Six conclusions from our reader survey
There's still time for you to help shape the future of El Boletín
As we approach edition ten of El Boletín - and the final edition of the season before the Christmas break - I’ve been reflecting on the journey so far.
Using the audience data provided by Substack, the popularity (or not) of various posts and notes, and the responses so far to the El Boletín reader survey - I’ve been pondering six conclusions about what’s working well for our growing community of advanced Spanish learners - and how I can keep making El Boletín even more useful on your journey to fluency.
But we’re a new newsletter, so the sample size for these conclusions is small. And so I wanted to share those conclusions with you all: to see if they feel right to you, and to see if you agree.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
- Gareth
1. Our ‘average reader’ is from the United States, has an upper-intermediate to lower-advanced level of Spanish, and is a working professional or retired.
Our readers are mostly based in the United States (50%), with smaller contingencies in Spain (20%) and the UK (15%), and a small handful scattered elsewhere across Europe and the Americas. We cluster around the upper intermediate (B2) to lower advanced (C1) levels - with some outliers either side. According to our reader survey, most readers are working professionals or retired, and skew slightly older (55+).
This lines up well with the ‘ideal reader’ I imagined when I first started writing the newsletter. As noted in my original ‘About’ page - I believe that at lower levels, there are so many sources of support (from teachers, YouTube channels, Duolingo - even right here on Substack). But once you reach upper intermediate and above, you need (and want) to start practising with native content.
And the trouble is this: when there’s so much content out there - and when we all live busy lives with jobs, families and other commitments - it’s hard to find the time to seek out interesting and useful content from the Spanish-speaking world. And it’s hard to keep your Spanish alive - without plateauing, or even going backwards.
I hope that’s where El Boletín comes in.
2. Posts with guest contributors and written in Spanish do well. Political topics less so.
The most popular post so far was the fifth edition of El Boletín below (with 19 likes), while the least popular was the eighth edition (with just 6 likes).
Alongside that, we consistently have a strong open rate, averaging just over 50% (with the industry average being between 20-30%) - suggesting high engagement. Indeed, all of our survey respondents said they read El Boletín every week.
It’s hard to draw conclusion for exactly why the popularity of those two posts differ.
Edition five included three guest contributors: including a recipe for Mexican hot chocolate from our friends at Inspired by Mexico (in Spanish); a guest post diving into Toledo from Miguel at History of Spain - and Charlie Marrez sharing his experiences learning English as a Spanish speaker.
The eighth edition opened with a link to an interview with the UN Secretary General during COP30, and featured just one guest contributor: the brilliant Casey Kelly sharing her experiences of learning Spanish.
Both editions contained links to YouTube videos (one on Spanish football podcasters, and the other on the Mascho Piro tribe in Peru).
Potential conclusions? Guest contributions are welcome. Text in Spanish directly in the newsletter does well. Politics is less popular. But I’d certainly welcome your thoughts.
3. Curated reading, listening and culture are consistently voted the most popular sections - but curated community and glossaries are less so.
As part of our reader survey, we asked the community which sections of the newsletter they found most interesting and enjoyable, and which they don’t. Interestingly, even from such a small sample size, a fairly strong trend emerged.
Over 80% of responders said that the curated reading and curated culture sections were their favourite parts - closely followed by the curated listening section (50%).
This tracks with the answers above: with most of our readers here to find interesting and useful resources from the Spanish-speaking world to keep working on their fluency and expand their vocabulary.
I found it more surprising that the curated community section, featuring an interview with a fellow Spanish learner, was consistently voted the least popular section - followed by the free glossaries I used to produce in earlier editions. I know I’ve certainly enjoyed hearing about other people’s experiences of learning the language - and I’m truly grateful for everyone who’s taken the time to contribute over previous editions.
The question becomes - if we were to replace this for the next season of El Boletín in 2026, what would we replace it with? I’d love to hear suggestions from you all.
4. Notes which share my own experiences learning Spanish - and the joy and human connections that come with it - seem to perform well. Shameless self-promotion less so.
Again, strong trends are emerging on which notes are proving more popular with readers, and which are not.
It appears that posts which share my own experiences with learning Spanish - the joy I feel in discovering a cool new resource or cultural snippet, the moments of human connection that come with speaking it, and the sneak peaks behind the scenes at El Boletín - seem to do well.
I also find that posts which say a little about what will be included in the upcoming weekend’s edition perform well, too.
Understandably, notes which blatantly attempt to convert followers into subscribers, or encourage restacks or recommendations, tend to do less well.
Shameless self-promotion is often needed when you’re trying to get a newsletter off the ground - but going forward, I plan to include less of those notes, and let the newsletter speak for itself.
And you’ll certainly never receive click-bait - regardless of however many views it might drive. Because authenticity and quality are important.
5. Posting weekly on a Saturday morning feels right - with breaks to avoid burnout and maintain the joy of sharing resources from the Spanish-speaking world.
When I first started writing El Boletín, I wanted to choose a posting cadence that I could both maintain consistently (alongside the day job!), and would also be useful for the advanced Spanish learners I hoped to connect with.
Substacks which post daily seem to grow quicker, but I know that would never be sustainable for me. And moreover, I don't think that’s helpful for other busy, working professionals who want to keep their Spanish alive alongside their busy lives.
Instead, I feel like one issue a week, every Saturday morning, has been working well.
It gives me the time and headspace to curate each section with care - using examples from the Spanish-speaking world that I genuinely enjoy. And I hope it provides my readers with a manageable slice of Spanish culture that they can enjoy each weekend, in a relaxed way, with their weekend coffee.
I’m planning to build in regular breaks, splitting El Boletín into three seasons, with breaks for Easter, Summer and Christmas. I haven’t decided exactly how that will look yet - but regular breaks will allow me to keep El Boletín going sustainably, avoid burnout, and keep sharing the Spanish content I love. Because it’s been a pleasure connecting with you all so far.
6. In the longer-term, El Boletín could go on the road - to bring you the sights, sounds and joys of Spanish-speaking culture, first-hand.
Finally, as part of the reader survey, I asked the community what they’d like to see from the newsletter in the medium to longer term - and 100% of responders said the same thing: to take El Boletín on the road.
To not only recommend that cool museum, cultural sight or quirky accommodation, but to visit in person and report back with first-hand photos.
To not only describe the Catalan tradition of la calçotada from afar, but to experience it - and send back videos of the barbecue, the smoke, and that delightfully messy sauce.
And to not only recommend podcasts to help you practice your listening skills - but to include real-world audio clips and interviews with native speakers, to bring you closer to the cultural immersion which is crucial to making the jump from advanced to fluent.
I can’t deny that is something I’d love to do - and as I travel on holiday to the Spanish-speaking world, I’ll do my best to report back. But to do so consistently, I think two things would need to be true.
Firstly, I’d need to wait until El Boletín has a large enough audience that it could support a full-time income. Of course, that day may never come.
And secondly, I’d want to work out how it would be different to the sea of expat lifestyle, slow travel and digital nomad content that’s already out there.
Because, most importantly, I want El Boletín to be authentic, high-quality, and useful specifically for advanced Spanish students.
Putting all of the above together, what does the future hold for El Boletín’s next season from January 2026?
El Boletín will continue to be with you every Saturday morning, with guest contributors, and content selected to be useful specifically to advanced Spanish learners looking to keep progressing towards fluency.
It will focus on carefully curated reading, listening and cultural picks - with more written in Spanish, and more of my personal journey, human connections, and joy in exploring the Spanish-speaking world.
And in the long term, I’d love to take El Boletín on the road, to share first-hand some of the sights, sounds and cultural immersion which are key to fluency - but only when the time is right, and only when El Boletín can provide unique, authentic and high-quality content which is genuinely useful for you all.
If you have any other ideas on the future of El Boletín, I’d love to hear them in the comments below, via substack message - or if you’re reading this by email, simply by hitting reply. I read and respond to everyone.
Thanks again to you all for reading - and stay turned for the final edition of the season next week!
- Gareth
My experience with the likes on a post is that people will find the past articles later. Some of my posts that I thought were flops have been gaining traction over time as new people find me and scans my archives.
But it’s great to get feedback and tweak accordingly, of course.
I’m unsure what the difference is between you finding natives to share their culture where they are vs having you do it?
Gareth -this all seems very thoughtful and directionally correct. Exciting!
Have you thought about having us (your subscribers) help you take El Boletín on the road?
If you told us the kind of thing you’re looking for, I’m sure most of us who live in hispanohablante communities would be glad to create and send you UGC that you could use in the newsletter if it meets your standards.