Boo! 👻 The Scariest Thing This Halloween? Snoozing on Substack Notes

Still the #1 growth channel for winning new subscribers in 2025

Oct 30, 2025

photo credit: Kristina God with cosplayer at Frankfurt Book Fair

Hey friend! 👋🏻

Many asked me about today’s masterclass (Substack Notes 2026 Future-Proof Masterclass: How to Grow Your Email List and Make Real Money), which was extra special.

I showed up in costume… because, well, we’re officially entering Halloween season! 🎃 (Will share the replay tomorrow, for paid subs)

And honestly?

It felt fitting… because what’s scarier than October ghosts?

Not posting on Notes while everyone else is growing like crazy. 👻

In today’s live session, we had over 40 amazing writers join us.

A few weeks ago, more than 50 Bootcampers went through the Substack Notes Kickstarter Bootcamp, and for many of them, Notes has now become their #1 growth driver, as I showed in today’s presentation:

One bootcamper went $7,000 to $28,871 in ARR through a simplified, (alsmost) daily Notes writing system
In the dashboard, you can see in the growth overview that 800 (!) subs are coming through Notes and 1629 in total through Substack’s network effects
From 5,000 to 28,499 through a simple Notes strategy

It’s wild.

Let me join the Notes party!

Writers, creators, professionals, and dreamers are getting discovered, growing their lists, and finally getting paid to be themselves.

The Substack app with Notes drove 500.000 paid subscriptions in the last 3 months!

And Substack shared at their “Notes Night” in NYC that those people who are missing out on Notes, simply grow slower!

Randa Sakallah, Substack’s editorial lead and head of social media (yes, that’s a “controversial” title and she knows that), shared:

“If you don’t share your work, you’ll grow much more slowly. Notes is the best place to communicate the value of your Substack in an authentic, conversational way.”

You want to grow faster?

I want to grow faster!

Then guess what?

The Notes Kickstarter Bootcamp is now available ON-DEMAND

Let me join!

That same Bootcamp, the one everyone’s been asking about, is now available on-demand!

8 hours of hands-on, no-fluff training,
plus weekly Q&A sessions with yours truly (maybe Gail and Sara will join me, too, if they have time) so you can get feedback and take action.

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, wondering if you missed your chance to grow with Notes… nope.

Now’s your time.

Yay! Finally...

This week I wrote 2x about Notes.

Real results from real people via Substack’s “townsquare” Notes

When we first launched the Bootcamp, my amazing co-host, Bootcamp alum and friend Gail K. said something that really stuck:

“The results speak for themselves.
The success stories on Substack aren’t influencers —
they’re everyday writers who’ve transformed their lives through Substack Notes.”

And she added:

Kristina God, my co-host, built her Substack to 15K subscribers and $37K ARR,
becoming a Top 25 Education publication globally.
Sara Redondo, MD, used the exact same strategies to grow to 27,000 readers
and become a Substack #Health Bestseller.
And Gail?
At 69, she went from slow engagement in her business to earning $16,300 and creating viral Notes that brought in thousands of new readers in just months.