Substack Bestseller Badge: Thank You to All My Subscribers

Substack gave me a “Bestseller Badge”, and I want you to get one, too.

In September and October of 2022, I started earnestly writing with Substack. If you're thinking of doing the same thing, I think you should start writing today!

Here is how I did it, in case it is helpful to you. And if you need help or hints, and/or would like to co-author together, just let me know.

As soon as I wrote, people started reading, as seen below:

Above: The more I wrote, the more people subscribed. The first big increase in readership occurred in Oct 2022, when I imported my email list of 700 contacts gained from my main website, https://arandaMDenterprises.com

Everyone stayed with me. I am very grateful, because I probably would have stopped writing if people had instead flocked away;).

My readership steadily increased.

The next big readership increase occurred when Karen Kingston went missing and the medical freedom movement seemed to ignore it.

I became more of myself. And I got passionately involved.

I implored the public to pray, contacted Karen's brother Ron, and eventually served as their family spokesperson. Together with Carolina Galvan, we pushed and shoved, pulled teeth, and spent hours together on the phone.

At the suggestion of a Substack reader, we started a Prayer Chain. Many great prayer warriors donned their battle gear and prayed commanding prayers.

Writing and responding to comments had its ups and downs. On the one hand, staunch Christians agreed in the power of prayer. On the other hand, I was accused by another doctor of being a fake Christian who was trying to take the spotlight off of Karen, and I saw the ugliest side of a very small part of humanity. I know that Carolina and Ron saw the same things, in different ways.

At times, I still struggle with the power of evil and how contaminating it can be. It can bring in doubt, fear, and abandonment, or it can make you stronger.

In late August, as I covered Karen’s story and people like Stew Peters tweeted my Substack article searching for her, my Substack readership views went to over 17,000 views on one day.

Above: The more I write, the more people read. The less I write, the fewer views I have. Funny how that works!

Much of my readership was garnered from my 38K Twitter/X audience @TheRebelPatient, as many readers have been with me for over ten years.

Of course, X doesn't like Substack; they minimize their post views:

To counteract this adverse X effect, I try to participate in Twitter Spaces to share my writings Live with people as we approach different medical freedom (or Satanic) topics in real time.

With the passing of each day, we worried that Karen was kidnapped, poisoned, or worse yet, that she was alone. After all, by his own account, Dr. Rashid Buttar had been poisoned after drinking water at a CNN interview. Karen knew this. We all did.

As days stretched into weeks, my writings created controversy as the public demanded more details while we simultaneously and painstakingly backtracked Karen’s footsteps to extract them from a variety of Mexican sources that kept changing their stories.

It helped to publicly track sequential events for everyone, so we had it as a “Missing Persons Timeline”.

Together, we prayed that Karen would be found alive and well. Nothing made all of us happier than that fine, elated day when Karen's family heard her voice.

And what a tremendous relief it was that day when she was found!

Since the day that Karen was found, Ron and I have committed to setting up a missing persons tracking system, so that medical freedom fighters don't have to learn everything from scratch, but can instead follow a mechanism to help facilitate better results.

What Substack Has Done for Me

While I surrendered my California medical license, I continue to help. I started a private member association (PMA) and am now an independent journalist. Both activities get put into my nonprofit, and I have not yet pulled any salary.

To accommodate the decreased income since surrendering my license, we downsized and now live in a small mobile home. The best part is that we are survivors who need very little, and we are storing our treasures in heaven.

I was surprised and delighted to get a recent email from Substack, congratulating me for subscriptions that reached a hundred paid subscribers. The badge implies more, but I wanted to be honest with you, as you may see this on my profile:

I have always given away almost as many subscriptions as are paid.

Above: “Comps” are my gifts to a subscriber, and “Gifts” are from one subscriber to another.

I love giving gifts. Every so often, I'll go through my analytics and gift free trials to top readers who open most of my email posts, because Substack provides that data.

And if you cannot afford a subscription, I immediately gift it to you, no questions asked. No waiting, no explanations.

I’m not a mega-audience Substack writer like Dr. Meryl Nass or Robert Yoho, who may boast thousands or tens of thousands of paid subscribers. I'm just a small writer in a lake of big writers, and we are all happy for one another.

The Future

I shall continue to keep abreast of major news and events - especially those on the dark, evil side - so that we can shine the light on them, pray about them, receive Biblical insight and inspiration, … and so that I can use the gift of writing that God gave me.

Thank you for allowing me to write!