Writing is so much more than hitting “publish.” Writing naturally brings together people who share an interest in a topic or a perspective on the world. By shifting from “writing for an audience” to having a conversation with readers, writers can unlock inspiration, motivation, and new growth opportunities.
Comments and Chat are two spaces where community gathers on Substack. In post comments, subscribers hang out and further discuss the post topic and themes. Chat is like having your own private group chat where you make the rules. Writers set the topic and the tone for every discussion, and decide who can participate, paid subscribers or everyone.
Substack Chat
We rounded up some of the best stories of community building on Substack:
In this week's The Active Voice, Suleika Jaouad and Yung Pueblo share how they turn confession into craft and protect their creative spaces while living in community with other writers on Substack. Take a listen here.
How are you building community? Let us know in today’s threads and ask any question about how other writers are engaging with their subscribers.
🟧 - I get that you guys want to stay on the platform, but could we do a community virtual office hours on a video-based platform? I'd really love to see other writers in time and spend time with them for a sense of community. :-)
I'll be the outlier here and say that I prefer the text-based format. I grew up in the era of forums and message boards, and frankly, I get very fatigued from video meetings. It's nice to come here a few times a month and get to know others through their words.
The text format also allows many more people to participate and creates space for numerous discussion threads. And I appreciate being able to gather my thoughts rather than giving rapid, on-the-spot responses or being distracted in a video meeting.
I'm with you. I really don't' like video meetings. I've noticed that some people get a bit long-winded or take too long to get to the point and then I lose focus and have no idea what's going on!
I agree with you. I think it will be too difficult to reach as many people with video whereas with writing we can reach and respond to more people. sabrinalabow.substack.com
It’s a problem a lot of people have figured out for the past few years. Too many people on a video conference and it becomes a problem for interacting.
same with me, Theresa. I'm burnt out from the social media videos all the time, if i'm honest. Substack is a lovely escape from that, where the written word is King!
I quit social media in October of last year. Not sure if I'll ever go back, but if I do, I'm staying away from Facebook and Instagram. I never got into TikTok.
I suspect video is "king" in the content marketing space right now because people have allowed it to be. I don't buy for a minute that people actually have short attention spans. I think advertising and media have trained us to want things that are easy to consume in a short period of time, and now businesses and brands think that's what they have to deliver to get seen. It's a silly and destructive precedent that doesn't have to exist.
you did well, Theresa. I'm a musician as well as a writer and have been battling about how to quit the socials, or at least reduce them to one or two. It is virtually impossible for us as independent artists. As for short attention spans, i can only speak for myself when i say that mine became shorter since the internet, as our brains are not used to consuming so much information in such a short amount of time. But yes, we have been trained by the media, that i agree with.
You're right, Jo. That it seems impossible to quit the socials if you're independent and need to market your work. But that's also the big tech corporations, trying to make you think you need them. I'd encourage you to check out Hub marketing. Tad Hargrave talks about it a lot. Basically, you find hubs where your people already hang out and you start engaging. Substack is a great hub, for example and you're already engaging on it. I also completely quit socials, although not long ago I went back on Facebook because I took an online training and the group was on there, but I don't use it for anything else. If you're interested in more of an explanation, I can dig up some material on it. Let me know.
I'll join in with a personal point, as a visual learner I tend to struggle to follow videos conversations. At least with this format, we get to pick what interests us and skip the other points quickly instead of having to sit through people speaking. I also love to be able to read through while doing other things.
As @Andrew Heard said, I'm sooo done with sitting though video conferences.
FWIW, I don't think you're an outlier. We're all writers here. The challenge in this text thread is keeping up with all the interesting conversations. I'm good with that. If we were to do anything with video I'd hope it to be very, very focused on a specific genre so the number of participants is more limited.
I must have not paid close enough attention the emails advertising these Writer Office Hours -- I thought it was a video conference myself and was very much looking forward to it! I second this. I would love a live discussion / Q & A panel for Substack as well as maybe Zoom sessions for write-a-thons or just a space where we can discuss what we're working on.
For anyone interested in video collaboration as you work maybe? There's a couple websites where you can work together in a room with a pomodoro method of working an allotted time, then take a break and chat, then work, then chat.
I've only been to one in my coaching space on Facebook and feel very self-conscious with the camera on, but it is nice.
I dunno how to make sure you get Substack only peeps together but I'd look into Focus Mate and Study Together to see if you can create something you'd like.
I know some Substack writers who host monthly video collabs while writing/working together, including Suleika Jaouad.
Ideally, it would almost be a matter of figuring out how to get the Substack community together. Maybe this is where the different communities of each writer comes together to figure out these sorts of events. Maybe sending out invites to the audience you have and building from there? Or collaborating with other Substack writers to host together? Spreading the love with multiple communities within Substack could help limit the audience.
Ah yeah, exactly! It would have to come to the Substack communities coming together to create that type of collab, you're right. And that's true! I forgot about some people already offering those types of spaces already here on Substack as well.
Not sure that is going to be the most beneficial. Some people don’t have enough bandwidth for a video conference. You also have the problem of privacy. It doesn’t make much sense to make people go video.
I agree. Plus I don't want to feel like I have to be "on" - video mean doing my makeup and being dressed haha! I like being able to jump on in whatever state and just learn and converse with other writers. You know, "write" to one another...
I get that although it also kinda separates the audience between those who use video and those who don’t or can’t. Defeats the purpose of office hours, which is partly why I don’t like the trend of creating separate threads for different issues.
I prefer a written forum, but have to admit I do NOT like this format. It is impossible to track, find, or scan the conversations in any easy way. When I am trying to find a particular comment or follow a certain level on the thread, it is somewhat maddening.
Way too easy to get buried way, way down under the "TOP" conversations that were lucky to get the first responses in the thread. Better than a video format for THIS type of event, but I'm not a fan.
I completely agree...it is difficult to track or find particular conversations or comments...plus, I often feel like an ant crawling around in a forest...and no one pays attention to a solitary ant!
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
I'd love to connect, but I work with undergraduate students. I run my family's scholarship fund for kids in the Bronx Housing Projects - https://www.jjmsf.org and have a lot of grant writing experience/general experience in the development world. Will definitely share your substack with our students though - as many of them are looking for supporting after undergrad to attend graduate school!
Undergraduates is also very important to me, I need them to attend the webinars I have at least twice a month were I bring in final year grad students and early research scientist to share their hacks and success stories, thereby encouraging the hopefuls.
What kind of collaboration did you have in mind? I’m a writer with 15 years experience writing grants, fundraising communications, marketing content, etc and can provide coaching and feedback on written proposals.
my specific niche is writing technical content that is accurate yet understandable by general audiences.
This is a very good area of collaboration. I can share or recommend your substack with my subscribers as some of them are graduate students while others are aspiring graduate students. I intend do continue doing this ( sharing information about funding opportunities) for the next 5-10 years. My competence is research, beyond that I don’t love the time it takes to help people individually.
I also started engaging professors whom I believe an help distribute my content to their students, hence that could be your reach.
I didn't always have an ugly mug (I once was in a rock band and people drooled over my looks), but I am showing my age
And in this era in which cameras click away with incessant cruelty, our photos fuck us routinely, i.e., when one's skin is wrinkled, the infinitely stupid masses assume that one's reasoning is a wrinklled wretched thing.
If everything were on video, those who are bright but homely will be banished.
Shit, entertainmebt, the arts and media is filled to the brim with shallow spoiled brainless bimbos who are getting attention only becasue they are photogenic
Yes, as great as it is to hang out with other folk on Zoom, it reduces everything to one verbal channel that everyone is trying to talk through. That way lies madness. I see video as a *nearly* 1-to-1 thing (ie. maybe 6-1 or 10-1 at the most, beyond which it's like being in a bar where EVERYONE IS TRYING TO SPEAK AND NOBODY CAN HEAR ANYTHING. Craziness in abundance and not much in the way of conversation, I bet?
Where I’ve been to big open office hours on zoom everyone is muted and the host reads questions and answers as many as they can in real time over the hour.
As she’s answering people chat in the chat - you’ve got to have a certain type of brain to be able to hold that much space but it’s defo possible!
I remember there was such a meeting. It was for New year in December 2021. But it was more about selebrating writers community rather than answering any questions. It was successful and I hope you will organize event like it again.
✏️ - would love to know if any newsletter publishers are making good use of Chat, it's not something I've invested a lot of time in. Any suggestions on how to make good use of it?
🧠 - I regards Comments as a sign of the quality of a post, especially of Commentators build on each other's comments. I used to make a point of replying to every single comment but now I'm more selective. I do try to like most of the comments to acknowledge that I've seen them.
✏️ - does anyone see Notes cannibalizing attention from Chat and Comments?
Unfortunately, Mark, I do see attention divided between Notes and Newsletter. I got a big jump in subscribers, but my open rate dropped significantly as well. Totally anecdotal, but I suspect somewhat related. A small amount of that will shift back I believe after a bit of the novelty wears off... maybe.
My open rate dropped significantly last week after a flood of new "subscribers" -- which appear to be some sort of spam. I'm going to let them ride a few posts and if they don't post any activity then purge them.
Normally when I've had a small burst of new subs my open-rate drops but then recovers as people figure out they subscribed. Given the email addresses and domains I'm seeing I'm not as confident this time around. I didn't crack 50% for the first time, which is alarming.
You know, this brings up a point: are we overvaluing open rate? Given that there are now multiple ways to get access to our newsletters outside of email (notes being the latest), is that as relevant as we thought it was? For example, does a social media link click trigger an open? Granted, it's probably the most useful metric that Substack has but does it fully measure how many people are seeing and interacting with newsletters?
Basically it's a count of the percentage of your subscribers who actually opened your newsletter email to read it as opposed to it sitting untouched in their inbox. In practice it's a little more complicated because somehow it takes into account when a newsletter is accessed within the Substack Reader application. It's one of the more accurate metrics you can use to judge engagement with your subscribers.
I’m wondering about spam subscriptions, too. I’ve been getting little bursts of them and the emails do not all look legit. Is Substack monitoring this? Or do we need to weed them out?
That thing called The Connection is a spam outfit. We think Hannah Williams" is not a real person but some kind of pirate. I had to delete about 30 subscribers who came over The Collection, with weird email addresses, who never opened an email.
The Collection? That certainly tracks with my experience. Hannah was recommending me for a while. Now she's blocking me. Super-weird behaviour if she's legit?
My total open rate dropped when I started using Sample, cuz my overall page visits skyrocketed. But I get plenty of likes from my subscribers and plenty of comments, so feeling good about the engagement even those numbers now look funny.
I had a similar experience when using The Sample. In general, I've stayed focused on comments as my primary engagement. For fiction it's been critical to get that feedback.
I've also noticed a drop in my open rate corresponding with a burst of new subscribers. Interesting. Glad I'm not the only one. 🤔
Even before this dip, I started putting more stock in clicks and comments to show engagement, since Apple made the open rate far less reliable as a metric. But I think open rates are still useful as a broad bellwether.
I appreciate that confirmation, Bailey. I've heard similar things from others as well that have used various email programs, that it's a hard metric to track.
Yeah I'm finding them wholly unreliable. I have people who leave a comment who apparently never opened the post. But I'm assuming that is because they opened the post via the App.
Is it possible to incorporate those stats? Or is that what you mean by it not being in your control?
The one time I found a really nice use for Chat was in advance of writing an article about exposition. I asked on Chat how other writers handle exposition, and was then able to incorporate those responses into the article. It worked really well - and keeping it on chat made it a bit more exclusive/private prior to publishing the article, rather than going more broad on Notes or elsewhere.
That's a really great use case, Simon! Thank you for sharing! I haven't really loved Chat as a place to hang out with readers (too hard to synchronize timing for a live conversation), but it's an interesting way to get community responses that inform a piece you're working on. Very cool!
Interesting. Since Chat can be restricted to Paid Subscribers/Founders, this could be very useful for incentivizing paid subscriptions where Notes is more about reaching out more broadly.
Yeah! Lot of potential there. I don't have enough paid subscribers for that to work yet, but it could definitely be a really useful perk for larger publications.
Yeah, as a reader of your newsletter, this worked really well! I've tried notes for this with some benefit, but chat is good for reaching just your subscribers. Alternatively, I've been using discussion threads as such. I'm not sure which is better :) pros and cons...
I played with Chat for a month. I told everyone up front that I'd be live for about an hour at a set date and time. The conversations were good, but it was a challenge to synchronize the conversation for the community. It wasn't a bad thing that the chat kept going days later, but at that point people were kind of just adding to a dead room, sorta like telling an amazing anecdote a day after the cocktail party ended. I don't know, I didn't love Chat, and I don't think it did much for my readers. Maybe if I stuck with it, but it felt like a Zoom would be a better format for a synchronized conversation.
Chat seems to be useful for timely announcements to one's entire list. For example, I've seen writers post a reminder or cancellation for a live coworking event or notify everyone when the replay is ready.
For actually "chatting," Notes seems much more natural to use.
I never had much success with Chat -- granted I'm not that interesting -- and my assessment is Notes rendered Chat irrelevant. Notes is definitely cannibalizing attention, which is the main form of currency we're all trading.
I struggled a lot with what to do with Chat vs Notes. Here's where I'm at after a few weeks: I think Chat and Notes are totally different beasts. With Notes, you're talking to the broader Substack community. With Chat, you're talking to just your subscribers. So Chat is a bit more exclusive and personal. That's how I'm trying to think of it anyway. I'm not exactly sure how to curate my posts for either just yet, but as I'm sorting it out those are the things I'm keeping in mind.
I didn't think about Chat being only for subscribers. That may be useful down the line. One other question: When Chat appears as a section on Notes, how is that done? How do you initiate that? And if it's only for your own subscribers, does that mean everyone on Notes doesn't see it?
I can’t easily find your comment. So far I’m not doing anything. But if my open rate stays low I’ll have to comb through the list & see if I can spit the bots 🤖
I haven’t seen any cannibalism, but to be fair, I never use Chat (either as a reader or as a writer). For me personally, Notes and Discussion Threads have made Chat redundant.
I agree. Notes seems to fill the void for which Chat was intended. It is lighter and more accessible than a full post and lets you engage with others in a similar format.
Thanks for asking. :-) Lower case united states I take to mean respectful relationships of consent, justice, mutual dignity - anywhere. I have something of an abiding question: Does it take magic/enchantment to make stubborn individuals get along? If so, where is the magic? (In books!) :-) To care for united states is to apply the magic potion known best to poets and artists, effective only temporarily. Some of my posts focus more on what "enchantment" means, others (one queued up for June) about the rituals and practices that reduce social friction. Generally, I try to have a great book open and draw from it ideas about how to do the U.S. experiment better.
I’ve used chat sparingly and in specific circumstances. For instance, when I got bored one night and pinged my readers with a specific question and we had a little fun for an hour.
I like chat because it goes directly to my community of readers.
I like notes because they go to my readers *and* get exposed to new readers.
I like them both for the different purpose they serve.
I have many readers who have come from outside of Substack and just have no idea how to navigate Notes. I was excited at first, but now I worry it's just trying to "fix" something that wasn't broken, while simultaneously deluding what was working well...
Same here. Notes is my writing group. I don't really think of it as being a place for my readers - though, inevitably, there's a lot of crossover.
An important element there is that I don't control Notes. Substack controls notes. If I decided to go elsewhere, I can take my newsletters, I can take my subscribers, but I can't take the Notes community. As such, I don't want to invest in Notes as a key part of what I'm doing in the same way.
Instead, Notes is like going down the pub or to someone's house to talk about writing with a bunch of other writers. Vital, fascinating, useful, but it's not part of 'my newsletter'.
I could never get Chat to work out, even before Notes. I find myself trying to be intentional by checking/reading the newsletters I have first, then maybe finding new reads on Notes/engaging in comments there and/or posting a thing or two... restacking... And then I leave it alone.
I find I'm still getting comments on my work... More honestly, since interacting on Notes. I try keeping my time on Notes purposeful and timed so I give more than I "take" (draw attention to my work). It's working out for me, so long as I keep that attention and keep in mind why I'm taking the actions I decide to take here on Substack as a whole!
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
I do prefer Comments for the slower pace (and permanency) over Notes. I keep dabbling in and out of Notes and do enjoy it, but from a writer perspective, I feel a single comment on a post is worth many, many subscribers. I value each and every sub who takes a moment to post a comment. It means so much to me and really helps build that sense of community and engagement.
🧠 - when I have a creative prompt type post, I've found chat useful because I can invite subscribers to share images of what they've created, which they cannot do in the comments. Moving forward that's really the only way I envision using chat b/c I'd prefer the conversation to be attached to an original story (like you said, feels like a sign of a quality post)
🧠 - when I have a creative prompt type post, I've found chat useful because I can invite subscribers to share images of what they've created, which they cannot do in the comments. Moving forward that's really the only way I envision using chat b/c I'd prefer the conversation to be attached to an original story (like you said, feels like a sign of a quality post)
✏️ - How effective have Notes been for you in connecting with readers? What about Chat?
I tend to use Notes sparingly to comment on articles I come across that deal with issues I write about that don't warrant a full post. I don't have many subscribers yet, so Chat doesn't seem too useful just yet.
I browse Notes whenever I can and follow author names to new Substacks when I see a sense of humor or perspective that speaks to me. I’ve Subscribed to several from Notes and had some subscribers find me the same way. I don’t use Chat.
I really like that perspective of Noted being a good place to find other writers (similar to Office Hours like @Quiet Sight mentioned below). I hadn't thought of that but I quite like it. Thanks.
I find notes surprisingly effective. People read them and some then subscribe to HOT GLOBE. But a note created from a comment works best, that is, you comment intelligently to someone and then click to share it as a note.
I've never written a Note or read one. I'm here to read posts and share my written posts and interact with people after reading their post or them reading mine.
Notes isn't really my thing. I do tune in to see what's going on, but I find myself muting more people because (a) they post over and over and hog the feed or (b) they reply to some political thing which makes it appear in my feed.
I've never thought Notes was the right direction for Substack, but I'm way in the minority in that regard.
I do like to restack a paragraph from someone else at times, that's pretty cool. But overall, ... not that thrilled.
I'm with you in that minority. As soon as Notes launched, I thought, "Oh no, Substack is becoming Twitter." After I very deliberately deleted my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts last year.
Yes totally. I haven't looked in a couple weeks, but when Notes first came out, it was also so confusing to navigate. Maybe it's gotten better but I'm hesitant to dive back in because it seems like it could just be a massive time sink.
I wouldn't call it trash. Perhaps misguided. The current internet landscape favors tactics that amount to shouting into a noisy room, and whoever shouts the loudest gets heard. 🤷🏻♀️
The fight for clout is baked into the creator economy, at least in its current iteration. We've all been inundated with a false narrative of online hustle culture that leads us to believe we have to publish X times per week or month to "make it" and that big audiences equate to success.
I feel like many on Substack came here in the hopes of participating in something different and more realistic, but that hustle culture is creeping in. I see it in the Grow series and see its effects in the frustration or despondency some writers express during Office Hours. It seems like many who are just starting out are already discouraged and overwhelmed by the idea of trying to "measure up" to people with large audiences and lucrative subscriber bases.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere, one that allows writers to focus on craft while still making a decent living. It's a shame that the creative vocations are still undervalued in our society--unless you're willing to submit yourself to the internet framework that has created so much mediocre copycat content.
It can be kind of distracting when someone I follow posts a note and it shows up in my "activity" feed/notifications. I'm very sensitive to anything that feels like noise or distraction (digitally). Is it possible to turn off notifications for notes but leave new post notifications on?
I honestly feel like Notes encourages more noise and keeps writers and readers trapped in shallow streams of attention. Social media platforms provide that "snack" experience if people want it. But I feel a platform for writers and readers should maximize deep attention, thoughtful reflection, and meaningful interaction.
The appearance of subscription CTA popups on the platform also dismays me. I don't like it when something interrupts me in the middle of reading and try to block as much of those attention-grabbing tools as I can. It's honestly distressing to see some of the worst of the internet creeping into Substack.
🟧 Good points to consider—thank you, Bailey. So then can I gather that everyone who writes on Substack can see your Notes, whether they are already subscribers to your newsletter? If so, it would certainly be a help in getting new subscribers through a brief intro to your work.
My first Note was about how I wasn't sure how much I would like Notes. For the same reason. I was extremely concerned about the civility of the discourse. There have been some valid issues raised since the rollout, but by and large I find it a lot like being at a large conference. You're on Substack to do your job, primarily, and to learn from others, but it gives you that sense of running into someone cool at the line for the bathroom, who turns out to be the person who hands you your next lead or job. If that makes sense. Less so like Insta or FB, which feels sort of like being at an awkward high school reunion these days.
I am not sure I have connected with that many of my readers (I have a much more robust community on Instagram) but I have connected with lots of writers on Notes.
When Notes first began I gained some new subscribers but it doesn't seem to be that useful now.
I frankly don't know how to draw in new subscribers from the Substack platform. Everyone else seems to do it successfully but it's not doing much at all for me.
I'm guessing it depends much on what KIND of Substack - serious/intellectual, fun/humour, personal, fictional etc etc. Also see my suggestion to the team (see below) about improving the list of 'topics' available on the Substack 'Explore' tab.
🟧 Still trying to figure out exactly who sees Notes. Is it just my subscribers or anyone who writes on Substack and accesses Notes? Ramona or anyone else..., do you know? Thanks!
I believe Bailey just replied that anyone who writes on Substack can see anyone else's Notes, as long as the author of the Note hasn't specifically blocked readers....?
Surely if that was the case then Notes would be flooded with comments constantly?
I only ever see the same set of people.
Perhaps she means that it's possible for anyone to see the comment (in that Notes comments aren't private), but they'd need to be in the right network to do so?
Both of my newsletters work as communities; Writer Everlasting more than Constant Commoner because I'm mainly writing to and for other writers. I don't go overboard on marketing but I do attend most Office Hours, I spend time on Notes, I comment and recommend and keep a blogroll at both of my newsletters.
I announce new posts on Facebook (no longer on Twitter; I never get much action there, anyway), and I try to keep my readers happy.
I have a fine group of loyal and engaged readers at both sites, so I'm not necessarily complaining. Just observing.
Are you reading around other newsletters that might be in a similar genre to yours? I used to the Explore tab a bit to find others and subscribe and engage in conversations and it's been really nice building something of a community between a number of fiction writers. That only expands so far, of course, but it's been an enjoyable process.
Sounds like you're doing quite a bit, then. My other suggestion would be to try submitting to some newsletter directories and see if that brings in a few new readers. I get a slow trickle from that. :)
Do you include your Substack links in your email signature, too?
- Added a link to my Substack in my email signature (personal and business)
- Mentioned my newsletter or writing in conversation when it makes sense
- Attended Office Hours here most weeks
- Read and commented on 1 other Substack post 4-5 days per week
- Replied to comments on my Substack every weekday
- Emailed or texted contacts and friends whom I thought would be interested in reading my essays
And I'm currently doing a Substack Letters exchange with a friend who also writes on the platform. Not sure if that will drive any subscriptions, but it's a fun experiment.
Those are very good suggestions, Theresa. Thank you for sharing them. I'm also thinking of making a stack of business cards for my Substack, perhaps others may like that idea too?
Notes has been very good so far. Accelerated my subscriptions, and been a way to meet new people and get to know my subscribers more closely. Very positive so far.
Hi Sue and Matt! I'd hesitate to call it a 'strategy'. I've posted on Notes and interacted with people because I've found it interesting, and there hasn't been much conscious thought put into it.
A few things I've worked out along the way, though:
- Blatant self-promo doesn't really work. Sharing links to your own posts like you might on Facebook or Twitter doesn't get much traction.
- Sharing quotes and links from OTHER people's stuff goes down well, though.
- The 'My Subscribers' feed shouldn't be underestimated: It's a way to see what your readers are like, what they're interested in, in a single place. It's your readers, but you get to see them out of context. 'In the wild', if you like. That's not something I've really had before, and it's fascinating.
- My newsletter is about fiction writing, as well as where I post my actual fiction. I see Notes as an extension of that, so if I'm posting on Notes it's probably going to be related to what I write about on the newsletter in some way. ie, I'll be asking about a writing technique, or sharing something I just found out, or asking what people are working on. That kind of thing. That way, if someone finds one of my Notes interesting, there's a good chance they'll find my newsletter interesting as well.
- On the flipside, I don't tend to post about what I had for breakfast. I random thoughts about politics. Or other random stuff. I don't use it for idle ramblings, like I used to on Twitter. This keeps it more focused for readers and anyone stumbling upon my stuff - and, actually, I think is healthier for me as well.
- I make a point of trying to take part in other people's conversations, so it's not just me talking about me. This is made a LOT easier on Notes than it ever was on Twitter because my feed is automatically filtered down to people in my general area. The community I experience on Notes is the fiction writing community, basically.
- I've also been posting daily sketches. Nothing to do with my newsletter, but it's still a 'creative pursuit', so I thought people might be interested/not offended. I'm not a very good artist, so it's very much me trying to get better in public. That seems to have gone down well with people.
Those are a few things off the top of my head! What I haven't tried to do is game the system, trick people into subscribing etc etc. It's all felt quite honest and wholesome to date. Hope that helps!
I need to engage with Notes a bit more myself. I only hesitate because I don't want to take away from the Newsletter/posts and I don't want to bombard readers too much (I'm publishing every two weeks for now and slowly building up frequency).
I love what everyone is saying about engagement and discovering other Substacks.
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
I don't find them super effective to connect with readers, but it's great for networking with other publications and connecting with other people's comments.
Notes has been good, but I also use it somewhat sparingly. I do love that you can take a short section of text from a post and restack it as a quote with a comment.
I haven't found Notes to be worth much. It's probably me. I'm just not a social media person. I dislike posting something, something thoughtful, and getting zero response while a one-word note ("test") gets an overwhelming bunch of answers. I feel like I'm wasting my time. I'm not one of the cool kids that social media celebrates.
I do like to place a paragraph from someone else once in a while. That part is pretty nice.
It is harder than other platforms to build a "following base" which usually requires following like 2,000 people and then have a couple hundred of them follow you back. That's almost impossible in Notes.
It's been great for me so far - not just for chatting to readers but for connecting with other newsletter writers in realtime.
At the same time: most people using Notes are (I think?) other Substack writers. That'll change over time (it's only been a few weeks! I mean, it's astonishing what leaps and bounds Notes has made in so little time, such great work on all levels) - but right now, it's a small and very specific subset of my readers, mainly ones who are fellow newsletter writers, and I guess that's true for everyone else's too?
I read like 150 newsletters and they are all fascinating. I met Mike on Notes and his publication is awesome. I just keep finding cool things, following them, and then getting fed their notes too.
Notes have been lovely for exchanging ideas with other writers about future topics, or just to send greetings from overseas! However, i try to keep them to a minimum, as there is an overload of features already available to us on this platform and i respect how busy we all are.
Still too early to gauge Notes - I drop the same content there as at Twitter etc. and I continue to observe what happens. I've never found a use case for Chat.
🧠 - "Most worthwhile achievements are the result of many little things done in a single direction. — Nido Qubein
We want to do great things (like building a thriving community) in a single bound — myself very much included! I'm trying to approach my goals with more of the marathon mindset:
1. Do a little bit everyday.
2. Prioritize things that I can do consistently and even pleasurably.
3. Do something that scares me or I don't like to do (but I know will help) once a month.
4. Learn from setbacks or plateaus with as little ego and as much curiosity as possible.
What are the "little" strategies that have worked for you? The things that maybe had a "slow burn" but eventually made a noticeable difference?
If you're on a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can often type a word like "brain" or "pencil" to see the 🧠/✏️ emojis pop up. Same with typing on a smartphone that offers predictive text options above the keyboard.
Hi Mike. I use Microsoft Surface. (regular laptop) Hold down the Microsoft key (the one that looks like 4 squares) and the period key at the same time. You'll get emoji's that pop up. When that screen pops up, start typing what you're looking for and it will filter for you. For example, I often use hearts, so I start to type hearts and they pop up. Like this one: 💜 Have fun!
In one of my previous articles I was talking about the value of just writing better posts b/c if you can just make the best thing in class then you will have better subscription rates than others and win the game of network effects. That's the only thing I didn't see on this list. Usually people aren't ready for traffic to come.
These tips are great, in theory. But I agree that without distribution, a way of getting in front of more non subscribers, it's virtually impossible to grow. Even if you have the best stories in your niche..
It is 50% of the work. I had an old boss that would get frustrated and point out that "what's the point of doing all of this work if nobody is going to see it?" I think embracing a certain degree of shamelessness is important.
We just interviewed a book marketing expert and he confirmed what I have been told my whole life. Successful authors generally are 20% writing and 80% marketing. It's not a fun truth, but it is a truth.
Well, we have just released a lot of research on this, and the generally the reason people feel that way is because they are not doing the kinds of marketing/sales activities that align with their ecosystem. There are five ecosystems, and if you align the best actions to your ecosystem, we find that it's actually fun for people to do marketing. The problem is most marketing is directed to deserts, and most people are forests.
Well, it depends on what you consider marketing actions, doesn't it? Most people only consider certain things marketing actions, but if you actually expand out into all marketing actions, then even a good subscriber base has marketing actions. They just aren't the type most experts consider "marketing actions".
I just recommend everyone, please let me know if it seems ok with your audience to recommend mine. In two -three weeks, we will know which audience to retain or let go
If we all believe that recommendations could help, why can’t all of us in this reply now recommend our newsletters to each others audience and see the results in 2 weeks. I recommended a couple of newsletters earlier and I noticed it was a one way road, non of them recommended mine, so I gave them two weeks of trial and didn’t have any recommendations hence I stoped.
I love this! Add would like to add: BE AUTHENTIC. We each want the readers that actually resonate with our voice and our message. But when we try to be someone/something that we are not, we attract the wrong sort of readers. Don't be afraid to be niche, be real, and maybe be a little weird! Good luck everyone!
In as much as I believe your submissions to be true, I believe Distribution is everything.
If I’m sure that after investing a year of writing on Substack that the SEO will at least bring in 20-50% of my traffic/subscribers then offering Value becomes the only thing I need to do so that when they land, I can be rest assured they will convert.
I am not sure but it seems the SEO doesn’t deliver such numbers(yet), hence why we must reach out to other non-competing writers to borrow their audience.
Especially the trust part. When I am not sure about something, I share it with my readers. When I make a mistake, I'll do the same. And when I am talking about whatever topic, I trust them to make up their own minds, which is why I make sure to include sources as much as I can (after all, you should trust but verify).
If your audience will benefit from posting for graduate school then I’m open. I curate opportunities for gradschool such as Fully funded masters and PhD opportunities in US, Canada and Europe, fellowship, grants, webinars for graduate students.
I have two substacks Publications, one is my main where I post twice weekly and the other I don’t yet what to do with it as what I needed it for, I have found a way to do with the main publication but I kept it open and got it recommended by the main substack.
In less than a month of opening the second publication, it has over 100 subscribers feeding off of the work I did with the first one by sharing the first on various social media platforms.
It means even without very great contents(no content in this case), people still subscribe to it, so all I need is to find where people of interest are.
They will only unsubscribe if they are not offered what was promised(real or imaginable).
DISTRIBUTION means exposure. Increase your substack exposure, you have more subscribers period. Quality retains them and gets them committed.
I’m subscribing right away. Will recommend your newsletter and would appreciate if I could same.
Today I am trying to recommend many reasonable substacks to my audience and see which they prefer since it seems I’m assuming their interest too much.
Your contents are really rich and valid. Was just giving another side to it, because I have built a product(newsletter) before that I believed was giving best contents but gave up after sometime when I noticed less engagement.
In this substack, I keep modifying my product(newsletter) depending on emerging goals of mine or subscribers. I believe first 6 months of newsletter writing is about experimenting(meaning product may not be perfect) but if you have enough feedback, one can use that to develop product, and the sure way is to attempt to distribute as much as you can, so you can have valid data to modify the product.
You can also bring back old stories later. I do “encores” of my old pieces that went out to an audience of like 10 people. They come with a voice over and a preamble about how I’ve changed my perspective on the story
🧠 Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
In life, there are hundreds of things standing in the way of being a creative person, especially a writer. Things that occupy our time, energy, resources, and mental health reserves, most of which we have no real control over. Believe me, I know how that feels, and I know how that goes!
You may not get to decide what the circumstances are around you, but you DO get to decide the amount of worth you place on them in your own life. And placing worth on your writing, your craft, is always going to benefit you, body and soul. You and your craft are worth the effort, the persistence, the drive, and the time. And the sooner you can claim that truth for yourself, the freer you will feel to step onto the path you're meant to take.
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
Recently, I’ve been reading Julia Cameron’s “Write For Life” that has been really helping me create a daily writing practice. It might be a good book to read if you’re struggling with building a practice out of writing daily. ✨
I'm going throug the Artist's Way again and immensely grateful for her work. I'm starting to hear a little Julia Cameron voice in my head with encouragement and I'm so grateful!
The Artist's Way was really the impetus for my newsletter. I read about the morning pages and it turned into my newsletter. It's the best tool for any writer. Do it every day for a few minutes and watch what comes out of your mind and onto the page! sabrinalabow.substack.com
I'd never heard of this book, but I just requested it from the library. Thanks for the tip!
I write most days per week but feel like I put too much pressure on myself to do it a specific way. I go in with rigid plans and goals in mind and find myself tensing up and struggling to get words out more often than not. It's so much different than when I'm journaling or just getting thoughts down. I'd love to work that flow into my actual writing!
As always, I appreciate your words. In fact, I think your little bit of encouragement is one of the best things about Writer Office Hours! I also totally agree that valuing our own work and deciding it's worth the effort to write always benefits us, even if virtually no one else reads what we write and we don't earn much income from it. My growth in terms of views and subscribers has been slow but steady, and I'd write for my own sake even if I had 0 subscribers!
I always love to hear your words, S.E. And I'd like to add to what you've said - placing your effort on your craft will benefit you for sure. I have learned so much through my own writing and the thoughtful writing of others. And I would add that anything that taps you into who you are, connecting you to your body and soul will uplift and release your writing. The talk of Julia Cameron's work as of late points to our intuitive understanding of this. I would add, since I am now teaching this in my small community, that dancing can help unleash your creative spirit and release your words. It's what one of my participants said in April - he couldn't believe how the words come. So if you're stuck, put on some music you love and dance!
Back in January I made a pact to get up early every weekday and write for an hour. I have the Simone Giertz every day calendar to help me along and I haven't missed a day. No matter what else is going on, I can hang my hat on that.
We will always have things to do on our to do list. We will never get it done. Sharing your talent--writing--is so important to the world at large. We are not complete cyborgs yet! Running around doing errands is fine but taking the time to contribute something of value to people is extremely important in this time/space reality right now. sabrinalabow.substack.com
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Creating community is about authenticity. If you're only in it for the clicks and engagement, your readers will know. Immediately.
Instead, be genuinely interested in them, what they have to say, and their experience on your newsletter. Think of them before you think of yourself. Authenticity builds trust, and you can't buy trust. It's priceless. 🌿
My challenge is generally moving beyond my small circle, which is why, even though I try to be authentic, sometimes people are not that interested in what I'm writing. I think that's a common challenge here.
Certainly a challenge. I am in month 2 now and I have little time to spare for notes and reading a lot of other Substacks, which is one way to make connections and get potential readers, then again, people on Substack also are creators/fellow writers, which is cool and I love that and some tell me if you want "readers" you need to get them from outside Substack, and this I have found to be difficult thus far. Enjoying the journey, though and my interaction with fellow writers. Keep on writing and the readers will come. Patience and Perseverance.
I recently hit a bit of a wall, which was inevitable but the first significant one. I actually find it kind of fun because I have a problem and am trying to solve it. But so far my experiments have not worked haha.
(One big problem is I refuse to engage with Facebook, which I know would drive subscriptions, but I just can't with that place).
Facebook has been a mixed bag for me. They used to convert extremely well. Then they added the link redirect (“this link is trying to take you outside Facebook are you sure you want to continue”) and throttled off-platform traffic
It is still quite powerful outside of the US which is valuable for me, but still not worth returning. But, at the end of the day, Facebook dominates a lot of volume metrics. It's just boring so nobody talks about it as much.
One thing I (try) to do is block out time daily to engage. Truly, that could mean reading one or two pieces of work someone you're subscribed to has written and commenting genuinely on it. And/or (if you're wanting to!) spending 10-15 minutes in Notes saving stories to read, commenting... and doing it toward the end of your day do you can prioritize your writing/other life things.
Haha there really isn't! Also why I give myself grace and may even turn it into something I do like... three to four times per week instead of daily and teach myself to be okay with it, haha!
Someone replied in a past session that Substack is for established writers with existing readership and that you can’t build readership as a new writer here. I don’t agree. It will be hard and slow, sure. But someone telling you that you can’t do it only shows their limits, not yours.
Have you tried submitting your newsletter to directories like Inbox Reads? I get a few subscribers from those. I've also found that just talking about my writing in everyday conversation sometimes sparks interest.
I have not! Do tell more. Inbox Reads is a website? I have to admit I have not checked what venues outside the big social media ones there are to grow readership. LinkedIn is not really working, nor is IG or Reddit let alone TikTok. Will check this out, thanks! Oh and by "everyday conversation" you mean Notes?
I mean actual conversations in real life with real people. :) I write personal essays, so sometimes the opportunity comes up to say I wrote an essay on whatever topic is being discussed. Sometimes people express interest in reading it, so I tell them my Substack address or text them the link.
Inbox Reads is a newsletter directory where people can discover newsletters that cover topics that interest them. Plenty of them exist, and it's usually easy to submit. Here's a list: https://bloggingguide.com/newsletter-directories/
It's from 2021, so some may no longer be around, but it's worth looking!
Thanks, Theresa. Will check. And IRL, eh? Like a real conversation! Yes, the best kind. I even recorded one and posted it on my Substack. A conversation between Writer and Designer. ;)
There's the rub - time! I have a day job, and four side hustles right now - one of which is my newsletter and could easily be the most consuming if I want it to me if I could expand time and space and float around freely without gravity. I look around these notes and see the same relentless people who LIVE THIS really succeeding. I can't quite figure out how to dabble efficiently here yet. And readers from outside - that is such a hard nut to crack when the algorithms of any social network do not seem to work for anyone but the rare few anymore. What to do. The work, exactly.
It's not a race. You pick your pace. Don't compare, plus people with big enough base are prone to do better with Notes since there's more eyes on any cat (or dog) pic they post, whereas yours will be seen by well most likely none, if you have only started out. Build your content, provide value, be authentic and be consistent. If you say you publish once a month, do it, once a week? Do it. Can't make it? Do a heads-up communication. Be accountable. It's a long process.
I think that is why I could click so well with this platform, I tend to be open and authentic, and here you actually get rewarded for that, unlike many other platforms. Feels much better and healthier to engage with it as a result too.
This is so true! I've said it before but it's worth repeating. One subscriber is still one person reading it. I've made a few exchange of comments in some of the newsletters I read or people who read mine, and those little moments of intimacy really feels priceless.
I'm glad to say that this part is easy, I live for reading the comments and email responses from my readers. That's the only reason I continue to post....
@S.E. - that you for saying that. I have been trying very hard and I think that my writing is both good and authentic but it is so sad sometimes when I think about how small my audience is. I have seen a drop in my "open" rates and only a slight increase in my subscriptions. But I hear from a few people that what I write resonates with them and I am trying to focus on those handful of readers... but it is so hard because I devote Thursday to brainstorming a thoughtful entry and I spend most of my Friday evening (with kid interruptions) to writing with a midnight deadline. I feel like I work so hard. I won't give up, but I wonder if it means anything at all.
And when the head of Bertelsmann publicly says that generative AI is great for publishing, we can all just imagine what that means for the future of their authenticity...
Hello SEA READ. I and my international team enjoyed this Content and we gathered round our laptops and said Yes, This Is Good Content. Congratulations on your newsletter/post/comment, you are clearly an Influenza on your topic of [TOPIC] [add inspiring Mark Twain quote here] [REMEMBER TO DELETE THIS]. We think you would like to earn some passive income by selling our only slightly used branded Manchester United Football Club novelty immersion heater covers, so please be available for a quick 5-minute call sometime this week, which may take up to an hour. Again, congratulations on your high-quality Content! You are clearly going great places, SEA, and we will help for only small fees and ask nothing except total compliance Thanks in advance. - 'Mike', ImmersionHeaterCovers-R-Us .com
THIS! This cannot be overstated. Be genuine, be interesting and interested. And you stand to gain much more than just subscribers: genuine friendships and priceless advice.
🧠 By the way guys. Recently, two people responded to my welcome e-mail. They are the second and third person to ever do so, since I customized the contents. I can’t tell you in words how amazing it feels that someone reached out, someone who’s here for the sole reason of wanting to read what I write. The lesson here is that the welcome e-mail really does matter. People do read it, and sometimes they even respond. It’s an important tool, and it’s best you learn how to use it and customize it to reflect your values. Little tip: give people a little taste of your newsletter early on. I provide a few links to my best received pieces, as a sort of “best of” introduction. Cheers and I wish you a wondeful week!
🧠 Yeah, it is awesome to get replies from new subscribers. Sometimes I send a message even if they didn't reply from the welcome email. Just to tell them thanks, and I subscribed to theirs too.
Hi Andrei, Your title makes me curious what you're Practicing. Consider putting that at the top? I'd want to see what you're performing, even if early on, rather than practice. Just a thought!
Hi Andrew! I don’t actually “Practice” anything, except life, like all of us. Practice Space is more of a two sided metaphor, as in, the blog is a way for me to exercise my thinking around certain issues, to explore them before I go on and live my life, and also, it’s a metaphor for life itself in a way, as we all stumble through life in a more or less experimental way, trying to figure things out by ourselves through experience. Hope that makes sense. Cheers!
I JUST found out I never updated my welcome email after changing to Losing Orbit and plan to do so ASAP! And exactly! I customized mine (back in the "before time"), but it could be so much better!
I've only gotten one email reply but I too love when I do! Thanks for the validation!!
Can you believe I was about to use my old mailing service to create a welcome series for people who newly subscribe? Adding an extra step when it wasn't needed! Haha
Excited to update my Substack Welcome email especially since I'm planning to return to IG for fun and to lead people back to Substack. After they subscribe for FREE, then they'll be led to the welcome email which will be the official introduction and sampling!
🟧 - Hello lovely Substack team, how do certain Substacks get chosen to be 'Featured Substacks'. I'd love to know what I need to work on to be in with a running going forwards...
This is not the case. As I understand it, they are looking for size. I was made a feature publication when I had about 600 subscribers. As I understand it, they look for consistency, a clearly defined publication, and some kind of community engagement.
That sounds hopeful then. I'm not sure about 'a clearly defined publication', though. I know I'm not the only one who kind of meanders, judging by the number of sections we offer!
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Every one of my little milestones is a minor miracle. I missed celebrating my first 100, so I need to have a 300 party soon. And I can probably say I personally know 280 of them, so strangers are haaaard to win over. Guess I need to walk around outside and make more friends ;)
I did that too. I added a bunch of sections and then comped everyone on my existing list 3 months free so they could check out all the cool stuff I put behind the paywall.
Good question. I suspect they have big social media 'friends' networks Also the growth strategies that people offer on this 'Office Hours' thread depend - it seems to me anyway - very much on what KIND of Substack. One that aims to be serious and contentious will have a very different growth path from one that is themed as about fiction, having fun or personal health (to take just a few examples).
I find this, too. Many of the growth strategies seem geared toward people who write on a specific topic, offer timely/news-style posts, curate or do roundups, and the like. It's a different game when you're writing fiction, creative nonfiction, or introspective essays, which are more literary.
Yes I would love to know that too! I don't even know about featured substacks. I have been solely concentrating on the writing and really nothing else. I haven't even checked to see who is reading my posts. I just see the # is increasing. The views are but the likes not as much. Someone said they didn't notice the like button. I guess it doesn't matter as much as long as people read it and enjoy it. sabrinalabow.substack.com
🧠 I just read James Clear's newsletter this morning and found a really great piece of advice. Prioritizing what is important and focusing on that. Hopefully this is helpful!
"Live the Pareto Principle lifestyle:
Relationships. Who are the few people that have the most positive impact on my life? Spend more time with them.
Priorities. What are the few actions that have the most positive impact on my day? Prioritize them.
Learning. What are the few information sources I learn the most from? Focus on them.
Stress. What are the few sources that cause most of the stress and friction in my life? Eliminate them."
good points that don't necessarily contradict but add nuance. This...and. (If I listened to just the removing stress part, I'd have to quit my day job, which would be awesome and...I'd be homeless.)
Interesting advise, but somewhat limited. I would counter that:
- Difficult people can challenge us to learn how to respond with grace and patience.
- Focusing on whether interactions have a "net positive" outcome for us can cause is to ignore or overlook interactions that may benefit others.
- The actions that have a positive effect may not be the most important. For example, parents need to do laundry and change diapers and clean the house--all dirty, unpleasant work from a personal perspective but absolutely essential for the health of the family.
- Stress may come from people and circumstances that we can't or shouldn't avoid, such as situations in which we need to humbly address that we're the ones at fault and make things right, or family members who need our help but are stressful to deal with.
It's best to view it as a guiding principle than a hard-and-fast rule. You can certanily miss things if you're too focused on the net gain, but how many folks put way too much energy into something only to get burned out?
I'm pretty new to this enriching reader feedback dynamic. Even as a longtime editor, up until now, my work has never had a public-facing gathering spot. So I'm experimenting a lot with inviting people to join in.
The first thing I tried was creating discussion threads with open-ended invitations like "Ask-an-Editor" AMA. I heard from a few folks, but I think the "ask anything" dynamic kept a lot of people away or created some sort of paralysis around knowing WHAT to ask an editor.
Right now what I'm finding the most satisfying, encouraging experience with is publishing a piece on, say, a Tuesday and then inviting readers to a discussion thread based on that same theme on a Thursday or Friday. It seems to give space to two different kinds of readers:
- those who are ready to jump in right when they're finished reading (in this case, they jump into the comments section) and
- the other readers who need some simmering time (in this case, they join in with the discussion thread).
I'm certainly not hosting an Oprah-level number of readers here, but the quality of questions, answers and sharing is a gift I've never experienced before.
I know this may seem silly, but in my mind's eye, I try to imagine how it would best feel to gather all my reader friends into a sandbox and play all day. That helps me drop all the fluff and stuff around strategy, engagement, metrics, and relate with myself and readers in a playful way. I want to do something fun and I want to do it with my reader friends.
Writing about travel is probably nourishing to you in very specific and enjoyable ways. What would it look like to invite people to play in the sandbox? 🫶
Hi Amanda, this sounds great. I’m looking for specific ideas how to build a community, instead of the same old generic recipes. The discussion you open, in your example on Thu / Fri is on chat, right? Is it in real time, synchronous, or do you just set the day as the time window?
Also, I created a standalone page for my Substack navigation that includes links to previous discussion threads as well as a screenshot of one as well. I don't have any way to know from data (like page views) if that standalone page is viewed/interacted with. But I'm choosing to highlight the "We practice listening and being heard here" by giving it prominence in my navigation.
Hi Zoe! It's actually a new "thread" that I create. On your writer dashboard, you should see the option to write a new post, a new note and below that, a new thread. I don't use chat much at all because it visually blocks people from seeing the sub-conversations going on.
I have experimented with setting a specific day and time for these, and that didn't seem to work too well. Once I made them "all day, come and go" (tip of the hat to Alex Dobrenko for modeling this), it created a much easier rhythm for me to tend to a discussion thread.
I think the main thing it does is provide a visual "shift" for readers. The description of the thread section is supposed to be limited. Instead of scrolling and scrolling and reading a post and potentially shifting to another shiny object on the screen, the thread is a "jump right in" invitation. Short and sweet.
At least, that's how I've seen it used and how I'm using it.
Yeah. I have been there. But I find that the more I open the door, nudge it again, remind them that there’s something fun/helpful, the more likely they won’t forget. I also publish less so I can engage in comments/discussion threads more.
The all day thread format has been a way better experience for me as a reader, in that it removes the urgency/scarcity feeling of having to be available at a specific time.
I’ve also noticed you’re getting a lot more engagement with specific thread topics!
Interesting, thanks so much for sharing! I love that you are engaging with readers who need a few days to catch up with posts or think about them before commenting. This might be the perfect way to keep chatting throughout the week, not just the one day per week I publish the essay.
Hello everyone, meeting other writers on substack has been one of the best things about starting my newsletter. I'm always open to featuring / collaborating with other writers on here to build both our communities, so if anyone writes about art, design & travel hit me up! Would love to see how we could work together xx
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Hi Lucy, I have a series of posts based on strategies observed (and photographed) around the world - haven't featured Istanbul yet and would love to. Email me gabthinking (at) gmail (dot) com if interested?
My substack is not related to any of those topics, but I have lived abroad for over a decade and am an experienced traveller. So I could be interested in collaborating about that.
I have subscribed and recommended yours to my audience, let’s start the collaboration from there. Would appreciate if you equally recommend. In 2-4 weeks we will see if we are best fit
🧠- the best way to build community is to provide a place for your readers to meet. Seems silly to say, but it’s true.
In my case, we kick off every week with a Discussion thread about what we’ve all been listening to.
I hesitated to do this for quite awhile, as I was worried no one would show up. Hosting a party no one comes to us nightmare fuel for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong- lots of people contribute and share what music they’ve been playing- not just with me, but with each other. It’s been awesome to watch grow every week.
Will definitely check it out! Always fun to find new music, and also be reminded of old favorites. Someone mentioned an Eminem song on this discussion thread yesterday, and I was bopping around to “lose yourself” for the rest of the afternoon. Inspired me to start a note asking my audience what this songs are that make them think “why don’t I listen to this more often??”
There is not one type of community though. You can have a community around a topic, but also through a topic. I spent my whole life thinking you needed to foster engagement around yourself of between people, but there are way more ways to build community that just foster conversation. You can also create it through a topic or even though your posts.
Thank you for this suggestion, I love it! I’m new to Substack so I’m just finding my way around. Do you ask people to comment under a newsletter, or do you use notes for this?
Wow, the way you manage these discussions creates some beautiful community interaction - definitely inspiring me. Substack should feature your Discussion engagement if they haven't yet!
🧠 my recent post was based off of original survey, conducted with the help of some other people in the outdoor space. The survey drove a lot of subscriptions from curious people, wanting to see the resulting conclusions.
I think it did pretty well, and I may try something similar again.
The first one was about ski resort habits. The next one will be geared toward parents about laundry detergent advertising. I think I’ve stumbled onto a very interesting topic by accident
Just have to make sure you’re ethical and overt when collecting those emails off platform. I ran all the addresses through a validation service to be safe, then sent an email welcoming them to my newsletter, explaining that if they just wanted to see the survey results and leave, that they could easily unsubscribe.
This is good to know and I don't think I had considered that I could run emails through a validation service, which might be helpful to know for other things too.
I created a survey in Google forms. Then linked to it in several of my posts and notes. Then I contacted other Substack writers working in the same space, asking them to share the link.
At the end of the survey, I put a CTA encouraging responders to sign up for my newsletter. Roughly a third of respondents decided to do so
✏️ Does anyone have suggestions on what to put in one's about/why subscribe pages? My content is pretty straightforward, but I wonder if I ought to elaborate more.
My own feeling is that, unless you're writing business or technical stuff, your 'About' page should reek with personality! You're competing with thousands of other newsletters. Your readers have to know why they should choose you instead of all those others.
^ I second what Ramona says and would also add: if they can't see you in your "about" page they won't be able to see themselves reflected back, which creates an inherent sense of, "I belong here."
Seconded! I probably spent the most amount of time on this. It was hard but also so helpful to really define my newsletter's mission and scope. Now, when I meet people on the street or online, I can easily explain what the newsletter is about, and send them directly to the about page to see if they are interested in subscribing.
Agreed. Too many people try to "look professional" when what people really want is to engage with people and writing they like and enjoy. Let that personality shine. Be engaging. Write experientially and experimentally. Have some fun with it.
I think the About Page is the most underestimated tool of all. So often I go on Substacks and there is that default About page. I mean, whaaaat? I know mine isn't perfect and I need to improve it (nudge nudge feedback welcome!) but number one advice? Change the About Page when you create your Substack. It's your calling card.
What you’re about could actually sell your Substack to subscribers. Maybe don’t bother with a heading like “why subscribe” and instead, tell who you are, where your journey is leading, and what they should expect. It also helps you stay aligned with your purpose. Make it unique and timeless.
I recently had a wonderful conversation with Tami from https://outsourcedoptimism.substack.com/ who has a great perspective on your About Me. We had a little workshop and she reminded me that remembering who you're writing for and why can be a great place to start when crafting your About section. I haven't implemented all of her insights yet but I'm looking forward to changing it up and playing around with mine!
A lot of great advice here! Another thing I'd like to add is to add some samples of pieces that are most popular (or your favorites) in your About Page too! Give them a sample of your work since it's not common for people to read through archives unless you direct them to.
And if you get awesome comments on your works, I'd add photos of the feedback on your About page too (something I forgot to do and plan to do this week!).
Super agree to add your personality and make it clear what you write about as well, even if you honestly write about many things--let them know! :)
I love the idea of including feedback from the comments. I've seen people do this on their subscribe page. Anyone know how to do it? And do we have to ask permission from the commentors first?
So there's this thing called "blurbs" that can be added to the welcome page of your Substack, and they're in the "recommended" portion of your writer's dashboard I believe!
I've seen people add praise from like, Tweets, which I think are just embedded, and I *think* when it comes to sharing praise on your about page from your comments, you could even just type out the comment and censor the name a bit, linking it back to the piece they commented on, or I've blurred out faces and first names before.
I tried to lightly censor in case they didn't want to be put on there, but their comments are on a public space (I probably wouldn't do it if you had comments privated of course!)
It should be straightforward and attention grabbing. For a while, my about page had a kind of “trailer video” for my publication. I used POV footage from a crazy mountain climb I did. Prime seemed to like it
I think give people a little personal flavor. Let them know Leigh Parrish, human being--as distinct from Leigh Parrish, writer of Halcyon Horror. Doesn't have to be a lot, but a little bit might go a long way!
That could be part of the issue. I've been really cautious about including any identifying details about myself this far. Paranoid? Maybe, but I like the creative freedom of keeping my personal and writing lives separate.
I get that--I write anonymously, so I'm low on identifying details. But there's enough personality you can include that doesn't reveal your identity that you can certainly add some flare. There's always something!
Personality doesn't have to be the same as identity. Think of this page as helping people understand the *type* of person they're connecting with. A little less "who are you?" and more "what are you about?" If someone feels a connection with you, then they are likely to connect with your work. Having that little bit of trust will help them be more receptive to your work.
Yeah I went so far on that front as to not have my name overtly on my Substack (instead using my DBA SleepyHollow, inK.) but unclear if that helps or hurts me (or zero effect either way.)
✏️ Hi everyone, I just launched my first Substack newsletter focused on systems and systems science a few weeks ago.
It seems like a good chunk of my current readership, people who have subscribed, care about this topic, and happily correspond with me about my posts over email, tend to not be very active on Substack.
Have any of you had success with convincing people to use Substack more often and participate via comments/chat?
Also, is there anyone else out there who has an interest in systems? Would love to find some potential collaborators!
Email replies are extremely beneficial when you first launch. They actually boost your digital reputation with email providers and help keep you out of the spam folder
Just trying to understand fully, but why do you want them to use Substack more? If you are having productive correspondence, that is GOLD! Don't mess with a good thing!
If you want to make that engagement visible, you can perhaps ask them if you can write posts talking about the topics in your correspondence and asking for comments about the subject? That would be a good conversation starter IMO.
I'm wanting them to use substack more because my long-term goal is to form a community where my readers are interacting with each other. Having interesting/productive discussions about systems in substack chat or the comments sections.
Well definitely keep engaging with them the way they are engaging with you! But starting to migrate pieces of the discussion and engaging more people on the substack platform will happen. Like you said--you only just recently launched. Give yourself time and grace to let it grow organically. It will happen--be consistent, and patient!
Substack is not a great place to build community for people to engage with each other. You should consider hosting a discord or something where you can pull them into their own place.
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Just subscribed. Have been working on rebuilding macroeconomics and finance using complex systems and network theory for many years and teach a PhD level class in far from equilibrium economics. Look forward to your work.
Perfect timing, my next post will be focused on looking at the economy as a complex/dynamic system! I'm looking forward to reading your work and any feedback/thoughts you might have on mine.
It was only for the month of May, but I just posted about ten pieces about science and how everything fits together. What kinds of stuff do you write about, Shingai?
I'm focused on writing about how everything in the observable universe can be viewed as a system. I explore how the young, but promising field of "systems science" can play a key role in helping humanity better understand the world and tackle the tough interdisciplinary issues we face
Hello Shingai! My Substack is called System Changers and it's all about growth and personal transformation for people who lead systemic change :) Checking yours out now!
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Hi Shingai! I’m not prioritising moving people over to the Substack app and a fair chunk of my readers reads through email but I wrote a Substack 101-post that I link to frequently explaining what Substack is, how to comment and subscribe etc to make it more inviting for people to comment etc: https://astridbracke.com/how-to-use-and-enjoy-substack/amp/
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Substack is a framework, and it provides some useful tools, but creating an engaged, welcoming community is down to our own leadership and collaboration. Creating connection with people comes from sharing your values in an authentic way.
Don't be afraid of your unique voice and the value it provides to others. We're all looking for recognition and reflection, so setting a tone, honestly, and approach in your writing, newsletters, and community is an incredibly powerful way to build mutually beneficial relationships.
Give yourself permission to sit and think. The stress of trying to force yourself to write often makes writers block worse. Do something else. Go for a walk. Indulge a different hobby. You'll get unstuck. The worst thing you can do is sit there staring at an empty post and say to yourself "Man I really need to write something!"
Agreed. Letting your subconscious do the work while you’re consciously engaged in another activity has always helped me. An idea pops into my head and I can go with it or just keep it handy.
Granted, there are times when you need to make yourself focus and actually type out the words, but we rarely give ourselves enough grace to have thinking space away from the computer/typewriter/paper. It's incredible what your subconcious is working on at any given time. Be sure to be quiet from time to time so it can get a word in.
I get the best ideas when I go for a walk with my dogs. Then I just talk into the phone and by the time I get home, I have written the bulk of a new post! sabrinalabow.substack.com
This is helpful for finding a starting point but it won't write the article for you. I wish I could take credit for the idea but it cam from the comedian and author Steve Allen: Keep a note book or voice recorder close all the time and record every idea that is interesting. Then when you have a block revisit these ideas and see if they jumpstart your mind. Allen claimed that he wrote an entire book that way once. Hope this helps.
Yes! I just said I did that when I go for a walk with my dogs. Being outside in nature with my doggies and no distractions for the most part, lends itself to creativity. Then I just speak into my phone:)
Good advice. There are many days where I just capture some topics and maybe some top level thoughts (just a few bullets) on those topics. Then, I go on with my life, maybe even write some other stuff. I KNOW that those little seeds are growing in my subconscious and, when the seed is ripe, the words will come to me easy.
If I try to force it before it's ready, the writing will not be fun and the result will not be as good. Let the seeds grow. But REMEMBER TO PLANT THEM!
With all due respect, your comment is a bit too reminiscent of Julie Andrews' comment, in "Mary Poppins," to the effect that "just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down."
I am sure lots of little kiddies would like to say, "Oh, I'm tired. I don't wanna write today. I want to watch infantile cartoons and eat snores (or whatever snack it is that the common dolts eat today)."
"Man, if you wanna sing the blues you gotta pay your dues.
And you know it don't come easy."
So force yourself to write.
If you can't think of something to write, READ. Good literature is the best stimulus for the production of good literature.
Take an Ax to the television set.
Having satisfied my quota of briliant comments for the day, I'm gonna smoke a joint and listen to George Harrison
Find a job in which you have to write stuff every single day. If you don't write, you get fired. This will make you write whenever you want to write. Many years ago, I had intermittent writer's block. Then I became an attorney at a New York Law firm. I had to write every single day. My writer's block was soon cured. That's one problem that has been consigned to history.
That’s not easy. Not everyone is in a write-heavy profession. Personally, I work with my hands, but it’s mostly cutting. I have a lot of time to think about writing so the inspiration bubbles up and I can write it later.
I think that the alternative is to foster boredom. Too many people constantly fill the void with noise. Your brain needs quiet in order to start being creative.
This means maybe you don’t listen to podcasts while you clean your home, or watch tv in the background while you cook. I sometimes don’t even play music in my car
And I will readily concede that a huge proportion of people who write for a living don't write anything the least bit intelligent, worthwhile or aesthetically pleasing.
I enjoy reading everything you write, Terry - but those OuLiPo posts of yours are incredible! They're a great way of thinking sideways (I mean that as a compliment) - I need even more OuLiPo in my OuLiLife...!
I realized the other day that I hadn't written a lot of poetry lately. I have other priorities at the moment so kind of dismissed the though and didn't do anything further. BUT when I went on a long-overdue run one beautiful evening, suddenly I was stopping multiple times on my run to jot lines of poetry into my notes app on my phone.
Inspiration will find you when you're open and willing to receive, instead of trying to force or push. It can feel scary to put yourself in the vulnerable position of receiving but it's a practice I'm trying to nourish!
My blocks are usually related to topic selection, so I keep a pretty big list of potential topics to explore. Other than that, I rely on two things: 1. giving myself permission to stare into space for my entire writing time, and 2. stream-of-consciousness outline writing - just making as many bullet points as I can on the topic.
Yes! My newsletter is called Stream Unconsciousness because it is my unconsciousness that is streaming, not my consciousness if that makes sense. sabrinalabow.substack.com
🧠Hi Akash! My 2c: I go (so that's why it's my suggestion to you) to sites/arenas/magazines.....any place or media where I usually don't go. Visit some online site about a topic you never, otherwise go, visit the grocery store, and pick up a magazine you've never looked at before. Read an article about a topic you're not usually attracted to, just to see another person's view and perspective on something new.
Example, somewhat similar: Yesterday (Wed), Terry Freedman https://terryfreedman.substack.com/ e-mailed me and asked if I was going to write about the recently-passed Tina Turner. I hadn't planned on it, figuring all 835 other 'Stack music writers would be doing something similar, and quickly.
He meant it as a compliment, I finally allowed myself to realize, and while I didn't want to write "just another tribute" or eulogy (I'll let the others do that), there is one thing about her I knew I could actually add my knowledge and appreciation to....one song in particular.
Just one, but, it's a song and production I've loved for decades, and it'll have all one would need to know about her talent, her drive, and the love fellow artists had for her.
So, all of the above, Akash, as well as allowing others who read you, and dig what you do, to influence and inspire you! And, thank you, Terry!🙋♂️
Certainly my pleasure, Terry.......I give credit where credit am due!! Writing it now....about the one song that defined her career. And, regardless of any guesses, it won't be what anyone would guess! Almost a guarantee!
Fantastic! I'm looking forward to that. My fave one is one that I don't think got much traction: Back where you started. Anyway, I thought if anyone had some great info it would be you.
I write about other things that are sort of related to what I'm having trouble with. I also lean into why it's so difficult for me to continue writing about X. And agree with some other writers, go on a walk, take a break, step away! :)
I write about the writer's block. I dig into it. I let the resistance actually be the path, rather than the boulder in the way. I don't publish any of this, but it helps me remember that if I can think, I can write. I don't have to be in a perfect state to write. I just need to stop judging what I'm thinking about. But if the other advice works better for you, go with that! Just wanted to share what works for me!
For me, sometimes I feel blocked when I'm trying to write the wrong thing (for me). I have given myself too open-ended of an assignment, or I have decided I need to write some particular thing that no longer inspires me, or I am attempting to dig into an experience that is too painful at the moment.
Giving myself permission to change what I'm trying to work on helps sometimes.
Agree 💯. I've started a couple of articles that I tried to force myself to finish but didn't want to. So I stopped and started writing a completely unrelated article I felt inspired to write at that moment. The others are still drafts I'll go back to later, but sometimes it helps to just switch gears.
When I sit down to write for my newsletter, I handwrite the bulk of the article and only when I finish it, do I sit down to type it. (It's a bit old school haha.)
I've found that I feel like I have writer's block when I'm sitting in front of my laptop, but that isn't so when I face a blank page in my notebook. I think it's because I can get easily distracted while typing on my laptop and when I handwrite, it grounds and forces me to focus.
I don't force it. I let the day go if my trick of reading other's work doesn't get the inspo going.
So as I've been writing consistently and playing around with finding my footing with what I wanted to write, I learned that I just had NOTHING to share at one point and decided to two two weeks away from public posting. THAT seemed to get SO many drafts flowing to me!
So now? I'm feeling REALLY good about taking two weeks off per quarter to rest, and write and work on drafts when they come. Doing that allowed me to easily get a couple pieces ready so I could be almost a week ahead of schedule. So I can continue to feel less rushed about my commitment to consistency. *my* way.
Super recently, I'm REALLY embracing the intention of nothing rushing me in life, or my process.
Doing so (post my first 2-week break) allowed me to channel a writing standing in my grandma's guest room, understand that it needed more but not stressing about it... continuing about my days with more grace and ease and BAM! The rest of the essay came to me and I just published it this week and I'm SUPER proud of it, and it's gotten such great feedback from readers!
All because I didn't focus on forcing, but letting work come when it comes and taking breaks when needed.
I usually pool in points I want to convey in a draft Google document and then build it on from there over time, a few days or even a week. The more I manifest it, the more a structure becomes visible, and that has helped me so far overcoming writer's block.
I try to get out of my verbal brain and into my visual one - I pick up a pencil and just see what doodles emerge. It's usually pretty abstract, but it always leads me somewhere different and new. Either that, or I get into my body with a run, a walk, or some yard work!
Question about the "dance" and etiquette among writers. To me, the great joy of Substack is when two writers connect and they both genuinely esteem each other for his or her work. It's magic. My question is what to do when one writer isn't that into the other? What's the etiquette? And when one writer subscribes (for free) and the other doesn't, how do we know if the other writer looked and wasn't interested or is waiting to see how interested we are first, or is just a narcissist who doesn't care what any other writer on Substack is doing?
This is tricky. I’ve had people subscribe to me, but I’m just not interested in the topic of their newsletter, or the writing is not my style. I don’t think anyone should feel pressured to subscribe back, since receiving emails is much more of a commitment than a casual follow on social media.
I agree. It's kind of a dance, with neither side ever saying what they're really thinking. I have about three dozen writers where it's mutual esteem. Best thing about Substack.
From my perspective, the answers to your questions don't really matter. When one subs and the other doesn't? No point in worrying about it. I have to ask myself what would I do with that info if I knew? And the answer is nothing. How would knowing that info help me? And the answer it wouldn't.
There is no etiquette in this regard, or at least not for me. If you want to sub, sub. If not, that's okay, too. I find it best to put my energy into my writing and publishing. Those are things I can control. What other people decide to do I can't control so I find it best not to wonder about it too much.
🟧 One of my subscribers complained that she stopped receiving my emails after she downloaded the Substack app, and the same thing happened to me after I started using it. My two cents: The default notifications setting for new app users should be “in email and app.” They should have to actively choose to not get emails or not get push notifications.
YES! I've been wondering why I'm not getting emailed newsletters either and I didn't even think to check the settings. One of the reasons I was so excited to use Substack was because it WASN'T another app on my phone!
✏️ Interested to hear what has worked best for other writers. I get a lot of direct messages and likes, but would like to engage more, especially with notes.
Interesting to specifically encourage this. My preference is for folks to make public comments, but I also get why that is unappealing for many and like the idea of giving folks another avenue for feedback. A handful of my readers already reply by email. Some have told me in person that they read every issue but will NEVER engage, no matter which channel. So many personalities at play for this stuff.
Without getting too into the weeds, having readers reply to you tricks email providers into thinking your newsletter is a human corresponding with other humans, not a one way piece of data
I have people tell me that they're very engaged despite never even "liking" my work. But they are specific and sincere haha! Those moments of encouragement keep me going. By the way, I like your tag "remarkable observations from an "ordinary" life." My substack has a similar vibe, in that it's an everyday life mix of observations in essays and poetry. Do you have thoughts on writing about "ordinary" lives and how we can better express the value of reading about them? Or maybe I'm just asking - what does ordinary mean to you?
Hi Jodie -- sorry for the delayed reply. Your comment got a little buried in the Office Hours tsunami. Ha!
You bring up good questions/thoughts. I think, for me, ordinary means most people can see themselves in the stories. That, then, becomes the value. Conveying that to people who haven't yet read anything is a horse of a different color, one I don't yet feel I've tamed. I guess, by default, I'm relying on help from existing readers to introduce the work to new people. It's a tricker sell than having "a thing" to offer: the latest tech hacks, recipes, travel tips, etc. Definitely no get rich quick scheme going on over here.
I get a lot of personal feedback and much fewer comments. I find it frustrating as I long for reader engagement. What people write publicly engages others and builds social cred.
I hear you, Andrew. We are a numbers-driven culture. I think about print publications and books, though, and how instant feedback is more or less a modern tool. That helps me be a little less impacted by the kinds of engagement I'm seeing. One thing that might help, if you're not already doing this, is to make specific request for feedback. In your email headers, be sure to tell people how much you appreciate them liking and commenting. Then add a "leave a comment" button to your post to reinforce the ask. Doesn't always make a difference, but it can't hurt.
Personally, I love Notes. I’ve gotten varying degrees of engagement but generally the banter back and forth is consistent. I’ve also gotten a lot of subscribers since its launch. It’s a great place for off the cuff analyses or comments or even if you want to post supplement articles to your work.
🧠 Right now (at 3mo on Substack) reciprocity and allowing time for growth is important to me. It’s straddling a fine line (this is literally what I just posted today) between writing what interests you and what interests your readers most. Engagement is a great way to measure interest but also understanding, this early in the game, that not everything you write may resonate with your new audience. They too are getting to know you! 😀
Honest musing of the moment: The more I dabble in Notes, the more overwhelmed I get by what seems like the ceaseless energy of the handful of regular posters I seem to get fed relentlessly. And then I wonder if I post on Notes, will someone see me relentlessly - apparently not because no one notices. And it's just a spiral of comparison that seems to come down to numbers and how the system works better for the bigger, and I don't like feeling unheard, so I just kind of lurk a little and then stomp off to my corner. I imagine I'll be happier here when I can get in and out with intention - whatever that may be. Not overstay and become scrolling numb, but have an idea, post it, respond to some posts that strike me and GET OUT. Like originally I thought it would be a great idea to pose questions here that could be used as good crowdsourcing research for future topics of interest I want to write about. But because of the above problem of not getting noticed as a smaller Substacker, no one really responds and that's not proving a good use of my time.
I guess if there's any question in this - it's one of balance on a bigger scale beyond just the stickywicket of notes. How do people juggle the writing itself with the promo/social part that may not come as easy to many of us (we're writers!). And bigger perspective still, does anyone like me struggle in the reality of the whole enterprise of living online in a computer - this has been a constant war within myself all of my adult life. I want to be outside building something but my art form/any job I have requires stationary computer work.
Maybe it's just a nice day out there today and I'm here feeling distracted ;)
I mean... yes. To all of this. I would much rather be in my garden or writing an essay than promoting my work in the millions of little places where writers promote their work. How I've learned to do it: Janelle Hardy has a great DIY marketing class coming up that was really beneficial for me. One of the main pillars of that is about how not to take things too terribly seriously. https://www.janellehardy.com/diymarketing/
"I know it’s not easy being an artist. I know the gulf between creation and commerce is so tremendously wide that it’s sometimes impossible not to feel annihilated by it. A lot of artists give up because it’s just too damn hard to go on making art in a culture that by and large does not support its artists. But the people who don’t give up are the people who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity. They’ve taken into their hearts the idea that there is enough for all of us, that success will manifest itself in different ways for different sorts of artists, that keeping the faith is more important than cashing the check, that being genuinely happy for someone else who got something you hope to get makes you genuinely happier too.
Most of those people did not come to this perspective naturally. And so, Awful Jealous Person, there is hope for you. You, too, can be a person who didn’t give up. Most of the people who didn’t give up realized that in order to thrive they had to dismantle the ugly jealous god in their heads so they could instead serve something greater: their own work. For some of them, it meant simply shutting out the why not me voice and moving on. For others, it meant going deeper and exploring why exactly it pained them so much that someone else got good news."
Sometimes I'm in the first group. Sometimes the second. (I also write about infertility, and boy oh boy do we talk about that last part, the pained part, a whole lot when it comes to our friends with "oopsie" pregnancies. The equivalent of getting a 6-figure book deal without trying, maybe?)
Wow, that's all wonderful and helpful. Will bookmark that Dear Sugar column and check out that DIY marketing class!
It's funny, usually I'm definitely not one to worry about what anyone thinks and I've always been a little (very local - like on my block!) leader in just doing the work in my own small way. But the more time you spend on these mediums, the more the spell of the LIKES pulls you under. It's how it's all built. I hate that part. Do we need to see how people liked anything? Is it helpful? What's it about??
And there I was with a baby oops too. Definitely much to be grateful about in any case!
We all have those things that have just fallen into our laps without trying, and the things we have to try so hard for, I think. No one is immune to suffering and comparison. I wrote about that this week, too: https://ryanroseweaver.substack.com/p/wild-geese-and-mustard-seeds
Whether we're trying to figure out where to share our gratitude or our gripes, it does help to know our audience. Complaining about your oopsie baby with a friend going through infertility? Maybe not. Complaining that your agent didn't book you in a hotel room with a hot tub on your third bestseller-book tour when others are struggling to finish their first book? Similar. (I also write about what to say/not to say etiquette a bit more here -- it may be transferable. https://ryanroseweaver.substack.com/p/the-first-rule-of-complicated-mothers)
That "knowing our audience" piece might actually be what the "likes" are most useful for -- figuring out where our message is doing the most service in the world. Assuming that likes do measure that -- which they might not always. In which case... as you point out, there's always the option to go outside and enjoy the day instead :)
This idea of not enough to go around is stupid and just not true. If people would stop comparing themselves to other people what a relief it would be to both them and everyone around them. Be happy for people who succeed! That energy is positive! That energy you put out is what you get back. Think of yourself as a magnet. sabrinalabow.substack.com
You might find it helpful to block a set amount of time to be on Notes. When the time's up, you're out. In my case, this works best early in the morning. Others might prefer the late afternoon or evening.
yes, that mantra of time limits helped me so much when I was full-time small-town reporter and posting about 12 stories daily. Everything had to be so intentional and timed. Only worry about what's the most important thing to do right now. I like to do the same with work email. Get in and out. It seems Thursdays and this Office Hours always lures me in longer than I mean to.
It's not just you. I got the majority of my initial subscribers from spamming my friends and Facebook feed. Anything else has been from responding to the same people who show up on my Notes feed, but that's been sporadic at best.
yes,thank goodness for those real starter friends. But then I'm writing newsletters knowing that my ex-boyfriend so-and-so from 2001 and Aunt Barb on a mountaintop out west are reading this which can freeze me up from being all free and truthful about everything. I would love to transition this list somehow to Perfect Strangers that find me and gel with the writing authentically. I guess we'll get there...someday...VERY SLOWLY
I can relate! I would much rather write for strangers. My mother and mother-in-law were two of my first subscribers, so I always feel like I have to censor what I say. There is freedom in anonymity!
for sure. OMG I was so happy that my mom was not on this. Especially because my troubles with her fuel a lot of my inept mom angst I may want to write about! And then my aunt announced she helped my mom get online. And then mom said she shared with her church. Oh just kill me now. Nooooo!
OMG. So real. I actually changed my FB settings before I shared posts there so that no one in my immediate family would subscribe. I need to be able to breathe a bit!
To me, Notes is no different than Twitter (which I hated even before Musk ruined it). I'm not a fan of social media in general, so with the exception of these Writer Office Hours and Post (post.news) I don't spend much time chatting with other writers and readers. I also publish a lot of articles on Medium, and read and comment on others' articles there.
Self-promotion in general is difficult for me, but I'm finding ways to do it that don't feel sleazy, overly aggressive, manipulative or just pathetic.
As for outdoor time, I've rediscovered just how much I need to go for walks in the park whenever possible. I'm so much calmer during and after those walks AND my writing is better because I've taken a break and come back to it with a better attitude and new ideas.
🟧 - I get that you guys want to stay on the platform, but could we do a community virtual office hours on a video-based platform? I'd really love to see other writers in time and spend time with them for a sense of community. :-)
I'll be the outlier here and say that I prefer the text-based format. I grew up in the era of forums and message boards, and frankly, I get very fatigued from video meetings. It's nice to come here a few times a month and get to know others through their words.
The text format also allows many more people to participate and creates space for numerous discussion threads. And I appreciate being able to gather my thoughts rather than giving rapid, on-the-spot responses or being distracted in a video meeting.
I'm with you. I really don't' like video meetings. I've noticed that some people get a bit long-winded or take too long to get to the point and then I lose focus and have no idea what's going on!
I'd much rather be able to read and respond.
Good points, Ramona.
I agree with you. I think it will be too difficult to reach as many people with video whereas with writing we can reach and respond to more people. sabrinalabow.substack.com
It’s a problem a lot of people have figured out for the past few years. Too many people on a video conference and it becomes a problem for interacting.
same with me, Theresa. I'm burnt out from the social media videos all the time, if i'm honest. Substack is a lovely escape from that, where the written word is King!
I quit social media in October of last year. Not sure if I'll ever go back, but if I do, I'm staying away from Facebook and Instagram. I never got into TikTok.
I suspect video is "king" in the content marketing space right now because people have allowed it to be. I don't buy for a minute that people actually have short attention spans. I think advertising and media have trained us to want things that are easy to consume in a short period of time, and now businesses and brands think that's what they have to deliver to get seen. It's a silly and destructive precedent that doesn't have to exist.
you did well, Theresa. I'm a musician as well as a writer and have been battling about how to quit the socials, or at least reduce them to one or two. It is virtually impossible for us as independent artists. As for short attention spans, i can only speak for myself when i say that mine became shorter since the internet, as our brains are not used to consuming so much information in such a short amount of time. But yes, we have been trained by the media, that i agree with.
You're right, Jo. That it seems impossible to quit the socials if you're independent and need to market your work. But that's also the big tech corporations, trying to make you think you need them. I'd encourage you to check out Hub marketing. Tad Hargrave talks about it a lot. Basically, you find hubs where your people already hang out and you start engaging. Substack is a great hub, for example and you're already engaging on it. I also completely quit socials, although not long ago I went back on Facebook because I took an online training and the group was on there, but I don't use it for anything else. If you're interested in more of an explanation, I can dig up some material on it. Let me know.
That's a good point. We're writers. We should be writing to each other!
exactly!!
I'll join in with a personal point, as a visual learner I tend to struggle to follow videos conversations. At least with this format, we get to pick what interests us and skip the other points quickly instead of having to sit through people speaking. I also love to be able to read through while doing other things.
As @Andrew Heard said, I'm sooo done with sitting though video conferences.
I haven't attended once since the pandemic was "over" lol
How I envy you !
yeah i haven't been forced into it with work yet haha
FWIW, I don't think you're an outlier. We're all writers here. The challenge in this text thread is keeping up with all the interesting conversations. I'm good with that. If we were to do anything with video I'd hope it to be very, very focused on a specific genre so the number of participants is more limited.
For sure, plus with how much video conferencing has been happening over the past few years, people are burned out by the idea.
Yes, this. I have 1 or 2 video meetings per week, and that's more than enough for me.
I must have not paid close enough attention the emails advertising these Writer Office Hours -- I thought it was a video conference myself and was very much looking forward to it! I second this. I would love a live discussion / Q & A panel for Substack as well as maybe Zoom sessions for write-a-thons or just a space where we can discuss what we're working on.
For anyone interested in video collaboration as you work maybe? There's a couple websites where you can work together in a room with a pomodoro method of working an allotted time, then take a break and chat, then work, then chat.
I've only been to one in my coaching space on Facebook and feel very self-conscious with the camera on, but it is nice.
I dunno how to make sure you get Substack only peeps together but I'd look into Focus Mate and Study Together to see if you can create something you'd like.
I know some Substack writers who host monthly video collabs while writing/working together, including Suleika Jaouad.
Ideally, it would almost be a matter of figuring out how to get the Substack community together. Maybe this is where the different communities of each writer comes together to figure out these sorts of events. Maybe sending out invites to the audience you have and building from there? Or collaborating with other Substack writers to host together? Spreading the love with multiple communities within Substack could help limit the audience.
Ah yeah, exactly! It would have to come to the Substack communities coming together to create that type of collab, you're right. And that's true! I forgot about some people already offering those types of spaces already here on Substack as well.
I’ve got a YouTube video sharing my thoughts on my first year here if you want to watch that. 🥰
i also thought it was a video conf.
Not sure that is going to be the most beneficial. Some people don’t have enough bandwidth for a video conference. You also have the problem of privacy. It doesn’t make much sense to make people go video.
I agree. Plus I don't want to feel like I have to be "on" - video mean doing my makeup and being dressed haha! I like being able to jump on in whatever state and just learn and converse with other writers. You know, "write" to one another...
I also hate to have to do my makeup.... no, not really. I'm not opposed to video, and my Skype subscript says "Don't worry! I look like crap too!!!"
Yes, I can see that some might not want this. And... if some do it might be nice for them/us.
I get that although it also kinda separates the audience between those who use video and those who don’t or can’t. Defeats the purpose of office hours, which is partly why I don’t like the trend of creating separate threads for different issues.
I prefer a written forum, but have to admit I do NOT like this format. It is impossible to track, find, or scan the conversations in any easy way. When I am trying to find a particular comment or follow a certain level on the thread, it is somewhat maddening.
Way too easy to get buried way, way down under the "TOP" conversations that were lucky to get the first responses in the thread. Better than a video format for THIS type of event, but I'm not a fan.
I completely agree...it is difficult to track or find particular conversations or comments...plus, I often feel like an ant crawling around in a forest...and no one pays attention to a solitary ant!
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
I'd love to connect, but I work with undergraduate students. I run my family's scholarship fund for kids in the Bronx Housing Projects - https://www.jjmsf.org and have a lot of grant writing experience/general experience in the development world. Will definitely share your substack with our students though - as many of them are looking for supporting after undergrad to attend graduate school!
Will subscribe and recommend your newsletter, kindly do same. we should connect via email as well: Gradinterface@gmail.com
Undergraduates is also very important to me, I need them to attend the webinars I have at least twice a month were I bring in final year grad students and early research scientist to share their hacks and success stories, thereby encouraging the hopefuls.
Great! Please feel free to reach out at jjmsfscholars@gmail.com
What kind of collaboration did you have in mind? I’m a writer with 15 years experience writing grants, fundraising communications, marketing content, etc and can provide coaching and feedback on written proposals.
my specific niche is writing technical content that is accurate yet understandable by general audiences.
I just subscribed and recommended your substack to my subscribers, kindly do same, thanks
This is a very good area of collaboration. I can share or recommend your substack with my subscribers as some of them are graduate students while others are aspiring graduate students. I intend do continue doing this ( sharing information about funding opportunities) for the next 5-10 years. My competence is research, beyond that I don’t love the time it takes to help people individually.
I also started engaging professors whom I believe an help distribute my content to their students, hence that could be your reach.
Will send an email: Gradinterface@gmail.com
I second this idea!
I didn't always have an ugly mug (I once was in a rock band and people drooled over my looks), but I am showing my age
And in this era in which cameras click away with incessant cruelty, our photos fuck us routinely, i.e., when one's skin is wrinkled, the infinitely stupid masses assume that one's reasoning is a wrinklled wretched thing.
If everything were on video, those who are bright but homely will be banished.
Shit, entertainmebt, the arts and media is filled to the brim with shallow spoiled brainless bimbos who are getting attention only becasue they are photogenic
Yes, as great as it is to hang out with other folk on Zoom, it reduces everything to one verbal channel that everyone is trying to talk through. That way lies madness. I see video as a *nearly* 1-to-1 thing (ie. maybe 6-1 or 10-1 at the most, beyond which it's like being in a bar where EVERYONE IS TRYING TO SPEAK AND NOBODY CAN HEAR ANYTHING. Craziness in abundance and not much in the way of conversation, I bet?
Where I’ve been to big open office hours on zoom everyone is muted and the host reads questions and answers as many as they can in real time over the hour.
As she’s answering people chat in the chat - you’ve got to have a certain type of brain to be able to hold that much space but it’s defo possible!
I remember there was such a meeting. It was for New year in December 2021. But it was more about selebrating writers community rather than answering any questions. It was successful and I hope you will organize event like it again.
✏️ - would love to know if any newsletter publishers are making good use of Chat, it's not something I've invested a lot of time in. Any suggestions on how to make good use of it?
🧠 - I regards Comments as a sign of the quality of a post, especially of Commentators build on each other's comments. I used to make a point of replying to every single comment but now I'm more selective. I do try to like most of the comments to acknowledge that I've seen them.
✏️ - does anyone see Notes cannibalizing attention from Chat and Comments?
Unfortunately, Mark, I do see attention divided between Notes and Newsletter. I got a big jump in subscribers, but my open rate dropped significantly as well. Totally anecdotal, but I suspect somewhat related. A small amount of that will shift back I believe after a bit of the novelty wears off... maybe.
My open rate dropped significantly last week after a flood of new "subscribers" -- which appear to be some sort of spam. I'm going to let them ride a few posts and if they don't post any activity then purge them.
I think I'm seeing a similar drop in open rate as well.
Normally when I've had a small burst of new subs my open-rate drops but then recovers as people figure out they subscribed. Given the email addresses and domains I'm seeing I'm not as confident this time around. I didn't crack 50% for the first time, which is alarming.
You know, this brings up a point: are we overvaluing open rate? Given that there are now multiple ways to get access to our newsletters outside of email (notes being the latest), is that as relevant as we thought it was? For example, does a social media link click trigger an open? Granted, it's probably the most useful metric that Substack has but does it fully measure how many people are seeing and interacting with newsletters?
me too, what's going on there? i was getting an 80% open rate and suddenly a drop.
What is an open rate to us newbies?
Basically it's a count of the percentage of your subscribers who actually opened your newsletter email to read it as opposed to it sitting untouched in their inbox. In practice it's a little more complicated because somehow it takes into account when a newsletter is accessed within the Substack Reader application. It's one of the more accurate metrics you can use to judge engagement with your subscribers.
I’m wondering about spam subscriptions, too. I’ve been getting little bursts of them and the emails do not all look legit. Is Substack monitoring this? Or do we need to weed them out?
That thing called The Connection is a spam outfit. We think Hannah Williams" is not a real person but some kind of pirate. I had to delete about 30 subscribers who came over The Collection, with weird email addresses, who never opened an email.
The Collection? That certainly tracks with my experience. Hannah was recommending me for a while. Now she's blocking me. Super-weird behaviour if she's legit?
Did you also get UK Plumbing Services and Hong Kong Limousine Rentals? So weird... I removed them, but maybe they were legit readers? 🤨
Hilarious, they aren't even trying to hide their spoofing...
Haha. Oh my.
Not sure if/what Substack's doing to monitor, but I think I'm going to manually prune periodically so they don't run out of control.
We got a bunch this morning, Yahoo accounts that look sketchy.
This happened to me too
Bummer. It seems like you have a nice-sized list. How are you responding?
My total open rate dropped when I started using Sample, cuz my overall page visits skyrocketed. But I get plenty of likes from my subscribers and plenty of comments, so feeling good about the engagement even those numbers now look funny.
And if open rate volume is high that is probably OK. I guess it would be nice to see "time spent" to blend with those other metrics.
I had a similar experience when using The Sample. In general, I've stayed focused on comments as my primary engagement. For fiction it's been critical to get that feedback.
I've also noticed a drop in my open rate corresponding with a burst of new subscribers. Interesting. Glad I'm not the only one. 🤔
Even before this dip, I started putting more stock in clicks and comments to show engagement, since Apple made the open rate far less reliable as a metric. But I think open rates are still useful as a broad bellwether.
My open rate has dropped as well. I'm usually in the 50-70% zone. Now I'm in the 30s and 40s.
I appreciate that confirmation, Bailey. I've heard similar things from others as well that have used various email programs, that it's a hard metric to track.
Yeah I'm finding them wholly unreliable. I have people who leave a comment who apparently never opened the post. But I'm assuming that is because they opened the post via the App.
Is it possible to incorporate those stats? Or is that what you mean by it not being in your control?
Thanks for the update Bailey!
The one time I found a really nice use for Chat was in advance of writing an article about exposition. I asked on Chat how other writers handle exposition, and was then able to incorporate those responses into the article. It worked really well - and keeping it on chat made it a bit more exclusive/private prior to publishing the article, rather than going more broad on Notes or elsewhere.
You can see the end result here: https://simonkjones.substack.com/p/how-to-do-exposition-without-it-turning
That's a really great use case, Simon! Thank you for sharing! I haven't really loved Chat as a place to hang out with readers (too hard to synchronize timing for a live conversation), but it's an interesting way to get community responses that inform a piece you're working on. Very cool!
Interesting. Since Chat can be restricted to Paid Subscribers/Founders, this could be very useful for incentivizing paid subscriptions where Notes is more about reaching out more broadly.
Yeah! Lot of potential there. I don't have enough paid subscribers for that to work yet, but it could definitely be a really useful perk for larger publications.
Ha! Yeah, same here. Info that's good to keep handy as our Newsletters grow. 😉
Yeah, as a reader of your newsletter, this worked really well! I've tried notes for this with some benefit, but chat is good for reaching just your subscribers. Alternatively, I've been using discussion threads as such. I'm not sure which is better :) pros and cons...
It could be I just don't understand the nuances of Chat, but I'd much rather engage in the comments and at Notes. I find Chat very confusing.
Not confusing for me, just not practical either. Notes and posts are far more intuitive interaction for me.
What about discussion threads as an alternative?
I like Notes, but not everyone on your list will see them.
🧠 I find I spend too much time in notes, and sometimes neglect the regular newsletters. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm resisting notes with every fiber of my social-media-hating being...lol.
I've resisted chat and notes. I'm glad it's not just me. lol
Hey Mark,
I played with Chat for a month. I told everyone up front that I'd be live for about an hour at a set date and time. The conversations were good, but it was a challenge to synchronize the conversation for the community. It wasn't a bad thing that the chat kept going days later, but at that point people were kind of just adding to a dead room, sorta like telling an amazing anecdote a day after the cocktail party ended. I don't know, I didn't love Chat, and I don't think it did much for my readers. Maybe if I stuck with it, but it felt like a Zoom would be a better format for a synchronized conversation.
Yup, synchronous communication. It kind of felt to me like it's a potential challenger to Discord but don't know how that worked out.
Chat seems to be useful for timely announcements to one's entire list. For example, I've seen writers post a reminder or cancellation for a live coworking event or notify everyone when the replay is ready.
For actually "chatting," Notes seems much more natural to use.
It seems to me that you would need to build the habit for your readers to use Chat for best effect.
I never had much success with Chat -- granted I'm not that interesting -- and my assessment is Notes rendered Chat irrelevant. Notes is definitely cannibalizing attention, which is the main form of currency we're all trading.
I struggled a lot with what to do with Chat vs Notes. Here's where I'm at after a few weeks: I think Chat and Notes are totally different beasts. With Notes, you're talking to the broader Substack community. With Chat, you're talking to just your subscribers. So Chat is a bit more exclusive and personal. That's how I'm trying to think of it anyway. I'm not exactly sure how to curate my posts for either just yet, but as I'm sorting it out those are the things I'm keeping in mind.
I didn't think about Chat being only for subscribers. That may be useful down the line. One other question: When Chat appears as a section on Notes, how is that done? How do you initiate that? And if it's only for your own subscribers, does that mean everyone on Notes doesn't see it?
Oh can chat appear as a section on Notes? I haven't seen that.
I was under the impression that yes, only subscribers see my chats. But if chats is appearing in Notes then I'm not sure what that is.
The only reason that I'm not Liking your comment is that I don't want to feed into the idea that you might not be interesting.
😇😇😇
I can’t easily find your comment. So far I’m not doing anything. But if my open rate stays low I’ll have to comb through the list & see if I can spit the bots 🤖
I haven’t seen any cannibalism, but to be fair, I never use Chat (either as a reader or as a writer). For me personally, Notes and Discussion Threads have made Chat redundant.
I agree. Notes seems to fill the void for which Chat was intended. It is lighter and more accessible than a full post and lets you engage with others in a similar format.
Yeah, I've not used chat either...
Same, but I love Notes and Comments.
tell me about "care of united states"?
Thanks for asking. :-) Lower case united states I take to mean respectful relationships of consent, justice, mutual dignity - anywhere. I have something of an abiding question: Does it take magic/enchantment to make stubborn individuals get along? If so, where is the magic? (In books!) :-) To care for united states is to apply the magic potion known best to poets and artists, effective only temporarily. Some of my posts focus more on what "enchantment" means, others (one queued up for June) about the rituals and practices that reduce social friction. Generally, I try to have a great book open and draw from it ideas about how to do the U.S. experiment better.
I’ve used chat sparingly and in specific circumstances. For instance, when I got bored one night and pinged my readers with a specific question and we had a little fun for an hour.
I like chat because it goes directly to my community of readers.
I like notes because they go to my readers *and* get exposed to new readers.
I like them both for the different purpose they serve.
I have many readers who have come from outside of Substack and just have no idea how to navigate Notes. I was excited at first, but now I worry it's just trying to "fix" something that wasn't broken, while simultaneously deluding what was working well...
I'm starting to think of Substack Notes as the place where newsletter writers gather and chat, I think it has less appeal for other potential users.
Same here. Notes is my writing group. I don't really think of it as being a place for my readers - though, inevitably, there's a lot of crossover.
An important element there is that I don't control Notes. Substack controls notes. If I decided to go elsewhere, I can take my newsletters, I can take my subscribers, but I can't take the Notes community. As such, I don't want to invest in Notes as a key part of what I'm doing in the same way.
Instead, Notes is like going down the pub or to someone's house to talk about writing with a bunch of other writers. Vital, fascinating, useful, but it's not part of 'my newsletter'.
Got it. Good to know! Thanks so much, Mark
I could never get Chat to work out, even before Notes. I find myself trying to be intentional by checking/reading the newsletters I have first, then maybe finding new reads on Notes/engaging in comments there and/or posting a thing or two... restacking... And then I leave it alone.
I find I'm still getting comments on my work... More honestly, since interacting on Notes. I try keeping my time on Notes purposeful and timed so I give more than I "take" (draw attention to my work). It's working out for me, so long as I keep that attention and keep in mind why I'm taking the actions I decide to take here on Substack as a whole!
Had some good discussions with people on notes but not used the chat feature as of yet.
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
I do prefer Comments for the slower pace (and permanency) over Notes. I keep dabbling in and out of Notes and do enjoy it, but from a writer perspective, I feel a single comment on a post is worth many, many subscribers. I value each and every sub who takes a moment to post a comment. It means so much to me and really helps build that sense of community and engagement.
🧠 - when I have a creative prompt type post, I've found chat useful because I can invite subscribers to share images of what they've created, which they cannot do in the comments. Moving forward that's really the only way I envision using chat b/c I'd prefer the conversation to be attached to an original story (like you said, feels like a sign of a quality post)
🧠 - when I have a creative prompt type post, I've found chat useful because I can invite subscribers to share images of what they've created, which they cannot do in the comments. Moving forward that's really the only way I envision using chat b/c I'd prefer the conversation to be attached to an original story (like you said, feels like a sign of a quality post)
✏️ - How effective have Notes been for you in connecting with readers? What about Chat?
I tend to use Notes sparingly to comment on articles I come across that deal with issues I write about that don't warrant a full post. I don't have many subscribers yet, so Chat doesn't seem too useful just yet.
I browse Notes whenever I can and follow author names to new Substacks when I see a sense of humor or perspective that speaks to me. I’ve Subscribed to several from Notes and had some subscribers find me the same way. I don’t use Chat.
In a way, Notes feels like Newsletter Lite. I can see that as a good way to discover creators without diving into longer posts.
I actually use these Office Hours in a similar way. 😊 I've discovered plenty of folks on here with cool Substacks
Agreed! I just published my first newsletter last week, and have already met a lot of great writers through notes + these office hours.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: glad you popped in cause I got to discover you because of it!
❤️❤️
Congrats!!
Thank you!!
Welcome! :)
Thank you so much!
congratulations, how does it feel?
thank you Jo! It honestly feels incredible. The feedback has been so wonderful and supportive. Very grateful.
Love this perspective, and it's been exactly how I've been using Notes! I find new people through both spaces too haha. :)
Newsletter Lite, i like that 😊
I really like that perspective of Noted being a good place to find other writers (similar to Office Hours like @Quiet Sight mentioned below). I hadn't thought of that but I quite like it. Thanks.
I also don't use chat.
This is really helpful to hear. I haven't been sure how to use Notes in a productive way, but this gives me some ideas. Thanks so much!
same.
Ditto!
I find notes surprisingly effective. People read them and some then subscribe to HOT GLOBE. But a note created from a comment works best, that is, you comment intelligently to someone and then click to share it as a note.
Thanks for sharing Steve, that's cool to hear that your comments-turned-Notes are proving effective.
OK thanks, Steve. I think I've done that once or twice...
That's a really smart idea - and it pushes you to think up thoughtful comments, instead of "Great piece!" or w/e
I'll be stealing this idea!
Do you find Notes distracting or noisy at all? I dislike anything that resembles a social media feed and so have been avoiding using the feature.
I've never written a Note or read one. I'm here to read posts and share my written posts and interact with people after reading their post or them reading mine.
Notes isn't really my thing. I do tune in to see what's going on, but I find myself muting more people because (a) they post over and over and hog the feed or (b) they reply to some political thing which makes it appear in my feed.
I've never thought Notes was the right direction for Substack, but I'm way in the minority in that regard.
I do like to restack a paragraph from someone else at times, that's pretty cool. But overall, ... not that thrilled.
I'm with you in that minority. As soon as Notes launched, I thought, "Oh no, Substack is becoming Twitter." After I very deliberately deleted my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts last year.
Yes totally. I haven't looked in a couple weeks, but when Notes first came out, it was also so confusing to navigate. Maybe it's gotten better but I'm hesitant to dive back in because it seems like it could just be a massive time sink.
I've heard this from others, that it can suck up time and attention better spent writing.
I wouldn't call it trash. Perhaps misguided. The current internet landscape favors tactics that amount to shouting into a noisy room, and whoever shouts the loudest gets heard. 🤷🏻♀️
Not my bag, for sure.
The fight for clout is baked into the creator economy, at least in its current iteration. We've all been inundated with a false narrative of online hustle culture that leads us to believe we have to publish X times per week or month to "make it" and that big audiences equate to success.
I feel like many on Substack came here in the hopes of participating in something different and more realistic, but that hustle culture is creeping in. I see it in the Grow series and see its effects in the frustration or despondency some writers express during Office Hours. It seems like many who are just starting out are already discouraged and overwhelmed by the idea of trying to "measure up" to people with large audiences and lucrative subscriber bases.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere, one that allows writers to focus on craft while still making a decent living. It's a shame that the creative vocations are still undervalued in our society--unless you're willing to submit yourself to the internet framework that has created so much mediocre copycat content.
It can be kind of distracting when someone I follow posts a note and it shows up in my "activity" feed/notifications. I'm very sensitive to anything that feels like noise or distraction (digitally). Is it possible to turn off notifications for notes but leave new post notifications on?
I honestly feel like Notes encourages more noise and keeps writers and readers trapped in shallow streams of attention. Social media platforms provide that "snack" experience if people want it. But I feel a platform for writers and readers should maximize deep attention, thoughtful reflection, and meaningful interaction.
The appearance of subscription CTA popups on the platform also dismays me. I don't like it when something interrupts me in the middle of reading and try to block as much of those attention-grabbing tools as I can. It's honestly distressing to see some of the worst of the internet creeping into Substack.
🟧 Good points to consider—thank you, Bailey. So then can I gather that everyone who writes on Substack can see your Notes, whether they are already subscribers to your newsletter? If so, it would certainly be a help in getting new subscribers through a brief intro to your work.
My first Note was about how I wasn't sure how much I would like Notes. For the same reason. I was extremely concerned about the civility of the discourse. There have been some valid issues raised since the rollout, but by and large I find it a lot like being at a large conference. You're on Substack to do your job, primarily, and to learn from others, but it gives you that sense of running into someone cool at the line for the bathroom, who turns out to be the person who hands you your next lead or job. If that makes sense. Less so like Insta or FB, which feels sort of like being at an awkward high school reunion these days.
The promotion aspect of Notes has been genuinely lovely to see.
Good to hear!
I am not sure I have connected with that many of my readers (I have a much more robust community on Instagram) but I have connected with lots of writers on Notes.
When Notes first began I gained some new subscribers but it doesn't seem to be that useful now.
I frankly don't know how to draw in new subscribers from the Substack platform. Everyone else seems to do it successfully but it's not doing much at all for me.
I'm guessing it's me!!
I'm guessing it depends much on what KIND of Substack - serious/intellectual, fun/humour, personal, fictional etc etc. Also see my suggestion to the team (see below) about improving the list of 'topics' available on the Substack 'Explore' tab.
🟧 Still trying to figure out exactly who sees Notes. Is it just my subscribers or anyone who writes on Substack and accesses Notes? Ramona or anyone else..., do you know? Thanks!
I believe it's your subscribers (and those you subscribe to) and their subscribers (and those they subscribe to). I think...
Thanks, Nathan,
I believe Bailey just replied that anyone who writes on Substack can see anyone else's Notes, as long as the author of the Note hasn't specifically blocked readers....?
Surely if that was the case then Notes would be flooded with comments constantly?
I only ever see the same set of people.
Perhaps she means that it's possible for anyone to see the comment (in that Notes comments aren't private), but they'd need to be in the right network to do so?
Now I'm confused hehe.
What have you tried so far, Ramona? :) I have a small list that grows slowly, but maybe I could help with some tips from what I've done.
Both of my newsletters work as communities; Writer Everlasting more than Constant Commoner because I'm mainly writing to and for other writers. I don't go overboard on marketing but I do attend most Office Hours, I spend time on Notes, I comment and recommend and keep a blogroll at both of my newsletters.
I announce new posts on Facebook (no longer on Twitter; I never get much action there, anyway), and I try to keep my readers happy.
I have a fine group of loyal and engaged readers at both sites, so I'm not necessarily complaining. Just observing.
Are you reading around other newsletters that might be in a similar genre to yours? I used to the Explore tab a bit to find others and subscribe and engage in conversations and it's been really nice building something of a community between a number of fiction writers. That only expands so far, of course, but it's been an enjoyable process.
Sounds like you're doing quite a bit, then. My other suggestion would be to try submitting to some newsletter directories and see if that brings in a few new readers. I get a slow trickle from that. :)
Do you include your Substack links in your email signature, too?
Yes, I do.
Following. I am also having trouble with growth. Any suggestions or articles to read?
Here's what I've done:
- Submitted to directories like Inbox Reads
- Added a link to my Substack in my email signature (personal and business)
- Mentioned my newsletter or writing in conversation when it makes sense
- Attended Office Hours here most weeks
- Read and commented on 1 other Substack post 4-5 days per week
- Replied to comments on my Substack every weekday
- Emailed or texted contacts and friends whom I thought would be interested in reading my essays
And I'm currently doing a Substack Letters exchange with a friend who also writes on the platform. Not sure if that will drive any subscriptions, but it's a fun experiment.
Thanks! I have been doing some of these, but you gave me some new ideas to try. :)
These are great. Also Recommendations! They can be super powerful.
I never knew about inbox reads! Thanks!
Those are very good suggestions, Theresa. Thank you for sharing them. I'm also thinking of making a stack of business cards for my Substack, perhaps others may like that idea too?
Doing all of the above...collectively have helped a bit.
Excellent tactical breakdowns.
Do you find commenting on other Substacks to be effective?
How far afield from your topic do you venture?
I'm writing at the intersection of
-data science
-automation
-business
-ai
And wondering if I should limit my engagement to those four domains or if there is value expanding further to other circles?
-
I wrote this one a while ago, but it's still valid. It's behind the paywall but I'm happy to comp you a month to read it. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/how-to-find-more-readers-for-your
That’s great! Thank you.
it is definitely not you, Ramona. I'm certain others will back me up when i say that you are most loved on Substack.
It’s not you!
Notes has been very good so far. Accelerated my subscriptions, and been a way to meet new people and get to know my subscribers more closely. Very positive so far.
Simon, I would love to hear more about your Notes "strategy" if you're willing to share!
Also interested!
Are the notes engaging them in the conversation in some way?
Hi Sue and Matt! I'd hesitate to call it a 'strategy'. I've posted on Notes and interacted with people because I've found it interesting, and there hasn't been much conscious thought put into it.
A few things I've worked out along the way, though:
- Blatant self-promo doesn't really work. Sharing links to your own posts like you might on Facebook or Twitter doesn't get much traction.
- Sharing quotes and links from OTHER people's stuff goes down well, though.
- The 'My Subscribers' feed shouldn't be underestimated: It's a way to see what your readers are like, what they're interested in, in a single place. It's your readers, but you get to see them out of context. 'In the wild', if you like. That's not something I've really had before, and it's fascinating.
- My newsletter is about fiction writing, as well as where I post my actual fiction. I see Notes as an extension of that, so if I'm posting on Notes it's probably going to be related to what I write about on the newsletter in some way. ie, I'll be asking about a writing technique, or sharing something I just found out, or asking what people are working on. That kind of thing. That way, if someone finds one of my Notes interesting, there's a good chance they'll find my newsletter interesting as well.
- On the flipside, I don't tend to post about what I had for breakfast. I random thoughts about politics. Or other random stuff. I don't use it for idle ramblings, like I used to on Twitter. This keeps it more focused for readers and anyone stumbling upon my stuff - and, actually, I think is healthier for me as well.
- I make a point of trying to take part in other people's conversations, so it's not just me talking about me. This is made a LOT easier on Notes than it ever was on Twitter because my feed is automatically filtered down to people in my general area. The community I experience on Notes is the fiction writing community, basically.
- I've also been posting daily sketches. Nothing to do with my newsletter, but it's still a 'creative pursuit', so I thought people might be interested/not offended. I'm not a very good artist, so it's very much me trying to get better in public. That seems to have gone down well with people.
Those are a few things off the top of my head! What I haven't tried to do is game the system, trick people into subscribing etc etc. It's all felt quite honest and wholesome to date. Hope that helps!
I appreciate the responses!
I need to engage with Notes a bit more myself. I only hesitate because I don't want to take away from the Newsletter/posts and I don't want to bombard readers too much (I'm publishing every two weeks for now and slowly building up frequency).
I love what everyone is saying about engagement and discovering other Substacks.
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
I don't find them super effective to connect with readers, but it's great for networking with other publications and connecting with other people's comments.
Notes has been good, but I also use it somewhat sparingly. I do love that you can take a short section of text from a post and restack it as a quote with a comment.
I haven't found Notes to be worth much. It's probably me. I'm just not a social media person. I dislike posting something, something thoughtful, and getting zero response while a one-word note ("test") gets an overwhelming bunch of answers. I feel like I'm wasting my time. I'm not one of the cool kids that social media celebrates.
I do like to place a paragraph from someone else once in a while. That part is pretty nice.
It is harder than other platforms to build a "following base" which usually requires following like 2,000 people and then have a couple hundred of them follow you back. That's almost impossible in Notes.
It's been great for me so far - not just for chatting to readers but for connecting with other newsletter writers in realtime.
At the same time: most people using Notes are (I think?) other Substack writers. That'll change over time (it's only been a few weeks! I mean, it's astonishing what leaps and bounds Notes has made in so little time, such great work on all levels) - but right now, it's a small and very specific subset of my readers, mainly ones who are fellow newsletter writers, and I guess that's true for everyone else's too?
Yeah I think I have like 6 subscribers who are also on Notes.
I read like 150 newsletters and they are all fascinating. I met Mike on Notes and his publication is awesome. I just keep finding cool things, following them, and then getting fed their notes too.
Notes have been lovely for exchanging ideas with other writers about future topics, or just to send greetings from overseas! However, i try to keep them to a minimum, as there is an overload of features already available to us on this platform and i respect how busy we all are.
Still too early to gauge Notes - I drop the same content there as at Twitter etc. and I continue to observe what happens. I've never found a use case for Chat.
I've also definitely got quite a few new subscribers from Notes, but I'm not on there nearly as much as I would like to be just because of time.
Don't have that much experience yet with chat, but Notes does bring in a few subscribers every week or so.
🧠 - "Most worthwhile achievements are the result of many little things done in a single direction. — Nido Qubein
We want to do great things (like building a thriving community) in a single bound — myself very much included! I'm trying to approach my goals with more of the marathon mindset:
1. Do a little bit everyday.
2. Prioritize things that I can do consistently and even pleasurably.
3. Do something that scares me or I don't like to do (but I know will help) once a month.
4. Learn from setbacks or plateaus with as little ego and as much curiosity as possible.
What are the "little" strategies that have worked for you? The things that maybe had a "slow burn" but eventually made a noticeable difference?
What's an emoji keyboard? Where would we cut and past them from?
🤷🏽
If you're on a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can often type a word like "brain" or "pencil" to see the 🧠/✏️ emojis pop up. Same with typing on a smartphone that offers predictive text options above the keyboard.
Oh. I'm on a regular laptop.
Hi Mike. I use Microsoft Surface. (regular laptop) Hold down the Microsoft key (the one that looks like 4 squares) and the period key at the same time. You'll get emoji's that pop up. When that screen pops up, start typing what you're looking for and it will filter for you. For example, I often use hearts, so I start to type hearts and they pop up. Like this one: 💜 Have fun!
Or if you're in the future and using Apple's new “Reality Pro” AR/VR headset...tap just above your right eye 3 times.
I have a Gala Apple in the fridge..........I'm going to go get it and try tapping above my right eye....whatcha think, Paul?
Thanks, Heather.
you can also cut and paste from the internet etc 🍴
I do cut & paste emojis from other threads on here fairly often.
Oh, okay.
Windows + “.” button should bring up emoji keyboard on a PC
Thanks...Didn't know this!
Same - whole new emoji possibilities just opened up, look out world. 🌈🌷
Oh, it's a Mac thing. Cool.
on windows, you can use the Windows Key and the period to bring up emojis.
I DID NOT KNOW THIS. Thank you, using a bazillion emojis. 🙏🥳
In the world today we need emojis 🌹🌈
🤷🏽♀️🤞🏼✔🎯 LOL!!! I feel you! I just learned last year, I think!!!
Or Right-Click the mouse. Does the same thing. 😉
In one of my previous articles I was talking about the value of just writing better posts b/c if you can just make the best thing in class then you will have better subscription rates than others and win the game of network effects. That's the only thing I didn't see on this list. Usually people aren't ready for traffic to come.
These tips are great, in theory. But I agree that without distribution, a way of getting in front of more non subscribers, it's virtually impossible to grow. Even if you have the best stories in your niche..
Recommendations have helped me grow enormously.
Me too, I love recommendations
Me three.
Yeah. Recommendations (as noted), Notes and actually a fair few now coming through the Explore/Discover section on Substack.
I'd still like to see better subgenres in the latter, though. I think that would help.
It is 50% of the work. I had an old boss that would get frustrated and point out that "what's the point of doing all of this work if nobody is going to see it?" I think embracing a certain degree of shamelessness is important.
We just interviewed a book marketing expert and he confirmed what I have been told my whole life. Successful authors generally are 20% writing and 80% marketing. It's not a fun truth, but it is a truth.
Oh no, that doesn't sound appealing 😌
Well, we have just released a lot of research on this, and the generally the reason people feel that way is because they are not doing the kinds of marketing/sales activities that align with their ecosystem. There are five ecosystems, and if you align the best actions to your ecosystem, we find that it's actually fun for people to do marketing. The problem is most marketing is directed to deserts, and most people are forests.
Well, it depends on what you consider marketing actions, doesn't it? Most people only consider certain things marketing actions, but if you actually expand out into all marketing actions, then even a good subscriber base has marketing actions. They just aren't the type most experts consider "marketing actions".
I just recommend everyone, please let me know if it seems ok with your audience to recommend mine. In two -three weeks, we will know which audience to retain or let go
Will recommend everyone on this reply for another two weeks and we see how that goes, let’s give it a try
If we all believe that recommendations could help, why can’t all of us in this reply now recommend our newsletters to each others audience and see the results in 2 weeks. I recommended a couple of newsletters earlier and I noticed it was a one way road, non of them recommended mine, so I gave them two weeks of trial and didn’t have any recommendations hence I stoped.
Second for recommendations!
I love this! Add would like to add: BE AUTHENTIC. We each want the readers that actually resonate with our voice and our message. But when we try to be someone/something that we are not, we attract the wrong sort of readers. Don't be afraid to be niche, be real, and maybe be a little weird! Good luck everyone!
oh good, i fulfil authentic and weird! the rest needs working on :)
Same!!
I love "be a little weird". Just hit 'publish' on my weirdest essay yet :)
https://themuse.substack.com/p/hallucination-nation-part-i
I swear no AI was used in the creation of this post...
That's so important, Sue! Being authentic attracts the right audience.
In as much as I believe your submissions to be true, I believe Distribution is everything.
If I’m sure that after investing a year of writing on Substack that the SEO will at least bring in 20-50% of my traffic/subscribers then offering Value becomes the only thing I need to do so that when they land, I can be rest assured they will convert.
I am not sure but it seems the SEO doesn’t deliver such numbers(yet), hence why we must reach out to other non-competing writers to borrow their audience.
Especially the trust part. When I am not sure about something, I share it with my readers. When I make a mistake, I'll do the same. And when I am talking about whatever topic, I trust them to make up their own minds, which is why I make sure to include sources as much as I can (after all, you should trust but verify).
I like the focus on trust = integrity.
Couldn't agree more!
I hit a massive amount of search engine traffic from my last newsletter. It feels like I may be at a threshold. Who knows
Did you go in and edit the SEO options for that post? Or leave it to the default?
I agree!
Currently looking for writers to collaborate with to cross-post and share for this very reason
If your audience will benefit from posting for graduate school then I’m open. I curate opportunities for gradschool such as Fully funded masters and PhD opportunities in US, Canada and Europe, fellowship, grants, webinars for graduate students.
Hit me up via Gradinterface@gmail.com
Explain the meaning of Distribution.
I have two substacks Publications, one is my main where I post twice weekly and the other I don’t yet what to do with it as what I needed it for, I have found a way to do with the main publication but I kept it open and got it recommended by the main substack.
In less than a month of opening the second publication, it has over 100 subscribers feeding off of the work I did with the first one by sharing the first on various social media platforms.
It means even without very great contents(no content in this case), people still subscribe to it, so all I need is to find where people of interest are.
They will only unsubscribe if they are not offered what was promised(real or imaginable).
DISTRIBUTION means exposure. Increase your substack exposure, you have more subscribers period. Quality retains them and gets them committed.
Okay, I understand exposure better. Danke
I’m subscribing right away. Will recommend your newsletter and would appreciate if I could same.
Today I am trying to recommend many reasonable substacks to my audience and see which they prefer since it seems I’m assuming their interest too much.
Your contents are really rich and valid. Was just giving another side to it, because I have built a product(newsletter) before that I believed was giving best contents but gave up after sometime when I noticed less engagement.
In this substack, I keep modifying my product(newsletter) depending on emerging goals of mine or subscribers. I believe first 6 months of newsletter writing is about experimenting(meaning product may not be perfect) but if you have enough feedback, one can use that to develop product, and the sure way is to attempt to distribute as much as you can, so you can have valid data to modify the product.
Keep writing. They will come. Trust the process. Perfectly stated! sabrinalabow.substack.com
You can also bring back old stories later. I do “encores” of my old pieces that went out to an audience of like 10 people. They come with a voice over and a preamble about how I’ve changed my perspective on the story
this is great!
Thank you Raisini!
Nice one, RAISINI! Thanks
Thanks for that. Dress to impress. Then again, don't judge a book by its cover. Overall I agree. Be presentable.
🧠 Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
In life, there are hundreds of things standing in the way of being a creative person, especially a writer. Things that occupy our time, energy, resources, and mental health reserves, most of which we have no real control over. Believe me, I know how that feels, and I know how that goes!
You may not get to decide what the circumstances are around you, but you DO get to decide the amount of worth you place on them in your own life. And placing worth on your writing, your craft, is always going to benefit you, body and soul. You and your craft are worth the effort, the persistence, the drive, and the time. And the sooner you can claim that truth for yourself, the freer you will feel to step onto the path you're meant to take.
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
This is so sweet! 🫶
Recently, I’ve been reading Julia Cameron’s “Write For Life” that has been really helping me create a daily writing practice. It might be a good book to read if you’re struggling with building a practice out of writing daily. ✨
I'm going throug the Artist's Way again and immensely grateful for her work. I'm starting to hear a little Julia Cameron voice in my head with encouragement and I'm so grateful!
The Artist's Way was really the impetus for my newsletter. I read about the morning pages and it turned into my newsletter. It's the best tool for any writer. Do it every day for a few minutes and watch what comes out of your mind and onto the page! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Ahhh yes me too, friend! 🥹🫶 it’s really great to get excited about creating again. ✨
Hooray! How far along are you? I started an informal chat thread for anyone who wants to share insights/challenges along the way! I'm just now wrapping up chapter 2. Here's the chat thread! https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/d5577576-1ded-440d-b287-13b3f6247934
Omg thank you so much for sharing this chat with me! I’ll be sure to take a look. 🫶
I'd never heard of this book, but I just requested it from the library. Thanks for the tip!
I write most days per week but feel like I put too much pressure on myself to do it a specific way. I go in with rigid plans and goals in mind and find myself tensing up and struggling to get words out more often than not. It's so much different than when I'm journaling or just getting thoughts down. I'd love to work that flow into my actual writing!
Oooh I struggled with this too. Cameron talks about this in her book and her advice is great! I hope it helps you too. 😁
It's a wonderful book! So wonderful I gave it away!! Must buy another.
omg haha I can relate! 😅
That book sounds interesting!
It is! It’s super inspiring and Julia gives great tips for overcoming common hurtles to writing daily or more regularly. 🫶✨
Nice! I feel like I have an ok routine, but I feel it could still benefit from her book.
Oooh I'm curious to hear what you think after you finish it! 👋👀
always so positive!
As always, I appreciate your words. In fact, I think your little bit of encouragement is one of the best things about Writer Office Hours! I also totally agree that valuing our own work and deciding it's worth the effort to write always benefits us, even if virtually no one else reads what we write and we don't earn much income from it. My growth in terms of views and subscribers has been slow but steady, and I'd write for my own sake even if I had 0 subscribers!
Thank you S.E.!
Love this. As always :)
I always love to hear your words, S.E. And I'd like to add to what you've said - placing your effort on your craft will benefit you for sure. I have learned so much through my own writing and the thoughtful writing of others. And I would add that anything that taps you into who you are, connecting you to your body and soul will uplift and release your writing. The talk of Julia Cameron's work as of late points to our intuitive understanding of this. I would add, since I am now teaching this in my small community, that dancing can help unleash your creative spirit and release your words. It's what one of my participants said in April - he couldn't believe how the words come. So if you're stuck, put on some music you love and dance!
🫶🏼
I love this so much. Do. Not. Stop.
Back in January I made a pact to get up early every weekday and write for an hour. I have the Simone Giertz every day calendar to help me along and I haven't missed a day. No matter what else is going on, I can hang my hat on that.
We will always have things to do on our to do list. We will never get it done. Sharing your talent--writing--is so important to the world at large. We are not complete cyborgs yet! Running around doing errands is fine but taking the time to contribute something of value to people is extremely important in this time/space reality right now. sabrinalabow.substack.com
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
I most certainly appreciate the words of support! Persistence is definitely something needed in this line of work.
Nice!
Well said!
🧠 A rare second post from S.E. Reid!
Creating community is about authenticity. If you're only in it for the clicks and engagement, your readers will know. Immediately.
Instead, be genuinely interested in them, what they have to say, and their experience on your newsletter. Think of them before you think of yourself. Authenticity builds trust, and you can't buy trust. It's priceless. 🌿
My challenge is generally moving beyond my small circle, which is why, even though I try to be authentic, sometimes people are not that interested in what I'm writing. I think that's a common challenge here.
Certainly a challenge. I am in month 2 now and I have little time to spare for notes and reading a lot of other Substacks, which is one way to make connections and get potential readers, then again, people on Substack also are creators/fellow writers, which is cool and I love that and some tell me if you want "readers" you need to get them from outside Substack, and this I have found to be difficult thus far. Enjoying the journey, though and my interaction with fellow writers. Keep on writing and the readers will come. Patience and Perseverance.
I recently hit a bit of a wall, which was inevitable but the first significant one. I actually find it kind of fun because I have a problem and am trying to solve it. But so far my experiments have not worked haha.
(One big problem is I refuse to engage with Facebook, which I know would drive subscriptions, but I just can't with that place).
Facebook has been a mixed bag for me. They used to convert extremely well. Then they added the link redirect (“this link is trying to take you outside Facebook are you sure you want to continue”) and throttled off-platform traffic
Hah! Deleted FB long time ago. Good riddance, from what I hear FB doesn't drive anything anymore these days though?
It is still quite powerful outside of the US which is valuable for me, but still not worth returning. But, at the end of the day, Facebook dominates a lot of volume metrics. It's just boring so nobody talks about it as much.
Yeah, not going back. Ever. FB can join MySpace
One thing I (try) to do is block out time daily to engage. Truly, that could mean reading one or two pieces of work someone you're subscribed to has written and commenting genuinely on it. And/or (if you're wanting to!) spending 10-15 minutes in Notes saving stories to read, commenting... and doing it toward the end of your day do you can prioritize your writing/other life things.
Time management and prioritise, yes indeed. Still, not enough time!
Haha there really isn't! Also why I give myself grace and may even turn it into something I do like... three to four times per week instead of daily and teach myself to be okay with it, haha!
👌👌
Good points here, especially to keep on writing and the readers will come. It’s a slow process.
Someone replied in a past session that Substack is for established writers with existing readership and that you can’t build readership as a new writer here. I don’t agree. It will be hard and slow, sure. But someone telling you that you can’t do it only shows their limits, not yours.
Yea I don’t agree with that either. I’m still figuring everything out, but it’s definitely possible. 😁
Have you tried submitting your newsletter to directories like Inbox Reads? I get a few subscribers from those. I've also found that just talking about my writing in everyday conversation sometimes sparks interest.
Just signed up! Thanks for the insight.
Hope it helps! :)
I have not! Do tell more. Inbox Reads is a website? I have to admit I have not checked what venues outside the big social media ones there are to grow readership. LinkedIn is not really working, nor is IG or Reddit let alone TikTok. Will check this out, thanks! Oh and by "everyday conversation" you mean Notes?
I mean actual conversations in real life with real people. :) I write personal essays, so sometimes the opportunity comes up to say I wrote an essay on whatever topic is being discussed. Sometimes people express interest in reading it, so I tell them my Substack address or text them the link.
Inbox Reads is a newsletter directory where people can discover newsletters that cover topics that interest them. Plenty of them exist, and it's usually easy to submit. Here's a list: https://bloggingguide.com/newsletter-directories/
It's from 2021, so some may no longer be around, but it's worth looking!
Thanks, Theresa. Will check. And IRL, eh? Like a real conversation! Yes, the best kind. I even recorded one and posted it on my Substack. A conversation between Writer and Designer. ;)
There's the rub - time! I have a day job, and four side hustles right now - one of which is my newsletter and could easily be the most consuming if I want it to me if I could expand time and space and float around freely without gravity. I look around these notes and see the same relentless people who LIVE THIS really succeeding. I can't quite figure out how to dabble efficiently here yet. And readers from outside - that is such a hard nut to crack when the algorithms of any social network do not seem to work for anyone but the rare few anymore. What to do. The work, exactly.
It's not a race. You pick your pace. Don't compare, plus people with big enough base are prone to do better with Notes since there's more eyes on any cat (or dog) pic they post, whereas yours will be seen by well most likely none, if you have only started out. Build your content, provide value, be authentic and be consistent. If you say you publish once a month, do it, once a week? Do it. Can't make it? Do a heads-up communication. Be accountable. It's a long process.
I’ve been getting all my subs from Substack alone
You’re not alone. I think it’s not as binary: you can be authentic and also promote yourself and try to gain subscribers.
Yes. People can smell a fake persona. Plus it’s tough to keep up.
Yep.
I think that is why I could click so well with this platform, I tend to be open and authentic, and here you actually get rewarded for that, unlike many other platforms. Feels much better and healthier to engage with it as a result too.
Yes yes yes 100%! Thanks for reading my mind
This is so true! I've said it before but it's worth repeating. One subscriber is still one person reading it. I've made a few exchange of comments in some of the newsletters I read or people who read mine, and those little moments of intimacy really feels priceless.
I prefer quality to quantity.
Such a good reminder -- I may still be in the double digits for a while, but I do feel like I'm making genuine connections and that matters to me.
same here 😌 i love your creativity!
thank you! I love your writing!
Yeah!!
I'm glad to say that this part is easy, I live for reading the comments and email responses from my readers. That's the only reason I continue to post....
Same... it's hard to admit that but it's so TRUE. Even one heartfelt comment makes my week and powers me to write again!
@S.E. - that you for saying that. I have been trying very hard and I think that my writing is both good and authentic but it is so sad sometimes when I think about how small my audience is. I have seen a drop in my "open" rates and only a slight increase in my subscriptions. But I hear from a few people that what I write resonates with them and I am trying to focus on those handful of readers... but it is so hard because I devote Thursday to brainstorming a thoughtful entry and I spend most of my Friday evening (with kid interruptions) to writing with a midnight deadline. I feel like I work so hard. I won't give up, but I wonder if it means anything at all.
You’re not alone. I think it’s not as binary: you can be authentic and also promote yourself and try to gain subscribers.
And when the head of Bertelsmann publicly says that generative AI is great for publishing, we can all just imagine what that means for the future of their authenticity...
And if you mess up, own your mistake. Trust is a fickle thing. Be accountable.
Hello SEA READ. I and my international team enjoyed this Content and we gathered round our laptops and said Yes, This Is Good Content. Congratulations on your newsletter/post/comment, you are clearly an Influenza on your topic of [TOPIC] [add inspiring Mark Twain quote here] [REMEMBER TO DELETE THIS]. We think you would like to earn some passive income by selling our only slightly used branded Manchester United Football Club novelty immersion heater covers, so please be available for a quick 5-minute call sometime this week, which may take up to an hour. Again, congratulations on your high-quality Content! You are clearly going great places, SEA, and we will help for only small fees and ask nothing except total compliance Thanks in advance. - 'Mike', ImmersionHeaterCovers-R-Us .com
This is brilliant, and VERY authentic! 😅
THIS! This cannot be overstated. Be genuine, be interesting and interested. And you stand to gain much more than just subscribers: genuine friendships and priceless advice.
🧠 By the way guys. Recently, two people responded to my welcome e-mail. They are the second and third person to ever do so, since I customized the contents. I can’t tell you in words how amazing it feels that someone reached out, someone who’s here for the sole reason of wanting to read what I write. The lesson here is that the welcome e-mail really does matter. People do read it, and sometimes they even respond. It’s an important tool, and it’s best you learn how to use it and customize it to reflect your values. Little tip: give people a little taste of your newsletter early on. I provide a few links to my best received pieces, as a sort of “best of” introduction. Cheers and I wish you a wondeful week!
🧠 Yeah, it is awesome to get replies from new subscribers. Sometimes I send a message even if they didn't reply from the welcome email. Just to tell them thanks, and I subscribed to theirs too.
❤️❤️👍
Great tip, I am going to edit my newsletter right now, incorporating your suggestions
Hi Andrei, Your title makes me curious what you're Practicing. Consider putting that at the top? I'd want to see what you're performing, even if early on, rather than practice. Just a thought!
Hi Andrew! I don’t actually “Practice” anything, except life, like all of us. Practice Space is more of a two sided metaphor, as in, the blog is a way for me to exercise my thinking around certain issues, to explore them before I go on and live my life, and also, it’s a metaphor for life itself in a way, as we all stumble through life in a more or less experimental way, trying to figure things out by ourselves through experience. Hope that makes sense. Cheers!
Love it when that happens
It is cool, right? Makes one feel seen.
I JUST found out I never updated my welcome email after changing to Losing Orbit and plan to do so ASAP! And exactly! I customized mine (back in the "before time"), but it could be so much better!
I've only gotten one email reply but I too love when I do! Thanks for the validation!!
Can you believe I was about to use my old mailing service to create a welcome series for people who newly subscribe? Adding an extra step when it wasn't needed! Haha
Excited to update my Substack Welcome email especially since I'm planning to return to IG for fun and to lead people back to Substack. After they subscribe for FREE, then they'll be led to the welcome email which will be the official introduction and sampling!
From there they can decide to stay or go.
🟧 - Hello lovely Substack team, how do certain Substacks get chosen to be 'Featured Substacks'. I'd love to know what I need to work on to be in with a running going forwards...
Hi Lucy, here's a little more info on how we choose Substacks to feature: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037455112-How-do-I-get-featured-on-Substack-
Our Community team is always on the lookout, and solicits suggestions from time to time on Notes and through Substack Reads.
Thank you so much @sachin. I will take a look!
👍👍👍
haha -- I just read that "how to" post and thought the same thing!
It looks to me like it's newsletters with high numbers of subscribers, but I could be wrong. I hope I am.
This is not the case. As I understand it, they are looking for size. I was made a feature publication when I had about 600 subscribers. As I understand it, they look for consistency, a clearly defined publication, and some kind of community engagement.
That sounds hopeful then. I'm not sure about 'a clearly defined publication', though. I know I'm not the only one who kind of meanders, judging by the number of sections we offer!
Perhaps clear definition is misleading. I just mean that you understand your identity as a writer
Ah, yes. Okay, I'm there!
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
This is a great clarification. It's a sentiment I see a lot on Notes, and I'm glad you took the time to explain. Thanks for all of your hard work!
Good to know! /Sharpens pencil :)
I'm really glad to hear that, Bailey. That's encouraging.
(Except for that part about 'if their writing is good'... 😳)
😂
👏🏻
Good info!
Every one of my little milestones is a minor miracle. I missed celebrating my first 100, so I need to have a 300 party soon. And I can probably say I personally know 280 of them, so strangers are haaaard to win over. Guess I need to walk around outside and make more friends ;)
I think mention it to people like your dentist. I say that because I did and they subscribed! sabrinalabow.substack.com
funny, about to go in a few days!
They are likely importing subscribers from other platforms such as Mailchimp and Medium. That's what I did, although not in the "thousands!"
I did that too. I added a bunch of sections and then comped everyone on my existing list 3 months free so they could check out all the cool stuff I put behind the paywall.
Good question. I suspect they have big social media 'friends' networks Also the growth strategies that people offer on this 'Office Hours' thread depend - it seems to me anyway - very much on what KIND of Substack. One that aims to be serious and contentious will have a very different growth path from one that is themed as about fiction, having fun or personal health (to take just a few examples).
I find this, too. Many of the growth strategies seem geared toward people who write on a specific topic, offer timely/news-style posts, curate or do roundups, and the like. It's a different game when you're writing fiction, creative nonfiction, or introspective essays, which are more literary.
Yes I would love to know that too! I don't even know about featured substacks. I have been solely concentrating on the writing and really nothing else. I haven't even checked to see who is reading my posts. I just see the # is increasing. The views are but the likes not as much. Someone said they didn't notice the like button. I guess it doesn't matter as much as long as people read it and enjoy it. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Ooop I've been wondering the same thing!
have also been wondering the same thing as a newbie!
🧠 I just read James Clear's newsletter this morning and found a really great piece of advice. Prioritizing what is important and focusing on that. Hopefully this is helpful!
"Live the Pareto Principle lifestyle:
Relationships. Who are the few people that have the most positive impact on my life? Spend more time with them.
Priorities. What are the few actions that have the most positive impact on my day? Prioritize them.
Learning. What are the few information sources I learn the most from? Focus on them.
Stress. What are the few sources that cause most of the stress and friction in my life? Eliminate them."
-James Clear
Otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. Target your energy and resources into what gets the best results.
good points that don't necessarily contradict but add nuance. This...and. (If I listened to just the removing stress part, I'd have to quit my day job, which would be awesome and...I'd be homeless.)
Interesting advise, but somewhat limited. I would counter that:
- Difficult people can challenge us to learn how to respond with grace and patience.
- Focusing on whether interactions have a "net positive" outcome for us can cause is to ignore or overlook interactions that may benefit others.
- The actions that have a positive effect may not be the most important. For example, parents need to do laundry and change diapers and clean the house--all dirty, unpleasant work from a personal perspective but absolutely essential for the health of the family.
- Stress may come from people and circumstances that we can't or shouldn't avoid, such as situations in which we need to humbly address that we're the ones at fault and make things right, or family members who need our help but are stressful to deal with.
It's best to view it as a guiding principle than a hard-and-fast rule. You can certanily miss things if you're too focused on the net gain, but how many folks put way too much energy into something only to get burned out?
Fair point. But there's always nuance to consider.
👍👍👍
I haven’t heard of that. This really helps magnify the good in your life though we still have to deal with the stressors we cannot excise.
🧠
I'm pretty new to this enriching reader feedback dynamic. Even as a longtime editor, up until now, my work has never had a public-facing gathering spot. So I'm experimenting a lot with inviting people to join in.
The first thing I tried was creating discussion threads with open-ended invitations like "Ask-an-Editor" AMA. I heard from a few folks, but I think the "ask anything" dynamic kept a lot of people away or created some sort of paralysis around knowing WHAT to ask an editor.
Right now what I'm finding the most satisfying, encouraging experience with is publishing a piece on, say, a Tuesday and then inviting readers to a discussion thread based on that same theme on a Thursday or Friday. It seems to give space to two different kinds of readers:
- those who are ready to jump in right when they're finished reading (in this case, they jump into the comments section) and
- the other readers who need some simmering time (in this case, they join in with the discussion thread).
I'm certainly not hosting an Oprah-level number of readers here, but the quality of questions, answers and sharing is a gift I've never experienced before.
Sounds like a very good idea! Well done for experimenting with new things. I need to be brave enough to do this.
I know this may seem silly, but in my mind's eye, I try to imagine how it would best feel to gather all my reader friends into a sandbox and play all day. That helps me drop all the fluff and stuff around strategy, engagement, metrics, and relate with myself and readers in a playful way. I want to do something fun and I want to do it with my reader friends.
Writing about travel is probably nourishing to you in very specific and enjoyable ways. What would it look like to invite people to play in the sandbox? 🫶
Hi Amanda, this sounds great. I’m looking for specific ideas how to build a community, instead of the same old generic recipes. The discussion you open, in your example on Thu / Fri is on chat, right? Is it in real time, synchronous, or do you just set the day as the time window?
Also, I created a standalone page for my Substack navigation that includes links to previous discussion threads as well as a screenshot of one as well. I don't have any way to know from data (like page views) if that standalone page is viewed/interacted with. But I'm choosing to highlight the "We practice listening and being heard here" by giving it prominence in my navigation.
You can take a look here: https://whatlittleiknow.substack.com/p/ama-schedule-bring-your-writing-or
Hi Zoe! It's actually a new "thread" that I create. On your writer dashboard, you should see the option to write a new post, a new note and below that, a new thread. I don't use chat much at all because it visually blocks people from seeing the sub-conversations going on.
I have experimented with setting a specific day and time for these, and that didn't seem to work too well. Once I made them "all day, come and go" (tip of the hat to Alex Dobrenko for modeling this), it created a much easier rhythm for me to tend to a discussion thread.
Thanks Amanda. I‘d thought the thread was the chat function. Just subscribed to your blog.
Glad to have you reading along, Zoe! Let me know if you give the discussion thread a try and how it goes. 🫶
I tried 'Thread' once and messed it up somehow, so now I just use a Q&A format. But I really would like to know what the advantage is. What does
'Thread' do that regular posts don't?
I think the main thing it does is provide a visual "shift" for readers. The description of the thread section is supposed to be limited. Instead of scrolling and scrolling and reading a post and potentially shifting to another shiny object on the screen, the thread is a "jump right in" invitation. Short and sweet.
At least, that's how I've seen it used and how I'm using it.
Thanks for the tip on a feature I haven’t tried!
Isn’t it! 🎁
I've never started a thread because I fear the embarrassment of only three people turning up, one by mistake, and one of them me
Yeah. I have been there. But I find that the more I open the door, nudge it again, remind them that there’s something fun/helpful, the more likely they won’t forget. I also publish less so I can engage in comments/discussion threads more.
ok, thanks, Amanda, might give it a whirl
The all day thread format has been a way better experience for me as a reader, in that it removes the urgency/scarcity feeling of having to be available at a specific time.
I’ve also noticed you’re getting a lot more engagement with specific thread topics!
Wow, that's a really fantastic idea! I might try that. Does the discussion thread go in your chat or somewhere else?
Sorry ignore my question, you have already answered 🙂
Interesting, thanks so much for sharing! I love that you are engaging with readers who need a few days to catch up with posts or think about them before commenting. This might be the perfect way to keep chatting throughout the week, not just the one day per week I publish the essay.
Hello everyone, meeting other writers on substack has been one of the best things about starting my newsletter. I'm always open to featuring / collaborating with other writers on here to build both our communities, so if anyone writes about art, design & travel hit me up! Would love to see how we could work together xx
Hi Lucy, I'm looking to begin featuring/collaborating too. My substack is travel humor and photography. I'd love to find a way to work together!
I just turned on recommendation for your newsletter to my subscribers
Let us start with recommending each other. My email: Gradinterface@gmail.com we can continue further collaboration there
The newsletter, "moviewise: Life Lessons From Movies" has Guest Post opportunities.
If you've ever felt that you learned something about *life* from one of your *favorite* movies, please share it with us 🤗
Please see the link below for the submission guidelines:
https://moviewise.substack.com/p/be-our-guest
Sold. You got me. 😎
This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 🤗
I can't wait to hang out in physi-- physis-- physics club.
And "The Breakfast Club" (1985) 😉
https://moviewise.substack.com/p/who-are-you
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
Thanks so much everyone for reaching out. I'll take a look at all your substacks and see if there is a fit. Happy Friday xx
I’ve just started a new substack last week focused on art, called Studio Diaries. I’d love to collaborate!
Hi Lucy, I have a series of posts based on strategies observed (and photographed) around the world - haven't featured Istanbul yet and would love to. Email me gabthinking (at) gmail (dot) com if interested?
My substack is not related to any of those topics, but I have lived abroad for over a decade and am an experienced traveller. So I could be interested in collaborating about that.
We can start by recommending our newsletters to elicit respective subscribers
Also, would try to write a newsletter within the period to say what your newsletter is about
Mine is here haha: https://kevinmcsa6.substack.com/
I have subscribed and recommended yours to my audience, let’s start the collaboration from there. Would appreciate if you equally recommend. In 2-4 weeks we will see if we are best fit
That traveling relates. Would subscribe to you now and drop a comment on your latest post
🧠- the best way to build community is to provide a place for your readers to meet. Seems silly to say, but it’s true.
In my case, we kick off every week with a Discussion thread about what we’ve all been listening to.
I hesitated to do this for quite awhile, as I was worried no one would show up. Hosting a party no one comes to us nightmare fuel for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong- lots of people contribute and share what music they’ve been playing- not just with me, but with each other. It’s been awesome to watch grow every week.
Agree, and It's a nice place to meet on Mondays
It's awesome to have you there!
Likely to be Tina, Tina, Tina next week! RIP
True. Come share your favorites on Monday. I'm genuinely curious to see what songs of hers everyone is playing.
Will you remind me?! Facetious and true - where do i find your discussion thread on Monday? I am subscribed :)
Thank you & welcome! If you subscribed, it'll come right to your inbox at ~7 AM Central time on Monday.
Love this idea! And always down for some new music recommendations!
Every week there are *at least* 2-3 reader recommendations that are totally new to me. It's been a blast to put together!
Will definitely check it out! Always fun to find new music, and also be reminded of old favorites. Someone mentioned an Eminem song on this discussion thread yesterday, and I was bopping around to “lose yourself” for the rest of the afternoon. Inspired me to start a note asking my audience what this songs are that make them think “why don’t I listen to this more often??”
Right on. We'll see you there!
There is not one type of community though. You can have a community around a topic, but also through a topic. I spent my whole life thinking you needed to foster engagement around yourself of between people, but there are way more ways to build community that just foster conversation. You can also create it through a topic or even though your posts.
I have a very small subscriber count and the few discussion threads I have tried have zero engagement. When should I try them again?
My suggestion would be to keep trying. I know that's easier said than done. Make sure to ask people to comment, weigh in with their thoughts, etc.
The fear that nobody will comment, so true ! I also worry about posting too much, I send a weekly post and I don't want to bombard inboxes...
Thank you for this suggestion, I love it! I’m new to Substack so I’m just finding my way around. Do you ask people to comment under a newsletter, or do you use notes for this?
I do them as discussion threads first, and post the link to Notes later. Here's the one from the past Monday:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thekevinalexander/p/discussion-whatre-you-listening-to-ba2?
Wow, the way you manage these discussions creates some beautiful community interaction - definitely inspiring me. Substack should feature your Discussion engagement if they haven't yet!
Thank you! Would love to be featured. Maybe someday soon?
I won’t reply though, because my taste in music is very uncool 🤣
Lol. Fair enough, but in my community, there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure.
If you like it? It's "good" music.
The community you’ve created on your discussion threads and Substack is really lovely- well done!
Thank you!
Thanks, I’ll check it out!
good idea
🧠 my recent post was based off of original survey, conducted with the help of some other people in the outdoor space. The survey drove a lot of subscriptions from curious people, wanting to see the resulting conclusions.
I think it did pretty well, and I may try something similar again.
That's a great idea!
The first one was about ski resort habits. The next one will be geared toward parents about laundry detergent advertising. I think I’ve stumbled onto a very interesting topic by accident
Those are the best kind!
This is smart and something I hadn’t considered!
Just have to make sure you’re ethical and overt when collecting those emails off platform. I ran all the addresses through a validation service to be safe, then sent an email welcoming them to my newsletter, explaining that if they just wanted to see the survey results and leave, that they could easily unsubscribe.
This is good to know and I don't think I had considered that I could run emails through a validation service, which might be helpful to know for other things too.
Interesting. Did you do the survey with a post/article? Or a note? Or something else?
I created a survey in Google forms. Then linked to it in several of my posts and notes. Then I contacted other Substack writers working in the same space, asking them to share the link.
At the end of the survey, I put a CTA encouraging responders to sign up for my newsletter. Roughly a third of respondents decided to do so
What was it about the survey (and opportunity to see results) that people found interesting do you think?
I offered answers to a question I suspect they were curious about, that no one else could answer.
It was about how ski resorts could ease growing pains without negatively impacting visitors
Nice!
Thank you!
✏️ Does anyone have suggestions on what to put in one's about/why subscribe pages? My content is pretty straightforward, but I wonder if I ought to elaborate more.
My own feeling is that, unless you're writing business or technical stuff, your 'About' page should reek with personality! You're competing with thousands of other newsletters. Your readers have to know why they should choose you instead of all those others.
^ I second what Ramona says and would also add: if they can't see you in your "about" page they won't be able to see themselves reflected back, which creates an inherent sense of, "I belong here."
Yes! Great thought!
Seconded! I probably spent the most amount of time on this. It was hard but also so helpful to really define my newsletter's mission and scope. Now, when I meet people on the street or online, I can easily explain what the newsletter is about, and send them directly to the about page to see if they are interested in subscribing.
Agreed. Too many people try to "look professional" when what people really want is to engage with people and writing they like and enjoy. Let that personality shine. Be engaging. Write experientially and experimentally. Have some fun with it.
Reek of personality, love that! I really need to re-write mine as I haven't looked at it since I started.
I think the About Page is the most underestimated tool of all. So often I go on Substacks and there is that default About page. I mean, whaaaat? I know mine isn't perfect and I need to improve it (nudge nudge feedback welcome!) but number one advice? Change the About Page when you create your Substack. It's your calling card.
What you’re about could actually sell your Substack to subscribers. Maybe don’t bother with a heading like “why subscribe” and instead, tell who you are, where your journey is leading, and what they should expect. It also helps you stay aligned with your purpose. Make it unique and timeless.
I recently had a wonderful conversation with Tami from https://outsourcedoptimism.substack.com/ who has a great perspective on your About Me. We had a little workshop and she reminded me that remembering who you're writing for and why can be a great place to start when crafting your About section. I haven't implemented all of her insights yet but I'm looking forward to changing it up and playing around with mine!
Would love to see what she suggests.
She's just starting to offer consulting on topics like this. I'd reach out to her directly if you're interested!
A lot of great advice here! Another thing I'd like to add is to add some samples of pieces that are most popular (or your favorites) in your About Page too! Give them a sample of your work since it's not common for people to read through archives unless you direct them to.
And if you get awesome comments on your works, I'd add photos of the feedback on your About page too (something I forgot to do and plan to do this week!).
Super agree to add your personality and make it clear what you write about as well, even if you honestly write about many things--let them know! :)
I love the idea of including feedback from the comments. I've seen people do this on their subscribe page. Anyone know how to do it? And do we have to ask permission from the commentors first?
So there's this thing called "blurbs" that can be added to the welcome page of your Substack, and they're in the "recommended" portion of your writer's dashboard I believe!
I've seen people add praise from like, Tweets, which I think are just embedded, and I *think* when it comes to sharing praise on your about page from your comments, you could even just type out the comment and censor the name a bit, linking it back to the piece they commented on, or I've blurred out faces and first names before.
I tried to lightly censor in case they didn't want to be put on there, but their comments are on a public space (I probably wouldn't do it if you had comments privated of course!)
Asking permission is a good idea!
These are both great ideas
Thank ya, thank ya!
It should be straightforward and attention grabbing. For a while, my about page had a kind of “trailer video” for my publication. I used POV footage from a crazy mountain climb I did. Prime seemed to like it
Hey, that's cool! I didn't realize you could add a video to the about page. Thanks for the idea!
I think give people a little personal flavor. Let them know Leigh Parrish, human being--as distinct from Leigh Parrish, writer of Halcyon Horror. Doesn't have to be a lot, but a little bit might go a long way!
That could be part of the issue. I've been really cautious about including any identifying details about myself this far. Paranoid? Maybe, but I like the creative freedom of keeping my personal and writing lives separate.
I'll have to think about it.
I get that--I write anonymously, so I'm low on identifying details. But there's enough personality you can include that doesn't reveal your identity that you can certainly add some flare. There's always something!
Personality doesn't have to be the same as identity. Think of this page as helping people understand the *type* of person they're connecting with. A little less "who are you?" and more "what are you about?" If someone feels a connection with you, then they are likely to connect with your work. Having that little bit of trust will help them be more receptive to your work.
Yeah I went so far on that front as to not have my name overtly on my Substack (instead using my DBA SleepyHollow, inK.) but unclear if that helps or hurts me (or zero effect either way.)
"Unsettling stories with a historical twist sounds interesting" as far as it goes but could maybe do with expanding a bit?
My "About"/ "Why Subscribe pages drip with my personality and each of my newsletter goals! Here, see for yourself...
https://carolynmcbrideauthor.substack.com/about
https://braceyourself.substack.com/about
I mean, I would probably write a short story of your origin meant to evoke the same feelings your work will to get people excited to read more.
That's quite an entertaining thought, actually. I'll think about it.
well, helping authors build better businesses and marketing are kind of my things :) LMK how it goes.
✏️ Hi everyone, I just launched my first Substack newsletter focused on systems and systems science a few weeks ago.
It seems like a good chunk of my current readership, people who have subscribed, care about this topic, and happily correspond with me about my posts over email, tend to not be very active on Substack.
Have any of you had success with convincing people to use Substack more often and participate via comments/chat?
Also, is there anyone else out there who has an interest in systems? Would love to find some potential collaborators!
Email replies are extremely beneficial when you first launch. They actually boost your digital reputation with email providers and help keep you out of the spam folder
Did not know that! Thank you!
Just trying to understand fully, but why do you want them to use Substack more? If you are having productive correspondence, that is GOLD! Don't mess with a good thing!
If you want to make that engagement visible, you can perhaps ask them if you can write posts talking about the topics in your correspondence and asking for comments about the subject? That would be a good conversation starter IMO.
Good luck!
Great suggestion, thank you!
I'm wanting them to use substack more because my long-term goal is to form a community where my readers are interacting with each other. Having interesting/productive discussions about systems in substack chat or the comments sections.
Well definitely keep engaging with them the way they are engaging with you! But starting to migrate pieces of the discussion and engaging more people on the substack platform will happen. Like you said--you only just recently launched. Give yourself time and grace to let it grow organically. It will happen--be consistent, and patient!
Substack is not a great place to build community for people to engage with each other. You should consider hosting a discord or something where you can pull them into their own place.
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
Just subscribed. Have been working on rebuilding macroeconomics and finance using complex systems and network theory for many years and teach a PhD level class in far from equilibrium economics. Look forward to your work.
Perfect timing, my next post will be focused on looking at the economy as a complex/dynamic system! I'm looking forward to reading your work and any feedback/thoughts you might have on mine.
It was only for the month of May, but I just posted about ten pieces about science and how everything fits together. What kinds of stuff do you write about, Shingai?
I'm focused on writing about how everything in the observable universe can be viewed as a system. I explore how the young, but promising field of "systems science" can play a key role in helping humanity better understand the world and tackle the tough interdisciplinary issues we face
My most recent post was about AI:
https://systemsexplorers.substack.com/p/systems-science-and-artificial-intelligence
Hello Shingai! My Substack is called System Changers and it's all about growth and personal transformation for people who lead systemic change :) Checking yours out now!
Hi Genevieve!
Very cool! Going to check yours out later today :)
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
Hi Shingai! I’m not prioritising moving people over to the Substack app and a fair chunk of my readers reads through email but I wrote a Substack 101-post that I link to frequently explaining what Substack is, how to comment and subscribe etc to make it more inviting for people to comment etc: https://astridbracke.com/how-to-use-and-enjoy-substack/amp/
I need to Collaborate with substack writers who would love to share information about graduate students such as: Grants, scholarships, fellowships etc.
Most of the people were only beneficiaries hence, I need writers my audience can truely benefit from.
Gradinterface@gmail.com
My substack: https://gradinterface.substack.com/
🧠 Remember - We Set the Tone for Our Communities.
Substack is a framework, and it provides some useful tools, but creating an engaged, welcoming community is down to our own leadership and collaboration. Creating connection with people comes from sharing your values in an authentic way.
Don't be afraid of your unique voice and the value it provides to others. We're all looking for recognition and reflection, so setting a tone, honestly, and approach in your writing, newsletters, and community is an incredibly powerful way to build mutually beneficial relationships.
honesty is key IMO
Love this advice. (And a fan of your newsletter!) Thanks!
Thanks Alexa, much appreciated!
✏️ What do you do when you’re in a writer’s block?
The best advice I ever received: Don't write.
Give yourself permission to sit and think. The stress of trying to force yourself to write often makes writers block worse. Do something else. Go for a walk. Indulge a different hobby. You'll get unstuck. The worst thing you can do is sit there staring at an empty post and say to yourself "Man I really need to write something!"
Agreed. Letting your subconscious do the work while you’re consciously engaged in another activity has always helped me. An idea pops into my head and I can go with it or just keep it handy.
Update: was driving with no music and turned into a parking space. It sparked an idea for a character backstory.
Pay attention to the thoughts crossing your mind! Write them down! sabrinalabow.substack.com
I sometimes have non-writing days on purpose
I take that a step further and intentionally block days on the calendar as non writing days.
that's a nice idea, Kevin
Granted, there are times when you need to make yourself focus and actually type out the words, but we rarely give ourselves enough grace to have thinking space away from the computer/typewriter/paper. It's incredible what your subconcious is working on at any given time. Be sure to be quiet from time to time so it can get a word in.
I get the best ideas when I go for a walk with my dogs. Then I just talk into the phone and by the time I get home, I have written the bulk of a new post! sabrinalabow.substack.com
This is helpful for finding a starting point but it won't write the article for you. I wish I could take credit for the idea but it cam from the comedian and author Steve Allen: Keep a note book or voice recorder close all the time and record every idea that is interesting. Then when you have a block revisit these ideas and see if they jumpstart your mind. Allen claimed that he wrote an entire book that way once. Hope this helps.
Yes! I just said I did that when I go for a walk with my dogs. Being outside in nature with my doggies and no distractions for the most part, lends itself to creativity. Then I just speak into my phone:)
Sometimes just talking to the dog will help, they are good listeners and don't criticize much.
Seconded--I've got tons of ways to track ideas!
Good advice. There are many days where I just capture some topics and maybe some top level thoughts (just a few bullets) on those topics. Then, I go on with my life, maybe even write some other stuff. I KNOW that those little seeds are growing in my subconscious and, when the seed is ripe, the words will come to me easy.
If I try to force it before it's ready, the writing will not be fun and the result will not be as good. Let the seeds grow. But REMEMBER TO PLANT THEM!
I write without knowing what about, just letting it flow, and lo it does! A part of us knows what it wants to say!
HELL YEAH!
Take what it's there, and nothing more.
It's a great thing to keep ideas concise and authentic too, you're writing for yourself, so no need to hit arbitrary word counts.
This makes a lot of sense! Thank you for the advice!
With all due respect, your comment is a bit too reminiscent of Julie Andrews' comment, in "Mary Poppins," to the effect that "just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down."
I am sure lots of little kiddies would like to say, "Oh, I'm tired. I don't wanna write today. I want to watch infantile cartoons and eat snores (or whatever snack it is that the common dolts eat today)."
"Man, if you wanna sing the blues you gotta pay your dues.
And you know it don't come easy."
So force yourself to write.
If you can't think of something to write, READ. Good literature is the best stimulus for the production of good literature.
Take an Ax to the television set.
Having satisfied my quota of briliant comments for the day, I'm gonna smoke a joint and listen to George Harrison
Set deadlines. I published every Thursday morning for a full year without ever missing my deadline.
Find a job in which you have to write stuff every single day. If you don't write, you get fired. This will make you write whenever you want to write. Many years ago, I had intermittent writer's block. Then I became an attorney at a New York Law firm. I had to write every single day. My writer's block was soon cured. That's one problem that has been consigned to history.
That’s not easy. Not everyone is in a write-heavy profession. Personally, I work with my hands, but it’s mostly cutting. I have a lot of time to think about writing so the inspiration bubbles up and I can write it later.
I think that the alternative is to foster boredom. Too many people constantly fill the void with noise. Your brain needs quiet in order to start being creative.
This means maybe you don’t listen to podcasts while you clean your home, or watch tv in the background while you cook. I sometimes don’t even play music in my car
Very true. Our minds need to wander to find what we’re looking for. 🙂
And I will readily concede that a huge proportion of people who write for a living don't write anything the least bit intelligent, worthwhile or aesthetically pleasing.
I think there’s truth to this. My day job is in news.
Hardly ever happens to me, but when it does I use Oulipo techniques, which I've written about on my substack
I enjoy reading everything you write, Terry - but those OuLiPo posts of yours are incredible! They're a great way of thinking sideways (I mean that as a compliment) - I need even more OuLiPo in my OuLiLife...!
https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/oulipo-writing-prompts
Thanks very much, Rebecca That's kind of you. :-)
😁 Always a pleasure!
I realized the other day that I hadn't written a lot of poetry lately. I have other priorities at the moment so kind of dismissed the though and didn't do anything further. BUT when I went on a long-overdue run one beautiful evening, suddenly I was stopping multiple times on my run to jot lines of poetry into my notes app on my phone.
Inspiration will find you when you're open and willing to receive, instead of trying to force or push. It can feel scary to put yourself in the vulnerable position of receiving but it's a practice I'm trying to nourish!
My blocks are usually related to topic selection, so I keep a pretty big list of potential topics to explore. Other than that, I rely on two things: 1. giving myself permission to stare into space for my entire writing time, and 2. stream-of-consciousness outline writing - just making as many bullet points as I can on the topic.
Yes! My newsletter is called Stream Unconsciousness because it is my unconsciousness that is streaming, not my consciousness if that makes sense. sabrinalabow.substack.com
🧠Hi Akash! My 2c: I go (so that's why it's my suggestion to you) to sites/arenas/magazines.....any place or media where I usually don't go. Visit some online site about a topic you never, otherwise go, visit the grocery store, and pick up a magazine you've never looked at before. Read an article about a topic you're not usually attracted to, just to see another person's view and perspective on something new.
Example, somewhat similar: Yesterday (Wed), Terry Freedman https://terryfreedman.substack.com/ e-mailed me and asked if I was going to write about the recently-passed Tina Turner. I hadn't planned on it, figuring all 835 other 'Stack music writers would be doing something similar, and quickly.
He meant it as a compliment, I finally allowed myself to realize, and while I didn't want to write "just another tribute" or eulogy (I'll let the others do that), there is one thing about her I knew I could actually add my knowledge and appreciation to....one song in particular.
Just one, but, it's a song and production I've loved for decades, and it'll have all one would need to know about her talent, her drive, and the love fellow artists had for her.
So, all of the above, Akash, as well as allowing others who read you, and dig what you do, to influence and inspire you! And, thank you, Terry!🙋♂️
You're welcome, Brad. And I agree with all your suggestions and points, especially the one telling people about my newsletter!
Certainly my pleasure, Terry.......I give credit where credit am due!! Writing it now....about the one song that defined her career. And, regardless of any guesses, it won't be what anyone would guess! Almost a guarantee!
Fantastic! I'm looking forward to that. My fave one is one that I don't think got much traction: Back where you started. Anyway, I thought if anyone had some great info it would be you.
🤗I'm beginning to realize that there may be some who read me who understand me and believe in me far more than I dare believe in myself.
More than likely, Brad.
I write about other things that are sort of related to what I'm having trouble with. I also lean into why it's so difficult for me to continue writing about X. And agree with some other writers, go on a walk, take a break, step away! :)
Read or walk.
I write about the writer's block. I dig into it. I let the resistance actually be the path, rather than the boulder in the way. I don't publish any of this, but it helps me remember that if I can think, I can write. I don't have to be in a perfect state to write. I just need to stop judging what I'm thinking about. But if the other advice works better for you, go with that! Just wanted to share what works for me!
For me, sometimes I feel blocked when I'm trying to write the wrong thing (for me). I have given myself too open-ended of an assignment, or I have decided I need to write some particular thing that no longer inspires me, or I am attempting to dig into an experience that is too painful at the moment.
Giving myself permission to change what I'm trying to work on helps sometimes.
Agree 💯. I've started a couple of articles that I tried to force myself to finish but didn't want to. So I stopped and started writing a completely unrelated article I felt inspired to write at that moment. The others are still drafts I'll go back to later, but sometimes it helps to just switch gears.
definitely
When I sit down to write for my newsletter, I handwrite the bulk of the article and only when I finish it, do I sit down to type it. (It's a bit old school haha.)
I've found that I feel like I have writer's block when I'm sitting in front of my laptop, but that isn't so when I face a blank page in my notebook. I think it's because I can get easily distracted while typing on my laptop and when I handwrite, it grounds and forces me to focus.
Me too. Love the blank page. Sometimes I record something and that gives me a draft.
I don't force it. I let the day go if my trick of reading other's work doesn't get the inspo going.
So as I've been writing consistently and playing around with finding my footing with what I wanted to write, I learned that I just had NOTHING to share at one point and decided to two two weeks away from public posting. THAT seemed to get SO many drafts flowing to me!
So now? I'm feeling REALLY good about taking two weeks off per quarter to rest, and write and work on drafts when they come. Doing that allowed me to easily get a couple pieces ready so I could be almost a week ahead of schedule. So I can continue to feel less rushed about my commitment to consistency. *my* way.
Super recently, I'm REALLY embracing the intention of nothing rushing me in life, or my process.
Doing so (post my first 2-week break) allowed me to channel a writing standing in my grandma's guest room, understand that it needed more but not stressing about it... continuing about my days with more grace and ease and BAM! The rest of the essay came to me and I just published it this week and I'm SUPER proud of it, and it's gotten such great feedback from readers!
All because I didn't focus on forcing, but letting work come when it comes and taking breaks when needed.
I usually pool in points I want to convey in a draft Google document and then build it on from there over time, a few days or even a week. The more I manifest it, the more a structure becomes visible, and that has helped me so far overcoming writer's block.
Run. Run. Run some more.
I try to get out of my verbal brain and into my visual one - I pick up a pencil and just see what doodles emerge. It's usually pretty abstract, but it always leads me somewhere different and new. Either that, or I get into my body with a run, a walk, or some yard work!
🟧 Just curious, how do lesser-known Substackers land on "Substack Reads"?
That's awesome! Thanks for explaining!
Question about the "dance" and etiquette among writers. To me, the great joy of Substack is when two writers connect and they both genuinely esteem each other for his or her work. It's magic. My question is what to do when one writer isn't that into the other? What's the etiquette? And when one writer subscribes (for free) and the other doesn't, how do we know if the other writer looked and wasn't interested or is waiting to see how interested we are first, or is just a narcissist who doesn't care what any other writer on Substack is doing?
This is tricky. I’ve had people subscribe to me, but I’m just not interested in the topic of their newsletter, or the writing is not my style. I don’t think anyone should feel pressured to subscribe back, since receiving emails is much more of a commitment than a casual follow on social media.
I agree. It's kind of a dance, with neither side ever saying what they're really thinking. I have about three dozen writers where it's mutual esteem. Best thing about Substack.
From my perspective, the answers to your questions don't really matter. When one subs and the other doesn't? No point in worrying about it. I have to ask myself what would I do with that info if I knew? And the answer is nothing. How would knowing that info help me? And the answer it wouldn't.
There is no etiquette in this regard, or at least not for me. If you want to sub, sub. If not, that's okay, too. I find it best to put my energy into my writing and publishing. Those are things I can control. What other people decide to do I can't control so I find it best not to wonder about it too much.
🟧 One of my subscribers complained that she stopped receiving my emails after she downloaded the Substack app, and the same thing happened to me after I started using it. My two cents: The default notifications setting for new app users should be “in email and app.” They should have to actively choose to not get emails or not get push notifications.
This. It's why I have been deliberately not pushing the app, it could bring reader involvement down.
YES! I've been wondering why I'm not getting emailed newsletters either and I didn't even think to check the settings. One of the reasons I was so excited to use Substack was because it WASN'T another app on my phone!
I wonder if that's why I keep missing some people's newsletters being published. I tend to look on email much more than on the app
🟧 - Will we again get a Dark Mode for substack? Helps me with the late night writing a lot.
Thanks
https://www.openbookreport.com/
✏️ Interested to hear what has worked best for other writers. I get a lot of direct messages and likes, but would like to engage more, especially with notes.
I have started encouraging people to reply directly to the email once in a while. I wind up getting much more interesting feedback...
Interesting to specifically encourage this. My preference is for folks to make public comments, but I also get why that is unappealing for many and like the idea of giving folks another avenue for feedback. A handful of my readers already reply by email. Some have told me in person that they read every issue but will NEVER engage, no matter which channel. So many personalities at play for this stuff.
Without getting too into the weeds, having readers reply to you tricks email providers into thinking your newsletter is a human corresponding with other humans, not a one way piece of data
Oooh...interesting. Would not have considered spam filter/SEO/algorithm-related stuff on this. Thanks for that nugget.
I have people tell me that they're very engaged despite never even "liking" my work. But they are specific and sincere haha! Those moments of encouragement keep me going. By the way, I like your tag "remarkable observations from an "ordinary" life." My substack has a similar vibe, in that it's an everyday life mix of observations in essays and poetry. Do you have thoughts on writing about "ordinary" lives and how we can better express the value of reading about them? Or maybe I'm just asking - what does ordinary mean to you?
Hi Jodie -- sorry for the delayed reply. Your comment got a little buried in the Office Hours tsunami. Ha!
You bring up good questions/thoughts. I think, for me, ordinary means most people can see themselves in the stories. That, then, becomes the value. Conveying that to people who haven't yet read anything is a horse of a different color, one I don't yet feel I've tamed. I guess, by default, I'm relying on help from existing readers to introduce the work to new people. It's a tricker sell than having "a thing" to offer: the latest tech hacks, recipes, travel tips, etc. Definitely no get rich quick scheme going on over here.
I get a lot of personal feedback and much fewer comments. I find it frustrating as I long for reader engagement. What people write publicly engages others and builds social cred.
I hear you, Andrew. We are a numbers-driven culture. I think about print publications and books, though, and how instant feedback is more or less a modern tool. That helps me be a little less impacted by the kinds of engagement I'm seeing. One thing that might help, if you're not already doing this, is to make specific request for feedback. In your email headers, be sure to tell people how much you appreciate them liking and commenting. Then add a "leave a comment" button to your post to reinforce the ask. Doesn't always make a difference, but it can't hurt.
hadn't thought of this! how do you encourage them to do so, specifically? do you provide a prompt or question, or just ask for general feedback?
Personally, I love Notes. I’ve gotten varying degrees of engagement but generally the banter back and forth is consistent. I’ve also gotten a lot of subscribers since its launch. It’s a great place for off the cuff analyses or comments or even if you want to post supplement articles to your work.
Notes is hit and miss with me. Depends on the day.
May not always be posting but replying.
How are you getting direct messages? Is there a feature on Substack yet to message each other like a DM?
I mean direct replies to my newsletter.
🧠 Right now (at 3mo on Substack) reciprocity and allowing time for growth is important to me. It’s straddling a fine line (this is literally what I just posted today) between writing what interests you and what interests your readers most. Engagement is a great way to measure interest but also understanding, this early in the game, that not everything you write may resonate with your new audience. They too are getting to know you! 😀
You're off to a great start, Priya!
Thanks, Mike!
Honest musing of the moment: The more I dabble in Notes, the more overwhelmed I get by what seems like the ceaseless energy of the handful of regular posters I seem to get fed relentlessly. And then I wonder if I post on Notes, will someone see me relentlessly - apparently not because no one notices. And it's just a spiral of comparison that seems to come down to numbers and how the system works better for the bigger, and I don't like feeling unheard, so I just kind of lurk a little and then stomp off to my corner. I imagine I'll be happier here when I can get in and out with intention - whatever that may be. Not overstay and become scrolling numb, but have an idea, post it, respond to some posts that strike me and GET OUT. Like originally I thought it would be a great idea to pose questions here that could be used as good crowdsourcing research for future topics of interest I want to write about. But because of the above problem of not getting noticed as a smaller Substacker, no one really responds and that's not proving a good use of my time.
I guess if there's any question in this - it's one of balance on a bigger scale beyond just the stickywicket of notes. How do people juggle the writing itself with the promo/social part that may not come as easy to many of us (we're writers!). And bigger perspective still, does anyone like me struggle in the reality of the whole enterprise of living online in a computer - this has been a constant war within myself all of my adult life. I want to be outside building something but my art form/any job I have requires stationary computer work.
Maybe it's just a nice day out there today and I'm here feeling distracted ;)
I mean... yes. To all of this. I would much rather be in my garden or writing an essay than promoting my work in the millions of little places where writers promote their work. How I've learned to do it: Janelle Hardy has a great DIY marketing class coming up that was really beneficial for me. One of the main pillars of that is about how not to take things too terribly seriously. https://www.janellehardy.com/diymarketing/
And in terms of feeling stomp-y -- reading this Dear Sugar column is always a nice re-set for me. https://therumpus.net/2011/03/31/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-69-we-are-all-savages-inside/
"I know it’s not easy being an artist. I know the gulf between creation and commerce is so tremendously wide that it’s sometimes impossible not to feel annihilated by it. A lot of artists give up because it’s just too damn hard to go on making art in a culture that by and large does not support its artists. But the people who don’t give up are the people who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity. They’ve taken into their hearts the idea that there is enough for all of us, that success will manifest itself in different ways for different sorts of artists, that keeping the faith is more important than cashing the check, that being genuinely happy for someone else who got something you hope to get makes you genuinely happier too.
Most of those people did not come to this perspective naturally. And so, Awful Jealous Person, there is hope for you. You, too, can be a person who didn’t give up. Most of the people who didn’t give up realized that in order to thrive they had to dismantle the ugly jealous god in their heads so they could instead serve something greater: their own work. For some of them, it meant simply shutting out the why not me voice and moving on. For others, it meant going deeper and exploring why exactly it pained them so much that someone else got good news."
Sometimes I'm in the first group. Sometimes the second. (I also write about infertility, and boy oh boy do we talk about that last part, the pained part, a whole lot when it comes to our friends with "oopsie" pregnancies. The equivalent of getting a 6-figure book deal without trying, maybe?)
Anyway, sitting here with you. :)
Ooh I can’t wait to read this Dear Sugar! Thanks for sharing, Ryan.
Wow, that's all wonderful and helpful. Will bookmark that Dear Sugar column and check out that DIY marketing class!
It's funny, usually I'm definitely not one to worry about what anyone thinks and I've always been a little (very local - like on my block!) leader in just doing the work in my own small way. But the more time you spend on these mediums, the more the spell of the LIKES pulls you under. It's how it's all built. I hate that part. Do we need to see how people liked anything? Is it helpful? What's it about??
And there I was with a baby oops too. Definitely much to be grateful about in any case!
Thanks for your thoughtful response!
We all have those things that have just fallen into our laps without trying, and the things we have to try so hard for, I think. No one is immune to suffering and comparison. I wrote about that this week, too: https://ryanroseweaver.substack.com/p/wild-geese-and-mustard-seeds
Whether we're trying to figure out where to share our gratitude or our gripes, it does help to know our audience. Complaining about your oopsie baby with a friend going through infertility? Maybe not. Complaining that your agent didn't book you in a hotel room with a hot tub on your third bestseller-book tour when others are struggling to finish their first book? Similar. (I also write about what to say/not to say etiquette a bit more here -- it may be transferable. https://ryanroseweaver.substack.com/p/the-first-rule-of-complicated-mothers)
That "knowing our audience" piece might actually be what the "likes" are most useful for -- figuring out where our message is doing the most service in the world. Assuming that likes do measure that -- which they might not always. In which case... as you point out, there's always the option to go outside and enjoy the day instead :)
This idea of not enough to go around is stupid and just not true. If people would stop comparing themselves to other people what a relief it would be to both them and everyone around them. Be happy for people who succeed! That energy is positive! That energy you put out is what you get back. Think of yourself as a magnet. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Being recommended by other writers seems to help a lot.
yes please to anyone asking, ha!
You might find it helpful to block a set amount of time to be on Notes. When the time's up, you're out. In my case, this works best early in the morning. Others might prefer the late afternoon or evening.
yes, that mantra of time limits helped me so much when I was full-time small-town reporter and posting about 12 stories daily. Everything had to be so intentional and timed. Only worry about what's the most important thing to do right now. I like to do the same with work email. Get in and out. It seems Thursdays and this Office Hours always lures me in longer than I mean to.
It's not just you. I got the majority of my initial subscribers from spamming my friends and Facebook feed. Anything else has been from responding to the same people who show up on my Notes feed, but that's been sporadic at best.
yes,thank goodness for those real starter friends. But then I'm writing newsletters knowing that my ex-boyfriend so-and-so from 2001 and Aunt Barb on a mountaintop out west are reading this which can freeze me up from being all free and truthful about everything. I would love to transition this list somehow to Perfect Strangers that find me and gel with the writing authentically. I guess we'll get there...someday...VERY SLOWLY
I can relate! I would much rather write for strangers. My mother and mother-in-law were two of my first subscribers, so I always feel like I have to censor what I say. There is freedom in anonymity!
for sure. OMG I was so happy that my mom was not on this. Especially because my troubles with her fuel a lot of my inept mom angst I may want to write about! And then my aunt announced she helped my mom get online. And then mom said she shared with her church. Oh just kill me now. Nooooo!
OMG. So real. I actually changed my FB settings before I shared posts there so that no one in my immediate family would subscribe. I need to be able to breathe a bit!
good idea!
Smart move, Ryan!
To me, Notes is no different than Twitter (which I hated even before Musk ruined it). I'm not a fan of social media in general, so with the exception of these Writer Office Hours and Post (post.news) I don't spend much time chatting with other writers and readers. I also publish a lot of articles on Medium, and read and comment on others' articles there.
Self-promotion in general is difficult for me, but I'm finding ways to do it that don't feel sleazy, overly aggressive, manipulative or just pathetic.
As for outdoor time, I've rediscovered just how much I need to go for walks in the park whenever possible. I'm so much calmer during and after those walks AND my writing is better because I've taken a break and come back to it with a better attitude and new ideas.
Three cheers for the walks! Saves me every time. And to not being sleazy!
YES.