Thank you for a wonderful class! I've taken a few on platform and this was by far the most actionable and useful (I knew it would be!). Thanks again to you and to all the the other participants for their helpful and kind feedback on my work
Thanks for a great class last night. I had to leave before class was over so you may have answered this question during the Q&A or previously on Substack -- I am wondering about how you manage the volume on Substack as more and more writers join? I am a bit overwhelmed about who to subscribe to as well as whether it is important to post notes? Some writers are recommended which can be helpful. I like to check out their writing before I become a paid subscriber, but understandably some writers aren't interested in offering a free peek. I currently subscribe/pay to read many published writers, but I am not keeping up. Is anybody else talking about this dilemma? Thank you for any insights you can offer.
Thanks so much for an amazing class, Courtney (and thanks to all the other participants for your kind words)! I love the idea of categorizing my posts into sections, possibly their own illustrations. You also mentioned that you thought my substack could use a subtitle, and I totally agree - would that replace the description on the main page, or be part of the title, or something else?
Thanks for the very informative workshop last evening! Your distinctions helped me clarify the best platform for me as someone who prefers to be behind the scenes: blogging, newsletters, and writing. I started a blog on my editorial site a few years ago but wondered if this was the best venue since my blogging interests are more topical than advice oriented. I do the latter one-on-one as a developmental editor and mentor to other writers. I write literary-historical fiction and have earned some awards, no book deal yet, and have published translations of lit and poetry. Like others, Iâm trying to streamline my interests under the umbrella. My topics are still broad, with no overarching category, but the topics are interrelated: history, multilingualism, landscape or place and consciousness, migration and generational trauma, visual arts, translation and interpretive processes in everyday communication, lost languages and dialects. Some or most of this is related to my formal studies in language, literature, and ecocriticism but also to my family and years as a traveler and expat in Italy and other countries. Iâm also interested in uncovering the stories that emerge from interactions with place, particularly as a West-Coast transplant to Appalachia with its variety of history and craft traditions. Maybe Instagram for micro-tales of these explorations? Does anyone else care about this sort of thing? Iâd appreciate any suggestions you might offer. Thanks. I look forward to your query workshop in April.
Thank you for the class and for this Q&A, Courtney! I appreciated the bit of time we spent on titles and subtitles, which is something I struggle with (especially subtitles), and I am wondering if you have any tips on how you sharpen your titles, subtitles, or SEO. (And maybe how you choose hashtags, too.)
For context, I write a Substack called Wild Story where I share essays from the place where a life outdoors meets the creative journey. Some of the stories are wild in the sense that they revolve around wild places, rivers, mountains, and backcountry (mis)adventures. Some wrestle with the creative process. Some are about radically paying attention, following deep knowing, becoming more ourselves â in other words, staking a claim as a wild being in a society that would have us forget thatâs who we are. (This last one is my umbrella!)
I'm still figuring out how to optimize my titles so they nail what the heart of the post is really about, and optimize my posts so that they are easily findable online and more likely to turn up in different forums/searches. Any tips or resources you have would be greatly appreciated!
The class was fantastically helpful Courtney! Thank you! My question is around paying vs not paying. Because I started my substack around my book release last March I didnât offer a paid option bc I was hoping folks would buy a book and I felt weird asking too much of people. Also Iâve been using it more like an author newsletter and thus havenât charged. Iâm curious about your thoughts here. Is it worth using it that way? Or as you said last night, substack isnât the place? I guess Iâm just wondering if youâre not charging, can you do whatever you want within reasonâĤ
Thank you, Courtney for packing so much into a 'mere' three hours! :-) Honestly, it's going to take some time for me to unpack and 'wear' all the important content. So I may have questions later that I'll try to sneak in and hope you get time to consider.
But for now, I just wanted to say how incredibly grateful I am that you made me - as a man - feel welcome. So many workshops I've attended seem eager to exclude any masculine input, so I've become attuned to the times when it feels as if I am welcome. And you certainly did that.
Hey there everyone! I too really loved the class last night, and the community energy was really lovely. I was very moved by the stories I heard from all of you. My question spins off something you said about hiring people to help make sure your Substack has good SEO, Courtney, and that all the tech pieces are working as well as they can. I understand that you might not want to make a specific recommendation of the person you worked with (but if you don't mind, I'd love to know who it was) but if you could give some advice about how to find these folks, and how to get a kind of tech "read" on how to improve a newsletter and make it more "findable" both on and off Substack, that would be very helpful.
I wasn't able to attend live, so I really appreciated having the recording to watch later. I found it especially clarifying and helpful when, in discussing newsletter platforms, you referred to Substack as the "major leagues" and recommended perhaps starting out on a more "minor league" platform. That really clicked for me! So, I just started my author newsletter on Buttondown with 100 subscribers. Thanks again!!
Courtney! Thank you so much for such an informative session. My question is about how I may be able to reach more readers who would be interested in my heritage-language-learning journey. Some background: I had a personal essay in Marie Claire go viral about the following, which made me think I should start sharing the journey on social media and substack! My grandmother is in her late 80s and the last of her generation of native Louisiana French speakers, a mix of French and Indigenous words. (They were beaten in schools if caught speaking the language). After I got laid off this past year, I took it as a sign â a little gift of time and money to finally learn the language. Iâm leaving for a 5 week-immersion program located in Nova Scotia, the exact place our ancestors were deported from before becoming refugees in Louisiana. Iâd like to share the journey in a (big dreams) a memoir one day. I currently have a substack called "Can I be Franc?" (https://megsbroussard.substack.com/) detailing the journey with 306 subscribers. In the newsletter, I also include funny stories/essays (I'm a humor writer with pieces in McSweeney's, The New Yorker, Reductress, etc.) Any advice you have on reaching more people who might be interested in my work via substack or social media would be amazing. I am so thankful for you. Merci beaucoup!
Hi Courtney. I am still buzzing and and my brain is whirring from all the great tips and advice you provided to myself and others. I really appreciated the workshopping. I really enjoyed hearing your suggestions for all of the others who opened themselves up for the workshopping. I get so much from that type of guidance. Even in the answers to the people's questions below, it's really helpful.
I've been noodling and jotting down ideas for a sub-title for Life (un)Learned. I realized that I do have an unofficial tag line: "it's not you, it's what you learned along the way" but I'm not sure that's what you mean by a sub-title?
Here are a few options I'm thinking of. Open to any suggestions or thoughts you might have.
Life (un)Learned:
-Navigating Mid-Life with Mindfulness and Meaning
-Embracing Slow while Navigating Mid-Life Transitions
-A Recovering Workaholic Embracing Slow in Mid-Life
-Reflecting on Life Transitions from a Recovering CEO
-Embracing the Quiet Life from a Recovering Workaholic
-When Your Career is Your Life and it Ends (that feels rather dramatic! lol...)
-The myth of having it all, then losing what you have, only to find what you really needed all along.
I'm also going to reach out for some graphic design help to see about getting some branding bits and bobs to add to the newsletter. As a former PR and communications strategist, I love me some good branding! ;) Thanks again for everything. I'm looking forward to the next class in April.
Thank you for last night's workshop! I've been thinking of becoming a paid subscriber to your newsletter for awhile and I finally just subscribed so I can ask a question. :D Also excited for all the extra content to come!
I'm still not sure how to manage my "umbrella" -- I am currently querying a memoir about recovering from a major car accident and how that led to my recovery from an eating disorder and helped repair my relationship with my mom. It has surprisingly light and funny moments but still took a lot out of me to write. As a lighter pivot, I started writing a Substack about dance (themoves.substack.com) which I truly love writing every month, but has little to do with my book. Last night in pondering my umbrella I wrote "human body experiences???" HA but also started wondering: should I expand my silly fun Substack so it can also be relevant to my book? And how would I do that without disrupting my audience (which is tiny so maybe that's OK)?
Thanks for any thoughts you can share! I'm looking forward to going through the extensive notes I took last night.
Sorry I have one more questionâwhich is that I am worried I locked myself into a type of substack (eg offering writing prompts to folks dealing with challenging things like loss) before knowing if thatâs what would resonate with people. I have about 7k subscribers and Iâd love to know what they want more or less of. Any thoughts on how best to survey your readership?
The class was great and thanks to all the participants for bravely sharing your path to publication and reaching an audience. Courtney, you mentioned the idea of writing a column and that happens to be my magic wand wish. I'm looking for steps I might take to make this happen. The column would be about meditationâ how to start a practice, how to maintain a practice, things one might expect to achieve by having a practice. I gotta work on this pitch I can see, but assuming I get that down, how do I proceed? Also, I have been writing a monthly newsletter (per your advice, Courtney) that goes out to about 500 subscribers via Constant Contact. I have been both shocked and delighted with the responses I receive from readers, but best of all this newsletter has encouraged me and given me confidence to write.
Thank you for a wonderful class! I've taken a few on platform and this was by far the most actionable and useful (I knew it would be!). Thanks again to you and to all the the other participants for their helpful and kind feedback on my work
Thanks for a great class last night. I had to leave before class was over so you may have answered this question during the Q&A or previously on Substack -- I am wondering about how you manage the volume on Substack as more and more writers join? I am a bit overwhelmed about who to subscribe to as well as whether it is important to post notes? Some writers are recommended which can be helpful. I like to check out their writing before I become a paid subscriber, but understandably some writers aren't interested in offering a free peek. I currently subscribe/pay to read many published writers, but I am not keeping up. Is anybody else talking about this dilemma? Thank you for any insights you can offer.
Thanks so much for an amazing class, Courtney (and thanks to all the other participants for your kind words)! I love the idea of categorizing my posts into sections, possibly their own illustrations. You also mentioned that you thought my substack could use a subtitle, and I totally agree - would that replace the description on the main page, or be part of the title, or something else?
Courtney,
Thanks for the very informative workshop last evening! Your distinctions helped me clarify the best platform for me as someone who prefers to be behind the scenes: blogging, newsletters, and writing. I started a blog on my editorial site a few years ago but wondered if this was the best venue since my blogging interests are more topical than advice oriented. I do the latter one-on-one as a developmental editor and mentor to other writers. I write literary-historical fiction and have earned some awards, no book deal yet, and have published translations of lit and poetry. Like others, Iâm trying to streamline my interests under the umbrella. My topics are still broad, with no overarching category, but the topics are interrelated: history, multilingualism, landscape or place and consciousness, migration and generational trauma, visual arts, translation and interpretive processes in everyday communication, lost languages and dialects. Some or most of this is related to my formal studies in language, literature, and ecocriticism but also to my family and years as a traveler and expat in Italy and other countries. Iâm also interested in uncovering the stories that emerge from interactions with place, particularly as a West-Coast transplant to Appalachia with its variety of history and craft traditions. Maybe Instagram for micro-tales of these explorations? Does anyone else care about this sort of thing? Iâd appreciate any suggestions you might offer. Thanks. I look forward to your query workshop in April.
Best,
Greta
Thank you for the class and for this Q&A, Courtney! I appreciated the bit of time we spent on titles and subtitles, which is something I struggle with (especially subtitles), and I am wondering if you have any tips on how you sharpen your titles, subtitles, or SEO. (And maybe how you choose hashtags, too.)
For context, I write a Substack called Wild Story where I share essays from the place where a life outdoors meets the creative journey. Some of the stories are wild in the sense that they revolve around wild places, rivers, mountains, and backcountry (mis)adventures. Some wrestle with the creative process. Some are about radically paying attention, following deep knowing, becoming more ourselves â in other words, staking a claim as a wild being in a society that would have us forget thatâs who we are. (This last one is my umbrella!)
I'm still figuring out how to optimize my titles so they nail what the heart of the post is really about, and optimize my posts so that they are easily findable online and more likely to turn up in different forums/searches. Any tips or resources you have would be greatly appreciated!
The class was fantastically helpful Courtney! Thank you! My question is around paying vs not paying. Because I started my substack around my book release last March I didnât offer a paid option bc I was hoping folks would buy a book and I felt weird asking too much of people. Also Iâve been using it more like an author newsletter and thus havenât charged. Iâm curious about your thoughts here. Is it worth using it that way? Or as you said last night, substack isnât the place? I guess Iâm just wondering if youâre not charging, can you do whatever you want within reasonâĤ
Thank you, Courtney for packing so much into a 'mere' three hours! :-) Honestly, it's going to take some time for me to unpack and 'wear' all the important content. So I may have questions later that I'll try to sneak in and hope you get time to consider.
But for now, I just wanted to say how incredibly grateful I am that you made me - as a man - feel welcome. So many workshops I've attended seem eager to exclude any masculine input, so I've become attuned to the times when it feels as if I am welcome. And you certainly did that.
Hey there everyone! I too really loved the class last night, and the community energy was really lovely. I was very moved by the stories I heard from all of you. My question spins off something you said about hiring people to help make sure your Substack has good SEO, Courtney, and that all the tech pieces are working as well as they can. I understand that you might not want to make a specific recommendation of the person you worked with (but if you don't mind, I'd love to know who it was) but if you could give some advice about how to find these folks, and how to get a kind of tech "read" on how to improve a newsletter and make it more "findable" both on and off Substack, that would be very helpful.
I wasn't able to attend live, so I really appreciated having the recording to watch later. I found it especially clarifying and helpful when, in discussing newsletter platforms, you referred to Substack as the "major leagues" and recommended perhaps starting out on a more "minor league" platform. That really clicked for me! So, I just started my author newsletter on Buttondown with 100 subscribers. Thanks again!!
Courtney! Thank you so much for such an informative session. My question is about how I may be able to reach more readers who would be interested in my heritage-language-learning journey. Some background: I had a personal essay in Marie Claire go viral about the following, which made me think I should start sharing the journey on social media and substack! My grandmother is in her late 80s and the last of her generation of native Louisiana French speakers, a mix of French and Indigenous words. (They were beaten in schools if caught speaking the language). After I got laid off this past year, I took it as a sign â a little gift of time and money to finally learn the language. Iâm leaving for a 5 week-immersion program located in Nova Scotia, the exact place our ancestors were deported from before becoming refugees in Louisiana. Iâd like to share the journey in a (big dreams) a memoir one day. I currently have a substack called "Can I be Franc?" (https://megsbroussard.substack.com/) detailing the journey with 306 subscribers. In the newsletter, I also include funny stories/essays (I'm a humor writer with pieces in McSweeney's, The New Yorker, Reductress, etc.) Any advice you have on reaching more people who might be interested in my work via substack or social media would be amazing. I am so thankful for you. Merci beaucoup!
Hi Courtney. I am still buzzing and and my brain is whirring from all the great tips and advice you provided to myself and others. I really appreciated the workshopping. I really enjoyed hearing your suggestions for all of the others who opened themselves up for the workshopping. I get so much from that type of guidance. Even in the answers to the people's questions below, it's really helpful.
I've been noodling and jotting down ideas for a sub-title for Life (un)Learned. I realized that I do have an unofficial tag line: "it's not you, it's what you learned along the way" but I'm not sure that's what you mean by a sub-title?
Here are a few options I'm thinking of. Open to any suggestions or thoughts you might have.
Life (un)Learned:
-Navigating Mid-Life with Mindfulness and Meaning
-Embracing Slow while Navigating Mid-Life Transitions
-A Recovering Workaholic Embracing Slow in Mid-Life
-Reflecting on Life Transitions from a Recovering CEO
-Embracing the Quiet Life from a Recovering Workaholic
-When Your Career is Your Life and it Ends (that feels rather dramatic! lol...)
-The myth of having it all, then losing what you have, only to find what you really needed all along.
I'm also going to reach out for some graphic design help to see about getting some branding bits and bobs to add to the newsletter. As a former PR and communications strategist, I love me some good branding! ;) Thanks again for everything. I'm looking forward to the next class in April.
Thank you for last night's workshop! I've been thinking of becoming a paid subscriber to your newsletter for awhile and I finally just subscribed so I can ask a question. :D Also excited for all the extra content to come!
I'm still not sure how to manage my "umbrella" -- I am currently querying a memoir about recovering from a major car accident and how that led to my recovery from an eating disorder and helped repair my relationship with my mom. It has surprisingly light and funny moments but still took a lot out of me to write. As a lighter pivot, I started writing a Substack about dance (themoves.substack.com) which I truly love writing every month, but has little to do with my book. Last night in pondering my umbrella I wrote "human body experiences???" HA but also started wondering: should I expand my silly fun Substack so it can also be relevant to my book? And how would I do that without disrupting my audience (which is tiny so maybe that's OK)?
Thanks for any thoughts you can share! I'm looking forward to going through the extensive notes I took last night.
Sorry I have one more questionâwhich is that I am worried I locked myself into a type of substack (eg offering writing prompts to folks dealing with challenging things like loss) before knowing if thatâs what would resonate with people. I have about 7k subscribers and Iâd love to know what they want more or less of. Any thoughts on how best to survey your readership?
done!
Or I could just wait until June, if you feel comfortable taking on a new audit. :)
The class was great and thanks to all the participants for bravely sharing your path to publication and reaching an audience. Courtney, you mentioned the idea of writing a column and that happens to be my magic wand wish. I'm looking for steps I might take to make this happen. The column would be about meditationâ how to start a practice, how to maintain a practice, things one might expect to achieve by having a practice. I gotta work on this pitch I can see, but assuming I get that down, how do I proceed? Also, I have been writing a monthly newsletter (per your advice, Courtney) that goes out to about 500 subscribers via Constant Contact. I have been both shocked and delighted with the responses I receive from readers, but best of all this newsletter has encouraged me and given me confidence to write.