Before You Open the Substack Door
Here are a few questions that might color your thinking
I fell in love with the idea of Substack … who wouldn’t? … a democratic platform for diverse voices … a no-barrier-to-entry for writers all … from super-power beings to the unwashed. Plus money. What could be better?
I couldn’t wait to fill in the blanks, racing against an internal clock in order to put that first post out to the world. Somehow, it seemed like a different planet than my dusty blog world where posts stood like false front stores in a town bypassed by one of those west-east highways that end in zeros.
And, it is. But, in the end, not so much. We’re still writers hoping to attract readers. Wanting our words to land in soft tissue and spark feelings and thoughts, maybe even insights or a random eureka moment.
It took me months to look around and see the tumbleweeds rolling down my Substack street, hitting neither car nor burro, bumping occasionally into a tourist waiting for the showdown at high noon. It was time to regroup, rethink … come up with a plan.
The outline was already written … all the things that I didn’t do before opening the Substack door scrolled onto a previously unseen whiteboard: strategy … marketing plan … intention … focus … value for readers … frequency … consistency … paid or unpaid … engagement … community … success measurements … … …
I needed a guide … a workbook … a checklist … a step-by-step, hold-my-hand, preferably AI-powered assistant. When that didn’t appear, I started digging deeper into the Substack literature, consulting with the Wise Ones, determined to write my own workbook.
Fortunately, my entrepreneurial years and a mossy MBA gradually began to re-emerge from the fog. First came a Reader Engagement model from long ago that gave me hooks to hang all the Substack bells and whistles on.
And then, a metaphor … Substack is a door … readers on one side … writers on the other; both wanting the door to open to let fresh writing flow from one side to the other. The Reader Engagement model provides a simple way to open the door and organize the Substack experience.
Soon the Workbook was picking up steam. ENTICE was released as a Field Guide … a format that didn’t provide the step-by-step approach needed (and will be re-released shortly in the new Workbook format). Then, ENTER, with room for notes and links to additional readings. (All the background posts are available free under the Substack Workbook section, first word ENTER. And the formatted workbook is available to paid subscribers from the pdf link in the header (if there is one, you’re a paid subscriber … (thank you very much) … or from this post ENTER: The Substack Workbook for Reader Engagement.)
Quickly though, I realized that the Substack project needs to begin before we start filling in blanks in the Dashboard Settings provided by Substack.
It needs to start with a strategy and a plan.
So, here is a quick, 5 pages of FREE strategy worksheets to help you think about your intentions even before you start to craft the big 6:
Big 6: Title (Substack), Subtitle, Bio-profile, Short Description, About Page, Welcome Email
To help you with questions and directions, a thread about the Big 6 will be opened in just a bit.
And, remember:
Substack is a long game … one that will never be “perfect.”
This is so useful! I wish I'd read it two months ago, when I was beginning here. Thank you!
In case you noticed ... one of the headers to this post was incorrectly changed so it picked up two lines from the last post ... which made NO sense when used with this post. It makes a perfect example for what can go wrong with headers. AAARRRGGHHHH! ;-)