When Your Substack Stats Drop and You Start Doubting Everything
Substack Rhythm
About my third week into Substack, I started getting subscribers right and left and I thought I had found a diamond in the rough. But after about the third month rolled around things starting to slow down and I thought I must be doing something wrong.
While we all do make some mistakes, it’s not always the case when stats go down for a while. After some research I found out the way Substack really works. rhythm
I’m sure you already know the numbers do not always move in the direction you want, even if you are doing everything right.
One week you are gaining new subscribers every day, and the next week you are staring at a chart that looks like it fell asleep. Sometimes you even lose a subscriber or two, and it feels like a tiny sting every time it happens.
Let’s talk about that part of the journey, because it is normal, it should be expected, and it does not mean you are doing anything wrong.
The dip always feels personal, but it is not
When your stats slide downward, it is easy to assume that your words suddenly stopped resonating or that people are losing interest. What is actually happening is much simpler. Every creator goes through the same cycle:
A spike.
A cooldown.
A new baseline.
Another spike.
That early spike feels exciting. It makes you think you have cracked the code. I know I did. Then the spike ends, and the numbers settle into something quieter. It may feel like a loss, but it is really the beginning of steady, sustainable growth. The spike was the test. The baseline is the foundation.
Losing subscribers is part of the process
This one is tough at first. When someone unsubscribes, it feels like a small rejection. I know for me when I lose a subscriber several days in a row, it hurts.
Here is the thing to remember. People unsubscribe for reasons that have nothing to do with you. They signed up impulsively. Maybe they subscribed from a comment you left. Or they were curious but not committed. They are overwhelmed with email. They are cleaning out their inbox.
None of that reflects your value as a writer. In fact, I’ve done this myself. I subscribed to so many in the beginning and found I couldn’t read them all, so unsubscribed from some of them.
The people who stay are the ones who want to be there. You are not shrinking. You are refining.
A slowdown does not mean you are off track
When your stats dip, it is tempting to think you have lost momentum. What is actually happening is that you are entering the normal rhythm of Substack. The early boost is temporary. The quieter, steady trickle is what builds a long-term publication.
If you are gaining even one to three subscribers a day, that is healthy. That is how newsletters grow into the thousands. Not from constant spikes, but from consistent additions that add up over time. I know it’s hard, but we need to keep working and be patient!
Your next spike will come
This is the part that is easy to forget when you are in a low stretch. Substack growth is not linear. It moves in steps. You publish consistently, you show up in Notes, you build your archive, and then one day something hits. A post gets shared. A recommendation wave rolls in. Pinterest sends a burst of traffic. Suddenly the numbers jump again.
The spike is coming. You just cannot predict the day.
What to do while the numbers wobble
This is the stretch where most people start questioning themselves, but it is also where the real growth happens.
Focus on showing up for the readers you already have, writing the kind of pieces that feel true to you, and building an archive that new subscribers can explore when they arrive. Stay present, stay steady, and let the work speak for itself. The numbers will catch up.
You are not failing. You are building.
If your stats are down, you are not alone. Every creator goes through this. The ones who succeed are the ones who understand that dips are not the end. They are simply part of the rhythm.
You are still on track. You are still growing. You are still building something real. And the people who are meant to find you will find you, whether your stats are up, down, or somewhere in between.
The dip is not a sign to stop. It is a sign that you are in the real part of the journey.