👸🏽 Meet Princess Pivot and Charlie Change-a lot - you're going to LOVE them, well one of them!

Your 'Stay Creative on Substack' Digital Magazine #7 + last chance for that 14 Day Trial! 💫

Hi, I’m Claire - I host Sparkle on Substack - a community of over 11500 readers, members and Diamond Members all focussing on joyful, sustainable growth and creative self expression on Substack!

I publish the Stay Creative on Substack Magazine twice a year. It’s an invite to quiet the noise and listen to your own innate, unique creativity and explore new ways to use this wonderful gift of a platform on your terms! No blueprints, no BS!

Hi Sparklers!!

Welcome to the 7th edition of Stay Creative on Substack (your twice yearly magazine) to encourage your creativity and deepen your knowledge here on Substack!

As always, I have a bumper issue for you today so you might want to save this post to refer back to?

All aboard the bus for change! (Again)

I was thinking about ‘change’. As a neurodivergent midlife woman I struggle with change when it comes to tech… like I actually sometimes get irrationally frustrated about it.

Recently, I worked out it wasn’t really the change that bothered me.

People change, platforms change, things change.

It was more about the way it was introduced. It’s actually about the space, time and capacity to integrate the change.

Example - my website and course provider have made very few changes since I first invested - I LOVE them. When they do make a change, they give me notice and invite me to use the new layout/ features for a while before I ‘have to’ change - this makes me very happy. I pay them a chunk of money every year gladly - the relationship is solid. (They are Princess of the Pivot)

When microsoft changed the way they structured their office suite they lost me as a customer. Bearing in mind, I’d used microsoft word and paid for all the updates since being at uni. A 25 year+ customer legacy - gone, poof, finished with them. (Charlie Change-a-lot - aka - Capitalism RULES the land) - no thanks! If I have to live with capitalism gone mad I’ll choose where I spend my money thanks.

My point - we get to evolve, we get to pivot - of course - our creativity turns us inside out and our writing shifts at a cellular level. We hold the key to the relationship with our audience - don’t be Charlie Change-alot be a Princess Pivot! It’s time to deeply understand the parasocial relationship you have with your online audience. ¹

It’s so, so, SO important to bring your audience with you when you pivot - whether it’s a name change, a publication identity shift, a change in prices - people deal with SO much change. In our ridiculously fast paced world inside multiple technological revolutions, you really need to consider that and make sure everyone is soothed and happy. Subscribers stay for a long time when they feel connected to YOU!

Educating people about your changes, your Substack is one of the main things people miss. I don’t think you need to apologise for change either. I think we celebrate it actually - it’s the permission slip of our time. 🎉

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Notes, notes and more Substack notes.

Yes Substack Notes does help your work to be seen but it’s really not the be all and end all. You can spend a lot of time being ‘sucked’ in, scrolling, comparing, being triggered and that’s not conducive to doing your best work.

Update (a great change) - we can now schedule Substack Notes - here’s a tutorial if you’re struggling to find the button and flow to do it.

One of my friends and 💎Diamond Members here Jo Hutton has had INCREDIBLE traction on Substack Notes (using it to grow her Substack subscribers to over 37k) and is coming into teach us MORE inside the membership tomorrow. Join us?

You can use your free membership trial we don’t mind, we’d love to meet you TOMORROW! (14 Day free trial)

Jo and I pre Substack Bestsellers Party 🍷

Here are some important things you need to know about Jo;

• She has spent time learning ‘what works’ online (she has 175k followers on IG - that’s not luck she’s worked hard to make ‘content’ people want to follow and connect with). She’s one of the kindest people you’ll meet, she’s dyslexic and just got a book deal with Bloomsbury!

• Her work is on service to her ‘ideal client’ and reader - it’s in the name folks - Yoga For Tired People - you instantly feel invited - it’s universal - we are all tired if not a lot then a at least a little bit?

• Her personal brand is strong. You know it’s Jo at a glimpse 99% of the time - you build a parasocial relationship with her - if you don’t know her yet - go scroll her notes.

• Jo doesn’t hack notes or use ai or post thousands of times a day - she posts 5-6 times a week. Yes she’s had some viral successes with her notes but she has also attracted subscribers consistently since she started here.

Yoga (like writing) is a MASSIVE niche online - the market is work over $100billion while the top youtuber in the space has over 13 million subscribers so if you’re telling yourself that can only happen for someone like Jo you’re wrong!

Artwork © Josie Brookes

SEO is King! 🤴🏽

…but Substack Recommendations are no longer Queen 👸🏽

As Substack wades into the mainstream, the work we have done on our SEO headings, tags and thinking about our SEO really comes into fruition. Erin Shetron just taught an excellent workshop around this and she’s popping into the membership to teach for us in May. Also check out this tutorial on how to add Google Search Console to your Substack by Kristi Koeter.

But unfortunately Substack recommendations are no longer working (the way they were.) I’m over the moon I was able to grow and raise my profile using them in 2023/24. I love the reciprocity engine, I adore supporting others but since the sign up flow changed last summer I have had to focus on new ways to grow my presence and my sign ups.

Do I still recommend people here using Substack’s network?

Of course - I love the thought that someone will receive a recommendation or blurb that makes their day - it’s a small human infused kindness I am more than happy to send. It says I thought of you and your work and I’m cheering for you. We send recommendations every week inside of Sparkle on Substack - it’s called Testimonial Tuesday! The alliteration helps us remember to do the work that lifts us up!!

You should think about recommendations as a way to deepen your relationships with your colleagues and celebrate and lift up other writers you like. Subscribers are a bonus but we can’t expect them now.

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What does joyful, sustainable growth on Substack looks like now for you inside your Substack castle? 🏰

We don’t need to be hungry ghosts about online growth and we don’t need to build a fortress around it either?

Growth is infinitely possible and when it’s aligned it feels GREAT. The key here is to connect to healing the female line and stepping into your most expansive self. If you need a pep talk on that, you’ll love this one with my mentor Leonie Dawson

It’s more important than ever to know who you are, what you stand for and how people describe you and your work in the online space.

You need to be memorable!

• Why should a new reader care and make space for you, your publication, your words?

• How can you make sure you stay top of mind? Think personal brand, values, what you are known for?

A cautionary tale - I subscribed to someone new recently (rare for me as my library is full) - dreamy images, talk of travel and a Substack enthused with a community of people who appreciate a simple home. The next thing I saw from the author - a note written by ChatGPT about her growth on Substack - I do not have ANY capacity for ai writing so I unsubscribed. Plenty of people will be hoodwinked but it won’t last. Don’t be jealous and don’t be tempted - use your brain and get to know your deep creative practise - it has a resonance like nothing else.²

Let’s straighten our writerly crowns and get to work loves - ai has NOTHING on your beautiful voice and authentic essence!

✨

Hey Mom, I’m live from Planet Earth on Substack Live! 🌎

My biggest source of (in-platform) subscriber growth this last quarter was from Substack Lives. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed but there’s no hiding behind your words when you’re on a live (or car alarms as I found out guesting with Veronica Llorca-Smith.) No they are not right for everyone but I enjoy them!

Yes Substack is a platform for writers but it’s also for community, for conversation - it’s ahead of its time in many ways (and we’re all running to catch up.)

You don’t have to use all the community elements here and in fact I advise folks with smaller accounts to avoid Substack chat altogether…

…but Substack lives are a wonderful edition especially as you can pull them through to YouTube automatically and impact your searchability there and wider SEO.

Thank you so much to illustrator Cara Holland who popped into my live with JP and drew up some sketchy notes for us to share! I loved the colour pallete and the essence being captured this way.

My favourite live was with JP from indie book publisher The Pound Project ³and of course all of the wonderful chats I had as part of January Joy(ful) Growth Club with Russell and Claire where really people shared how they keep the work joyful. It also brought 400 new people into my world!

If you’d like a deep dive into lives including the new desktop version of going live - it’s here…

💬 So you want to go LIVE on Substack?

Update - we can now go live from our Substack desktop and screen share - say whaaat - I’ve done a couple of free tutorials if you want to check them out.

Community shout out - Georgina Dean is SO creative and confident when it comes to live streaming - go check out her work?

A Cool and Generous thing I saw on Substack…

Rachna Ghiya got inspired to draw a visual after reading one of Kate Harvey notes. 💖

As a therapist I want to remind you that we don’t arrive at our dream life. We practise it into being…

Books, special projects and more

💎 Member shout outs… beautiful hearts making internet magic!

• Katie Chappell from Katiedraws (and writes) and The Illustrator Jobs Board has a picture book coming out. You can pre-order here.

• Catherine Rayner just published another beautiful whimsical story with Julia Donaldson called ‘The Magic Feather’ - she might still have some signed editions if you’re quick? I adore her work it just lifts me up.

• Amy I Beeson 🐝 , Emma Simpson and Tom Wentworth sold out their UK writerly retreat in days and are collecting interest for their 2027 retreat.

• Gabrielle Treanor is hosting the VERY first wellbeing book festival and sharing her BTS with us. It’s in Wales - anyone want to meet there?

• Fay Johnstone has been busy interviewing spiritual teachers for her podcast and has clocked 20 interviews!

• Yvette Ja is celebrating over 200 members in her Substack bookbinding club - she’s the MOST brilliant teacher of this artform - if I can learn you can too - it’s so so relaxing!

• Katherine Clements made my jaw actually drop with this IG post about her book. Spooky!

• Louise Tilbrook added a Book Recommendations post for knitters after taking my affiliate class - smart and helpful!

• Kathy Barlow is offering half day creative retreats using her Substack.

• The wonderful Daria Diaz just retired from her law career and is doing WONDERFUL work here - she combines research, writing, live conversations, and audio to help active agers build energy, strength, and independence and add life to their years.

• Rebecca Mack ☕ dreamt her 2026 vision board into being in less than a week and tagged me in her title - read what happened here?

• Toni Jones continues to pop up in my feed with super interesting interviews from authors and women in the self help space. Check out some replays and look out for a super special announcement from her sooooon?

🔏 Substack meets Self Publishing 📚

What do we do with our rich and beautiful online archive of Substack posts? Here are three ideas;

1. Go back and update your Substack SEO - yes it’s faffy but it’s also important.

2. Re-share posts from your archive - I do this all the time on Notes and I’m starting with backlinks on my site.

3. Make something real with your hands - write a postcard, make a book, a magazine or a publication for print!

As some of you know, I’m a big fan of self publishing books and the healing work that happens when we shift to make ourselves the gatekeeper! (Soooooo much self awareness)

You know instead of giving an agent or publisher all the power. 🚪💫 If you’ve ever met a gatekeeper on a power trip (hello my whole career) you’ll know how fun it is to have the deeper conversations with yourself about MAKING STUFF HAPPEN!

I honestly don’t know why more people don’t do it? It’s so fun. No you won’t get on the best seller lists by self publishing a book but honestly… are we really all striving for that along with celebrity? I’m not!

Isn’t it enough to do the work we came here to do for the audience who want to read it? I don’t need a quality approval from an external source to be happy - do you?

I’ve been self publishing for 6 years (a book a year) and this year I’m knee deep in research to make my next book something that can be discovered across the world. (Russell actually did this with our ‘How to Build a World Class Substack’ book (via Draft to Digital). Huge thanks for all the recent tags about how helpful you found our book - it means the world).

This week, after a lovely chat at London Book Fair in March, I met Sarah Franklin from self publishing and print on demand service LuLu Press for my podcast.

I used LuLu to print last year’s book (Invisible Trust - the hidden rules of influence and reciprocity online).

Sarah and I chatted with one of the founders of The Midnight Vault event, competition and anthology. You can watch here and if you’re curious you can also watch Megan Moran’s workshop on how to enable your subscribers to design and print your Substack like a magazine using LuLu Press and deliver it world wide right here.⁴

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Stay Creative on Substack and your invitation to do just that. These magazines take me HOURS to put together so I do appreciate your likes and shares. 💖

Ooo and if you want to check out the back catalogue anytime it’s here or hit search on the desktop version of my Substack?

Happy creating on YOUR terms inside your Substack this quarter! Sending you all the sparkles!!

Claire

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P.S - 💬 - let’s use the comments below to share MORE of what you’re proud to be creating alongside brilliant colleagues this quarter here on Substack!

Perhaps you’ve read something that really inspired or found a creative way through a writerly block? Will you be trying lives, perhaps you’ve got ideas for a new series?

Members - our Q2 intention setting and reflections class is here…

REPLAY - Q1 Reflections, Goal and Intention setting, finding your unique sparkle for Q2 on Substack

1. If I’d have had time I would have commissioned an illustrator to draw these characters for you - can you see them in your mind’s eye? Maybe that’s enough lol

2. Yes hooks work on Notes but ultimately the hook is to stop the scroll then you back it up.

3. You can subscribe to illustrator Cara Holland at Graphic Change here.

4. Affiliate link. If you sign up to LuLu with my link and print with them I receive a commission but it won’t cost you any more. Curious about how to add affiliate links to your Substack and receive surprise income? Mine make me over £3k per year - You can take my ‘Anyone can be an affiliate class’ here.