Is Substack the heroic savior of a vanishing media industry, where the best minds of our generation are publishing their finest work, or is it a tech platform that “has become a really good way for women to monetize their diary entries?”
Substack is the best marketing tool for my business. It is also a really great community to meet other writers. I hate when people get snobby about it.
Yes! Thank you. It all depends on how you use Substack. I’ve grown to use it as a playground for content/writing whilst I build a community that will hopefully become interested in my book. It’s a fun release away from book writing. About 90% of my writing is done off of Substack and never posted there. It is a newsletter for me. I know some people who do 100% of their writing there and take it very seriously with a hired editor.
I personally love how everyone uses it in a different way, whatever works for their own creative and career needs.
oooooooooooooooooh, I have many thoughts about that movie. It was better than I expected and kind of made more sense than the book and I thought the ending was powerful but overall I felt like something about it minimized the pain and trauma of domestic abuse.
I was JUSt thinking about these distinctions today. I think because I’ve been marketing my books and a business around them for so long, I see this divide very clearly but so many people I work with can’t. Going to share this - with your permission- with my clients tomorrow on our group marketing call. 🌟🌟🌟
I loved the distinction between writing being something that is honed, revised, workshopped and polished and content is something that is produced in support of, in addition to and in furtherance of writing.
I fall squarely into that bucket of aspiring memoirist hoping to grow an audience, and this essay helped clarify for me that my content shouldn't be bite-sized versions of my writing but things that would be valuable and attractive to the people I hope to be writing for.
As writers increasingly see newsletters as an outlet and even business, I found this piece on the different types of newsletters to be interesting especially because it points out the differences in growth strategies that can be used for the different types:
Wow, I feel pretty silly for not thinking about this distinction before! I get so wrapped up and research and trying to decide what I will put on Substack that it commandeers far too much of my writing attention. Definitely on my mind as I plan this week at the desk. Do you have any suggestions on how to better focus my efforts Leigh?
Your Substack posts are so rich and substantial and reflective! Are you writing these Substack posts in addition to writing the book about Minnie or will the Substack posts eventually become the book? If you want to save time/energy for book writing, your Substack posts could be lighter (than the essays/chapters in the book) and more of an invitation to your reader to participate by sharing their own memories/obsessions, because that's how you'll grow your audience. Like one thing that jumped out at me in #6 was your mention of thrifting in your twenties outside Seattle. That is something a lot of readers can connect to, so the post could have been thrifting and collecting old food booklets, and then asking your audience what weird things they collect. #7 asks such an interesting question: "What do I want from the past?" You could have broken this one out into multiple pieces: one about old dolls, one about your mixed feelings about the Gilded Age, one about teenage Amy ghost-hunting. (You could have even dedicated a whole post to screenshots from the Gilded Age TV show and your commentary on the history of the real sites) Maybe for your next Substack post, you could just ask yourself, "Could I break this into three?"
I'm going through a transition with my content journey as I used to write on Substack to promote my life/career coaching business. Now, I'm a full-time writer working on a memoir and trying to figure out how to bring my audience along in that journey. I often get stuck in the "what should I write?" spiral that used to be so clear to me as a coach. I'm trusting that as long as I keep writing something, anything, my new message and value to my audience as a memoir writer will start to become clearer. Finger crossed!
Jennifer Louden (in this comments section) is doing something similar—pivoting from coaching to taking her audience along for the ride as she writes a novel!
Hi Leigh, you kindly offered me the class/session mentioned at the end of this post for $20. (Thank you), but I can’t find the note that told me how to pay you. I’m at mackerelskymedia@gmail.com
Substack is the best marketing tool for my business. It is also a really great community to meet other writers. I hate when people get snobby about it.
It’s just silly. The snobbery.
Yes! Thank you. It all depends on how you use Substack. I’ve grown to use it as a playground for content/writing whilst I build a community that will hopefully become interested in my book. It’s a fun release away from book writing. About 90% of my writing is done off of Substack and never posted there. It is a newsletter for me. I know some people who do 100% of their writing there and take it very seriously with a hired editor.
I personally love how everyone uses it in a different way, whatever works for their own creative and career needs.
love the playground metaphor
I call it "my kitchen" because I used to spend all my time there, and now I write instead of cook.
Me too!
That footnote should be framed.
😂😂😂 in all seriousness I saw It Ends with Us in the theater on Friday and it was even better than I expected!
oooooooooooooooooh, I have many thoughts about that movie. It was better than I expected and kind of made more sense than the book and I thought the ending was powerful but overall I felt like something about it minimized the pain and trauma of domestic abuse.
you should write about it!
I was JUSt thinking about these distinctions today. I think because I’ve been marketing my books and a business around them for so long, I see this divide very clearly but so many people I work with can’t. Going to share this - with your permission- with my clients tomorrow on our group marketing call. 🌟🌟🌟
of course!
I loved the distinction between writing being something that is honed, revised, workshopped and polished and content is something that is produced in support of, in addition to and in furtherance of writing.
I fall squarely into that bucket of aspiring memoirist hoping to grow an audience, and this essay helped clarify for me that my content shouldn't be bite-sized versions of my writing but things that would be valuable and attractive to the people I hope to be writing for.
As writers increasingly see newsletters as an outlet and even business, I found this piece on the different types of newsletters to be interesting especially because it points out the differences in growth strategies that can be used for the different types:
https://inboxcollective.com/five-types-of-indie-newsletter-business-models/
This is so helpful, thanks for sharing! Although I'm a "writer" I don't have a "writing newsletter," I have an "expert newsletter."
Wow, I feel pretty silly for not thinking about this distinction before! I get so wrapped up and research and trying to decide what I will put on Substack that it commandeers far too much of my writing attention. Definitely on my mind as I plan this week at the desk. Do you have any suggestions on how to better focus my efforts Leigh?
Your Substack posts are so rich and substantial and reflective! Are you writing these Substack posts in addition to writing the book about Minnie or will the Substack posts eventually become the book? If you want to save time/energy for book writing, your Substack posts could be lighter (than the essays/chapters in the book) and more of an invitation to your reader to participate by sharing their own memories/obsessions, because that's how you'll grow your audience. Like one thing that jumped out at me in #6 was your mention of thrifting in your twenties outside Seattle. That is something a lot of readers can connect to, so the post could have been thrifting and collecting old food booklets, and then asking your audience what weird things they collect. #7 asks such an interesting question: "What do I want from the past?" You could have broken this one out into multiple pieces: one about old dolls, one about your mixed feelings about the Gilded Age, one about teenage Amy ghost-hunting. (You could have even dedicated a whole post to screenshots from the Gilded Age TV show and your commentary on the history of the real sites) Maybe for your next Substack post, you could just ask yourself, "Could I break this into three?"
That’s so helpful! Thanks for those suggestions. I’ve got to start thinking in invitations.
I'm going through a transition with my content journey as I used to write on Substack to promote my life/career coaching business. Now, I'm a full-time writer working on a memoir and trying to figure out how to bring my audience along in that journey. I often get stuck in the "what should I write?" spiral that used to be so clear to me as a coach. I'm trusting that as long as I keep writing something, anything, my new message and value to my audience as a memoir writer will start to become clearer. Finger crossed!
Jennifer Louden (in this comments section) is doing something similar—pivoting from coaching to taking her audience along for the ride as she writes a novel!
Ah wonderful! I will subscribe to her newsletter and learn from her! :) (have been on vacation the past 3 weeks and just seeing this). Thanks, Leigh!
Hi Leigh, you kindly offered me the class/session mentioned at the end of this post for $20. (Thank you), but I can’t find the note that told me how to pay you. I’m at mackerelskymedia@gmail.com