The Publishing Spectrum Chat
Our Chat space is where The Publishing Spectrum becomes more conversational, collaborative and alive in real time.
Each week, we open live threads around:
readership growth
publication identity
visibility
audience behavior
editorial direction
momentum
creative decision-making
Think of it as a place to bring the in-between questions of publishing on Substack, guided by a longtime editor and publishing advisor (Amanda) and a growing team of creative contributors across a wide-ranging writing spectrum.
Upgrading to The Publishing Spectrum will ensure you can join these twice-weekly threads.
How to join
The Chat threads are available on the Substack app and on the web. Our chat room lives here.
What to expect in weekly threads
Mondays with Amanda
Each Monday, Amanda opens a live publishing or readership thread — often drawing from live Substack data discoveries and editorial patterns happening across the platform.
Topics may include:
why a publication feels stuck
what drives subscriber growth
audience behavior patterns
editorial momentum
visibility and Notes strategy
Creative Contributor Conversations
Once a week, a creative contributor opens a separate thread inside the Chat space, drawing from their own Substack publishing, creative and writing experience.
Each contributor brings a different perspective, background and stage of experience on Substack (meet them below!) — creating an ongoing conversation about how publications actually develop over time.
Why Our Chat Space Matters To Writers on Substack
Much of the time, writers only see polished success stories online.
The Chat threads exist to make the middle of the publishing process more visible:
the questions
the experiments
the shifts
the uncertainty
the momentum
The goal is simple: to help writers stay connected to their creative processes on Substack and stay in motion long enough for their publication identity to emerge.
Meet the Creative Contributors
Shaun Chavis
Shaun Chavis is a content marketer and former journalist specializing in food and health. She’s worked in TV news, magazines and cookbook publishing. Her Substack newsletter, re:dressing, is where she writes about rediscovering style when your body changes. Shaun was plus-sized since childhood, felt excluded from fashion, and hated shopping. After losing 140 pounds, she’s exploring how all of us can use style for self-expression. re:dressing started as a creative outlet in early 2025 and is currently in the build phase.
Hanna Keiner
Hanna Keiner (she/her) is a reader, parent, coach and someone who spends her free time introducing kids to art. Burnout in big tech led to her AuDHD discovery and a career pivot.
On Substack, she writes Purposeful Connection. Its first year was defined by vulnerability-led intimacy — the raw, relatable experience of unmasking and neurodivergent discovery. Now she’s layering in structure — themes, frameworks, tools and community that give readers something to hold onto when they’re ready to move.
Purposeful Connection is a place to sit with the hard stuff, and then find your way through it — one small step at a time, with curiosity, courage, compassion and never alone.
Jamie Wallace
SuddenlyJamie is a GenX woman returning to her creative roots. She’s been journaling since the age of seven, blogging since the early aughts and also wrote a newspaper column for many years. She launched Inner Wilderness Unlimited in 2024 with several years’ worth of notes and a very detailed editorial plan. She has since thrown all that out the window and is instead writing her way to a better understanding of who she is, why she’s here, and what the hell she’s trying to say. Life has thrown some curve balls, but Jamie is bobbing and weaving her way to a slower, wilder, more magical life.
Jen Zug
Jen Zug is a grant writer for programs that help Seattle’s most vulnerable neighbors stabilize and thrive. With a background in authentic, mission-driven storytelling for major brands, start-ups and nonprofit organizations, she specializes in connecting real people to your mission, driving awareness, action and collaboration. Through her newsletter, Pretend You’re Good At It, Jen shares the Quiet Things out loud on topics related to her parenting memoir-in-progress — parenting, marriage, family and the process of teaching herself how to write a book. Jen believes that authentic storytelling finds its audience. Most people are on a mission: they want relief from their pain, clarity for their confusion, a cause to align with. When they go looking for answers, they want a solution that resonates. If someone can see themselves in the arc of your story, they’ll lean in to connect in a deeper way.