First week on the 'stack
Tumbling into the water. Hardly a ripple, but plenty of questions to keep me going.
Grandly, I told myself I would “launch” my Substack on 1 September.
I may even have told others I would launch then. Perhaps even “announced” it on LinkedIn.
Well something happened. It was actually less of a launch and more of a slither down the river bank.
But I’m here. Writing. That’s what matters, I tell myself.
The view from Saturday
So what have I learnt, seen, done or experienced?
Buttons. Those “subscribe now”, “share this post”, “the end of the world is nigh” buttons - which I’d been told on the Substack YouTube were essential to my success and the wellbeing of humanity. Well, I kept forgetting to put them in. Will it stunt my growth forever? And just where am I supposed to put them, anyway?
Daily posts for the first week, they said. I duly obliged. I managed to repurpose some material from another platform but it was tough to marshal the material into some kind of flow. Goodness knows what it was like for the reader. But I did it. Now I can relax into a weekly schedule...
Relax?
Content is
Content plan. I have one! it’s drafted in Notion, and I have a post each week earmarked through till the end of the year. Because of a previous life, I don’t find planning difficult. But how do I combine that with improvisation, spontaneity, with shit just happening? How do I fit all that in?
The fitting image
Images, photos, graphs. I asked for immediate feedback on my posts from a couple of friends who write for a living and their response was the same: more photos! I get it. Not a lot of people want to read text-heavy posts on the internet. Even the NYRB (sometimes) has illustrations, after all!
But I’m not a photographer, have no background in design and my drawing - well, let’s just say I was not encouraged to continue art class at secondary school beyond the then mandatory first two years. And then there are the copyright issues…
So getting images together is taking me as much time as the writing. What’s the solution?
It’s all about readership?
I didn’t come onto Substack to worry about numbers - I can do that elsewhere in my life. I came here to write. But to write is to be read. So how many readers does it take for me? 1? 100? 10,000? Perhaps I should have a “growth strategy”? But didn’t I have enough of that kind of thing in my previous life?
Community
A big plus has been the warm welcome that has come from other writers (special shout outs for
!). People talk about a sense of community on Substack and so far it seems to be true. A pleasant surprise.Thank you!
But besides being (so far) friendly, it’s a professional community which takes its writing seriously.
This is a major attraction to me, as I hope to learn from the example of others.
The Anxiety of Excellence
There are so many good writers on Substack. Which is intimidating, to be honest.
But it’s also inspiring. Every day on here I see people stretching themselves, taking risks, being vulnerable and open and generous. And, above all, writing some amazing stuff. How could I not be inspired?
I like to learn through reading good practice and having a go myself. But I’d also really like to get tips from other Substack writers.
Should I put a button here????
I also really welcome feedback and comments from anyone about what I can do to improve (thanks to those who have already offered suggestions).
Plop!
So I’m here. Here I am. I’m getting myself immersed. Never mind that there wasn’t much of a splash. There’s plenty of the river to be swum yet.
Oh, and those buttons…
Etc
I am excited to be a subscriber at the beginning of your Substack journey (I found you because of a comment you made). I started mine two years ago on September 6. I do not deliberately try to increase my readership, but I get several new subscribers each week. I frequently like and comment on other people's posts, so that is a gentle way to attract readers. I don't like when buttons interrupt the text, so I put all of them at the end of my piece.
One thing I have noticed in the Substacks that I read is that after a year or so they get new names or change directions. This happened to me as well. The original name of mine was Elder Mentor, then I changed directions in my writing. A second thing that I have noticed is that people write frequently when first starting, then taper off to infrequent posts (and yet I have not unsubscribed). This also happened to me (and I have had only a few people unsubscribe and always right after I posted something, perhaps that they did not like)--so don't feel pressured to produce. Now that I think about it, the ones that I have unsubscribed to were sending me frequent postings and I grew tired of their company (for me, less is best). A third thing is that Substack gives you open stats after about 24 hours, but many readers (myself included) don't necessarily open them immediately after they hit the inbox. And finally, I am not impressed by so-called better writers, so I don't waste any time trying to improve my craft--I write what I write (reread it once) and move on. All the best!
Thanks, Nicola! Thank you for your perceptive comments on ripples and rivers. I'll actually be coming back to the latter at some point (having reflected that rivers have played an important part in my life, without me realising). Good luck with your own reading and writing in due course!