The Story of Overoptimize

Warning: This post isn't about iPads

Photo by Linus Sandvide on Unsplash

September 12th marks the one-year anniversary of my first post on Overoptimize.

It’s been quite a journey since then - highs, lows, and everything in between.

Here’s the story of Overoptimize (feel free to leave if you aren’t interested):

The Prequels

Overoptimize wasn’t my first adventure in the world of online writing.

Before I started a formal newsletter, I wrote Medium articles about Apple Silicon Macs.

My Start

Published in July of 2020, my first post was about 3 Little-Known Benefits of Apple Silicon Macs.

At this point, I was still using my ancient MacBook Air. When Apple Silicon was announced, I was excited - I desperately needed an upgrade and M1 was perfect for me.

All things considered, the post performed decently well.

That’s not important though - the key point is that my post was invited to Mac O’Clock, an Apple-related publication on Medium.

As a result, every post I publish has the opportunity to be sent to thousands of readers, primarily because my first article was found by the right people at the right time.

In September 2020, I wrote another article about Apple Silicon Macs. That article was mostly an experiment - I wrote it for fun during my virtual English class.

Yet, it became even more popular than my first post.

It wasn’t anything crazy (maybe a few hundred views), but it blew my mind that people were reading and interacting with stuff I created.

While I tried to make attempts to continue writing about tech, I didn’t have the discipline to create more posts. That, in combination with Calculus and Chemistry homework, meant that I wouldn’t create a post for a long time.

A New Drive

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

That would change in July of 2021.

I was feeling entrepreneurial(?). I’m not sure how to describe the feeling - I felt the need to start a personal project, a blog, a business, or something else along those lines.

I chose to restart my blogging journey - it was summer and I had more free time than I needed.

I had to choose a topic - I was stuck between productivity, studying, and technology. Productivity interested me, studying was my expertise, and technology was where I had an “unfair advantage” (thanks to Mac O’Clock + my iPad).

I couldn’t make a decision, so I decided to test out all three.

Overstudying

That was when Overstudying (the predecessor of Overoptimize) began. Like Overoptimize, Overstudying was a Substack newsletter.

My first article was about how I broke my YouTube addiction. Since I couldn’t submit the post to Mac O’Clock, it had little traction. At that point, I realized that the best choice was to do something related to Apple. That way, I could get into Mac O’Clock and drive traffic to Overstudying.

My second article was about how I learn coding on my iPad. While I tried to submit it to Mac O’Clock, it was rejected. Another publication reached out to me though, and the article became somewhat popular.

That’s when I realized the importance of publications on Medium.

There was a problem though - that publication was about programming. While I was interested in coding, it wasn’t something I could endlessly write about.

I knew I had to get accepted into Mac O’Clock. That meant that Overstudying would have to transition to an iPad-focused newsletter.

My next post was about the best free note-taking apps for iPads. Thankfully, that post was accepted by Mac O’Clock.

The Start of Overoptimize

Since I was already limited to iPads, continuing with Overstudying seemed like a mistake.

Overstudying restricted my content to study tips, while Overoptimize gave me more freedom to write about whatever I want.

Because of a Substack rule, I decided to make a brand new publication rather than changing the URL of Overstudying.

And that’s when Overoptimize started.

Initially, growth was slow. After 1 month (October 12th), I had a grand total of five subscribers.

A Small Boost

By October 22, I had reached eight subscribers.

The following day, I decided to publish a post on Reddit.

It blew up.

I remember that day in detail - we ordered takeout (I think it was sushi) and watched a movie on our projector.

I checked my phone at one point, and I saw a single “new subscriber” notification.

Feeling happy, I turned my phone off, finished the movie, and went to sleep.

The following day, I woke up and went through my morning routine.

I checked my email, and I was in shock: there were 16 “new subscriber” notifications in my email.

In less than 24 hours, my subscriber count skyrocketed from 8 to 25.

Death Valley

Unfortunately, the sudden spike was an anomaly.

From October 25, 2021 to June 4, 2022, my growth was incredibly slow.

In 222 days, Overoptimize grew by just 60 subscribers.

The main reason for this low rate was my inconsistency: I was already posting at inconsistent times, and the problem became worse when I took a break for my AP tests.

At this point, I was worried. Would Overoptimize ever grow? Would it ever be successful?

I expected Overoptimize’s growth to follow an exponential graph, not a logarithmic graph.

The Summer Surge

And out of nowhere, something clicked.

Starting off with this post in collaboration with a classmate, Overoptimize suddenly embarked on a journey of growth.

My guess is that a combination of consistency, luck, and guest posts/collaborations drew more people to Overoptimize.

In July, I also bumped up to posting twice per week. While email statistics did drop a little, Overoptimize continued to grow.

From June 4, 2022 to September 4, 2022 (3 months), Overoptimize grew by 143 subscribers.

Compared to my “Death Valley” period, Overoptimize grew almost 6 times faster over the summer.

Final Thoughts

As of the time of writing (September 8, 2022), Overoptimize has 236 subscribers.

It’s been quite a journey - I’m genuinely thankful for every subscriber that has supported me over the past year.

I’m especially thankful for anyone who’s shared Overoptimize, given me advice, and helped out with posts.

As always, thanks for reading.

Adi