404: Telling stories about the things no-one wants to talk about (with Not Exactly Ana)

How to Write for a Living · May 3, 2026 · 29m

Season 4, episode 4 is here!Not Exactly Ana didn’t know what Substack was when she joined. She wasn’t a seasoned writer or a marketing expert. She was a 26-year-old Bulgarian woman who had just walked away from her cleaning job in Austria to chase something she’d always wanted.Eight months later, the results speak for themselves.What we covered- How Anna built close to 3,000 subscribers without a strategy, a niche playbook, or any prior knowledge of the platform.- Why she chose to write about mental health and personal stories rather than leaning on her psychology knowledge for something…