One note. 17,000 subscribers.

A “right place, right time" story a decade in the making.

On March 2nd 2025, Will Parker Anderson posted his first note on Substack. He had exactly two subscribers. Two weeks later, Will’s subscribers count was over 17,000.

How is this possible?! What’s his secret?

The secret is that there is no secret!

The note was nothing special: “Hey friends, I’m a senior editor at Penguin Random House. New to substack, but I’ll be posting tips about writing and publishing here weekly. Excited to connect with you all.”

Will’s massive growth came down to being the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Simple, not easy.

• The right person: Senior editor at big publishing company giving writing advice.

• In the right place: Substack is a platform for writers. Maybe not every subscriber has a newsletter or aspires to publish, but it’s safe to assume a large enough portion are interested enough to subscribe.

• At the right time: On March 12, Substack announced having crossed 5 million paid subscriptions, just four months after having reached 4 million.

Sure, there might have been a lot of luck in there, too. For whatever reason, his note might have tickled the Substack algorithm in just the right way to reach escape velocity and go viral.

But that only explains the “right time” factor.

There’s an apocryphal story about an elderly Picasso being approached in a restaurant by a diner who asked for a sketch on a napkin. The master took the napkin and in just a few strokes produced a portrait in his unmistakable style. “That will be 50,000 francs, madame.” “How is it possible,” exclaimed the woman, “it took you no more than thirty seconds!” “No,” replied Picasso as he folded the napkin and put it into his pocket, “it has taken me forty years to do that.”

Becoming a senior editor at one of the world’s top publishing houses takes years of effort. And if you check Will’s LinkedIn, you’ll indeed see that he’s been in the business since 2013.

So, well done Will. I am one of the many subscribers and am looking forward to your advice.