Substack Live Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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I’m so pleased to bring you my interview with Laurie Stone. She writes the literary Substack Everything Is Personal. In this conversation, we talk about how she grew her Substack so quickly—plus her writing process, her approach to “marketing,” Notes, publishing, the nature of narrative, and how she seduces the reader.

She also shares her checklist for writing posts and Notes that resonate with her readers:

* Start in the middle,

* fail to arrive,

* remember to love something,

* make the reader hot,

* make the reader laugh.

She was a longtime writer for the Village Voice (1974-1999), which comes up here. She’s also the author of six books, most recently Streaming Now, Postcards from the Thing that is Happening (Dottir Press, 2022), long listed for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She writes for The Paris Review, Evergreen Review, and Galerie. 

You can join her monthly Zoom conversations on writing craft by contacting her at lauriestone@substack.com. 

Subscribe to Everything Is Personal here: https://lauriestone.substack.com/

Timestamps:

00:15 Laurie’s Substack success

02:14 Narrative techniques

04:39 Using Notes and social media

05:51 Teaching and workshops

09:41 Laurie’s writing process

17:37 Building a sustainable Substack

25:47 What’s next for Everything Is Personal

Live Substack Office Hours. Your Substack questions answered.

Become a paid subscriber to Substack Writers at Work: www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

Yet another way SW@W is here to help you be your amazing self on Substack.

Who?

* Me, you, all of us.

What?

* Your Substack questions answered.

When?

* I’ll announce the day and time of each live Substack Office Hours every Tuesday in that week’s post.

* We’ll also have popup Office Hours.

Where?

* You’ll be notified in email and the app when we’re live.

* We’ll be live in the app.

Why?

* Imagine: Getting to ask me instead of the bot.

* Imagine: No more confusion. No more frustration. No more feeling alone.

* Office Hours are for paid subscribers.

What are they like?

* Watch the replay above to find out! (Great to listen to in the app or on Spotify or Apple. Timestamps are below.)

* Basically, come on, be with each other, connect, put your questions in the chat, and I’ll try to get to each one.

How?

* Join us by upgrading to paid.

Substack Office Hours, 11/8/24

[00:04:17] Niches vs. being a generalist—my signature Substack DNA paradigm

[00:07:35] Setting up subscriber challenges/workshops

[00:09:33] Understanding the activity tab & metrics

[00:14:18] Posting frequency - category differences & expectations

[00:29:56] Balancing posts vs. notes - social media strategy

[00:33:02] Monetization & subscription value

[00:39:01] Headers, footers, and banners - design elements

[00:42:02] Building audience—reality vs. perception

[00:44:21] Custom domains and URLs

[00:48:46] Selling/marketing without losing authenticity

[00:51:31] Writing calls to action effectively

[00:52:26] Community building among Substack Writers at Work subscribers

To upgrade to listen on Apple, go to www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

Hello, Substack Writers at Work!

Every once in a while we start to feel like we’re either in a holding pattern on Substack or it’s just not working. Your subscriber numbers are stagnant. They go up and go down—or they just go down. No one likes or restacks your posts. Every morning, you wake up and tell your cats, “It’s not working” (hypothetically).

This, my friends, is known as the Substack rut. Don’t worry. You’re not alone. And I’m here to help.

To upgrade to listen on Apple, go to www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

I’ve worked one-to-one with over 250 people—helping them succeed on Substack. That means I’ve been behind a lot of dashboards and mentored a lot of different people—with different interests and goals—to

* double and triple and quadruple and septuple their subscribers,

* substantially increase their revenue,

* build a readership with real engagement, and

* be Featured Substacks—the pinnacle of quality on the platform.

Personalized guidance is the fastest, most efficient way to start and grow on here. I love strategizing and figuring out how a person’s talents, interests, and expertise will work best on the platform.

Notice I didn’t say you can write “for yourself” and expect to be paid. You have to show up like a pro and serve your readers.) There’s nothing better than helping someone see how amazing they are and how Substack can help them have the life and career they want.

I’ve learned and know a lot about Substack. Some of it also comes from building my own bestselling, Featured Substacks with over 9000 subscribers in eight months and guiding over 7000 subscribers here at Writers at Work.

Here are seven things I hope will bring you growth and joy on Substack in 2024.

To upgrade to listen on Apple, go to www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

Happy Tuesday!

Please read the intro as I forgot to record one!

This interview is a concise rundown of the realities of being an author in a publicity-driven world. Courtney Maum is quite possibly the only person who could bring it to us.

You might think of there being two eras: BCM (before ) and ACM (after Courtney Maum). Before Courtney and her game-changing publishing guide, Before and After the Book Deal, authors and writers were pretty much left in the dark as to what to expect when they went to sell a book and what would happen during and after. Courtney changed that. Her book and her amazing Substack have changed writers’ lives and empowered us all.

Courtney is also a stunning novelist and memoirist. She’s the author of The Year of the Horses, which was chosen by The Today Show as the best read for mental health awareness. A nominee for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the host of the monthly Beyond Fiction conversation series at Edith Wharton's.The Mount, Courtney's essays and articles on creativity have been widely published in outlets like The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian and her short story, “This Is Not Your Fault,” was recently turned into an Audible original.

I’m so happy to be able to interview her for you and (I hope) ask her some of the questions you have about writing and publishing on Substack and beyond.

Listen or read the transcript below and enjoy!

To upgrade to listen on Apple, go to www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

On the go? Listen to the audio.

If you aren’t a subscriber, become one (!) to master the art and business of being on Substack.

On to the reason why so many writers feel bad about promoting their work and why they shouldn’t…

For many creative writers, publicity is something to be avoided lest someone accuse them of “self-promotion.” (By “creative,” I mean anyone who’s not a journalist—not that journalism isn’t creative.) The tacit belief is that “real” writers shouldn’t need to promote their work. “Good” writing magically publicizes itself or is promoted by others, i.e., gatekeepers—agents, publishers, critics, the media, celebrity authors, Substack writers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, etc.

I can’t overstate how damaging this has been to writers. It’s brainwashed us into believing 1) all promotion is self-promotion and 2) publicizing our work means slumming and a lack of literary or artistic credibility. More than that, it’s created a culture of dependency and entitlement and a whole lot of professional writers who can’t make a living from their profession.

Writers—especially creative writers—seem to think publicity isn’t or shouldn’t be part of our job. Guess what? It is. It’s not the reader’s responsibility to find us. And not just on Substack. You can get the best agent and a big book deal and you’re still expected to sell your own books. (Sorry to pop that fantasy bubble, but it’s true.)

Yes, there’s the whole art-versus-commerce angst, which I’ve never understood. The idea that commerce taints art is one that I’d love for us all to question. Maybe it has more to do with reaching people. Art that sells speaks to the buying public; art that doesn’t, well, doesn’t.

To upgrade to listen on Apple, go to www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

I will save you from spending years flailing around on Substack, trying to figure out the platform, and not getting any traction.

Book a single meeting:

Or a discounted 3-meeting package to get $25 off:

Substack is the best platform for writers—financially, professionally, and artistically—and the hardest to succeed on. Don’t do it alone.

This will be the best money you’ve ever spent. I don’t say that lightly. Just ask the writers who’ve met with me. Their Substacks have

* doubled and tripled in subscribers,

* seen a sharp increase in revenue,

* gotten real engagement, and

* been chosen as Featured Substacks–the pinnacle of quality on the platform.

“More than worth the money.” —Joyce Wycoff, Gratitude Mojo

You can’t find this level of mentoring, attention, and expertise anywhere else. No one else has the relationship with Substack that I do and specializes in the unique nature of the platform, how it can be used to earn an income, and how it complements traditional publishing and all aspects of a writer’s career.

To upgrade to listen on Apple, go to www.writersatwork.net/subscribe.

A bonus for you for the weekend! If you’re serializing or thinking about serializing your book (or possible book), I go through the entire process and what to consider on the Become a Writer Today podcast with Bryan Collins. Bryan is great.

We talk about all things serialization and “becoming an author,” including my trajectory from

* interviewer at The Paris Review to

* MFA-in-creative-writing grad to

* PhD-in-English grad to

* HarperCollins author to

* devoted Substacker serializing my new memoir Cured and helping creative writers everywhere come into their own and make a living as a writer.

I hope it inspires you and gets you thinking about serialization on Substack. Listen and enjoy!

I had the opportunity to sit down with Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack. I’m so happy to bring you our conversation. It was really illuminating and feels like the best thing I can give you as a Substack writer or creator.

Many people don’t understand or know who the people behind Substack are. Hamish and all the people who work at Substack are some of the best, most idealistic people I’ve ever met. That goes across the board, everyone who works at Substack.

I’m very happy to bring Hamish to you today.

If you don’t know Hamish, he’s a New Zealander living in the Bay Area. He’s the co-founder of Substack and also a writer in his own right—like many people who work at Substack. He’s an incredible writer, author of Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil, which came out in 2018. Before that, he was a journalist, the former lead writer of Tesla, and a reporter for the tech blog PandoDaily. He’s written for publications around the world on technology, business, pop culture, and politics.

So please enjoy my interview with Substack Co-founder Hamish Mckenzie.

HIGHLIGHTS:

On Substack’s origins:

“The core realization [was] that you needed to make the reader the customer instead of the product…Substack’s real product is the Substack model... undergirding the entire ecosystem.”

On the idealism behind Substack:

“[We thought] maybe we can build something here that could be an alternative to that other system that we think is corroding trust and corroding goodwill in society.”

On Substack’s current vision:

“The vision is as pure as it was the day it was born.”

On the power of small, engaged audiences:

“Even if it’s fifty people.. it can be nourishing and rewarding where you really feel like you’re writing to real people who are really reading your stuff and engaging.”

On the Substack model vs traditional social media:

“This more genuine, deeper connection where the economics can be productive with lower numbers is transformative in itself.”

Advice for new Substack writers with an existing platform:

“Tell people that you’re doing your work over here. Consolidate your work here.”

Advice for new Substack writers without an existing platform:

“Don't overthink it. Just start publishing, get feedback from people. Don’t panic if you’re writing to a small audience for a while.”

On the current media landscape:

“This is the best time there's ever been to start a one-man or one-woman media empire, or even just like your ongoing serial publication.”

03:20 Hamish’s time at Tesla and his book

07:34 Substack’s origin story

12:41 Substack’s vision and model

25:03 Advice for aspiring Substack writers

Get more expert interviews like this one from the Substack team by joining the Substack Writers at Work: www.substackwritersatwork.com

Thank you Joy Sullivan, Jo Hutton, Dr Kondrot, Beth Spencer, Diana Spechler, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.