Last week we partnered with of Shop Rat to kick off New York Fashion Week with a series of panel discussions, featuring writers and retailers, on the state of shopping in 2025. One panel seemed particularly valuable to the wider audience of writers and creators on Substack: “What Makes a Shopping Newsletter?”

Here, we’ve collected a few of the most salient clips and quotes from the panel of experts: of Magasin, of Consider Yourself Cultured, and of the invite-only newsletter Opulent Tips and the Washington Post’s new fashion-week Substack. It’s a glance at one of the fastest-growing categories on Substack, including reflections that are likely to resonate with creators in any category.

When you guys started your respective newsletters, what references were you looking at, if any?

Rachel: I was informed by two old-school magazine experiences that I’d had, one of which was working at Vanity Fair when Graydon [Carter] was there, and the gift guide was put together by this woman named Punch Hutton. The level of discernment that Punch had about, like, “We can’t just put any children’s Bentley in the Neiman Marcus catalog gift guide. It has to be the best children’s Bentley.” I was always really struck by that kind of discernment about these really strange and eccentric things.

And the other was working at GQ with Will Welch. Will would always say when we were looking at products, “Would you actually use this? Would you really wear this?” And that was really shocking to me, because having worked at several fashion magazines, that wasn’t really a question you asked. It was [more] sort of “What’s the advertiser need?”

Laura: I came to similar conclusions by seeing what not to do. I was at InStyle. I learned a million things from them, but it was at the peak of women’s mass media trying to reach as many people with affiliate content, and it really diluted the message, I think. So while it was an amazing learning experience, when I decided to go out on my own, I said I really need to dig a lot deeper and figure out what I want to say and what’s actually relevant, and what conversation really is going on with shoppers.

Jalil:  I used to work at Saks. There were certain aspects of my job where I didn’t really feel fulfilled in a creative sense. So I saw Substack as a way to get my thoughts about fashion and whatnot out there. And of course, Rachel’s newsletter is fantastic, and that was definitely an inspiration. Also, the writing of André Leon Talley.

What makes a good shopping story?

Rachel:  What at least your three newsletters [Laura, Jalil, and Emilia] and some of the others you mentioned have, is that they’re able to treat mood and ambience and these things that seem sort of ephemeral as news or information that’s actionable.

I remember the first time I opened your newsletter, Laura, I was like, this is like reading a newspaper. I mean, it’s organized, reported, and it’s so thorough. What propels something beyond a roundup of links is having that feeling of authority and storytelling.

Jalil:  Usually on Wednesdays [my posts] are kind of like a roundup situation, which is I think a common feature with a lot of Substacks. But the stories that I am most passionate about, the ones that really get me excited, are my lookbook stories, which really tap into the emotion and tap into the feelings that are abstract.

When I was at Saks, something that really frustrated me was, why are we not teaching our customers how to style their things in so many different ways?

People were buying a lot of stuff, but they were also returning it. So my thought was, okay, you want to curtail people returning their items, you should show them like 10 different ways of how to wear a flip-flop. So that’s what I think I really morphed my newsletter to in the end. I want to tap into the feelings that I’m feeling at the moment, what’s happening on the runway, but also, “These are 15 ways that you can wear a flip-flop and not feel lost.”

Laura: Whenever I see a shopping story and think, “I wish I wrote that,” it’s because the writer found something happening in the ether and has been able to articulate it just in time. You know? It’s just seeing it in that moment and calling it out. I’m always so mad whenever someone else gets it.

I think it’s about tapping into something that maybe everyone’s feeling or sensing or wondering. And it can be down to a super-specific product, or nebulous, or a brand, but it’s fun to see those things that unite us all in the subconscious.

Emilia:  Totally. And I think something that I really love about Substack, too, is that I’m not seeing the stories that are like “everyone on TikTok is wearing x, y, and z.” I was so sick of writing those stories, because I felt like I didn’t believe what I was saying and I didn’t see these trends in real life.

How have shopping newsletters shaped consumer habits in the past five years?

Laura: One thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of [fashion newsletters] are so deeply linked to the affiliate world and the ShopMy of it all. And obviously that’s a huge part of how I make my living, so I am always going to stand by that, because I still think you can make great content and have [affiliate links] be part of it. But I think that the fashion newsletter boom, for those with less journalistic integrity maybe, created a lot of brands. And so it’s kind of been a kingmaker, for better or worse. It’s just something to call out, I think.

Emilia: Yeah. I mean, this is not a bad thing—I wore them the other day—but like the “newsletter pants.”

Jalil: Certain brands have really benefited from the exposure on Substack.

Emilia:  Smaller brands too, which is really cool to see. And something that I’ve enjoyed, too, is getting to know these people behind these brands a bit more. Something that I’ve learned is that bigger publications can cover these bigger brands, and we can cover the small [brands]—like, there’s enough for everybody to go around. It’s not one or the other.

How do you decide what goes in a newsletter?

Jalil: For my send-out that is more link-focused, I have a running note of things I want to talk about. And then when it comes to my send-outs that are more lookbooks, I pre-style everything. So everything that I shoot will make it into the newsletter. And I have a rack of clothes dedicated to styling that, so if you’re on the rack, then you’ll be in the newsletter.

Laura:  I publish multiple times a week, so there’s room for lots of stuff. When I do a news send, I wait until right before I’m actually going to publish it, basically, to write everything, so that it feels timely. And I go through my infinite list of things that are happening, have launched, or sales that are going on, and just see what feels right. So the decision-making doesn’t take any time at all.

Rachel: It has to be something that I would buy and that I just don’t have the money to buy at the moment. And then sometimes I think, “Who’s someone who doesn’t really like me?” and if they were opening this, would they be like, “Ugh. I hate to admit it, but she kind of knows her stuff.”

How has Substack changed Fashion Week?

Rachel:  I like that now there are more people from backgrounds that aren’t necessarily legacy media coming to Fashion Week, and that there are events like this that become a part of Fashion Week.

 A year ago, I wrote a piece where I talked to maybe all three of you about how this was just beginning, and that was only a year ago. So think of what’s going to happen next. I think it’s exciting.

Emilia:  It’s amazing. I reread that article this morning, and I couldn’t believe that that was just last year. The article was like, “Substackers are at Fashion Week, they’re front-row!” Also, like, “Where do we put them?” Which I thought was a really funny question. It’s like, “Are they influencers? Are they writers?”

Do you think the Substack fashion bubble will pop, or is there space for more writers?

Jalil: There are so many updates happening to Substack itself. Like, you can have a podcast, there’s Notes, there’s a little bit of everything on there. I think the different points that are coming on the platform, maybe using it in different ways, will give rise to fresh ideas, [new] takes.

Rachel:  If you look at 10 or 12 years ago, there were all of these fashion bloggers, including a woman on this stage who might be me. There was this kind of [feeling] like, “Oh my god, is legacy media going to be able to compete with these bloggers?” And basically what happened is legacy media just took a bunch of lessons from those people, and then the survivors became influencers. And there hasn’t been fashion blogging in the way that there was for a long time.

And now I think what we’re seeing happen with Substack—and I would also extend this to commentary on Instagram and TikTok—is that you have this new generation of voices again who are making legacy media look a little bit behind the ball.

What’s interesting is that from a purely pragmatic perspective, it’s much more complicated to make money from selling things for another company versus from selling them on your own Substack. If you’re rounding up links for InStyle or for Harper’s Bazaar, you’re not getting that affiliate revenue the magazine is. So I think that’s something that is going to maintain the independence of a lot of these voices.

Emilia: Totally. I always say: if you’re thinking about it, do it. If you’re interested, then it’s still going, and you should do it.

Interviews were edited for length and clarity.

AI is here—at schools, in memes, and, yes, even on Substack. But beyond sniffing out its usage—who’s being too liberal with the em dashes or the “It’s not [this]. It’s [this]” constructions—AI’s actual applications in creative work are hazy.

So we asked publishers directly: Are you using AI? How, and why?

Who we heard from

We surveyed over 2,000 Substack publishers, including writers, artists, podcasters, and video creators, from around the world. The survey was designed to reflect key segments of Substack’s publishing community.

Among respondents:

• 21% were bestsellers (with at least 100 paid subscribers), and 70% run paid newsletters.

• There were publishers at every revenue level, from those running free publications to some earning seven figures.

• Most have been on Substack for one to two years, with 20% reporting four or more years on the platform.

• They publish in a wide range of primary categories, including Culture, Technology, Literature, Politics, Art & Illustration, Humor, Education, and more.

What do we mean by “AI”?

“Artificial intelligence” can mean a lot of things, depending on who you ask. When publishers in our survey talked about AI, they were usually referring to generative tools and large language models—the ChatGPTs and Claudes of the world. But AI also runs quietly behind the scenes, embedded in familiar apps and tools that aren’t explicitly called AI.

That ambiguity makes it harder to pin down how publishers think about and engage with AI. While the public conversation often centers on content generation and its implications for art and authenticity, publishers on Substack are often using AI tools in more varied and nuanced ways1.

Who’s using AI?

Out of about 2,000 surveyed publishers:

• 45.4% said they’re using AI

• 52.6% said they’re not

• 2% were unsure

Based on our results, a typical AI-using publisher is 45 or over, more likely to be a man, and tends to publish in categories like Technology and Business. He’s not using AI to generate full posts or images. Instead, he’s leaning on it for productivity, research, and to proofread his writing. Most who use AI do so daily or weekly and have been doing so for over six months.

• Publishers 45 and over were more likely to use AI than those under 45.

• Men reported higher adoption than women (55% vs. 38%).

• Women were more likely to express concerns about using AI than men (67% vs. 47%).

AI adoption didn’t correlate significantly with revenue: usage remained fairly similar across revenue levels.2

In the responses, AI adoption varied widely across publishing categories3. Technology, Business, and Finance had the highest rates of adoption, while Literature, Music, and Art had some of the lowest. A 64-point spread between the Technology and Literature categories marks the widest divide in the responses.

How it’s being used

Publishers who use AI bring it to a diverse range of research and creative workflows, from summarizing legal filings to parsing data to optimizing their work for SEO. Some have even used AI as a virtual business coach.

Surveyed publishers said they’re primarily using AI tools for knowledge work (research, writing assistance, ideation) rather than for content generation. Of generative use cases, image generation was the most common, at 41%.

These publishers don’t always see LLMs as distinct from their innate creativity, sometimes describing them as a kind of mirror. One creator said that the tool “remembers my way of articulating ideas.” Another wrote, “It reflects back to me my voice and streamlines my creative vision.” As the tools become more attuned to a user’s patterns of thought and expression, the boundary between creator and assistant begins to blur.

A number of publishers described AI as especially helpful for accessibility. “I have several disabilities, and AI helps me organize my thoughts cohesively and streamlines my writing process. I’m able to brainstorm, refine, and keep a schedule in ways I couldn’t on my own,” said one publisher.

“As a dyslexic with ADHD, it allows me as a round peg to fit into a square neurotypical world and for me to be able to express myself.”

“It really helps people like me, with ADHD and dyslexia, to thrive on a written-word platform, which was very difficult for us without AI.”

“I am blind, and the applications of AI for increasing accessibility are enormous, so my views on [AI] are fairly nuanced.”

“I have ADHD, and using AI is like having an editor and organizer for my thoughts.”

Language translation also surfaced as a notable use case. Nearly 17% of AI-using publishers said they rely on these tools to translate writing, audio, and video across languages.

Respondents under 45 were more likely to rely on AI for translation. Younger publishers also said they were more likely to use AI for ideation and writing help than the older cohort. Those 45 and over work more with AI for research and image generation. Audio- and video-related use cases show little variation by age.

When AI-using publishers were asked to estimate how much of their published content in the past three months had been AI-generated, “including AI-generated sentences, paragraphs, images, and videos,” most reported that they hadn’t used generative AI at all, or used it sparingly—though there is a small cohort that reported using it in 100% of their posts.

Nearly 85% of AI-using publishers use these tools daily or weekly.

Which tools are people using?

ChatGPT’s first-mover advantage still shows. Nearly 8 in 10 AI-using publishers report using it, far more than any other tool. Usage drops off from there, with Claude (28.2%) and Grammarly (27.9%) as the next most commonly used. Image and video generation tools like Midjourney (8.1%), Runway ML (1.6%), and Lumen5 (1.1%) remain relatively niche.

Many publishers independently named the AI-powered research engine Perplexity as a tool they use and love.

Several publishers expressed interest in tools that could help them better understand and grow their audiences—specifically around analytics, engagement, and audience insights.

How do publishers feel about AI?

Publishers’ outlook on AI is split sharply along usage lines. Those already using AI tools tend to be much more optimistic about the opportunity, enhancement, and new creative possibilities for their work, while those who haven’t adopted AI are far more likely to expect harm or disruption.

There were some points of overlap: both AI-using and non-using publishers voiced concerns about creative skills, plagiarism, and the environmental impacts of AI.

But on a personal basis, publishers who use AI overwhelmingly said that it adds value to their work.

When asked, “Imagine you were prevented from using AI in your work. What would you pay (US$/month) to regain access?” the average answer was nearly $140/month.

Still, slightly more than half of these AI-using publishers said they have at least some reservations and concerns about AI.

Many cited fears about AI eroding their creative style and instincts. “I want it to still be my voice, and I’m trying to find that balance,” one publisher wrote. Another said he was concerned that he would “lose my voice and my story, which is what people are here for.”

Ethical concerns were also widespread, especially around how AI is trained and whether original work is being used without permission4. “My novels have been pirated for AI. I don’t like the stealing of the IP,” wrote one publisher. Another said, “[AI training] is stealing content from creatives like me and creating derivative AI slop.”

Ethical concerns were also a priority for the 52% of the surveyed publishers who do not use AI tools: over three-quarters of them cited such concerns as a reason why they choose not to use AI.

These publishers were also concerned about creative atrophy. “Creativity is like a muscle. You have to use it or it withers away,” one wrote. “Outsourcing your creativity won’t help you in the long run.”

Publishers saw how AI could boost productivity but reflected on creativity as a fundamentally human act of emotional and intellectual transformation.

“The best part of being human is taking the time and energy to wrestle with complex emotions and information and turn it into art that inspires, uplifts, and makes other people feel seen and known.”

“Only a human who has experienced, seen, or studied the things he or she writes about can craft a factual and entertaining story,” one publisher noted. Another wrote, “Writers are willing to make that effort. We don’t need tools to do it for us, and the existence of these tools threatens our employment opportunities as well as the perceived importance of the work we do.”

Looking ahead

We’re still in the nascent stages of the AI revolution, and as the above chart suggests, there’s a sharp divide in how creators are thinking about the days ahead. Transparency around AI came up again and again in survey responses, as publishers raised questions not just about whether disclosure is necessary but how it should be handled, and what audiences should know.

One publisher had a particularly lucid vision of the future:

“We’re entering a spicy new era, where human-created content will be ‘premium.’ Faceless YouTube channels proliferate, and countless Medium articles are written by AI without disclosure. And we are only just getting started. . . The speed with which the tech can create passable content means that we will soon be inundated with machine-generated words. Authentic human writing and video will be sought out and prized above the noise.”

In all likelihood, the future of AI in the creator space isn’t going to be a binary choice between “AI” and “human creativity.” Instead, it will be formed by thousands of individual decisions about which tools serve a publisher’s individual goals and which detract from them.

And as AI continues to impact creators across industries, we’ll continue to host an open, evolving conversation where publishers can gather intelligence, share insights, and make informed decisions on their own terms.

Learn more about going live on Substack:

On getting creative with live videos

: This feature that we’re using right now, Substack Live, it’s a new thing for us. It’s something that we’ve developed relatively recently. And you have been one of the people who is using it not only very successfully but, in my view, very creatively. And I’d love to hear from you, how are you thinking about it? And what is the live piece of what you’ve been doing on Substack?

: Essentially, it’s 10 minutes of guided meditation, and then I take questions. And so what we’ve been doing recently, for example, is a series of live guided meditations starting on Sunday, running through Wednesday, to help people deal with the tumult around Trump’s inauguration. No matter where you stand, people have strong feelings. And so we’re creating a place where people can come, get a dose of sanity in the form of a meditation from me, and then ask questions.

On the benefits for paid subscribers versus free

: One of the benefits that we’ll be providing to our paid subscribers is we’ll create a chat very soon where only paid subscribers can submit their questions in advance, and those will get preferential treatment. We do a mix of live events for paid subscribers and for everybody. So [these] inauguration [meditations] will be for everybody.

We [also] did a bunch of stuff around the election. We did a series called Election Sanity that was free for everybody. And I also do a monthly paid-subscriber-only AMA, and I’m probably going to up the cadence on that to much, much more [frequent] because the response has been so good.

On the value of posting a live video after it ends

: What we’re seeing is that we get a certain amount of people who tune in live, but we get sometimes 10, 20, 30 times that [number] watching it asynchronously later.

On when to promote a live video

: So do you tell people, like, “Hey, this is coming up today. Tune in at this time.” And just give them a little taste of it? How do you promote on [the different] platforms?

: It really depends on the platform. On Substack, we’re trying to give plenty of notice. So today, we sent out an email to all of our subscribers saying that starting on Sunday, we will be doing Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—four days of programming around the inauguration. So we gave some heads-up and we gave times, so people can put it in their calendars.

On Instagram and on Notes, it’s more like, “Hey, this is happening right now. You should come check it out.”

On using collaborative live video to grow

: I have found that working with fellow Substackers has been really helpful. I mentioned I’m doing a series of lives around the inauguration— and will be participating in those lives with me. And I’ve done joint posts with . And I just got an email this morning from , and we’ll do a thing.

And so I actually think if you’re looking to grow, partnering with these other amazing people on the platform is a great opportunity.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

In the wake of the layoff, his adult children mentioned that Substack could be an option to explore. “Is that a sandwich shop?” Bob asked. But after a little further investigation and some help from a friend, he decided to give it a shot. 

Bob published a raw piece on his new Substack, , explaining what it felt like to be laid off after five and a half decades of service, and the subscribers started to pour in.  

“My god, it was instant. A giant whoosh,” he says. “I’m so energized. I still don’t understand it.” 

Within the first two months, it was clear to Bob that the move was the “golden opportunity of a lifetime.” He has more than doubled the $26-an-hour rate he had been making at the Davis Enterprise and expects to earn around $100,000 this year. “It didn’t seem like much of a risk to give Substack a try. How could I possibly have known what was just around the corner?”

On Substack, Bob continues to write a daily column about his life and local issues, imbuing it with the trademark familiarity that made him beloved among regular readers. One of his most popular columns, from 1997, looks at the joy and anguish of dropping off your youngest child at college; another details his colonoscopy. 

And although his audience has expanded—on the fifth day after launch, his column was already read in 43 states and 23 countries—his relationship with his readers remains just as intimate. In fact, more so, as readers respond in comments, private notes, and DMs from all over the world. “Thank you for making me laugh this morning, Bob,” wrote one. “I was having an attack of sadness, but I’m now ready to face the world again.” 

Bob’s story is part of a wider movement, where local news can thrive and where traditional media and Substack can work together to build a new and better ecosystem—one where writers own their work and their email list and can create a strong foundation for future revenue growth.

In this Q&A, Bob talks about local newspapers and democracy, the appeal of column writing, and why Substack is an unparalleled opportunity for writers. 

The Wary One

Join Bob Dunning, a highly opinionated columnist with over 50 years of experience, as he dives into a variety of topics with insight, humor and irony. From everyday happenings to family and community issues, Bob discusses the nuances of life.

By Bob Dunning

What’s your Substack about in one sentence? 

My Substack is a highly opinionated column about the meaning of our lives and everything that is happening around us, from family life to politics to everyday dilemmas to things that make us laugh and things that make us cry—a completely different topic with every column.

Has your view on traditional news media changed since leaving? 

People say, well, we still need the local paper because they defend democracy. But that’s a bit of a myth. A lot of these local papers are family-owned, and they have 16 members of the family not writing, just working there. Everyone in management inherited it. The sons are all publishers. They are getting paid way more than I am before I see a dime.

Substack has dramatically changed my opinion about the future of traditional newspapers.  It’s not for everyone, but I already have more subscribers than my former newspaper and am on track to make at least twice my annual salary. 

Newspapers are way too top-heavy with unnecessary management, meaning truly talented writers are looking to Substack to be fairly compensated for their efforts. 

I don’t need tens of thousands of subscribers to be successful. Just 2,000 paid subscribers results in $140,000 a year. No journalist working at a newspaper with a circulation of 2,000 would be making anything near that salary. In fact, no journalist at almost any newspaper is making that kind of salary. Substack’s compensation is not just generous; it’s off the charts. 

How has your life changed since starting The Wary One? 

Every day I look at my bank account, and there’s more money than there was before. It’s like getting a raise every single day. This income has obviously been incredibly helpful. My wife, Shelley, who also works full-time, and I have four kids in college. We have normal debts. We have always lived paycheck-to-paycheck. We don’t plan to change our lifestyle, because happiness is never based on money, but it has given us some welcome breathing room. 

The money is wonderful, but the most meaningful thing for me is the opportunity to continue writing my column on a regular basis and engage with readers all across the country and, literally, the world. This Substack opportunity goes way beyond the financial rewards.

What’s it like to report on the city you grew up in? 

After 55 years at the same paper in a small city, I figure I’ve offended everyone in town at least twice. But I’m consistent. I don’t play favorites. Pretty soon I might be praising one of those politicians who last year I offended.

I make it very clear in my writing that this is my opinion. And you can have your opinion. And yes, I park my car in the driveway—the garage was converted into a bedroom because we have so many kids—and occasionally some angry soul will toss a rock through the back window or toss a rotten egg or two on the porch. Worse things have happened to people who dare to publish their opinions. It’s tremendously counterbalanced by the love and kindness I feel in my hometown.

What made you stick to column writing all these years?

I was offered other jobs—at bigger papers and to be the editor—but as an editor I would have written my last word. The column is what I loved doing. I was a single dad with two young children, and every time I’d get an offer from a bigger paper, I’d take a deep breath and think about it, and ego would get in the way and say this is a great opportunity—but my stomach would just tie up in knots.

I would think about my kids and the wonderful life we had together. My paper allowed me to work from home. It was the 1970s, without the internet, and family was always my first priority in life. Your stomach tells you before your brain does. It didn’t ever quite feel right.

I was able to be the kind of dad I had wanted to be and always dreamed of being. So I stayed. After about 30 years, you begin to realize you’re probably a lifer. 

What’s your best piece of writing advice for other writers here?

Being everyday honest is the best policy. Be honest and consistent, and don’t pull any punches. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. Think about your topics and then just say it, without excuse or compromise. I still remember I had to take remedial English in college. You’re always only as good as your last column.

And when the complaints come, if you know you are right, double down. Say it again. But always, be a force for truth and decency and making the world a better place.

Subscribe to by on Substack. This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Disjointed

Traditional media and Substack can grow together

I’m working this week from Washington, D.C, where I come every so often for work reasons but also “my in-laws live here” reasons, and my temporary office is a hot desk situation in a coworking space that just happens to be on a lower floor in the Washington Post building. My position here, in the well-appointed dungeon of democracy’s most storied media …

Read more

2 years ago · 548 likes · 200 comments · Hamish McKenzie

Read more: Getting started with local news on Substack

This March, while on a two-week creative break to finish editing her new novel, left paid subscriptions rolling on her Substack, . Not a single subscriber canceled. “My readers were super-understanding. I felt so supported,” the author and podcaster says. “To me, the Hyphen subscription model is a creative support model, not just a content transaction.”

Like other independent publishers on Substack, Emma sets her own schedule. Part of creating your dream job, and making it a profitable business, means you aren’t tied to corporate policies and contracts. But it also requires knowing when and how to give yourself time off, since stepping away is essential to the creative process. 

“So often, the best ideas come to writers and creators when they are not being productive,” says , who researches and writes about creative routines and rituals in . For Iris Murdoch, it was looking out the window, for Ali Smith, wandering around the room, and for May Sarton, having “a strange empty day.” Mason says:

“Part of being a writer/artist/musician is figuring out your own creative rhythm—and that includes knowing when you need a rest. Like so many things about the creative process, I think it’s a combination of experience, trial and error, and listening to your gut.”

“Every single one of my book ideas I’ve had on holiday; ping! on a train or a plane, when I’m relaxed,” Emma says. “When I’m switched off and in break mode, something magical happens.” 

As summer nears in the Northern Hemisphere, we speak to writers and creators on Substack about how they approach taking time off—whether it’s to recharge, care for a growing family, or what writer calls “imagination maintenance”—with new ideas for your next break.

Paid PTO when you (and your audience) are the boss 

of is up-front on his About page that a paid subscription includes his four weeks per year of PTO—paid time off. “The time off is super-helpful to keep me from feeling like I’m tied down to this thing endlessly and can’t take a break,” he says. “I was really worried people would feel upset that I’m not delivering a post every week, considering they’re paying $15 a month for them, but no one cared. More so, people were happy for me to take time off. I’ve found that as long as you’re delivering great stuff regularly, it won’t hurt you to take days off.” He adds:

“​​For me, it’s less about boundaries and more about not feeling like I need to deliver a newsletter post that week. No one wants more stuff in their inbox. They want better stuff in their inbox. So if you can deliver better stuff by taking time off, readers will support that.”

“Just as regular workers get paid holidays, I don’t see the need to suspend payments while I’m off,” says , who writes on Substack. Sally took a few weeks off in April after her new book was published in paperback. She explained in a post to subscribers about needing a break following a lengthy book tour to spend time with her family. “I’m actually never really ‘off,’ because I’m always thinking about future posts even if I’m not writing them,” she says. Sally also takes vacation time off in August and December and is forthcoming about it with readers, who are supportive.

How to communicate breaks with your subscribers

Subscribers—who often relate to you personally—do want to support their favorite writers and creators in taking vacations and time off. When ’s took his first week off after a year of publishing daily, he shared the following note with subscribers:

“Good morning, Edinburgh. After more than a year of 5am starts to prep the 7am daily posts (and more than 1,000,000 words written), I’ve listened to everyone’s advice and will take next week off to recharge. The Minute will return to your inbox on Monday 13 May. Thank you for supporting this newsletter. Sorry if you miss it while I’m offline for a week! Here’s Friday’s Edinburgh Minute, followed by the weekend guide for paying subscribers.” 

Mike went on holiday with his wife and then used some time on his first day back to prepare for the soft launch of . He was pleased to find the vast majority of his audience applauded this move: “I received many messages of encouragement in the comments. Now I wish I’d taken a fortnight off!” 

When Emma took her own recent break, she gave a thoughtful explanation to her readers in this post:

“So I’m taking a short break for a few reasons. I need to fill my cup in order to have new exciting things to write for you. I care about the output and quality of this newsletter…

I’ve had a think and have decided not to pause paid subscriptions across the couple of weeks I’m out of your inbox. I see Substack as more of a community supporting a writer’s work on the whole, rather than a straightforward transaction per article; it’s how I pay for other Substacks and it’s the type of relationship I enjoy on this platform. I also want to allow new people to join, read the back catalogue, and interact in the comments while I’m away.”

Readers cheered Emma’s decision in the comments, saying she set a great example for other writers and creators. “As a reader on Substack,” Emma adds, “whenever a writer says ‘no post today, I’m ill/tired/life is hard,’ I always understand and always continue my support of their work.” 

Read more: Women who work too much

Last summer, , who writes , sent a note to subscribers about taking some time off. “I’m realizing the need for some rejuvenation of my own creative juices,” he wrote. Readers responded with enthusiasm in the comments, celebrating taking time with family or for reflection and sharing their own vacation plans.

Film your farewell (for now) message

Host a Live show or AMA to check in with your audience, communicate about your time away, and give your community a chance to ask questions. It's relatively low-effort but creates a meaningful connection before you step away.

If you post your Live recording, it can serve as an out of office message: New subscribers will immediately understand you're away and when to expect you back, while existing readers get a personal touch.

When left for her honeymoon, she posted a pre-recorded AMA and let her audience know that a series of guest writers would be taking over her newsletter for the week.

Feed Me

AMA

Good morning everyone. Instead of a letter today, you’re getting an AMA that I recorded last night. I think you have to listen to it on desktop or in the Substack app…

Listen now

a year ago · 70 likes · 47 comments · Emily Sundberg

Guest posts and scheduled posts

For longer absences—extended travel, a honeymoon, or parental leave, for example—some writers and creators create a calendar of guest posts, scheduled posts, or posts from their archive.  

Lenz, who writes , updated and published a post from last year while traveling. Emma commissioned four guest articles speaking to the subjects of “creative rest” and “sustainable growth” while she took a month off for a delayed honeymoon with her husband in January. 

“I took three months off [for paternity leave], and it was amazing,” says Lenny. “To make that happen, I used a combination of queued-up posts that went out each week without me, plus telling people I’m just going to take some pat leave because it’s important to me. It worked out super-well. The newsletter didn’t fall apart, and I came back stronger than before.” 

But scheduling guest posts can be work too, work that you might even just ask your audience to support you in choosing not to do: of wrote a post to her subscribers explaining her reasons for leaving paid subscriptions on during her maternity leave, with access to the archive still a paid option:

“I’m planning to pause production of Maybe Baby for three-ish months. This brings me to the end of Feb.—essentially a winter hiatus. Since this is my full-time job, I carefully considered how to approach this leave, and with the generous vocal support of many subscribers, I’ve decided to leave subscription payments on during my time away. In doing that, I know I’m asking my paying subscribers to consider paid maternity leave a part of the overall project of Maybe Baby, the same way they already support many aspects of the work beyond paywalled content (like all my free essays, my editor, my healthcare, etc.). If you’re aligned with that philosophically, I appreciate your support so, so much, and I hope you’ll feel it’s worth it long-term! If you aren’t or can’t afford to continue paying during this time, I completely understand, and you can manage your subscription type here (i.e. pause paying until I’m back). I know the monthly payments mean something different to everyone, so please do what feels best.”

When , who writes on Substack, recently got married, she shared a post with subscribers about her wedding, and plans to fully unplug and walk the Camino de Santiago on her honeymoon. “BUT… My friends are stepping in to keep The Corners going while I am away!” she wrote to subscribers. “It makes me a little teary to say how quickly and enthusiastically these folks said yes when I asked if they’d post here while Eric and I are away.”

Nadia scheduled six weeks of guest posts from other writers—on and off Substack—an opportunity both for those with their own publications to grow and to bring new readers to her own. “Congratulations and blessing,” one of her readers commented. “Enjoy your time away, and know we’re thinking of you.”

See more examples of how Substack writers and creators fill their absence, if they choose to, in our previous post on the subject:

What did we miss? Share your advice, experience, and opinions on how writers and creators should approach time off in the comments. 

Leave a comment

A week after I got laid off from my staff job as a news editor, I sent out my first newsletter.

I must confess that my initial email dispatch wasn’t sent on Substack, but only because it didn’t exist back then.1

When I started my newsletter, I’d been an editor at an online magazine but I didn’t have much of a public profile—a few hundred Twitter followers, no book, nor podcast. What I did have was a desire to leave editing behind and become a full-time writer.

I moved over from Mailchimp to Substack at the beginning of 2019, and things took off from there. In my first year on Substack, my audience tripled. By my second year, I landed a deal for my first book, You’re the Business, as a result of the audience I’d built through my newsletter. My readership is now at 17,000 subscribers, and it remains the largest of all the platforms that I’m on.

I’m not alone in finding success on Substack starting from scratch. When I asked on Notes for stories of writers with no pre-existing audience, the response was overwhelming (nearly 600 replies!). I heard from poets, therapists, and even a sommelier who all started their Substacks with no social followings. , for example, launched a meal-planning newsletter in Romanian and just surpassed 24,000 subscribers, 500 of them paid.

And then there’s ; less than two years after launching , the neuroscientist was able to quit his job in academia to write his Substack full-time. , who writes investment newsletter , started his Substack from scratch as a college student in the hope of attracting an employer. He watched it grow by 100 subscribers a week, and it soon provided a full-time income.

, of , recently launched a second publication on a completely different topic—a read-along of Robert Caro’s series on President Lyndon B. Johnson. Web designer started , a serialized newsletter of the gothic novel, as a side project, and it’s since attracted over 230,000 fans. These creators, whom I like to think of as Substack’s native stars, represent a growing community of homegrown talent flourishing on the platform. Some found large audiences and were able to turn their publications into livelihoods; others built confidence in their writing abilities; all have carved a unique creative path on Substack.

I spoke with some of the native stars to find out their best advice for going from scratch to success on Substack.

“I didn’t want to write stuff that didn’t fill me with joy”

In the charmingly self-deprecating style that’s come to be the hallmark of his newsletter , opened our conversation by telling me he was a “semi-failed travel writer.” Fed up with the frustrations of freelancing, he reached a point where he wanted to take his writing in a different direction and find a way to turn it into a new career for himself. “I just didn’t want to write stuff that didn’t fill me with joy, curiosity, and wonder,” he says.  

Mike had an existing mailing list of 1,000 people interested in his travel writing. But when he launched a Substack about the science of curiosity, hardly any followed him. “Then it was a process of growing it from there,” he says. “My first year was just experimenting with everything.” 

Not all his experiments worked out. A “mistake” he says he made early on was trying to act like he had a bigger audience than he did. He’d ask people to comment on his posts, but with a small readership, engagement was limited, so he switched his approach. “I’m small,” he says. “I’m not gonna pretend otherwise.”

Instead, he shared snippets from his newsletter in Twitter threads, writing them with the enthusiasm he had for his discoveries. In February 2022, one of his Twitter threads, a post about the Zanclean megaflood, went viral and reached 10 million people. “I had 6,000 free signups and over 100 paid in about four days,” Mike says.

Now, Everything Is Amazing has nearly 23,000 subscribers and 640 paid. “That was the point when my newsletter became pretty much my full-time job.” 

“I don’t have to wait for permission”

While Mike and I navigated career transitions within our fields, newcomers like and launched successful writing careers entirely on Substack. With traditional routes into publishing becoming harder to break into, Substack empowers new authors. It offers them a direct way to find their voice, build an audience, and develop their craft. 

Tiffany bypassed the media gatekeepers and launched her newsletter, , in 2019. “I don’t have to wait for permission to write,” she says. “It’s improved my writing, and built a habit and an audience.” 

On Substack, she found readers eager to engage with her raw and intimate writing style. She says the regular feedback she gets directly from them helped her grow in confidence and even land a book deal for her debut memoir. “A reader introduced me to my agent,” she says. Her advice to people starting out is simple: be consistent and do Substack in a way that’s authentic to you. “One of the metrics that doesn’t get talked about is that I just keep doing it. This shows how much I love it.,” she says.

Whereas Tiffany pivoted from a marketing career, David embarked on his writing journey after 40 years in finance. He says that writing his Substack, , is neither a job nor a hobby. “It feels like a vocation,” he says. David and Tiffany exemplify how success on Substack extends beyond financial metrics to personal growth and fulfillment as writers. They both joined the platform specifically to hone their writing and, in doing so, discovered committed audiences who valued their work.

David’s Substack has a thriving community. His posts consistently attract dozens, often even hundreds, of comments. I personally discovered him after he left me a thoughtful comment on my own newsletter. David credits his growth on Substack to his active participation in Notes and other writers’ comments sections. He emphasizes that this wasn’t just a strategic move, but rather a genuine passion for engaging with others’ work. “I know how much I like a well-thought-out comment,” he says. “Most writers enjoy that as well.”

“I’m cultivating a community” 

Writers aren’t the only creators bootstrapping on Substack.

is a musician based in the Pacific Northwest. “I always had this dream of becoming a film composer,” he says. “But in music, it’s really hard to stick together a living.”

He launched his eponymous Substack in September 2021 with a commitment to release one song per month for two years. “There are 24 musical keys, and I wrote 24 songs—one for each key,” he says. “It was an amazing compositional exercise that I don’t think anybody gives a shit about. But for me, it gave me a structure to work in, and it also gave me a portfolio.”

That initial two-year experiment turned into an ongoing project and Fog Chaser is now in his third year on Substack. What started as an email to 40-odd friends and family has grown into a list of 3,500 subscribers, which Fog Chaser puts down to consistent engagement. “I became kind of ‘Substack-first’ over the last couple of years. That’s been a bit of a strategy,” he says. 

As a musician, having direct access to an audience is a string that was missing from his digital bow. “On Spotify, I can’t reach the people who follow me—I have no idea who those people are, and I can’t communicate with them. I’m just on a playlist or an algorithm,” he says. “But here on Substack, I’m cultivating a community.” 

“You can be anonymous and have a very successful newsletter” 

Perhaps the standout example of a popular newsletter that shows how you can successfully build a publication without a pre-existing audience is , the financial analysis newsletter focused on distressed investing, bankruptcy and restructuring.

The authors at Petition not only built their audience from zero, but they also write it anonymously. “It’s almost like being Batman,” one of Petition’s writers tells me. “The anonymity affords us the cloak that we need to say what needs to be said without there being repercussions.”

One of Petition’s writers tells me that the newsletter has tens of thousands of subscribers, significant revenue, and is highly profitable. “I don’t think having a small following or being anonymous are necessarily roadblocks to having a very successful newsletter,” they say. “You don’t need social media necessarily. You don’t need algorithmic boosting necessarily.” 

The Petition writer tells me that the secret sauce to building a newsletter from the ground up is conviction. That’s something that became evident in all the conversations I had with Substack native stars. What sets them apart is an unwavering belief in what they’re writing about and their dedication to it. 

They say, “If you put out good content that covers a niche area, if you have expertise in that subject matter and you can write it in a way that people will find educational and entertaining—you will find an audience.” 

Subscribe to Anna’s Substack A-Mail, and follow her on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

A-Mail

Stories, essays and memes about work, money and power

By Anna Codrea-Rado

Do you know another writer who has grown from the ground up on Substack and should be included here? Shout them out in a comment, and share your own story too.

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Villanelle—and the story of her entanglement with MI5 agent Eve Polastri—grew an international fandom following the adaptation of the novels into a BBC drama by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, starring Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh. But in 2022 the televised version of the series came to a shocking end, and fans erected makeshift shrines all over the world. Villanelle’s creator, a former journalist, decided to revive her—and in a new way.

“I knew that to steer a new Villanelle adventure through the conventional publishing channels would be a long process,” Luke wrote. “With fine serendipity, I ran into a writer friend who asked me what I knew about Substack, [and] a couple of hours’ research was enough to tell me that the online publishing platform was the right home for my own book. Vitally, I could offer it for free, which I felt I owed readers in return for their loyalty.”

Luke’s story goes beyond Substack as a promotional tool to sell books. It is the book. He joins a growing list of authors serializing fiction in weekly chunks, direct to readers’ inboxes: from serialized classics to ’s The Other Cheek, ’s Greener Pastures, ’s sci-fi thriller Tales from the Triverse, ’s dark comedy In Judgement of Others, and fellow British author ’s The Experiment. 

When the first installment of dropped in November 2023, readers responded with weeping. We interviewed Luke about Villanelle’s journey so far, and the reaction from readers.

KILLING EVE: RESURRECTION

Official Substack of Killing Eve creator LUKE JENNINGS. Subscribe for free to follow Villanelle and Eve's thrilling new adventure

By Luke Jennings

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

It’s where I’m serialising my new novel, Killing Eve: Resurrection.

What do you uniquely offer readers?

I’m offering Substack readers a first look at our heroines’ wild new adventure. This time we see events unfolding through Villanelle’s eyes. It’s a unique perspective. Murder’s easy, but a relationship? 

Why did you decide to serialize the next Killing Eve novel on Substack? 

I wanted to try something different, and Substack seemed to fit. I like the direct engagement with readers and the civilised feel of the platform. It’s a new way of publishing fiction, but the idea behind it is as old as storytelling itself.

It’s a privilege to have your work published by a major publishing house, but it’s a slow process. I’ve watched my books move through the hardback/paperback cycle for years now; it’s gratifying and frustrating in equal measure. Going the e-book route is more immediate—I got lucky with the novellas that became Codename Villanelle—but it’s a desperately long shot. The Substack process has a real-time feel that I like. Thrillers are of the moment; they should smell and taste of now.

The ease of it is also attractive. I also think readers are much less daunted than they would be by a 1,00,000-word book. It’s something you can read on the way to work. It’s episode by episode, and people like that rhythm. 

Why is a direct relationship with Villanelle and Eve’s readers important to you? 

My readers are passionately engaged with Villanelle and Eve. At heart, for all its twisted and perverse character, theirs is a love story, and in telling it I need to strike a very precise note. Writing on Substack is like being onstage. The audience is right there, and you can sense how your words are landing. It’s you to your readers, unfiltered. And that’s exciting.

Has anything surprised you about your readers?

I’m always thrilled to see how many readers identify with my murderous heroine. But then, this is the trick Villanelle pulls: to charm her admirers into knowing what she is, and still choosing to care about her.

Can we expect more Killing Eve novels on Substack?

Anything’s possible. Right now I’m concentrating on fulfilling the promise I made after the TV series finale: to bring Villanelle back. And here she is!

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

It’s early days in my exploration of Substack, but I like ; — ; and — .

Subscribe to Killing Eve: Resurrection on Substack and find out more about Luke on his personal website. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

KILLING EVE: RESURRECTION

Official Substack of Killing Eve creator LUKE JENNINGS. Subscribe for free to follow Villanelle and Eve's thrilling new adventure

By Luke Jennings

Read more: Substack for book authors

We invited writer and art witch , who writes , to share her insights on switching to Substack to focus on rituals; not marketing; finding and using one’s voice; and how she reached six figures in less than a year by understanding what her subscribers needed. 

Mystery Cult with Amanda Yates Garcia

Witchcraft, ritual, ecology, tarot, embodiment, belonging, animism, and enchantment for art witches with ADHD.

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

Witchcraft, ritual, tarot, mythology, ecology, embodiment, belonging, animism, and enchantment for art witches with ADHD.

Who reads your publication?

MFAs whose thesis project had the word witch in the title; psychotherapists who lead journeys through the unconscious; bisexuals obsessed with the myth of Persephone; writers who fantasize about sabotaging an oil pipeline; neurodivergent folks who love rituals by candlelight but who aren’t into “wellness witchcraft”; poets. 

What do you uniquely offer readers?

I make witchcraft relevant for people who have rich inner worlds; who love science and fairy tales; who want their spiritual practice to be an act of political resistance; and who want support in their practice. 

What’s your content strategy?

• Schedule: I publish about twice a week.

• Format: I offer essays, monthly live full-moon rituals, a monthly downloadable Witch Guide, live chats, a reading group, and surprise gifts like meditation MP3s and playlists. I write about the symbology of the season (like the full moon in Libra and what it means); I write about what’s most urgent for me in my own practice (like when ADHD gets in the way of your ritual practice, or how to deal with muggles family gatherings); or essays about things I’m studying and want to share (like the mythologies of the goddess Hekate, the phenomenology of alchemy, how paganism and ecology relate, etc.).

What appeals most about sharing witchcraft through Substack?

Witchcraft is a complicated subject, and there’s so much to explore and discuss. It’s much healthier to do it via Substack, where I can go in depth about it. On most social media platforms, I feel like a carnival barker trying to get people’s attention. You’ll notice that carnival barkers do not go into the history and nuance of their win-a-teddy-bear games. They can’t. No one will listen. I see myself more like Sappho reading poetry to her flower-crowned students as they feed each other grapes under the shade of an olive tree. Substack is more like that for me.

As a practitioner, other people already pay for your time—how did you decide what to offer in your paid subscription tiers?

For about two years before I started on Substack, I’d been having monthly Full Moon Rituals via Zoom—but the problem was that every month I’d have to re-recruit all my followers to join me, which took a lot of time and effort to market. When I started on Substack it was an obvious choice to offer the Moon Rituals as a subscription; people were already used to paying for it, but now with the subscription I can spend more time focusing on the ritual and less time marketing. 

The whole point of joining Substack was to consolidate all of my projects into one home base. I don’t like thinking about how to generate income, so once I’m making my yearly goal, I can truly just focus on what I want to create for myself, my followers, and the world, without worrying about how I will support myself while I’m doing that. 

Also, what’s great about how my Substack is structured is that my followers are getting a great deal for the price they’re paying per month (about the price of a yoga class), but because of the number of paid followers I have, I can afford to give them a lot for so much less than it would cost them if they were getting it all as a one-off, all because I don’t have to do so much marketing (hooray!). 

Growth by numbers

• Started on Substack with paid subscriptions: November 2022

• All subscribers: 13,000

• Paid subscribers: 430

I’d been building up my audience for a long time before I joined Substack, so the transition was pretty seamless. I’ve written a book, Initiated: Memoir of a Witch; have a popular (in my community at least) podcast, Between the Worlds; and had a mailing list of 10,000 (on Mailchimp) before I joined Substack and an Instagram following of 50,000 @OracleofLA.

Meaningful growth moments

1. Getting started: When I started, I was exhausted from constantly having to do so much marketing. Especially on Instagram, where you have to post every day or you get penalized and no one sees what you’re doing. I just wanted to focus on the substance of my work, not generating content and marketing like a machine. 

2. On launch day it was such a relief when people signed up for paid subscriptions. As my Substack platform grew, it really helped me start to feel more trust in my community and in the work I was creating for them. By only a few months in, I was already making $50,000 and I was starting to get clear on what my subscribers needed and wanted from me. Since then, I’ve more than doubled that amount. My subscribers and I are in such healthy reciprocity, it’s a pleasure to share my efforts with them. I feel like we all inspire each other, and I love it that we’re both getting what we need.

3. Regular leaps in subscription levels happen every month when we have an event. People love to be involved. They’re here for the writing, yes, but they’re also here for the community.

4. I’ve started getting quite a few new followers from recommendations from other Substacks, which is great. I love that Substack is based on cooperation between writers, rather than competition.

5. Today: As soon as I started making decent money from Substack, it became almost unbearable for me to post on any other social media platform. Over the next few months, I’d like to go back and bring more of my followers from my other socials over here. My goal is to get 1,000 paid subscribers. And as for my writing, since building up so much trust with my readers, I feel comfortable making increasingly vulnerable work, which is what I think is most useful to them anyway. 

How do you account for your steep growth, and any practical advice others could replicate?

For art witches like myself, there’s no formula. Like, I can’t tell you “one weird trick” that will get you a living wage from your Substack. But when people look at my Substack, they shouldn’t think, “Oh, she went from 0 to six figures in less than a year. How will I ever do that?” I started my work as a writer and art witch in 2010, leading ceremonies for 10 people in my living room. I’ve completely dedicated my life to it since then. It’s taken me 13 years of hard work (and a lot of luck and privilege) to get to this place. 

But for people who are just starting out, I do have two words of advice, and they’re kind of contradictory (witches are just like that, sorry not sorry). First of all, don’t worry about what other people are doing; explore what only you can do. Your background, your experiences, your interests are uniquely yours, and no one else has your voice—use it, celebrate it, feed that voice, make it so that your readers only have one place to go to get what you have to offer. Second, consider your reader: What do they need? How can you help them get it? This might be hard to hear, but just writing about what interests you is not enough. You have to consider what’s in it for your reader and then use your unique voice to give them what they need. 

Don’t worry about what other people are doing; explore what only you can do. Your background, your experiences, your interests are uniquely yours, and no one else has your voice—use it.

What surprised you about writing on Substack?

It makes me feel safe and happy. It rehabilitated my belief in reciprocity for artists in this world. Artists (writers, musicians, etc.) make life worth living. They ask the big questions: death, love, longing, despair. It costs us to do that. It’s fucking hard, y’all. It requires real risk—physically, financially, emotionally. Not only do we deserve to be paid, but the more we thrive, the more everyone thrives, because we’re the ones dreaming up new ways to be alive.

Who’s another Substack writer you’ve turned to for guidance or inspiration?

I really love ’s work; he’s so loving. He’s like a fountain from which love and inspiration flows and flows. Whenever I click onto his feed, I’m sure to get a little nugget of wisdom that helps me overcome my fears and move back toward inspiration again. He’s like the volunteer who turns my baby turtle in the right direction so it can make its way to the ocean. 

Takeaways:

• Take the leap. For Amanda, moving her followers from Instagram to Substack made offering paid moon rituals easier, so she could focus on the substance of her work rather than marketing. 

• Know your readers’ needs. Understanding what her subscribers look to her for was a big part of unlocking Amanda’s paid growth.

• Find your unique voice. Amanda’s advice to newer writers is simple: don’t worry about what other people are doing; explore what only you can do using your voice and lens.

Mystery Cult with Amanda Yates Garcia

Witchcraft, ritual, ecology, tarot, embodiment, belonging, animism, and enchantment for art witches with ADHD.

What questions do you have for Amanda Yates Garcia that we didn’t ask? Leave them in the comments!

To read more from this series on growing your publication, see our interviews with writers on their growth stories here.

Editor’s note: this post was updated on October 31, 2023 to further clarify one of the questions.

Writers from , , , , , , , , and share insights that every Substacker could benefit from, from exploring ideas for his new book alongside an engaged readership to readers affirming they want to double down on the niche and writing on how gained its first 1,000 subscribers. 

Creators Jules and John never expected , “an outgrowth” of their Twitter account, to reach 100 signups in one month. They broke through that ceiling in the first two days and, two years on, are looking at a mailing list of more than 10,000 and figuring out the next growth milestone. What started as an experiment (“Can we write about this stuff at greater length, in a more ambitious and permanent way? Will anyone care?”) has turned into a job.

Animation Obsessive

Two Years of the Animation Obsessive Newsletter

Hello! Jules and John here — the co-runners of Animation Obsessive. As of today, we’ve officially been writing this newsletter for two years. It’s tough to explain how much has changed since that first issue on February 14, 2021. Our newsletter started as an outgrowth of…

Read more

3 years ago · 11 likes · 6 comments

Key takeaway: For the creator duo, the continual surprise is that their readers want longreads on more nuanced topics. This will allow them to prepare in-depth research and bring on collaborators for future topics.

We still struggle to process these numbers. The thing is, we see our newsletter as niche. We cover animation from around the world and across time, with a focus on hidden stories. But people took an interest. We try to honor that interest by digging ever deeper—ordering rare books from shops in Croatia, tracking down out-of-print Japanese DVDs, wiring money to the Czech Film Archive for a collection of magazine articles.

Read more: Two Years of the Animation Obsessive Newsletter

On the third anniversary of , writer reflects on the “lovely, flexible vehicle” the newsletter turned out to be. As well as a way to explore nagging creative ideas, it’s also the “perfect complement” to writing a book. 

Subtle Maneuvers

Three years of Subtle Maneuvers

Writers are experts in second-guessing themselves—or at least I am. But one writing decision that I feel zero doubt or regret about was launching this newsletter in late February 2020, three years ago this week. What a lovely, flexible vehicle it has turned out to be! Though I initially envisioned the newsletter as a loose, serialized sequel to…

Read more

3 years ago · 67 likes · 37 comments · Mason Currey

Key takeaway: Having engaged and present readers has, for Mason, become a constant source of encouragement, and even helped overcome bouts of creative block.

I have never before written for such an engaged and present audience, and it’s been kind of a revelation. I don’t want to disappoint you! That has proved an unbeatable motivator, and a fun challenge. (And a generative one, too. Several times I have gotten ideas for future issues from the back-and-forth in the comments section.) I have always been suspicious of people who say they “enjoy” writing ... but I enjoy writing this newsletter?

Read more: Three years of Subtle Maneuvers

On International Women’s Day in 2021, started their newsletter . Two years and 31 biographies of medieval women later, Florence celebrates a community of 32,000 readers they never imagined. 

Ælfgif-who?

TWO YEARS of Ælfgif-who?!

It’s Ælfgif-who?’s birthday! Two years old today! We are now a community 32,000 strong, which is a bigger audience than I ever could have imagined two years ago. Since my very first post International Women’s Day 2021, I have written, recorded and published 31 biographies of early medieval women…

Read more

3 years ago · 62 likes · 14 comments · Florence H R Scott

Key takeaway: Florence uses the anniversary moment to remind readers of their extensive archive of biographies, which they plan to draw from the vaults of every month into the future. 

Over the next few months you can look forward to a newsletter revisiting the life of one of our previous subjects with exciting new discoveries, an exploration of women’s book culture in early medieval England, an interview with Dr Eleanor Janega about her excellent new book The Once and Future Sex, a guest post about the life of a fascinating queen from across the sea, and much more. 

Read more: TWO YEARS of Ælfgif-who?!

On the four-year anniversary of her newsletter, literary agent feels she has uprooted and overturned almost every corner of the publishing industry in , from query letters to the second book. But, she says, new readers sign up and want to start from the beginning, so in the next year she plans to revisit her advice in ways that all authors should care about.

Agents and Books

Four Years of Agents & Books

Hey Friends, Thanks for hanging in with me while posting was light over the holiday break. I intended to be back last week but got leveled with a cold/sinus infection thing (hoooo boy it got me) and I’m just getting back on my feet. Blargh. I hope you and yours have been as healthy as possible in this Time of Germs…

Read more

3 years ago · 52 likes · 18 comments · Kate McKean

Key takeaway: Make use of your archive, which is always in your newsletter masthead, to help new subscribers catch up. 

The fourth anniversary of this newsletter passed. FOURTH! FOUR YEARS! I mean, I am nothing if not dedicated to a bit, so I’m not wholly surprised we’re still going here. I have much more trouble quitting things than I do starting things. But also, I like this place. I like talking about writing and books and publishing. I like answering your questions. I like that I’ve trained you not to email me when you see typos (thank you, from the bottom of my dyslexic heart). I like using Mr. ¯\(ツ)/¯ to explain why publishing is what it is.

So I’m going to keep doing all of that.

Read more: Four Years of Agents & Books

Started by two stock investors more than a year ago, went paid on its first anniversary. With their sights set on making the publication a full-time gig, its anonymous writers outlined what’s included in the paid offering and reflected on the first year of writing the newsletter, including how it sharpened their analysis and kept their investing biases in check.

StockOpine’s Newsletter

A New Chapter for StockOpine

Chapter 1 – Recap of 2022 About a year ago, the Chapter 1 of StockOpine’s Newsletter began like this…"Two friends at their early 30s decided to launch a new venture, an outcome of the common passion they shared for investments.” At the time, we both knew that we enjoy analyzing stocks (as boring as it may sound, we still love it) but we were also aware of…

Read more

3 years ago · 17 likes · 4 comments · StockOpine

Key takeaway: StockOpine helped its writers achieve greater quality by putting their thinking in front of different types of investors.

Analyzing and writing about stocks is a dream job. It allows you to express your thinking process in detail, to learn about new industries, to share your own perspective on how you see things, to meet people across the globe, and most importantly to help you identify stocks that can generate superior returns.

Read more: A New Chapter for StockOpine

In 2019 a, a local journalist of 20 years, was looking for the next step in his career. As celebrates its fourth anniversary, he looks back at key choices made, including his initial decision to start a Substack as a business, and how he converted as much as 20% of subscribers to paid by offering readers something they value. Here, Tony reflects on how he got to his first 1,000 readers—a number he has since far surpassed.

The Charlotte Ledger

Unfrozen caveman journalist

On Thursdays in March, The Ledger is marking its 4th birthday by taking readers behind the scenes of our operation. Today, we are examining the business side of running our subscription newsletter — how we built it and where it’s headed…

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3 years ago · 13 likes · Tony Mecia

Key takeaway: By taking an entrepreneurial approach, Tony and his team were able to grow into a business and become the change they wanted to see in the world.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have 1,000 friends—so this was more than people reading as a favor to me. I was producing information that people wanted. That was a critical first step. But how do you turn that into a business?

At times, running a business like this one has felt like one of those old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books: Do you raise money and expand quickly, or grow gradually (known as “bootstrapping”)? Do you incorporate as a nonprofit business or a for-profit business? Where do you turn for revenue, and how much do you charge?

Read more: Unfrozen caveman journalist

On the second anniversary of , music writer shares how she took her newsletter to a new level by trying (and learning about) longform interviews, creating a paid segment in the form of Currently, and appreciating the importance of discourse with her readers.

Record Store

Special: two years of Record Store

I completely forgot about my Record Store-versary this year. This newsletter is such a mainstay in my life, another way that I know time is passing and the world is turning. I often feel that I have been writing forever, as if this newsletter was a very specific, research-based diary. The newsletter is an integral part of the weekend, and through it I’m…

Read more

3 years ago · 14 likes · 6 comments · Amaya Lim

Key takeaway: Launching the paid section of Record Store allowed writer Amaya Lim to get to the heart of her newsletter.

Before Record Store, I was collecting hordes of information about music and art and filing it away in the “useless interests” category of my brain, where it took up space but did not provide a lot of meaning or fulfillment. Now this newsletter has hundreds of subscribers that read my artful regurgitations of said useless interests, like OK Go music videos or that one time The National performed “Sorrow” for six hours in an art gallery.

Read more: Special: two years of Record Store

When quit his job as an economist to pursue his dream of writing for a living, he started by trying to write a second edition of his book. But one chapter was lodged in his brain and was three times longer than the others, so he started a newsletter focusing on its subject matter: the cost of carbon. Thus was born. Twelve months on, 150 posts and 1,600 subscribers later, he’s glad he did.

Carbon Risk

Celebrating one year of Carbon Risk 🎂

Dear Carbon Risk subscribers, In the summer of 2021 I left my job as an economist, a position I had worked in for over a decade, with the dream of writing for a living. Full of optimism and brimming with ideas, I spent the next couple of months attempting to write a second edition of my book, …

Read more

3 years ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Peter Sainsbury

Key takeaway: Substack’s recommendation feature (launched in April 2022) was vital in turbocharging the growth of Carbon Risk in subscriber numbers. 

Rather than carry on with writing the book, only for readers to see the fruits of my labour several months or more later, I decided to experiment and launch a Substack newsletter instead. With a newsletter I would have a platform to tell readers about carbon markets’ place in the world, how I envisaged it in the future, and how investors and other market participants could benefit.

Read more: Celebrating one year of Carbon Risk 🎂

In response to reaching 100 posts with his poetry newsletter , celebrates by responding to readers with little poems in the comments section. Readers have been a key motivating factor for the weekly posts, and that, Punit says, has been “more gratifying than any achievement.”

Hello Universe

When Magic Happens

April 6 2021. 100 Weeks Ago. That was the date I published the first edition of Hello Universe. Since then, 291 readers have signed up and read these fun, thought-provoking poems. Together we joked about texting, traveled through time, went places, and…

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3 years ago · 21 likes · 8 comments · Punit Thakkar

Key takeaway: Starting a newsletter for his poems allowed writer Punit Thakkar to be more grounded and present. 

I started writing poetry as a way to capture the lost poems of my childhood that had a catchy meter, fun rhyming schemes, and were really memorable as a result. With each passing week, I have found myself thinking about concepts and topics I would hardly think about otherwise. I have become more introspective, less pensive, and more grounded in reality. I have made new friends. I have rediscovered myself again and again. This is magical.

Read more: When magic happens

For more one-year reflections, check out our previous roundups: winter ’22, summer ’22, spring ’22, and winter ’21.

Did we miss a good milestone reflection post? Share the link, or tell us what you’re celebrating, in the comments.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

WOODRUFF

I use astrology as next-level psychoanalysis…of the culture, the arts, the individual. I'm the House astrologer for Corridor Menswear NYC.

By Frederick Woodruff

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

I use astrology as next-level psychoanalysis of the culture, the arts, and the individual.

When did you learn to read horoscopes?

My teacher Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson taught us to draw horoscopes from scratch. This could take up to an hour. Constructing a chart back then meant having a command of astronomical tables and ephemerides. I was 13 at the time and not a mathematical genius. When computers arrived to handle those calculations, I was down. What a relief!

After I have a chart up on my monitor, eventually a “click” happens that blends the astronomical components into an astrological theme. Once that thread is present, the chart unspools in the dialectic. I require the client’s presence for the horoscope to begin to speak to both of us.

What’s the intersection of tarot, astrology, and your writing?

I guess it’s the Leo in me, but I’m not interested in doing writing that other people are already doing. Astrology allows me to frame my analysis uniquely. It’s like doing psychosocial weather reports for the entire culture. I like to think that I’m not boring and forge something fresh and intelligent—ways of considering astrology that make the reader happy to discover them.

How do you choose what to write about?

I write dependent on immediate vibes. For example, I recently watched Ryan Murphy’s excellent series Dahmer on Netflix. By the time the show was over, I sensed a direct correlation between Jeffrey Dahmer’s obsessive desire to consume his victims and the closing phase of the United State’s Pluto return. This last bit of astro info is too complex to explain in a blurb, save to say that astrologically, it’s no coincidence that Dahmer is reasserting himself into our collective imagination. He mirrors our country’s conspicuous consumption and sense of entitlement. The racial and homophobic bigotry underlining Dahmer’s trajectory is what gave the series an extra Plutonian bite.  

Read more: Jeffrey Dahmer: American Schemer

You say social media has made astrology stupid. How?

Astrology has always suffered fools. Contemporary astrology is instantly associated (by people who have never studied it) with cookie-cutter new-age nonsense. 

But social media’s ubiquity has multiplied this factor exponentially. Recently on TikTok, I watched a clip of a self-anointed “professional” astrologer explaining that Vladimir Putin is a murderous sociopath because he’s a Libra. Content like that vulgarizes the art.

Astrology is an art, not a science as some astrologers claim. The greatest revelations about the balance between the psyche and the cosmos come from art. Science can’t touch that.

Same with Tarot. You can’t work with the cards without comprehending the Tarot’s history within the 18th-century occult tradition. That tradition relates directly to the Kabbalah, and that system must be mastered before the cards actually “do” anything meaningful. The notion that they are simply a “mirror” for the person’s ego is childish and in direct opposition to what the Tarot might otherwise convey if applied correctly. That “conveying” thing is the Tarot’s x-factor. It appears easy—but it’s like picking up a comic book versus reading Hamlet. 

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend? 

My former editor John Calendo writes MOVIELAND. His deep dive into classic Hollywood movies is always fun and smart. He started serializing his novel on Substack too. It’s all about Hitchcock, Hollywood, and the occult, with characters coming out of the screen. Real people getting swallowed up in the insanely tense world of Hitchcock. My moon in Scorpio loves it.

Subscribe to Frederick’s publication, WOODRUFF, on Substack, and find him on Twitter.

WOODRUFF

I use astrology as next-level psychoanalysis…of the culture, the arts, the individual. I'm the House astrologer for Corridor Menswear NYC.

By Frederick Woodruff

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

Tiny Violences is about naming, recognizing, and narrating the nuanced barriers to, and costs of, belonging. 

What motivated you to start writing your newsletter? 

I love storytelling and trying to make sense of things through language. Since becoming literate as a child, writing has been a very close companion. It was a practice I could call on for all sorts of reasons, like getting organized or journaling, but it wasn’t something I felt confident sharing with the world.

After a string of rejections, I applied for the Joel Gay Creative Fellowship, a yearlong writing intensive stewarded by Roxane Gay in honor of her late brother, and I was one of the three recipients selected. The idea [for the newsletter] was prompted by [an MFA] writing assignment—and a zine. The zine was part confessional, part list of complaints, part acerbic commentary on the mundane experiences of my life. This all while in the midst of the self-sequestering and societal calamity known as the year 2020. We are living in an age that has normalized violence so much, it’s often hard to give it a name.

You wrote about a friendship that social media effectively helped to end and then followed up that post with a discussion thread with readers. What sparked you to write the post, and what do you think resonated with readers about it?

We spend so much time online and in conversation with people about our personal online performances, or the communities we build in the virtual world, and I was coming to learn more about the parasocial relationships people form with online acquaintances, celebrities, and influencers. I questioned What does it mean to have an IRL friendship transform into a parasocial connection? Writing about the end of my friendship through the themes of online lurking and social media clout-chasing felt like the most accessible focal point at the time—to help me reckon with the abrupt (but alleviating) ending of that friendship.  

Honestly, I was shocked by the responses, so many people resonated with the story. The complex and often unspoken impact social media has on friendships hit close to home for many. Some celebrated the special fortification of relationships because of how we perform them and show up online—but many, many others faced the grim truth that social media often brings out the worst in people. A lot of people have experienced the end of their friendships play out on socials. I also wanted it to be clear to any oppy lurkers that I will write about their shitty behavior without hesitation. 

I find the more specific I get about my experiences, the more universal the themes become; it sounds cliché, but it’s been true. It is such a risk, sharing my life online. It leaves me vulnerable to all kinds of harm, but it also opens me up to myself and other folks, some that often surprise me.

Read more: Some False Starts

Can you describe how “Black People on Getty Images” is an example of the daily barriers to belonging you want to uncover in your writing?

There are stories behind words, places, bodies—that are often masked or deliberately obscured, and I think keyword searches are useful ways to get into how we categorize bodies. Black People on Getty Images was [supposed to be a satirical] way for me to reconcile the violent ambiguity of racial identity that finds its way into everything. In my longer-form essay about queerness and belonging, I use a site, the West Village in NYC, as a portal into identity and a way to investigate why people gather where they do to find community—and how, if we’re not careful to record histories from various vantage points, the truth of a place can be flattened.

Read more: What a Time to Come of Age

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

I definitely recommend Christy DeGallerie’s Substack, really bad taste. It’s irreverent, funny writing from a native New Yorker, and we need more of that (specifically, queer Black women and femmes). Whitney McGuire’s Look, I Feel Unappealing is another deeply personal Substack that I read often and enjoy. I have to plug the two other inaugural Joel Gay Creative fellows too, The Drip and Alienhood. 

Subscribe to Jet’s publication, Tiny Violences, on Substack, and you can follow her on Instagram or check out her personal website.

Roxane spoke about engaging with readers, her own online writing process, and being part of the Substack network. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The Audacity.

Writing that boldly disregards normal restraints.

By Roxane Gay

In many ways, writing a newsletter is like blogging, which is why I enjoy doing it. It reminds me of the days of Google Reader and all of the many blogs I would read back then, and the convenience of being able to communicate with an audience but feel like there’s some intimacy there.

A sense of community

Anyone who’s going to take time out of their day to read my work in their inbox, or really anywhere—there is an absolute connection there. But I try not to think too much about audience when I’m writing. What I like about Substack is that it does allow people to respond and share their thoughts. And there is often a sense of community in the comments section that I appreciate. I also like that it feels like a slightly more intimate scale than, for example, publishing in the New York Times or some other major publication. There’s a smaller sense of scale and more safety and more community that I’m publishing into than the sort of vast trolling depths of the internet. That part, I think, is wonderful. 

I tend to find my newsletter a great place to sort of experiment and try out new ideas and take the kinds of risks that I will later take in more formal writing. So it’s an interesting place for experimentation, and I enjoy using it in that regard.

There’s a smaller sense of scale and more safety and more community that I’m publishing into than the sort of vast trolling depths of the internet. That part, I think, is wonderful. 

Every day is different

I don’t have a consistent schedule of any kind for anything. Every day is different.

So I never know when I’m going to work on my newsletter; it just depends. The one consistent thing I do on my newsletter is every other Wednesday I publish an essay from an emerging writer, and in doing so I get to present some interesting writing to readers, and I love being able to do that. I publish a graphic essay from a great artist named Aubrey Hirsch, and every weekend I publish a link roundup, and then as the mood takes me, I will put in longer essays during the week, generally on Tuesdays or so, but there’s no real consistency to it.

Read more: Stranger Things, by Aubrey Hirsch and The Audacious Round Up, by Roxane Gay

For my essay, sometimes it’s an idea that I’ve been mulling over. Sometimes it might be a piece of cultural criticism because I’ve seen a play or looked at some art or a movie or song or an album. Then I try and read as extensively as I can and figure out, clearly people are talking about this thing, but what is an aspect of whatever the issue is that I’m writing about that no one else is saying, or that few people are saying, because that’s where I feel like I can probably make a useful contribution.

And then I just write. 

My Substack is a space for experimentation

It’s my space for online writing. It’s a way for me to communicate with my audiences. It’s definitely a place for experimentation, so that’s where it fits within the overall ecosystem of my work. 

I don’t subscribe to people I disagree with. Not because I want to live in an echo chamber, but because I’m not going to give them my money. And also, I just don’t think that they’re interesting or smart. I definitely think that there are some people on Substack who should not be on Substack and who should not be allowed to share truly toxic and dangerous perspectives.

Anyone I’m subscribed to shifts my thinking in one way or another. Carmen Maria Machado, who’s an incredible writer, recently started a Substack, and I was just so thrilled to see that. I think that she does a lot of interesting work. Alicia Kennedy is a vegan food writer and chef and has vastly different perspectives than me on many things. She has, I think, one of the smartest and most consistently excellent newsletters out there, and I appreciate that. Brandon Taylor, with his newsletter sweater weather, is outstanding. He’s so smart. He’s incredibly provocative. I appreciate reading what he has to say.

Subscribe to Roxane Gay’s newsletter, The Audacity, on Substack, and follow her on Twitter here. 

The Audacity.

Writing that boldly disregards normal restraints.

By Roxane Gay

For more one-year reflections, check out our spring and winter roundups and our first installment of this series, which arrived last fall.

Did we miss a good milestone reflection post? Share the link in the comments.

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On the anniversary of quitting his job at The Athletic and launching his sports Substack, House of Strauss, Ethan Strauss discovers that though his post topics might differ widely, the enduring throughline is his readers. Ethan shares his findings about what works, his pricing approach for year two, and plans for travel and the podcast.

House of Strauss

Allow me to reintroduce myself

As of today, Year 1 for House of Strauss is in the books. I don’t want to get too self-indulgently nostalgic about August 23rd, 2021, but some reflection is probably in order. A year ago, I launched this experimental site, not quite knowing what it would be but sensing it had a place in the media ecosystem. I quit my job at The Athletic, despite the yea…

Read more

4 years ago · 79 likes · 20 comments · Ethan Strauss

Key takeaway: ​​The pressure of a paying audience is the best kind of audience capture.

Ethan writes: “I’m of the opinion that a paying audience keeps a good kind of pressure on the performer. People might enjoy shock value or shallow affirmation, but they can find that on social media for free. Paywall is a different game. Whatever’s back there had better be something that can’t quite be found elsewhere.

You’ve made me better than I would have been, were I just yelling into a void, and that’s before we even get into the tips and thought-provoking feedback subscribers have offered. Not only do I thank you for hiring me to do what is, in my opinion, the best job in America, but I thank you for making me better at it.”

Read more: Allow me to reintroduce myself

For author Anne Helen Petersen, the first surprising realization after two years of quitting her job to focus on writing her Substack full-time is that she achieved everything she set out to do, and more. 

Anne sees the “and more” part of Culture Study as the development of her thriving community of readers, defined by their “sincerity and softness.” She describes how they inspired her and each other, formed collaborations, and created their own projects, to boot. As she looks back on the past year, she notes how her Substack has replaced other forms of media for her and considers the year ahead.

Key takeaway: A vibrant, active community might just be the thing that delights you most.

Culture Study

Two Years

If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, if you open it all the time, if you save it for an escape or forward it to friends and family and have conversations about it— consider becoming a paid subscribing member. Two years ago I quit my job and started writing this newsletter full time. It fee…

Read more

4 years ago · 409 likes · 40 comments · Anne Helen Petersen

Anne writes: “I’m grateful for the ability to work at a cadence that allows me to avoid burnout, but I’m also grateful to be a part of this community myself. I didn’t realize how much I’d been missing it, or how much I needed to replace online habits that made me feel like shit with ones that felt nourishing. Earlier this year, I finally felt liberated to quit Facebook, the home of the group that helped fuel so much of my original success. I spend far less time on Twitter, and the time I do spend on Instagram is (1) looking at gardening accounts and (2) interacting with members of the community.

It’s like I’d spent years looking at a laptop screen whose brightness had been turned all the way down, and every day was a painful slog just to, like, do my job, squinting and getting a headache …. and then I realized it doesn’t have to be this way. You helped turn up the brightness on that laptop screen and made my everyday life—both on- and offline—much less of a slog and much more of a delight. I hope I’ve turned up that brightness, in some small way, for you as well.”

Read more: Two Years

Over the past 12 months, veteran sports journalist and author Grant Wahl produced 30 premium magazine stories from 15 countries and was the only English-language U.S. media member who was on-site reporting from all 14 World Cup soccer qualifiers. He reflects on a year of reporting on the beautiful game in his Substack Fútbol with Grant Wahl, including leaving and returning to a post at Sports Illustrated, and being paid by his readers. He also looks to the next year, including reporting from the men’s World Cup in Qatar and the women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Fútbol with Grant Wahl

GrantWahl.com Is Turning 1: Thank You!

Not long ago, as we were approaching the one-year anniversary of GrantWahl.com, I happened to come across a tweet from two years ago…

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4 years ago · 50 likes · 26 comments · Grant Wahl

Key takeaway: Who wouldn’t want a magazine-quality story with great art and reporting you won’t see elsewhere in their inbox the morning after a match?

Grant writes: “A year ago this week, I took a deep breath, turned down writing offers from traditional publications, and started my own writing site at GrantWahl.com. Few things are as professionally scary as finding out how many people are willing to pay for your work. You just can’t hide from the verdict. But I thought the risk was worth it for a few reasons:

(1) I needed to be tied to paid subscriptions, which incentivize quality, and not advertising, which incentivizes clickbait and quantity.

(2) I’m still at the top of my game.

(3) As my own boss free from the bureaucracy of a big organization, I could be a lot more nimble and efficient. Want to report three different stories on the same trip in Spain-Moldova-France or Italy-Qatar-Spain? Go do it now!

(4) I wanted to see if old-school journalism—visit, report, write—would work on Substack. I spent 25 years at Sports Illustrated magazine, most of those when SI was still the best sports publication in history, and I was hopeful that readers would pay for the kind of stories that made the old SI print magazine great.”

Read more: GrantWahl.com Is Turning 1: Thank You!

Journalist Lucy Webster says the first year of writing her Substack, The View From Down Here, has been “brilliant, scary and exhilarating.” Unexpected opportunities include moving from a political beat to one fully focused on disability advocacy, as well as landing her agent and book deal for her upcoming memoir. She looks back on 52 weeks of leaping into the unknown, helping tell the stories of others, and finding her writing sense of purpose.

Key takeaway: Lucy takes huge pride in her work and telling the stories of others, which pays off in both her relationship with her readers and sense of purpose.

The View From Down Here

A wonderful year

Hello - and welcome to this anniversary edition of The View From Down Here! It’s exactly a year to the day since I went freelance and sent the very first issue of this newsletter. And what a year it’s been. It’s been brilliant, scary and exhilarating; full of unexpected opportunities…

Read more

4 years ago · 11 likes · 3 comments · Lucy Webster

Lucy writes: “Then, of course, there’s this newsletter—my own little corner of the internet and my writing baby. When I joined Substack, I set out to see what would happen, with a vague goal to break even with 70 paying subscribers within a year. To have reached over 100 in that time is amazing, and I am so grateful to everyone who has supported me.

The View From Down Here is where we’ve really got to grips with the unseen reality of disability. Together, we’ve explored what it’s really like to have a speech impediment, what it means to live beyond conventionality, and my complex journey to disability pride. I’ve poured myself into all these pieces, and I hope they’ve provided a new and valuable perspective on disability for you.”

Read more: A wonderful year: Reflections on a year of freelancing and newsletter writing

One year since sending the first issue of The Pragmatic Engineer, Gergely Orosz commemorates the milestone by revealing the strategy that brought the newsletter to #1 in Technology on Substack. The post includes what he’s learned and his plans for the next 12 months.

Key takeaway: Nothing beats interesting, in-depth writing about a topic that you can’t read elsewhere.

The Pragmatic Engineer

My learnings a year into writing a paid newsletter

👋 Hi, this is Gergely with a bonus, free issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter. If you’re not a full subscriber yet, you missed the issues Internal politics for software engineers and managers and a few others. Subscribe to get this newsletter every week 👇…

Read more

4 years ago · 116 likes · 5 comments · Gergely Orosz

Gergely writes: “The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter gives me an excuse to talk with insiders and to research topics which are more or less taken for granted within Big Tech. Even when working at Uber, I would share some insights, but I never had time to write more than two or three articles per year on my blog. By working on the newsletter full-time, this is up to two a week!

A year on, I’m even more excited about the publication than when I started. The backlog of topics has only grown, and my network of people who are open to helping with industry insights keeps expanding. There’s so much to cover in the coming year!

The reader base is far more diverse than I expected. The ‘core’ audience I write for is software engineers and engineering managers. However, I get messages from other tech professionals: data scientists, data engineers, product managers, and managers in technology—but not software engineering—who are also avid readers. I’ve also learned recruiters and HR professionals find the newsletter is relevant for their work.”

Read more: My learnings a year into writing a paid newsletter

Four years ago, Katie Hawkins-Gaar texted her friend Becca about starting a newsletter “about figuring out emotions and navigating life’s ups and downs.” A few week’s later, My Sweet Dumb Brain was born. In a celebratory post, Katie reminisces about how the newsletter got up and running, what kept her going, and the more surreal surprises along the way.

Key takeaway: Writing a newsletter can be challenging, eye-opening, and instructive. But in speaking about the things we find the hardest, we can be less alone and more supportive.

My Sweet Dumb Brain

It all started with a text message

On August 1, 2018, I texted my friend Becca. “Hey, I’m thinking about starting a newsletter about figuring out emotions and navigating life’s ups and downs,” I wrote. It …

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4 years ago · 41 likes · 17 comments · Katie Hawkins-Gaar

Katie writes: “Looking back at that first text message, it’s amazing how much of my initial vision for My Sweet Dumb Brain has remained intact. I felt strongly about the name, the format, and the hook. Most importantly, I felt the pull to write again. After letting go of a newsletter I created at my old job, I missed having a consistent outlet to share my thoughts with an engaged audience. And after a year-plus of living with immense grief, I knew I had a lot to say, but I wasn’t interested in posting it all on social media nor was I ready to try writing a book.

A newsletter was the answer. I’m so glad that’s where I landed.

[...]

When I started this newsletter, I didn’t dream that I’d still be writing it four years later. I certainly didn’t expect I could make money from it! But here we are. Once again, none of this would be possible without you.”

Read more: It all started with a text message

When Joshua Pressman Jacobs had two standout posts with high views in the first year of his Substack, Josh off the Press, he briefly thought writing would get easier. But one of his key lessons is “how to pivot or push through the writing malaise.” 

Joshua writes: “Obviously a big factor in publicly writing is promoting it. But right now I’m going to focus more on the writing part (again) and less on the promotions part. Membership to my newsletter might not grow as quickly. But the ultimate goal is not necessarily more views, but a loyal subscriber base that progresses over time. This, of course, requires consistent writing from me. 

‘The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’ —Stephen Covey

Happy reading, everyone!”

Read more: My commitment to writing

Astrologist and writer Frederick Woodruff took the one-year anniversary of his Substack WOODRUFF as a jumping off point to reflect on writing and creativity.

Key takeaway: Don’t let subscriber numbers be a barrier to writing. But allow reader feedback to help you up your game, adjust your efforts and master your craft.

WOODRUFF

Conjuring a Substack is Strange Magic

Read more

4 years ago · 8 likes · 4 comments · Frederick Woodruff

Frederick writes: “As social platforms collapse and websites continue to devolve into carnival-like ad-riddled no-go zones, environments like Substack will evolve into what we can consider, from this vantage point, ‘the future of the internet’s ecosystem.’

Face it, the internet isn’t going anywhere, but how it operates, how it is structured and utilized is transforming.”

Read more: Conjuring a Substack is Strange Magic

For more writers’ milestone reflections, see this year’s spring roundup and last year’s fall and winter roundups.

Are you writing about a milestone in the life of your Substack publication? Send us a note about it at milestone@substackinc.com, and we’ll consider it for a future milestone post roundup (just make sure your post is available to free subscribers). It doesn’t have to be at the one-year mark, but we’re most interested in writing that shares thoughts about what you’ve learned along the way.

Great writers are great readers first, as the maxim goes. In this series, we explore what Substack writers are reading by asking them for a tour of their reading list.

This week, we spoke to Parker Molloy, who writes The Present Age, a publication about communication in a hyperconnected world. Parker is a Chicago-based writer who was editor-at-large at Media Matters for America and writes about culture, technology, politics, sports, and LGBTQ issues for outlets such as the New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, and Vice. Parker is also an avid reader—both “terminally online” for work and a big fan of comics and graphic novels for fun. Here, she handpicks some of her current reads on Substack. 

For more recommendations from Parker, you can browse the full list of Substack publications she subscribes to on her profile.

The Present Age

A Parker Molloy newsletter of cultural commentary and media criticism in a hyperconnected time.

By Parker Molloy

Hi, Parker! Can you start by describing your reading diet?

I spend most of my day reading. I’ll begin each morning by scrolling through the top stories in the Apple News app before making my way to that morning’s New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press stories. For work, I’ll sometimes fire up my newspapers.com subscription or check out the online resources from the Chicago Public Library. As far as actual books are concerned, I always make a point of going through anything that’s been sent to me by a friend or acquaintance first, then venturing out and buying books for fun. My favorite things to read are comic books and graphic novels, which make up a pretty sizable portion of my “fun” reading time. If you break it down by time, it’s a pretty even split between what I read for work and what I read for enjoyment.

Describe your ideal and actual reading room. What do they look like? 

When reading for fun, I love to get curled up on an old green chair in the corner of my living room. The space has great natural light and it’s just big enough for my dogs, Tater Tot and Casserole, to join me should they feel inclined to do so. It’s separate from my upstairs office, which helps me put physical space between the “work” and “fun” portions of my day.

My ideal reading spot would actually be pretty similar to what I have, with the addition of a fireplace, a nicer and more supportive chair, and slightly better soundproofing against the outside world. For now, though, this is wonderful.

Do you remember the first writer or book that really captured your attention?

It wasn’t until college that I actually started reading for fun. I read a lot, but it was always something I considered to be “work.” 

A friend lent me a copy of Burn Collector, by Al Burian, and so much about how I thought about the written word changed. It was sloppy, it was messy, and it contained embarrassingly earnest anecdotes about loneliness and a search for meaning. 

I remember reading that and checking out some of his other work (like his Things Are Meaning Less comic or the records put out by his bands Milemarker and Challenger) and just feeling inspired to think a bit about my own life and my own existence. I don’t know how well any of it holds up, but it was definitely one of the sparks that helped inspire me to get into zines and comics, which have inspired my own slapdash, raw writing style.

Parker Molloy’s recommended reads:

• Substack I’m most excited to open ASAP: Rusty Foster’s Today in Tabs is an essential daily read for anyone interested in keeping up with the happenings of the internet. I consider myself terminally online, yet there are always a handful of stories in each edition of Today in Tabs that I missed as they happened. The same goes for Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci’s Embedded, which is great for keeping up with online trends, memes, and general internet-related content.

Today in Tabs

Your favorite newsletter's favorite newsletter.

By Rusty Foster

Embedded

Your essential guide to what’s good on the internet. Essays and interviews by Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci.

By Nick Catucci

• Substack I recommend to friends most often: I really love Nick Offerman’s Donkey Thoughts newsletter. There’s writing, there’s video, there’s photography! It’s a great use of the medium. I’d also like to recommend his recent book, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play. It’s a great book filled with anecdotes about life and nature.

Donkey Thoughts with Nick Offerman

More Carrots, Less Sticks

• Substack I subscribed to most recently: I recently signed up for prompt/response by Guy Parsons. I’ve been really fascinated by all of the new and exciting recent advances in the world of artificial-intelligence-based content creation and the collaborative potential for writers and artists to use this technology to build new multimedia content. After reading Parsons’s fantastic DALLᐧE 2 Prompt Book, subscribing to prompt/response was a no-brainer.

prompt/response

creating art with artificial intelligence, from DALL·E 2 and beyond.

By Guy Parsons

• Substack most likely to make me think: Chris Geidner’s Law Dork newsletter is pretty new, but has quickly become one of my favorite newsletters to check out. I’ve loved Chris’s work dating back to his time at BuzzFeed and even his original Law Dork blog back in the mid-’00s. The current composition of the Supreme Court has made this a really complicated and scary moment in history for many, but his newsletter helps explain exactly what’s happening in an accessible way.

Law Dork, with Chris Geidner

The Supreme Court, law, politics, and more. Law Dork, for a different time.

• Writer not on Substack who I’d like to see join Substack: Margaret Sullivan is one of my favorite media writers, but sadly, her Washington Post column just came to an end. I know she has a bunch of stuff happening right now (a book coming out this fall and will be teaching at Duke), so I’m not sure whether she actually has time to add a newsletter to the mix. Still, I’d subscribe in a heartbeat.

Visit Parker’s recommendations page to see more from her current Substack reading list. Subscribe to The Present Age on Substack, and find Parker on Twitter.

The Present Age

A Parker Molloy newsletter of cultural commentary and media criticism in a hyperconnected time.

By Parker Molloy

Want to help spread the word about great writers you love reading? Set up recommendations, and add publications to your profile page. You can decide which of the publications you subscribe to are displayed on your profile and when you receive new subscribers.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

S(ubstack)-Bahn is a deep dive to answer why trains around the world work (or not) a certain way, by focusing on political choices people made through time.

What are the themes you try to tackle with S(ubstack)-Bahn?

Transit is the business of moving as many people as possible. It is for people, to people, by people. Too often, smart discussions about public transit focus on efficiency, money, and policy. I wanted to look closer at the people—within institutions or outside groups—who make decisions that have either saved or destroyed future growth in this space. 

Because it’s so people-focused, I have people-focused biases. I am against privatization and tone-deaf agencies, and for unions and decision makers who care. Working within self-imposed constraints, I’m able to dig deeper and even challenge my preconceptions. 

Too often, smart discussions about public transit focus on efficiency, money, and policy. I wanted to look closer at the people—within institutions or outside groups—who make decisions that have either saved or destroyed future growth in this space.

How did you become interested in public transit and urban design? 

I was born in Seoul and raised in Los Angeles, and I relied on public transit in both places. When I moved to the Bay Area for college, I continued using public transit and never owned a car. This lifelong experience of being wholly reliant on U.S. public transit—for good and for bad—led to my current job working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).

After a few years working in public transit, I noticed repeated questions from transit enthusiasts and the general public on why things are the way they are in America and why can’t we just be like, say, Japan. I was curious too, and I found the most common answers unsatisfying. As a former Silicon Valley newspaper reporter, I thought I may have the chops, too, to write after work. 

You’ve written about the history of public transportation in California, South Korea, Australia, and Japan. What does your research process look like?

It’s thankfully easy: I keep reading. I’m fluent in English and Korean, and over the years I pick up on issues, themes, and events that serve as story inspirations.

But I cannot read Japanese, so more often than not I rely on English-language materials on Japanese rail scattered about the internet. For my two-parter on how Tokyo’s regional rail went from near-collapse in the 1960s to the world-class system it is now, I would amateurishly research and translate them piecemeal. It was very laborious but also fun and addictive. Too many Americans make Japan out as this train nirvana, and my reflex is to break down the mindless adulation and present new ideas.

Why are trains in America the way they are?

The United States unconditionally surrendered all forms of rail—once the envy of the world—to cars in the 1950s. Many peer countries have demonstrated continuous investments in rail, and its growth is paramount to national infrastructural success. Melbourne stubbornly kept their trams while other Australian cities ditched them for cars, but it proved far cheaper and far wiser to improve the current network than rebuilding a new one.

One of my curiosities is to uncover the people who signed off on the destruction of rail in America, like Arthur C. Jenkins, who helped kill BART on the Golden Gate Bridge (among many other rail projects in California). It won’t bring the trains back, but I find knowing more about who they were and why they did it illuminating and invigorating. 

Read more: The Soldier Who Defended Melbourne’s Trams

What’s your favorite public transit system? 

I love the public transit system in Medellín, Colombia. It’s clean, frequent, and well-used despite its system only being 30-odd years old. It is the best case of what happens when a public transit system is built with people in mind and as a civic symbol to help move the city beyond its very violent past in the 1980s and 1990s.

Despite writing so much about Japan and Korea, I think the true interesting action in transit is happening in countries like India and Vietnam, as two main examples. Latin America and India are my white whales for future S(ubstack)-Bahn content. (And I’m seeking collaborators!)

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

I like Darrell Owens who writes a lot about the Bay Area with curiosity and courage, which I envy. I like John Ganz and Alex Pareene for their intellectual clarity, which I find the most desirable trait of any writer. I also love my friend Sean Wagner-McGough’s Substack about the movies.

Subscribe to Seung Y. Lee’s Substack, S(ubstack)-Bahn. You can also find Seung on Twitter.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The Rest Room

An in-depth look at what it means to live (and live well) with chronic illness. Essays and resources for people living with chronic illness, the people who work with them, and the people who love them.

By Natasha Lipman

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

The Rest Room explores what it means to live (and live well) with chronic illness, with a podcast and personal essays for people living with chronic illness, the people who work with them, and the people who love them.

What does your Substack offer readers that they aren’t getting elsewhere?

My Substack focuses on reconceptualizing how we think about what it means to live with chronic illness. Hearing where I struggle, and what I’m trying to figure out with all of this (for example: the pain of hope after a new diagnosis, or being scared of your own body), helps my audience connect to the wider concepts we’re discussing. And that’s so often missing in a clinical environment.

Living in the U.K., we see health as a binary thing: You’re sick or you’re not. You get better or you don’t. We don’t seem to have much of a cultural understanding of that place in the middle—where you stay sick. And this translates to the medical care most people receive, especially with under-researched and underfunded “invisible illnesses.” 

There’s also often a failure to recognize that these conditions can impact every single aspect of our lives—from our relationships and hobbies to our ability to work or even feed ourselves—and these deserve support too. 

I recently, and very nervously, opened my first Substack discussion thread, and someone commented: “You have created something valuable in that space between what is said/not said at a doctor’s clinic and how life happens.” I think that really summed up what I’m trying to do.

In your podcast, you speak to experts on topics like recovery, brain fog, and self management. How do you decide on what to cover? 

I try to create the content that I needed to read when I was first diagnosed [with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome] aged 21. Alongside more expert-centered resources, I share personal essays. A lot of this is informed by my own experiences, the experiences of people around me, and asking my audience about what would be most helpful to them. 

I’m particularly interested in some of the fundamentals of “self-management”—what are the things that I can do in my day-to-day life that can help me suffer less. I take a big topic that I have struggled with, like pacing or how to move safely with chronic pain, that can be broken down in all sorts of ways. I then make a point of trying to find experts who have experience of chronic illness themselves, or are particularly empathetic and understanding. Oftentimes, they’re people I’ve worked with personally. 

These topics are really challenging and emotional, and so it’s important to always go in with the mindset that everyone is different, whether that be in terms of the severity of their illness, how it impacts them, what kind of support and resources they have access to, or even their personality. While it’s impossible to make something for everyone, I try to be really mindful of that in everything I create. It’s more opening up the conversation, asking questions, and gently exploring our own unique experiences. 

It’s important to always go in with the mindset that everyone is different [...] While it’s impossible to make something for everyone, I try to be really mindful of that in everything I create. 

How do you balance running your Substack alongside your own illness?

It’s hard. You want to get into the flow of things and just write and write because you have so many ideas, but your brain and body is screaming at you to stop. I’m trying to learn a different way of being creative, one that enables me to be more mindful of taking breaks and not pushing myself too far. It’s … a work in progress.

Fortunately, due to the nature of what I write about, my audience is very understanding. So when I am having a difficult time and struggling to write, I can say that I’m taking a break, and then … take a break. Experimenting with different formats (the comment threads are a great option, for example, to enable me to get to know my audience without having to try and force out an essay when I’m not well enough) is something I’m looking forward to exploring more in the future.

I’m also extremely fortunate to have a brillant producer, Philly Guillou, to work with on my podcast—it literally wouldn’t exist without her, because I don’t have the capacity. So it’s also important for me to think about where I can get support to help me produce content more regularly.

What do you wish others understood about living with a chronic illness?

I’ve started to be able to take my first tentative steps walking by myself to the shop on the corner without a mobility aid. Physical challenge aside, one of the things I’ve had to deal with as I’ve moved from wheelchair to rollator to just me is fear. There’s an inherent safety in a mobility aid—a signal for people to be aware, to not come too close to me, and to understand why I may be slower or need some help. Without it, I just look like a healthy 33-year-old. It’s like I’m suddenly undercover again. It’s like I’m going back to a place where people will be frustrated with me because they don’t know. And they don’t know it took me five years to be there like that.

This, to me, highlights something I learned over the years: you never know what someone is going through just by looking at them. That applies to chronic illness or anything else in their life. I think it behooves all of us to take a step back and recognize that. It has made me more understanding, empathetic, and patient.

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

My former BBC colleague, the brilliant journalist Lucy Webster, who writes The View From Down Here, exploring the side of disability you don’t see and how to be an ally to disabled people.

Subscribe to Natasha’s publication, The Rest Room on Substack, and you can also find her on  Twitter and Instagram.

The Rest Room

An in-depth look at what it means to live (and live well) with chronic illness. Essays and resources for people living with chronic illness, the people who work with them, and the people who love them.

By Natasha Lipman

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Dearest

An irreverent but loving investigation into the history and craftsmanship of antique jewelry — tiny objects that often tell us the bigger stories of their age — through pieces cherry-picked from current auctions and dealer websites.

By Monica McLaughlin

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

Dearest is a monthly newsletter about the history, stories, and occasional gossip behind pieces of antique jewelry (and other interesting items!). I cherry-pick from upcoming auctions and dealer websites.

What makes you passionate about antique jewelry?

Well, first off, there’s the beauty and craftsmanship angle; let’s get that out of the way. But for me, it’s really the history—looking beyond the piece itself and taking note of all the factors that came together in the world to bring it into existence. It may have been created as part of a war effort or made to memorialize a precious loved one (or a queen, or a poet) or even to simply document an event, like the passing of Halley’s Comet or the launch of the first hot-air balloon. The stories are endless, and even though I’ve been doing this for ages now, I’m still constantly being surprised and enchanted by some of the things that pop up for sale.

There also simply isn’t a lot of information out there about antique jewelry. I hear from so many readers that they never realized it could be affordable or even accessible to them, so I hope that alongside the enthusiastic shouting, I am also demystifying the trade for others.

This publication originated as a column on The Hairpin blog. How has your experience writing it shifted, if at all, since the move to Substack? 

Not all that much, although I do tend to go off on even longer tangents than I used to! I’m totally incapable of reining myself in. I do miss the feel of blogs, though—particularly The Hairpin and The Toast, which both had wonderful, raucous comments sections.

One thing that has changed is that I started to offer paid subscriptions last year, and it took me a while to figure out what those paid emails should look like. I needn’t have worried, though, because they sort of evolved on their own into more in-depth posts focusing on a single item or theme. I’m really enjoying writing them—the smaller group of recipients makes it feel like a club, and the discussions we have in the comments are a delight.

You bring a lot of humor and playfulness to your writing, which is not what one might expect from analysis of historical artifacts. How would you describe your voice? 

I try to write conversationally, as if I’m telling a friend about this cool thing I just found. There can be a ton of research and detail that goes into what I’m writing, but I try to get it across in a way that doesn’t feel boring or overwhelming. Hopefully my enthusiasm is infectious.

I also have to confess that the undercurrent of hysterical giddiness present in some of my emails is there because I usually finish writing—directly in the CMS, like some kind of an animal—at 3 a.m. and then schedule them to go out a few hours later while I’m asleep. So let’s just say it’s not unusual for me to wake up, read what I sent out, and think, “What the hell, Monica?”

What do you look for in the pieces you feature? 

If you make a habit of looking through auction and dealer websites, you will quickly develop an eye for what is common and what isn’t, and the more unusual pieces will practically jump off the page.

I mainly look for age and rarity, not necessarily price. Huge diamonds bore me to tears, but give me a backstory and I’m in heaven. A recent paid post focused on a set of simple, $250 silver and enamel cufflinks that, on further reading, turned out to be the membership cufflinks of a short-lived but incredibly successful English charitable organization called the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers. The AOFB (motto: “Lubrication in Moderation”) met regularly at pubs and followed a wonderfully silly set of rules and, in the process, raised the equivalent of over $7 million for children’s charities in the 1920s. That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for.

Huge diamonds bore me to tears, but give me a backstory and I’m in heaven.

What’s one of the strangest objects you’ve uncovered so far?

Well, the emerald-lensed eyeglasses were pretty incredible, but I also loved the Tiffany & Co. pendant watch with the compartment on the back that contained dirt from the New York City subway groundbreaking in 1900. At first glance it looked like a simple, elegant watch pendant, but surprise! It’s actually a one-of-a-kind piece of history that originally belonged to the daughter of John McDonald, the contractor who oversaw the construction of the first NYC subway line.

Read more: Emerald eyeglasses, Elvira, and other extraordinary excesses and A hawk bell, a dethroned maharaja, and Joan Crawford

How does the modern era of jewelry compare to the historical pieces you’ve studied?

Fashion is cyclical, of course, so trends circle around all the time even in jewelry, and right now I think we’re going through a signet-ring phase again. The pearls-on-men thing is currently ruffling some feathers among the old-school jewelers, but men wore pearls for centuries; it was only a matter of time before the look resurfaced. It’s long past due, really. More power to them!

No matter what style it takes, though, people find meaning in jewelry. Alongside our collections of fashion-influenced stuff, there’s almost always a piece or two that is deeply connected to ourselves or our families. We hold these precious little objects—wedding rings, lockets, a stone or watch that belonged to a grandfather—so closely to ourselves, and that has never gone out of fashion. I personally collect mourning rings, and I feel as if I’m helping to fulfill someone else’s original purpose by caring for them and keeping them safe. I know I tend to sentimentalize things, but I do feel strongly that these pieces deserve respect—they’re far older than we are, and they will continue to exist long after we’ve gone. For however long I’m around, I want to be a good caretaker for my part of a jewel’s life.

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

I adore Edith Zimmerman’s comics newsletter Drawing Links. Edith was my editor at The Hairpin. Dearest literally wouldn’t exist without her! She has a way of looking at the world from a slightly skewed angle that is endearing and funny and deeply personal. Drawing Links focuses mainly on moments in her life, but she also throws in some stories, like the ridiculously charming Bathtub Mermaid.

Subscribe to Monica’s Substack, Dearest. You can also find Monica on Twitter.

Dearest

An irreverent but loving investigation into the history and craftsmanship of antique jewelry — tiny objects that often tell us the bigger stories of their age — through pieces cherry-picked from current auctions and dealer websites.

By Monica McLaughlin

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

TypeTown

Celebrating the typewriter’s place in modern (and not so modern) culture.

By Neil Barraclough

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

TypeTown is an exploration of 20th-century cultural figures through their relationship with the typewriter.

Why typewriters? 

I’ve spent my entire career writing, first as a journalist and now as a copywriter. In summer 2021, we moved from the U.K. to Canada and had to quarantine for two weeks. I’d seen a recommendation for the documentary film California Typewriter, and I was hooked. The romance of typewriters caught my attention. Using typewriters to explore different cultural figures was enough to get me going.

The typewriter is freeing. It doesn’t ping with distractions. It’s simply a tool for absorbing yourself completely in your work. For many writers, it’s not about getting things done fast. It’s about getting things right. Those who still love typewriters see them as the best way to dive fully into the world they’re creating.

For people who work with modern technology all day, every day, a note from a typewriter creates such a personal moment. I have a small collection (so far!). Last year, instead of Christmas cards, my clients got a typewritten note in the post. Without exception, they all loved it. My 5-year-old daughter has also used one to send little notes back to her grandparents in the U.K., and that had the same effect.

For many writers, it’s not about getting things done fast. It’s about getting things right. Those who still love typewriters see them as the best way to dive fully into the world they’re creating.

You’ve written about a broad array of typewriter users: Susan Sontag, Gabriel García Márquez, and Agatha Christie. How do you choose your subjects, and what do you hope readers learn from them?

There’s no set method. Some of the subjects might share a birthday with the publication date. Others might be particularly timely, perhaps because of a current news story or something similar. And some are just people I want to delve into.

Writing TypeTown is as much a journey of learning and discovery for myself as it is for the readers. That, along with the reaction I’ve received, is probably why I’ve been able to keep it going.

Your posts follow a consistent format. How did that design come about?

I wanted to remove the barrier of having to work out how to write each post and just be able to concentrate on what to write. Perhaps it’s a throwback from my journalism days. Magazines run the same features in every issue. This is no different.

My creative process is just like it is for anyone else: initial blind panic that eventually flows into frantic writing as the deadline looms, and then astonishment that it’s actually done.

What’s been your favorite “typewriter in the wild” so far?

Jeremy Mayer is a sculptor who works exclusively with old typewriters, dismantling them by hand and then reassembling them to create breathtaking new pieces. This owl featured in TypeTown #13 and feels like the perfect example of “typewriters in the wild”—quite literally.

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

I’ve just discovered Angeles Fernández’s newsletter on Spain and its language. Feature Shoot is great for photography (its North Korea issue is well worth checking out). And I’ve been reading Austin Kleon for over a decade, so he’s clearly doing something right.

Subscribe to Neil’s Substack, TypeTown, and check out his copywriting website. You can also follow him on Twitter.

TypeTown

Celebrating the typewriter’s place in modern (and not so modern) culture.

By Neil Barraclough

Great writers are great readers first, as the maxim goes. In this series, we explore what Substack writers are reading by asking them for a tour of their reading list.

This week, we spoke to New York Times best-selling author and artist Austin Kleon, who shares art, inspiration, and writing in his weekly Substack. Austin is the author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age—Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going—and alongside writing is an avid reader, drawing on previous lives as a librarian, web designer, and copywriter. Here, he handpicks some of his current reads on Substack. 

For more recommendations from Austin, you can browse the full list of Substack publications he subscribes to on his profile.

Austin Kleon

Weekly art, writing, and creative inspiration from the author of Steal Like an Artist and other bestsellers.

Hi, Austin! Can you start by describing your reading diet? 

I read as much as I can and never enough. It was a great shock to me when I was younger and I realized that most great writers probably read at least five times as much as they write. As for what I read, I have no idea how to separate out personal interest and professional research. It all goes into the gumbo pot in my brain, and it all influences my work, somehow. 

Describe your ideal or actual reading room. What does it look like? 

I live in Texas in a tiny bungalow with my kids, so my favorite, most peaceful place to read is out back in the pool. Always with a pencil, scribbling notes and doodling in the margin. Sometimes I stand up and put my book on the coping [the edge of the pool] and sometimes I float on a raft until I fall asleep. I’ll even take gigantic hardback books out into the pool and just know they’re going to get wet. Books are a durable technology. They can take a pretty good beating. 

I realized that most great writers probably read at least five times as much as they write.

Do you remember the first writer or book that really captured your attention?

I can’t remember the first one, but the writers/artists who made me want to do what I do include Kurt Vonnegut, Lynda Barry, Saul Steinberg, and Charles Schulz. 

Austin Kleon’s recommended reads:

• Substack I’m most excited to open: S/FJ. Sasha Frere-Jones turns me on to a ton of good music.

S/FJ

Enthusiasms + photographs + interviews + mixes + essays.

By Sasha Frere-Jones

• Most inspirational newsletters: DrawTogether by Wendy MacNaughton, The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker, and Subtle Maneuvers by Mason Currey. Wendy MacNaughton and Rob Walker are both good friends of mine, and the way they look at the world always inspires me to open my eyes and keep looking. Mason Currey’s newsletter is a great extension of his books about artists’ lives.

DrawTogether with WendyMac

Official newsletter of DrawTogether: DrawTogether Podcast, plus inspiration, interviews, activities and art/heart interestingness from NYT-bestselling illustrator, Wendy MacNaughton.

The Art of Noticing

Ideas, inspiration, and prompts for creativity, work, and staying human. From author Rob Walker.

By Rob Walker

Subtle Maneuvers

On wriggling through a creative life, from Daily Rituals author Mason Currey

By Mason Currey

• Substack that makes me think about my business: When it comes to books and publishing, Anne Trubek’s Notes from a Small Press always gives me something to consider.

• Writer I’m amazed is on Substack: Lawrence Weschler’s newsletter is bonkers. It breaks almost every rule: it’s dense and it’s almost impossible to scan and it usually gets cut off in my email. But I love him. He did a “Taxonomy of Convergences” that was broken up over five issues, and it was so sprawling I had to take notes and diagram it out.

  Wondercabinet

  Lawrence Weschler's Fortnightly Compendium of the Miscellaneous Diverse.

  By Lawrence Weschler

• Writer not on Substack who I’d like to see join: I would love for my wife, Meghan, who edits my newsletter, to start her own! She’s the real writer in our family.

Visit Austin Kleon’s profile page to see more from his current Substack reading list. Subscribe to Austin Kleon on Substack, and find Austin on Twitter. 

Austin Kleon

Weekly art, writing, and creative inspiration from the author of Steal Like an Artist and other bestsellers.

Want to help spread the word about great writers you love reading? Set up recommendations, and add publications to your profile page. You can decide which of the publications you subscribe to are displayed on your profile and when you receive new subscribers.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Wu Fei's Music Daily

An original piece of music every weekday from composer and guzheng performer / pianist / vocalist Wu Fei. Official website www.wufeimusic.com

By Wu Fei 吴非

What’s your Substack about in one sentence?

I compose, perform, and record an original piece of music every day, which I send to my subscribers with a short note about its inspiration. 

It’s astounding that you’re able to compose and record a new song each day. What is that process like? 

I have been practicing both of the instruments every day for at least two to three hours since I was 5 years old. When I was 13, I started to take composition lessons. That’s when composing became part of my daily music routine. I usually start my daily practice—on guzheng [21-string Chinese zither] or piano, or both—around the early afternoon in my home studio. 

My creative process has changed quite a bit over the years from when I was an inexperienced student to where I am now. Now I sit down in front of the instruments, and as soon as my fingers touch the strings or keys, music starts to flow out of my chest. I feel like a channel for the sounds that come to me. The less I think about what I want to play, the easier the music comes out. 

I usually have a video game on my phone next to me when I lay down multitracks. I play the video game while coming up with counterpoint tracks to the earlier tracks. Playing the game helps me to keep my heart or my “channel” empty because my brain is distracted. That way, when the music hits me, there is no analytical resistance that would block the natural flow. It works every time. 

In your music, we hear the guzheng. Sometimes you say this is “solo improvisation,” “prepared guzheng,” or a “multitrack guzheng.” Can you explain what these terms mean? 

A solo improvisation is when I record playing the guzheng in one single take and it’s completely improvised. There is no pause during recording, nor rehearsed or practiced section. It can be the most challenging and easiest way to create, at the same time. 

Prepared guzheng is when I tinker with the instrument, for example, by attaching rings or forks or something to the strings. 

Multitrack guzheng is when I record two or sometimes a whole bunch of tracks separately, and then mix them together digitally on the computer. 

The guzheng, sometimes just called a zheng, is a traditional Chinese zither with a history dating back around 2,500 years. It is related to the Japanese koto, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh.

What role does listening to music play in your creation? 

I almost always come up with the music first without needing any thing or person to inspire me. After the music is done, I listen to it. While I listen to it, I start to look around either in the room or step outside into the forest (I live in a forest) with no purpose. Then something—scenery, a plant, a bird call, often a visual stimulation but sometimes an imagination—clicks with the music and presents a story. It usually only takes a few minutes for that to happen, and it’s hard to explain what that feels like. I see a pattern in everything that exists in the world. I gaze at the pattern and stories start to jump out of my head. 

You’ve published more than 600 new songs now. Which ones stand out to you? 

I love all of them. They are my babies. “Sichuan Dollhouse” is wicked. The “Guzheng Night Songs” are sweet. 

Wu Fei's Music Daily

Sichuan dollhouse 娃寨

Listen now (4 min) | Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #436 — Sichuan dollhouse 娃寨. This piece was created and recorded yesterday on multi-vocal tracks, sung/spoken by me. It draws from the tradition of Luogu 锣鼓经. Luogu literally means "gongs and drums…

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5 years ago · Wu Fei 吴非

What does the future of your Substack music look like?

I’ll be traveling more to play live concerts all around the world in the coming seasons, and I plan to create more music inspired by the fun and interesting things I learn from traveling with my Substack audience.

Who’s another Substack writer you’d recommend?

Bill Bishop’s Sinocism!  

Subscribe to Wu Fei’s Substack, Wu Fei Daily, more information on her personal website. You can also find Fei on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Wu Fei's Music Daily

An original piece of music every weekday from composer and guzheng performer / pianist / vocalist Wu Fei. Official website www.wufeimusic.com

By Wu Fei 吴非