10,000 Substack Subscribers in 10 Months

The exact tactics you need to implement to get there.

Image created by author using Midjourney

Most writers dream of this.

Growing a Substack to 10,000 subscribers in under a year.

Just 10 months.

That’s how long it took

Jari Roomer

and the team from Write Build Scale. They didn’t rely on virality.

They took a slower, smarter approach. One that built trust, traction, and long-term momentum.

So today I talked about this with Jari. Here are some of the most important takeaways from our conversation.

1. The “publish and pray” mindset doesn’t work on Substack

Both Jari and I came from Medium. And Medium conditions you to believe that content is enough. You hit publish, hope for distribution, and if it doesn’t hit? Too bad.

Substack works differently. Growth comes from relationships — with your readers and with other writers. If you’re not collaborating, you’re likely plateauing.

2. Recommendations are the quiet engine behind major growth

Over 40% of Jari’s subscribers came through Substack recommendations.
No reels. No viral threads. Just…