Such a great read, Claire! I agree that that "unsubscribes" aren't always a personal thing, even if that's the story we default to telling ourselves (which can be hard to unlearn!). I've definitely hit unsubscribe if the email wasn't serving me at that point in my life, but I choose to engage in other ways, whether through their social media or supporting their long form content (when my energy permits).
My email inbox is a sacred place & I am so honored when people let me into their space too! But I also understand if they need to take a step back as well. I'll definitely bookmark those journaling prompts for future look on my publication as it continues to grow :') as always, thank you for your insight. 💗
You're so welcome Eril - I got lots of unsubscribes yesterday as I did a big push for paid subs before my price increase... it's all part of meeting folks in their alignment I think?
Love this. I don’t allow notifications of any kind into our home. Silenced phones, no banners on phones or anything. We need to do things at our pace. To me nothing is worth being interrupted by, unless an emergency. So, I don’t have any notifications in Substack either. I occasionally check to see unsubscribes but because I am getting more niche in my wine publication I knew people would drop off. I subscribe to some publications then read a few full articles and realize it is not for me and unsubscribe and I assume everyone does that. Hard not too when some paywalls give you nothing but a sentence
Right! Love that - yes how we use our phones as communication and connection tools is so important... I don't have notifications either but my husband does have the Harry Potter theme tune as his ring tone! 😄
j'adore as ever. Also interesting that still deeply wintering but both starting to have "bigger" ideas for COT and all that it takes up space with. Love playful ane xpansive xx
Great stuff Claire and very resonant of the questions I was asking earlier this week. I’ve had a regular newsletter for about 4 years now and very quickly learned to value the unsubscribes - the way I see it energetically, it’s like speaking to a room full of people, only some people are ignoring you or chatting amongst themselves, and if they go, the air clears and you can really speak in a way that’s much more about the people who want to be there in that moment.
I am intrigued by the bounce rate though, so I love your prompts - but of course we don’t see ourselves quite as clearly as others see us, so having an external pair of eyes is always refreshing!
Yes Sarah and that's exactly why I have accountability buddies set up in the membership - I'm excited!! It's super super interesting work to get CLEAR on how we are perceived... fun even?
Hi Claire. Thank you for this encouragement! Side question: I'm new to Substack. Where could I ask questions of how to do certain things I see other Substackers doing that don't seem in the regular menu of features?
Thanks for responding! Some of them are actually cool things I've seen you do. For instance, there is a greyed hyperlink that when you hover over it, a popup appears with the person's Substack link.
Thanks for this, Claire. I really liked the way you equate one of your platforms to your living room. It’s a great visual, but also a nice reminder that we never have to give all of ourselves, that our comfort in sharing work matters.
This is so useful, thank you. I have unsubscribe notifications turned off but I did pluck up courage to check out my stats the other day and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw. I do need to dig into them further though so I'm bookmarking this for when I have a bit more time.
yes it's like peek with one eye eeeek - but then it's fine really isn't it - useful even? I got loads of unsubscribes yesterday as I did a push for paid members at the price point that was going to expire...
Your thoughts are really helpful here Claire. I am slowly getting used to the unsubscribes, but each one still comes with a mini ouch of failure. For this reason, I still have not been able to unsubscribe from others' publications, though I know I will need to as I'm accumulating too many! What sensitive wee beings we are 😄
Ahh it's SO hard... we have to put our wellbeing first and yes the longer we are here the more publication subscriptions we seem to ecru - I keep some as they are great escapism and others for research purposes but I have too many and I HAVE to unsubscribe to some...
Thank you for the shoutout Claire! I love your point here about how our interests can change - and that's totally ok. We all look for different reading content in different seasons of our lives. I definitely didn't read a lot of mothers' stories before I became one myself. I think, as writers, it's easy to view unsubscribes as personal (especially when we're used to the follow mentality of social media). But it's a good practice to step back and think about our own habits as readers and realize that it's really not about US in the end.
That's it. It's all creative practise and human connection... you're so welcome - you really gave me the nudge to finish this piece before going all in on a final push to sell paid memberships at my old price structure - lots of unsubscribes followed lol...
This was wonderfully written and insightful, Claire, thank you so much! 🤍 While I still feel a pang of "oh my gosh, why did they gooooo??!", when I notice unsubscribers, I have come a long way in how it affects me. People come and go and there will be plenty of seasons when our paths aren't colliding and I, a recovering people pleaser, slowly learned to make peace with this. It always helps me to look at how I sub + unsub from things as it gives me perspective in that I'm a part of someone's world and not the main character. In the end, we all design our own lives so it's only natural that we look for the pieces that fit. 😊 Your journal prompts are excellent and I'll do some scribbling later today. Thank you again, lovely! I'm also sending extra healing vibes to your husband. I do hope he's feeling alright and not in a lot of discomfort. 🤍
Such a great read, Claire! I agree that that "unsubscribes" aren't always a personal thing, even if that's the story we default to telling ourselves (which can be hard to unlearn!). I've definitely hit unsubscribe if the email wasn't serving me at that point in my life, but I choose to engage in other ways, whether through their social media or supporting their long form content (when my energy permits).
My email inbox is a sacred place & I am so honored when people let me into their space too! But I also understand if they need to take a step back as well. I'll definitely bookmark those journaling prompts for future look on my publication as it continues to grow :') as always, thank you for your insight. 💗
You're so welcome Eril - I got lots of unsubscribes yesterday as I did a big push for paid subs before my price increase... it's all part of meeting folks in their alignment I think?
Love this. I don’t allow notifications of any kind into our home. Silenced phones, no banners on phones or anything. We need to do things at our pace. To me nothing is worth being interrupted by, unless an emergency. So, I don’t have any notifications in Substack either. I occasionally check to see unsubscribes but because I am getting more niche in my wine publication I knew people would drop off. I subscribe to some publications then read a few full articles and realize it is not for me and unsubscribe and I assume everyone does that. Hard not too when some paywalls give you nothing but a sentence
Right! Love that - yes how we use our phones as communication and connection tools is so important... I don't have notifications either but my husband does have the Harry Potter theme tune as his ring tone! 😄
Hehe i kinda love that!!! My partner is 15 yrs older and doesn’t understand the Harry Potter thing I try to no avail at forcing him into it!
Ahhh my husband took al ot of convincing and then he painted our conservatory windows with Hogwarts Castle for the kids one Christmas lol
j'adore as ever. Also interesting that still deeply wintering but both starting to have "bigger" ideas for COT and all that it takes up space with. Love playful ane xpansive xx
Yes for sure - expansion, alignment, possibility, commitment and being BRIGHT!!!
Mmmmm yes... I also enjoyed Kerani’s piece too. It’s such an important topic to talk about. Xx
So important and valuable for us to lift the veil on this...
Great stuff Claire and very resonant of the questions I was asking earlier this week. I’ve had a regular newsletter for about 4 years now and very quickly learned to value the unsubscribes - the way I see it energetically, it’s like speaking to a room full of people, only some people are ignoring you or chatting amongst themselves, and if they go, the air clears and you can really speak in a way that’s much more about the people who want to be there in that moment.
I am intrigued by the bounce rate though, so I love your prompts - but of course we don’t see ourselves quite as clearly as others see us, so having an external pair of eyes is always refreshing!
As always lots to think about :) ✨🙌
Yes Sarah and that's exactly why I have accountability buddies set up in the membership - I'm excited!! It's super super interesting work to get CLEAR on how we are perceived... fun even?
Oh amazing! I joined up properly last week so please do let me know what the accountability buddies thing is, I definitely need that 😘
https://sparkleon.substack.com/p/accountability-thread
Hi Claire. Thank you for this encouragement! Side question: I'm new to Substack. Where could I ask questions of how to do certain things I see other Substackers doing that don't seem in the regular menu of features?
Hi Marlita - Substack have a help section - is that what you mean? Do you need something specific? ✨
Thanks for responding! Some of them are actually cool things I've seen you do. For instance, there is a greyed hyperlink that when you hover over it, a popup appears with the person's Substack link.
So beautifully said, thank you for these tips. Those journal prompts will be very helpful to use 💛✨
Your so welcome! Let me know what bubbles up if you fancy popping back. ✨🌱
This was very timely. I definitely need to audit my writing with the help of your questions. Thank you Claire!
You're super welcome. ✨
Such a great reading, the way you explain about the platform .🤍
Thanks Neha.
Always ..like your work🙏
Really interesting read Claire, with lots of food for thought and as always wonderful advice 🤎
✨💌✨ thanks for being here!!
Thanks for this, Claire. I really liked the way you equate one of your platforms to your living room. It’s a great visual, but also a nice reminder that we never have to give all of ourselves, that our comfort in sharing work matters.
Exactly - numbers are just numbers. The human connection is what makes it special... thanks for being here Sara! ✨
This is so useful, thank you. I have unsubscribe notifications turned off but I did pluck up courage to check out my stats the other day and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw. I do need to dig into them further though so I'm bookmarking this for when I have a bit more time.
yes it's like peek with one eye eeeek - but then it's fine really isn't it - useful even? I got loads of unsubscribes yesterday as I did a push for paid members at the price point that was going to expire...
Your thoughts are really helpful here Claire. I am slowly getting used to the unsubscribes, but each one still comes with a mini ouch of failure. For this reason, I still have not been able to unsubscribe from others' publications, though I know I will need to as I'm accumulating too many! What sensitive wee beings we are 😄
Ahh it's SO hard... we have to put our wellbeing first and yes the longer we are here the more publication subscriptions we seem to ecru - I keep some as they are great escapism and others for research purposes but I have too many and I HAVE to unsubscribe to some...
Thank you for the shoutout Claire! I love your point here about how our interests can change - and that's totally ok. We all look for different reading content in different seasons of our lives. I definitely didn't read a lot of mothers' stories before I became one myself. I think, as writers, it's easy to view unsubscribes as personal (especially when we're used to the follow mentality of social media). But it's a good practice to step back and think about our own habits as readers and realize that it's really not about US in the end.
That's it. It's all creative practise and human connection... you're so welcome - you really gave me the nudge to finish this piece before going all in on a final push to sell paid memberships at my old price structure - lots of unsubscribes followed lol...
This article is exactly why I’m reading your work.
Ah Bob that's super kind of you to say - thank you for being here. I have an uncle called Bob - he lives in Australia...
This was wonderfully written and insightful, Claire, thank you so much! 🤍 While I still feel a pang of "oh my gosh, why did they gooooo??!", when I notice unsubscribers, I have come a long way in how it affects me. People come and go and there will be plenty of seasons when our paths aren't colliding and I, a recovering people pleaser, slowly learned to make peace with this. It always helps me to look at how I sub + unsub from things as it gives me perspective in that I'm a part of someone's world and not the main character. In the end, we all design our own lives so it's only natural that we look for the pieces that fit. 😊 Your journal prompts are excellent and I'll do some scribbling later today. Thank you again, lovely! I'm also sending extra healing vibes to your husband. I do hope he's feeling alright and not in a lot of discomfort. 🤍