming 724 lovely new souls to Letters from Therapy from the note alone over one month. It brought me 3 paid subscribers too, and 1600+ likes. Can you imagine my heart bursting with elation?!

In this post I share my experience of the viral note after a hiatus, the aftermath, the problems it brought with it, my notes strategy and graphs so you can see my progress.

When I joined Substack in January 2024, I had big dreams of growing my newsletter into a beautiful replacement for the therapy work I had been doing for 16 years, prior to the pandemic.

I wanted to see if I could make an income here, fulfilled knowing that my experience could be used by people in a way that could change their lives.

The dream was real! I was deeply motivated to show up, to commit, to ride the waves, and make it happen. (see my progress graphs below).

My Substack Growth Journey

For six months, I plugged away, sharing meaty posts on Letters from Therapy 1-2 times per week.

I worked hard for low financial reward, as we all do as beginners here, and maybe forever depending on your goals. Substack was an opportunity to share my knowledge with a new way to live and work with the new constraints of my life (from Long Covid in 2021. I’m much better, but still have to manage symptoms).

My list grew from the 100 or so that I had imported in January 2024, to over 1000 free subscribers by the end of June 2024, many converting to paid. So. Maybe I could make this work?

• I loved writing daily.

• I loved the Substack community and platform.

• I had endless ideas.

• It was working.

• I felt could breathe again, in all senses!

Over summer 2024, I took my daughter to Paris for her 18th birthday (I barely go away nowadays due to various constraints so it was a big deal!). My energy was directed towards her as she waited for exam results and prepared for Uni. I had to have some invasive health appointments, and was helping my parents downsize after 35 years.

It was too much! I needed a rest after starting so hard on my newsletter. I intended to take a month off the platform with scheduled posts from my giant drafts folder, to prevent burnout.

I disengaged from Substack and took a break.

But after all these distractions, without my routine, my engagement, my energy for it, Substack then became a chore rather than joy.

A light went out.

One month became three.

I no longer bounced out of bed to write (which I do again now). I avoided my writing group, I even stopped reading my favourite Substacks for a while. I turned away from the solace of this community.

The peers who started around the same time as me had shot ahead with their numbers, leaving me ‘behind’ (not healthy to compare, I know, but it was interesting to notice this phenomenon). I was still sending the newsletter, but my free growth slowed from 5-10 every day to around 1. My paid growth flatlined and my revenue dropped.

I needed to make a decision.

Do I want this?

Yes.

Can I do this?

Yes.

So I needed to switch things up.

I re-engaged with my writing group, got back on notes and got into reading on Substack. It felt hard - like doing my tax return!

Substack is full of enlightened, kind hearted creatives who welcomed me back as if nothing had happened. My beautiful community of courageous soul searchers were still there, oblivious.

I was lifted back into the fold of fellow soulful beings again. It took a month to feel the excitement of before.

And then it happened! In October 2024 I found the courage to write this personal note that went viral - (read it here), welcoming 724 lovely new souls to Letters from Therapy.

At one point, I had 100 new subscribers every day for three days!

Eep! Delight filled every cell in my body.

I had to turn off my free subscribers notifications as my inbox was overwhelmed - something that I normally loved to receive. Click on it to read the full note - its a bit revealing but maybe people do want to see the blood in our veins sometimes:

It felt so vulnerable but so healing for me. It showed me the beauty and kindness of the humans on Substack in their comments. I accepted myself and my story further than ever before.

I recommend this micro-bio just as an exercise for yourself, too, to see how far you have come.

Following this, I understand the pitfalls after a high that go with having an audience, and why resilience is key on Substack. Problems and mistakes reared their head.

If you’d like to know what happened next, read on. I share my growth/dips graphs, the problems and issues that came with it, lessons learned and my current notes strategy that brought 1000 other subscribers.

In case you missed it: Welcome to the Campfire! | 32 Editing Tips | The Highly Sensitive Therapeutic Writer | Introduce Yourself!