An Introduction to Substack for Writers

A Substack 101 Video

Back in late May, I let you all know that I was preparing a video with the aim of introducing Substack to new writers. I was looking for new ideas or, indeed, confirmation of my own ideas, about what should go into it.

A number of you kindly made contributions, which I read over carefully and used as needed.

Thank you very much for your help.

This video is now live. It is called (no surprises here): An Introduction to Substack for Writers. It won’t be helpful to any of you, because anyone who is already writing on Substack will know everything I have written there (I would expect).

But you may happen to know people who say “What is this Substack thing? I have heard of it but don’t know whether it has any relevance to me.”

Or “I am a writer and am wondering whether I should try Substack. What’s it all about?”

These people are my intended audience.

The video is very short (20 minutes) and explains for the uninitiated, in simple terms:

i) What Substack is;

ii) Why one might want to write on it;

iii) How to get started;

iv) Some unexpected benefits and problems;

v) Some sources of help.

There are powerpoint slides to go along with the talk.

The video was commissioned by BooksGoSocial, a very writer-friendly book marketing agency in Dublin for its 10th Dublin Writer’s Festival this month (September 2024).

It can be accessed any time at this link, along with a lot of other videos about writing and writers. It is in the group of videos called “Editing, publishing and adapting your work for the screen.”

I would be very happy to hear from you if you have any questions.