Growing Market Sentiment to 26k subscribers and beyond

Hello! Who are you and what newsletter did you start?

Hi. I am u/nobjos, and I started the newsletter Market Sentiment.

It’s a weekly newsletter that focuses on investment strategies backed by data and research. 

How did you launch it and what did you do to get the first 100 subscribers?

I was active on Reddit where I shared my analysis posts related to the stock market. There was interest in my weekly posts about trending stocks based on social media sentiment.

So I built a sentiment tracker site which had a blog attached, thinking it would be a good product.

Surprisingly, the blog had more traffic than the tracker, and I pivoted it into a newsletter on Substack.

My first 100 subscribers were from Reddit. And that worked for quite some time!

What does your process for creating the content look like?

I have a list of stock market investment strategies and topics that personally interest me. I keep adding to it.

Occasionally, readers suggest ideas for analysis as well. I read up on the topic in multiple sources to form a broad picture of the topic.

Then I collect data to do an independent analysis based on my idea, and start writing based on the insights.

The article usually takes 5 to 10 hours to write, but the research takes a lot more time.

What tools are you using to create, send, and grow the newsletter?

My newsletter has been on Substack right from the early beginning, and it’s an excellent platform. Highly recommend it.

Substack lets you recommend and share work by others on the platform, and this leads to network effects where connected writers get to grow together.

For my visualizations, I use Datawrapper. 

Twitter and Reddit are my main platforms to grow the newsletter, and my interactions there also give me new ideas.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain subscribers?

Focusing on good content has worked the best. I know that sounds simplistic, but my readers signed up and started following me with the expectation of content that can inform them or give them something useful - And maintaining that quality is the top priority.

Attracting subscribers can be done in different ways. Social media is a good option. Collaborations with other writers and cross-posting can be a win-win as both writers get exposure to a new audience.

Reposting content on multiple platforms can also expose you to a newer audience. 

How are you doing today and what are your plans for the future?

The newsletter is doing great - We have more than 26,000 readers and it’s just been a year since I launched it!

I plan to continue growing the reach of the newsletter while also looking for opportunities to connect with other writers and investors.

What’s one piece of advice you’d like to share with someone who wants to get started or is just starting out?

Get your content out as much as you can, while also working on keeping the quality consistent. Routine is much more important than inspiration.

Where can we go to learn more?

You can check out the newsletter at https://marketsentiment.substack.com and subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/market_sentiment .