I started my newsletter about a year ago, and announced it on Medium. Then I announced each newsletter on Twitter when it came out. I quickly went up to 30 subscribers. Then it was stagnant for six months. I changed the format and added more content, and it started growing slowly again.

Then I met Elle Griffin via a story on Medium. I joined her Discord server for Substack writers. I got a little boost there. But then Elle mentioned my newsletter in her newsletter and I got 30 subscribers overnight.

It has been growing steadily since. I now have 115 a month later.

So being mentioned by a popular writer is huge. I don't know if you can orchestrate that, but cross-promotion is probably the next best thing.

I have never paid for advertising as this is more of a hobby for me. A fun venture for my retirement years.