State of the ‘Stack: One Year of Parenthetical
Pulling back the curtain on stats, paid subscribers, becoming a bestseller, and what I'm doing differently after one year of going all-in on Substack.
Almost exactly a year ago today, I decided to get serious about posting on Substack. I rebranded to Parenthetical (a name I love, despite how freaking long it is) and committed to sending at least one newsletter per week.
I pretty quickly hit my stride and fell further and further in love with Substack as a platform and creative outlet. The community was warm and real, and I felt rewarded for thinking about things slowly and intentionally. It wasn’t all short form, focus-frying video content designed to sell you something.
And to my delight, it seems like Substack likes me back! My little newsletter has grown up quite a bit in the past year, and has evolved into more of what I’m considering a lifestyle publication – regular columns, a paid curriculum on lifestyle design, and an actual brand identity.
So today, on the anniversary of Parenthetical, I want to share a bit behind the scenes on the past year, and what you can expect in the coming one.
A State of the Union
Subscriptions
It’s been a banner year for Parenthetical, and for our community!
In the past year, the number of total subscribers has quadrupled. That’s wild! We're currently at just under 4,850 friendly faces. Hello all!
I just (like, yesterday) reached Substack Bestseller status, thanks to the wonderful, incredible paid subscribers that have chosen to support Parenthetical with their hard-earned dollars. I truly do a little squeal of happiness every single time a new subscriber joins. It’s so humbling and your support means so much. ❤️
For 100% transparency, and because I personally am a nosy broad who loves when people post this stuff, here’s a quick snapshot of my current stats dashboard:
I really can’t believe how much my little Substack has grown in the past year. This isn’t meant to be a how-to post about growing your Substack, but a few things that I did this year that gave me the biggest bump in subscribers:
Notes, notes, notes. I know a lot of people came to Substack to escape social media algorithms, but like it or not, Notes is the biggest driver of new subscribers. I’ve had a handful really blow up and bring in hundreds of free subscribers per post.
Experimenting and building in public. Much like this post you’re reading, I haven’t shied away from trying new things, admitting when things aren’t working (remember our book club? yeah me either) and being open and transparent about numbers.
Creating an actual paid offer. When I first turned on paid subscriptions, it was basically a tip jar function. I didn’t want to overpromise and under-deliver, so I made it a “like my work? support me here and maybe get some extra stuff.” No real surprise, this didn’t exactly take off. But this past December when I created the Well-Designed Life curriculum, I actually had a real offering that people would get in exchange for upgrading to paid. That made it a way easier value proposition (gross) and unsurprisingly, led to a lot more conversions.
Overall, acting like a real human being and not a LinkedIn poster has been the top thing for me. This is a long-form-first platform, and people want to hear nuanced takes with personality and a point of view. Don’t shy away from being yourself!
Top Posts
Here are the top five posts from the past year:
I’m seeing a trendline of all things cozy, whimsical, joyful, and intentionally curated. Which makes perfect sense to me!
Topics
The posts that performed the best throughout the year have all been either about intentional, whimsical, joyful living, or (relatedly) super fun, niche book recommendations based on things like favorite movies, fictional characters, and episodes of TV shows.
On the inverse, the posts that… for lack of a better word, flopped… were the ones I posted about things like branding and creative business. And I think it’s because my heart wasn’t really into it. I know A LOT about these topics, and I have a lot to share, but at the same time, this just isn’t what I wanted Parenthetical to be about, and I realized that pretty quickly.
I won’t delete any of the posts or resources I created on the topics of personal branding for multi-passionate creatives, but I won’t be focusing on those topics going forward.
And now, for the fun new stuff…
Introducing the Joy Mail Club!
You may or may not know that I am a designer and illustrator by trade. For nearly four years, I ran my own branding and web design studio. In 2022, I accepted a full-time in-house job at a creative agency, and put my studio to rest.
In 2024, I was getting an itch for a creative outlet, and ended up designing a full line of greeting cards, stationery, and stickers. I sold them at local markets and wholesale (they were stocked in nearly fifty stores across the country!). It was a lot of fun, but got to be a lot of work also, so sometime last year I hit pause on that idea.
But I love, love, love paper goods and stickers and little trinket-y delights, so I’m getting that itch again, and I want to resurrect my stationery and paper design products in the form of a monthly snail mail club I’m calling Joy Mail.
Starting in June, Founding Members will receive a goodie bag each month that will feature a combination of greeting cards, postcards, stickers, pins, mini-prints, and other fun surprises. A little dose of whimsy and joy, from me, to you.
Everything you receive will be designed by me (or maybe eventually some guest curators, who knows!) and will be unique to the Joy Mail Club. Here’s a peek at some things I’ve created:
Starting June 1st, the Joy Mail Club will be $120/year, which will get you one full calendar year of joy, whimsy, and fun new paper goods. But for the next two weeks, you can join for $95/year and lock that price in forever!
P.S. If you’re already a paid subscriber, and want to upgrade to get Joy Mail, you can do so at a prorated price! (Edit: I think the price only gets prorated if you’re currently an annual subscriber).
While signed in, head here to manage your Parenthetical subscription.
Under “Subscription” click on “Change.”
Select the “Joy Mail Club” option and click “Change Plan.”
Et voila! You’re now a card-carrying member of the Joy Mail Club!
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for being here in whatever capacity. It means a lot, it’s fun, and it makes me feel like I’m using my journalism degree. Love you all lots.
xoxo,
Lizzie
Parenthetical is a newsletter for women who dog-ear pages, overthink their seasonal wardrobe, and want to make their ordinary days more magical. Paid subscribers get access to the full resource library, plus The Well-Designed Life curriculum.
I love so much about this. 1. Calling yourself a nosy broad (I'm one too) 2. Your discovery that the content that resonated most was what you loved to write about 3. Joy Mail Club! I'm in! Signed up. Love everything you do, keep doing it you sparkly little Creatrix, you. ❤️
Congrats on a year! Also, love the behind the scenes content, thanks for sharing 😊