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Starting today, writers and creators can publish video posts directly from the Substack app, making it easier than ever to share videos, connect with subscribers, and earn moneyâall from the palm of your hand.
Since launching the Substack app, we've prioritized making it a seamless tool for creators. First we introduced mobile text publishing, allowing writers to share their work from anywhere. Now, we're making it possible for video creators to publish directly in the app, opening up new ways to connect with subscribers.
Previously, creators could share video posts only on desktop, limiting their ability to publish on the go. This update marks the first time they can upload, publish, and monetize video directly from their phones. Each video post reaches subscribers instantly through email, app notifications, or both, ensuring a direct connection with their audience.
Here's how it works:
* Tap the + icon to create a new post
* Select Video and choose a file from your gallery (supports files up to 20GB)
* Add a title and description
* Choose whether to notify subscribers and paywall the post
* Click Publish
The power of video on Substack comes from the subscription model. Not only does every post reach subscribers directly, but creators can easily share their work across the Substack network, expanding their reach and finding new potential subscribers. With millions of weekly active users and 1 million posts discovered daily, the Substack app has become the leading driver of subscriber and revenue growth for publishers building sustainable, independent businesses.
Political analyst Aaron Parnas had early access to the feature and has seen its impact firsthand. âThe ability to publish directly from my phone has transformed how I share breaking news and analysis with my subscribers,â says Parnas. âI can now reach my audience instantly, wherever I am.â Aaron recently won Substackâs TikTok Liberation Prize, awarded for showcasing the power of the Substack model and inspiring video creators make the leap. Heâs leaned heavily into video and has built a thriving community of loyal subscribers that supports his work directly.
This is just the first iteration of in-app video publishing. We're already exploring features that will make video on Substack even more powerful, including trimming and editing tools, free preview options, enhanced analytics, and improved playback controls.
Learn more: How to publish a post from the Substack app
We're committed to making it easier for creators to share their work in whatever format they choose. While there's still work to be done, this update marks an important step toward that goal. Try publishing a video post in the app today, and let us know what you think in the comments.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
Ahead of a big weekend for football, Substackâs Austin Tedesco went live with Peter Moses to discuss Browns Film Breakdown, a multimedia publication that covers the Cleveland Browns in depth. Here are a few highlights from their conversation, including insights on providing value across multiple mediums, determining the right publishing cadence, and finding your niche.
On the decision to start a Substack
Peter Moses: Weâre breaking down films of the Browns so you can understand the why and the how of what theyâre doing, and relate to them better as a fan and understand whatâs happening on the field. [Itâs a way to] feel better connected to the team and the community. Weâre trying to kind of be antithetical to the hot takes on socials or call-in radio, things like that.
So we looked at a bunch of different places and options and then found our way to Substack. We really found everything we needed in one place, so we could launch this thing within a matter of weeks before the season went live.
[There were] plenty of things that we learned this year, things that went well and did not go as well. But doing it on Substack gave us an opportunity to launch something that we think has legs for, hopefully, seasons and years to come.
On finding the right cadence
Peter: In an early conversation that we had, you were like, âDonât overload the amount of content youâre putting out.â Jake [Burns]âs experience, coming from a digital print site, was pumping out four or five articles a day. And so for us, what we learned over the season and how weâre moving forward with our content, is one newsletter every morning. And ânewsletterâ and âarticleâ for us are now becoming synonymous.
We have something coming out every morning that also has a link to the podcast. And then video will come out on the site as we see fit. But I think we really tried to come out of the gate [with a lot of content]. And some of the feedback we got from people who jumped in and out of subscribing was, âThereâs too much content here for me. I donât feel like Iâm able to fully maximize my subscription, because I canât keep up.â So, not that less is more, but just kind of understanding what the cadence should be, where it doesnât feel like you are being overwhelmed, and also making it accessible for people who want to plug in in different ways.
Austin Tedesco: You donât want the notifications or emails to start to feel like homework to people, right? Like, you get meaty, you get in-depthâthatâs so much of the value prop of what you do. Youâre like, âYouâre going to understand whatâs happening in some sort of defensive or offensive set in a way you never would, by listening to Jake or watching Jake or reading Jakeâ or any of your other contributors. But if you miss two, and then the third one comes and youâre like, âOh man, I still donât have time for this,â then people get less excited than if itâs digestible or less voluminous.
On providing value across mediums
Peter: Browns Film Breakdown, the podcast, is our best marketing tool at this point. Itâs been around for almost eight years and it comes out every day, or almost every day, year-round. Weâre exploring pulling sections of some of those podcasts to Substack only. So if someone loves the podcast, doesnât want a newsletter, doesnât want to see the film, but wants to support Jake in the podcast, they feel as connected as someone who wants to watch every offensive snap from their Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals and have Jake break that down over video.
So thatâs the biggest thing weâre trying to learn. How can we make everyone feel like their level of involvement is worth that subscription, even when those involvement levels vary?
On starting a niche publication
Austin: If someone is interested in starting this kind of thing themselvesâand I think especially in the kind of thing weâre talking about, where itâs like, âI think I could be an expert in a niche and build community around itââwhatâs one piece of advice you have for them?
Peter: Thatâs a great question. I think itâs very basic, but I would say, you know, be the content that youâre interested in consuming yourself on a daily basis.
And so for us, first and foremost, we love this team, weâre obsessed with it, and we want to provide community for people who are like us, who want to relate to this team in a way that feels different from whatâs out there.
And I also think, something that Iâll say specifically in sports, is just because someone is doing something that youâre interested in doesnât mean that thereâs not space for you to pursue it as well.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
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Aaron Parnas is an independent journalist and attorney who built a following on TikTok by providing a Gen Z perspective on the news. After winning Substackâs TikTok Liberation Prize, Aaron went live with Substack CEO Chris Best to talk about bringing his community to the app, why Substack is different from the other guys, and how to build a multiplatform content strategy. Here are a few highlights from their conversation.
On the decision to start a Substack
Aaron Parnas: I always wanted to do a text-based newsletter-type thing, and Iâve tried out other platforms like Medium and Mailchimp and all this other stuff, but nothing was intuitive enough for me to do the work that I wanted to do.
Substack was a mix between an email newsletter and a social media platform, so it offered the best of both worlds. And it also now offers all these video capabilities, whether itâs the long-form videos that I put out daily, or I can repost my short-form content in the Notes feature.
It has Notes, which is like Twitter or Bluesky; it has the videos, which are like YouTube or TikTok; and then it has the tech space, which none of the other platforms really have. So itâs kind of the best of all three worlds. And Iâve been loving it.
Chris Best: Yeah, we sometimes say that other platforms are built around some media format, and Substack is built around you. Itâs a place where people can subscribe to you and get everything you make, whether they like long live videos, or short-form video, or quick text-based things, or long text-based things. You can publish any kind of thing that you want.
On concerns over other platforms
Aaron: A lot of people are looking for a platform that isnât owned by a billionaire or a foreign adversary, right? Like [one] that canât necessarily be manipulated. And Substack really is that. I have full editorial controlâyou donât control what I put out. Thereâs no censorship. The algorithm doesnât push my content down if it doesnât like it for whatever reason.
And what I like about [Substack] is that itâs not a partisan platform. You have Republicans, you have Democrats, you have Independents, you have everyone on this platform, all pushing out content, and itâs working.
And thatâs what social media should be, in my opinion.
Chris: Itâs really good to hear you say that, because itâs something weâve worked pretty hard to do. We have a strong commitment to freedom of the press.
This is all we do. We donât have entanglements, political commitments, agendas, beyond making this tool work for people. So Iâm glad that that comes through, because itâs something that we put quite a bit of effort into.
On bringing a community to Substack
Aaron: I feel like weâve been able to build a community here on Substack of people who may not have their own newsletters, but theyâre excited to read mine and others on here. Weâre talking in the threads, weâre communicating every day. Theyâre communicating with one another as well. Itâs not just me communicating with folks, itâs the people who read my stuff communicating with one another too. So itâs been really cool. Itâs been a great experience.
And Iâm excited to see where the platform goes between now and the end of the year, like the growth over the next year, because I think there are some really cool things that could be added and could be changed and can make it even better. So Iâm excited.
Chris: Thatâs great. Well, now youâre a creative advisor to Substack after winning this prize, so you can tell us all the things we need to do to make it great.
On posting jitters
Chris: When you first started your Substack, was there a moment where you wondered or worried whether people would subscribe, whether they would pay, whether it was going to work? I think a lot of people Iâve talked to who have launched Substacks have this fearânot even the fear of failing, necessarily, but this fear of putting yourself out there and having this spot where you have this direct relationship. And then what if nobody shows up? What if it doesnât work?
Did you have that at all? Or did you know that it was going to work?
Aaron: I always thought it was going to work, because I love my followers and I love all the people that support my work. And the community we built on the other platforms, I really thought would shine through even more on Substack. So I thought it was going to work for the content that I do.
But I will say that I think the number one thing for social media generally is just doing it, right? Not being afraid. Just putting your face behind a camera, putting content out, and just seeing what happens. Trial and error. And ultimately, not everythingâs going to work, not everythingâs going to go viral. A few things will! But if you donât try, youâre not going to succeed.
So I get the fear. But I personally didnât have the fear, because I know my audience. And I think if you know your audience, theyâll go with you wherever you are.
On building a multiplatform content strategy
Aaron: Iâm a huge believer in diversifying the platforms youâre on, because, like TikTok, anything can go away at a momentâs notice.
Chris: Right.
Aaron: So I think what I loved about Substack is that the long-form content that Iâve been able to produce, like the five-, six-minute videos that I put out once or twice a day, theyâre automatically posted to my YouTube. So folks who donât necessarily see my Substack every day, they see my YouTube. And I am able to take clips from those and put them on my Instagram or my TikTok, right? So itâs given me a tool to really be able to diversify my platforms even more.
On barriers for creators
Aaron: I hate video editing. I donât know how to do it well. Iâm not good at it. Like, I donât edit any of my videos. So Iâve always been hesitant to start a YouTube channel or even do long-form content. And Substackâs really opened that door for me, even though Iâm not really editing my videos still. Itâs just being able to push out my content in ways that I havenât been able to do before.
Chris: Thatâs very cool. One of my hopes for this feature that weâre using right now actually is that, over time, we can make the tools smarter and smarter so that you can show up, have an interesting conversation, say something, talk to the camera, make the thing in a natural way. And, as much as possible, we help automatically edit, process, and format it.
You know, itâs never going to be quite the same as having, like, a really talented editing team go through and do it. And some people will still do that. But I think the number of peopleâlike if you, as an amazing, famous video creator, are someone who feels like heavy video editing is a barrier to you succeeding on YouTube, to making long-form content, it makes me feel like there must be a lot of people in that position.
Parting words
Aaron: I think the only thing left is, if you guys are watching this and you donât have your own Substack newsletters, start them. Thereâs no better time than now to start them. And DM me if you doâIâd love to check them out.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For more from Chris and Aaron's conversation, including their predictions on what's next for TikTok, click here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
Dan Harris is a bestselling author, the host of the 10% Happier podcast, and a former ABC news anchor. He went live with Substack CEO Chris Best yesterday to share the creative ways heâs been using live video in the Substack app, and offered recommendations for others hoping to take advantage of the feature. Here, weâre sharing a few highlights from their conversation.
Learn more about going live on Substack:
On getting creative with live videos
Chris Best: This feature that weâre using right now, Substack Live, itâs a new thing for us. Itâs something that weâve developed relatively recently. And you have been one of the people who is using it not only very successfully but, in my view, very creatively. And Iâd love to hear from you, how are you thinking about it? And what is the live piece of what youâve been doing on Substack?
Dan Harris: Essentially, itâs 10 minutes of guided meditation, and then I take questions. And so what weâve been doing recently, for example, is a series of live guided meditations starting on Sunday, running through Wednesday, to help people deal with the tumult around Trumpâs inauguration. No matter where you stand, people have strong feelings. And so weâre creating a place where people can come, get a dose of sanity in the form of a meditation from me, and then ask questions.
On the benefits for paid subscribers versus free
Dan Harris: One of the benefits that weâll be providing to our paid subscribers is weâll create a chat very soon where only paid subscribers can submit their questions in advance, and those will get preferential treatment. We do a mix of live events for paid subscribers and for everybody. So [these] inauguration [meditations] will be for everybody.
We [also] did a bunch of stuff around the election. We did a series called Election Sanity that was free for everybody. And I also do a monthly paid-subscriber-only AMA, and Iâm probably going to up the cadence on that to much, much more [frequent] because the response has been so good.
On the value of posting a live video after it ends
Dan Harris: What weâre seeing is that we get a certain amount of people who tune in live, but we get sometimes 10, 20, 30 times that [number] watching it asynchronously later.
On when to promote a live video
Chris Best: So do you tell people, like, âHey, this is coming up today. Tune in at this time.â And just give them a little taste of it? How do you promote on [the different] platforms?
Dan Harris: It really depends on the platform. On Substack, weâre trying to give plenty of notice. So today, we sent out an email to all of our subscribers saying that starting on Sunday, we will be doing Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdayâfour days of programming around the inauguration. So we gave some heads-up and we gave times, so people can put it in their calendars.
On Instagram and on Notes, itâs more like, âHey, this is happening right now. You should come check it out.â
On using collaborative live video to grow
Dan Harris: I have found that working with fellow Substackers has been really helpful. I mentioned Iâm doing a series of lives around the inaugurationâSharon McMahon and Van Jones will be participating in those lives with me. And Iâve done joint posts with Susan Cain. And I just got an email this morning from Elizabeth Gilbert, and weâll do a thing.
And so I actually think if youâre looking to grow, partnering with these other amazing people on the platform is a great opportunity.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked , who writes on Substack, for advice on making her new Substack sustainable, slowly and steadily cultivating a sacred space for exploring writing and ideas, and building her community.
Jamie is an author, designer, digital course creator, and creative consultant living in Los Angeles. Her debut novel, Main Character Energy, was published in September 2023 by the HarperCollins imprint Park Row Books. Her previous nonfiction memoir, Radically Content, is currently being developed into a feature film, and her digital course, Live with Intention, has helped over 1,300 people live more intentional lives. Her work has appeared in the HuffPost, Teen Vogue, and POPSUGAR and been shared by millions online. Read on for Jamieâs advice, or listen to her read it aloud in this episode.
This is the latest post in a recurring series of longform writer advice. To see more advice from Substack writers, take a look at previous posts here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
In early August, Doomberg, the leading publication in the finance category on Substack, announced that they were opting out of X (fka Twitter) and putting all their focus on Substack.
The Doomberg team had built much of their brand and reach on Twitter through a strategy that leaned on getting their goggle-eyed green chicken avatar in front of as many people as possible through timely tweets, threads, and storytelling around their Substack posts. They coupled this active Twitter presence with appearing on as many podcasts as they possibly could to deepen their relationship with finance-minded readers (listen to our interview with Doomberg for The Active Voice for more on that strategy).
Shifting their focus entirely to Substack, with an emphasis on Notes, was a bold move by the green chicken, but they say the decision was ultimately straightforward. They came to feel that X was operating against their interests, while Substack was directly aligned with them. âWe settled on Notes because the team at Substack has been our partner from the beginning,â Doomberg wrote.
I got on a Zoom call with the green chicken to dive deeper into their thinking behind the move and explore what it says about long-term thinking. I hope some of these takeaways are useful for all independent writers. You can listen to the interview above, read the full transcript attached to this post, or enjoy a condensed version of the discussion below.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
Weâve just shipped some new features that make podcasting on Substack even better.
You can now use a special AI tool to create a clean transcript of your podcast episode or narration without having to do anything more than click a button.
The whole transcription process usually takes about a minute.
Once youâve created the transcript, you can go in and edit it to make it just how you like it, and you can publish it in its own tab on the episode post page.
Then, you can select a passage that you can then use to generate a special audiogram that you can share to social media.
An audiogram is like a little static video with text and the audio playing over top. Itâs a really neat asset to share to show off your podcast episode. (See the example below.)
Weâve done this all using cutting-edge AI tools, and it reflects our philosophy of not thinking that this AI stuff is ever going to take the place of work done by writers and creatorsâbut instead we think it can give writers and creators super-powers.
In fact, this thing youâre reading right now is a transcript that we generated from the audio tool. Iâm basically speaking off-the-cuff into a microphone and weâre using this as our announcement post. (Hopefully this technology can handle my New Zealand accent.)
To use these tools, you:
* Go into your dashboard
* Create an episode post
* Then, when youâre in editing mode, you upload your audio, and youâll pretty quickly be presented with an option to generate the transcript.
* You click the âGenerate Transcriptâ button and you wait a second, or maybe a minute, and then in very short order you have a beautiful transcript to work with.
* You can go in and review that transcript in the backend before you publish it, and you can edit it.
* When you publish it, thereâs a default-on toggle that will make sure that the transcript will show up in the post alongside your episode. (You can also turn that off if you need to.)
* Once the transcript is published, you can select a passage and then click âMake audiogramâ to generate the social sharing asset.
All of these tools are in their very early stages and theyâre only going to get better and better. Stick with us for a while, because while they may not be perfect at first glance, they are going to rapidly evolve. We want you to have fun with them though, so we want to get this out to you sooner rather than later.
We already are getting great feedback from writers who are having a great time with this new tool.
For instance, Tony Mecia, who publishes The Charlotte Ledger, said the following about using the podcast tools: âThe transcripts of the podcast are really, really good! Surprisingly good.â
Heâs used other mainstream tools to do podcast transcriptions and found them not as fast and not as accurate.
And Bill Bishop, who publishes Sinocism, a China newsletter, the first ever publisher on Substack, he got early access to these features and heâs tried them with two podcasts, his Sinocism Podcast and his weekly Sharp China Podcast. He said he has tried several outside services for transcripts, both machine and human generated, and the Substack service, this one, was much better already than those other services heâs used.
So, go to your dashboard now, create an episode post. Youâll see the options to generate a transcript and you can start having fun.
Weâre really interested in your feedback. As I said, these are the early days, so please leave a comment or send us an email orâyou knowâsend us a podcast episode and link to it on Substack Notes.
Thanks everyone. Enjoy these new tools.
Add a podcast to your existing Substack or start a new one. Visit the Help Center to learn more about podcasting.
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We asked , who writes on Substack, for advice on finding great ideas. Brian is a social scientist and professor of global politics at University College London. He is the author of four books, including Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, which includes interviews with torture victims, CEOs, cult leaders, and more.
Brianâs Substack explores the mystery and marvel of the world we live in, and how evolutionary biology, history, neuroscience, anthropology, and philosophy relate to challenges we face today and our possible futures. He writes for The Atlantic, created the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, and is a self-professed âhistory nerd,â offering guided tours in his local southern England. Read on for his advice, or listen to Brian read it aloud above.
This is the 13th in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Kristen Hawleyâs advice on facing the behemoths, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbellâs advice on prioritizing your to-do list, Lauren Wolfeâs advice on tackling difficult stories, Holly Whitakerâs advice on writing like it matters, Lucy Websterâs advice on writing from lived experience, Scott Hinesâs advice on cultivating connection in the internet age, Robert Reichâs advice on sharing your personality, Helena Fitzgeraldâs advice on isolation, Alicia Kennedyâs advice on learning to listen, Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
Could you use some advice or inspiration from a fellow writer about creativity, motivation, and the writing life? Submit your question for consideration for a future advice column by leaving it in the comments below.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked for advice on thriving as an independent writer, even when your competitors loom large and attempt to swallow you whole. Kristenâs first newsletterâcovering how technology was changing the restaurant industryâlaunched in 2013, was sold to a media company in 2016, and was killed in 2019. Five months later, she launched on Substack, where she writes about the future of hospitality.
Kristen writes for Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Eater, and Insider, is a regular speaker at industry events, and has been featured as a restaurant expert in the New York Times, NBC News, and CBS News Radio. Read on for her advice, or listen to her read it aloud above.
This is the 12th in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Hilary Fitzgerald Campbellâs advice on prioritizing your to-do list, Lauren Wolfeâs advice on tackling difficult stories, Holly Whitakerâs advice on writing like it matters, Lucy Websterâs advice on writing from lived experience, Scott Hinesâs advice on cultivating connection in the internet age, Robert Reichâs advice on sharing your personality, Helena Fitzgeraldâs advice on isolation, Alicia Kennedyâs advice on learning to listen, Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
Could you use some advice or inspiration from a fellow writer about creativity, motivation, and the writing life? Submit your question for consideration for a future advice column by leaving it in the comments below.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked the cartoonist, comedian, and author Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell for her advice on prioritizing growing to-do lists.
Hilary is the author of Murder Book, and her forthcoming book What Did I Do Today? is a guided journal for daily accomplishments. On her Substack, Cartoons by Hilary, she publishes illustrated advice columns, sketchbook dumps, and a podcast with Derek Boeckelmann to ask friends What did you do this weekend? Hilary is also a contributor to and the New Yorker. Read on for her illustrated response, and listen to hear her read her words aloud.
Dear writer, how do you prioritize all the things you want to do?
This is the eleventh in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Lauren Wolfeâs advice on tackling difficult stories, Holly Whitakerâs advice on writing like it matters, Lucy Websterâs advice on writing from lived experience, Scott Hinesâs advice on cultivating connection in the internet age, Robert Reichâs advice on sharing your personality, Helena Fitzgeraldâs advice on isolation, Alicia Kennedyâs advice on learning to listen, Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
On Friday, January 6 at 7 am PST / 10 am EST weâre hosting a chat with Hilary On Substack. Hilary provided a prompt from her new book, What Did I Do Today?, for the writer community to respond to. Download the prompt via on.substack.com, write your response, snap a photo, and tune into the chat via the Substack app on Friday!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked for her advice on tackling heavy subject matter while keeping her audience engaged. Lauren is an award-winning journalist and photographer of more than 20 years. She spent more than a decade reporting from war zones in which women and girls are violated and, before that, five years documenting violence and the suppression of journalists globally.
She has written for The Atlantic and The Guardian and is a contributing writer for Washington Monthly and an adjunct professor at NYUâs graduate school of journalism. Lauren writes from the front line of conflict in her newsletter, , and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made. Read on for her response.
This is the tenth in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Holly Whitakerâs advice on writing like it matters, Lucy Websterâs advice on writing from lived experience, Scott Hinesâs advice on cultivating connection in the internet age, Robert Reichâs advice on sharing your personality, Helena Fitzgeraldâs advice on isolation, Alicia Kennedyâs advice on learning to listen, Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked Holly Whitaker to share advice on her writing practice. Holly writes Recovering, a newsletter that looks at recovery as a way of living that is accessible to everyone. Holly started blogging in 2013 after going sober, which turned into a sobriety school, a digital recovery startup, and New York Times bestseller Quit Like a Woman. She is also working on her second book and a podcast. Read on for her advice, or listen to her read it aloud.
Dear writer, how does your Substack fit into your wider writing practice and online presence?
Before I knew I was a writer, I was an accountant. My job title was Director of Revenue Cycle Management Operations, and the only essays I wrote were soul-destroying emails I ccâd your boss on. If you would have told me back then that one day Iâd be explaining how something called a âSubstackâ fits into my âwriting practiceâ and âonline presence,â I would have done what I did the other night at a comedy show, which is spit on someone. Because of laughing.
But thatâs where it started. I was wearing lots of Ann Taylor Loft and formatting spreadsheets by day, and by nightâbecause I was newly sober and exploding inside and having to pretend everything was normal over here, and there was nothing to see, folksâI wrote for a WordPress site, anonymously. I start my answer there because thatâs where it counts and what I want you to get from this answer. I didnât start writing to build an online presence or even to have a writing practice, but because I needed to write. I had to write. I didnât know what else to do. I was lost. I was alone. I was stuck in the wrong life. I had a lot to say and I didnât know who to say it to. That was 2013.
âI didnât start writing to build an online presence or even to have a writing practice, but because I needed to write. I had to write.â
In 2021, by then a New York Times best-selling author and someone who had been featured in Vogue multiple times and had sold hundreds of thousands of books and counted among her assets a very loyal and large social media following, I grabbed a Substack handle for the same reasons I secured that WordPress domain way back when: I was lost, I was alone, I was stuck in the wrong life. I had a lot to say and I didnât know who to say it to.
What I mean to tell you, fellow writer, is that I didnât start a Substack as a strategy, as a way to hone my writing chops or build a brand or make a living. I started it out of desperation, as a lifeline. Much like 2013 and the now-defunct littlemisssurrendered.com, Substack was the only thing that made sense, and even that makes it sound like it was more planned than it actually was.
When I say I was lost (in 2021), I mean I was not sure what I stood for anymore. Iâd recently been squeezed out of an organization I founded; Iâd lost many of my friends; I lived alone in the woods on a dead end road, and my cat was who I talked to the most, and my identity was hanging in a closet somewhere. My head was a soupy mess of ideas, and my thought loop was nihilistic, and everything I believed in felt fraught, and I was scared Iâd written myself into a corner or that maybe I had peaked and it was all downhill from there. Back then, the thing that felt so great about Substack was that it wasnât some blog people might attend or even a Mailchimp that might turn into a sales pitch. Substack was a place where readers had to figure out how to sign up, a place where they had to agree to get your emails on a regular basis, a place with barriers to entry, (in some cases) a cover charge, and those things were not available on social media or a blog site. People had to want to read me, effort to read me, and in some way all that made my writing holy again. It created a boundary, a haven, a netting between myself and the scant few that might follow me here from places where I was more well known and my art was consumed in the blur of a scroll. Here, I started to experiment with a different voice that felt closer to my own. Here, I started to test out what it might feel like to write instead of catch eyes. Here, I got honest in a way that I donât think Iâd been anywhere else. Here, I started charging for my words, daring to believe that my writing wasnât some side project but the main event. In 2021, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life, I thought âmaybe writer.â Some 50 Substack essays later, I think âwriter.â
What has been so delicious about writing on Substack is that it isnât something that fits into my wider writing practice, like some piece of a puzzleâit is my writing practice. Writing here also isnât something that fits into my wider online presence, because in being here, I have learned that an online presence isnât something I care to curate the same way I once did, if at all.
Read more: #1 Being All Of It
I think we ask people things like I am being asked because we want to know the formula, the juice, how to replicate or establish or build. We are conditioned to believe that it doesnât matter unless there are clicks, impressions, likes, comments, engagement; that our work doesnât matter unless weâre known. Iâve been successful in the measurable ways because I followed those playbooks, but that has always left me miserable. Here, I have not followed the playbooks, I have done a lot of it wrong, but I have written like it matters, like what I have to say matters. If thereâs any advice I have to give, itâs that. Sure, pay attention to the technical bits, the hacks and the best practices, and drive your engagement and whatever. But write like it matters and like what you have to say matters. Write like itâs 2013 and no one knows who the hell you are or cares what you have to say, and do it anyway.
Sincerely and truly yours,
Holly Glenn Whitaker
Subscribe to Recovering on Substack, and you can also find Holly on Instagram and her personal website.
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Welcome to our new podcast, The Active Voice. It's about how great writers are reckoning with the challenges of the social media moment, how they find the space for themselves to create great literature and journalism despite the noise, and how to make a living amid the economic volatility of the 2020s.
In the first episode, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie talks to George Saunders, one of Americaâs greatest living writers (and author of the wonderful Substack Story Club). You can listen to it and subscribe at read.substack.com.
This podcast is called The Active Voice because we enjoy the double entendre, and because it is about the writer in the arena: the writer who, despite the pressures of the social media moment, has the courage to say what they believe needs to be said; the writer who finds a way to speak truth to power; the writer who seeks understanding over takedowns. This podcast is for those who know that what you read matters and that great writing is valuable.
I canât wait to share all these conversations with you.
The Active Voice is produced and shared using Substack for podcasts. Find out how Substack makes a richer podcasting experience, supporting multimedia and subscriptions, and fostering a direct relationship with your listeners here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked Robert Reich to share his advice on learning to use his writing and drawing skills to illustrate his Substack. Read on for Robertâs advice, or listen to him read it aloud above.
This is the fifth in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Alicia Kennedyâs advise on learning to listen, Embeddedâs Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Lanceâs Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate just how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
Could you use some advice or inspiration from a fellow writer about creativity, motivation, and the writing life? Submit your question for consideration for a future advice column by leaving it in the comments below.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked Helena Fitzgerald to share her advice on navigating isolation as a writer. Helena writes Griefbaconâa newsletter on the weirdness of relationships for âthe last people at the party after everyone else has gone home.â Listen on for her experience of solitude in writing, or listen to her read it aloud above.
Dear writer, how does isolation play into your writing experience? When do you crave it, and at what point do you seek support, collaboration, or edits? How do you come up for air when the loneliness of writing becomes too much?
*This is the fifth in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Alicia Kennedyâs advice on learning to listen, Embeddedâs Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Lanceâs Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate just how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
Could you use some advice or inspiration from a fellow writer about creativity, motivation, and the writing life? Submit your question for consideration for a future advice column by leaving it in the comments on Substack.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
Are you a podcaster, audio creator, or author of a sound-focused publication? Next month, Substack will open applications for our next intensive: the Summer of Sound.
In this month-long immersive workshop, we will invite a select group of writers and audio creators to deepen their focus, build a strategy, test techniques, and grow their publications into sustainable projects.
Applications will open on June 9, 2022, and close on June 21, 2022. To be eligible for this opportunity, applicants need to have an existing publication on Substack with at least 5 posts. If you want to kickstart, revive, or grow a podcast, audio show, or sound project on Substack, now is the time!
To learn more about podcasting and audio tools, check out our resources and our support articles.
We are looking for writers and creators with a substantial audience, growth potential, and a strong desire to grow an independent media business on Substack. Once selected, participants will dedicate a considerable portion of time in late July and August to developing their publication strategies, experimenting with our features, and learning from experts.
Weâll share more information as we prepare to launch the application in June.
Read more: How to move your podcast over to Substack and Podcasting questions answered
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
One year ago this week, writers and the Substack team started gathering in weekly Office Hours discussion threads together for the first time. In 38 threads with tens of thousands of comments, writers shared bold ambitions for publishing on Substack, swapped sharp insights on growing an engaged email list, and celebrated milestones like going paid.
A year in and the discussion threads continue, with writers learning and navigating a new chapter for online publishing. Together through Office Hours, Substack writers have authored advice for the future.
In 1997, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote an essay as a hypothetical commencement speech entitled âAdvice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young.â Going viral, the essay was adapted and shared as a spoken word song by Baz Luhrmann. âEverybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)â was an instant hit.
Today, we bring you Substackâs remix from lessons and advice writers have shared over the past year in Office Hours read by Jackie Dana, one of the generous Office Hours stewards.
Everybodyâs free (to connect with each other)
Writers and readers of the class of '22:Connect with each other.
If we could offer you only one tip for the future, connecting with each other would be it. The long term effects of engaging have been proved by data scientists whereas the rest of our advice has no basis more reliable than our own meandering experience. On behalf of the writers of Substack, we will dispense this advice now:
Don't wait for your writing to be perfect, or the time to be just right. Neither will happen. Your publication will likely be quiet for a while. Keep going anyway. Building something good takes time. The only real short cut is luck, and thatâs no real strategy.
Don't try to do this alone. The actual writing part usually has to be done alone, with distractions turned off and a faintly unhealthy supply of coffee to hand. There's usually no getting around that. But the part where you're coming up with ideas, or trying to think bigger and bolstering your confidence and hopes...don't try to do that just by sitting by yourself. If you need the door closed when you're writing, try flinging it open when you're not.
Learn wildly. Connect madly. Allow yourself to be corrected. Being gracious in the face of criticism is a good way to take the venom out of it. And make lots of good friends who are doing something like what you're doing. As writers, we are all in this together so we need to do our best to help each other grow and succeed.
Slow and steady is entirely normal growth. Some people come to Substack with an enormous platform already. Some people grow very quickly for a variety of reasons (very few of which are actually controllable). The vast majority of us just plug along, trying different things, without ever having insane overnight success. Doesn't mean you can't be successful, it just means "slow and steady" is entirely normal growth, and success is subjective and depends on your own personal newsletter and goals.
Extra slow days shall pass. It's hard but just keep writing good copy during the plateaus. They too will end.
Dive deep into your niche. The average person on the street may not understand the appeal of your Substack, but you'll gain loyal subscribers and face less competition than if you go mainstream.
Don't feed trolls. Don't allow them to ruin your day. Just block them and move on.
Celebrate at milsteones. Exclaim: Bravo!!!!! This is awesome! Way to go! That's huge - congrats!!!
Remember: engagement is not just likes and comments, but also conversations between you and your reader in their inbox. Ask questions. Propose ideas. Agree. Disagree. Agree to disagree.
Be careful with the advice you take to heart and put in practice. You might find yourself saying, âI actually didn't follow that advice, and I'm happy I didn't.â
But trust us on connecting with others.
We also want to take a moment to pause and say thank you to the writers who have made helping other writers at Office Hours this year a central rhythm in their week by attending the majority of sessions, and generously answering other writers questions. We hope you'll join us in giving the following writers a virtual applause.
Jackie Dana, Cole Noble, Sarah Miller, Alison Acheson, Elizabeth Held, Michael Fritzell, Geoffrey Golden, Mike Sowden, E. Jean Carroll, Melanie Newfield, YouTopian Journey, Paul Macko, Joan Demartin, Chevanne, Lloyd Lemons, Karen Hoffman, moviewise, ĐĐ”ŃŃŃ, Emily Miller, Heather Johnston Brebaugh, Linda Tapp, Rishikesh Sreehari, and Asha Sanaker.
Join us for Office Hours today
Each week on Thursdays, we gather the writer community and members of our Community, Product, and Writer Development teams together in a written discussion thread like this one to answer writer questions for an hour.
Whether you are returning to the thread to celebrate one year of Office Hours or joining for the first time, we hope to see you today. Together we will answer your questions on publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack.
Do you have a favorite memory from Office Hours?
A sharp insight that you learned that youâve taken with you? Someone you met in the discussion threads that youâve stayed in touch with? Weâd love to hear about it in celebration of one years of hosting Office Hours.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked writer, author, and podcaster Emma Gannon to share her advice on maintaining your energy to keep writing. Emma has had an extraordinary few years, publishing four more books, continuing her acclaimed podcast Ctrl Alt Delete, and adding ever more value to her ever-growing community. Emma recently moved her newsletter, The Hyphen by Emma Gannon, to Substack, where she also shares discussion threads, book recommendations, and Q&As. Read on for her advice, or listen to her read it aloud.
This is the fifth in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following podcaster Alicia Kennedyâs advice on learning to listen, Embeddedâs Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Lanceâs Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate just how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
Could you use some advice or inspiration from a fellow writer about creativity, motivation, and the writing life? Submit your question for consideration for a future advice column by leaving it in the comments on Substack.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
We asked Alicia Kennedy to share her advice on interviewing. She calls From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy Podcast, her weekly podcast thatâs part of her food newsletter, âa curated conversation series.â She recently wrote about her belief in unscripted, unedited interviews here. Read on for her advice, or listen to her read it aloud above.
Dear writer and podcaster, whatâs the secret to a good interview?
My podcast always begins with the same question: âCan you tell me about where you grew up and what you ate?â This establishes the conversation in some straightforward biography, while also grounding it in the flavors and food philosophies that have shaped the guestâs life. From there, the audience and I will get to go deeper, but the guest sets the terms of the conversation by choosing what and how much to share. Do they become wistful and nostalgic, or do these memories seem painful? Are they tinged by grief and loss, or by joy and whimsy? The question sets the tone and tenor of the rest of the conversation.
To me, a good interview is governed by the same thing as good nonfiction writing: curiosity. Iâve made mistakes before by doing interviews with people whose work I, frankly, was not curious about, and that means Iâm just going through the motions. But what makes an interview good for the audienceâwhether a listener or readerâis that the people having the conversation are actively engaged with each other, and ideally with each otherâs work. As an interviewer, I want the people listening to feel like theyâre overhearing a natural conversation, something that would happen spontaneously after the plates are cleared away from the dinner table and all thatâs left is some wine and cake.
There also needs to be a spirit of generosity on the part of the person being interviewed. When people come on whoâve never bothered to listen to a past episode and donât respond generously to good-faith questions, it can feel like pulling teeth. Iâve learned for myself, whether Iâm the host or the guest, that I shouldnât show up unless I can get locked into having a generous conversation. This means being curious and being engaged, of course, but also believing that every question is a good question, a worthwhile question, and if I think perhaps it hasnât been phrased well, that I can reframe it in my response.
I want the people listening to feel like theyâre overhearing a natural conversation, something that would happen spontaneously after the plates are cleared away from the dinner table and all thatâs left is some wine and cake.
In order to facilitate better conversations, I send my guests the questions a week ahead of time. This provides not too much time to overprepare and thus kill spontaneity, but it does allow them to get a sense of the trajectory of the conversation and tell me whether theyâd prefer to go in another direction. I want guests to be comfortable and know that it will be a safe space for anything they wish to talk about, and I like to establish their boundaries ahead of time.
I try to ask big, open questions, too, so that the guest feels free to take their response in any direction. Specific questions, Iâve found, lend themselves too easily to simple answers. The worst feeling is to receive a âyesâ or ânoâ in response. Though sometimes one can want to flex just how deep theyâve researched in their questions, I find it better to be looser and to let the guest guide the conversation a bit, because their spontaneity will also be more compelling to the listener.
In writing these bigger, more open questions, I dive into all the personâs work and also try to listen to or read past interviews. I want to honor the subjects that drive the guestâs life while also bringing something different to it, something less anticipated. My questions that I ask to everyone are very important for this reason, such as in how I begin, but also in how I finish, which is with the same two questions. Each guest responds to the same questions in new ways.
I want to honor the subjects that drive the guestâs life while also bringing something different to it, something less anticipated.
I used to ask just, âFor you, is cooking a political act?â but I change it up based on whether the guest has told me they like to cook or not. If they donât, I ask about writing or bartending or whatever it is they put all their soul into. Iâve begun to add the question âHow do you define abundance?â because the concept of âabundanceâ keeps working its way into my own writingâhow we define it, yes, as well as how to cultivate it and how to reframe it in a world that tries to tell us abundance looks one way, means one thing.
My podcast is, in this way, an extension of my writing, a way to engage with its themes with folks whoâve done different kinds of work in food and culture, who can bring new perspectives to themes I work with consistently. We all eat and engage with food differently, and I want to honor that diversity through generous, curious conversation.
Sincerely,
Alicia
This is the fourth in a recurring series of longform writer advice, following Embeddedâs Kate Lindsayâs advice on creating trust with your readers, Lanceâs Anna Codrea-Radoâs advice on learning to celebrate just how far youâve come, and Mason Curreyâs advice on creative growth.
Could you use some advice or inspiration from a fellow writer about creativity, motivation, and the writing life? Submit your question for consideration for a future advice column by leaving it in the comments below.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com -
The best thing about being a podcaster is the joy of a really good conversation. It feels like that moment at a cocktail party when you find yourself in a corner by the cheese table, chatting with the most interesting person there. And then it gets even better: you get to share that conversation with your listeners, who come along for the ride and experience it with you.
But then you click publish, and suddenly the experience of podcasting becomes very one way. Sure, you get some download numbers; maybe you get some Twitter noise around an episode; maybe you get an Apple review. But for the most part, it feels like you push this rich conversation out⊠into a strange, empty ether.
Thatâs what makes podcasting on Substack so different. Suddenly, the podcast can keep the conversation going. With most other podcast platforms, the best you can hope for is to keep a listenerâs attention for a fleeting moment. But here, you know who your listeners are. These listeners arenât just download numbers: you speak to them in a direct relationship, through their email. You bring them into your world, where they read around a bit, maybe comment, maybe even put their email address down right away.
In this new relationship, your listeners know you more intimately, too. You talk to them not just through the podcast but through writing; through more video, and audio, and images; through show notes that might be more album notes or essays than blurbs. In this podcasting universe, podcasters are more than podcasters, and listeners become more than listeners: they become a community. They can listen, and read, comment, and discussâwith you and with each other, online, in email, and in the appâand respond right back.
Writers on Substack have done so much more than just create newsletters. They went independent and became media outlets in their own rights. They created new communities. They changed the entire business model of writing, making it unnecessary to pander to algorithms or advertising.
Thatâs whatâs coming now for podcasting. The same way we made it simple to start a paid newsletter, weâre making it just as easy to produce a paid, subscription-based podcast on Substack. You can push every new episode to your readers and subscribers, on the Substack app and other podcast players, as easily as publishing a post in your newsletter. Owning your own audience also means something very different here than anywhere else: we make it easier for you to get and keep new listeners, and youâre never locked in with constraints around keeping those emails or payment systems.
Just like Substack gave writers the freedom to be writers again, the Substack model of podcasting will bring the format to its pinnacle. Before, podcasting was a monologue into the void. Now, itâs a rich conversation listeners are invited into, a deeper connection with your own community. The world of ideas doesnât need to be boiled down to one formatâor one direction.
So take a peek behind the Hollywood curtain with The Ankler; explore science and culture with The Origins; pick apart the news with The Fifth Column; level up your finance game with Fatal Conceits; listen in on the most interesting people in the world with Chris Ryan; unpack diet culture with Burnt Toast; go deep on foreign policy with American Prestige; or understand Internet nonsense with Blocked & Reported. These podcastsâand so many moreâare part of the new wave changing the form, and expanding whatâs possible on Substack.
Visit our support center to learn how to start a new podcast or migrate a podcast from another hosting platform to Substack.
Our answers to common podcasting questions are located here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit on.substack.com - Näytä enemmän
