500 DAYS OF HEAVY METAL EMAIL
I basically stopped promoting my newsletter on social media and still got new subscribers
Support Heavy Metal Email - consider becoming a paid subscriber, or at least my next two cans of Liquid Death via Ko-Fi, Venmo (@Seth-Werkheiser), Cash App ($ethwerkheiser), or PayPal. Or just freaking support bands and labels and buy me something from my Bandcamp Wishlist.
-SETH WERKHEISER
Hey, so it’s been 500 days since I launched HEAVY METAL EMAIL, and here’s some things I learned along the way about running a very niche email newsletter.
➡️ I got more sign ups from Substack than all of the social media networks put together. Lots of people subscribe to various newsletters on Substack, which makes it easy for them to subscribe.
➡️ I mostly stopped promoting HEAVY METAL EMAIL on social media months ago, and stopped the LINKINBIO dance.
Now I use the extra time to write better newsletters - take care of the people in front of you, and stop chasing MORE subscribers / fans.
Hone you craft, learn new skills, build better.
➡️ One of my most popular posts was my interview with Matt DeBenedictis, Manager of Compliance at Mailchimp.
Think of all the different people you could collaborate with in your orbit.
Not just because they’ll share it with all their social followers (and reach like 5% of their audience, bah!) - but because you’re making something awesome together, and that good energy flows in places that aren’t controlled by algorithms.
I hit 250 subscribers around December 24th, 2022 (and wrote about it here), so in the last 74 days I grew HEAVY METAL EMAIL by 58 subscribers, mostly without social media.
I get it - the allure of social media is real. But here in 2023 we’re all spending multiple hours a day on these platforms already.
What’s next? More hours?
That’s the only thing these platforms are interested in - keeping you hooked on what they offer so they can mine your data and show you more ads.
I’ve been saying it for years - it will never get easier to reach your fans on social media. It was hard last year, it’ll be harder this year. Best of luck in 2024.
Get a website, build an email list, and develop a real connection with your fans.
LISTEN UP:
Did you know I make sleepy time metal mixes called Goodnight, Metal Friend? I’ve been making them since 2020, and this year I’ve ramped up and put out an hour-long mix every week (another benefit of spending less time on social media).
The mixes include dark ambient and drone, but (usually) without the shrieks and big crashes, so they’re pretty good to fall asleep to, which is why I started making them years ago. I’m told they’re good for background music, too.
Goodnight, Metal Friend: Website / Substack / Mixcloud / YouTube
WRITE ME: seth@heavymetal.email
-SETH WERKHEISER