We invited Erik Hoel, who writes The Intrinsic Perspective, to share his insights on returning to topics with fresh takes and allowing room for interaction and speculation, to boost virality.
Erik is an example of how developing a great visual identity can make your publication stand out. How do you dream of leveling up your publication aesthetic?
Reply to this comment with and tell us about your dreams! Our services team will help three writers with design services.
Delighted to see Erik featured here! I would love to develop a similarly consistent (glamorous!) aesthetic to provide better continuity across diverse subject matter.
Hey Katie, I'm a relatively new blogger who's still trying to discover an aesthetic, and I would love some help. I would love to have a consistent and compelling design across my blog and podcast.
I write for a specific audience, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders. For the longest time, these leaders feel lost and lonely as they navigate their workplace, so I try to provide encouragement and information to help them do their jobs better. The aesthetic I go for, as silly as it sounds, is a tropical theme. Our work in this sector is challenging and I am trying to create a place these folks can go to that is a bit more laid back and relaxing.
I'd love some help on https://thestatcast.substack.com. I come from a stats & writing background and have no experience in visual design! I'd love something relatively simple--like a bubbly, blocky design that gets across how I'm trying to talk about sports & stats in a way that everyone can understand and learn from. Something comforting & inviting for the reader.
I would love to be able to commission art! The rise of AI art in particular has made me feel that it's even more important to support human artists. But of course it is expensive (and rightly so) for a publication that is far from making any money.
One thing I would like is to refine and expand the "old map full of sea monsters" aesthetic of my newsletter: Perhaps make the logo stand out more, and design a custom section separator.
I’d love your assistance. My weekly newsletter is for the restaurant & foodservice industry and I always include several photos Https://hosporeset.substack.com - I am a very visual person. Feels like the design aesthetic so far is a bit random and disorganized - would be great to get some tips and guidance.
Hey there! This post was really inspiring on my journey growing as a substack author.
I would love some help developing my visual identity but in a unique way; I'm actually an illustrator as well as a writer, and my main blog covers that topic and also so many of the topics I'm passionate about. I want to highlight others perspectives and art styles, too, while inspiring people.
Because I have so many passions as well as art styles, I find it hard to simplify this in a cohesive aesthetic that works well for my blog. In order to level up my publication I would love guidance in design and aesthetix that will highlight my creativity as well my connection to the arts, sciences, and underrepresented communities.
Basically, I do a lot of art but I would love professional guidance in taking that aspect of my publication to the next level, while showing that I want to help support other creatives too!
My style focuses on simplicity, minimalism and mindfulness and I try to convey that through my writing and photos. I currently don't have an original logo design and cover pic to showcase my page so I would benefit a lot from help on that!
Aesthetics are hard for me, because I don’t have the knowledge of how to use technology and specific tools that younger writers who grew up using computers and having internet access do. I would love to have help with design services and learn more about what it is now possible to do and how to do it!
I just started my “Changing Lives” newsletter about a month ago (wendigordon.Substack.com) and it has great content but no visual appeal.
1) don't shy away from giving your opinion as a way for people to respond, inviting them to think.
2) consider collaborations with talented illustrators. I've been hoping to do this too but don't know where to start! I also don't know where to find a graphic designer who would work on retainer (and on my little to no budget)
For now, I'm reaching out directly to creatives and artists for photos of their working studios to include as a featured artist in every post... Someday would like to take these portraits myself!
The part about the art really hit me -- I had always subconsciously noticed the drawings in Erik's post, but never consciously thought about how clearly related in style and palette they were. Very cool, very effective.
Love the point about frequency. I think a lot of people worry about that too much. There's a Substack that only publishes a scant few times a year but that I always find valuable (Leah Sottile's newsletter The Truth Does Not Change According to Our Ability to Stomach It: https://leahsottile.substack.com) and I'm happy to pay for it no matter how infrequently it shows up. Whereas on Medium there are some high-profile writers who post 3 times a week whom I end up unfollowing because the majority of the posts don't have a lot to say.
Agreed, I think people underestimate subscriber churn. The *only* reason I've ever unsubscribed from a Substack is because I feel I'm being bombarded by low-quality content and want a cleaner inbox.
Same! There are very few that can publish more than once a week that I truly want to read. I don't even pay attention to frequency otherwise. Rather, it's a sense of delight when I see the title in my inbox. If my response is "ooh, yay!" or similar, it can happen once a week or once a year. And likewise, I hope people feel like mine is something to look forward to reading.
Interesting! I’ve been wondering if posting too frequently turns off subscribers (maybe it becomes a chore when we have so many subscriptions). Maybe it’s better to leave readers wanting more…
It's possibly that, but also providing a space for respite from the daily onslaught of content. I hadn't read Erik's Substack before (will now) but I think he's right that people will read more thoughtful longform (or short form!) however frequently if it feels like it provides them space rather than just one more thing to consume.
I think that’s a good point. There are posts I savor and some I skim just to clear my inbox. Probably I should mirror my own patterns in readership a bit. What kinds of posts am I excited to see in my inbox? What do I delete or let sit until the end of the week? When is something too much? That seems like a fairly reliable guide to the type and frequency of content I’d like to create…
Alexander Naughton's illustrations for Erik Hoel's newsletter are actually one of the highlights of my inbox! They mesh perfectly with whatever Hoel is writing about, but they also stand on their own.
Out of curiosity, how did the partnership between you two start? Where did you find him, how long does it take him to create the pieces, etc? Anything you can tell us, I'm curious. Thanks
I spent like a week just browsing through illustrators I could find online, and then when I found him I cold emailed him with the pitch to come on. I choose him because he is both (a) an amazing artist, but also (b) can do themed "think-piece art." He takes a certain amount of the TIP budget for each piece, and as our budget has grown (like the recent grants TIP has received) the amount he makes per piece has increased (I was clear from the beginning that we would try to "grow together.") Our process is that I send him the draft each week (generally about a week ahead of time). He then reads it and comes up with his own interpretation - he has total control over the final artistic product, although I sometimes suggest small things (like a different crop or something).
Appreciate the idea of “roomy” topics. As a food writer I am drawn to ideas that can be looked at in different ways, depending on who is doing the looking. And food gets a bit preachy. I was trying to be honest and open, but now you’re telling me it’s good business practice, too!
I've unsubbed from a few stacks already because I get 3-4 posts from them a week. It's exhausting. I appreciate people/ writers who cultivate their work rather than manufacture it.
“The subject has to be “roomy” enough for multiple opinions.” --- This was my biggest takeaway from the wisdom and perspectives you shared. Just like sweet honey nectar. Yes, Yes, YES, people want to engage and share their thoughts and opinions. Now for the face slap -- I need to improve what I’m doing on this front.
That was a great post, Erik. As many people said already, I love the point on frequency too! I was just wondering: how many twitter followers did you have at the time of starting your substack? Did you notice any growth there too? Also, what did you leverage at the beginning - how did the initial growth happen for you?
I had ~3,500 at the start, something around there. And that was after 7 years! I was getting close to that on Substack in 7 months. But yes, the early Twitter engagement did help, although it was a collection of things early on: I think the first two successes that kickstarted growth were that Sam Harris shared a post (on Twitter) and another went to #1 on Hacker News. Both lucky outside events, although ultimately I think the biggest impact was a slow trickle of subscribers, just a few every day really adds up.
Wow! Thanks for this answer. I feel I will never come out of this sub 300 hole to be honest. But I guess persistence is also what matters. And to find interesting topics and have something to say. Happy to read you! And take care!
It was really inspiring to read especially as a science writer and video creator. I think content creation was really leaning towards quantity over quality towards the end of the last decade, but the tide seems to have shifted now and I believe readers have become more discernible about the content they consume online.
Do you have any tips regarding productivity and managing multiple projects at the same time?
Moreover, you mentioned experimenting with different writing styles. As online writers, we often here that’s it’s best to write clearly and in short sentences to engage the most readers.
Do you feel that is true? I’d love to hear your opinion on those two matters and thanks again for the piece and great content :)
I.m.o. people are open to a lot of different writing styles. In fact, I think there is a paucity of what might be called "literary" writing, with that just referring to people caring a great deal about language and the level of sentences. Sometimes that involves short and sweet, but honestly, the one thing we as independent content creators can offer is that we *aren't* outlets and don't have to write in the standard outlet style that sounds kind of blah and unidentifiable.
W.r.t. managing multiple projects at the same time, I wish I had a magic bullet for that. To me, I've always had interdisciplinary interests, and often I work on one thing for a while (like write a couple Substack posts in a week) and then go back to my other interests and work on those for a week or two, etc. But other people do it differently. I think being covetous of your time is underrated, and finding ways to say "no" is important.
And yes, I totally agree with you on the first on the first point. I typically write longer sentences and while most people may consider that to be unconventional in the age of the internet, I feel like we have to make use of the flexibility that independent writing on the internet affords us - no? I guess that was a good example of a fairly long sentence haha.
Re your advice on working on multiple projects at the same time, I feel like that could work for me as I’ve always found it easier to focus on one thing/project, rather than “scatter” myself too much. I’ll give it a try once I’m done with a few deadlines this week and let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
I would love Substack assistance on how to make my page look less blog-like and more like a professional website. I strive for the focus of my subscribers to be on my writing, Morning After Thoughts, but also incorporating visuals for the personal pictures I post to pop! Thank you for all you do!
I literally taught myself Photoshop just so that I wouldn't have to use "Smiling Girl Holding Coffee Mug Free Stock Photo" like every side-hustler out there with an internet bill and a Pixabay bookmark.
So yeah let's normalize visual identity. I'm in love with The Intrinsic Perspective's art. I love Substack's color palette as well. This is a bit like food—it can't taste too bad if it looks this good.
I saw a few comments mentioning there were people who would like to work with illustrators but didn't know how to connect with them so I just wanted to mention that I am one and I'm open for commissions! Other places you can find illustrators are places like the Directory of Illustration https://www.directoryofillustration.com, AOI Folios https://theaoi.com/folios/ and illustration agencies.
I would love to have a visual identity that reflects the complexity of the subject I write about, the Future of Belonging. People are such weird, contradictory, diverse, multi-faceted individuals. I wish I had the visuals to bring both the beauty and the horror to life and invite people to share and dialogue. I find myself drawn to digital collages as a visual language to communicate these ideas but have no idea how to connect with illustrators.
Gosh, I sure would love some help with visual identity! My Substack includes multiple sections, a podcast, and a memoir-in-progress. Despite having a logo and an established brand, I’m still feeling aesthetically scattered on the platform. Thanks for considering me as a possible test case. https://Christinewolf.Substack.com
Erik is an example of how developing a great visual identity can make your publication stand out. How do you dream of leveling up your publication aesthetic?
Reply to this comment with and tell us about your dreams! Our services team will help three writers with design services.
Delighted to see Erik featured here! I would love to develop a similarly consistent (glamorous!) aesthetic to provide better continuity across diverse subject matter.
Hey Katie, I'm a relatively new blogger who's still trying to discover an aesthetic, and I would love some help. I would love to have a consistent and compelling design across my blog and podcast.
I write for a specific audience, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders. For the longest time, these leaders feel lost and lonely as they navigate their workplace, so I try to provide encouragement and information to help them do their jobs better. The aesthetic I go for, as silly as it sounds, is a tropical theme. Our work in this sector is challenging and I am trying to create a place these folks can go to that is a bit more laid back and relaxing.
I'd love some help on https://thestatcast.substack.com. I come from a stats & writing background and have no experience in visual design! I'd love something relatively simple--like a bubbly, blocky design that gets across how I'm trying to talk about sports & stats in a way that everyone can understand and learn from. Something comforting & inviting for the reader.
I would love to be able to commission art! The rise of AI art in particular has made me feel that it's even more important to support human artists. But of course it is expensive (and rightly so) for a publication that is far from making any money.
One thing I would like is to refine and expand the "old map full of sea monsters" aesthetic of my newsletter: Perhaps make the logo stand out more, and design a custom section separator.
I’d love your assistance. My weekly newsletter is for the restaurant & foodservice industry and I always include several photos Https://hosporeset.substack.com - I am a very visual person. Feels like the design aesthetic so far is a bit random and disorganized - would be great to get some tips and guidance.
Hey there! This post was really inspiring on my journey growing as a substack author.
I would love some help developing my visual identity but in a unique way; I'm actually an illustrator as well as a writer, and my main blog covers that topic and also so many of the topics I'm passionate about. I want to highlight others perspectives and art styles, too, while inspiring people.
Because I have so many passions as well as art styles, I find it hard to simplify this in a cohesive aesthetic that works well for my blog. In order to level up my publication I would love guidance in design and aesthetix that will highlight my creativity as well my connection to the arts, sciences, and underrepresented communities.
Basically, I do a lot of art but I would love professional guidance in taking that aspect of my publication to the next level, while showing that I want to help support other creatives too!
Honakisheart.substack.com
Hi Katie, I am interested. I am new to Substack would love to get some help with making my newsletter visually appealing and organised.
My style focuses on simplicity, minimalism and mindfulness and I try to convey that through my writing and photos. I currently don't have an original logo design and cover pic to showcase my page so I would benefit a lot from help on that!
Aesthetics are hard for me, because I don’t have the knowledge of how to use technology and specific tools that younger writers who grew up using computers and having internet access do. I would love to have help with design services and learn more about what it is now possible to do and how to do it!
I just started my “Changing Lives” newsletter about a month ago (wendigordon.Substack.com) and it has great content but no visual appeal.
Just subscribed! This looks really promising. Stick with it, it takes time to grow something.
Thanks so much for subscribing and for your encouragement to stick with it, William!
Key takeaways for me from this article:
1) don't shy away from giving your opinion as a way for people to respond, inviting them to think.
2) consider collaborations with talented illustrators. I've been hoping to do this too but don't know where to start! I also don't know where to find a graphic designer who would work on retainer (and on my little to no budget)
For now, I'm reaching out directly to creatives and artists for photos of their working studios to include as a featured artist in every post... Someday would like to take these portraits myself!
Hi @Katie - just wondering who won the design makovers? I have my fingers crossed...
The part about the art really hit me -- I had always subconsciously noticed the drawings in Erik's post, but never consciously thought about how clearly related in style and palette they were. Very cool, very effective.
Love the point about frequency. I think a lot of people worry about that too much. There's a Substack that only publishes a scant few times a year but that I always find valuable (Leah Sottile's newsletter The Truth Does Not Change According to Our Ability to Stomach It: https://leahsottile.substack.com) and I'm happy to pay for it no matter how infrequently it shows up. Whereas on Medium there are some high-profile writers who post 3 times a week whom I end up unfollowing because the majority of the posts don't have a lot to say.
Agreed, I think people underestimate subscriber churn. The *only* reason I've ever unsubscribed from a Substack is because I feel I'm being bombarded by low-quality content and want a cleaner inbox.
Same! There are very few that can publish more than once a week that I truly want to read. I don't even pay attention to frequency otherwise. Rather, it's a sense of delight when I see the title in my inbox. If my response is "ooh, yay!" or similar, it can happen once a week or once a year. And likewise, I hope people feel like mine is something to look forward to reading.
Interesting! I’ve been wondering if posting too frequently turns off subscribers (maybe it becomes a chore when we have so many subscriptions). Maybe it’s better to leave readers wanting more…
It's possibly that, but also providing a space for respite from the daily onslaught of content. I hadn't read Erik's Substack before (will now) but I think he's right that people will read more thoughtful longform (or short form!) however frequently if it feels like it provides them space rather than just one more thing to consume.
I think that’s a good point. There are posts I savor and some I skim just to clear my inbox. Probably I should mirror my own patterns in readership a bit. What kinds of posts am I excited to see in my inbox? What do I delete or let sit until the end of the week? When is something too much? That seems like a fairly reliable guide to the type and frequency of content I’d like to create…
I now feel inspired to spend some more critical time with the 92 unread files marked "Magazines" in my inbox!
Quality over quantity! This was a refreshing read. Thanks for sharing your experience Erik.
Alexander Naughton's illustrations for Erik Hoel's newsletter are actually one of the highlights of my inbox! They mesh perfectly with whatever Hoel is writing about, but they also stand on their own.
Honestly, I don't deserve him, as every single time I'm always impressed and delighted at his interpretation
Out of curiosity, how did the partnership between you two start? Where did you find him, how long does it take him to create the pieces, etc? Anything you can tell us, I'm curious. Thanks
I spent like a week just browsing through illustrators I could find online, and then when I found him I cold emailed him with the pitch to come on. I choose him because he is both (a) an amazing artist, but also (b) can do themed "think-piece art." He takes a certain amount of the TIP budget for each piece, and as our budget has grown (like the recent grants TIP has received) the amount he makes per piece has increased (I was clear from the beginning that we would try to "grow together.") Our process is that I send him the draft each week (generally about a week ahead of time). He then reads it and comes up with his own interpretation - he has total control over the final artistic product, although I sometimes suggest small things (like a different crop or something).
Appreciate the idea of “roomy” topics. As a food writer I am drawn to ideas that can be looked at in different ways, depending on who is doing the looking. And food gets a bit preachy. I was trying to be honest and open, but now you’re telling me it’s good business practice, too!
I've unsubbed from a few stacks already because I get 3-4 posts from them a week. It's exhausting. I appreciate people/ writers who cultivate their work rather than manufacture it.
“The subject has to be “roomy” enough for multiple opinions.” --- This was my biggest takeaway from the wisdom and perspectives you shared. Just like sweet honey nectar. Yes, Yes, YES, people want to engage and share their thoughts and opinions. Now for the face slap -- I need to improve what I’m doing on this front.
That was a great post, Erik. As many people said already, I love the point on frequency too! I was just wondering: how many twitter followers did you have at the time of starting your substack? Did you notice any growth there too? Also, what did you leverage at the beginning - how did the initial growth happen for you?
I had ~3,500 at the start, something around there. And that was after 7 years! I was getting close to that on Substack in 7 months. But yes, the early Twitter engagement did help, although it was a collection of things early on: I think the first two successes that kickstarted growth were that Sam Harris shared a post (on Twitter) and another went to #1 on Hacker News. Both lucky outside events, although ultimately I think the biggest impact was a slow trickle of subscribers, just a few every day really adds up.
Wow! Thanks for this answer. I feel I will never come out of this sub 300 hole to be honest. But I guess persistence is also what matters. And to find interesting topics and have something to say. Happy to read you! And take care!
You'll get there. Just keep at it. It took me six months to break 300. Just cherish the small victories and keep on plugging.
Thanks William!
You are welcome!
Thanks Erik for this wonderful piece.
It was really inspiring to read especially as a science writer and video creator. I think content creation was really leaning towards quantity over quality towards the end of the last decade, but the tide seems to have shifted now and I believe readers have become more discernible about the content they consume online.
Do you have any tips regarding productivity and managing multiple projects at the same time?
Moreover, you mentioned experimenting with different writing styles. As online writers, we often here that’s it’s best to write clearly and in short sentences to engage the most readers.
Do you feel that is true? I’d love to hear your opinion on those two matters and thanks again for the piece and great content :)
Great questions Hesham.
I.m.o. people are open to a lot of different writing styles. In fact, I think there is a paucity of what might be called "literary" writing, with that just referring to people caring a great deal about language and the level of sentences. Sometimes that involves short and sweet, but honestly, the one thing we as independent content creators can offer is that we *aren't* outlets and don't have to write in the standard outlet style that sounds kind of blah and unidentifiable.
W.r.t. managing multiple projects at the same time, I wish I had a magic bullet for that. To me, I've always had interdisciplinary interests, and often I work on one thing for a while (like write a couple Substack posts in a week) and then go back to my other interests and work on those for a week or two, etc. But other people do it differently. I think being covetous of your time is underrated, and finding ways to say "no" is important.
Thank you for your input Erik.
And yes, I totally agree with you on the first on the first point. I typically write longer sentences and while most people may consider that to be unconventional in the age of the internet, I feel like we have to make use of the flexibility that independent writing on the internet affords us - no? I guess that was a good example of a fairly long sentence haha.
Re your advice on working on multiple projects at the same time, I feel like that could work for me as I’ve always found it easier to focus on one thing/project, rather than “scatter” myself too much. I’ll give it a try once I’m done with a few deadlines this week and let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
I would love Substack assistance on how to make my page look less blog-like and more like a professional website. I strive for the focus of my subscribers to be on my writing, Morning After Thoughts, but also incorporating visuals for the personal pictures I post to pop! Thank you for all you do!
I literally taught myself Photoshop just so that I wouldn't have to use "Smiling Girl Holding Coffee Mug Free Stock Photo" like every side-hustler out there with an internet bill and a Pixabay bookmark.
So yeah let's normalize visual identity. I'm in love with The Intrinsic Perspective's art. I love Substack's color palette as well. This is a bit like food—it can't taste too bad if it looks this good.
I saw a few comments mentioning there were people who would like to work with illustrators but didn't know how to connect with them so I just wanted to mention that I am one and I'm open for commissions! Other places you can find illustrators are places like the Directory of Illustration https://www.directoryofillustration.com, AOI Folios https://theaoi.com/folios/ and illustration agencies.
I would love to have a visual identity that reflects the complexity of the subject I write about, the Future of Belonging. People are such weird, contradictory, diverse, multi-faceted individuals. I wish I had the visuals to bring both the beauty and the horror to life and invite people to share and dialogue. I find myself drawn to digital collages as a visual language to communicate these ideas but have no idea how to connect with illustrators.
Gosh, I sure would love some help with visual identity! My Substack includes multiple sections, a podcast, and a memoir-in-progress. Despite having a logo and an established brand, I’m still feeling aesthetically scattered on the platform. Thanks for considering me as a possible test case. https://Christinewolf.Substack.com
Aah very nice to see, Erik deserves this so much!
I like the idea of creating content slow but of higher quality. That is a niche for Creators themselves to further consider.
This especially makes sense for cross-disciplinary topics, that are more complex.
I'm going to add this Newsletter for sure into the list I'm building here: https://aisupremacy.substack.com/p/top-substack-newsletters-in-2022
I wonder what accounts for the huge spike of traffic in the last couple of weeks on the visual?