State of the Stack - 2025
Checking in on the health of Nerd Central and looking back at 2024
Believe it or not, I actually hadn’t planned to write this post. Why would my readers want to see a bunch of statistics and data points about Nerd Central? But then I read
‘s Substack health post and I decided that, even if it’s for my own benefit, it would be good to reflect on the state of Nerd Central in 2024 and be transparent to my readers as well as talk about some future ideas.
Firstly, let’s look at some statistics. Everyone loves those right?
STATISTICS!
As of the moment of this writing I have:
4 Paid Subscribers: 4 paid subs may not seem like a lot to some of you, but I cannot believe I even have one paid subscriber. I am eternally grateful for anyone who feels generous enough to pay for my content. With every post I try to write something that’s either useful or entertaining as well as something that speaks to my personal opinions and beliefs rather than regurgitate something you might read elsewhere. Hopefully I am and will continue to do those things. I’ve also tried to add value to my paid subscribers. I have been creating paid content every other week in which I write more niche/in-depth content like my Origins posts as well as going through my personal collection of physical games. Who knows, maybe in 2025, my 4 paid subscribers will grow to 8 and beyond!
127 Free Subscribers: Again, not a huge number to people like Mr. Totilo or people who already have a presence in the industry or experience with journalism. But to me, this is huge. I began 2024 with about 70 subs and was just shy of doubling that number for the whole year. I’ve seen a steady increase in subscribers, and I can only imagine that as a good thing. I will continue to release free posts on the weeks that I do not release paid content, and I do not see that changing anytime soon. I love writing about the games I’m playing and providing my take. For me personally, I am building a video game journal and that is very satisfying to me.
185 Followers: I feel like followers are really just as important as subscribers. These are either people who subscribe to my content and also follow me OR they are people who do not subscribe but are interested enough to follow and read the Notes I post from time to time. And someday, they may feel compelled to subscribe as well. I began the year similarly with 72 followers and the growth over 2024 has followed a similar trajectory as my subscriber numbers, if not even better. Thank you to all my followers, you are appreciated!
Looking at traffic for 2024, we can see that the trend is also moving in an upward direction. My most popular month for the year was September 2024 with 455 total views. October was a few views shy of my personal best and that was the month I began alternating paid and free posts. November and December views were lower but still up from July and August. January 2025’s current views are just as high as my views in June 2024 already.
What does this mean?
At the end of the day, these statistics do not mean much. I am going to continue writing as I always have because I enjoy doing it and even if I didn’t have a following, I would continue to do so. That being said, I am elated that I have a following of readers of any size, and I am elated that the trajectory appears to be moving in an upward direction. So, thank you so much to everyone who has followed and subscribed and commented on my posts. There are a handful of people here who always comment on my stuff, and I feel like we’ve built a micro community and that is super cool.
Where to go from here?
2025 will probably be more of the same from me. But I’m always open to more ideas for content. Substack just opened up live video to most of their authors, so maybe I will give that a whirl. I am also a verrrrry amateur artist and I’ve been trying to get back into drawing. Maybe I will make some posts that showcase my terrible art skills. Hey, you tell me what you think would be cool and I will promise I will at least consider it.
Finally, a Poll
This is more out of curiosity than anything, but I wanted to take a poll from my readers just to see what would get them to pay for my content. Again, I’m already baffled by my existing paid subs (thank you guys again!), but if there’s something I can be doing better I would love to hear about it. At the end of the day, money is not my goal. I do this on the side, and I have a full-time job. But I would be a lying idiot if I said that more paid subs would be a bad thing.
Thanks again for making 2024 a success! I hope that 2025 is even better! 🎉