is a social scientist and professor of global politics at University College who who writes The Garden of Forking Paths on Substack. He offers advice on using Substack as an intellectual proving ground, the secrets of writers from the Middle Ages, and where to look when you are creatively stuck.
, and more share insights on how they test ideas, build a community and forge new opportunities on Substack.
Now we are turning it back to you, the Substack community, to hear your insights and ideas for the future of academic and intellectual idea sharing on Substack. How do you use your Substack to gain traction on ideas? What’s worked and what hasn’t?
I was really happy to be included in Substack’s roundup of academics. My life has changed dramatically since sharing the creative writing expertise I’ve been teaching at Northwestern for fifteen years and applying it to how creative writers can succeed on Substack. My family says I seem happier. (Seriously.) I feel like I’m really helping writers create careers for themselves on Substack. Creative writing programs are great for some things, but they don’t teach people to be professional writers. They teach them to teach creative writing and write books for a market that’s very small. You’re getting a much better education writing on Substack, assuming you go all in and use it as an opportunity to learn from the excellent writers around you.
I have an MFA and am currently in a PhD program and I agree that there is almost nothing taught about the business side of writing, and that is just as important as the craft of writing- bc if you can’t support yourself as a writer it is *always* going to be a struggle. I just subscribed to your newsletter and really look forward to learning from you!
I'm so glad. I really hear what you're saying about the nepotism and inequality in writing and publishing and even on here, but when I think too much about it, it just gets me down. Thank you for subscribing! I'm here to help. I really want us all to succeed and create our best work on here and get paid well to do it, so writing can be a viable profession again.
I totally understand why you would want to avoid thinking about the negatives. That said, as a larger pub you do have a lot of impact. Many of us can’t really avoid thinking about it bc it is part of our every day. I actually just wrote about it the other day in my Substack and so many ppl commented and related bc they were feeling similarly. So, it’s an issue. And larger pubs need to be aware of it because you actually can have a huge impact by recommending smaller pubs and finding lesser known writers you love and championing them. Personally I get most of my subscribers from one large publication who recommends me, and that has truly transformed my Substack in many ways. So you and many other with larger subscriber bases can have a huge impact in uplifting others who may not be getting the traction they deserve, too. Thanks so much for engaging!
Check out KURT VONNEGUT on the topic of commercial vs literary writing in his old Paris Review Interviews Third edition, I believe. He waged a war against what we now call MFA and he won. The guy did every odd job before scoring with Esquire. Alas, however, where have all the magazines gone? That is, when many magazines bought fiction, it was a different world. So thanks, Substack!
Hi, Sarah! Agree with you so much about all of this. I'm a fellow creative writing professor at Miami University in Ohio. I'm only a few months into Substack and just seeing you in this post, but wanted to say hi b/c I'm in 100% agreement with you about how Substack is creating a place to feel really useful as a writer and teacher. I started TODAY YOU WILL WRITE in part b/c former students were writing to me asking for writing prompts and what I was up to in the classroom, and it has been--even two months in--so rewarding to take the kind of work we do as writers and readers anyway, like closely reading fiction and essays, and bringing that to a larger audience. I love teaching, and create this thing for like 20 students in a class, but now I feel like I'm learning how to fuse my personal voice and my professor voice even more by working through craft things on Substack. Hope we can connect. Maybe an AWP panel in our future? https://todayyouwillwrite.substack.com/
I love your Substack. It's beautiful, for one, and feels different than the other creative writing Substacks on here. I love, love this: "We worry our middles are boring, our endings don't land, our openings lack momentum. Today we will write anyway." Fantastic.
Yes! First, I so hear you about fusing the professor and personal voices. We must do an AWP panel! Brilliant idea. Email me here: mssarahfay1516@gmail.com
I could see so much potential for bring it into classroom use! Esp in writing classes. Right now, for my substack Today You Will Write, I create a weekly letter that includes a few sentences of writing encouragement from an author I've interviewed, a short talk about an element of the craft of writing fiction or nonfiction (what i teach and publish) that would, in a classroom, mostly be conversation, and a writing prompt related to both (which i often do at Miami). But through Substack, I've found my tone has necessarily shifted in a really good way to something more personal, less formal, and that in turn has impacted the classroom teaching, too. Since I'm new, many of my subscribers are former students who are off in NYC or CA or around OH who still want to be connected to writing while holding other jobs. And I invite current students to join for the writing community, which some have! I don't know if they knew about substack prior--the spring semester ended here but I'll ask the fall creative writers!
I agree that the professional elements are missing from a lot of writing program content. I try to cover it when I teach special topics classes because I also do a lot of freelance writing on the side but most of what I teach these days is business writing (although honestly after having a book come out a lot of those business writing skills came in handy too). I like the idea of Substack filling this gap!
As an academic, what I love about Substack is the ability to (1) reach non-academic audiences and (2) write about things that extend beyond the scope of my research projects. Academic articles and books are time intensive; with a newsletter, you can share learnings quickly and briefly. I love that freedom to explore something in, say, 500 words and share it with an interested audience!
I have a new book coming out in August. To publicise my substack, I've made share to include the substack in my bio - and - I created a QR code for my substack which is placed below my bio, so readers will be able to easily scan the code, and go directly to my stack.
I've created tabs for my new book and for my last book on my homepage for readers to able to jump directly to them.
I've adapted a button to bring the reader directly to the book in order to pre-order it - and I include a piece using the section dividers in every post reminding readers the best way to support an author of a forthcoming book is via pre-orders.
I also put an endnote on the new book along with the cover art and blurb.
I offer as a Founding member benefit a signed, personally dedicated copy of one of my books (limited offer!).
This recent ungated post gives examples of all of the above:
I have indeed, and found some of the ideas very useful indeed - especially regarding adapting a button to drop to a sales page.
I was a little concerned my publisher would say no to the QR code - but no problem at all - which was a great relief.
The new book is out 3rd Aug with PenguinRandomHouse, and Substack features prominently in the bio. It's also gone up on the relevant Amazon page as well.
I have about >3k subscribers. When I started, I regularly made FB, Twitter, Hacker News, IG, and LinkedIn posts - I still do this, with exception of Twitter - I deleted my account there. I also emailed people to let them know about the 'stack, and when I do a podcast I always ask for the details to be in the show notes, as well me doing a call-out for the stack during the pod.
About a year ago, I had just about 1k subscribers, but posting was intermittent. I decided to post once a week as an experiment every Tuesday morning. And the consistency of the posts drove engagement. They also got me a substack featured writer badge and display.
I think the consistency of production, combined with cross-posting to Substack Notes has really driven the numbers - my subscriber base is 3.1k - so it tripled in a year. I don't credit the other places for much growth - the stats show that. I think the aggregation effects of being on substack really matter. When I look at my subscriber profiles, I know have lots of people who are on substack, but as readers, not as writers - and the iOS and Android app really drive that, as far as I can see - most readers are not writers.
I also try to engage here on substack, and I regularly engage with other writers - and this I think helps get visibility, too.
🧠 I’ve been using my substack to also work towards a long term project of writing a broader book. The newsletters help break down and explore topics or chapters I might otherwise of not investigated. Its been great for cataloguing also do any of you promote your substack on other platforms?
I use LinkedIn a little bit more Instagram. That’s also because I have visual content and for some reason don’t find it so overwhelming like Twitter or FB or TikTok (eek). I think you need to find your main extra platform and stick to it, otherwise it can be overwhelming!
I’ve found LinkedIn to be quite useful twitter hasn’t really benefited me at all for promoting any articles but instagram and tiktok have. I tried breaking down my articles into story captions which seem to have gone over well.
I will add that the great thing about LinkedIn is if you are an academic, you’re probably connected to a lot of people in your field vs friends/entertainment. So it can be more relevant here.
So what i've done that worked for me is I use canva to generate the posts and then use an app called twiso which records me narrating the article and then I take the subtitle and put that on the post. An example: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs2357ZAzEO/
I promote mine on Twitter and LinkedIn, which does drive some traffic. I also link to it in my email signature, but I'm not sure how much that drives subscribers.
I have been doing that a well. I wrote about 2/3 of a book about being the manager of the Laugh Factory comedy club and then started writing on Substack and including chapters from the book in my posts. sabrinalabow.substack.com
I began Beyond Bloomsbury with 0 subscribers and no previous ‘blog’, but post and promote 3 x daily on Instagram. I was also on Twitter until last week, but have escaped!
outside of getting news etc off the twitter sites and doing some campaigns with others I’ve found twitter to be quiet poor it is also not the most pleasant of social media platforms.
I have promoted on all my other platforms and do see a bump when I put it out there. But I have a secret feeling that Twitter deprioritized my tweets because of a Substack link in my bio?
I've noticed that anything I tweet with a link--substack especially, but others too--get much fewer impressions than other tweets. I think it's now built into the algorithm to de-prioritize anything that takes people off the platform.
I haven't tried it myself but people have said they use places like Reddit and Quora. They answer questions or engage in discussions of their field/expertise and subtly share their newsletter after. Some do it in nearly every response they give while others just build a presence there first (become the go-to person on that topic) then push their newsletter more.
I love seeing academic work be made more publicly available through Substack! I'm really excited to catch up with what these folks are publishing here.
When I share research on Unruly Figures, I think the best thing I do is note when we're not sure about something! I try to be clear when there are conflicting narratives of a historical moment, rather than further a single narrative, even if I think it's the most likely. I try to be open about the fact that reseachers and experts are not perfect but are usually doing their (our) best.
Thank you Liz! I'm excited to learn about Unprofessoring. I consciously didn't pursue ivory tower academic work after finishing my degrees, and I sometimes wonder if it was the right choice. It's nice to see other people making similar ones.
Thanks Tara! It definitely feels more honest to share research this way. I think some academics/researchers/writers get worried that if they admit there is nuance to a story they will confuse the audience, but I disagree. Readers are smart!
Hi! I'm a PhD candidate in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge and I write a newsletter on visual culture. Having a newsletter has helped me with 1) sharing my research as it's taking place, especially to the very people I work with and it's based on and 2) experimenting with ways of writing and thinking broadly about visual culture beyond my PhD topic. All in all it's been a great experience so far and the engagement has been really stimulating.
I use Substack in two ways: 1) to explore new topics in a relatively low-stakes writing form, and 2) to work out long-term research projects for paid subs.
It also helps me to refine a writing voice which is far less jargony and more accessible.
A worthwhile (and I would say necessary) focus for Substack might be to make it easier for scholars of the Global South to gain more traction and opportunities on the platform. There are two concerning trends I pick up from Substack which perpetuates the current imbalances in academia: feature academics are mostly from the North (the majority American), and payments are not available for the majority of writers from the South.
I believe there is a great opportunity for Substack to enhance its foothold in an emerging democratised academic culture here!
oh my gosh yes. And the timezone thing. Everything Substack is in the middle of the night for some of us global south-ers. ... like office hours for example!
I will also add that b/c I know my experience as a an academic can make my voice a bit DENSE, I write my posts and then often use GrammarlyGO's "Give me suggestions for improvement" generator to revise for clarity, brevity, and such. It is pretty good about saying things like, "This is dense. You need an example here to help readers understand." Also, free idea to the @substack crew, get a plug-in or make your own for this kind of thing. (Not AI writing-generating omg, but an improvement generator via prompting questions.) https://app.grammarly.com/
Try inserting personal stories and experiences in your posts. Try what is called the morning pages which can be written any time of day. Either write, type or talk into your phone but don't stop for a few minutes. I mean literally don't stop. Even if you have to say your name 10 times. It will make you more creative and improve your writing. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Yes! The Artists' Way by Julie Cameron, who started the idea of the morning pages (I think?) is so great for those parts of getting back into our creativity! https://amzn.to/43VpqDE
Hey there! I have two newsletters; one is more academic and research-based. I’m a creative writer and PhD candidate but I study English/creative writing and write about ecology, trauma, wildland fire and colonization. This is such a basic question! I I tend to use a lot of academic sources in my writing and often have trouble with footnotes/citations on Substack. It seems to take me forever to get them to work, or I will get one footnote/citation to work and then I won’t be able to do it again. What is the *actual* way to place citations in Substack? I don’t want to have a bunch of hyperlinks, especially if I am using academic sources.
Also, for academics or PhD candidates who have high teaching and courseloads, how do you manage your time, especially if some of what you’re writing about isn’t necessarily part of your studies and involves a lot of “outside” research (for instance, studying English but also writing about science, which involves a lot of focused attention and synthesizing). TIA!!
🟧 Speaking of footnotes: Is Substack working on making notes visible to a hovering cursor? Also a button we could add in a footnote letting the reader return to the prior place in the text? That would be a boon! Nobody wants to scroll up and down looking for things. I think footnotes are not very functional til they can be read without scrolling back up.
Hooray! The footnote repair has already happened. I saw it first in your gorgeous Frida Kahlo post this morning. Then I checked it on a post of mine with notes (on Ursula Le Guin). It worked twice. Try it. We can hover now. Yay!
Hi Anastasia! I can share this footnotes feedback with our team. Can you give me any more specifics? Is it the spacing that's the problem, or does something break?
Hi Bailey, my big challenge with footnotes is with the paywall.
Footnotes end up below the paywall, and every 'normal' issue of my newsletter has a paywall near the bottom. For that reason I don't use footnotes to cite sources.
Perhaps paywalling my sources might encourage more paid subscriptions but it just feels a bit 'untransparent' and I suspect it would erode trust in my arguments if I was to 'hide' my sources below a paywall.
Bailey, if you're still watching this, it would be great it footnotes could easily be copy/pasted in. If I try to copy/paste from Google Docs into Substack, all the footnotes disappear. I've gotten used to doing them manually, but it would shave an hour of work per episode off my plate if they could just be copied over. 😅
Thanks so much Bailey (and hi!!). Pretty much it just doesn’t work reliably. I will click footnote and try to place it, but sometimes I’ll have to do that several times in order to get that to work. Then, if it finally works, I can never get a second footnote to work! I wish I could be more specific but really it just doesn’t work when I click it.
I can answer about finding time. I don't have all the 'creds'. I was a simple 'blue collar' man, but I solved the problem of making time by giving up on other things. I gave up watching TV except for movies or maybe binge-watching a series on Netflix. I got up 2-3 hours before I had to go to work. (I started at 6 am.) Giving up on TV means you can go up to wherever it is that you write and edit whatever you did that morning. Go to bed at around 10 or 11, get up at 3:30-4:00 and do iy all over again. There is no easy solution. Sorry.
I have no idea what creds you’re referring to! I am a former wildland firefighter 😂. Thank you for your suggestions, though. To be more succinct you could have said “sleep less, work more” which historically has resulted in burnout for me but I appreciate the sentiment! I should watch less Netflix, it’s true!
Your question of managing writing time is a really important one. I treated like part of my job, and commit to it twice a week. I also sent myself pretty firm time deadline, which means that some weeks the pieces are more expensive, and some weeks they are pretty perfunctory, but I keep it regular.
Like at some of the suggested, it’s required me to cut out other things in order to commit the writing time, such as getting up earlier or riding in the evening instead of watching the TV show.
Technically I don't fall into the high courseload category, but last summer when I was making my podcast and writing my book and working full-time and maintaing a creative writing substack (😭) I took two approaches to managing my time: One was that I just had to temporarily cut other things out. I went to the gym less frequently, watched less TV, etc. All with the knowledge that none of that was "forever"! The second approach was that I tried to create as much cross-pollination as possible. For the podcast I covered people who were tangentially related to who I was writing about in my book. In your example of studying English while writing about science, I might have looked closely at writers who did both--science grew out of philosophy, so there's a lot of cross-over between scientists and writers/philosophers. Not sure if that applies to your work, of course.
And... A third secret thing is that I slacked off at work. I let myself check my personal email and I didn't go above and beyond for my bosses. I turned down opportunities for "extra-curriculars" like committees or extra teaching that would have looked good on my resume. It felt risky then, but now I work for myself so it turned out okay. I don't necessarily "recommend" this method but I also want to be honest, haha.
Coming back around to your second paragraph about heavy workloads .... I also write actively on two Substacks (and teach American Lit). You really do have a lot on your plate! When I wrote my dissertation, I kept a log and gave myself credit for every 15 minute increment of reading, note-taking, writing, whatever. I sometimes see others giving this advice, too. It felt good to see I was logging time at least 5 days out of 7, even when I couldn't otherwise see progress. Substack has more immediate gratification ("finished" articles), but unless the Stax are feeding the diss, make sure you give yourself gratifying small increments on the big project, too. Good luck!
Wow, this is such a great idea and might be totally game-changing for me. I am also still in coursework and teaching a 2/2 load, so it's a lot. Just doing logging 15 minute increments physically could give me something to look at and say, hey, I am doing this! So so helpful!!! Thank you!
Oh good. I'm glad if it helps. I don't know how any of us get through the first years of teaching, writing, and scholarly discovery. It's hard, but rewarding. Good luck!
I'm in a similar situation: teaching, considering 2 Substacks (one creative writing & one covering timely sustainability/environmental communication topics), and struggling to make it all work. I'm not answering your question, just feeling a sense of solidarity. Lol. Oh, and I just subscribed.
Hi Anastasia! I just link out if it’s in context (like a good online newspaper would do). I think it’s more reader friendly. Like. Few have said here, I’m trying to reach a greater audience and think too many footnotes can be off putting. That said, depending on the article, I may have a list of references in addition with just basic info and hyperlink instead of footnote. I prefer footnotes for “funny” extras :)
I also have 2 publications now. It’s fun to live between topics and audiences. You can also make projects this way, like you would an academic project or group. I think there are a ton of possibilities this way.
Thank you, this is super helpful!! I do wish Substack didn’t make me choose one publication to “feature” and just let me have two publications! It’s nice to see someone else here who is doing two separate things- it’s fun but can feel overwhelmed too!
I had the advice in one of these threads ages ago to just make my other a thread. But it is really a different project and I’m enjoying the space to create really differently on each.
I don't sadly have an answer for you about the citations (I footnote or just link out) BUT wanted to wave , as a creative writing professor who is working on a science-based project right now, too. I think if you can find ways to casually dip into a Notes file throughout the day, or build in a set time for the Substack writing, like one morning a week or two, or find a way to bridge the work you do in the classroom(s) and the Substack writing? I admire your ambition!
I really am asking how to footnote! they truly do not work for me most of the time and I don’t understand what I am doing wrong. And thank you!! I have an ambivalent relationship with my ambition 😂
I'm so happy you subscribed to TODAY YOU WILL WRITE! Looking forward to our ongoing conversations and your new book in the spring! I hear you on the ambivalence. Striving was like life support for me as a younger person and now--why? :)
I have a question about reader engagement. What do you do when your (free) subscribers' list is growing, but you never see comments or other types of engagement with your posts?
I have significantly high open rates, but very few of my subscribers ever leave a comment under any of my posts. Nor do they respond to polls asking what content they'd like to receive from me. Thanks in advance.
Don't stress the engagement. I have >$11K revenue, a 99% retention rate on yearly renewals and am growing steadily so my readers must be happy. But they rarely comment on anything. I tell myself it's actually a good thing coz I don't want to add monitoring and replying to comments to my already full plate.
Hey Seun: At the end of your newsletter ask your readers an easy open ended question, or two. And always leave a "comment" button near the end of one or two of the following questions.
Here are some general open-ended questions you can ask to evoke comments:
- What are your thoughts on the latest topic/issue we covered in the newsletter?
- How has [topic/issue] affected you personally or professionally?
- Can you share any experiences or stories related to the content we shared?
- What additional information or details would you like us to cover in future newsletters?
- Do you have any suggestions or ideas for improving our newsletter?
- Is there a particular topic or subject you would like us to explore in an upcoming newsletter?
- How has our newsletter helped you or provided value in your life/work?
- What other resources or content would you like to see included in our newsletter?
Encourage subscribers to share their thoughts by expressing genuine interest in their opinions and experiences. Some people may not feel comfortable exposing their comments to all in the post comment section. Ask them if they would like to reach out, please do by email. And leave your email address at the bottom of the post.
Also leave comments yourself on the newsletters you follow. People on Substack can easily find your newsletter from your display name in a comment heading. Good luck!
This is sort of off-topic I guess, but I'm an academic (in science research and education at a large university) and my Substack is me essentially hiding from academia, using this as a release and means to write and pursue what I always wanted to do. There are many things I love about my job, but there are many things that bring stress and uncertainty. Taking the time to escape to a weekly place of writing fiction has been incredibly liberating and enjoyable.
🧠/✏️ Hey, my first time participating in one of these events. I write America Explained, a newsletter which combines my academic work as a historian of the United States with my work as a political commentator. I guess I have a sort of funnel method where I try to use my work talking about topics of broad interest in the news to attract the people who really want a deep dive and are interested in history and more academic takes.
I've find appearing on other media/platforms is really important for driving subscriber growth but it gets time-consuming. I'm trying to keep a good flow of content in the newsletter while also at the same time stepping up appearances in other media to get people to the Substack. Success at the latter can also be hugely variable - I write for big outlets like The Guardian but very few people bother to come look for my newsletter afterward reading a column. Twitter, to be honest, was my biggest source of outside-Substack subscribes, but the link throttling seems to be damaging that. Do we know exactly what the deal with that is right now - is it still happening?
I struggle with reaching out to people inside the Substack network. Notes seemed promising but mostly when I post on there it feels like nobody is really engaging with it. Maybe I haven't tried it enough. Do people have any tips on that?
As an academic, there's also this issue with maintaining credibility within your academic networks, which can get in the way of marketing aggressively. I personally see no distinction between writing for The Guardian and writing for Substack in terms of credibility and the author's relationship to the market, but hustling for paid subscriptions for a personal newsletter can be frowned upon - some academics don't even think writing for newspapers is appropriate. Mostly I've been ignoring this for a long time - I've had a fairly successful podcast, another medium that is often looked down upon, and been proud of it - but I also can't turn my main professional social media accounts into a non-stop newsletter hustle. More inside-Substack tools for reaching out would really help - or maybe I just need some tips on using them better.
Hi there Andrew. Have you had any luck setting up, and benefitting from, recommendations? Those are very powerful for growth, and require little to no management from the writer.
🟧 would it be possible to have embed like a tag in our bios so that we can link to a group. Also in terms of chat and notes with some of us who are earlier in our publications would it be possible to have groups so we can engage with similar individuals more regularly than when we engage on threads like this.
I've had reasonable success in building a free subscriber base. But I've struggled more to convert them to paid subscribers. I've been pondering holding Zoom events or some other sort of live interaction with my paid subscribers only, and I'm wondering if there is a way to message just paid subscribers?
Brian if you are going to do Zoom events/whatever to encourage free-to-paid conversions, make sure you tell EVERYONE, not just people who already paid!
Also, try asking your readers what they would be willing to pay for. Readers love it when you ask!
A few months after going paid, and not seeing good growth, I did a survey asking people what they want more of and what they would be willing to pay for. I sent free and paid readers to almost identical surveys, but with different links so I could compare the responses between people who had already paid and people who were still free subscribers.
Then I reported on the results and told them what I would be offering/changing/tweaking.
If you do this, make sure you ask for positive feedback so you can share your wins and 'happy customers'.
Karen, this is really useful, thank you! I did send my free subscribers an email today making a plea for paid subscriptions and announcing new benefits for paid subscribers. But I may do a survey now as well.
✏️ Not an academic myself, but if there are any academics on Substack who write about pre-Columbian cultures and religion I'd be interested in checking out your work.
I am a writer and I feel that the more I write the more publicity I will get for my work. I like the concepts of testing ideas, building community and using Substack as an intellectual proving ground for when you are creatively stuck, as well as offering it to build passive income. However, Journalism is a highly competitive affair, even more so these days since we have the Internet. The Internet is the problem because you have writers as young as high schoolers who are hoping to cash-in with what they hope to produce as writers. Can you imagine an experienced Journalist exchanging ideas with a high school student, even if the high school student manages to get subscribers to upgrade?
I always wonder at what stage other academics test their work on Substack. Is it during the writing of an academic journal article, or after it has been published? Maybe this is a question on the ethics of sharing original research?
✏️ Hi everyone, Here's my conundrum: My MA is in Environmental Education and Communication. I teach sustainability communication, creative nonfiction, and publishing prose at a Canadian university, and I'm a freelance writer. With my free subscriptions, I'd like to help writers write memoir and nature writing (primarily), but eventually I'd like to make Substack a revenue stream through paid subscriptions as well. I haven't been on here for long, and so far I've been writing mostly about writing, but I also want to write about sustainability communication topics. These can be very timely, and relevant to climate change, biodiversity loss, etc. Soooo, do I somehow combine these topics into a single Substack or do I need to separate them into 2 separate Substacks? When my teaching gets busy, I struggle to keep posting to one Substack. I don't want this to take over my entire life. I don't know. I'd really appreciate your thoughts and/or creative solutions. https://robertalaurie.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
Hi Roberta. I came to Substack a year ago with a similar variety of interests. I let myself dabble on multiple stax until I got a sense of what I wanted for a primary focus. I needed to try things. I now have 2 stacks different enough that the "Sections" available in Settings was not enough. For you, having "Sections" that people could subscribe to separately may be enough. I do think when school is in session I'll need to do some scaling back. My primary is https://enchantedinamerica.substack.com/ and secondary is https://peacelinks.substack.com/.
Brilliant! Thank you so much. I didn't know about Sections. I thought something like that might exist, but I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the hidden depths of the platform. Yes, I think you're right: my topics are related enough that they can probably be part of the same Stack.
I have a weekly schedule for writing that starts the day after I post the last one. It has worked well for me also to have a themed series that gives me something to write about on the weeks where I don't have a big idea for an essay.
🟧 - ADMIN QUESTION: My Media Assets do not include an image of my Title and Beginning sentences of my post, which I have seen elsewhere. Is this something I need to request or should it be automatically created? I have 3 blank images, one with my signature colour and all with my Title and Substack logo. I also notice they are not live links to my writing which is disappointing.
🟧 Substack is a great innovative platform but, as several others have commented, it does have some work to do in making its highlighting of 'top writers' a bit more thoroughly researched.
I have been contributing essays of political and cultural commentary to a wide range of prestigious journals in the UK, USA and Australia for fifteen years now. But because they are occasional rather than prolific and spread thin across many outlets, my name has not become as well known as I would have wished.
So I came to Substack a couple of months ago as a way to gradually bring all my writing together- in one oeuvre so to speak. (My essays have always tended to be musings on political and cultural undercurrents in the 21s century West, rather than topical daily news-based and so they do not need to have such a short shelf-life as that type of journalism.)
Hope I can qualify as an "intellectual" in Substack-terms!
Hey friends! I am newer to SUBSTACK. My open date is over 60% which I think is great but now I’m trying to grow. How do I get exposure on SUBSTACK and thoughts for marketing off the app too?
At the outset, I should say that my status, as an academic, is debatable. I hava a law degree from NYU law school in NY, but I have no masters or doctorates. My LSAT was 732. My Wechsler IQ is 147. On the Wechsler, there is 15 points per standard deviation and so my IQ is more than 3 standard deviations above the mean, which means that 99.81 pecent of the population is beneath me. It might seem a bit nutty or snobbish to recite one's scores, but I am the progeny of a particularly weird hot house of striving, climbing intellectual, or pseudo intellectual, divas from hell.
MY objectives:
1) I want to network with other people who appreciate the fabricatoin of new and provocative ideas
2) I write about a multiplicity of subjects and I realize this is frowned upon as this era stresses specialization, but very often the finest cognition results when subject matter from different disciplines are conjoined. For example, Heisenberg's Uncertaintly principle, normally thought to be relevant only to physics, was a great boon to existentialist philosophy. Freud may have been a doctor, but he was like few other doctors who write or practice today as he plumbed the depths of anthropology, literature and art in developing his ideas re the psyche.
3) I need help and assistance in disseminating my stuff.
4) Unfortunately, I am constantly modifying my ideas. For example, I have one piece which is a furoius, and I think rather sterling defense of abortion, and I have antoher piece decrying abortion. How do I maintain a readership when I exhibit so many diffrent ideological tendencies.
5) I would like to give you examples of my work on substack, but I don't know if that would contravene one of substack's rules. Ergo, I will perhaps give you the web addresses of some of my substack posts in a succeeding post. Stay Tuned.
Hi all! I have been on and off about whether or not I want to get an MFA or Ph.D. I appreciate going to info sessions at university but I also struggle knowing their admissions department views me as a number for the business instead of helping out with answering more personal and real life questions. (I.E. how do you raise kids and pursue a higher degree? What are the costs associated with relocation? How are marginalized communities gathering and operating in academia? How do you negotiate housing? How do you juggle writing for your communities vs writing for academia? What happens when your cohort annoys you?)
I would love to know of any academics (specifically who identify as BIPOC and/or LGBTIQ2A+) who are writing on this topic.
🟧 Katie and team: Are there any plans for something like Interest Groups in the Explore function (voluntary sign-ups on shared topics like PhD students on Substack, Humanities research, etc) ? Academia has a lot of rules, and an interest group could help with mentoring junior scholars to see how their Substack choices will support an academic career. Can you make it easier for us to find each other and collaborate on things like joint statements to tenure committees about how to read this work on a cv?
I always wish we had more time to help facilitate connections like this and we have dreamed up ideas of ways the product could help us do that. I think you will see more of that down the line.
In the meantime, I encourage you to post about the type of writers you are looking to connect with in Notes and tag @Substack Writers.
Tags that exist externally to a publication would solve this, Katie. For example, on LinkedIn and Twitter I use tags to find like-minded individuals so I can get to know them. Tags + Notes in Substack would be fantastic for helping writers make connections. The groups could then move to Chats/Threads or even Discord, they don't have to reside in Substack.
It would be interesting if we could embed a tag in our bio maybe or groups like on Linkedin perhaps. I’d also be interested if substack would work with some of the academic societies as it would benefit their outreach goals.
For me I want to promote outreach for academia where we can communicate with those interested in our fields but without the technical depth of journal publishing. We spend so much time reading and writing so by sharing our thoughts on notes or through publications we highlight our own interpretations and gain others insights. If you want to read about my academic journey, research techniques or work in STEMMB my substack is https://askjordon.substack.com/p/developing-your-research-5
Exactly how I feel Jordon! With my doctorate, I got burnt out on the dense data, but still like *sharing* the information. It is so refreshing to have a platform to spread health information in a way that is easy to understand and RELATABLE to the average reader! You can find an example of my work here-- https://kateeskuri.substack.com/p/forest-bathing-does-what-for-your-1aa
Hi Kate, I had a long career in holistic integrative medicine and psychiatry and try with my Substack writing to share my interest and experience in finding the essence of health and well-being. I try to hit that sweet spot of not sounding too educative or academic and telling a story of my personal experience, perhaps a little like memoir writing, or that of others, who have consented to do so. Substack has been a good platform for me to experiment and move from my years in teaching and professional practice into writing. I always aim for my writing to be more relatable, but never quite sure of who my audience actually is. I did run into some writer's block, and this last article typifies some of my resent work. https://www.inmindwise.com/p/surmounting-writers-block
Thanks for sharing Kate, your comments echo that of a colleague whose just joining substack. He’s hoping to breakdown and share his research and make it more accessible our department has also being trying to push this area.
✏️ I would like to add a video to a Substack post so it is playable directly in my post. Is that possible now?
I applied to the Substack page https://airtable.com/shr01OF9E34tJ2ICn and asked to join a beta test for this function, but I haven’t heard from Substack.
✏️hello all! I’m new to Substack and being absent from social media (by design) is well , sort of kicking me in the behind now that I want to put my work out there . I have no following . Or email subscribers besides a handful. Thank you for your feedback ! Namasted
🟧 Hey Substack, I work for a company looking to create a Substack that focuses on CRM. We'll have articles that our team has written that helps with CRM troubleshooting, tips and tricks, latest news, etc. I was wondering if you can provide me with any success stories and how much revenue and subscribers companies have gotten from creating a Substack and using it for their marketing efforts?
I started getting spam comments a few days ago. I started substacks about a year ago and didn't notice any such spam comments until lately. Do I have to live with them, or can they be prevented? I'd prefer not to have to remove each one myself.
Also, the pinned message here by Katie says to use one of 3 icons or emojis when we start a new comment, but I don't see where to get them from.
Great and insightful article. I'm a newbie on Substack so anyone interested in new books being featured on Podcast ... well check out Yellow Shelf. Thanks & Cheers!
✏️ one of the things I have noticed lately on Substack is the wide range of styles and especially word counts. I’m curious whether people think this is going to continue or whether there may be some pressure toward convergence upon a mean? I’m not against folks seeing and emulating alternatives, especially in the case of TLDR. Just curious.
Thank you for offer this writer’s life line. It helps me thrive. I just got introduced to the Florida State Poets Association community with a profile and six of my people in their July / August issue.
I write a Substack that is geared towards other academic writers and I’m always highlighting other folks who write about professional development topics for academics. Please share your Substacks so I can follow! Here’s mine: https://publishnotperish.substack.com
✏️ This is such an interesting thread of comments. I'm a retired academic and Emeritus Prof of Nursing and I split my 'stack between nursing related posts and more personal stuff - reading, gardening, nature etc. I have no idea if my followers come to read the nursing stuff or the personal stuff, or who might be a 'professional' follower. Is it possible to work out or do I have to maybe ask in a future newsletter? I don't want to have two separate stacks as I'm more than my old professional identity, but it would be good to get a sense of who makes up my followers.
Have you tried a poll, June? Like "Which types of posts do you like best? Nursing or personal or both?" Readers love being asked! (you can hide response numbers too!)
I might be atypical, but I'm not expecting or even trying to earn money from my Substacks. What I care about is disseminating my ideas and preserving them for the future. Am I alone?
Hi! I'm an Economics PhD and I write Nominal News (www.nominalnews.com) where I discuss many current economic (which is not just interest rates) issues and what the academic field of economics actually has discovered about them. There is a big lack of communication from academic economists to the public and even to policy makers since these type of actions are not rewarded. I hope to change that by bringing the latest and the greatest on any social issue.
One thing I'm sometimes concerned about is the length of my pieces. They almost always end in the 2500 to 3000 word length spot. Do other writers think this is too long?
I am a writer and I feel that the more I write the more publicity that I will get for my work. I am not against using Substack as a vehicle to test idea or building community or even as an intellectual proving ground for when you are creatively stuck. The problem is that the Internet is such a large and unwieldy vehicle that you will end up with getting ideas that could jeopardize your position as a writer. Plus a Journalist role is oftentimes to operate as a moderator in discussions to report the facts in an objective manner. Can you imagine an experienced professional interacting with a high school student or a person with less credential?
Do you mean one that is geared 100% to professional output for peers rather than communicating our professional work with a wider, lay audience? I suspect it would be a bit difficult for an individual but might work for a group. Replace a journal?
Actually, the more I think about that the more I like it. Maybe I’ll encourage some of my colleagues to create a virtual “society”. I’m doing a panel at a regional conference this fall. Maybe I’ll encourage the organizers to “publish” the conf papers on Substack.
That’s not exactly what I meant. I was just looking for advice from people (academics or otherwise) who have more than one substack publication - as I’ll be launching a second on soon.
But I think your idea of creating a virtual society where people can publish their conference papers etc., sounds like a good idea. Good luck with that :)
🟧 My current Substack offers advice to creative writers. I'm thinking about adding a second Substack that will engage with timely sustainability/environmental communication issues such as how to talk about climate change, the biodiversity crisis, etc. Writing advice and communication analysis/advice are not unrelated, but they are different enough that I think it might be better to make them two Substacks. Are Substacks by the same author linked somehow? I'm seeing a whole lot of additional work by making them separate, but maybe they somehow support each other? Are there effective ways to cross-promote?
Roberta, Substack does link two publications in that people can click your author profile and see all your pubs. I have two completely unrelated publications for different audiences and use two different author accounts to solve this problem - one with a pseudonym. I met other writers in Substack Grow 2022 program who were doing the same. You'll need to use two different browsers - one for each account - to handle the login logistics, but it's not that hard. (my other pub is https://pubstacksuccess.substack.com/)
To help organize the conversation, please use one of the following emojis when you start a new comment.
🧠 - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers
✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
🟧 - when asking a question you hope the Substack team can help answer
Use your emoji keyboard or simply copy and paste the emoji at the beginning of your comment.
I’m sorry I didn’t see this before posting!
No worries!
Same
I was really happy to be included in Substack’s roundup of academics. My life has changed dramatically since sharing the creative writing expertise I’ve been teaching at Northwestern for fifteen years and applying it to how creative writers can succeed on Substack. My family says I seem happier. (Seriously.) I feel like I’m really helping writers create careers for themselves on Substack. Creative writing programs are great for some things, but they don’t teach people to be professional writers. They teach them to teach creative writing and write books for a market that’s very small. You’re getting a much better education writing on Substack, assuming you go all in and use it as an opportunity to learn from the excellent writers around you.
https://on.substack.com/p/academics-resource-substack
I have an MFA and am currently in a PhD program and I agree that there is almost nothing taught about the business side of writing, and that is just as important as the craft of writing- bc if you can’t support yourself as a writer it is *always* going to be a struggle. I just subscribed to your newsletter and really look forward to learning from you!
I'm so glad. I really hear what you're saying about the nepotism and inequality in writing and publishing and even on here, but when I think too much about it, it just gets me down. Thank you for subscribing! I'm here to help. I really want us all to succeed and create our best work on here and get paid well to do it, so writing can be a viable profession again.
I totally understand why you would want to avoid thinking about the negatives. That said, as a larger pub you do have a lot of impact. Many of us can’t really avoid thinking about it bc it is part of our every day. I actually just wrote about it the other day in my Substack and so many ppl commented and related bc they were feeling similarly. So, it’s an issue. And larger pubs need to be aware of it because you actually can have a huge impact by recommending smaller pubs and finding lesser known writers you love and championing them. Personally I get most of my subscribers from one large publication who recommends me, and that has truly transformed my Substack in many ways. So you and many other with larger subscriber bases can have a huge impact in uplifting others who may not be getting the traction they deserve, too. Thanks so much for engaging!
Nice to meet another PhD candidate here.
Check out my newsletter I have some grant opportunities for graduate students and you may also leave a feedback, thanks
I post twice weekly about 50 fresh opportunities weekly.
https://gradinterface.substack.com/
Check out KURT VONNEGUT on the topic of commercial vs literary writing in his old Paris Review Interviews Third edition, I believe. He waged a war against what we now call MFA and he won. The guy did every odd job before scoring with Esquire. Alas, however, where have all the magazines gone? That is, when many magazines bought fiction, it was a different world. So thanks, Substack!
🧠 ✏️ [plus ✊ as a solidarity kind of emoji]
Hi, Sarah! Agree with you so much about all of this. I'm a fellow creative writing professor at Miami University in Ohio. I'm only a few months into Substack and just seeing you in this post, but wanted to say hi b/c I'm in 100% agreement with you about how Substack is creating a place to feel really useful as a writer and teacher. I started TODAY YOU WILL WRITE in part b/c former students were writing to me asking for writing prompts and what I was up to in the classroom, and it has been--even two months in--so rewarding to take the kind of work we do as writers and readers anyway, like closely reading fiction and essays, and bringing that to a larger audience. I love teaching, and create this thing for like 20 students in a class, but now I feel like I'm learning how to fuse my personal voice and my professor voice even more by working through craft things on Substack. Hope we can connect. Maybe an AWP panel in our future? https://todayyouwillwrite.substack.com/
I love your Substack. It's beautiful, for one, and feels different than the other creative writing Substacks on here. I love, love this: "We worry our middles are boring, our endings don't land, our openings lack momentum. Today we will write anyway." Fantastic.
blushing :) thank you! will email you!
Yes! First, I so hear you about fusing the professor and personal voices. We must do an AWP panel! Brilliant idea. Email me here: mssarahfay1516@gmail.com
This is so interesting. Are you using Substack with students at Miami of Ohio? Are they familiar with it/is it a good tool for them?
I could see so much potential for bring it into classroom use! Esp in writing classes. Right now, for my substack Today You Will Write, I create a weekly letter that includes a few sentences of writing encouragement from an author I've interviewed, a short talk about an element of the craft of writing fiction or nonfiction (what i teach and publish) that would, in a classroom, mostly be conversation, and a writing prompt related to both (which i often do at Miami). But through Substack, I've found my tone has necessarily shifted in a really good way to something more personal, less formal, and that in turn has impacted the classroom teaching, too. Since I'm new, many of my subscribers are former students who are off in NYC or CA or around OH who still want to be connected to writing while holding other jobs. And I invite current students to join for the writing community, which some have! I don't know if they knew about substack prior--the spring semester ended here but I'll ask the fall creative writers!
I agree that the professional elements are missing from a lot of writing program content. I try to cover it when I teach special topics classes because I also do a lot of freelance writing on the side but most of what I teach these days is business writing (although honestly after having a book come out a lot of those business writing skills came in handy too). I like the idea of Substack filling this gap!
Yes, and your Substack is so great! Humor--so rarely taught in academic creative writing classes.
Thank you! Still figuring out the best content for it, which is why I was happy to recently discover what you are doing with Writers at Work too :)
As an academic, what I love about Substack is the ability to (1) reach non-academic audiences and (2) write about things that extend beyond the scope of my research projects. Academic articles and books are time intensive; with a newsletter, you can share learnings quickly and briefly. I love that freedom to explore something in, say, 500 words and share it with an interested audience!
I agree--I also love being able to share the process of research and work a little!
Glad to have you here Jeffrey!
Some tips I'd like to share:
I have a new book coming out in August. To publicise my substack, I've made share to include the substack in my bio - and - I created a QR code for my substack which is placed below my bio, so readers will be able to easily scan the code, and go directly to my stack.
I've created tabs for my new book and for my last book on my homepage for readers to able to jump directly to them.
I've adapted a button to bring the reader directly to the book in order to pre-order it - and I include a piece using the section dividers in every post reminding readers the best way to support an author of a forthcoming book is via pre-orders.
I also put an endnote on the new book along with the cover art and blurb.
I offer as a Founding member benefit a signed, personally dedicated copy of one of my books (limited offer!).
This recent ungated post gives examples of all of the above:
https://brainpizza.substack.com/p/stress-and-personality
Here's the QR code: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shane-o-mara-6952608_i-have-a-qr-code-activity-7070017681583693825-QmnW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
This is so great! I have a book coming out next year but no solid pub date yet. Keeping this all in mind. Thank you!
Amazing work, Shane! I assume you've probably seen some of the book promotion resources we published recently?
I have indeed, and found some of the ideas very useful indeed - especially regarding adapting a button to drop to a sales page.
I was a little concerned my publisher would say no to the QR code - but no problem at all - which was a great relief.
The new book is out 3rd Aug with PenguinRandomHouse, and Substack features prominently in the bio. It's also gone up on the relevant Amazon page as well.
While I'm here: I'd love a pre-order! ;-)
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442354/talking-heads-by-omara-shane/9781847926487
Shane, out of curiosity, how did you build your Substack subscriber base? Always looking for new ideas for ways to engage with new readers!
I have about >3k subscribers. When I started, I regularly made FB, Twitter, Hacker News, IG, and LinkedIn posts - I still do this, with exception of Twitter - I deleted my account there. I also emailed people to let them know about the 'stack, and when I do a podcast I always ask for the details to be in the show notes, as well me doing a call-out for the stack during the pod.
About a year ago, I had just about 1k subscribers, but posting was intermittent. I decided to post once a week as an experiment every Tuesday morning. And the consistency of the posts drove engagement. They also got me a substack featured writer badge and display.
I think the consistency of production, combined with cross-posting to Substack Notes has really driven the numbers - my subscriber base is 3.1k - so it tripled in a year. I don't credit the other places for much growth - the stats show that. I think the aggregation effects of being on substack really matter. When I look at my subscriber profiles, I know have lots of people who are on substack, but as readers, not as writers - and the iOS and Android app really drive that, as far as I can see - most readers are not writers.
I also try to engage here on substack, and I regularly engage with other writers - and this I think helps get visibility, too.
These are great suggestions. Consistency is key. I have the but I need to post on notes more often. Thanks for your input!
What do you mean cross posting to SUBSTACK notes? Sorry. New here.
Literally that. When I write a piece, I take the URL and place it in Notes with some commentary - here's an example: https://substack.com/@shaneomara/note/c-17449685
Got it. Makes sense. I’ll do that every time now.
The advantage is that it's placed in a flow where others will get to see it - beyond whoever's on your own subscriber list.
🧠 I’ve been using my substack to also work towards a long term project of writing a broader book. The newsletters help break down and explore topics or chapters I might otherwise of not investigated. Its been great for cataloguing also do any of you promote your substack on other platforms?
I use LinkedIn a little bit more Instagram. That’s also because I have visual content and for some reason don’t find it so overwhelming like Twitter or FB or TikTok (eek). I think you need to find your main extra platform and stick to it, otherwise it can be overwhelming!
I’ve found LinkedIn to be quite useful twitter hasn’t really benefited me at all for promoting any articles but instagram and tiktok have. I tried breaking down my articles into story captions which seem to have gone over well.
I will add that the great thing about LinkedIn is if you are an academic, you’re probably connected to a lot of people in your field vs friends/entertainment. So it can be more relevant here.
I'd certainly agree especially as I've found LinkedIn and Tiktok surprising to be the best for organic growth.
That’s a great idea about breaking it down.
So what i've done that worked for me is I use canva to generate the posts and then use an app called twiso which records me narrating the article and then I take the subtitle and put that on the post. An example: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs2357ZAzEO/
I promote mine on Twitter and LinkedIn, which does drive some traffic. I also link to it in my email signature, but I'm not sure how much that drives subscribers.
Might have to try the email link not a bad idea.
I have been doing that a well. I wrote about 2/3 of a book about being the manager of the Laugh Factory comedy club and then started writing on Substack and including chapters from the book in my posts. sabrinalabow.substack.com
great minds clearly :)
I began Beyond Bloomsbury with 0 subscribers and no previous ‘blog’, but post and promote 3 x daily on Instagram. I was also on Twitter until last week, but have escaped!
outside of getting news etc off the twitter sites and doing some campaigns with others I’ve found twitter to be quiet poor it is also not the most pleasant of social media platforms.
It really isn’t. I’m much happier now I’ve left!
I have promoted on all my other platforms and do see a bump when I put it out there. But I have a secret feeling that Twitter deprioritized my tweets because of a Substack link in my bio?
I've noticed that anything I tweet with a link--substack especially, but others too--get much fewer impressions than other tweets. I think it's now built into the algorithm to de-prioritize anything that takes people off the platform.
You are confirming my suspicions!
thats an interesting thought I wonder if there is something in the twitter algorithm.
Might just be coincidence or confluence of leaving my faculty position, starting a newsletter and Musk taking over
I haven't tried it myself but people have said they use places like Reddit and Quora. They answer questions or engage in discussions of their field/expertise and subtly share their newsletter after. Some do it in nearly every response they give while others just build a presence there first (become the go-to person on that topic) then push their newsletter more.
I love seeing academic work be made more publicly available through Substack! I'm really excited to catch up with what these folks are publishing here.
When I share research on Unruly Figures, I think the best thing I do is note when we're not sure about something! I try to be clear when there are conflicting narratives of a historical moment, rather than further a single narrative, even if I think it's the most likely. I try to be open about the fact that reseachers and experts are not perfect but are usually doing their (our) best.
very important points, and I'm glad you are making it!
Thank you Liz! I'm excited to learn about Unprofessoring. I consciously didn't pursue ivory tower academic work after finishing my degrees, and I sometimes wonder if it was the right choice. It's nice to see other people making similar ones.
There is so much good to be had in academia. But it’s not built for everyone, and that can get toxic fast.
Absolutely!
Me too!
That sounds like a great way to share research in a public forum!
Thanks Tara! It definitely feels more honest to share research this way. I think some academics/researchers/writers get worried that if they admit there is nuance to a story they will confuse the audience, but I disagree. Readers are smart!
Hi! I'm a PhD candidate in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge and I write a newsletter on visual culture. Having a newsletter has helped me with 1) sharing my research as it's taking place, especially to the very people I work with and it's based on and 2) experimenting with ways of writing and thinking broadly about visual culture beyond my PhD topic. All in all it's been a great experience so far and the engagement has been really stimulating.
This sounds like really fascinating work! So glad you're publishing as you research. Subscribing now.
Thank you so much Valorie!!
Well done on your pub. So well designed!!
Thank you Bailey!
I use Substack in two ways: 1) to explore new topics in a relatively low-stakes writing form, and 2) to work out long-term research projects for paid subs.
It also helps me to refine a writing voice which is far less jargony and more accessible.
🟧
A worthwhile (and I would say necessary) focus for Substack might be to make it easier for scholars of the Global South to gain more traction and opportunities on the platform. There are two concerning trends I pick up from Substack which perpetuates the current imbalances in academia: feature academics are mostly from the North (the majority American), and payments are not available for the majority of writers from the South.
I believe there is a great opportunity for Substack to enhance its foothold in an emerging democratised academic culture here!
https://ruhanfourie.substack.com
oh my gosh yes. And the timezone thing. Everything Substack is in the middle of the night for some of us global south-ers. ... like office hours for example!
🧠
I will also add that b/c I know my experience as a an academic can make my voice a bit DENSE, I write my posts and then often use GrammarlyGO's "Give me suggestions for improvement" generator to revise for clarity, brevity, and such. It is pretty good about saying things like, "This is dense. You need an example here to help readers understand." Also, free idea to the @substack crew, get a plug-in or make your own for this kind of thing. (Not AI writing-generating omg, but an improvement generator via prompting questions.) https://app.grammarly.com/
Try inserting personal stories and experiences in your posts. Try what is called the morning pages which can be written any time of day. Either write, type or talk into your phone but don't stop for a few minutes. I mean literally don't stop. Even if you have to say your name 10 times. It will make you more creative and improve your writing. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Yes! The Artists' Way by Julie Cameron, who started the idea of the morning pages (I think?) is so great for those parts of getting back into our creativity! https://amzn.to/43VpqDE
Loving this! The potential for faculty, alt ac, and independent scholars is huge 😃
Yes! An excellent way to build a platform as a public-facing intellectual
Absolutely! It's a great way to practice presenting research in a more public-friendly voice.
Hey there! I have two newsletters; one is more academic and research-based. I’m a creative writer and PhD candidate but I study English/creative writing and write about ecology, trauma, wildland fire and colonization. This is such a basic question! I I tend to use a lot of academic sources in my writing and often have trouble with footnotes/citations on Substack. It seems to take me forever to get them to work, or I will get one footnote/citation to work and then I won’t be able to do it again. What is the *actual* way to place citations in Substack? I don’t want to have a bunch of hyperlinks, especially if I am using academic sources.
Also, for academics or PhD candidates who have high teaching and courseloads, how do you manage your time, especially if some of what you’re writing about isn’t necessarily part of your studies and involves a lot of “outside” research (for instance, studying English but also writing about science, which involves a lot of focused attention and synthesizing). TIA!!
🟧 Speaking of footnotes: Is Substack working on making notes visible to a hovering cursor? Also a button we could add in a footnote letting the reader return to the prior place in the text? That would be a boon! Nobody wants to scroll up and down looking for things. I think footnotes are not very functional til they can be read without scrolling back up.
This is great feedback, Tara. I will share with the team for consideration.
Thank you! It's already working. Huge improvement!
I agree. I try to minimise their use for this reason.
We have hover-footnotes now, at least on a laptop! That was fast. I checked Jillian Hess's Frida Kahlo post and my archived post on Ursula Le Guin. No scrolling! (Sample: https://open.substack.com/pub/enchantedinamerica/p/how-everything-went-to-heck?r=1mk0zn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
I'm going to have to give them a go!
Yes!
Hooray! The footnote repair has already happened. I saw it first in your gorgeous Frida Kahlo post this morning. Then I checked it on a post of mine with notes (on Ursula Le Guin). It worked twice. Try it. We can hover now. Yay!
yayyyy!! Thanks Substack!
Hi Anastasia! I can share this footnotes feedback with our team. Can you give me any more specifics? Is it the spacing that's the problem, or does something break?
Hi Bailey, my big challenge with footnotes is with the paywall.
Footnotes end up below the paywall, and every 'normal' issue of my newsletter has a paywall near the bottom. For that reason I don't use footnotes to cite sources.
Perhaps paywalling my sources might encourage more paid subscriptions but it just feels a bit 'untransparent' and I suspect it would erode trust in my arguments if I was to 'hide' my sources below a paywall.
Bailey, if you're still watching this, it would be great it footnotes could easily be copy/pasted in. If I try to copy/paste from Google Docs into Substack, all the footnotes disappear. I've gotten used to doing them manually, but it would shave an hour of work per episode off my plate if they could just be copied over. 😅
Thanks so much Bailey (and hi!!). Pretty much it just doesn’t work reliably. I will click footnote and try to place it, but sometimes I’ll have to do that several times in order to get that to work. Then, if it finally works, I can never get a second footnote to work! I wish I could be more specific but really it just doesn’t work when I click it.
I write everything in Word and copy paste into Substack. It seems to copy across the footnotes okay. Might be an option to try.
I can answer about finding time. I don't have all the 'creds'. I was a simple 'blue collar' man, but I solved the problem of making time by giving up on other things. I gave up watching TV except for movies or maybe binge-watching a series on Netflix. I got up 2-3 hours before I had to go to work. (I started at 6 am.) Giving up on TV means you can go up to wherever it is that you write and edit whatever you did that morning. Go to bed at around 10 or 11, get up at 3:30-4:00 and do iy all over again. There is no easy solution. Sorry.
Now that's discipline and dedication! It's what pays off in the end. Power on! sabrinalabow.substack.com
I have no idea what creds you’re referring to! I am a former wildland firefighter 😂. Thank you for your suggestions, though. To be more succinct you could have said “sleep less, work more” which historically has resulted in burnout for me but I appreciate the sentiment! I should watch less Netflix, it’s true!
Your question of managing writing time is a really important one. I treated like part of my job, and commit to it twice a week. I also sent myself pretty firm time deadline, which means that some weeks the pieces are more expensive, and some weeks they are pretty perfunctory, but I keep it regular.
Like at some of the suggested, it’s required me to cut out other things in order to commit the writing time, such as getting up earlier or riding in the evening instead of watching the TV show.
You have to burn the candle at both ends. it makes a brighter light!
Technically I don't fall into the high courseload category, but last summer when I was making my podcast and writing my book and working full-time and maintaing a creative writing substack (😭) I took two approaches to managing my time: One was that I just had to temporarily cut other things out. I went to the gym less frequently, watched less TV, etc. All with the knowledge that none of that was "forever"! The second approach was that I tried to create as much cross-pollination as possible. For the podcast I covered people who were tangentially related to who I was writing about in my book. In your example of studying English while writing about science, I might have looked closely at writers who did both--science grew out of philosophy, so there's a lot of cross-over between scientists and writers/philosophers. Not sure if that applies to your work, of course.
And... A third secret thing is that I slacked off at work. I let myself check my personal email and I didn't go above and beyond for my bosses. I turned down opportunities for "extra-curriculars" like committees or extra teaching that would have looked good on my resume. It felt risky then, but now I work for myself so it turned out okay. I don't necessarily "recommend" this method but I also want to be honest, haha.
Sorry for the long response, haha, my thoughts clearly got away from me!
Coming back around to your second paragraph about heavy workloads .... I also write actively on two Substacks (and teach American Lit). You really do have a lot on your plate! When I wrote my dissertation, I kept a log and gave myself credit for every 15 minute increment of reading, note-taking, writing, whatever. I sometimes see others giving this advice, too. It felt good to see I was logging time at least 5 days out of 7, even when I couldn't otherwise see progress. Substack has more immediate gratification ("finished" articles), but unless the Stax are feeding the diss, make sure you give yourself gratifying small increments on the big project, too. Good luck!
Wow, this is such a great idea and might be totally game-changing for me. I am also still in coursework and teaching a 2/2 load, so it's a lot. Just doing logging 15 minute increments physically could give me something to look at and say, hey, I am doing this! So so helpful!!! Thank you!
Oh good. I'm glad if it helps. I don't know how any of us get through the first years of teaching, writing, and scholarly discovery. It's hard, but rewarding. Good luck!
I'm in a similar situation: teaching, considering 2 Substacks (one creative writing & one covering timely sustainability/environmental communication topics), and struggling to make it all work. I'm not answering your question, just feeling a sense of solidarity. Lol. Oh, and I just subscribed.
So nice to meet you!!
Hi Anastasia! I just link out if it’s in context (like a good online newspaper would do). I think it’s more reader friendly. Like. Few have said here, I’m trying to reach a greater audience and think too many footnotes can be off putting. That said, depending on the article, I may have a list of references in addition with just basic info and hyperlink instead of footnote. I prefer footnotes for “funny” extras :)
I also have 2 publications now. It’s fun to live between topics and audiences. You can also make projects this way, like you would an academic project or group. I think there are a ton of possibilities this way.
Thank you, this is super helpful!! I do wish Substack didn’t make me choose one publication to “feature” and just let me have two publications! It’s nice to see someone else here who is doing two separate things- it’s fun but can feel overwhelmed too!
Agree!!
I had the advice in one of these threads ages ago to just make my other a thread. But it is really a different project and I’m enjoying the space to create really differently on each.
I will check yours out now!
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👋
I don't sadly have an answer for you about the citations (I footnote or just link out) BUT wanted to wave , as a creative writing professor who is working on a science-based project right now, too. I think if you can find ways to casually dip into a Notes file throughout the day, or build in a set time for the Substack writing, like one morning a week or two, or find a way to bridge the work you do in the classroom(s) and the Substack writing? I admire your ambition!
I really am asking how to footnote! they truly do not work for me most of the time and I don’t understand what I am doing wrong. And thank you!! I have an ambivalent relationship with my ambition 😂
I'm so happy you subscribed to TODAY YOU WILL WRITE! Looking forward to our ongoing conversations and your new book in the spring! I hear you on the ambivalence. Striving was like life support for me as a younger person and now--why? :)
I have a question about reader engagement. What do you do when your (free) subscribers' list is growing, but you never see comments or other types of engagement with your posts?
I have significantly high open rates, but very few of my subscribers ever leave a comment under any of my posts. Nor do they respond to polls asking what content they'd like to receive from me. Thanks in advance.
I think it's just the fact that only 1-2% of readers will ever comment, so you need an extremely high readership to create a conversation.
Good to know. I figured it was a low number because people are busy!! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Don't stress the engagement. I have >$11K revenue, a 99% retention rate on yearly renewals and am growing steadily so my readers must be happy. But they rarely comment on anything. I tell myself it's actually a good thing coz I don't want to add monitoring and replying to comments to my already full plate.
Hey Seun: At the end of your newsletter ask your readers an easy open ended question, or two. And always leave a "comment" button near the end of one or two of the following questions.
Here are some general open-ended questions you can ask to evoke comments:
- What are your thoughts on the latest topic/issue we covered in the newsletter?
- How has [topic/issue] affected you personally or professionally?
- Can you share any experiences or stories related to the content we shared?
- What additional information or details would you like us to cover in future newsletters?
- Do you have any suggestions or ideas for improving our newsletter?
- Is there a particular topic or subject you would like us to explore in an upcoming newsletter?
- How has our newsletter helped you or provided value in your life/work?
- What other resources or content would you like to see included in our newsletter?
Encourage subscribers to share their thoughts by expressing genuine interest in their opinions and experiences. Some people may not feel comfortable exposing their comments to all in the post comment section. Ask them if they would like to reach out, please do by email. And leave your email address at the bottom of the post.
Also leave comments yourself on the newsletters you follow. People on Substack can easily find your newsletter from your display name in a comment heading. Good luck!
This is sort of off-topic I guess, but I'm an academic (in science research and education at a large university) and my Substack is me essentially hiding from academia, using this as a release and means to write and pursue what I always wanted to do. There are many things I love about my job, but there are many things that bring stress and uncertainty. Taking the time to escape to a weekly place of writing fiction has been incredibly liberating and enjoyable.
I love this: “hiding from academia”! Totally get it!
🧠/✏️ Hey, my first time participating in one of these events. I write America Explained, a newsletter which combines my academic work as a historian of the United States with my work as a political commentator. I guess I have a sort of funnel method where I try to use my work talking about topics of broad interest in the news to attract the people who really want a deep dive and are interested in history and more academic takes.
I've find appearing on other media/platforms is really important for driving subscriber growth but it gets time-consuming. I'm trying to keep a good flow of content in the newsletter while also at the same time stepping up appearances in other media to get people to the Substack. Success at the latter can also be hugely variable - I write for big outlets like The Guardian but very few people bother to come look for my newsletter afterward reading a column. Twitter, to be honest, was my biggest source of outside-Substack subscribes, but the link throttling seems to be damaging that. Do we know exactly what the deal with that is right now - is it still happening?
I struggle with reaching out to people inside the Substack network. Notes seemed promising but mostly when I post on there it feels like nobody is really engaging with it. Maybe I haven't tried it enough. Do people have any tips on that?
As an academic, there's also this issue with maintaining credibility within your academic networks, which can get in the way of marketing aggressively. I personally see no distinction between writing for The Guardian and writing for Substack in terms of credibility and the author's relationship to the market, but hustling for paid subscriptions for a personal newsletter can be frowned upon - some academics don't even think writing for newspapers is appropriate. Mostly I've been ignoring this for a long time - I've had a fairly successful podcast, another medium that is often looked down upon, and been proud of it - but I also can't turn my main professional social media accounts into a non-stop newsletter hustle. More inside-Substack tools for reaching out would really help - or maybe I just need some tips on using them better.
Hi there Andrew. Have you had any luck setting up, and benefitting from, recommendations? Those are very powerful for growth, and require little to no management from the writer.
🟧 would it be possible to have embed like a tag in our bios so that we can link to a group. Also in terms of chat and notes with some of us who are earlier in our publications would it be possible to have groups so we can engage with similar individuals more regularly than when we engage on threads like this.
that would be amazing!
I've had reasonable success in building a free subscriber base. But I've struggled more to convert them to paid subscribers. I've been pondering holding Zoom events or some other sort of live interaction with my paid subscribers only, and I'm wondering if there is a way to message just paid subscribers?
Yes, if you go to your subscriber page you can apply a filter, then send everyone you select a message through there.
Brian if you are going to do Zoom events/whatever to encourage free-to-paid conversions, make sure you tell EVERYONE, not just people who already paid!
Also, try asking your readers what they would be willing to pay for. Readers love it when you ask!
A few months after going paid, and not seeing good growth, I did a survey asking people what they want more of and what they would be willing to pay for. I sent free and paid readers to almost identical surveys, but with different links so I could compare the responses between people who had already paid and people who were still free subscribers.
Then I reported on the results and told them what I would be offering/changing/tweaking.
If you do this, make sure you ask for positive feedback so you can share your wins and 'happy customers'.
Karen, this is really useful, thank you! I did send my free subscribers an email today making a plea for paid subscriptions and announcing new benefits for paid subscribers. But I may do a survey now as well.
We have a great guide on this if you haven't seen it yet - https://on.substack.com/p/free-vs-paid
Most places consider a 5% conversion rate to be decent, so it requires a large free reader base to make that percentage financially viable.
Interesting. My goal had been to get closer to the 10% range. But maybe that was overly ambitious.
I think only newsletters that never offered free content get to those numbers.
✏️ Not an academic myself, but if there are any academics on Substack who write about pre-Columbian cultures and religion I'd be interested in checking out your work.
✏️How do you manage 2 Substacks? Is it worth it to split your time between 2, or is it better to have a single Sustack that covers 2 related passions?
I am a writer and I feel that the more I write the more publicity I will get for my work. I like the concepts of testing ideas, building community and using Substack as an intellectual proving ground for when you are creatively stuck, as well as offering it to build passive income. However, Journalism is a highly competitive affair, even more so these days since we have the Internet. The Internet is the problem because you have writers as young as high schoolers who are hoping to cash-in with what they hope to produce as writers. Can you imagine an experienced Journalist exchanging ideas with a high school student, even if the high school student manages to get subscribers to upgrade?
✏️
I always wonder at what stage other academics test their work on Substack. Is it during the writing of an academic journal article, or after it has been published? Maybe this is a question on the ethics of sharing original research?
Does anybody still worry about journal publishing for tenure and promotion?
✏️ Hi everyone, Here's my conundrum: My MA is in Environmental Education and Communication. I teach sustainability communication, creative nonfiction, and publishing prose at a Canadian university, and I'm a freelance writer. With my free subscriptions, I'd like to help writers write memoir and nature writing (primarily), but eventually I'd like to make Substack a revenue stream through paid subscriptions as well. I haven't been on here for long, and so far I've been writing mostly about writing, but I also want to write about sustainability communication topics. These can be very timely, and relevant to climate change, biodiversity loss, etc. Soooo, do I somehow combine these topics into a single Substack or do I need to separate them into 2 separate Substacks? When my teaching gets busy, I struggle to keep posting to one Substack. I don't want this to take over my entire life. I don't know. I'd really appreciate your thoughts and/or creative solutions. https://robertalaurie.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
Hi Roberta. I came to Substack a year ago with a similar variety of interests. I let myself dabble on multiple stax until I got a sense of what I wanted for a primary focus. I needed to try things. I now have 2 stacks different enough that the "Sections" available in Settings was not enough. For you, having "Sections" that people could subscribe to separately may be enough. I do think when school is in session I'll need to do some scaling back. My primary is https://enchantedinamerica.substack.com/ and secondary is https://peacelinks.substack.com/.
Brilliant! Thank you so much. I didn't know about Sections. I thought something like that might exist, but I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the hidden depths of the platform. Yes, I think you're right: my topics are related enough that they can probably be part of the same Stack.
I’m off reading in the Chatterbox now .... loved your Rudy Wiebe essay! Guess I’ll have to subscribe. ;-) 🤓
✏️ What strategies have you all found useful for ensuring that you are putting out consistent weekly content?
I have a weekly schedule for writing that starts the day after I post the last one. It has worked well for me also to have a themed series that gives me something to write about on the weeks where I don't have a big idea for an essay.
✏️ What strategies have you found for converting unpaid to paid subscribers?
If you haven't yet perused this resource, it may be useful! https://on.substack.com/p/free-vs-paid
🟧 - ADMIN QUESTION: My Media Assets do not include an image of my Title and Beginning sentences of my post, which I have seen elsewhere. Is this something I need to request or should it be automatically created? I have 3 blank images, one with my signature colour and all with my Title and Substack logo. I also notice they are not live links to my writing which is disappointing.
That is really weird. Sounds like a problem on our end. I will report it to our team!
Many thanks.
🟧 Substack is a great innovative platform but, as several others have commented, it does have some work to do in making its highlighting of 'top writers' a bit more thoroughly researched.
I have been contributing essays of political and cultural commentary to a wide range of prestigious journals in the UK, USA and Australia for fifteen years now. But because they are occasional rather than prolific and spread thin across many outlets, my name has not become as well known as I would have wished.
So I came to Substack a couple of months ago as a way to gradually bring all my writing together- in one oeuvre so to speak. (My essays have always tended to be musings on political and cultural undercurrents in the 21s century West, rather than topical daily news-based and so they do not need to have such a short shelf-life as that type of journalism.)
Hope I can qualify as an "intellectual" in Substack-terms!
Hey friends! I am newer to SUBSTACK. My open date is over 60% which I think is great but now I’m trying to grow. How do I get exposure on SUBSTACK and thoughts for marketing off the app too?
Recommendations and Notes - collaborations with other writers! - are the most sustainable and powerful ways to grow.
Thanks! Link interviewing other writers?
Like*
Hello fellow academics:
At the outset, I should say that my status, as an academic, is debatable. I hava a law degree from NYU law school in NY, but I have no masters or doctorates. My LSAT was 732. My Wechsler IQ is 147. On the Wechsler, there is 15 points per standard deviation and so my IQ is more than 3 standard deviations above the mean, which means that 99.81 pecent of the population is beneath me. It might seem a bit nutty or snobbish to recite one's scores, but I am the progeny of a particularly weird hot house of striving, climbing intellectual, or pseudo intellectual, divas from hell.
MY objectives:
1) I want to network with other people who appreciate the fabricatoin of new and provocative ideas
2) I write about a multiplicity of subjects and I realize this is frowned upon as this era stresses specialization, but very often the finest cognition results when subject matter from different disciplines are conjoined. For example, Heisenberg's Uncertaintly principle, normally thought to be relevant only to physics, was a great boon to existentialist philosophy. Freud may have been a doctor, but he was like few other doctors who write or practice today as he plumbed the depths of anthropology, literature and art in developing his ideas re the psyche.
3) I need help and assistance in disseminating my stuff.
4) Unfortunately, I am constantly modifying my ideas. For example, I have one piece which is a furoius, and I think rather sterling defense of abortion, and I have antoher piece decrying abortion. How do I maintain a readership when I exhibit so many diffrent ideological tendencies.
5) I would like to give you examples of my work on substack, but I don't know if that would contravene one of substack's rules. Ergo, I will perhaps give you the web addresses of some of my substack posts in a succeeding post. Stay Tuned.
Hi all! I have been on and off about whether or not I want to get an MFA or Ph.D. I appreciate going to info sessions at university but I also struggle knowing their admissions department views me as a number for the business instead of helping out with answering more personal and real life questions. (I.E. how do you raise kids and pursue a higher degree? What are the costs associated with relocation? How are marginalized communities gathering and operating in academia? How do you negotiate housing? How do you juggle writing for your communities vs writing for academia? What happens when your cohort annoys you?)
I would love to know of any academics (specifically who identify as BIPOC and/or LGBTIQ2A+) who are writing on this topic.
🟧 Katie and team: Are there any plans for something like Interest Groups in the Explore function (voluntary sign-ups on shared topics like PhD students on Substack, Humanities research, etc) ? Academia has a lot of rules, and an interest group could help with mentoring junior scholars to see how their Substack choices will support an academic career. Can you make it easier for us to find each other and collaborate on things like joint statements to tenure committees about how to read this work on a cv?
I always wish we had more time to help facilitate connections like this and we have dreamed up ideas of ways the product could help us do that. I think you will see more of that down the line.
In the meantime, I encourage you to post about the type of writers you are looking to connect with in Notes and tag @Substack Writers.
Tags that exist externally to a publication would solve this, Katie. For example, on LinkedIn and Twitter I use tags to find like-minded individuals so I can get to know them. Tags + Notes in Substack would be fantastic for helping writers make connections. The groups could then move to Chats/Threads or even Discord, they don't have to reside in Substack.
It would be interesting if we could embed a tag in our bio maybe or groups like on Linkedin perhaps. I’d also be interested if substack would work with some of the academic societies as it would benefit their outreach goals.
For me I want to promote outreach for academia where we can communicate with those interested in our fields but without the technical depth of journal publishing. We spend so much time reading and writing so by sharing our thoughts on notes or through publications we highlight our own interpretations and gain others insights. If you want to read about my academic journey, research techniques or work in STEMMB my substack is https://askjordon.substack.com/p/developing-your-research-5
Exactly how I feel Jordon! With my doctorate, I got burnt out on the dense data, but still like *sharing* the information. It is so refreshing to have a platform to spread health information in a way that is easy to understand and RELATABLE to the average reader! You can find an example of my work here-- https://kateeskuri.substack.com/p/forest-bathing-does-what-for-your-1aa
Hi Kate, I had a long career in holistic integrative medicine and psychiatry and try with my Substack writing to share my interest and experience in finding the essence of health and well-being. I try to hit that sweet spot of not sounding too educative or academic and telling a story of my personal experience, perhaps a little like memoir writing, or that of others, who have consented to do so. Substack has been a good platform for me to experiment and move from my years in teaching and professional practice into writing. I always aim for my writing to be more relatable, but never quite sure of who my audience actually is. I did run into some writer's block, and this last article typifies some of my resent work. https://www.inmindwise.com/p/surmounting-writers-block
Thanks for sharing Kate, your comments echo that of a colleague whose just joining substack. He’s hoping to breakdown and share his research and make it more accessible our department has also being trying to push this area.
I wish to grow my newsletter. What should i do? https://open.substack.com/pub/intricacyecstasy/p/is-excitement-fading-away?r=83k7r&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
✏️ I would like to add a video to a Substack post so it is playable directly in my post. Is that possible now?
I applied to the Substack page https://airtable.com/shr01OF9E34tJ2ICn and asked to join a beta test for this function, but I haven’t heard from Substack.
✏️hello all! I’m new to Substack and being absent from social media (by design) is well , sort of kicking me in the behind now that I want to put my work out there . I have no following . Or email subscribers besides a handful. Thank you for your feedback ! Namasted
🟧 Hey Substack, I work for a company looking to create a Substack that focuses on CRM. We'll have articles that our team has written that helps with CRM troubleshooting, tips and tricks, latest news, etc. I was wondering if you can provide me with any success stories and how much revenue and subscribers companies have gotten from creating a Substack and using it for their marketing efforts?
I started getting spam comments a few days ago. I started substacks about a year ago and didn't notice any such spam comments until lately. Do I have to live with them, or can they be prevented? I'd prefer not to have to remove each one myself.
Also, the pinned message here by Katie says to use one of 3 icons or emojis when we start a new comment, but I don't see where to get them from.
🟧 - I want the meaning of a word to show up when a reader hovers over it or selects. Pretty much like how a Grammarly add-on works. Is that possible?
Great and insightful article. I'm a newbie on Substack so anyone interested in new books being featured on Podcast ... well check out Yellow Shelf. Thanks & Cheers!
✏️ one of the things I have noticed lately on Substack is the wide range of styles and especially word counts. I’m curious whether people think this is going to continue or whether there may be some pressure toward convergence upon a mean? I’m not against folks seeing and emulating alternatives, especially in the case of TLDR. Just curious.
Thank you for offer this writer’s life line. It helps me thrive. I just got introduced to the Florida State Poets Association community with a profile and six of my people in their July / August issue.
Page 39 - Chris Bodor poems and profile
https://indd.adobe.com/view/69e804bb-04a5-43f8-ba35-2da0a8e7b138
Sorry for the typos - just coming out of twilight from corrective hand surgery
I write a Substack that is geared towards other academic writers and I’m always highlighting other folks who write about professional development topics for academics. Please share your Substacks so I can follow! Here’s mine: https://publishnotperish.substack.com
✍️ What are the benefits of using your platform to share my book or to publish my book on your platform?
What are the benefits of posting a book or publishing a book on Substack?
✏️ This is such an interesting thread of comments. I'm a retired academic and Emeritus Prof of Nursing and I split my 'stack between nursing related posts and more personal stuff - reading, gardening, nature etc. I have no idea if my followers come to read the nursing stuff or the personal stuff, or who might be a 'professional' follower. Is it possible to work out or do I have to maybe ask in a future newsletter? I don't want to have two separate stacks as I'm more than my old professional identity, but it would be good to get a sense of who makes up my followers.
Have you tried a poll, June? Like "Which types of posts do you like best? Nursing or personal or both?" Readers love being asked! (you can hide response numbers too!)
I have now! I'm not very substack savvy, but I'll try to work out how to do it today. Thank you!
I have a book ready to be published. How would I publish on sub track and what are the benefits?
I might be atypical, but I'm not expecting or even trying to earn money from my Substacks. What I care about is disseminating my ideas and preserving them for the future. Am I alone?
Hi! I'm an Economics PhD and I write Nominal News (www.nominalnews.com) where I discuss many current economic (which is not just interest rates) issues and what the academic field of economics actually has discovered about them. There is a big lack of communication from academic economists to the public and even to policy makers since these type of actions are not rewarded. I hope to change that by bringing the latest and the greatest on any social issue.
One thing I'm sometimes concerned about is the length of my pieces. They almost always end in the 2500 to 3000 word length spot. Do other writers think this is too long?
Thanks!
I am a writer and I feel that the more I write the more publicity that I will get for my work. I am not against using Substack as a vehicle to test idea or building community or even as an intellectual proving ground for when you are creatively stuck. The problem is that the Internet is such a large and unwieldy vehicle that you will end up with getting ideas that could jeopardize your position as a writer. Plus a Journalist role is oftentimes to operate as a moderator in discussions to report the facts in an objective manner. Can you imagine an experienced professional interacting with a high school student or a person with less credential?
✏️ - Have any substack academics started a second substack publication?
If so, I’m looking for any advice or opinions or experiential wisdom you have about what it’s like running more than one substack publication... i.e.,
What issues/struggles did you have when you started your second publication?
What positives/negatives did you experience when you started your second publication? Etc etc
Do you mean one that is geared 100% to professional output for peers rather than communicating our professional work with a wider, lay audience? I suspect it would be a bit difficult for an individual but might work for a group. Replace a journal?
Actually, the more I think about that the more I like it. Maybe I’ll encourage some of my colleagues to create a virtual “society”. I’m doing a panel at a regional conference this fall. Maybe I’ll encourage the organizers to “publish” the conf papers on Substack.
That’s not exactly what I meant. I was just looking for advice from people (academics or otherwise) who have more than one substack publication - as I’ll be launching a second on soon.
But I think your idea of creating a virtual society where people can publish their conference papers etc., sounds like a good idea. Good luck with that :)
🟧 My current Substack offers advice to creative writers. I'm thinking about adding a second Substack that will engage with timely sustainability/environmental communication issues such as how to talk about climate change, the biodiversity crisis, etc. Writing advice and communication analysis/advice are not unrelated, but they are different enough that I think it might be better to make them two Substacks. Are Substacks by the same author linked somehow? I'm seeing a whole lot of additional work by making them separate, but maybe they somehow support each other? Are there effective ways to cross-promote?
Roberta, Substack does link two publications in that people can click your author profile and see all your pubs. I have two completely unrelated publications for different audiences and use two different author accounts to solve this problem - one with a pseudonym. I met other writers in Substack Grow 2022 program who were doing the same. You'll need to use two different browsers - one for each account - to handle the login logistics, but it's not that hard. (my other pub is https://pubstacksuccess.substack.com/)
Thank you very much, Karen. This is still new to me, and sometimes I don't know the right questions to ask. This helps my understanding.