I think there is loads of potential in using Substack for fiction. Could be weekly short stories or something similar to Welcome to Night Vale in text form. I've considered using Substack for this myself and I'd love to know if something similar already exists!
Hamish, this is the first time I’ve interacted with other “Stackers” - can you post a thread like this regularly? Different themes/questions each time? This is really fun! And what a great platform you’ve created. ❤️
Hey Hamish, I'd love for you to host a weekly thread like this where Substack authors can suggest features/design changes for the platform. There are definitely things I come across where I'd like to provide feedback but I don't always want to pester you on Twitter.
- Anne Trubek's "Notes From a Small Press" (https://notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/): awesome insider notes on being an independent publisher, and the industry in general
- Something with a deep focus on learning / education…who's using email newsletters to run a serious course, for instance? Maybe some limitations that make this tricky but paid email list would be an interesting mechanism as a lightweight online course CMS / community, maybe open for enrollment monthly or quarterly for new cohorts…
- Specific topics I'd like to read (and/or write!) about & haven't seen much yet in terms of great newsletters: library and information science; experimental poetics e.g. Oulipian constraints, hip-hop lyricism, etc.; ecology, physics, or other branches of science explored in depth a la Quanta mag
Bit off the wall, but I've been really working to increase the percentage of my news diet that is international, particularly from places in the global south and especially Africa.
Some of my favorite newsletters are "sectorized" and cover an industry or subset of the economy, I think a compelling next step it "regionalized" newsletters, I think, are a massive opportunity for someone inclined to cover it.
I absolutely love Tom Ziller's Good Morning It's Basketball. Informative, funny, consistently interesting, and really well-curated links that support writers big and small. My favorite email every time. He's writes eloquently and passionately about any NBA topic, gives a thoughtful perspective on the social/racial/political storylines that have popped up in the last few seasons, and just helps make a very fun league even more enjoyable.
I would be very interested in seeing a video game publication join Substack (and apologies if I've just missed a big one!). Thoughtful commentary and reviews from places like Kotaku and Polygon seem to be a natural fit for a curated experience like this, and the topic allows for depth and specialization.
Exist on Substack but don’t...am I misreading this?😂I mean mine technically “exists” on Substack but I would argue is “doesn’t” exist in realms other than my aunties and besties🤷🏻♀️
Hi all, I'm new here, but formerly wrote weekly articles over on Medium based primarily on personal development, sobriety, etc. Does anyone have any recommendations for newsletters focused on personal development, self help, etc? Thank you!
This isn't a newsletter rec- more of a question but has the Substack thought of a built-in content calendar on the dashboard to help writers plan and organize their content for say their weekly or monthly newsletter?
I think newsletters are a good way for polymaths to express themselves, to find that crossroad of many interests that speaks volumes to a diverse audience.
I would like to read more about small businesses. Have had enough of Silicon Valley and VC funded tech. I would love me some SMBs, anti-growth, one-man companies. Paul Jarvis is a good example. What they do, how they structure work, business, and team, what challenges they face, etc. Basecamp used to have The Distance podcast which was something similar. I loved that.
I started a substack with silly comics about my family for my family and friends. I would love to see more comic writers on substack. How fun to get comics delivered to your inbox, right? My inspiration is @katebeaton's twitter feed where she occasionally posts comics about her dad and new baby. I would love to get those in an email.
I'm not too proud to plug my own newsletter here, a fun daily column + roundup of Chicago sports news: http://midwayminute.substack.com
Or, as I call it, the best thing to happen to Chicago since the '85 Bears.
Question for the Substack developers: Do you have anything in the works for readers to discover newsletters by category? I'd love to see what other sportswriters are using Substack for.
It's such a fascinating, and important, mix of the philosophy and ethics and technology. It's a good read whether you work in tech or just concerned about how tech is working on you.
It was actually this newsletter that convinced me to pivot away from pop culture topics in my own newsletter and refocus on Faith, Technology, and Being: (https://mattcivico.substack.com/). If you subscribe to one, definitely subscribe to "The Convivial Society"!
One of my favorite newsletters here is Oshan Jarow’s Mind Matters (https://musingmind.substack.com). He explores philosophy, meditation, ecology, economics, architecture, and other topics from a systems perspective.
What I’d like to see on Substack: a newsletter analyzing the psychology, philosophy, social dynamics, and cultural significance of subscription funding models and crowdfunding for arts labor.
I’ve noticed some interesting patterns from both the publisher side and the reader side on Substack, and previously on Patreon. As a reader, I’ve been keeping a list of the reasons why I do or don’t subscribe to certain newsletters, or why I stop subscribing. I’m fascinated by the wide variety of reasons that crop up, and the lessons I can apply to my own publishing ventures. For example, I declined to subscribe to one newsletter I liked simply because it was published too frequently for me to keep up!
I’ve been writing about trends I’m seeing in the world of finance and economics over at endlessmetrics.substack.com - I haven’t seen a lot of other newsletters on Substack for this. Anyone else interested in this area or have some newsletters they recommend??
anne helen petersen's 'the collected ahp;' laura olin's eponymous newsletter; 'just good shit' by rachel miller; 'the bent' by two women (andy and emma) has been so helpful in navigating professional questions as a young manager
Micro-Chop! Gino kills it, unearthing hip hop gold I never knew existed, fringe artists that made a long-lasting impact, and some seriously good music.
I've been enjoying Brain Pickings a lot - I really need to find more to subscribe to! And since The Stage Mirror is winding down, I'm looking for another writer to get my snarky philosophy fix. I think it would be great if we could add topic tags to our newsletters, so if someone was enjoying, say, a neuroscience digest, you could look up the tag on the main site and see what else falls into that category. I'd also love to be able to get all my newsletters on the site in an aggregated place, or just be able to look at all my subscriptions and see if I've missed anything this week. Scrolling through my Gmail updates tab, I do occasionally miss things and so I spend a fair amount of time typing in URLs manually when I'm looking for something to read
I've also been evangelizing the merits of Substack to my fellow career thru-hikers, as I've only been able to find one other hiking blog, a now defunct PCT chronicle. It's really a great place for this kind of serialized, real time memoir. Updates from trail go out sporadically as you can't always predict where you'll have cell service or wifi, and the interface is simple enough to manage on crappy small-town internet. I find WordPress a little bit too involved for this purpose, pages take forever to load, and it's nice to have my updates go straight out into people's inboxes when I'm not able to publish on a regular schedule. I'm working in the community to port more trail journals onto here, it's really quite ideal and I'd love to see more thru hikers than just me.
I'm working for a few weeks on a newsletter about astrology and yoga, how to combine them and every now and then, when I feel like it, I write about all things spiritual and consciousness-expanding. I would love to read some other newsletters about yoga, plant- or alternative medicine and holistic healing methods.
I'm not too proud to vote up my own newsletter Evil Witches, for people who happen to be mothers (and also other witchy people.) https://evilwitches.substack.com/
I keep telling my husband, a small biz owner and filmmaker, he should have a Substack Newsletter and post one of his films a week and do a little inside baseball on how he made it but he'll never do it.
Hey Hamish! Thanks again for this wonderfull tool! I hope to see more French publications! We also need a way to discover more easily the existing Newsletters.
- https://annehelen.substack.com/ - Anne Helen Petersen's assorted thoughts, largely around millennial burnout, always give me something new to think about makes me feel like I'm not crazy
- https://holapapi.substack.com/ - John Paul Brammer's thoughts & advice column, fun quick reads that are always insightful
- https://notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/ - Anne Trubek's advice and insights into the publishing/book world, which I always wished I knew more about but never knew how to learn about until this newsletter.
I launched a newsletter 7 weeks ago called Spark the Fire. It's all about human communication and how humans communicate. It's a weird mix of philosophy, human behavior, and communication skills and I'm sort of drafting my book right out in public in a newsletter friendly way. Every Tuesday, I share about 1000 thoughtful words on the wonders and mysteries of communicating. Credentials if you're interested: I was a professor of com for 10 years. I now work in research for a large consulting firm which is not what my newsletter is about. My newsletter is for humans who want to know about how to communicate better, not consultants. Inspired and driven by John Dewey, Ludwig Wittgenstien, Aphex Twin, coffee, and early morning writing sessions.
I (try to) write on thinking and decision making, would love to find similar Substack newsletters. If there's anybody who writes on ideas that make you think, please put in your link, would love to read :)
I don't see a lot of content from Indian writers on Indian culture, politics, economics, finance, etc. Or maybe there are some, and I haven't been able to discover them.
There are a couple which I like, such as Scroll.in's The Political Fix (https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/) but personally I want more content from independent writers, rather than pubs.
I'm interested in technology and policy, so I draw a lot of benefit from "BIG" (https://mattstoller.substack.com/) by Matt Stoller, which is all about the tension between monopoly power and democracy. I also very much enjoy Azeem Ashar's "Exponential View" (https://www.exponentialview.co/) which goes deeper into policy issues, climate change, and artificial intelligence. Both of these have inspired me to begin my own writing about AdTech, privacy, and surveillance capitalism on my own Substack, "Ad Hominem" (https://adhominem.substack.com/). I hope someone finds one or all of these to be interesting reading.
You Don't Need Maps (youdontneedmaps.substack.com) provides some killer, killer coverage of punk, emo, HXC, and an in-depth history of those bands & genres!
I think there is loads of potential in using Substack for fiction. Could be weekly short stories or something similar to Welcome to Night Vale in text form. I've considered using Substack for this myself and I'd love to know if something similar already exists!
Hamish, this is the first time I’ve interacted with other “Stackers” - can you post a thread like this regularly? Different themes/questions each time? This is really fun! And what a great platform you’ve created. ❤️
Hey Hamish, I'd love for you to host a weekly thread like this where Substack authors can suggest features/design changes for the platform. There are definitely things I come across where I'd like to provide feedback but I don't always want to pester you on Twitter.
A few favorites:
- Anne Trubek's "Notes From a Small Press" (https://notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/): awesome insider notes on being an independent publisher, and the industry in general
- Book Post (https://books.substack.com/): really great book reviews + essays on book culture
- The Prepared (https://theprepared.org/): interesting newsletter (+ more) about manufacturing, infrastructure, engineering, etc.
- Fermat's Library "Journal Club" (https://fermatslibrary.com/journal_club): interesting annotated academic paper, weekly
- Annotations (https://jennygzhang.substack.com/): every two weeks a great longform piece annotated with commentary etc.
What I'd love to see more of on Substack:
- Something with a deep focus on learning / education…who's using email newsletters to run a serious course, for instance? Maybe some limitations that make this tricky but paid email list would be an interesting mechanism as a lightweight online course CMS / community, maybe open for enrollment monthly or quarterly for new cohorts…
- Specific topics I'd like to read (and/or write!) about & haven't seen much yet in terms of great newsletters: library and information science; experimental poetics e.g. Oulipian constraints, hip-hop lyricism, etc.; ecology, physics, or other branches of science explored in depth a la Quanta mag
Bit off the wall, but I've been really working to increase the percentage of my news diet that is international, particularly from places in the global south and especially Africa.
Some of my favorite newsletters are "sectorized" and cover an industry or subset of the economy, I think a compelling next step it "regionalized" newsletters, I think, are a massive opportunity for someone inclined to cover it.
Sinocism, Flow State and Stratechery
I'm actually working on a crowd-voted, Choose Your Own Adventure kind of newsletter right now; hoping to launch by month's end!
I would love more fashion-related content. Or just design-inspired in general (can't seem to find that, maybe it's me).
Hands down, one of my favorites is stocktalks.blog
It’s run by 2 teenagers and they write really good financial papers. Nothing like it is on sub stack. Huge props to them
I really really enjoy Dearest: https://dearest.substack.com/
I read Numlock News every morning.
And I enjoy pithy outcomes: maya.substack.com
I absolutely love Tom Ziller's Good Morning It's Basketball. Informative, funny, consistently interesting, and really well-curated links that support writers big and small. My favorite email every time. He's writes eloquently and passionately about any NBA topic, gives a thoughtful perspective on the social/racial/political storylines that have popped up in the last few seasons, and just helps make a very fun league even more enjoyable.
https://ziller.substack.com/
I would be very interested in seeing a video game publication join Substack (and apologies if I've just missed a big one!). Thoughtful commentary and reviews from places like Kotaku and Polygon seem to be a natural fit for a curated experience like this, and the topic allows for depth and specialization.
Exist on Substack but don’t...am I misreading this?😂I mean mine technically “exists” on Substack but I would argue is “doesn’t” exist in realms other than my aunties and besties🤷🏻♀️
Books/Snacks/Softcore (Samantha Irby) for hilarious recaps of Judge Mathis and Humorism (Seth Simons) for an inside look at the comedy world.
Hi all, I'm new here, but formerly wrote weekly articles over on Medium based primarily on personal development, sobriety, etc. Does anyone have any recommendations for newsletters focused on personal development, self help, etc? Thank you!
I really like Edith Zimmerman's Drawings Links: https://drawinglinks.substack.com/
Wonder if there are other newsletters that either are art (like Edith's), or are about art/illustration/design—something with a lot of visuals.
I do illustrations for Nonzero (https://nonzero.substack.com/), thinking about ways to experiment with visuals more on that one.
Any chance that you could host a page that shows ALL the hosted newsletters - categorized so
1) we can see pubs in a similar space and
2) more easily find newsletters we are interested in?
This isn't a newsletter rec- more of a question but has the Substack thought of a built-in content calendar on the dashboard to help writers plan and organize their content for say their weekly or monthly newsletter?
Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter is gripping! I can’t wait to read it every morning!!
Not sure how to discover more interesting content. Shaun King’s newsletter keeps landing in my spam folder. What’s up with that?!
Stratechery, Lenny's Newsletter inspired me to start mine called Welcome to the Stage
I think newsletters are a good way for polymaths to express themselves, to find that crossroad of many interests that speaks volumes to a diverse audience.
I would like to read more about small businesses. Have had enough of Silicon Valley and VC funded tech. I would love me some SMBs, anti-growth, one-man companies. Paul Jarvis is a good example. What they do, how they structure work, business, and team, what challenges they face, etc. Basecamp used to have The Distance podcast which was something similar. I loved that.
OT, but I'm sure there's great stuff that I'd like on Substack, but I'm sure I'm not finding it -- perhaps some search/explore features?
I started a substack with silly comics about my family for my family and friends. I would love to see more comic writers on substack. How fun to get comics delivered to your inbox, right? My inspiration is @katebeaton's twitter feed where she occasionally posts comics about her dad and new baby. I would love to get those in an email.
I enjoy gen yeet and deez links. Stratechery is an inspiration for several of us here.
I'm not too proud to plug my own newsletter here, a fun daily column + roundup of Chicago sports news: http://midwayminute.substack.com
Or, as I call it, the best thing to happen to Chicago since the '85 Bears.
Question for the Substack developers: Do you have anything in the works for readers to discover newsletters by category? I'd love to see what other sportswriters are using Substack for.
My favourite is "The Convivial Society" from L.M. Sacasas - (https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/)
It's such a fascinating, and important, mix of the philosophy and ethics and technology. It's a good read whether you work in tech or just concerned about how tech is working on you.
It was actually this newsletter that convinced me to pivot away from pop culture topics in my own newsletter and refocus on Faith, Technology, and Being: (https://mattcivico.substack.com/). If you subscribe to one, definitely subscribe to "The Convivial Society"!
I just had my first subscriber, a daily newsletter on tv talk shows.
https://myshow.substack.com/
One of my favorite newsletters here is Oshan Jarow’s Mind Matters (https://musingmind.substack.com). He explores philosophy, meditation, ecology, economics, architecture, and other topics from a systems perspective.
What I’d like to see on Substack: a newsletter analyzing the psychology, philosophy, social dynamics, and cultural significance of subscription funding models and crowdfunding for arts labor.
I’ve noticed some interesting patterns from both the publisher side and the reader side on Substack, and previously on Patreon. As a reader, I’ve been keeping a list of the reasons why I do or don’t subscribe to certain newsletters, or why I stop subscribing. I’m fascinated by the wide variety of reasons that crop up, and the lessons I can apply to my own publishing ventures. For example, I declined to subscribe to one newsletter I liked simply because it was published too frequently for me to keep up!
I’ve been writing about trends I’m seeing in the world of finance and economics over at endlessmetrics.substack.com - I haven’t seen a lot of other newsletters on Substack for this. Anyone else interested in this area or have some newsletters they recommend??
Also really been enjoying Edith Zimmerman’s newsletter: https://drawinglinks.substack.com/
anne helen petersen's 'the collected ahp;' laura olin's eponymous newsletter; 'just good shit' by rachel miller; 'the bent' by two women (andy and emma) has been so helpful in navigating professional questions as a young manager
Micro-Chop! Gino kills it, unearthing hip hop gold I never knew existed, fringe artists that made a long-lasting impact, and some seriously good music.
I read Shero regularly.
I've been enjoying Brain Pickings a lot - I really need to find more to subscribe to! And since The Stage Mirror is winding down, I'm looking for another writer to get my snarky philosophy fix. I think it would be great if we could add topic tags to our newsletters, so if someone was enjoying, say, a neuroscience digest, you could look up the tag on the main site and see what else falls into that category. I'd also love to be able to get all my newsletters on the site in an aggregated place, or just be able to look at all my subscriptions and see if I've missed anything this week. Scrolling through my Gmail updates tab, I do occasionally miss things and so I spend a fair amount of time typing in URLs manually when I'm looking for something to read
I've also been evangelizing the merits of Substack to my fellow career thru-hikers, as I've only been able to find one other hiking blog, a now defunct PCT chronicle. It's really a great place for this kind of serialized, real time memoir. Updates from trail go out sporadically as you can't always predict where you'll have cell service or wifi, and the interface is simple enough to manage on crappy small-town internet. I find WordPress a little bit too involved for this purpose, pages take forever to load, and it's nice to have my updates go straight out into people's inboxes when I'm not able to publish on a regular schedule. I'm working in the community to port more trail journals onto here, it's really quite ideal and I'd love to see more thru hikers than just me.
I'm working for a few weeks on a newsletter about astrology and yoga, how to combine them and every now and then, when I feel like it, I write about all things spiritual and consciousness-expanding. I would love to read some other newsletters about yoga, plant- or alternative medicine and holistic healing methods.
I'm not too proud to vote up my own newsletter Evil Witches, for people who happen to be mothers (and also other witchy people.) https://evilwitches.substack.com/
I keep telling my husband, a small biz owner and filmmaker, he should have a Substack Newsletter and post one of his films a week and do a little inside baseball on how he made it but he'll never do it.
Some of my favorites:
The Quartermaster – https://quartermaster.substack.com/
The Generalist – https://thegeneralist.substack.com/
Brianne Kimmel's Newsletter – https://wfh.substack.com/
Per My Last Email – https://packym.substack.com/
Hey Hamish! Thanks again for this wonderfull tool! I hope to see more French publications! We also need a way to discover more easily the existing Newsletters.
The ones I look forward to receiving the most:
- https://annehelen.substack.com/ - Anne Helen Petersen's assorted thoughts, largely around millennial burnout, always give me something new to think about makes me feel like I'm not crazy
- https://holapapi.substack.com/ - John Paul Brammer's thoughts & advice column, fun quick reads that are always insightful
- https://notesfromasmallpress.substack.com/ - Anne Trubek's advice and insights into the publishing/book world, which I always wished I knew more about but never knew how to learn about until this newsletter.
Also a big fan of Normcore Tech (https://vicki.substack.com/). Vicki has a lot of fascinating things to say about current tech issues.
My favorite is my own newsletter https://seekingnorthbyrohit.substack.com as I put in a lot of passion I writing it.
I launched a newsletter 7 weeks ago called Spark the Fire. It's all about human communication and how humans communicate. It's a weird mix of philosophy, human behavior, and communication skills and I'm sort of drafting my book right out in public in a newsletter friendly way. Every Tuesday, I share about 1000 thoughtful words on the wonders and mysteries of communicating. Credentials if you're interested: I was a professor of com for 10 years. I now work in research for a large consulting firm which is not what my newsletter is about. My newsletter is for humans who want to know about how to communicate better, not consultants. Inspired and driven by John Dewey, Ludwig Wittgenstien, Aphex Twin, coffee, and early morning writing sessions.
https://communicate.substack.com
https://Ifeoluwa.substack.com/
(details on growth and development, weekly)
I (try to) write on thinking and decision making, would love to find similar Substack newsletters. If there's anybody who writes on ideas that make you think, please put in your link, would love to read :)
I have no idea what this is or how to use it or why or anything - would love to be enlightened
Actually there's one thing I love so much but haven't read from here, short stories
I don't see a lot of content from Indian writers on Indian culture, politics, economics, finance, etc. Or maybe there are some, and I haven't been able to discover them.
There are a couple which I like, such as Scroll.in's The Political Fix (https://thepoliticalfix.substack.com/) but personally I want more content from independent writers, rather than pubs.
I just recently made this list of newsletters that I like and recommend: https://www.davidbauer.ch/2020/02/04/14-1-newsletters-worth-your-time/
I'm interested in technology and policy, so I draw a lot of benefit from "BIG" (https://mattstoller.substack.com/) by Matt Stoller, which is all about the tension between monopoly power and democracy. I also very much enjoy Azeem Ashar's "Exponential View" (https://www.exponentialview.co/) which goes deeper into policy issues, climate change, and artificial intelligence. Both of these have inspired me to begin my own writing about AdTech, privacy, and surveillance capitalism on my own Substack, "Ad Hominem" (https://adhominem.substack.com/). I hope someone finds one or all of these to be interesting reading.
You Don't Need Maps (youdontneedmaps.substack.com) provides some killer, killer coverage of punk, emo, HXC, and an in-depth history of those bands & genres!