Is Substack The New Tumblr? Author of The SubStack, Club Reticent, Valerie Estrina, Weighs In
It’s official, the girls have left Tumblr and said hello to Substack
We sat down with the writer behind the growing Substack, Club Reticent, Valerie Estrina to talk all about it.
Club Reticent graphic via Substack
Valerie Estrina is a busy woman! During the day she works as a brand strategist for Lumion, a real-time 3D rendering software tailored for architects, designers, and visualization professionals (ok cool!), and is also the founder of Astrowonders, a cultural entertainment community with over 520,000 followers. However, her passion is writing.
Substack, a platform that allows writers to create and distribute newsletters directly to their subscribers, has recently seen a surge in popularity. It’s become the go-to platform for writers and journalists looking to start their own newsletters and create a community for writers and readers alike. As of early 2024, Substack boasts over 20 million monthly active subscribers and more than 2 million paid subscriptions. The sudden rise in popularity can be accredited to the platform's user-friendly interface and the opportunity for writers to monetize their content; it’s filled the void left behind by the demise of Tumblr’s golden era.
Valerie started posting on Substack in February of this year, and since then her publication, Club Reticent, has gained over 2,000 subscribers. In case you aren’t familiar with the Substack world, that’s pretty massive. Her article “Am I Hot Enough For A Good Life?” went viral on the platform: at the time of publication the article has over 250 re-stacks with more than 1,200 likes! It also has been given praise by award-winning beauty journalist, Jessica DeFino, who Valerie cited in the article.
The Russian writer initially began writing as a form of expression and to improve her language skills (impressively, English isn’t her first language, yet she wields it with remarkable mastery). It’s since become a massive part of her life.
Both of us are ex-Tumblr girlies (we both agree we have a little bit of PTSD from that era of the internet). We grew up endlessly consuming content online, and her publication, Club Reticent, is a direct lovechild of that experience. It’s a hodgepodge stream of consciousness about growing up in the digital age and what it means to be a young woman navigating all of life’s challenges.
I sat down with the budding writer to discuss her career so far, how she’s handled the sudden popularity of her Substack, and her thoughts on the future of this new digital age.
Valerie Estrina via @valerieestrina
SIERRA MADISON: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into writing?
VALERIE ESTRINA: Sure. Originally, I never really considered writing [as a job]. I'm a marketer working in tech, but throughout my life, I've been in situations where I wanted to communicate my feelings and what I was going through. Also, I wanted to improve my language skills because English is not my first language; Russian is. I wanted to do both but didn't quite know how. Eventually, I started pitching to publications because I read online that if you want to write, you need to reach out to a big corporation and write for them. So, I was doing that for a while, and whenever my pitch was accepted, I would be super happy and meticulously write for weeks. After a couple of years, I realized it was probably not the best way to go about writing because I was writing what other people wanted me to write about, not focusing on developing my own skills. I was trying to mimic whatever that publication was doing, which hindered my progress as a writer. So, I ended up on Substack in February of this year and I've never been happier.
SIERRA: What made you want to start a Subsctack? Did you start out as a reader?
VALERIE: I was really apprehensive [about joining] because Substack feels like such a serious place. It feels like you have to be a big deal to write on there and have something really important to say. But after a lot of reflection, I realized that Substack is also a platform for writers, which is exactly the circle I want to be in. So, I decided to start publishing. The growth I've experienced through the platform without any external sources is amazing— it really is a platform for writers by writers.
“I was a big Tumblr girl. It completely rewired my brain. It shaped me in some ways I like and some ways I really dislike. Especially in its prime, it was a culture of womanhood, eating disorders, and beauty perfection. Most people on it were very impressionable and young. It was almost more detrimental than reading tabloids. ”
SIERRA: Your Substack is called Club Reticent. Can you tell us a bit about the name and the overall theme of your Substack?
VALERIE: I couldn't figure out what I wanted to write about in particular. I knew I had to niche down a little to convey what the blog is about. I analysed most of what I had written before, and the common themes were existing in the world as a woman, being a young person in the digital landscape, and growing up online. Many of us grew up online, which made us more internal and introverted. The name Club Reticent comes from envisioning this group of kids who grew up on the Internet and are now adults. We are shy and introverted but have a lot to say. We have emotions, feelings, and knowledge.
SIERRA: Were you also on Tumblr during its height?
VALERIE: Yes, absolutely. I was a big Tumblr girl. It completely rewired my brain. It shaped me in some ways I like and some ways I really dislike (AMEN!). Especially in its prime, it was a culture of womanhood, eating disorders, and beauty perfection. Most people on it were very impressionable and young. It was almost more detrimental than reading tabloids.
SIERRA: It's crazy to think how it's [the internet] developed now. I can't imagine being a kid and having access to TikTok and Instagram. I'm so happy I didn't have access to TikTok when I was 19 and going through a breakup. My digital footprint would have been so bad.
VALERIE: Exactly. That's something I wanted to write about—how we don't understand when we're younger that whatever we put on the Internet stays there. It's scary because you want to overreact and express your emotions, but that can be tricky. When you're younger, you don't have the same impulse control and you want to let people know how you’re feeling. It's a skill to go offline while you're healing.
“ The name Club Reticent comes from envisioning this group of kids who grew up on the Internet and are now adults. We are shy and introverted but have a lot to say. We have emotions, feelings, and knowledge. ”
SIERRA: How do you find inspiration for your writing?
VALERIE: There are two ways. If I have an idea I've been thinking about for a while and it stays relevant, I'll write about it. Or if I think about something and can shape a thought into an article, that also happens. For instance, the post that went viral, "Am I Hot Enough for a Good Life?" was not preplanned. It was something I couldn’t stop thinking about and so I decided to write about it. Sometimes the best pieces come when you feel like you have to get it off your chest.
Cover image of “Am I Hot Enough for a Good Life?” via Club Reticent on Substack
SIERRA: Let’s talk about the piece— the article, "Am I Hot Enough for a Good Life?" picked up a lot of traction and went viral on the platform. Can you tell us about that article and your experience writing it?
VALERIE: It was a spontaneous thought. I was coming back from the gym and wanted to double down on what beauty means to me and how it shapes my life. I felt the pressure of my upcoming birthday and wondered why I still felt like an insecure teenager. I wanted to include research and look at beauty from the standpoint of deservingness. The responses from people all over the world were amazing, from mature women to teenage girls. A therapist even shared it with some of her clients. It also received some negative attention, but overall, the experience was overwhelming and positive.
Valerie Estrina via @valerieestrina
SIERRA: Do you feel more pressure now to keep up with the popularity?
VALERIE: Yes, I feel pressure to maintain the quality of content because of the follower growth. But good content is subjective, so I'm trying to dissociate from the growth and continue doing what I've been doing.
SIERRA: In general, Substack has been gaining popularity, and I’ve seen some people complaining, mostly on Twitter, about its correlation with the rise in personal essays and how they seem to be “lacking substance”. What are your thoughts on that?
VALERIE: We already put too much pressure on ourselves. Everyone needs to do what works best for them. Personal essays are a valid genre and have been around since writing began. Every writer does personal essays; it's just a matter of whether you edit and publish them.
Club Reticent’s recent growth via @valerieestrina
SIERRA: Do you have any tips or advice for new writers starting on Substack?
VALERIE: Decide what you want to talk about and why. When you have an objective and a reason, it takes the pressure off. Then have enough confidence to publish. I wanted to create a place for people to connect and to write essays on womanhood. Once I established that, it was easy to do my first post. Self-promotion is also important. Don't be afraid to promote your work. As for some promotion tactics I've used— I used my other social platforms and asked readers to share my Substack with one person. That helped a lot initially. Don't be afraid to go hard on self-promotion. People will notice; the worst case is nobody clicks, but the best case is they support you.
You can find Valerie on Substack, Instagram, and her website.