Author: Dan Blank

I am so excited to share this case study with you today! It dives into a tool that I use with writers all the time to help them:

• Get clarity on what to share with readers.
• Plan what to write.
• Be consistent in how to share.
• Find calm in how sharing (a simple process, instead of overwhelming expectations.)

An editorial calendar is in many ways a very simple tool. It is often just a basic spreadsheet, text document, calendar on your wall, or a planner on your desk. The key components tend to include days of the year, and what you may want to share and publish throughout the year. You may use an editorial calendar to manage your email newsletter, but it can apply to everything you share, including social media, in-person events you are a part of, and so much else.

Today’s case study will dive into the mechanics of it, but that isn’t the only reason I am sharing it. You share because you have a specific creative vision, and because sharing your ideas and stories with readers matters deeply. Today’s case study focuses on the passion and meaning that embodies what you write and why you share.

Okay, this is where I introduce an unexpected twist: today’s case study focuses on the editorial calendar of a LEGO collector who has a YouTube channel called DuckBricks, with more than 139,000 subscribers. Meet Christopher Lee! You can see a small part of the 8,000 LEGO sets in his personal collection behind him:

Earlier this month, Chris shared a video where he reviewed the editorial calendar for all of his upcoming videos. I was blown away by how specific it was, and how much passion was infused in it. I felt it was an amazing case study to help writers consider the value of an editorial calendar for how you share.

I recently talked about how to manage your complete editorial system on Substack in this workshop, and you can purchase replays of all of my workshops here. This is infused in the work I do everyday with writers, helping them develop their platforms, connect with readers, and launch their books. The editorial calendar is a key piece in the methodology I use with writers, which I call the Creative Success Pyramid. It’s there on the bottom row as “Editorial Management”:

Okay, let’s dig in to this amazing editorial calendar case study! I break this up by specific tips to help you get started.

Write Things Down

When I work with writers, I have an editorial calendar template I use, along with several other templates that work up to this stage. For Chris, he keeps his editorial calendar as simple as can be, which is soooooo smart. He includes just enough information to plan effectively, but not so much that it overwhelms. This is it:

It includes these columns:

1. Date
2. Description
3. Recorded? (yes or no)
4. Thumbnail Made (yes or no)
5. Uploaded? (yes or no)
6. Additional Content (any additional things to mention in the video, such as an anniversary, etc.)

He started using this spreadsheet in January 2021. Simple systems last! Note the color-coding he uses as well, making it even easier to see where to focus his efforts.

For later in the year, he has videos scheduled that are complete or partially done, and he just leaves gaps in the calendar for days in between:

Do you need to use a spreadsheet? No! The point here is to begin writing down your ideas. Consider what it will take to complete ideas, and the possible order you want to publish them. It’s worth noting that Chris does seem to have others who assist him with some of the elements here, though I’m not exactly sure what that looks like.

Plan Ahead

On January 16th, Chris said that basically every video from then through the end of March is done and already scheduled in YouTube. What goes into that? So much!

• Filming
• Editing
• Thumbnail creation
• Title
• Description (and metadata)
• Upload/schedule

For each of these items, there may be multiple steps. For instance, perhaps he has to film in multiple locations. Or if he is creating a video about a trip, he may have recorded video from that trip, but then may need to record additional footage in his studio as an intro.

What is amazing is that he has many videos complete and planned well beyond March. Do you have to be this diligent? Of course not. But it encourages the question of, “What could next month look like for your newsletter?” This, as opposed to just waiting until the day before each issue, and having to write it all from scratch in a panic.

Frequency Matters

For a long time, Chris was uploading a new video every other day. Then in Nov 2022 he moved to a video every day. Is he doing this because he has determined that that YouTube algorithms demand it? No! This is how he described why daily works for him:

“What DuckBricks has been doing for the past few years and what I plan to do for the foreseeable future is upload one new LEGO related video every single day. This honestly isn’t to hit some sort of an arbitrary upload criteria. It is literally the only possible posting rate that I can maintain to get out all of the ideas that I have for videos as quickly as possible. I have so many ideas for DuckBrick’s videos every single day.”

Do you need to publish daily? Nope. But frequency is an important way to be present in the lives of your readers.

So many writers tell me “Oh, people don’t want to hear from me that often,” or ‘I don’t want to bug people by publishing that often.” So instead, they show up once a quarter, or at most, once a month. The result? They don’t show up in the lives of their readers. They don’t develop the ability to talk about their creative vision in an authentic way. They don’t find the growth and engagement that they desire.

Remove the Pressure to Share ‘In the Moment’

I talk to writers about this all the time who say they don’t want to constantly be distracted by sharing. I want to encourage you to detach yourself from the pressure you feel of sharing in the moment. the expectation of time. In other words: if you go to a beautiful bookstore and feel that you want to share with your followers on Instagram about it, you do not need to share it in that moment, on that day, or even during that week. You can take the photo to capture it, but then share about it another time. This could even be weeks or months later.

As Chris moved through his scheduled posts in the editorial calendar, he showed many upcoming videos that he has been working on for months. “This is from my trip back in October.” “This is one we filmed back in June.” That was months and months ago! He even showed an upcoming video that was filmed back in 2020, 4 years ago.

I encourage you to remove yourself from that pressure of sharing constantly, in the moment something happens. Instead, focus on clarity of your message and creative vision, and give each item you share the room it needs to develop. There is no reason you couldn’t visit a wonderful bookstore 6 months ago, and then this week share:

“Recently, I visited this amazing bookstore in…”
Or
“Not long ago, I had the chance to visit…”
Or
“Thinking about this amazing bookstore I visited recently…”
Or
“Has anyone else been here! Look at this amazing bookstore I discovered!”

Can you mention your visit was months ago? Sure. Do you have to? Nope. Either way: it doesn’t matter! What matters is your creative vision, your passion, your connection with readers.

Here is a screenshot of videos that Chris filmed and edited back in 2021 and 2022, which are already scheduled to go live on YouTube in September and October of this year — months from now!

Chris took a trip to LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and has videos about it coming out for months and months. Perhaps you go on a writer’s retreat in March. You do not need to immediately post about the experience in your very next newsletter, or immediately on social media. You could slowly develop several posts about it that you share weeks — or months — later. To me, that releases so much pressure to have to do too much all at once.

Pre-Plan Series

Chris showed some series that he is planning, including one that will feature a monthly video for the next two years! In some ways, he is methodical in this. But in others, he is simply balancing all of his ideas, the time each needs, and even viewer interest.

For one series, he is reviewing every set from an older LEGO theme, which he is calling, “Exo-Force: The Ultimate Review Series.” This begins around March 22, 2024, and he will put out a new video every week on this theme through August 1, 2025. I mean, that is planning! Here it is in his calendar:

What I love about this is that he can have a big vision for what he can create and give himself the time he needs to complete it, without feeling so much pressure to do it all right now.

Creative Energy is Your Most Precious Resource

I often say that your most precious resource is not time or money, but your creative energy. What comes ooooozing out of Chris’s video here is his passion and focus. He spends quite a long time in the video reviewing upcoming videos that are already scheduled:

He is just so excited about each video, and that passion comes through. Does Chris clearly spend a lot of time and money on this? Of course. However, his creative energy allows him to do what others in his position aren’t doing.

Chris’ LEGO channel is not his full-time job. He works at Microsoft, and has also mentioned something about multiple startup projects he is developing with friends, or on his own. He recently mentioned that nearly every weekend through the end of summer will be spent at one LEGO-related event or another.

I work with writers because I am endlessly inspired by their belief in the stories they tell, and the ideas they share. Perhaps you worry that you could not sustain a weekly email newsletter? One thing I would as is this: is there one small thing you can share each week that talks about the themes you love writing about? Or one moment of inspiration, perhaps from a book you read, some research you did, or a reflection you had? If so, why not share that with your ideal readers? Why not open up the potential that it may inspire them as well?

Using a Schedule Doesn’t Have to Sap Your Passion

Chris’s videos range in length. Here are some upcoming videos (one is 36 minutes, and another is 1 hour and 22 minutes that focuses on how he brought home a ton of LEGO sets he bought in Denmark, back to the US):

What is fascinating about what Chris does is how his systems seem to be focused on passion, not obligation. I’ve heard many top creators on YouTube talk about how a regular upload schedule can stress them out. Some big channels have even experienced big issues because of the pressure to keep posting, or they have quit entirely. Can a rigid schedule be a negative, sapping your creative energy, and forcing you to take on too much of a workload? Of course. The key point here is: you get to choose. And as you develop this, I encourage you to find tools such as an editorial calendar to help support the process.

If you want to take a deep dive into how to use an editorial calendar to manage your email newsletter, consider checking out this workshop of mine.

Before I end, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the behind-the-scenes videos I have been sharing with my paid subscribers.

• How to never run out of ideas for what to write and share
• Navigating Creative Burnout
• Studio Tour! Behind-the-Scenes of My Creative Space

I’d love to know, what has worked for you in managing how you share online, whether that is a newsletter, social media, or something else? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

Today I want to share a case study on how to engage your readers by focusing on story and emotions. As a writer, you share in your newsletter or social media because you hope it connects with people in a meaningful way. What do we all feel before clicking “publish?” Crickets — no one engaging, no one seeming to care.

If you want people to feel connected with what you are sharing, focus on the emotions you hope they feel.

Let’s take a simple example: imagine you recently got a new computer. It is your primary interface for writing, the place where you sit for hours, crafting your ideas and stories. You are super excited because this new computer was expensive and you hemmed and hawed over it for months, struggling with an aging machine as you delayed making the big purchase. You felt fancy receiving the new box and replacing your old dusty machine with something shiny and new.

So perhaps in that moment of excitement, you want to go on social media and post:

“Yay! I got a new computer!” And you show a photo of the computer or the box.

While this may get a couple of easy ‘Likes,’ I often worry that — to put it bluntly — no one cares. Why? Because computers are common. They are all around us, and we rarely notice them unless they are somehow unusual.

But for the person buying one, the experience feels deeper: the rush of the big expense, the sense of pride in how this new object somehow reflects on your identity or style, and it’s a moment of simply celebrating having something new in your life.

But for the reader, although they can be generally happy for you, their emotions don’t go anywhere deeper. Your announcement doesn’t engage readers at a level I think you could reach. I mean, how excited do you feel at reading these statements of expensive purchases, that are also common daily objects:

“I got a new MacBook!”
“I got a new iPhone 15!”
“I got a new Hyundai Santa Fe!
“I got a new Honda Civic!”

As a reader, what is my connection to this? At most it is, “I see you are happy, so I will say congratulations or click ‘Like.’ But the reality is that this purchase will seem mundane even to the person posting it within just a few weeks. I pass by 20 people driving Hyundai Santa Fe’s each day, and not once do I yell out the window: “Congrats on the car!” When I see someone in the grocery store typing into their iPhone 15, I don’t stop and say, “Hey — nice phone. Congrats on that!”

So how do you take a simple prompt like, “I got a new computer!” and use different emotions to encourage people to have deeper interactions? This is a skill you can use for anything you share online, whether that is in a newsletter, on social media, etc.

Consider how to share in a manner that:

1. Connects with something deep for readers.
2. Gives readers a clear reason to interact and engage.
3. Focuses on a specific emotion you hope they feel.

When I am working with an author on a book launch, they are often faced with the prospect of sharing about their book dozens (or even hundreds) of times in a three-month window of time. How do they keep it interesting and engaging? Focus each post on a different emotion. Consider how the same message can change when you frame it around hope, fear, frustration, and concepts like being sentimental or a feeling of pride.

Okay, let’s explore different ways to do this. I will stick with the simple prompt of, “I got a new computer,” and here are different ways to share about it that could be more meaningful by being aligned to different emotions and stories:

“I’m crying right now. I just bought a new computer, and I’m remembering the me from 20 years ago who was stuck using a hand-me-down laptop with a broken “M” key. I wrote the first draft of my novel on that laptop, the one that I never finished. As I unpack this shiny new computer, the one with the working “M” key, I wonder: what words will this capture for me? What stories will unfold?”

Or how about this:

“Do I deserve this? That is what I’m wondering as I unbox my brand new computer. I’ve been a writer for 3 years now, and while there have been good moments, sometimes I look in the mirror and think, ‘Is this just a pipe dream?’ This computer represents a lot — an investment in my own potential, for one. But also, a possible gateway to the stories I can create. Do I deserve this? I honestly don’t know. But I’m going to give it my best shot.”

Or this:

“I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but: you are worth it. I just spent $2,000 on my new computer. This is the tool I use to write, to dream, to connect. A 20-year-old me would think I hit the lottery! Now, I had to save for this for months. I had to justify this over so many other essentials I need at home. Am I worth it? Heck yes! Are you? Absolutely. Invest in your dreams, because I’m here cheering you on!”

Or how about:

“Eeeee! It’s here! My new computer! I’m going to call her the “Fantabulous Writing Machine-ee Thingee.” First thing I do after unboxing? Stick this Margaret Atwood sticker to it (I bought it here on Etsy!) Okay, I’m buying a silicone cover for the keyboard, let me know: WHAT COLOR TO CHOOSE? I want them alllllllll!”

Each emotion can become a different kind of way of sharing and engaging. Each of these could easily be expanded into a longer story.

Recently I’ve been watching the films of director Akira Kurosawa. He is commonly cited as one of the greatest directors of all time, releasing films from the 1940s to the 1990s. I’ve watched 10 of them in the past two months, presented here in order with my favorites closer to the top:

1. Ikiru
2. Sanjuro
3. Red Beard
4. Seven Samurai
5. High and Low
6. Yojimbo
7. Rashomon
8. The Hidden Fortress
9. The Bad Sleep Well
10. Throne of Blood

I’m currently watching Stray Dog, from 1949. I have so many more to watch and love feeling immersed in the evolving vision of Kurosawa.

There was a moment while watching his most celebrated film, Seven Samurai, where I was surprised and a bit confused. The storyline is straightforward: a group of 7 samurai need to defend a small village from attackers.

The film is 3 hours and 23 minutes. For more than 2 hours, the story is told of the village, assembling the seven Samurai, and then preparing the villagers for the attack. When we get to the final battle scene, I looked at the running time and noted there was still an HOUR left in the film. I was in shock. This is a tiny village, how are they going to stretch out the final battle for an entire hour?

While this seemed straightforward to me, in the hands of a great film director, it is of course so much more. He used every emotion and storytelling technique in the final battle, including:

• Every flank was its own story: north, south, east, west.
• Every character (each samurai, and some of the villagers) received their own emotional storytelling moment, completing a series of narrative arcs.
• There were many different styles of attack — a big rush of many attackers charging in, a few sneaking in, etc.
• Every context was explored: in the rain, in the sun, at night, in water, through trees, along a path, across a field, on horseback, etc.
• Every style of defense was shown: clever, bold, disciplined, unhinged, methodical, solo, small group, the entire community working together, etc.

This was a powerful reminder of the many ways to tell a story. And how something that may seem simple can have a multifaceted collection of emotions that pull us in via different means.

When you consider what you share and how you engage your readers, I encourage you to focus on the emotional cues that will help readers feel personally connected. I have always felt that how we share is a craft, not dissimilar to how we write. Attending to this craft is something we can do slowly, one small update at a time.

And yes, I did get a new computer recently and this post is the result of me considering if/how I could share that.

🙂

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

There is a scene in the movie The Social Network, where Mark Zuckerberg is being sued and is attending a deposition. The opposing attorney notices that Mark seems distracted, and this is the interaction:

Attorney: “Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?”
Mark (with a tone of exasperation): “No.”
The attorney: “Do you think I deserve your full attention?”
Mark: “You have part of my attention. You have the minimum amount.”

If you are a writer or creator sharing online, I am going to bet that you have felt this way before. That here you are sharing something important and…. if people notice it at all, they seem to give it the minimum amount of attention. It may look something like this on social media:

• You have followers, but no one engages. No likes, comments, reshares.
• Someone does see your post while scrolling, and clicks ‘like’ after a millisecond, then keeps scrolling.
• You have followers, but when you look at the metrics, you feel that the algorithm of the social network isn’t actually showing your posts to these followers.

This can also play itself out in other ways. For me, I spent 15 years sharing 31,000 posts on Twitter, amassing lots of followers and engagement. But then someone new bought it, the network changed, and my core audience left.

Another way this can happen is what happened to a writer I work with: after years of developing a following on Facebook, one day her account disappeared. Somehow it got flagged for doing something that went against their terms of service (which she never did), and they deleted it with no possible recourse to bring it back. Thousands of followers and interactions gone in an instant.

I often write about what I call Human-Centered Marketing, and how you as a writer can feel good about sharing what you create and engaging with your audience in meaningful ways. But too often, we get sidetracked by metrics that don’t matter, such as the number of followers, or likes, or views.

Why could these numbers not matter? I mean, isn’t 10,000 followers better than 100 followers? Better because it means more people may see what you share, like what you share, and fuel word-of-mouth marketing for your work? Sure, that is definitely possible. What is also possible though is that a writer spends energy in these places, only to realize:“My books aren’t selling, people aren’t showing up to my events, I’m not getting reviews, and no one seems to care.”

Reminder: Join me for my new workshop: Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack!Understand who your ideal readers are, where to find them, and how to convert them into subscribers on your Substack. The live event is Friday January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET. A full recording is provided to all who register. Register Here!

I have spoken to so many writers over the years who tell me that even though they have thousands of subscribers — or in some cases tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers — they have no idea who their audience really is. Or in some cases, they feel like they have the “wrong audience,” one that expects something from them that they no longer want to create. And they are paralyzed in this place where they are afraid to change for fear of disappointing this audience they don’t really know.

Suddenly, 10,000 followers doesn’t indicate the validation and connection we hope it does, but rather, a faceless mass of confusing expectations.

When someone subscribes to your email newsletter, they aren’t just a number on a list. They are someone who is showing up to embrace what you share each week. I want you to feel empowered to understand the process of encouraging people to truly engage with what you write and why.

What is the opposite of getting minimum attention? Something like this:

1. When you have a group — even a small group — of people who truly love what you create. An easy way to think of this is the top 10% of your supporters. So, if you have 100 subscribers or followers, maybe 10 who really show up for all that you do. Having 10 people who support you that manner can truly change your life in profoundly good ways.
2. Having consistent access to your biggest supporters. This is part of why I have always appreciated email newsletters, because I have permission to email them, as well as a consistent way to do so via their email address. This is something I didn’t have when my audience left Twitter. I could encourage them to follow me elsewhere, but no persistent way to connect with each of them unless they took an action to sign up for my list or engage with me elsewhere.
3. When these people take actions to support you in the ways that mean the most to you. Perhaps that is buying your book, or posting a review for it when it releases, recommending your book to a local book club, subscribing to your paid newsletter, taking a course from you, recommending you as a guest on a podcast, or something else that you truly value.

In sales, there is this term: “conversion.” Often, it is meant to represent when someone goes from potentially buying what you offer, to actually purchasing it. They “converted” from a prospect to a customer, in sales lingo.

Conversion isn’t just a number. It can also be a meaningful experience between people. Let me show you an example of full attention and deep engagement. This is Teri Case and Cathey Nickell:

Teri published a new novel this week, Finding Imogene, and Cathey is a children’s book author. They met around 2016 in a mastermind group I ran for writers. They stayed in touch, becoming friends. The photo above is their first in-person meeting last year! Teri said that the Acknowledgments section of her novel is “packed with six-degrees-of-Dan-Blank creatives,” meaning a range of people she met somehow through me. To be clear: Teri is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met and did so much to connect with others and stay connected. These are people who support her work, are colleagues, and even friends. They are the people who make up her life as a writer. And of course, Teri and I have spoken and collaborated many times over the years.

As you consider how you share, focus on the people, not the numbers.

If we consider a traditional marketing funnel, the first step is awareness. This is where someone first learns about your writing. What we hope is that they then move down the funnel, becoming interested in your work, considering if they want to spend more time with it, converting to a reader, reading it consistently, and then advocating for it with others.

But so many writers remain stuck at the top of the marketing funnel.

They are focused on making people vaguely aware of their work and stall out there. They are unable to move them through the deeper stages of the funnel, encouraging interest, consideration, conversation, loyalty, and advocacy.

Being stuck at the top of the marketing funnel is when a writer has a lot of followers, but no book sales. When they look out into an empty audience of chairs who clicked “like” on the social media post about an event, but who didn’t bother to show up.

In the past year, I have seen a lot of writers and influencers leave social media. Many of them are focusing more on places that encourage the full attention of their biggest fans. A smaller, but more engaged audience.

This could be quitting Instagram, and focusing only on one’s paid Substack newsletter, as Emma Gannon is. Or how Jenny Nicholson stopped posting videos to her YouTube channel with 1 million followers in order to focus all of her attention on the 23,914 paying members of her Patreon.

They are focusing on doing less, and in doing so, spending their resources more effectively. They are giving their full attention to their biggest supporters and getting maximum attention back. What is created in the process? Hopefully more meaning, more moments, and more connections.

Recently Farrah Storr reflected on why she is focusing on Substack and not Instagram, saying:

“Like everyone else, I was naive when I joined Instagram. I signed up for no other reason than everyone I knew had signed up…. A thousand people followed me; then three thousand; then ten thousand, then twenty thousand. The pressure to perform to a crowd I knew nothing about, nor really cared about was both intense and nonsensical… Over the last decade I have shared more with my followers than I have with my own family. I have spent hours replying to DMs from nameless strangers who I never hear from again.”

For a lot of people in creative fields, they may have a fear of converting. They are nervous to be seen as trying too hard to get people to buy from them. In my book, Be the Gateway, I wrote about how normal social fear can often prevent us from taking actions to share what we create.

This is something I feel Substack has truly changed the game with: normalizing that it is okay for writers to suggest, “If you want to pay me for my writing, that would actually be nice.”

For the past 13 years, my full-time work has been helping writers share their work, launch their books, create marketing plans, and find their readers. I love that I get to work with writers on this every day. This week I shared a 15 minute video for my paid subscribers, giving an in-depth tour of my studio, along with some tips of what I feel are essential elements for any creative space:

It felt nice to share this with the people who are my biggest supporters, those who I want to bring into this trusted place.

As you consider sharing what you write with the world, I want to encourage you to not settle for minimum attention. Consider how you can deeply engage with your biggest supporters in ways that honor your limited resources, and maximizes the moments that matter in your life as a write.

And speaking of which, I’ve been hard at work finishing my next workshop: Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack! The live event is Friday January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET, and a full recording is provided to all who register. More info and registration can be found here!

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

This is my 14th year of working full-time with writers, but well more than 20 years of working with writers day-to-day in various roles. Each morning, I sit in this studio and help writers launch their books, find growth in their platforms, create compelling marketing plans, learn the ins-and-outs of Substack, and find a sense of fulfillment in the process. Of course, this is all about readers — those wonderful people who are moved by what you write, and realize the potential inherent within it.

While there is so much value in the creative act itself — creating just to create — I often think that something magical happens when your writing connects with a reader. The equation works something like this:

Half of the magic is what you create — the craft, worldview, and vision that goes into your writing.

The other half of the magic is what the reader brings to it — how their unique perspective mixes with what you wrote. Their inner voice changes and morphs what you wrote in a way unique to that person.

These two halves equal more than 100%, and what is created is exponential. This is where your writing can save someone’s life, be a respite during an overwhelming time, inform and inspire, and impact how someone looks at themselves, the world, and the actions they take. This happens through all kinds of creative work, including fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, and so much else.

Yet, the reality for so many writers — including those here on Substack — can be a sense of frustration that they aren’t finding growth or connection with readers. I talk with writers about this all the time. They share a sense that they are writing and publishing, but it feels like they are spinning their wheels, stuck in the mud, and not connecting with anyone.

Substack is a powerful way that writers can share their writing. Today I am so excited to announce my next workshop: Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack! It will take place on Friday, January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET. A full recording will be sent to all who register, so if you can’t make it live, please consider registering anyway. You can find full information and register here. In this workshop, I will be covering how to:

1. Clearly define your ideal readers.
2. Understand what engages these readers.
3. Develop strategies and tactics to convert these readers to subscribers.
4. Ensure these readers feel a part of something, and stay subscribed.

This workshop is the third part of a series I have been running about Substack:

Workshop #1: Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter on Substack
Explore the step-by-step process to launch or grow your email newsletter.
Now available for instant access viewing here.

Workshop #2: Find Your Voice and Get Into Your Groove on Substack (and Beyond)
Know exactly what to share on Substack (and beyond), how to never run out of ideas that your readers will love, and how to create a simple system to do it all consistently, and in less time. Now available for instant access viewing here.

Workshop #3: Reach Your Ideal Readers and Grow Your Subscribers on Substack
Join me for a workshop that will help you understand who your ideal readers are, where to find them, and how to convert them into subscribers on your Substack. Friday, January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET, register here!

I hope you can join me for the upcoming workshop.

Embark on a Discovery Process

I encourage you to embark on a discovery process to find your ideal readers.

For the writers I work with, this looks different each day. Here are some examples from the past week of work I have been doing with writers to help them find their readers:

• Brainstorming book marketing ideas (and the plan to implement them) for a bestselling nonfiction author whose new book comes out later this year.
• Creating a detailed launch timeline for a novelist who has a new book coming out this year.
• Developing an editorial calendar for a writer on Substack, focusing on ways to get more engagement, and build upon their past success on the platform.
• Helping an author find more readers for their children’s book, a year after publication, and set the stage for the next book in the series.

Sometimes it can feel easy to look back on success, and reverse engineer that it was all part of a concise foolproof plan. And even though my days are spent in this work, the truth is that no one can promise you results.

I recently organized my studio and found my advance reader copies of books that I helped the authors launch. Both became New York Times bestsellers: Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, and The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell’Antonia.

When these advanced copies were printed, did we have any idea that the books would sell enough to become bestsellers? Nope. Each author wrote amazing books, had incredible partners with their agents and publishers, had a team of people assisting in one way or another, and did so much work to get the book in front of readers. And… something worked. I’ve written case studies about these and other book launches, but I often feel they just showcase the tip of the iceberg of how these books found their readers.

This work of understanding one’s readers and engaging them matters. It is a process that can feel both delicate, and full of potential.

(You can find more about my work with writers here.)

Systems and Habits Give You a Process to Follow

I work from a methodology I created called The Creative Success Pyramid:

Is this plan a promise for success? No, it is a process to begin from, and to customize for your unique goals and challenges. Every step can be personalized for your preferences, your writing, and your ideal readers. What you create is unique, and how you find your readers will be as well.

I love helping writers with this because every day is different than the next. We are fulfilling the creative vision unique to each writer.

What Substack Teaches Us About Our Readers

For many writers, social media has been seen as the only way to engage their readers. Yet, I find there is a profound shift in going from “sharing with anyone” on social media, to “sharing with someone,” like you find on Substack and through email newsletters. On social media, it is common for writers to feel their follower are distant, faceless masses. But on Substack and with an email newsletter, these same writers are finally feeling a meaningful connection with real readers — those who choose to embrace what you create.

I have written a weekly email newsletter for 18 years. In some ways, the reasons writers are coming to Substack and loving it feel very familiar to me. They are the same reasons I loved having an email newsletter back in 2006, 2011, and 2016. You write something that you care deeply about, send it to readers who have given you permission to email them, and it actually is delivered to them, instead of getting lost in an algorithm on social media.

If you have been developing your own Substack publication and wondering how you can better connect with your ideal readers and find growth in the process, I encourage you to sign up for my new workshop, Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack! You can register here.

I’m curious: can you tell me about one time that you felt truly connected with your readers? It could be a specific conversation you had, email you received, place you went, action you took, or thing you shared. Let me know in the comments, I love hearing about moments when writers connect with readers!

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan