The Name Is Just Catching Up

Exploring inner clarity, naming our publications and what a 20th-century publisher can teach us about publishing on Substack

You might have noticed something a bit different in your inbox.

My newsletter has a new name.

It’s now called The Publishing Spectrum — a subtle change, but for me, it marks something quietly significant.

The Editing Spectrum helped give me a place to start, a container to create within when I wasn’t yet sure what could happen in this great Substack experiment.

But over time, that name began to feel like a placeholder — something that no longer spoke for the shape, scope or spirit of my work. This name change isn’t a rebrand, but more of a return.

Some of you may be circling your own newsletter names — writing in private, waiting for the perfect title to arrive or tinkering with words until they lose all meaning.

I’ve seen it often, and I’ve been there, too.

It’s easy to get stuck at the front door, thinking the name has to carry the full weight of what you’re here to say.

But if you’re just starting out, I want to offer some assurance: the name doesn’t need to be clever or poetic or definitive at first.

It just needs to not get in your way.

The work of publishing — actually hitting “send,” showing up, telling the truth, learning about your audience, building a rhythm — is how each of us discovers what our newsletters are really about.

The name doesn’t imbue meaning. The publishing work, day in and day out, does.

It’s that courageous work — of publishing despite doubt, of searching for just the right photograph, of listening to audience signals — that also plants a certain wisdom, a knowing about the deeper meaning and vision for your Big Life Work after a while, too.

That’s why choosing a name shouldn’t keep you from getting started. Call it Bonnie’s Substack if you need to. Use a placeholder. Just don’t let the search for the right title become a proxy for the fear of being seen.

Eventually, when you outgrow your name, the signs will be there.

For more than a year, The Editing Spectrum had felt increasingly disconnected from the resources I was publishing, the clients I was working with and the kind of guidance I was offering behind the scenes.

I wasn’t doing much editing anymore — not in the granular, line-by-line sense.

Where editing solely focuses on the polishing of the written word, I was doing publishing work. Strategic, data sleuthing work. Reader-alignment work. Big-picture, find-the-narrative-thread-and-build-it-forward kind of work.

In that sense, the name of my newsletter had simply stopped moving down the road with me. And, I have a hunch, it was beginning to cloud, rather than clarify, what our community was unearthing, too.

When Your Newsletter Name Starts Echoing From the Past

A few weeks ago, I was flipping through an old family scrapbook when I landed on a photograph I’ve loved since I was about 11 years old. What I didn’t know then, and only recently uncovered through some sleuthing, is that one of those men was my great-grand-uncle: the second publisher of the Moose Lake Star Gazette in Minnesota. He took over in 1908 and has his hands placed on his hips.

A publisher. Of course he was. His brother — my great-grandfather — was a journalism teacher and taught a printing press class at a local high school for a season, too.

And just like that, something clicked into place. I could feel the weight of paper and ink in my hands. I could see the shape of this lineage stretching backward and forward at once.

It helped me realize that I’ve been walking this path for longer than I thought — from my college newspaper to working in a small publishing house, to building digital publishing systems, to launching my own boutique press.

All of it has been circling around the same core instinct: to help people bring their ideas into the world, with clarity, trust and good systems that don’t get in the way of the real, contemplative work of creativity.

That’s publishing.

So when I say I’ve renamed this newsletter, it isn’t because I needed a fresh start. It’s because I finally knew where I stood — and whose shoulders I stand on.

Why “Spectrum” Still Belongs and You’re Not “Just a Writer”

When I first named this newsletter in 2022, I was still making sense of an autism diagnosis. That word spectrum felt like a quiet way to claim space I wasn’t yet ready to speak into directly. It allowed me to show up without over-explaining. It let me hold complexity and uncertainty while grappling with the complexities of being diagnosed late in life, which felt important at the time.

And even now, as I share more from my role of publisher and guide, spectrum still feels right. Not only because of who I am, but because of what this work really requires from us all.

Publishing online, whether that’s on Substack, or another platform, doesn’t involve just one skill — it’s a range.

Strategy, storytelling, design, data, rhythm, trust.

I’ve seen too many writers stay stuck because they think they’re “just” a writer, or because no one ever walked them through the rest of the process.

So I kept the word spectrum in the new name. Because I want to keep giving everyone tools to thrive inside all that online publishing requires of us.

What Do We Have In Common With 20th-Century Publishers?

When I take in the whole scope of publishing in the modern landscape, I think back to what it was like in 1908, and how my great-grand-uncle had to think about everything: the stories, the ads, the typesetting, the townspeople he saw at church and in the grocery line.

Publishing wasn’t just about putting ink on paper or a catchy headline and then resting on his laurels. It was about understanding the community well enough to serve them in print. There was only one paper in town, and he ran it.

Today, of course, it’s a bit different. We’re not printing broadsheets or locking up type. We’re sending emails. Publishing on platforms. Watching analytics. And instead of serving one town, we’re building trust with a scattered, invisible readership — people we may never meet, but who still sense whether we’re showing up with trust or confusion or care.

In other words: everyone is a publisher now.

And publishing well means being responsible for more than just the writing. It means learning to see and nurture the entire ecosystem of how our work is received. Not just the words on the page, but the way we structure our spaces, signal our purpose and sustain connection with our audience.

A newsletter name may not matter on day one — but once you’ve built something real, something with momentum and meaning — it becomes part of the entire publishing/trust equation.

That’s another reason why I changed mine.

We’re In Good Company

If you’re second-guessing your newsletter name, you’re not the only one. Many creatives change their newsletter names once they’ve spent time inside the work — once they understand the tone, the rhythm, the readers and the purpose more fully. I’ve now done it. So have others I enjoy reading.

Tara Penry

’s newsletter used to be called Quiet Reading — a name that didn’t fully reflect the fire and joy at the center of her work. She renamed it The Hallelujah Book & Hope Letter, and suddenly, everything clicked. The new name carries voice, warmth and an invitation.

Satya Robyn

recently changed hers, too — Love, Satya. So did

Elin Petronella

— Follow Your Gut. Some names needed a better home. Others needed bold declaration.

What they all model for us is a shift toward belonging and clarity — toward names that better reflect who they’re continuing to become.¹

So, How Much Does a Newsletter Name Really Matter?

In the beginning, the name may not matter all that much. If it gets you writing and publishing and letting us hear your voice, it’s done its job.

But over time, your name becomes part of the architecture of trust.

It’s the first cue to your audience about who you are and what you care about. And if it no longer reflects your work, your vision or your voice, you’re allowed to change it. You’re allowed to grow.

For me, this change isn’t about polish or branding. It’s about belonging. It’s about naming what I already know to be true — that I’m a publisher at heart, and have been for a long time. That this work is about more than editing. That the spectrum we all need to hold is varied, wide, human, strategic and needs to be built on trust.

So yes, I’ve renamed this space. But I haven’t changed what you come here for. If anything, I’m just more myself and that feels especially wonderful to share with you today.

Coming Soon: The Publishing Labs and Q&A Livestreams

If you’ve ever wished someone could walk with you through the full experience of publishing online (not just the writing, but the rhythm, resonance, the data, the inner creative angst and audience dynamics) — I’ve been building something for you.

Starting this summer, I’ll be releasing a series of Publishing Labs and Q&As— both live and recorded conversations where we explore the nuance of publishing well. Some Labs will feature voices I admire. Others will be community discussions sparked by the themes we’re exploring here.

They’ll all be part of the same focus: to help you move through your own spectrum of publishing decisions with more trust, creativity and care.

Many of the Labs will be free, spacious and open to all subscribers. Some will only be for Strategic Connection subscribers.

If you’re here, you’ll always get the first invitation.

📆 I invite you to see what’s happening in May.

Welcome to The Publishing Spectrum.

Thank you for reading my newsletter.

It’s such a joy to have people like you in my life. Now, let’s get to publishing …

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New to Amanda and The Publishing Spectrum? Here are 3 ways we can explore publishing together:

→ Publishing Pattern Tap-In – Quiet, high-signal weekly conversations where we connect on your publishing strategy, storytelling and way-finding questions. Get thoughtful feedback, data insights and grounded decision-making as you navigate your next publishing steps. Learn more about the $50 trial.

→ Substack Signal Scan – A 1:1 strategy session to review your publication, spot creative patterns and unlock audience insight through a mix of intuition and analytics. Learn more about how I look at your Substack CSV in this call.

→ Publishing Studio Library – Explore a growing, reimagined archive of serialized guides, tools and frameworks designed to support intentional publishing — from audience trust to writing seasons. See the library.

1. If you’re ever unsure about your name, take 10 minutes and do a search. You’d be amazed how many people call their newsletters The Inkwell. (If you must use something common, make sure it’s distinctively yours.)