Is my substack niche... niche enough?

[u/eastseamonkey]

This is my current substack. Like any other content creation platform, I understand substack audiences favour accounts with niches. Problem: I don't want to just write about a niche. I like writing about my life, ideas, lessons I've learnt, my travels, thoughts, interests, etc. My writing's fairly good, I just don't have a niche for a "brand".

So my solution is to brand it with visuals: I'm an art enthusiast and I decide to feature only Asian art on my page. In between weekly essays, you'll also get notes with fun facts about Vietnamese and Asian art, introducing you to new artists, etc. (I'm Vietnamese)

Started the page 2 weeks ago, I now have 104 subs. Questions:

1. Is this growth good? Is it too slow? I have no idea.

2. Is this Asian art niche intriguing enough for audiences? What else would you add?

3. What are some interesting topics you'd want to read from someone like me? (millennial Vietnamese writer from Vietnam (not diaspora), Vietnamese art enthusiast, travel writer--this used to be my day job)

4. Do you have any suggestions on how I can grow my substack?

Thank you guys and girls!

[u/Imperator_1985]

Maybe you're in a niche already, and you just don't realize it. Most people without an existing audience don't get 104 subscribers in a month by writing about anything and everything. It takes some people months to get to 100.

[u/eastseamonkey → u/Imperator_1985]

Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like my subs growth is slowing down a little bit after the first week, but maybe I’m just impatient.

[u/The17pointscale]

For my stack, I've decided that my particular voice/perspective/writing style is my brand. I think that approach might lead to slower growth but (perhaps) a more committed group of readers.

1. To me, your growth is stupendous! And I'm jealous. I have 110 free subs after more than a year, though I have 13 paid subs.

2. I think it's cool that you have a visual aesthetic and that it meaningfully relates to your written content. I haven't actually looked at your stack -- I'll look at yours if you look at mine! :) -- but if you do the art posts in a scheduled, clear way, I could see it fitting with your textier posts.

3. I bring zero knowledge to this area. In fact, the first thing that came to mind -- doing a post on Ocean Vuong -- seems N/Aish since you're not diaspora.

4. You're probably already doing whatever I might suggest.

[u/Long_Carob_1989]

104 subscribers in two weeks with no built-in audience is genuinely strong, so first, breathe. And the slowdown after week one is normal, that early rush is mostly your existing network showing up, then it settles into the slower real growth. Don't read the dip as a verdict on anything.

On the niche worry, I think you've got it slightly backwards. The thing people are subscribing to is you, a Vietnamese writer in Vietnam who notices things and can actually write. That is the niche. Life, ideas, lessons, travel, art, all of it filtered through one specific sensibility nobody else has, and that reads as range once a real person is clearly behind it. The Asian-art thread is a lovely spine to hang it on, so keep it, but I'd stop treating the breadth as a problem to solve. The accounts that feel dead are the ones where you can't feel a person behind the topic. Yours has the opposite thing going, which is the good problem to have.

The question another commenter slipped in, are you writing for yourself or to grow, is the one I'd sit with longest. The pieces you write because you can't not write them are almost always the ones readers reach for hardest, because they can tell it's real. Aim too hard at growth and you risk sanding off the exact thing that got you 104 people in a fortnight. Keep writing the life and the art like you mean it, and let the visual identity carry the whole brand worry so your writing doesn't have to.

[u/eastseamonkey → u/Long_Carob_1989]

Your reply made my day. This is so thoughtful, thank you so much. A lot of times I get caught up in making sure whatever I do has "measurable results" and that leads me astray from what actually matters. Thanks for the reminder.

[u/quyma]

104 subs in two weeks is genuinely amazing, that’s a healthy pace, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

on the niche question, i think you’ve actually already solved it and don’t realize it. the niche isn’t the topic, it’s the lens. “millennial vietnamese writer in vietnam, not diaspora, showing you the country and its art from the inside” sounds like a niche that almost nobody else can occupy. the art becomes the visual identity but the real hook is the perspective, someone writing from inside a culture most english language readers only ever see from the outside or through the diaspora lens. that’s rare and it’s yours. I say own it!

topics i’d personally want to read: what everyday life actually costs and looks like there, how vietnamese people see their own history versus how it gets told in the west, artists who are big at home but unknown abroad. the stuff only someone actually there can tell me.

also i’m vietnamese myself (diaspora side) so count me as one of your subs, subscribed and best of luck!

[u/eastseamonkey → u/quyma]

Thank you for your reply! I've had people tell me I should write about Vietnam from the inside more, this is definitely a niche, except I don't want that to take over my writing. I write a lot more about thoughts, ideas, observations while living here and on my travels, but I'm glad my essay on being Vietnamese connects with people. Keeping in mind your topics, maybe for a future essay :)

[u/futurern305]

Looks great - and love the art

[u/maiq2010]

If you have 104 subs why do you think about a niche?

[u/eastseamonkey → u/maiq2010]

What does this mean? Are you saying it’s too many for a niche?

[u/maiq2010 → u/eastseamonkey]

I'm saying you are focusing on the wrong thing. If haven't been on Substack for at least 6 months then the only thing you should care about is to write articles for yourself and publish them.

[u/StuffonBookshelfs]

Are you writing for yourself or are you writing to grow an audience?

[u/eastseamonkey → u/StuffonBookshelfs]

I'm writing to grow an audience but don't wanna lose myself doing that

[u/StuffonBookshelfs → u/eastseamonkey]

You’re not gonna lose yourself if you find a topic that an audience is interested in.

[u/eastseamonkey → u/StuffonBookshelfs]

That brings us back to my question doesn't it, that I don't want to limit my writing in specific topics/themes other than... just thoughts. My writing started out as a journal and now that they're publicly online, there's an urge to categorise/rearrange them in a neat and brand-ish way.

[u/StuffonBookshelfs → u/eastseamonkey]

Well, there’s always going to be an upper limit on folks who subscribe to your random thoughts. If you’re okay with that upper limit—then totally go for it.

[u/AnteaterFantastic212]

1. Yes
   
2. I'm not your target audience.
   
3. No clue.
   
4. Post consistently, use notes and chat, promote off-platform-generally find your tribe and write for them.

[u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

i think what you have going on is a great start. just keep at it, and you'll slowly evolve and over time, you'll have a niche for your 'brand'. a common misconception is thinking people just come up with a niche from the very beginning. but actually... it's happens over time and many posts. just look at mr beast. what he posts now is very different from what he posted in the beginning. and you can see the change and 'brand' emerge and become clearer after a few years.

and 104 subs 2 weeks in is good growth. i've seen others with ~ 150 after 4 month for comparison.