Your Friday Email - Stay Creative on Substack
Curating your offer, schedule and connection here...
“Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth.”
Rumi, The Essential Rumi
Hello all,
How are you? How’s your week on Substack been? A SPECIAL hello if you’re new here - I’ve had 70 of you join my Substack adventure since last Friday - Hi I’m Claire 👋🏼and I’m SO grateful for each and every one of you. If you want to read more about me you can head to my ‘about me’ page.
A quick reminder this email series ALL ABOUT SUBSTACK sits in its own “section” called ‘Slow lived growth on Substack’ here so you are welcome to opt out of updates in your settings if it’s not for you.
Instructions on how to do that are at the bottom of last week’s email here.
This week on Substack
Notes on Notes…
Co-founder
co-hosted a session about Substack NOTES.I’ve been enjoying notes have you? Substack followed up to ask us what they BEST piece of advice we’ve had since joining is… find the thread here…
Here are my personal takeaways and observations from using Notes since it started;
It’s not social media - different rules apply - writers WANT to start and have conversations. If a note doesn’t gain traction, try again a different day!
Photo threads gather interest and momentum sometimes over 5 days or more.
Conversations attract people who aren’t subscribed to you to chat.
You get to know a writer more quickly if they are active on Notes.
You can get to know your own subscribers on Notes and therefore understand more deeply how to connect with them.
You don’t have to self promote if you don’t want to (by writing a Note and sharing what you want to share, you’ll still be self promoting)…
Substack of the Day
I love to share other Substackers here and this week I am sharing
who brings so much sourdough flavoured joy to my inbox;
I’ve also made some new writer friends thanks to
’s community - yay!Learning more from me
I have a online masterclass on MONDAY which focusses in on HOW TO grow within the Substack network. If you want to reach a bigger, more diverse and glorious audience with your words this one’s for you!
AND because I so appreciate you being here and reading my words here’s a 20% OFF discount code. I am not teaching this anywhere else online so do jump in especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed with how and where to share your Substack or mailing list.. 🧐 It’s just £60 with the code and you can catch up anytime you like. I’ve been on Substack (nearly) every single day for over 15 months and I’ve learnt a lot about how things work here.
Mailing List Magic Masterclass takes place Mon 19 June at 12noon BST (Replay available) and I’m taking questions in advance and during the masterclass and workshop. I’d love to see you there!! 👩🏽💻
Substack Sections/ Second Publications
There is mixed advice out there on sections. I’ve written about it before but it popped up again this week and I thought I’d revisit it with you… I’m so keen to hear if/ how you’re using sections.
Personally, I think ‘sections’ and ‘tags’ are a multi-passionate’s dream!
I have four sections here;
Big Dreams begin with Me
Slow Lived Growth on Substack
Creatively Conscious
When you guide your readers into a section you get to introduce that section at the top with a few words if they click into the URL.
This is the first difference between using tags to organise posts and using sections. The second is that people can sub and unsub to sections within ONE publication.
I’m not sure what the limit is on sections within a publication but I’ve seen publications with at least 7 different sections.
NB - a reader told me this week that you can’t link a stripe account to two publications therefore you couldn’t have two sets of paid readers unless you have two stripe accounts which I don’t know if that’s possible and I haven’t checked this out…
I didn’t start all these sections at once. I started writing first and figured out what I wanted to write about for 10 months or so first.
I’ve added sections that fit with my goals for this year and some for my long term goals. I’m not wedded to them - some might retire in time and that’s ok.
How do you feel about sections?
More importantly how does you audience feel about sections? Pop back in a few days and check out this poll again or host your own if you’re curious?
You’ll find ‘poll’ at the bottom of the list of ‘more’ options on your post dashboard…
Sign up for your OWN emails
That’s it - that’s the thing! Receiving your own emails will not only help you with this 🙉 🙈 but remind you of this 🦄 👸 and show you what your audience are receiving - yes we can preview them and that’s great BUT receiving is just a different energy - it makes you proud…try it…?
A NEW shiny space but it’s a lot of “work…”
I love a new blank page and setting up a NEW publication
was such a thrill.The reason Company of Two is a WHOLE publication of its own is its for a specific audience and we’re building a specific community aimed at mothers with little one’s under 10.
Lot’s of you tell me you find the decision making hard and I think sometimes with decision making the ONLY way forward is through. Laura and I started by agreeing to record four podcast episodes, then it became a Substack, then it became weekly posts… who know’s where it’s headed next because here’s the thing
- once it’s out in the world it belongs to our community and they DRIVE our decision making. As a co-creator it’s the only way I can work.
Feeling stuck and or overwhelmed about your direction here?
My top tips
Quiet the noise - you know what I mean - delete other apps, don’t go on Notes, hit the unsubscribe button.
Grab a big piece of paper, some coloured pens and observing your own process and flow. Ask yourself why you want to publish and how often and why that often - drop comparison and write for you and the beautiful audience you serve.
Ask for feedback before you publish - I read everything my husband writes before it goes live. Sometimes we are lost in our own heads, our own words and we forget about the witnessing part of writing…
How’s your week on Substack been, what feels easy, tricky, impossible? Come tell me in the comments.
More next Friday,
Claire x
PS - I’m going to say SORRY for the typos/ grammar because I’ve literally got steam coming off my keyboard spinning all my work around my husband’s birthday this week and a poorly toddler today. Thanks for bearing with me and not judging me if I missed a comma or a word out… 💨 💜
💌 Join my membership here on Substack
i know i SHOULD use notes but I still can't quite figure out how to use them xD
Ooh this is very interesting and timely regarding sections. I considering introducing sections as way to give myself more space to write about things. Great to be able to see how other people use them and if they’re useful!