This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.writersatwork.netWhat we cover:* The 3 types of Substack audio and how they work (voiceover, memos, and podcast/audio posts)* Substack audio in 3 easy steps—including the editing tool for writers* Voiceover-artist top tips* The best (and least expensive) equipment to use

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.writersatwork.netHow to boost your growth on Substack? Make your Substack essential.People don’t unsubscribe from Substacks they feel are essential.What you’ll come away from this Strategy Session with: * Awareness of how to make your Substack essential so people won’t unsubscribe* An action plan to communicate that to subscribersWhether you’re experiencing a slowdown in pa…

On the go? Listen to this on the Substack Writers at Work podcast here!This is the best fifty-two minutes you can spend. This Q&A with the amazing Sophia Efthimiatou, Substack’s Head of Writer Relations, will fill you with inspiration, optimism, and a true appreciation for Substack and how much it’s doing for us.Sometimes it can feel like we’re just writing on a platform, but Substack is made up of real people, many of whom are writers themselves. They believe in giving us the professional opportunities we deserve. Here, we’re part of a community.Become a member of the Substack Writers at Work community. Join 11,000+ Substack writers. Annual members get everything. I encourage you to commit to your Substack with my guidance for a year and get the discounted annual subscription. You, your Substack, and your work are worth it. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.writersatwork.net/subscribe

There’s so much talk about overwhelm and burnout that it feels like it’s starting to create overwhelm and confusion. No longer! It’s up to us to make Substack the place we want it to be. If that means loads of notifications for you, go forth! If you’d rather quiet it down a bit, managing your notifications is essential. Here’s how to adjust chat notifications on the Substack app.Join the 2024 Substack Success CohortVeterans and newbies, if you’re doubting your Substack, frustrated by trying to figure out the platform, tired of cobbling together information, and not seeing the kind of growth you want, join me and a group of highly motivated Substack writers to inspire and help you to achieve your goals. It’s modeled on Substack’s now-defunct grow program and it’s amazing.A one-year program for highly motivated Substack writers (veterans and newbies) who are ready to grow.Follow these directions to join:A one-year program for highly motivated Substack writers ready to growYou receive* Everything in the paid membership—Headline Hub chat, Office Parties, monthly Substack Mastery workshops ($80 value)* Monthly Mastermind Cohort Calls to get ideas and my top tips and discover what other Substack writers are doing ($2500 value)* Substack Success Blueprint (my signature!) to design, redesign, or touch up your Substack so you have the right foundation ($285 value)* Monthly Strategizing Workshops to get the most cutting-edge techniques to grow ($540 value)* Members-only Forum for 24/7 support from the best (priceless!)* The full archive of Substack Mastery and How to Write Online Workshops ($1200)One-time payment $385 (~$32/month)✨ Lasts one year from your subscription dateFeel free to stay forever, but the cohort is designed to give you everything you need in one year. You, your writing, your Substack, and your career are worth it.Follow these directions to join:Need more reasons to join?Monthly Strategizing Workshops through 2024Replays will be available!* Subscription Fatigue is Real (and what to do about it) Workshop* How to Find Substack Readers (not just other Substack writers) Workshop* Goal Achievement Workshop (quarterly check-in)* Write Less, Say More Challenge Workshop * Why Paywalls Don’t Work and What To Do About Them Workshop* Goal Moving Too Slowly? Workshop (quarterly check-in)* Metrics and What to Make of Them Workshop* My Five Favorite Substacks and What We Can Learn from Them Workshop* Year-End and New-Year Goal Setting and Action Audit Workshop⇢ NOTE! Paid subscribers, it will not show the deduction when you upgrade, BUT Substack has reassured me that you will only be charged the difference between what you’ve already paid as a member and the Cohort price. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.writersatwork.net/subscribe

Sara Tasker and Keeley Rees are the force behind The Substack Soiree. When Substack started pivoting slightly (very slightly) away from being solely a platform “for great writing” to an “economic engine for culture,” Sara and Keeley brought their combined gifts to the platform: Sara's magic in growing online audiences and running a business that doesn’t burn you out with Keeley’s professional experience in storytelling, copywriting, brand design.The Substack Soirée focuses on how the visual element of our Substacks can complement our writing. They offer free branding bundles and The Substack Soirée class—a supportive group program for anyone looking to start, grow or expand their Substack presence. It guides Substack writers to find their voice and the stories they’re here to tell with support, accountability, and a gathering of like-minded people. Find out more about the class starting March 18 here—but listen to the interview first because these two make branding heart-filled to even the most branding-averse, cynical people. It’s not branding; it’s visual storytelling.Sara and Keeley have spent decades in the online and social media spaces, particularly audience growth, online marketing, writing, and storytelling. Sara’s business is Me & Orla. She’s a creative business coach, writer, photographer, iTunes #1 business podcast host, bestselling author, and self-described Instagram nerd. Keeley’s areas of expertise are vast: writer, visual storyteller, email marketing expert, designer and content producer, copy coach, filmmaker, voice-over artist, and more.They each have a Substack in their own right. Sara’s Entre Nous is “slow living, online business, and personal growth—for creative souls and dreamers.” It’s a glimpse into her life, including the French house she’s currently renovating, and her insights into creating a business, being on social media, marketing, and selling “while being a human with a heart.” Keeley’s Secret Gardens is a space for her personal narratives and insights into what it means to be a creator (which she would define very broadly) today. You can read her excellent post “Visual Storytelling: AKA the Case for Branding” here.Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.writersatwork.net/subscribe

Ah, sections. If you’re like me, you’ve unknowingly gone down this dangerous road. Ill-advised. To group posts on your homepage, so they appear by topic rather than in chronological order, you want groups, not sections. Sections are only if you want to create an entirely separate newsletter within your newsletter. They’re a nightmare for you and your subscribers. Find out why in this video. Thanks for the suggestion to do this tech video, Mitch. Here’s Substack’s guide to setting up sections. ✶ Join our community. Get the support of thousands of paying members and benefit from my expert guidance to help you grow your Substack fast.Paid members, we’re here to support you. Need help with your headlines? The members-only headline hub chat is where you get expert advice on how to headline your posts to draw readers in. 24/7. Go here, tell us a bit about what your post is about and the headline you’re considering, and we’ll give you suggestions: This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.writersatwork.net/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.writersatwork.netPDF with the slides and prompts is below!We’ve never been given an opportunity like this to earn an income, build a community of loyal subscribers, be creative, and get exposure for our work.But how do we do it in a way that’s relatively free of overwhelm, doubt, stress, and frustration?Enter your editorial calendar.Part of my genius working with people 1-to-1 as a private Substack consultant is that I listen to their goals, spot exactly what they love to write, and help them set up an editorial calendar that serves them and their subscribers.In this workshop, you get a taste of that.What you’ll do:* Revisit your goals, what you most enjoy posting, and which posts resonate with your subscribers* Determine how often and how much you really need to be posting* Set up strategic editorial and content calendars that improve your life and your SubstackBONUS: How to repurpose content on Notes without feeling lame*Even if you’re satisfied with your posting schedule, it’s always good to check in.✨ Get access by becoming part of the Substack Writers at Work community, the most supportive, connected network on Substack.If you prefer not to subscribe, you can purchase this workshop separately.It's a deep dive into strategizing your editorial calendar on Substack. If any of it feels too high-level, come back to it when you're ready. Note: I reference two other Substack Writers at Work workshops— * The Key to Growth on Substack: Your Expert Guide to Notes workshop * Get Discovered on Substack: Alt Text and SEO Workshop

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.writersatwork.net/subscribeThis is from Saturday’s information session.The gist? Have expert guidance on Substack and a cohort of people to support you for 1 year, so you can achieve your goals on here: earn an income, get exposure for your work, produce your best writing, create a loyal community of subscribers--whatever it may be.Join the 2024 Substack Success Cohort✨ Begins April 1, 2024, and lasts one year from your subscription date.✨ One-time payment. No recurring subscription. $350.You’re welcome to continue in the Cohort forever, but most people will “graduate” after one year.You receive* A free year in Substack Writers at Work! ($80 value)* The Substack Success Blueprint: The Insider’s Guide to Planning, Designing, and Growing your Substack—the essential course to lay the foundation or revamp your Substack to grow* Exclusive access to our monthly Substack Success Cohort Calls (priceless)⇢ All current Full-access members are automatically enrolled at no additional charge.⇢ Paid subscribers, the amount you’ve already paid will go toward the cost of the cohort, e.g. if you paid $80, you’ll be charged $270.Join the Cohort…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.writersatwork.netHow to Write an Opinion Piece on SubstackOn Substack, most people doing any form of personal writing use three modes: * rumination,* narrative, and/or* opinion.Your posts may be a mix of all three, but to write Substacks that draw readers and create engagement, we need to know which mode we’re in and how each works. Opinion writing may be one of the hardest: * How do we do it without being moralizing, reactionary, or trite? * How do we establish authority? * How do we write something important to readers, not just ourselves?By the end of this workshop, you’ll know the four keys to opinion writing online: * The difference between a hot take, a think piece, an opinion piece, and an op-ed* The ideal structure for an opinion piece that doesn’t come out dull, sloppy, or disjointed or harangue the reader—brought to us by the great * How publishing an opinion piece on Substack can perhaps take a different approach than writing an op-ed for a mainstream media outlet* The 10 keys to a successful op-edSubstacks to read for examples of opinion writing: * Jessica de Fino’s * , Culture Study* , The Honest BrokerYou can purchase the workshop separately if you prefer not to subscribe. As Substack’s Farrah Storr says, we do these workshops in good faith that people won’t sign up for the link and then unsubscribe. The prompt—the opinion writing formula—is below for you to use to put this into practice.I loved this from , who shared her expertise writing op-eds during the workshop: “I think the terrifying part about writing online, self-publishing, Substack, etc., although you do get some feedback, is you don’t have an editor and you don’t have all the infrastructure around publishing that creates a certain amount of discerning of what's newsworthy and what isn’t, and what’s a valuable or interesting or fascinating or insightful opinion to more readers than what we ourselves think.And we don’t have that second set of ears and eyes and that other pressure to create something that’s reader-centric.And opinions, I think, are particularly dangerous that way.Just a warning to folks that not everything you think is something people want to read and this from a very opinionated person so I’m throwing the stones at myself as quickly as anyone.”Watch the replay to learn more about how to write an opinion piece without being a jerk.✨ Become a paid subscriber to get access to this workshop and all the guidance you need to be the writer you want to be. You get all the workshops in the How to Write on Subsatck series, including the other two forms: writing the personal essay and the narrative essay.

Here’s a breakdown of the three ways to collaborate with other Substack writers: guest post, cross-post, or interview (print, audio, video). Enjoy! You can find people to collaborate with on the Substack Writers at Work Office Party. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.writersatwork.net/subscribe