Write2Sell: Find Your Niche and Your Ideal Reader in 3 Simple Steps (And One Hack)
Don't go defining personas, avatars or empathy maps. Do this simple thing instead.
“I want to know how to grow my audience and convert more subscribers to paid”.
I hear you.
But are you ready for that?
First, you need some strategy work:
Decide on your niche and audience
Then you need some tech work:
Only after you can start working on growth.
Because otherwise, you'll hardly convert your gained subscribers. People won't start paying if they subscribe because of your great inspirational story without having a clue what you have to offer.
I know a lot of creators who do this the other way around. They start working to gain subscribers with the idea they'll figure out their offers later.
They even start free newsletters and invest tons of time and effort but the gains don't come.
This only makes their learning curve steeper and more painful.
It's one of the reasons most writers quit.
In business, no one starts advertising without an offer and a sales process. And working on your audience growth is a form of advertising, where your time and efforts are your costs.
You're wasting them without a clear offer.
I didn't make this huge mistake.
I did my homework before I started.
That's how I got to the Bestseller status in just 3 months.
Because I know how business works.
I've been creating and selling subscription-based services for more than 15 years.
I know what I'm doing.
And I'm here to help you.
Now let's get to some strategy work.
Do you even need a niche?
Don’t trust people who say you don’t.
They might produce nicheless content, but initially, they all have become known for a niche.
I like to think of a niche as just one reader.
Not topic.
Simply talk to this reader, make it relatable, see through their eyes, and speak with their words.
Most gurus will tell you the top 3 niches with evergreen high potential are:
1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Relationships
But those are very general. You still need to niche down.
But, Yana, why do I need to niche down?! I just wanna write about everything I love.
Sure, you can do that. Just know you won't make more money out of it.
I know a lot of writers walk that path. Look at most of Medium profiles and you'll see it. Trust me this hurts.
Because nobody gives a fuck about what you've done in your life unless you have some tangible actionable advice that solves some painful problem.
That's what people pay for.
Why niche down?
Because if someone pays you for solving their relationship problems and suddenly you start talking about gardening, guess what? You'll see them leaving.
Look, your paid newsletter is a product.
Period.
One product that solves one painful problem.
One product that saves time or money or both.
That's it!
How do you find your niche?
This is another one of the most common questions I hear from Substackers.
And it’s no wonder—your niche is your foundation. Get it right, and everything else (your subscribers, your growth, even your income) becomes so much easier.
But finding your niche isn’t about guessing what will “work.”
It's all about how to get people to KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST you so that they can buy from you.
Let me break it down into three simple steps.
Step 1: Look at your passions and expertise
Start by asking yourself:
What topics do I know deeply?
What topics can I talk about for hours?
What questions do people always ask me about?
It's either about what you know a lot of, OR what you're passionate to learn, OR both.
Your niche doesn’t have to be broad—it just has to align with what you’re genuinely passionate about and where you can offer unique insights.
That's your competitive advantage.
I call this a MOAT.
The bigger the better.
It will give people a reason why to buy from you and not anyone else. This is your CREDIBILITY. Sharing this will let people KNOW you better.
My MOAT is my business background in sales and marketing of subscription-based services. I have 15 years of doing this in a multi-billion tech corp and my role is unique in an organization of 20k employees. That's a pretty big MOAT.
I don't know ANY of the (Substack) gurus out there to have THAT level of business understanding.
And I have a proven track record - became a bestseller in 3 months without any external audience or help.
It's easy when you come to Substack with an existing list of 50k emails. It wasn't my case. I did it from scratch.
Because of my MOAT.
But, Yana, this takes 15 years to build...
Right!
You know what?
When I started I didn't even think about using this as a lever.
I was into AI so I started learning and testing it and writing about it.
This was my one of my passions.
Find yours and start there if you can't find a big enough MOAT.
Step 2: Look at your achievements and strengths
Ask yourself:
What are my greatest achievements?
What are the things people often praise me for?
In what area in my life do I easily achieve success?
This is your proof of work and your social proof.
You need this to build TRUST.
Example:
My achievements are:
becoming a Substack bestseller in record time (3 months)
having above Substack average free -> paid conversion rate (>5%)
having above Substack average paid subscriber growth and retention rate
And I have all the proof to support these statements, here's one of them:
But, Yana, I don't have achievements, I'm just starting!
Right!
Did I mention strengths?!
When I started I wasn't a bestseller. So I used my strengths:
I'm very well organized - so I created templates and gave them to my audience
I'm great in analysis and I love Excel - so I analyzed things and wrote about that too
I'm good in influencing people (as I'm a leader in my 9-5)- so I created a community where we help each other grow
See?
If you want something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.
Not having experience, strengths, achievements, and passions IS AN EXCUSE.
Find them now!
Step 3: Look at your experiences
Ask yourself:
What events have I experienced related to the above?
What are some personal stories I can tell about these experiences?
How can I connect these stories to my achievements, passions, and expertise?
Storytelling is what makes your content highly relatable. It helps people KNOW you LIKE you.
Don't be afraid to be vulnerable. This is the most powerful way to gain traction, earn trust and ultimately go viral.
It closes the loop of KNOW-LIKE-TRUST you need ot build with your content in order to make people buy from you.
Here's one example of how I used storytelling to go viral on Substack Notes. I got ±200 new subscribers in a few days. You can too!
Who are you writing for?
Because here’s the truth:
If you try to talk to everyone, you'll end up talking to no one.
Even within your niche, not everyone is your audience.
And the more specific you get about who you’re writing for, the more engagement you'll have.
High engagement rate = more sales
So how do you define your ideal reader?
Honestly?
There's no ideal reader!
Don't go defining personas, avatars or empathy maps.
Yes, they will give you some insights, but it's hard to write for someone non-existent. Your subconscious will reject that and your content will not be relatable.
So what then?
Here's the one simple thing that helped me move forward with this: