A Dozen Readers Is Actually Kind of Amazing
When I checked my subscriber count this morning, I caught myself doing that thing we all do – comparing my numbers to the "successful" newsletters with thousands of followers. But then I remembered something that made me pause.
Back in 2008, I had a blog on Blogger. Remember those days? When you'd pour your heart into a post, hit publish, and... nothing. Complete silence. Your words would float off into the vast digital void, maybe occasionally catching the attention of a random Google searcher looking for something entirely different.
That's if they found you at all.
There was no algorithm pushing your content to interested readers. No easy share buttons. No built-in network effects. Each reader was hard-won, usually through commenting on other blogs and hoping they'd visit yours in return. It was digital door-to-door marketing at its finest.
WordPress.com wasn't much different. Sure, there was a Reader feature, but it felt like shouting into an echo chamber where everyone was shouting their own thing. Your blog was essentially an island, and you had to build your own bridges to reach other islands.
That's what makes today's reality so remarkable. When someone subscribes to your Substack, they're not just stumbling across your site – they're actively choosing to let your words into their inbox. Their sacred, overwhelmed, "I really should unsubscribe from some of these" inbox.
Think about that. In a world where attention is increasingly fragmented, where Netflix and TikTok and Instagram are all competing for eyeballs, someone looked at your words and thought, "Yes, I want more of this. I want to be notified when this person has something to say."
Even if that's just twelve people, it's kind of incredible.
Those twelve subscribers aren't just numbers. They're people who, in the midst of their busy lives, decided your voice was worth hearing. They're giving you something precious – their attention, their time, their willingness to engage with your thoughts.
I remember doing literal happy dances when my old blog would get a single comment. Now, platforms like Substack make it possible to build genuine connections with readers from day one. The tools for distribution are built right in. The potential for community is baked into the platform's DNA.
So maybe instead of fixating on reaching thousands, we should celebrate these small victories. Every single subscriber is a small miracle – someone who chose your words out of all the words they could be reading.
Besides, twelve engaged readers who genuinely connect with your work are worth more than a thousand passive followers. They're the ones who'll comment, share your posts, and make this journey of writing feel less like shouting into the void and more like having a conversation with friends.
The next time you're tempted to feel discouraged about your subscriber count, remember the bloggers of yesteryear, tossing their words into the digital abyss and hoping someone would find them. We're living in an age where building a readership – even a small one – is more possible than ever before.
And that's pretty amazing, isn't it?
