Looking for advice on growing a niche on Substack

Hi everyone!

I’m relatively new to Substack and would love to learn from people who have been here longer.

I’m building a very specific niche around making technical concepts easier to understand through visual, hand-drawn doodles. I’ve noticed that when I share this kind of content on other platforms, it does get some reach.
But I’m struggling to understand how discovery works on Substack itself.

How do you get your work in front of the right audience here, especially when you’re trying to build a niche rather than just write about broad topics?

And how do you get meaningful feedback from readers — to understand whether what you’re creating is actually useful?

Would love to hear what worked (or didn’t work) for people who have grown a niche on Substack. Thanks! 🙂

reddit.com
u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 4 days ago

I tried a flipbook-style Doodle on Data Analysis concept

I’ve been making these little Data Analysis 101 doodles for cat people, and for this one I tried something different — a flipbook-style format.

Instead of putting everything into one busy infographic, I’ve broken the story into separate scenes, so each one focuses on a single idea and hopefully doesn’t demand too much attention at once.

I’ve also incorporated feedback I received on my previous posts, especially around making the visuals easier to follow.

This one is about what to do when you join a data project that’s already in motion.

Would be happy to hear your feedback on this!

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 4 days ago
▲ 32 r/DataAnalytics_India+4 crossposts

I tried a flipbook-style Doodle on Data Analysis concept

I’ve been making these little Data Analysis 101 doodles for cat people, and for this one I tried something different — a flipbook-style format.

Instead of putting everything into one busy infographic, I’ve broken the story into separate scenes, so each one focuses on a single idea and hopefully doesn’t demand too much attention at once.

I’ve also incorporated feedback I received on my previous posts, especially around making the visuals easier to follow.

This one is about what to do when you join a data project that’s already in motion.

Would be happy to hear your feedback on this!

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 4 days ago
▲ 177 r/SQL+2 crossposts

I made another cat doodle about data analysis

I tried explaining a data analysis concept in a fun, visual way — for cat lovers. 😸

Would love to hear what you think! Any feedback or suggestions are very welcome :)

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 8 days ago
▲ 865 r/DataAnalytics_India+7 crossposts

I made a little cat doodle about data analysis 🐱

I tried explaining a data analysis concept in a fun, visual way — for cat lovers. 😸
Would love to hear what you think! Any feedback or suggestions are very welcome :)

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 11 days ago
▲ 33 r/LearnDataAnalytics+6 crossposts

DIKW hand drawn doodle

Hi everyone!

I've shared a few SQL doodles here before, and this time I wanted to try something different.

I made a hand-drawn doodle to explain the journey from Data → Information → Knowledge → Wisdom using a wardrobe analogy. The idea is to help beginners in data analytics and business intelligence understand how raw data eventually leads to meaningful actions.

I'd really appreciate any feedback, thanks!

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 1 month ago
▲ 47 r/learnSQL+1 crossposts

Episode II of SELECT * FROM LIFE;

One thing about me: I absolutely love making art. 🎨

(You can probably tell from the slightly unnecessary number of sketch pens I own. 😅)

Whenever I'm about to draw, I instinctively organize them—first by color, then by shade. It makes finding the exact pen so much easier, and I can spend more time creating instead of searching.

And somewhere in the middle of doing that today, my data brain interrupted:

"Wait... that's basically ORDER BY." 😂

So this became Episode II of my SELECT * FROM LIFE; series.

The idea behind this series is simple: taking everyday moments and turning them into SQL doodles. I'm hoping it makes SQL feel a little less intimidating—and a little more fun.

This is also a little different from the doodles I've shared before. Most of my older ones featured cats 🐱, but I've been experimenting with different styles.

Would love to hear what you think! Feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future SQL concepts are always welcome. 😊

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 1 month ago

I Tried Teaching SQL with Cat Doodles 😸 (Would Love Your Feedback!)

I recently tried a fun little experiment to make SQL feel a bit more approachable—using hand-drawn cat doodles to explain SQL concepts. 😸
So far I've made two lessons:

Lesson 1: SELECT and FROM
PAWQL = SQL for Cat People Lesson #1
Lesson 2: WHERE
PAWQL = SQL for Cat People Lesson #2

The idea is to explain SQL visually, with simple doodles instead of walls of text. I'm still experimenting with the format, so I'd genuinely love to hear what works, what doesn't, and what could be improved.

Thanks for taking a look, and I appreciate any feedback! 😊

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 2 months ago
▲ 118 r/SQL

PAWQL #2: WHERE

I’m trying something fun to make SQL feel a little more friendly (especially for fellow cat lovers 😸). This doodle explains WHERE (I’ve already explained SELECT and FROM in one of my previous doodles!) — and I’d really appreciate any feedback. Thanks for taking a look! :)

u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8757 — 2 months ago