Guest & Sidebar Contributions
How to Bring New Voices Into Your Newsletter — Without Losing Your Own
What Happens When You Let Other Voices In?
I’ve been interviewing subject matter experts since 2006 — across newspapers, magazines, books and digital publications — as a writer, managing editor and entrepreneur.
But when I launched my writing on Substack, I wasn’t just bringing over skills from this past publishing life — I was stepping into a new creative ecosystem, one where I wanted to uncover a new way of being a writer.
That’s why I invested deeply in making sure the concept for my interview series was strong from the start.
✅ The Name: Cave of the Heart wasn’t chosen randomly — it was a concept I’d meditated on for years while living in the Colorado mountains. It held personal meaning and set the tone for the kind of reflective, intimate conversations I wanted to foster.
✅ The Questions: I didn’t just send out generic prompts. I worked to refine each question, making sure they pulled something unexpected and new from the interviewees while also nodding to my own creative, spiritual and editorial interests.
✅ The Balance: I designed the series to be deeply engaging but also sustainable, ensuring that it wouldn’t take too much creative bandwidth away from my personal writing.
The result?
It deepened my relationships — not just professionally, but in ways that felt personally meaningful and sustaining.
It helped me uncover what I truly love and can sustain from my past publishing life.
It expanded my readership — new voices brought in new audiences and introduced my work to people who wouldn’t have found me otherwise.
It gave me a model for generous, high-impact guest features that didn’t require an existing relationship. Writers like Jeannine Ouellette, Beth Kempton, Esmé Weijun Wang and Caroline Chambers poured into their answers with remarkable generosity — despite not having known me prior.
Curating guest and sidebar contributions isn’t just about handing over the microphone — it’s about creating a structure that serves both you and your audience, ensuring that guest posts enhance your publication without derailing your creative momentum.
Let’s talk about how to do that well.
1. What This Format Is (and Why It Matters)
What is a Guest or Sidebar Contribution?
This format is about introducing new perspectives into your newsletter without losing your own editorial voice. These can take many forms:
A Q&A with an expert — bringing outside knowledge into your niche.
A guest essay from a fellow creative — a new voice, framed through your curation.
A reader-submitted story or insight — making your audience feel like part of the publication itself.
The best guest contributions don’t dilute your brand — they enhance it by making your newsletter feel alive, dynamic and interconnected.
Why It Matters
It introduces fresh perspectives. Even the best publications can feel repetitive over time — new voices help us avoid that.
It strengthens your network. Every guest contribution is an opportunity to build relationships and cross-pollinate audiences.
It gives you breathing room. Having guest contributors means you can publish consistently without carrying the entire editorial load alone.
2. Who Needs This Type of Format (and Who Doesn’t)?
This Format is a Great Fit If…
✅ You want to add more variety to your already-established newsletter without shifting your core focus.
✅ You’re interested in expanding your network and building deeper relationships with other writers.
✅ You’d benefit from an occasional break from writing long-form pieces while still publishing regularly.
This Format Might Not Be Necessary If…
🚫 Your newsletter is deeply personal and singular in voice, and guest posts would feel out of place.
🚫 You don’t have the bandwidth to edit, coordinate or promote guest work.
🚫 Your audience expects direct engagement with you, and outside contributions might dilute that connection.
Common Objections & How to Overcome Them
“What if I lose my voice by featuring guests?”
→ You don’t have to give up creative control. Curating, framing and editing guest pieces ensures they align with your newsletter’s style.
“I don’t know where to find contributors.”
→ Start with your own readers, peers or writing communities — you don’t need high-profile guests to make this work at first. (Plus it’s best to iron out your publishing processes on people who won’t mind helping you iron out the production hiccups!)
3. What This Format Looks Like in Action
Real-World Examples of Guest & Sidebar Contributions
📌 A recurring guest series — like my Cave of the Heart, where I featured different writers every week for nine months.
📌 A Q&A or interview-style post — where you shape the conversation by curating great questions.
📌 A reader-driven column — where you invite your audience to contribute insights, questions or short essays.
How It’s Structured
The key to making guest contributions feel seamless and valuable is how you frame them. Here’s a simple structure to follow:
Your introduction. Why does this contributor or topic matter to your readers?
The guest’s contribution. A well-edited, engaging piece that fits your newsletter’s style.
Your commentary or curation. A short reflection, framing or follow-up thought that ties the piece back to your work.
A next step for engagement. Encouraging discussion, replies or connections between your audience and the guest.
Example Outline:
Title: What If We’re All Wrong About [Topic] ?– A Guest Essay from [Contributor’s Name]
Hook: Why this topic or writer matters in your space.
Guest Contribution: Their essay, Q&A or insight.
Editorial Commentary: Your thoughts on why this resonates.
CTA: A question, discussion prompt or next step for engagement.
4. How I Used This Format in My Own Work
Lessons from Running a Nine-Month Guest Series
When I launched Cave of the Heart, I didn’t know what to expect. Would my audience resonate with guest voices? Would I struggle to maintain my own editorial voice?
Here’s what I learned:
📌 Editing & Curation Matter. Guest contributions worked best because I standardized my questions and poured a lot of time into the editing and collaboration process. This helped me have a clear sense of whether or not I was drawing out new and different answers from my guests.
📌 Consistency Builds Momentum. Running a guest series weekly for nine months made it a recognizable, anticipated part of my newsletter. And as an sided benefit it helped me establish my interest in self-trust as a guiding creative principle.
📌 Cross-Promotion Grows Readership. Every featured writer brought new readers into my space, and vice versa.
There are a lot of reasons I don’t run my guest series anymore, but the main one is that, over time, I began to sense the series had run its course. I knew this because I began asking questions like, “What’s next for these questions?” and wondering about other things I could do with my time. I always keep my eyes open for a chance to do collaborations or sidebars (there are a few on the horizon!), though. Because both one-time guest posts and ongoing sidebar features can be powerful tools — as long as they’re used inside a good publishing strategy.
5. How to Know If This Format Is Working for You
Signs It’s a Good Fit:
✔ Readers respond positively to guest voices — they engage, comment or restack guest posts.
✔ Contributors feel excited to be part of your newsletter — they share it with their own audiences.
✔ You feel energized by the process, not weighed down by extra editorial work.
Signs It Might Need Adjustments:
🚨 Guest posts aren’t performing well — try adjusting how you introduce and frame it.
🚨 It feels disconnected from your core themes — consider guiding contributors more closely or giving more feedback in the editing process.
🚨 It’s taking too much effort to coordinate — simplify the process or reduce frequency.
6. Next Steps: Testing Guest & Sidebar Contributions in Your Newsletter
🔹 Try a low-stakes experiment. Invite one guest contributor and see how it feels.
🔹 Curate intentionally. Frame guest posts so they feel aligned with your newsletter’s style.
🔹 Pay attention to reader response. If engagement is high, consider making it a recurring feature.
Final Thought
A guest essay isn’t just a break from writing — it’s an opportunity to expand your network, bring new perspectives into your space and grow your newsletter in unexpected ways.
If you’ve been hesitant to try guest contributions, start small. You never know — the connections you build might become the most valuable part of your newsletter’s evolution.
Have you ever featured a guest post in your newsletter? Drop a link so we can see what kinds of guests you’re hosting these days.
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.
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!