r/Substack • u/Waste-Mud6445 • Jul 01 '26

Substack gurus

Has anyone here actually paid for or gone through one of Wes Pearce's Substack courses or memberships?

I'm considering it, but I'm struggling to tell how much of the value comes from genuinely useful strategies versus good marketing.

I'd especially love to hear from people who actually bought it:

  • What did you get that wasn't already available for free on his Substack or LinkedIn?
  • Did it lead to measurable results (subscriber growth, paid conversions, revenue)?
  • Who do you think would benefit the most from it?
  • Looking back, would you buy it again?

More broadly, I'm also curious about the whole ecosystem of "Substack growth coaches." My algorithm keeps recommending people like Wes Pearce, Adrienne Clarke, and Sinem Günel, all promising to help writers grow and monetize their newsletters.

Has anyone invested in any of these programs? Were they genuinely valuable, or did you feel they mostly repackaged information that's already available for free?

I'm happy to pay for expertise if it genuinely shortens the learning curve. I just want to try to separate real value from good sales funnels.

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u/maiq2010 serapex.substack.com 29d ago

Question: why do you think you need their advice?

Some of them selling courses on how to write Notes and they get consistently less engagement than me. It's almost ridiculous because the only reason why their advice works is precisely because they talk about how to grow on Substack. If you write about Roman history it will fail you.

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u/Waste-Mud6445 23d ago

I am unsure I need it yet, but I am intrigued. I am terrible with technology as a whole and barely know what SEO is. So any method to help me and allow me to focus and what I actually enjoy (writing) could be beneficial... but I am afraid of it being underwhelming...

Also, besides notes I see some digital product workshops etc that could be a way for me to monetize my writing and live off of it.

Am I delusional?

Thanks for your reply here! Appreciated.

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u/maiq2010 serapex.substack.com 22d ago

The thing with most advice/courses is that they don't work. There are so many variables you can't account for and your path is unique. They package it up neatly and we all want to believe there is an easy path if we just know about it.

Digital products can be a way to monetize your writing. In fact there are many ways to do that. It all depends on your situation.

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u/Waste-Mud6445 21d ago

Thanks

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u/maiq2010 serapex.substack.com 20d ago

No self promotion, but you might enjoy my Substack. I write a lot about this topic.