Claire, this is an incredibly valuable read for me. It solidified a few of the ways I have been working on Substack simply due to time constraints and being okay with giving myself some leeway in how to work here. Appreciate the coffee and croissants analogy and thoughtful suggestions on how to move forward. Two months in, I’m feeling my way around and glad I read this early in my time here.
I enjoyed this post so much, Claire. I received a membership to your Substack from a wonderfully generous fellow Substack writer, which truly touched me. It was such an amazing thing to do for a stranger. Most of all, I appreciate how you don't advocate for the 'one right way' to use Substack. We all have different needs, wants, energy levels, stamina, time constraints, interests, and so on and it is nice to see that we can all grow in our own way.
I just love this community, and sometimes I wish I had more time to engage and comment on all articles (just like once upon a time - and I still do - we commented on our favorite blog posts of our favorite blogs). I just love reading blogs, and I do have things that I want to share and consolidate and grow my Substack in a way that I hope, at least to some extent, will evolve organically.
"Quite simply it’s a space for the stories you want to tell." - and this rings so true to me.
Oh Stella I just love this so much! What timing to be connected. I’ve been slightly nervous about the tone of this piece all week it was a helluva edit! Grateful for you. ✨💖✨
I wonder about writing more often and not sending it out, just hosting it here. I worry about overloading people though only post slightly more than once a week atm. This is a good middle road. The posts I wrote and didn’t click ‘send’ on (on purpose!) were seen by hardly any, but I think they were the most engaged readers and even converted some to paid so def worth it! ✨💛
It’s all such an interesting experiment for our creative process Kate… and where our work lands and how that makes us feel and builds community is a felt experience. You can always go in and edit those posts and send them out or include in a “you might have missed” section- there are just so many ways to be playful. ✨✍️✨ it’s brilliant you are already leaning into what feels good and yes there’s always that niggle of “bothering people” which I save for sales and launches to be honest 😆
Your posts are amazing! So helpful- as a newbie, I always learn something helpful- thank you for creating info specifically tailored for the new user. I do have a question about adding blog. I already send out weekly posts to a small number of subscribers and would like to continue to do so as part of my consistency writing goal. Can I add a separate blog by unchecking the emails as you suggest on separate posts which will function as my blog pieces? Will they be kept separate somehow visually so that I can see easily which are regular weekly emails and which are blogs? I hope my question made sense and thanks again for all you do! 🤗🥰❤️
Oh Claire, you really touched upon a good one, the ‘notes’. I’m do terrible at it. And I know it’s a great way to do community, but I am lost for ideas there. And I see a lot of wonderful sparks there, but I am at a loss. I have to see how I can make ir sustainable for me ✨ another a wonderful and helpful post Claire 🪷
Nadja! Here's a video on Notes - https://youtu.be/HwPSuKihUrs - I don't think you have to hang out there if you don't want to but it's a nice opportunity to chat with colleagues if you do? ✨
That is a really nice idea, to set some time off once a week to make it more doable. I guess it’s all about getting the ball rolling isn’t it? Finding my own way of chipping in and starting conversations ✨
Thank Claire, so helpful as I’m just starting out. A relief to see going at my own pace is ok. The feeling that you need to be reading, responding and writing all the time is exhausting. For now I’m just doing what I feel is enjoyable and sustainable for me.
Thank you for this post. It filled my creative cup and also had such great practical blog building tips! I love the croissant and coffee analogy and didn't know you could uncheck the send email to subscribers button. what a great feature for those starting out!
This is a really lovely post Claire, like a warm hug of validation and permission 🤍
When I first began writing here, I had little to no expectations, I just wanted a place to write. However I quickly found myself losing my way in comparison and overwhelm so decided to step back (also while life has been so chaotic!)
I’m so looking forward to returning with a fresh perspective when the time is right x
I adore this Claire - especially your coffee and croissant analogy! Such a great way to consider it. I like the idea of substack letters as little “gifts” that we’re sending our subscribers.
And your breakdown of time per week is really really helpful. I hadn’t thought of it like that, but seeing how you laid it out makes me realize why I’ve felt a little overwhelmed with substack. I probably only have about 2-3 hours per week for it, but I’ve been trying to do a *lot* in that time. I feel like I have permission to not engage in some things after reading this!
Will you be updating the program as Substack changes (for those that buy now) and I subbed to you for a year so is this the same content or more/better?
Great questions - it's a specific set of tools to help you think about membership. There are guest videos, journalling prompts and videos from me - my plan is to keep adding into it too. I've covered 'going paid' a couple of times in the membership here too - one post and one video specifically I think so if you have access you're all good. I'll be shaping it with customer feedback so do let me know what you need Louise. My thought was rather than a course folks could just pick and choose from the content vault and find their way with what they need. Hope it serves you Louise - I'm so excited about it. ✨
Thank you so much for this, Claire! Just what I needed to read today ❤️ being a newbie to Substack, I wondered about whether I need to stick to one subject, if it's ok to use different mediums, do I want to grow my audience and how do I do that. And Notes I'm still to figure out! So thank you for the clarity and encouragement to experiment, to be ourselves, and the tips for when we're ready to do more 🤗. I'll be saving for future reference!
Brilliant Caroline - here's my video on notes from just after it came out - https://youtu.be/HwPSuKihUrs - welcome to Substack - you'll like it here. ✨
This is an excellent introduction for anyone starting out. I, too, had a blog elsewhere and got frustrated. I love your analogy to the challenges of a wordpress site.
There is so much available to the writer, and reader, within this platform. I've been on here for a couple of months and everyday, I'm learning something new.
I like how you identified that you not not have to send everything through email. I only recently discovered this myself.
One of the challenges I face is keeping track of different newsletters when I want to refer to them or include a quote for a later post.
I'm also curious, how do you make the little swirl line divider things? I've seen here in many posts but I don't see any option to include the.
So far I am loving this community and I just wish I had more time to engage. Until now, I have been transferring my content from wordpress.
Thank you for highlighting that this is a place to be creative and that metrics are not the priority.
I look forward to growing as a writer and sharing my thoughts.
Claire, this is an incredibly valuable read for me. It solidified a few of the ways I have been working on Substack simply due to time constraints and being okay with giving myself some leeway in how to work here. Appreciate the coffee and croissants analogy and thoughtful suggestions on how to move forward. Two months in, I’m feeling my way around and glad I read this early in my time here.
I'm so so glad. Yes enjoy finding your way around Dina - there's so much scope for that. ✨
I enjoyed this post so much, Claire. I received a membership to your Substack from a wonderfully generous fellow Substack writer, which truly touched me. It was such an amazing thing to do for a stranger. Most of all, I appreciate how you don't advocate for the 'one right way' to use Substack. We all have different needs, wants, energy levels, stamina, time constraints, interests, and so on and it is nice to see that we can all grow in our own way.
I just love this community, and sometimes I wish I had more time to engage and comment on all articles (just like once upon a time - and I still do - we commented on our favorite blog posts of our favorite blogs). I just love reading blogs, and I do have things that I want to share and consolidate and grow my Substack in a way that I hope, at least to some extent, will evolve organically.
"Quite simply it’s a space for the stories you want to tell." - and this rings so true to me.
Oh Stella I just love this so much! What timing to be connected. I’ve been slightly nervous about the tone of this piece all week it was a helluva edit! Grateful for you. ✨💖✨
So interesting Claire! Love the 🥐☕️
I wonder about writing more often and not sending it out, just hosting it here. I worry about overloading people though only post slightly more than once a week atm. This is a good middle road. The posts I wrote and didn’t click ‘send’ on (on purpose!) were seen by hardly any, but I think they were the most engaged readers and even converted some to paid so def worth it! ✨💛
It’s all such an interesting experiment for our creative process Kate… and where our work lands and how that makes us feel and builds community is a felt experience. You can always go in and edit those posts and send them out or include in a “you might have missed” section- there are just so many ways to be playful. ✨✍️✨ it’s brilliant you are already leaning into what feels good and yes there’s always that niggle of “bothering people” which I save for sales and launches to be honest 😆
It's helpful thinking of how much time a week I have and what to focus on first. Thank you!
Yes. I think so too as there are lots of things that pull for our attention and lots of shiny things to be distracted by too? ✨
A good reminder it’s okay to start slow! And I remembered my first blog! It was called bicycle pirate and was utterly ridiculous and so much fun!
Haha Tansie I LOVE that! I also had one that was about a South Africa trip I’ll have to look it up as I can’t remember the name…
Haha please do! Mine was a “fashion blog” but kind of taking the piss. I think I ended up without 5 or 6!
Ha! We NEED more light hearted stuff - everything got so earnest?!
Your posts are amazing! So helpful- as a newbie, I always learn something helpful- thank you for creating info specifically tailored for the new user. I do have a question about adding blog. I already send out weekly posts to a small number of subscribers and would like to continue to do so as part of my consistency writing goal. Can I add a separate blog by unchecking the emails as you suggest on separate posts which will function as my blog pieces? Will they be kept separate somehow visually so that I can see easily which are regular weekly emails and which are blogs? I hope my question made sense and thanks again for all you do! 🤗🥰❤️
That’s exactly right. If you are looking at my Substack website the post with very few comments was sent as a blog and not emailed. 💖
Oh Claire, you really touched upon a good one, the ‘notes’. I’m do terrible at it. And I know it’s a great way to do community, but I am lost for ideas there. And I see a lot of wonderful sparks there, but I am at a loss. I have to see how I can make ir sustainable for me ✨ another a wonderful and helpful post Claire 🪷
Nadja! Here's a video on Notes - https://youtu.be/HwPSuKihUrs - I don't think you have to hang out there if you don't want to but it's a nice opportunity to chat with colleagues if you do? ✨
Thank you for the link Claire, can’t wait to watch it! Yeh, that’s why I feel like I am missing out. There is so many valuable convos going on there ✨
You could just start by chipping it once a week or so? See what sparks your attention? ✨💫
That is a really nice idea, to set some time off once a week to make it more doable. I guess it’s all about getting the ball rolling isn’t it? Finding my own way of chipping in and starting conversations ✨
That's exactly it...
Thank Claire, so helpful as I’m just starting out. A relief to see going at my own pace is ok. The feeling that you need to be reading, responding and writing all the time is exhausting. For now I’m just doing what I feel is enjoyable and sustainable for me.
That sounds perfect Lesley!
Thank you for this post. It filled my creative cup and also had such great practical blog building tips! I love the croissant and coffee analogy and didn't know you could uncheck the send email to subscribers button. what a great feature for those starting out!
What a joy Anna! So much fun to be had. ✨
This is a really lovely post Claire, like a warm hug of validation and permission 🤍
When I first began writing here, I had little to no expectations, I just wanted a place to write. However I quickly found myself losing my way in comparison and overwhelm so decided to step back (also while life has been so chaotic!)
I’m so looking forward to returning with a fresh perspective when the time is right x
We so need to remind ourselves of the permission slip don't we? ✨
I adore this Claire - especially your coffee and croissant analogy! Such a great way to consider it. I like the idea of substack letters as little “gifts” that we’re sending our subscribers.
And your breakdown of time per week is really really helpful. I hadn’t thought of it like that, but seeing how you laid it out makes me realize why I’ve felt a little overwhelmed with substack. I probably only have about 2-3 hours per week for it, but I’ve been trying to do a *lot* in that time. I feel like I have permission to not engage in some things after reading this!
Such gifts - yes since it became a platform of mass distraction it's like ok what am I doing here - what's the priority? ✨
Very helpful Claire! Thanks so much!
You're super welcome Jeanine.
Thanks Claire, all very generous and helpful as usual! ❤️
Hannah - you're so welcome - hope all's going well.
Question for you
Will you be updating the program as Substack changes (for those that buy now) and I subbed to you for a year so is this the same content or more/better?
I signed up anyway lol
Great questions - it's a specific set of tools to help you think about membership. There are guest videos, journalling prompts and videos from me - my plan is to keep adding into it too. I've covered 'going paid' a couple of times in the membership here too - one post and one video specifically I think so if you have access you're all good. I'll be shaping it with customer feedback so do let me know what you need Louise. My thought was rather than a course folks could just pick and choose from the content vault and find their way with what they need. Hope it serves you Louise - I'm so excited about it. ✨
Love it thanks!
I'm super excited - the last module has the link to the accountability thread too. 💕
Perfect :)
Thank you so much for this, Claire! Just what I needed to read today ❤️ being a newbie to Substack, I wondered about whether I need to stick to one subject, if it's ok to use different mediums, do I want to grow my audience and how do I do that. And Notes I'm still to figure out! So thank you for the clarity and encouragement to experiment, to be ourselves, and the tips for when we're ready to do more 🤗. I'll be saving for future reference!
Brilliant Caroline - here's my video on notes from just after it came out - https://youtu.be/HwPSuKihUrs - welcome to Substack - you'll like it here. ✨
Brilliant, thank you! 🙏
This is an excellent introduction for anyone starting out. I, too, had a blog elsewhere and got frustrated. I love your analogy to the challenges of a wordpress site.
There is so much available to the writer, and reader, within this platform. I've been on here for a couple of months and everyday, I'm learning something new.
I like how you identified that you not not have to send everything through email. I only recently discovered this myself.
One of the challenges I face is keeping track of different newsletters when I want to refer to them or include a quote for a later post.
I'm also curious, how do you make the little swirl line divider things? I've seen here in many posts but I don't see any option to include the.
So far I am loving this community and I just wish I had more time to engage. Until now, I have been transferring my content from wordpress.
Thank you for highlighting that this is a place to be creative and that metrics are not the priority.
I look forward to growing as a writer and sharing my thoughts.
Here's my template for the page breaks lovely - I'll pop back and answer the rest soon - https://www.canva.com/design/DAFmY8lz9CI/VAVP2-WjJdjp-dfmeHYiIg/view?utm_content=DAFmY8lz9CI&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink&mode=preview
Thank you so much. I will have to review my Canva account.
You’re super welcome! ✨