Using recommendations and 'blurbs' to grow your Substack (and your business).
Stay Creative on Substack #3 ✨
'The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude'
Oprah Winfrey.
Hi petals,
How’s your week on Substack been?
Looking to enhance and add sparkle to your Substack experience and stay connected to yourself, your writing and your readers? You’re in the right place! ✨
Welcome back to ‘Stay Creative on Substack’, a regular post series here usually every other Friday. The idea behind these posts is that they encourage you to throw away the heavy rule book and stay creative on Substack!
If you’re new here Hi, I’m Claire and it’s my aim to co-curate and share tools, people and the behind the scenes magic that makes Substack what it is!
Stay Creative on Substack is akin to an interactive magazine, a weekend supplement if you will. You can take your time, skip bits, save it for later, write a to do list - it’s your space and will land in the best possible place for you and where you’re at!
We play the long game on Substack here. We learn, we craft, we create, we hone, we learn some more. There’s time we have so much time!!
There are 5 parts to this post;
Substack Newbies
My Substack ‘Tip of the Week’
Coffee and Creativity - for depth of connection, strategy and more
Workshops, offers and more from me and others
What’s new on Substack from
1. Are you NEW to Substack or to this space?
Substack is part blog, part mailing list, all community. It’s a wonderful place to create with built for writers originally and the best thing about it - you own your own data here1. You don’t have to use all the platform’s settings or even understand them. Create first, faff later - that’s worked for me! If you do have a question, pop it in the comments below and I’ll do my best to help!
You might also like my ‘Stay Creative on Substack’ youtube playlist.
My welcome letter to you or My A-Z on Substack page. My tips on most of the features here.
2. A Substack Tip of the Week 🤓
If you do one thing outside of your own publication today, write a recommendation for a fellow writer! I can’t stress how important this ‘work’ is.
I encouraged folks to write recommendations for me here and LOOK what’s happened… Over 200 subscribers have come from recommendations in just two months! Now this isn’t about the numbers but it is about the intent and that’s why I asked folks to do it for me.
Generosity breeds generosity. It’s simple. That’s what is so so unique about Substack if we compare it to other places online.
If you’re looking for ‘recommendation blurbs’. You’ll find those here… The way I remember it is that it’s ABOVE your logo.
NB - Team
please make this navigation easier! 🤓
3. ☕️ Coffee and Creativity #2
💌 📒 How are you organising your ideas for Substack? 🤓
Things to think about and consider as you grow your Substack…
This week I wanted to delve into how I manage recommendations. Here’s my process!
At the start of each month, I check in on recommendations. (I have a diary reminder set to do it and some other things that help grow my business).
I make sure I’m recommending the Substacks I read.
I then check in on recommendation “blurbs”, have a little cry at how lovely everyone’s words are.
I use some of those in my about page, change up my welcome page blurbs (you can have 3) and pop some on my website.
I then write five considered blurbs and edit a couple I’ve already done. This whole process takes around 45 minutes.
For more or to go deeper on this very same topic come join me in the Sparkle membership!
4. Workshops, offers and more
Two opportunities for you;
- Illustrator and Writer Licensing Meet up
Illustrator
and I are hosting a curated chat open to illustrators and writers who want to explore the potential of licensing illustrations for their Substack! Come join us? Sign up here. It’s free and open to both mine and Adam’s subs. - Going Paid here on Substack - Workshop and q&a session with me.
The second most popular question I get asked after ‘How do I grow my Substack?’ is how do I go paid? I’m hosting a workshop next month as part of a larger toolkit I have for my members here. Come join us for £8 per month.
Want more personalised support?
Let’s work together on your Substack strategy one to one?
I’ve learnt the platform in real time - I learnt what was important to do to connect with an audience and now a community and left the faffing til later.
I’d love to support you further in your journey to make the most of this platform as a creative.
Substack helps make my business viable in a cost of living crisis and has given me NEW and renewed hopes for creative careers everywhere! This month I hosted a session for a Sunday Times best selling author - I’ll share her Substack really soon.
5. Whats NEW From Substack?
The app - shall we talk about the app update? 😵💫 👩🏽💻 🤓 …
Also HOW lush is this? Thank-you to everyone who has left me a note - figuring out a way to reply… 💕
If you value or enjoyed this post please forward to a friend, re stack it or leave me a heart - I’d love that! 💜
See you back here for #4 in a couple of weeks - let me know in the comments what you’d like to learn and read about next time?
If you’re a member I’ll be back in the membership chat on Mon, see you then!
Sending sparkles for your weekend ahead,
Claire x
PS - We have over 200 members in our Substack Writers and Creatives Community on ‘linked in’ - if you’re looking to network and connect for collabs and other opportunities this is the place to be!
You own your email addresses and can take those with you wherever you go.
100% on blurbs and the need to tend your recommendation and blurb garden, and 200% on @substack please make the navigation easier!
Thanks for the reminder abour recommendations! There is so much to think about, isn't there? 😊