The 5k Special.
012: news + letter: on substack stats and pretentiousness.
1.
CAN YOU BELIEVE WE REACHED 5K? Well, I canโt either.
Words cannot express how thankful I am for all of your support and love over all this time Iโve been on Substack. This newsletter is an expression of who I am and Iโve been so grateful to share many special moments with you. I genuinely could not have done this without you guys.
Thank you for making my dream come true. Lots of surprises below.
Letโs get this started with!
Also, have you seen Sinners (2025)? You absolutely should.
Hereโs what happened in literature this week:
She has an upcoming memoir called "A Hymn to Life" that will be published in 2026. Some reports are indicating that HBO will adapt the book.1
Barbara Pym, who deftly satirized the social conventions of 20th-century Britain, spent the Second World War working as a censor. Huh.2
People from the UK, US, Canada and Australia can submit the first three pages of their novel via The Novelryโs website by July 31st. Youโre welcome. I want half of the prize if you win. 3
2.
Well, since Iโm too busy celebrating, I had some of my biggest friends discussing the topics of this weekโs newsletter for me. I hope youโre as excited as I am!
ARE SUBSTACK STATS NECESSARY?
By
, All Over The Place.By
, Fairy Tales by Caroline.LUISA:
When Amanda asked me to be a part of her 5k celebration collab I immediately said yes. She is one of the first friends I made on this app (also, the first one I ever collaborated with) and one of the sweetest and most dedicated people ever. So Iโm elated to be here writing to you today.
She gave me freedom to talk about whatever I wanted, and I chose to talk about Substack stats. I know itโs funny to talk about whether Substack statistics and numbers are important on a post celebrating a numerical achievement, but what itโs life if not a collection of contradictions linked together? Also, any reason is a good excuse to celebrate and bring people together. Itโs cute, itโs fun, itโs wholesome.
Now, are Substack stats necessary? Letโs discuss.
I donโt know how many people are looking through their stats. I guess there must be a significant amount of users who constantly look at the numbers of their publications, but Iโm not one of them for one main reason: I donโt see the benefit in it.
I know that coming from someone who has a big following and lots of likes on their posts it may come off as condescending to tell you not to worry about how many people read you, but unless you are someone who wants to publish the type of content who only does โgoodโ metrically, or are able to look at your stats and donโt obsess about the performance of your every post, I donโt think that fixating over the numbers in your publication does you any good.
The relevance of Substack metrics changes depending on who you ask. I wonโt pretend like there arenโt benefits to looking at your publication stats. Personally, I love seeing what parts of the world my readers are, and I find interesting seeing what type of writing people connect better with, but I donโt let these numbers dictate how I run my Substack.
In the digital age we amount success to how many likes or followers we have, but the truth is that numbers are not representative of good work. What is good, big or small is subjective. What some people consider good writing, others can see as bad. What someone thinks is a lot of likes, another can see as not enough. Milestones and goals look different for everyone and they move with time. No oneโs journey is the same, some people have it harder than others. It is not an even playfield and there is not a formula we can follow to be better at it.
I understand the desire to have your effort paid off; when we put time, love and energy into our writing it is only natural to want people to read it. It is hurtful to publish something you are proud of and have very little people read it. Iโve been there and it can be discouraging. But focusing on numbers or writing only what most people like will not make you feel better about yourself.
In my last piece I wrote about the anxieties that come with looking at the number of my subscribers, saying:
โi donโt know if i have what it takes to get to that place. somewhere, anywhere there is for writers to get to. and what if that place moves with time? what if every time i reach a stepping stone, another one appears, and i have to keep climbing my entire life?โ
For a while now Iโve been feeling the pressure of attention, and even if Iโm not constantly checking my stats I too worry that I donโt have โitโ or that Iโm not โgoodโ enough, or that all will ever be is a girl with a semi popular blog with mediocre writing at best. So, no, Iโm not trying to act nonchalant and say I donโt crave attention, or that Iโm better than you for not looking at my stats. Maybe the fact that Iโve tasted a drop of the so wanted online attention just makes me care about it a little less. Iโve had it reaching distance and it hasnโt cured my impostor syndrome. Iโve had attention and โhighโ engagement at the tip of my tongue and after it went down all it left was a weird aftertaste.
Iโm still insecure at times, I doubt my abilities, I write essays and never post them for fear of them not being good enough. Iโm still human. But I will never publish something just to get likes. I know what type of writing gets me likes, and unfortunately itโs my less ambitious and creative writing. When I noticed this, I stopped caring about the number below my profile picture. I realized that there is not a โrightโ way to do Substack. That I should do what feels right and stay true to myself. As cheesy as that sounds.
If you are struggling right now with finding your audience hereโs my advice: do whatโs best for you and use the metrics to your advantage. If you enjoy looking at them, do it. But as soon as it becomes an activity that cause you more anxiety than something you can use to grow as a writer check your priorities.
Numbers donโt matterโฆ except for when they do.
CAROLINE:
There is a goal I think most writers secretly harbor: to write unencumbered. To write without the burden of a day job, to write without the stresses of maintaining a social platform, to write what you want, when you want, how you want. I know this is my dreamโand Substack represents both a pathway and a barrier to this dream. Because Substack offers the unprecedented opportunity for writers to make a living as writers, but it also offers a nonstop, data-driven feedback loop on your writing that can be toxic for creativity.
This is where the tension exists for me around Substack stats. On one hand, they are necessary for me to track and monitor growth towards my goal of making a living as a writer. I need to know about subscriber count, engagement, and interest, for example, to determine when I will turn on paid subscriptions and what content I will paywall. On the other hand, even as I use the stats to work towards my vision of writing unencumbered, the stats weigh me down, filling me with anxiety that hampers the very creative process I wish to unburden.
I think the answer for me is that I wish Substack stats were less readily accessible. There are features only available on the desktop, and I wish our stats dashboard was one of them. I wish I couldnโt check email open rate or subscriber count every time I opened my phone. I wish they werenโt at the very top of my profile, the first thing Iโm prompted to see, and click, every time I visit my profile. Because stats matter, but the more frequently I check them, the more anxious I feel, and the more negatively they impact my creative process.
There was an incident that happened a few months ago, though, that freed me, at least incrementally, from the burden of worrying about statsโof assessing the value, or lack thereof, of my writing based on the numbers. Hereโs what happened. I posted a note announcing that I had gotten a book deal, including a photo of the Publishers Marketplace announcement. This was a dream moment for me and something I assumed the community of writers on Substack would be excited about. On the same day, only a few minutes later, I posted a couple photos from Pinterest of bread and butter with the caption โbread and butter, my forever muse.โ One note was the culmination of years of hard work. One was a whim of the moment. The bread and butter post got two thousand likes, my book deal announcement, seventeen. Clearly, I realized, stats do not alway correlate to value. So, I will continue to use stats to guide business-related decisions on this platform, but I will never use them to guide what I share or write about, and I will try, valiantly, to remember that stats are certainly no indicator of value.
SUBSTACK PRETENTIOUSNESS
By
, Badmouthing.By
, Absolute Pleasure.LUCIANA:
I see a lot of people in my notes say they feel like Substack feels like a girlโs night in with Pinterest-perfect photos, now that Iโve officially cancelled the โdeleted all social media to get on substackโ note with my article Substack is a social media you cunt, and thatโs cute love, but if anything, Substack is where sexually frustrated academic girlies come to and complain about their lives in a presumptuous, pompous, and pretentious way. Yes, we get it, you love Joan Didion and Sally Rooney.
The first thing you did when you got this app is follow that one writer who constantly publishes here, we get it, trust me, we all know, itโs written on your fucking face.ย
The truth is, this app doesnโt feel like a safe space for women unless youโre cis-het and white. If you donโt follow those codes, then good fucking luck finding your spotlight.ย
Substack is a place where people come to show how brilliant they are, jerking themselves off to their own words, and yet call it word vomit when itโs clearly over-edited because they donโt have the self-confidence to actually show who they really are through their writing. So they emulate other peopleโs writing, hoping to get that one sentence that gets reposted ad infinitum, to gain traction and subscribers. Because in the end, thatโs all that matters, right? Subscriber count. Fuck that.ย
Substack is the femcel version of Reddit. And if you think a lot of subscribers on this app are going to make you happy, then, honey, youโve got bigger problems in your life, like self-confidence issues, first of all.
So tone it down a notch, we donโt need to see your academic prowess, nor do we want to. Write how you think and how you feel. Simple words sometimes get the best result, and youโd know that if you were truly a Didion fan.ย
From Marseille with Love,
*vapes away*
AMY:
I Am A Big Fat Liar, And You Might Be Too
Part of my โbrandโ as a midlife woman and widowed mom is my resilience. I tell you that bad shit happens, we have no control over anyone elseโs thoughts, feelings or actions, but the more times you knock me down, the more times I get back up. Resilient AF, thatโs me.ย
What if I told you that Iโve been down, way down, and I havenโt been able to get back up? What would you think if you knew I took a shower this morning for the first time in ten days? How would you feel if you knew I rarely leave my apartment? Would you judge me if I told you that most nights I make my son two hot dogs for dinner? How about if you knew he was literally online with his headphones on from the moment he got home after school until the moment he went to bed?ย
Am I being pretentious on Substack?ย The answer is yes, and no. Yes, I am a liar because I present mostly a highlight reel of my life, but also no because my motivation is not to deceive you. I am ashamed of myself, thatโs why I write what I do. I make a big show of how badass I am when inside I feel small and worthless. Not every minute of every day, but enough of the time that itโs impacting my quality of life. Sometimes I just wonder if I am worthy of the life I have.
I am in no way unique in these feelings. Many of us have felt the same way I do at one time or another in our lives. Is it clinical depression or circumstances in our lives that brings us down so low? Most likely, the latter is a driving force behind the former. Iโm doing all the things to feel better and none of the things at the same time. I take my meds, but I donโt get dressed, go outside, or get enough sleep.ย
Honestly, I donโt know how, or when, or even if, Iโm going to feel better. Iโve been relentlessly scrolling Zillow and Realtor.com looking for โhomeโ. I know itโs a distraction from feeling hard feelings, but my nervous system is a mess otherwise. Itโs clear that Iโm not going to find what Iโm looking for the same way I would scroll dating apps looking for a man. The home I had was my husband, and heโs dead. My parents are dead. I feel unanchored, unmoored, unsafe and unsure about how to move forward.
So, this is me, showing up exactly how I am. No one should aspire to be like me, not in my current state. Iโm not writing this so you will feel sorry for me or pity me. I am so privileged, and I really want to do better. If you are feeling sad and hopeless and possibly worthless too, you are not alone. Iโm giving you my lowlights today, and I donโt mind if you seeing me this way makes you feel better about your life. In fact, I hope it does.
3.
PIECES I LOVED THIS WEEK
If you donโt know
, you absolutely should.
Rereading this classic from
changed my week completely.
WHY DIDNโT I READ THIS BEFORE?!!!!
! So good!THATโS A WRAP!!!
Thank you to my beautiful, amazing friends for agreeing to do this with me (and for me)!
This meant the world.
See you next week!
:)
Via EuroNews.
Via The Guardian.
Via The Guardian.
AMANDA!!! I've been traveling all day so I'm just now getting a chance to read this and I LOVE IT! Thank you thank you for including me, and congrats on 5k!! It was so interesting to see different writers takes on these topics!! You're the best :)
CONGRATS ON 5K DARLING!! so beyond proud of you <3