Your total email list is valuable because it represents people who explicitly opt into receiving your posts by email. Today, we invite writers to share their best strategies for growing their email list on Substack.
I'm currently writing Fintech R&R, a Fintech Product newsletter covering all sorts of Fintech topics from a Product development and strategy angle.
I publish every two weeks and getting steady growth some weeks and stagnant growth other weeks. As this is very much an evenings and weekends thing for me I'm curious to know of anyone has any strategies for making the publishing process and also using notes more efficient?
Just for context, I publish on Substack every fortnight on Friday, then the following Monday I'll paste the content into LinkedIn as an article and put the subscribe link in the comments. I'll sometimes post to notes a couple of days after that as well but wondering if there's a more efficient way of doing all this without spreading it across 5 days...
I like to write my newsletters in advance. I've crated a simple content calendar where I note down what I want to talk about, then track the publication date and when it needs to be written by. I then use the scheduling tool in Substack to arrange for publication on my schedule. You can also start on drafts and save them so you don't lose your ideas.
Great tips Paul. I think I can certainly write and schedule a few days in advance but as I usually link my topics to some news that occurred that week I can't schedule it too far ahead. The content calendar for ideas and concepts is a great suggestion though. Thanks :-)
Hi Jas, I use a combo of spreadsheets and Google Docs before pulling it over to Substack, with monthly topics planned out a year in advance to help with the research effort. And I split the month between writing & outreach (we all have the marketing responsibilities, like it or not).
I see your reference to strategy a couple of times. My focus is strategy - happy to collaborate.
✏️ 🧠 have kept a blog for years (now defunct), written for newspapers, etc; but I can't quite figure out how to just *get started*: like, do I just write something & send it out with a big "HOWDY"...? Question: strategies for getting started?
I think they should put together an easy-to-find (top level) manual on how to start the fully and optimally set-up substack site with the steps in the best order. I had to dodge all around between FAQs piecemeal to figure it out, and I'm still confused.
I think they should organize it in sections. The first would be what are all the basic things you should do to set up your substack page in a way that is best for the future. Once all those are done and your site is percolating along, the nest phase should be what are all the things you do to get basic promotions going and use the site optimally. The final section for after all that is running smoothly should be what are the most effect promotional tools to expand it. Each section should give every STEP you need to take to make the happen with words that are current to links and buttons the site actually employed (as some do not seem to be any longer). It should give you all the essential basics and then, where necessary have links to other article that explore that more deeply; but should be able to be confident you've done all the essentials in the best way possible. I, for example, still don't fully get how to easily integrate notes with other sites when I am reading their articles and want to mention something related on my site or how to integrate them within my own artcicle's pastes so readers will be inclined to use them. They just sit there off on the side. Unless I write emails to readers to actively promote them (which I don't want to do), there doesn't seem a natural path for readers to explore them after reading an article. I am probably just missing the obvious, but that is the point regarding the tutorial.
I suggest just starting. It's really no different than blogging. Decide how often you want to post, what day(s) so you can add that to your About and newsletter description and then have fun. Substack gives you prompts for the first post that I sort of found helpful. That gives readers a chance to understand who you are, where you're coming from and what you plan to write about. If you can, import the emails from your blog, or send a personal email to those readers and friends/family to let them know they can find you on Substack. I only started in March, but I've truly enjoyed the community and talent here. It's a fun place to be. Just don't overthink it. Yes, you want to find subscribers, but that will come with good work. xo
That's all I did for my very first post. I shared it with a few close friends and then started interacting with the Substack community by reader other people's posts, commenting on their pages, subscribing to those Substacks I most enjoyed. Then I set myself a weekly posting cadence and have just kept all of the above it and it's been lovely.
I think once you have a certain number of posts it's a good strategy to have a central pinned post that serves as a sort of "Welcome new readers" type post. I've seen a few do that and I only recently introduced one myself.
The other thing about that one was that I didn't send it out to my subscribers, which means it's actually quite useful to track the stats of. I know that any clicks come from true website clicks, rather than clicks from emails. (It'd be possible to subtract those from total views if I had mailed it out of course, but it's easier this way haha). Not that I look at stats at all ... 🤣
As for cadence, not sure if that is even the right term, but I just mean I got into a regular sequence of scheduling my next post to come out (more or less) at the same time each week. I think that can be useful for some subscribers. I subscribe to several Subs that post exactly the same time each week and I always look forward to it, knowing when that email is going to pop up. A nice bit of anticipation.
Important part is to choose a niche that you resonate with and a newsletter name that people can easily find. The important step is just to start and you can learn as you go and optimize and test and evolve. The learning curve isn't especially steep and it's all rather rewarding.
My suggestion is the same as Sandra's: just start writing. If you're looking for a catchy headline or title, that can come later like osmosis. Then edit, edit, edit, so that the title and the body of your writing match. I find the essence of an article emerges during this creative process.
Just start. I'm quite new too but it doesn't take long to find your way around and people are very friendly and helpful. I've edited and updated my About page and my welcome email a few times since starting, as I've made tweaks to how often I can post and when I do what. Just go for it. The FAQs and hints on the site are a good place to look if you want to be a bit more genned up before you hit the keyboard. Good luck!
I would echo what Sandra said: just start. Like you, I came from a blogging background and have found that just starting (small and quietly) helped me to hone my voice and find my focus. You may find it helpful to read my journey from the beginning (January 2023) and would encourage you to lean in and go! ⛷️
Over here slinging #poems and #illustrations at typaphobe. I'm just curious to meet other poets and try to understand growth a bit more. I started from scratch this year and growth has been somewhat slow. I'm no @austinkleon , but I'd like to do this full-time!
Hope y'all are all well. I love what you're doing @substack. Thank you.
🧠 Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
Anything worth doing is worth doing scared and unprepared. Do you feel like a fraud? Good! Do you worry that you don't know enough? Excellent! Are you anxious about getting everything perfect? You're in good company!
The truth is that no matter how talented or successful of a writer you are, you'll always go through times of uncertainty. But the only wrong answer is to quit. Write scared! Post scared! Share scared! Authenticity and consistency are the name of the game. And your readers will love you for being YOU, confident or not.
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
I’ve started writing more personal and vulnerable substacks and they are the ones that resonate the most. I recently wrote about how I am fixing my relationship to love and it was very well received.
Not only validating to tell my truth, but feels good knowing other people resonate and can be helped by my truth.
My more vulnerable posts tend to have higher engagement as well, mostly by people I know reaching out directly. I agree that it feels so good when the work (and life, by extension) resonates with other people and opens up new ways for readers to think about stuff.
Isn't it amazing (and a little weird) to get a direct email or in-person comment about something you wrote? I take it as confirmation that I'm doing what God wants me to do. :)
Almost every issue of my newsletter (and many of my Medium articles) is personal and vulnerable. I agree it feels great to know others resonate with my words and find them helpful! It also helps me feel less shame and reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses.
Some of my best posts have been the hardest to write, not because I got stuck on the words, but because I was at my most vulnerable. This post about my daughter getting into a traumatic car accident that almost killed her was one of my best posts ever: https://www.maureengil.com/p/changing-my-perspective
I received dozens of emails from my subscribers, wishing her well or telling me their own stories. It was amazing.
Agree, I've written a bunch of posts about my journey to net-zero, but I think far more interesting to folks is the quirky self-effacing stuff like what it means to be the child of hoarders...(also way easier and more fun to write!)
I'm also finding that posts I don't expect to be "hits," as it were, turn out to resonate with people much more than I would have imagined. A good example is my recent post about what I remembered about my hometown on a recent drive home from the auto mechanic. It started as a stream of thoughts in my head that I wasn't going to write down and turned into a one-off personal essay that's gotten more comments, online and off, than any of my other posts so far.
Sounds fascinating - I will check it out. I always write personal and vulnerable - it's just my way. I'm only just starting out on Substack as have been focusing on Medium for a while, but also am an indie author of two memoirs (Well, one is part memoir, part qualitative research). It's so great when people resonate and receive our work well.
I’ve heard some buzz about medium but I chose substack over it since I have some favorite authors on here. What’s your take on navigating between the two? I find that substack is great for facilitating the connecting and finding of other artists (like this thread right now!)
Well, Medium is more like a Facebook for writers .... whereas Substack is an email-driven platform. So I like both for different reasons. I love the interactivity of Medium, so it's good to hear Substack also has an element of that, but what drew me to Substack is the quality of the writing (I follow some great writers here) and the fact you can build up an email list and paid subscribers (while Medium is more about gaining followers, like social media followers). I have found it quite easy to quickly build up a reasonable following on Medium (once I started writing regularly) so we'll see how it goes on Substack... These threads here are awesome!
I think this is the best, and safest, spot for my personal essays to land right now. I thought about publishing them with a magazine, but some of the topics are so raw that I don’t want them to be axed at the cutting board by a third party editor looking to carve a certain “story” for clickbait.
I think posting scared is also a sign you're daring to take risks. Taking risks is what creates quality writing, in my opinion. I also write stories, and more than once have said 'if I'm not trying new things and taking risks, then what's the point of writing a story?'.
I get the same feeling and I think we can call it a risk. We are not sitting on our couch, surfing, scarfing Doritos...we are putting ourselves out there.
MY view is that even if I write cr*p (which I don't!), at least I put myself forward and didn't just sit on the sidelines criticising and pontificating.
It's funny, in a weird kinda way. When I put up a story, I don't feel too nervous about it. I put up stories, and now I'm also putting up a serial novel. There's no plot for that, and I'm just as curious to see where it's going as the reader is (or I hope is.) The thing that makes me nervous is when I put out little pieces of what it was like working in a sawmill. It was the only job I ever had, and only now do I realize that what happened there, wasn't the norm. It was all drinking on the job; smoking dope, and even visits from hookers. Those stories make me nervous.
I'm putting a little blurb out tomorrow on my "Scribbles." It's the story of how I got my earring, of all things. Yeah, I'm that old guy that still walks around with an earring, but getting it, well, that was quite different. https://benwoestenburg.substack.com
I don't know why, but I get excited and scared at the same time when I post. Maybe it's because I feel posting is permanent in a way, even though I can delete it at any time.
Perhaps, quite possibly. I think it's something different for everyone. Maybe we are afraid of spoiling something or embarrassing ourselves. Sometimes we forget that an article can be edited. To correct mistakes. But at the same time, we worry a lot. The main thing is to overcome those fears!
You nailed it Marcus, I think living between fear & excitement is the sweet spot for growth as a human. Sure, we can't live there all the time but if we don't demand more of ourselves to get to that place we end up living a life in autopilot.
*What if that fear is actually a sign it's good enough?*
A lot of times when I've published something feeling smugly confident that it will do well, it didn't. Reason probably being: I was smugly confident, not slightly nervous. Being nervous is a sign you've gone hard and really put an important piece of yourself into this thing - to the point that it feels creatively risky. Creative risks - the good ones - move us forwards.
So maybe feeling scared and unprepared is a message, saying "yup, this is now worth publishing" - so we should always write until we're a bit scared of publishing it?
I like that you emphasize "putting an important piece of yourself" into writing. That's a great measure of whether the writing itself matters. Vulnerability is good sometimes, but it's a dangerous default mode that can lead to oversharing and burnout. Sometimes a good piece of writing is something well-researched and science based, something you write because it deeply interests you. The "important part" of yourself that goes into those pieces is your passion and expertise, which is just as valuable as emotion and insight.
This perspective is helpful. Thanks Mike. I often get caught in the loop of feeling disappointed when something I feel 'proud' of flops. I'm going to experiment with flipping this based on this wisdom. Notice the smugness and check myself. Celebrate the nervousness a little more.
So true. Felt this confidence about one of my latest pieces only to get absolutely flamed on Reddit for it. Working on something now that makes me nervous. Excited!
Mike, your insight is fully supported by science! Our brains are extremely primitive. The brain is always on the lookout for what's wrong. It's a bad sign when the brain isn't on high alert and warning us of danger; that's when over-confidence creeps in. I like a mix of "I'm going to throw up" and "I put my all into this and it's solid." Then I post. (BTW, I'm feeling 'wrong' as I type this.)
Do you think that there is a balance between making vulnerable work, being nervous about your work, and anonymity? Some of my most well received work has been either a research deep dive into a niche topic (which I was terribly nervous about) or a somewhat vulnerable discussion about my personal cultural rituals.
Wow, I have never thought about it like. And truth be told, most of my work where i feel vulnerable and nervous to post always does well than when I feel confident. This is so insightful thanks for sharing
Love this. I agree that maybe sometimes, the move is to just reframe the way you think about fear and nervousness. The one thing I've learned about writing for an audience is that you never really know how it will be received. So, just be done with the fear and hit publish??
That's a good point. I've come to realize that I could edit one piece indefinitely. At some point, I have to Publish.
That said, there've definitely been times when I made a few extra edits after posting, and it bothers me a bit that email recipients have an immortalized version of the piece that I don't think represents my best work.
We are always our harshest critics and it may seem never enough. My advice for everyone and for myself is that: let's hit publish when it's good enough.
Editing is an eternal task but eventually, I find, it becomes just word swapping. At that point the piece needs to rest or be published. Often times published.
I have done that a handful of times and I hope the email recipients click 'read in app.'
So true. I literally had this issue today before posting. Told myself I would send it out at a specific time then I felt like I wanted to edit and read over the entire post one more time. I'm sure as the writers we're obsessed over certain details the audience doesn't even notice.
I've taken to scheduling posts for early in the moment when I'm in danger of tinkering too much. I go to bed and by the time I get up it's gone and out there!
Sometimes a piece needs a little extra tinkering but often I find it is, as S. E. Reid said above, being scared to post rather than a need to edit more.
I am certain of that too. I have written stories where I focussed on X and the readers focussed on Y or the readers have read something in there I didn't intentionally place.
One might ask, do I provide value? Or more importantly, how can I provide more value? That's where YOU come in. I would love to hear feedback. Feedback Reggae, let the good vibes get a lot stronger. Feedback... we needs it.
I have a writer friend who talks about how feedback can either be feeding us, nourishing us, or it can be that screechy guitar feedback sound, and it's up to us to take the nourishing food feedback and ignore the screechy discordant feedback.
The thing I don't understand is when no one gives you feedback. I look at the stats, and they say, Yep, people are reading it. But as for comments...crickets most of the time.
Commenting takes time, thought, and effort beyond clicking "like," but no comments doesn't mean no impact. When I was still on social media, my posts rarely got good engagement. But more than one person (who had never even clicked "like!") told me on calls or through email that they liked and appreciated what I posted.
Giving feedback is not something people are comfortable with and if not practised, are even less likely to do so and then there is the time aspect. Time and effort. Which is why feedback is a precious gift.
I just published a piece about feedback and how important it is. But in truth, I get little to no feedback or comments on my articles, except some personal notes from friends and colleagues. I just got such a constructive note, which with a bit of pressure, got him to send in a comment, as it contributed so much to the article. Mostly I blame myself for not being relevant, writing well enough, being too academic, and so on. Anyway, it is a challenge, and I hope to improve my craft and learn better about who my audience is. https://www.inmindwise.com/p/relationships-for-sustenance-and
For me, providing value means putting myself in the shoes of my audience and thinking "what do they want to hear about?" With all of the concerns facing content creators nowadays, it's helpful for me to identify the top ones, and then write content addressing various methods to build resilience. It's worked well so far.
If you are writing fiction then the process may be a little trickier than that. Which is why I alternate between craft/theory and fiction posts. Then again, there are a gazillion resources out there for fiction theory. Tricky, tricky!
I ask this question everyday.What is the value of what I am writing? I joined this community thinking¨this is the best community you can join now ¨. I am not a perfect writer or I never wanted to be a writer but I have an important message to share.I am writing about ¨truth¨,wisdom,real meaning of life. What is the value of ¨truth¨today in the world?
We're going to try something new this week! Start your comment with an emoji to signal who you are looking to talk with at Office Hours.
✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
🧠 - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers
🟧 - when asking a question you hope the Substack team can help answer
Use your emoji keyboard or simply copy and paste the emoji at the beginning of your comment.
✏️ - Hello fellow Substackers!
I'm currently writing Fintech R&R, a Fintech Product newsletter covering all sorts of Fintech topics from a Product development and strategy angle.
I publish every two weeks and getting steady growth some weeks and stagnant growth other weeks. As this is very much an evenings and weekends thing for me I'm curious to know of anyone has any strategies for making the publishing process and also using notes more efficient?
Just for context, I publish on Substack every fortnight on Friday, then the following Monday I'll paste the content into LinkedIn as an article and put the subscribe link in the comments. I'll sometimes post to notes a couple of days after that as well but wondering if there's a more efficient way of doing all this without spreading it across 5 days...
Thanks in advanced :-)
I like to write my newsletters in advance. I've crated a simple content calendar where I note down what I want to talk about, then track the publication date and when it needs to be written by. I then use the scheduling tool in Substack to arrange for publication on my schedule. You can also start on drafts and save them so you don't lose your ideas.
Blimey, you sound organised! I use a spreadsheet myself: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/article-planner
This looks like some good stuff!
Thanks, Paul. Download it, it's free. There's a Google Sheets version and an Excel version.
Great tips Paul. I think I can certainly write and schedule a few days in advance but as I usually link my topics to some news that occurred that week I can't schedule it too far ahead. The content calendar for ideas and concepts is a great suggestion though. Thanks :-)
Hi Jas, I use a combo of spreadsheets and Google Docs before pulling it over to Substack, with monthly topics planned out a year in advance to help with the research effort. And I split the month between writing & outreach (we all have the marketing responsibilities, like it or not).
I see your reference to strategy a couple of times. My focus is strategy - happy to collaborate.
George
Hey George! Awesome tips :-). I'm not going to plan that far ahead but planning a month or so in advance would make the process quicker.
Thanks for the tips and yeah I'd love to collaborate. I'll message you
Subbed! Sounds like good content! 🫡🙌
Thank you Taylor :-)
Great idea! That makes it easy to visually sort comments.
Yes! I'm digging all the organization improvements to office hours. It's made a big difference!
Agreed!
🟧On my MacStudio, the emoji's wouldn't work when I clicked on them. I had to cut and paste them.
I am love the Substack world thank you
I meant to write i am loving multi tasking over here ; ) currently on book tour ; )
✏️ 🧠 have kept a blog for years (now defunct), written for newspapers, etc; but I can't quite figure out how to just *get started*: like, do I just write something & send it out with a big "HOWDY"...? Question: strategies for getting started?
I think they should put together an easy-to-find (top level) manual on how to start the fully and optimally set-up substack site with the steps in the best order. I had to dodge all around between FAQs piecemeal to figure it out, and I'm still confused.
I think they should organize it in sections. The first would be what are all the basic things you should do to set up your substack page in a way that is best for the future. Once all those are done and your site is percolating along, the nest phase should be what are all the things you do to get basic promotions going and use the site optimally. The final section for after all that is running smoothly should be what are the most effect promotional tools to expand it. Each section should give every STEP you need to take to make the happen with words that are current to links and buttons the site actually employed (as some do not seem to be any longer). It should give you all the essential basics and then, where necessary have links to other article that explore that more deeply; but should be able to be confident you've done all the essentials in the best way possible. I, for example, still don't fully get how to easily integrate notes with other sites when I am reading their articles and want to mention something related on my site or how to integrate them within my own artcicle's pastes so readers will be inclined to use them. They just sit there off on the side. Unless I write emails to readers to actively promote them (which I don't want to do), there doesn't seem a natural path for readers to explore them after reading an article. I am probably just missing the obvious, but that is the point regarding the tutorial.
I suggest just starting. It's really no different than blogging. Decide how often you want to post, what day(s) so you can add that to your About and newsletter description and then have fun. Substack gives you prompts for the first post that I sort of found helpful. That gives readers a chance to understand who you are, where you're coming from and what you plan to write about. If you can, import the emails from your blog, or send a personal email to those readers and friends/family to let them know they can find you on Substack. I only started in March, but I've truly enjoyed the community and talent here. It's a fun place to be. Just don't overthink it. Yes, you want to find subscribers, but that will come with good work. xo
(A very tentative 🧠)
That's all I did for my very first post. I shared it with a few close friends and then started interacting with the Substack community by reader other people's posts, commenting on their pages, subscribing to those Substacks I most enjoyed. Then I set myself a weekly posting cadence and have just kept all of the above it and it's been lovely.
I think once you have a certain number of posts it's a good strategy to have a central pinned post that serves as a sort of "Welcome new readers" type post. I've seen a few do that and I only recently introduced one myself.
Posting Cadence and 'Intro for new readers' interesting Nathan ☺️ tell me more
😄
I pinned this post (https://slake.substack.com/p/im-new-here-where-do-i-start) at the top, so it looks like this if you happen to click through: https://slake.substack.com/
The other thing about that one was that I didn't send it out to my subscribers, which means it's actually quite useful to track the stats of. I know that any clicks come from true website clicks, rather than clicks from emails. (It'd be possible to subtract those from total views if I had mailed it out of course, but it's easier this way haha). Not that I look at stats at all ... 🤣
As for cadence, not sure if that is even the right term, but I just mean I got into a regular sequence of scheduling my next post to come out (more or less) at the same time each week. I think that can be useful for some subscribers. I subscribe to several Subs that post exactly the same time each week and I always look forward to it, knowing when that email is going to pop up. A nice bit of anticipation.
Cheers Nathan. The idea of pinning a post sounds like worth a go.
Important part is to choose a niche that you resonate with and a newsletter name that people can easily find. The important step is just to start and you can learn as you go and optimize and test and evolve. The learning curve isn't especially steep and it's all rather rewarding.
I found these articles very helpful to get started
Paul has good info here as well as other articles & suggestions https://pau1.substack.com/p/start
Ramona writes about many different things but has a whole tab/series for suggestions for how to get started https://writereverlasting.substack.com/s/substack-for-newbies
Hope this helps!
mannahattamamma, I right with you. I just need to get started but I can't even decide on a name much less a starting point.
You can always change the name. Maybe start just by commenting on others' posts until something clicks?
My suggestion is the same as Sandra's: just start writing. If you're looking for a catchy headline or title, that can come later like osmosis. Then edit, edit, edit, so that the title and the body of your writing match. I find the essence of an article emerges during this creative process.
Just start. I'm quite new too but it doesn't take long to find your way around and people are very friendly and helpful. I've edited and updated my About page and my welcome email a few times since starting, as I've made tweaks to how often I can post and when I do what. Just go for it. The FAQs and hints on the site are a good place to look if you want to be a bit more genned up before you hit the keyboard. Good luck!
I would echo what Sandra said: just start. Like you, I came from a blogging background and have found that just starting (small and quietly) helped me to hone my voice and find my focus. You may find it helpful to read my journey from the beginning (January 2023) and would encourage you to lean in and go! ⛷️
Love this idea!!
Very well, good.
✨
Over here slinging #poems and #illustrations at typaphobe. I'm just curious to meet other poets and try to understand growth a bit more. I started from scratch this year and growth has been somewhat slow. I'm no @austinkleon , but I'd like to do this full-time!
Hope y'all are all well. I love what you're doing @substack. Thank you.
https://fosterious.substack.com
Love the emojis
Hey everyone,
The Substack team is signing off for today. We encourage you to stick around and continue the conversation with fellow writers.
Next week we'll return for Shoutout thread. We hope you'll join us: https://lu.ma/shoutout
See you soon,
Katie, Bailey, Sam, Zoe, Dayne, Seth, Jonathan, and Bruno
🧠 Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
Anything worth doing is worth doing scared and unprepared. Do you feel like a fraud? Good! Do you worry that you don't know enough? Excellent! Are you anxious about getting everything perfect? You're in good company!
The truth is that no matter how talented or successful of a writer you are, you'll always go through times of uncertainty. But the only wrong answer is to quit. Write scared! Post scared! Share scared! Authenticity and consistency are the name of the game. And your readers will love you for being YOU, confident or not.
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
I’ve started writing more personal and vulnerable substacks and they are the ones that resonate the most. I recently wrote about how I am fixing my relationship to love and it was very well received.
Not only validating to tell my truth, but feels good knowing other people resonate and can be helped by my truth.
Check it out!
https://denisemasiel.substack.com/p/fixing-my-relationship-to-love?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
My more vulnerable posts tend to have higher engagement as well, mostly by people I know reaching out directly. I agree that it feels so good when the work (and life, by extension) resonates with other people and opens up new ways for readers to think about stuff.
Isn't it amazing (and a little weird) to get a direct email or in-person comment about something you wrote? I take it as confirmation that I'm doing what God wants me to do. :)
yes, I love these moments and it keeps me writing!
For sure! I’m a huge memoir reader and it’s nice to have that style translate to my substack.
Almost every issue of my newsletter (and many of my Medium articles) is personal and vulnerable. I agree it feels great to know others resonate with my words and find them helpful! It also helps me feel less shame and reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses.
Some of my best posts have been the hardest to write, not because I got stuck on the words, but because I was at my most vulnerable. This post about my daughter getting into a traumatic car accident that almost killed her was one of my best posts ever: https://www.maureengil.com/p/changing-my-perspective
I received dozens of emails from my subscribers, wishing her well or telling me their own stories. It was amazing.
Agree, I've written a bunch of posts about my journey to net-zero, but I think far more interesting to folks is the quirky self-effacing stuff like what it means to be the child of hoarders...(also way easier and more fun to write!)
I'm also finding that posts I don't expect to be "hits," as it were, turn out to resonate with people much more than I would have imagined. A good example is my recent post about what I remembered about my hometown on a recent drive home from the auto mechanic. It started as a stream of thoughts in my head that I wasn't going to write down and turned into a one-off personal essay that's gotten more comments, online and off, than any of my other posts so far.
https://continuedjourney.substack.com/p/a-drive-through-the-town-that-was
I wrote by how good feelings transfer in my last article Theresa
I feel like substack is raising my LiveJournal from the dead. Definitely writing much more personal stuff here.
Sounds fascinating - I will check it out. I always write personal and vulnerable - it's just my way. I'm only just starting out on Substack as have been focusing on Medium for a while, but also am an indie author of two memoirs (Well, one is part memoir, part qualitative research). It's so great when people resonate and receive our work well.
I’ve heard some buzz about medium but I chose substack over it since I have some favorite authors on here. What’s your take on navigating between the two? I find that substack is great for facilitating the connecting and finding of other artists (like this thread right now!)
Well, Medium is more like a Facebook for writers .... whereas Substack is an email-driven platform. So I like both for different reasons. I love the interactivity of Medium, so it's good to hear Substack also has an element of that, but what drew me to Substack is the quality of the writing (I follow some great writers here) and the fact you can build up an email list and paid subscribers (while Medium is more about gaining followers, like social media followers). I have found it quite easy to quickly build up a reasonable following on Medium (once I started writing regularly) so we'll see how it goes on Substack... These threads here are awesome!
Thanks for sharing this! I write personal essays as well and was beginning to feel like I might be in the wrong spot.
I think this is the best, and safest, spot for my personal essays to land right now. I thought about publishing them with a magazine, but some of the topics are so raw that I don’t want them to be axed at the cutting board by a third party editor looking to carve a certain “story” for clickbait.
This is a very serious step, worthy of respect. You did a great job!
Thanks Sabrina!
I think posting scared is also a sign you're daring to take risks. Taking risks is what creates quality writing, in my opinion. I also write stories, and more than once have said 'if I'm not trying new things and taking risks, then what's the point of writing a story?'.
I've been being published for years, and I STILL get anxious every time I hit Publish
Every time I publish a post or edit it, I get excited, can I call it a risk? I think so.
I get the same feeling and I think we can call it a risk. We are not sitting on our couch, surfing, scarfing Doritos...we are putting ourselves out there.
Exactly. I wrote about this last October: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/want-to-be-a-writer
MY view is that even if I write cr*p (which I don't!), at least I put myself forward and didn't just sit on the sidelines criticising and pontificating.
It's funny, in a weird kinda way. When I put up a story, I don't feel too nervous about it. I put up stories, and now I'm also putting up a serial novel. There's no plot for that, and I'm just as curious to see where it's going as the reader is (or I hope is.) The thing that makes me nervous is when I put out little pieces of what it was like working in a sawmill. It was the only job I ever had, and only now do I realize that what happened there, wasn't the norm. It was all drinking on the job; smoking dope, and even visits from hookers. Those stories make me nervous.
Perhaps you feel more vulnerable because it's actually what happened to you, therefore more personal than fiction. Sounds pretty interesting!
I'm putting a little blurb out tomorrow on my "Scribbles." It's the story of how I got my earring, of all things. Yeah, I'm that old guy that still walks around with an earring, but getting it, well, that was quite different. https://benwoestenburg.substack.com
yup, every single time.
Donna, I am of the same opinion. 🧡
I don't know why, but I get excited and scared at the same time when I post. Maybe it's because I feel posting is permanent in a way, even though I can delete it at any time.
Perhaps, quite possibly. I think it's something different for everyone. Maybe we are afraid of spoiling something or embarrassing ourselves. Sometimes we forget that an article can be edited. To correct mistakes. But at the same time, we worry a lot. The main thing is to overcome those fears!
You nailed it Marcus, I think living between fear & excitement is the sweet spot for growth as a human. Sure, we can't live there all the time but if we don't demand more of ourselves to get to that place we end up living a life in autopilot.
yes !
I write Unpopular Psychology. My entire blog is a risk :)
The topic sounds really interesting to me. You have a new subscriber!
Thank you!
I'll add:
*What if that fear is actually a sign it's good enough?*
A lot of times when I've published something feeling smugly confident that it will do well, it didn't. Reason probably being: I was smugly confident, not slightly nervous. Being nervous is a sign you've gone hard and really put an important piece of yourself into this thing - to the point that it feels creatively risky. Creative risks - the good ones - move us forwards.
So maybe feeling scared and unprepared is a message, saying "yup, this is now worth publishing" - so we should always write until we're a bit scared of publishing it?
I like that you emphasize "putting an important piece of yourself" into writing. That's a great measure of whether the writing itself matters. Vulnerability is good sometimes, but it's a dangerous default mode that can lead to oversharing and burnout. Sometimes a good piece of writing is something well-researched and science based, something you write because it deeply interests you. The "important part" of yourself that goes into those pieces is your passion and expertise, which is just as valuable as emotion and insight.
This is a key insight. Thank you for sharing!
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” Robert Frost
This perspective is helpful. Thanks Mike. I often get caught in the loop of feeling disappointed when something I feel 'proud' of flops. I'm going to experiment with flipping this based on this wisdom. Notice the smugness and check myself. Celebrate the nervousness a little more.
"Celebrate the nervousness" should be on a t-shirt.
So should the name of your newsletter, 'This'll Have to Do', it's brilliant!
*takes a bow*
Agreed! What a permission slip!
Totally!
So true. Felt this confidence about one of my latest pieces only to get absolutely flamed on Reddit for it. Working on something now that makes me nervous. Excited!
update lol wrote the piece i was nervous about -- got absolutely flamed + doxxed on reddit. that being said, proud of it!
Mike, your insight is fully supported by science! Our brains are extremely primitive. The brain is always on the lookout for what's wrong. It's a bad sign when the brain isn't on high alert and warning us of danger; that's when over-confidence creeps in. I like a mix of "I'm going to throw up" and "I put my all into this and it's solid." Then I post. (BTW, I'm feeling 'wrong' as I type this.)
Reminds me of a quote "Remind yourself: Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer." Do you know where that is from?
I don't, but I like it.
Out of all unlikely candidates, it's from Darkest Dungeon, a rogue-like video game. The quote also has a excellent follow up, "Hesitation is defeat."
SCIENCE FOR THE WIN. 👏 Thanks so much for this reply, Sarah.
Do you think that there is a balance between making vulnerable work, being nervous about your work, and anonymity? Some of my most well received work has been either a research deep dive into a niche topic (which I was terribly nervous about) or a somewhat vulnerable discussion about my personal cultural rituals.
That's a good question. And I have no idea about how to answer - except I suspect that if there *is* a balance, it's different for everyone!
But it sounds like you're seeing where that balance is in your work, and you're calibrating yourself against it, which is smart and wise.
Wow, I have never thought about it like. And truth be told, most of my work where i feel vulnerable and nervous to post always does well than when I feel confident. This is so insightful thanks for sharing
Love this. I agree that maybe sometimes, the move is to just reframe the way you think about fear and nervousness. The one thing I've learned about writing for an audience is that you never really know how it will be received. So, just be done with the fear and hit publish??
And don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Edit as much as you can and hit POST. Don't get trapped in editing.
That's a good point. I've come to realize that I could edit one piece indefinitely. At some point, I have to Publish.
That said, there've definitely been times when I made a few extra edits after posting, and it bothers me a bit that email recipients have an immortalized version of the piece that I don't think represents my best work.
We are always our harshest critics and it may seem never enough. My advice for everyone and for myself is that: let's hit publish when it's good enough.
I feel the same. I wish the email could somehow refresh like the web/app does with updated content.
Editing is an eternal task but eventually, I find, it becomes just word swapping. At that point the piece needs to rest or be published. Often times published.
I have done that a handful of times and I hope the email recipients click 'read in app.'
I needed to read this today. You've just saved me five hours 😂
Now to find something to do with the time! 😂
Indeed! 😂
So true. I literally had this issue today before posting. Told myself I would send it out at a specific time then I felt like I wanted to edit and read over the entire post one more time. I'm sure as the writers we're obsessed over certain details the audience doesn't even notice.
I've taken to scheduling posts for early in the moment when I'm in danger of tinkering too much. I go to bed and by the time I get up it's gone and out there!
Sometimes a piece needs a little extra tinkering but often I find it is, as S. E. Reid said above, being scared to post rather than a need to edit more.
I am certain of that too. I have written stories where I focussed on X and the readers focussed on Y or the readers have read something in there I didn't intentionally place.
What, is editing on your mind today? 😂
A little. x)
One might ask, do I provide value? Or more importantly, how can I provide more value? That's where YOU come in. I would love to hear feedback. Feedback Reggae, let the good vibes get a lot stronger. Feedback... we needs it.
Feedback feels like a four letter word sometimes. It's like the scariest, yet most useful, thing of all. Feedback Reggae, good plan!
I have a writer friend who talks about how feedback can either be feeding us, nourishing us, or it can be that screechy guitar feedback sound, and it's up to us to take the nourishing food feedback and ignore the screechy discordant feedback.
I agree with you, it depends on the person and how he will perceive it. You said it right.
Take feedback as a gift, always. What you do with the gift is up to you...
The thing I don't understand is when no one gives you feedback. I look at the stats, and they say, Yep, people are reading it. But as for comments...crickets most of the time.
Commenting takes time, thought, and effort beyond clicking "like," but no comments doesn't mean no impact. When I was still on social media, my posts rarely got good engagement. But more than one person (who had never even clicked "like!") told me on calls or through email that they liked and appreciated what I posted.
So don't be discouraged. :)
Giving feedback is not something people are comfortable with and if not practised, are even less likely to do so and then there is the time aspect. Time and effort. Which is why feedback is a precious gift.
Good to know I am not the only one who rarely gets feedback.
I just published a piece about feedback and how important it is. But in truth, I get little to no feedback or comments on my articles, except some personal notes from friends and colleagues. I just got such a constructive note, which with a bit of pressure, got him to send in a comment, as it contributed so much to the article. Mostly I blame myself for not being relevant, writing well enough, being too academic, and so on. Anyway, it is a challenge, and I hope to improve my craft and learn better about who my audience is. https://www.inmindwise.com/p/relationships-for-sustenance-and
I will have a look at it. Feedback is something that has been bothering me as well
For me, providing value means putting myself in the shoes of my audience and thinking "what do they want to hear about?" With all of the concerns facing content creators nowadays, it's helpful for me to identify the top ones, and then write content addressing various methods to build resilience. It's worked well so far.
If you are writing fiction then the process may be a little trickier than that. Which is why I alternate between craft/theory and fiction posts. Then again, there are a gazillion resources out there for fiction theory. Tricky, tricky!
I ask this question everyday.What is the value of what I am writing? I joined this community thinking¨this is the best community you can join now ¨. I am not a perfect writer or I never wanted to be a writer but I have an important message to share.I am writing about ¨truth¨,wisdom,real meaning of life. What is the value of ¨truth¨today in the world?
Veritas Omnia Vincit. A motto that may have lost its meaning in today's media landscape.
I would say ¨Truth is lost but definitely not dead¨.