The Sacred Art of Selling

The Sacred Art of Selling

Substack Monetization

Substack Hack: Nobody Wants to Be "Taught" Anymore.

How we grew by $30K+ (and 170 paid subscribers) since last month, and the campaign that did most of the work.

Kelly Roach's avatar
Kelly Roach
Jul 27, 2026
∙ Paid

Information used to be scarce, and you had to pay the price for access to it.

Not anymore.

Every framework I have ever built is probably sitting in somebody’s AI chat window right now. They can look something up with ChatGPT and instantly get access to all of the information they need.

You know what is scarce though?

PROOF.

Somebody actually showing you how to do the thing they are teaching you.

So we ran a test.

Since our last Substack breakdown we shared in June, we’ve added:

  • $30,000+ added in annual subscription revenue

  • 170+ new paid subscribers

  • And, we are approaching $100K in annual revenue on Substack.

In today’s roundup I want to share a little bit about the specific campaign we launched, why it worked, and what you need to know if you’re struggling to crack the code on paid subscriber growth.

PS: if you are looking for a full A-Z breakdown of getting started (and the strategy we deploy WEEKLY on Substack), don’t miss our LVE Substack 101 training on Wednesday at 7:30 pm EST.

Every annual subscriber gets access, and it is the training I wish somebody gave me in month one.

I keep getting the same questions from people who are technically on Substack but haven’t actually built on it yet:

What do I charge for my subscription tiers?

How often should I be posting?

What do I use Notes for?

Do I need to use XYZ feature?

Wednesday we will go through all of it, from start to finish, with time for questions at the end, including:

  • All the platform setup basics: features, what role they play, and how to use them

  • How to set up and price your paid tiers

  • An optimal posting schedule (free vs. paid)

  • Notes, and their role in lead generation, sales and growth

  • A daily sales system you can follow every day to build connections and grow on Substack

  • The basics of collaborations

  • How to run effective paid subscriber growth campaigns

If you are a free or monthly subscriber, upgrading to annual gets you Wednesday’s class:

I'm IN!

Now… let’s get into the details from this past month’s growth, because you will 100% want to use this in your own strategy!

Below, we’re breaking down:

  • The exact mechanics of our build-in-public campaign, and why it sold

  • The resource drop that had a slow start, and the reason it stalled (this one costed us, and I’d rather you learn it on our dime)

  • The campaign strategy we have now seen enough times to plan around. If you have been struggling to go, this is going to change the game for you.

  • Three platform updates that change how you should be building right now.

User's avatar

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Kelly Roach.

Or purchase a paid subscription.
© 2026 Kelly Roach · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture