I got some exciting news today when I opened my inbox.
Thanks to the kind support of now over one hundred paid subscribers I have become a bestseller on Substack!
That means a lot to me.
It is not just a number, but real people who want to support me, which I’m grateful for. I have worked hard almost every week writing the newsletter or working on a book since 2021. I have written over 280 posts, threads, and emails since then. I have also shared the publishing process of all my chess books. I enjoy the process, but it also feels good to succeed, so thank you!
It all started when I was writing my first chess book “Blindfold Endgame Visualization”. I promised everyone who signed up a free pdf and that was how the first 400 or so joined. Since then more have signed up and now 4,500 people get the newsletter in their inbox.
In a recent survey, I asked you what kind of content you want. It seems like the most important to you and the other readers is chess improvement, but besides this subject, there is a good divide between the other subjects I write about.
Last week’s newsletter got a lot of good feedback. I reposted it on Lichess where it has been featured on the front page, so I think people found the issues with gamification relatable.
So, I will continue with what I have been doing and now that The Chess Gym has transitioned into a free Discord community (feel free to join), I will also have more time to devote to working on my chess and writing this newsletter.
This week I’m writing an article about the accuracy score (CAPS2) used on Chess.com. Hopefully, I will be able to share something new and interesting on this topic with you.
To celebrate the new milestone I’m offering a 20% discount on a yearly subscription until Friday!
Whether you’ve been here since the first email or joined recently, each of you has helped.
Thank you for reading.
/Martin
Well deserved award, Martin, congrats! 🤩
Congrats on reaching 100+ paid subscribers. I am just beginning the journey on substack and am glad to see that a chess creator can get good independent support from the community. Bravo!