I have 2 questions I've been holding on to until Office Hours today:
1. How are we all using the "sections" feature? Is that like our version of creating categories for our main Newsletter? I'd love to look at some publications who use it!
2. Do people who write more "personal essay"-type newsletters, or newsletters that talk about multipl…
I have 2 questions I've been holding on to until Office Hours today:
1. How are we all using the "sections" feature? Is that like our version of creating categories for our main Newsletter? I'd love to look at some publications who use it!
2. Do people who write more "personal essay"-type newsletters, or newsletters that talk about multiple topics, find they get much engagement or paid subscribers?
I'm REALLY trying to break my habit of thinking I need to stick to one thing cause (cause I wanna write about what's on my mind and share food recipes and such!) that's all I've been told in online marketing over the past 7 years... But it feels hard to break that narrative when I SEEM to only see people who can write about many things, be people who may have been writing and editing professionally for a long time, are in New York, etc. (like Maybe Baby, and such).
Hi Cierra! I have 2 substacks and on one, Collected Rejections, I use sections. I write personal essays and fiction on my substack, as well as host interviews. Each "genre" has it's own section. You can see them here: http://valorieclark.substack.com
I haven't tried launching paid yet, so I can't speak to whether it'll make much money BUT I do get a lot of engagement on each post. Much more engagement than my history podcast with a much higher subscriber count, actually.
I think when it comes to personal essays, people subscribe to your substack because they like YOU, and so they'll enjoy anything you want to add to the mix. When I started adding in fiction prompts I thought people would hate it but I've gotten uniformly wonderful feedback.
Maybe I need to listen to a mantra tape saying "they're subscribing for YOU" while I sleep so I can get it drilled into my head haha.
I LOVE writing and have always done it whether I was getting paid or not (my current Substack has been on hiatus cause I currently don't make a living wage so I had to prioritize that for now), but may be back soon with a quick series idea!
All I want is engagement and to talk to people and have people resonate and get impacted enough that they comment! That makes me so happy!
Okay... Okay... There are LITERALLY no rules. Truly, when I'm excited to share something on Substack, I'm gonna share it!! <3 Woo!!
Yes!! I do this too! Forgot about the mirror and I definitely have a mirror haha. I truly do need them in my face though or I forget about them/ANYTHING
Hi Cierra, my Substack is "dark comedy" themed but I also write fiction every now and then. It's a radical mix, so I created a fiction section where I can post there directly and then decide if I want to email blast or not (the bulk of my subscribers are here for the jokes). I also created a section for a recurring bit that I do, which functions as a mini-archive for readers into that topic. You can explore the layout here: https://agowani.substack.com/
Oooh thank you! This is giving me ideas for my own newsletter. My newsletter is new enough that I can shift around the intentions of my newsletter in its entirety and create those sections. I'll check yours out! Thanks for giving yours as an example!
You're welcome. I was on Medium and then came over to Substack less than three months ago. It's a very different vehicle and I've been experimenting quite a lot as well. Good luck!
I noticed the feel of Medium has changed over the past couple of years and I didn't like it. I absolutely love how writer-focused Substack is, for sure. And thank you! Good luck to you as well!
Thank you, Jasmine! I'll check these out for sure. I was wondering if I should just make a new publication, or sections... Especially since I'm feeling like my publication may just cover multiple topics!
If you think there's any overlap in interest between the topics, I'd go with sections. After all, many of your readers are probably reading to hear from your voice— not just about a specific topic.
You can also provide readers instructions on how to unsubscribe from sections they're not interested in. (They can go to https://whenshemanifests.substack.com/account, and will see checkboxes to add/remove sections.)
Hi! I am brand new but I plan on using substack to publish in "personal essay" format. I am certainly hoping people will be engaged, and one way I'm trying to do that is to "sign off" with a couple of reflection questions (no matter what crazy tangents I went on lol). Wishing you all the best and definitely don't limit yourself to one area if you feel called to expand!
Working hard on getting over that story I keep telling myself, out here trying to read everyone's minds by assuming I know what they're subscribe or unsubscribe to haha.
And welcome! This has been my FAVORITE community to write and be with as far as writers go! I absolutely love it here!
I'm working on coming back in the groove here; life's been happening so I had to hold off putting time into posting as much but I REALLY miss it!
Thanks again for the encouragement to write what I wanna write!!
There's no rules, gotta keep drilling that in my head haha!
I have 2 questions I've been holding on to until Office Hours today:
1. How are we all using the "sections" feature? Is that like our version of creating categories for our main Newsletter? I'd love to look at some publications who use it!
2. Do people who write more "personal essay"-type newsletters, or newsletters that talk about multiple topics, find they get much engagement or paid subscribers?
I'm REALLY trying to break my habit of thinking I need to stick to one thing cause (cause I wanna write about what's on my mind and share food recipes and such!) that's all I've been told in online marketing over the past 7 years... But it feels hard to break that narrative when I SEEM to only see people who can write about many things, be people who may have been writing and editing professionally for a long time, are in New York, etc. (like Maybe Baby, and such).
Hi Cierra! I have 2 substacks and on one, Collected Rejections, I use sections. I write personal essays and fiction on my substack, as well as host interviews. Each "genre" has it's own section. You can see them here: http://valorieclark.substack.com
I haven't tried launching paid yet, so I can't speak to whether it'll make much money BUT I do get a lot of engagement on each post. Much more engagement than my history podcast with a much higher subscriber count, actually.
I think when it comes to personal essays, people subscribe to your substack because they like YOU, and so they'll enjoy anything you want to add to the mix. When I started adding in fiction prompts I thought people would hate it but I've gotten uniformly wonderful feedback.
Thanks, Valorie! I'll check yours out!
Maybe I need to listen to a mantra tape saying "they're subscribing for YOU" while I sleep so I can get it drilled into my head haha.
I LOVE writing and have always done it whether I was getting paid or not (my current Substack has been on hiatus cause I currently don't make a living wage so I had to prioritize that for now), but may be back soon with a quick series idea!
All I want is engagement and to talk to people and have people resonate and get impacted enough that they comment! That makes me so happy!
Okay... Okay... There are LITERALLY no rules. Truly, when I'm excited to share something on Substack, I'm gonna share it!! <3 Woo!!
Thanks again!
haha yes! I love writing little affirmations and sticking them somewhere I see them a lot! Next to my computer, on my mirror, etc.
Yes!! I do this too! Forgot about the mirror and I definitely have a mirror haha. I truly do need them in my face though or I forget about them/ANYTHING
Hi Cierra, my Substack is "dark comedy" themed but I also write fiction every now and then. It's a radical mix, so I created a fiction section where I can post there directly and then decide if I want to email blast or not (the bulk of my subscribers are here for the jokes). I also created a section for a recurring bit that I do, which functions as a mini-archive for readers into that topic. You can explore the layout here: https://agowani.substack.com/
Oooh thank you! This is giving me ideas for my own newsletter. My newsletter is new enough that I can shift around the intentions of my newsletter in its entirety and create those sections. I'll check yours out! Thanks for giving yours as an example!
You're welcome. I was on Medium and then came over to Substack less than three months ago. It's a very different vehicle and I've been experimenting quite a lot as well. Good luck!
I noticed the feel of Medium has changed over the past couple of years and I didn't like it. I absolutely love how writer-focused Substack is, for sure. And thank you! Good luck to you as well!
For the first one, sections are a way to organize different kinds or toipcs of posts on your publication site. You can read more about how to use them here: https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-publication-sections/
Here are a couple examples of publications using sections that might help:
- https://theisolationjournals.substack.com/
- https://charlotteledger.substack.com/
Is there a way to change the order in which the section are listed in the header?
Yep! Go to the sections part of your settings page, then drag them into order using the 6 dots on the left of each row.
That was easy. Thanks much!
Thank you, Jasmine! I'll check these out for sure. I was wondering if I should just make a new publication, or sections... Especially since I'm feeling like my publication may just cover multiple topics!
If you think there's any overlap in interest between the topics, I'd go with sections. After all, many of your readers are probably reading to hear from your voice— not just about a specific topic.
You can also provide readers instructions on how to unsubscribe from sections they're not interested in. (They can go to https://whenshemanifests.substack.com/account, and will see checkboxes to add/remove sections.)
Thank you so much for that direct link! I'll be sure to add that into the instructions when I build in more ease for my readers!
Thanks overall for the advice! :)
Hi! I am brand new but I plan on using substack to publish in "personal essay" format. I am certainly hoping people will be engaged, and one way I'm trying to do that is to "sign off" with a couple of reflection questions (no matter what crazy tangents I went on lol). Wishing you all the best and definitely don't limit yourself to one area if you feel called to expand!
Working hard on getting over that story I keep telling myself, out here trying to read everyone's minds by assuming I know what they're subscribe or unsubscribe to haha.
And welcome! This has been my FAVORITE community to write and be with as far as writers go! I absolutely love it here!
I'm working on coming back in the groove here; life's been happening so I had to hold off putting time into posting as much but I REALLY miss it!
Thanks again for the encouragement to write what I wanna write!!
There's no rules, gotta keep drilling that in my head haha!
Yes - our minds tell us a lot of stories... only some of them (if any) are true! Best wishes and see you around.
Thank you so much!