I wrote it assuming she would want to do the kind of curating and editing you describe Amanda and she was great at making sure it fit her audience without changing my perspective and voice,
Because I'm pretty new and not yet consistently posting on my own substack, I'm hesitant to return the favour of inviting others for guest posts. Yet. But I can imagine that coming -- even it's a conversation about different viewpoints I and another writer have on Brain Things. This is all good advice about what to consider when I get there. Thank you.
Oh that's fantastic. Congrats! And yes, the guest series really do take a certain kind of focus and attention to do properly. I'm glad you had a wonderful experience. 🫶
Hi Amanda, this was so helpful. I’ve been recently thinking about how to collaborate more extensively and effectively and usefully for my readers. I would love to do so because I know I would enjoy it and believe it would be of value. I have tried in the past doing video interviews with wise women guides or teachers who can amplify the themes I write about. I’ve paywalled these on the three occasions I’ve done them. As extra time & effort on my part, it felt like this should be a special offering for paid subscribers. But the interview posts did not yield more subscribers, stats showed. While that’s not the primary reason I launched them before I continue this route I want to be sure guest posts or a Q&A series is for me. As a lifelong journalist, I know the process will come easy. But I am also aware that in this season of life my body needs rest & healing. And taking on too many ambitious plans for my publication could turn out to be daunting and I can’t deliver. Or I’d do so at a cost. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Amanda!
There's so much about building momentum in a Substack publication that is NOT a net positive for a long while. The parallels with building a business keep growing in my mind, where most businesses don't "turn a profit" on their efforts for the first 1 to 3 years. I think about that often and how important it is to be guided by that true North Star of our creativity because if we're just doing things because the growth hacky guru says to, we will burn out and we will draw unnecessary and false conclusions about our voice, our writing, everything, really! When in reality, publishing take so much effort and nurturing, it's almost exhausting to consider.
I do think the extra time and effort on your interviews is so valid to consider — and also, if you are in a growing season, your best work should be openly available to share with all so they have a chance to see the "meatiness" with which you approach your work. It's such a touch balance to strike and I trust you'll find your way through. I do wonder if there's a middle ground where you could give exclusivity to your paid members for a week and then bring it out from behind the paywall to share and nurture the piece publicly? Paywall theory has a lot of detractors, but when we get down to the root of it: paywalls only work when there's already momentum building all around the walls. I'm cheering you on, Amy, as always.
When I contributed a guest essay to a friend’s newsletter, it fell flat despite a good fit between my topic and her literary turf. Readers wanted to see my friend, not me. An isolated case? Maybe. She had never run a guest post before and hasn’t since, which may account for for the lacklustre response.
This is surprising to me, especially since I know the caliber of your writing and the thoughtfulness you put into meeting new readers. What do you mean by "fell flat" — little to no engagement in the comments, little to no click throughs/sign-ups?
I had my first guest essay a few weeks ago. It kicked off a series about friendship which I think worked really well. As we were editing it together, we decided it would also be fun to add one more collaborator for the visuals/art.
I did get a few new subscribers as a result and so did A. All three of us noticed it created a bit of “buzz” because we all restacked and shared it right away, talking both about friendship and the collaboration experience itself (which really worked in the context of the topic: friendship).
I just did my first guest post for Helena Bianchi, of the Health Minis substack:
https://www.healthminis.com/p/guest-postthe-unseen-chaos-of-chasing?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web
I wrote it assuming she would want to do the kind of curating and editing you describe Amanda and she was great at making sure it fit her audience without changing my perspective and voice,
Because I'm pretty new and not yet consistently posting on my own substack, I'm hesitant to return the favour of inviting others for guest posts. Yet. But I can imagine that coming -- even it's a conversation about different viewpoints I and another writer have on Brain Things. This is all good advice about what to consider when I get there. Thank you.
Oh that's fantastic. Congrats! And yes, the guest series really do take a certain kind of focus and attention to do properly. I'm glad you had a wonderful experience. 🫶
Hi Amanda, this was so helpful. I’ve been recently thinking about how to collaborate more extensively and effectively and usefully for my readers. I would love to do so because I know I would enjoy it and believe it would be of value. I have tried in the past doing video interviews with wise women guides or teachers who can amplify the themes I write about. I’ve paywalled these on the three occasions I’ve done them. As extra time & effort on my part, it felt like this should be a special offering for paid subscribers. But the interview posts did not yield more subscribers, stats showed. While that’s not the primary reason I launched them before I continue this route I want to be sure guest posts or a Q&A series is for me. As a lifelong journalist, I know the process will come easy. But I am also aware that in this season of life my body needs rest & healing. And taking on too many ambitious plans for my publication could turn out to be daunting and I can’t deliver. Or I’d do so at a cost. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Amanda!
There's so much about building momentum in a Substack publication that is NOT a net positive for a long while. The parallels with building a business keep growing in my mind, where most businesses don't "turn a profit" on their efforts for the first 1 to 3 years. I think about that often and how important it is to be guided by that true North Star of our creativity because if we're just doing things because the growth hacky guru says to, we will burn out and we will draw unnecessary and false conclusions about our voice, our writing, everything, really! When in reality, publishing take so much effort and nurturing, it's almost exhausting to consider.
I do think the extra time and effort on your interviews is so valid to consider — and also, if you are in a growing season, your best work should be openly available to share with all so they have a chance to see the "meatiness" with which you approach your work. It's such a touch balance to strike and I trust you'll find your way through. I do wonder if there's a middle ground where you could give exclusivity to your paid members for a week and then bring it out from behind the paywall to share and nurture the piece publicly? Paywall theory has a lot of detractors, but when we get down to the root of it: paywalls only work when there's already momentum building all around the walls. I'm cheering you on, Amy, as always.
This was enormously helpful, encouraging and reassuring—thanks, Amanda!
Thanks for the detailed explanation of this option, I just may give it a whirl.
When I contributed a guest essay to a friend’s newsletter, it fell flat despite a good fit between my topic and her literary turf. Readers wanted to see my friend, not me. An isolated case? Maybe. She had never run a guest post before and hasn’t since, which may account for for the lacklustre response.
This is surprising to me, especially since I know the caliber of your writing and the thoughtfulness you put into meeting new readers. What do you mean by "fell flat" — little to no engagement in the comments, little to no click throughs/sign-ups?
I had my first guest essay a few weeks ago. It kicked off a series about friendship which I think worked really well. As we were editing it together, we decided it would also be fun to add one more collaborator for the visuals/art.
Here it is:
https://open.substack.com/pub/purposefulconnection/p/do-you-still-think-about-me?r=334dr8&utm_medium=ios
Hey that’s exciting! It’ll be neat to see if you experience a lift in your readerships along the way too.
I did get a few new subscribers as a result and so did A. All three of us noticed it created a bit of “buzz” because we all restacked and shared it right away, talking both about friendship and the collaboration experience itself (which really worked in the context of the topic: friendship).