Giving a Talk about Substack
A note to readers
Regular readers of my newsletter will know that I mostly post once a fortnight on a Wednesday, but now and again I post an additional note for one reason or another.
Today, I am asking for your thoughts about Substack as I am pulling together my own ideas for a talk on the subject. This is mainly intended for those readers who are also writers on Substack, but you are all invited to contribute if you so wish,
I am currently preparing a talk, which will essentially be an Introduction to Substack for Writers. This will be given to the International Dublin Writers’ Festival (20-22 September 2024), probably via video.
I plan to cover such subjects as why one might choose to write on Substack, what the benefits (and costs) are, how to set up a newsletter and some of the day-to-day practicalities that I have encountered over roughly eighteen months. I may also include reference to some of the writers who provide advice, to show how much support is available.
I would be delighted to hear from other writers (or readers) with any strong views about what should be covered in such a talk. Even more so if you have undertaken – or know about – any research on Substack, such as on numbers of paid subscribers, numbers undertaking podcasts or any other issue likely to be of interest. All such research would be given full acknowledgement.
Feel free to respond directly on Substack or email me at ar@annrichardson.co.uk
Thanks for your help.
Ann, love that you are doing this! Coincidentally, my podcast finale is *today,* ending after five years and 120 episodes. I’ve been writing on Substack for almost a year and that is now where I’ll put all my energy. Too much work to do both. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b-old-age-with-debbie-weil/id1449776332?i=1000657374972
What a great thing to be doing.
I have a relatively small Substack , with a little under 100 regular readers. I'm one of those for whom the platform has been life-changing, in the sense that before starting the Substack I basically wasn't putting any writing out into the world at all, and now am producing a steady stream of essays that are reaching an amazing readership.
One of the things that I didn't know about when I started the Substack was the social media aspect of it all, or that there was a whole ecosystem on the platform itself. That is, I didn't realize that readers would find my writing via Substack itself, or that I would find things I wanted to read that way, or that I'd be making acquaintances (in a sense) among other writers via the comments sections and so forth. When I started it up I thought that it was just a spot to publish on, and assumed that the readership would build up very slowly (if it did at all) via word of mouth by the handful of people I mentioned it to face-to-face.
It sounds as though some of the audience might be as new to the whole structure as I was, so thought I'd mention all of that in case of interest.
The other thing is that if people are new to social media altogether, as I was, it can be tough to be thrown into a world where everyone is talking about how many subscribers or followers one ”has” or how to ”get” more of them. If I were discussing it with a writer friend who was thinking of starting up a Substack, I'd warn them about that, and also strongly recommend excising that language and grammar altogether. One doesn't ”have” or ”get” people, but rather people get one's writing. (When we subscribe to someone else's Substack, it would be bizarre to think that that person “has” us - we think instead that we're the ones who are getting something, the writing, whether we pay for it or not. I've said this elsewhere in comments as well….).
Finally: I don't know if it's true that Substacks that pass a certain threshold number of subscribers have a different role in the Substack social media ecosystem. What I started up, something I read said that the algorithm essentially swallowed one's notes until the first 100 subscribers. I seem to be happily communicating already, and have been for a long time, so I'm not sure that it's true, but I guess that I might try to research it if I were giving a talk like this. That is, if it seemed like people were planning to find their readers or community vis the platform itself.
Hope any of this is relevant, and all best tor what sounds like a lovely event.