How I Built a Newsletter With Thousands of Readers From an iPad

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I've spent 3.5 years writing blog posts on an iPad.

Photo by Bharat Patil on Unsplash

Here's my step-by-step process:

Ideation 🧠

Ideation is a big deal. It’s something I’ve been struggling with recently.

Now that I’m in college, I have significantly less time to mess around with random apps.

Generating Fast Ideas

If I’m in a hurry, there are two things I do:

1. Use Google or Perplexity to find article ideas based on recent news updates (ex: new iPadOS leaks)

2. Look at older articles for inspiration

Generating Valuable Ideas

Not sure how else to describe these. These are good ideas that aren’t my favorite to write, but are helpful for users.

ChatGPT is insanely useful for coming up with these.

I didn’t realize how good ChatGPT was at coming up with these ideas. Newer models like o3 + web search are especially good.

Generating Killer Ideas

When I have a lot of time, I love diving into the writing and being more hands-on.

These ideas are fun to write about. Think “How I Organize My Home Screen”. Not necessarily valuable, but the articles that are most fun to write.

Love using Concepts for this. It’s insanely good for brainstorming.

They’re also the sponsor of this post. Check out their free 30-day trial for my newsletter subscribers (don't worry—they have an awesome free plan too).

Would highly recommend.

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In short, Perplexity + ChatGPT + Concepts powers ideation.

Writing ✍️

Writing is the next step in my process.

Apple Music + Bear are my go-to tools.

Apple Music

I use music to compartmentalize my work.

ex: one song for writing, one song for coding, one song for homework, etc.

This is a productivity game changer.

Bear

I usually use Bear to write my posts. Lately I’ve been writing them directly in the Substack website due to time. But Bear is my preference.

I use Bear’s free plan. It’s a good editor. More than enough for me.

Posting 💻

I post on Substack for subscribers and Medium for visibility.

Substack

To post on Substack, I copy-and-paste from Bear.

I do have to tweak a few things though:

1. I add a cool image I can use as the post image

2. I add in images throughout the post

3. I edit any weird formatting from Bear (ex: sometimes extra spaces are added)

Then I click publish and we’re done. Almost.

Medium

I copy my Substack post and paste it into Medium.

Once I fix up basic formatting, I’m finally done.

Consistency 💪

Writing is one part of my writing routine. Routine is the other part.

When you're first starting a blog, consistency and discipline is EVERYTHING. Otherwise, you'll quit after a few weeks (I know from experience).

Lately I’ve been failing on this end. Will try to be more consistent.

Todoist

Todoist is my to-do list app of choice.

This is what I use to remind me to write blog posts.

Otherwise, I'll end up spending my Saturday morning writing about iPads (like I'm doing right now).

Accessories ✨

Writing a blog from an iPad alone would be a pain.

Apple Pencil

I use my Apple Pencil with Concepts.

I once attended a talk with Sam Altman. He mentioned his hack for ideation is writing things out by hand.

Works for me too.

Magic Keyboard

Writing a blog by tapping on the glass screen of an iPad would be brutal. Thankfully, I have a keyboard.

AirPods

AirPods Pro for music = peak lock-in.

Final Thoughts

Have a nice day and thanks for reading!

Adi