Using Substack | A Newbie Take on What it Does and Doesn't Do ✅

Let's see what this thing looks like!

Well, I would hardly call it out of the box as it’s taken me 2 days to get my head round it - but here we go for my very first post on Substack.

Why Did I Choose Substack?

It’s actually a bit of a much larger strategy for blogging, connecting and posting. My blog, Sian Scribbles, gets a few visitors, but goodness knows how as it hasn’t been updated for yonks. I wanted to create a space that enabled me to share what I was up too, stuff I found useful myself, but which also had a community feel to it.

Shortly I’ll move the most popular posts from the Sian Scribbles WordPress website over her and redirect the whole thing over.

Before reaching Substack, I’ve spent some time on Medium, but doing more reading than writing, and I always intended to write. But it didn’t happen. Sometimes things happen when they should, and just don’t happen when they shouldn’t.

I reckon we know deep down when an idea or project is doomed to fail, but without a proper evaluation, we’re not sure why. So we procrastinate until the time feels right.

That’s how I felt about Medium. Medium is a platform for writers where you can set up a publication or publish single posts. Medium has an algorithm. This means you can write your heart out, but the algorithm ‘makes a decision’ about who sees what and when. I can get a very similar and frustrating experience on Facebook.

What I like about Substack is how I can set up my publication and control who sees it. I can promote it outside of the platform, just like any other website and I’m not relying on a person or bot making decisions about if it shows up.

As well as being simpler to publish a post, there is also the Substack community itself, which means my publication is searchable and findable through tags. Again, a bit like Facebook.

Plus, it lets me develop my own community who can comment on posts or or discussion threads.

Let’s Try Out A Few Posting Features 😘

It’s ok with emojis from my Mac. I like an emoji as they can finish a sentence for you without using a hard full stop. ✅ that works 😂

In my Sunday Sparks newsletter, I liked to share a picture that I found nice to look at that week and for readers to download (you should be able to right click) and print out.

Nice Colours and Easy On The Eye

I’ve given it a caption and I I’ve added a URL link from the image to my website so I can see if that works. It does.

If you don’t have your own pics, but want to add an image, there’s a direct link to Unsplash - here’s some coffee so you can see how it looks and I love that it’s pulled the attribution through.

Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

Love this! Just copy and paste a link to an episode on Spotify and there it is ready to play.

However, it doesn’t seem to work with my direct podcasting host, Spreaker

https://www.spreaker.com/user/wibradio/strong-body-strong-business

If you want to post a Gif, you only need to get the link from Giphy.com

It doesn’t seem to do link previews in general though

See below, where the link to my website, doesn’t generate the preview image as it does for example on Facebook.

Sian Murphy - this is posted on Substack and no preview showing.

vs the Facebook Preview

But - it does do Twitter Post Embeds!

Just copy and paste the link to the tweet - whilst you still can 🤣 thanks Elon.

Jessie @mommajessiec

My fashion decisions have gone from “Is it cute?” to “Is it comfy?” to “Did anybody see me wear this yesterday?”

What about quotes?

Here’s a block quote

"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 11=5 you're right - have fun." Keanu Reeves

and a pull quote…

Mmm - not sure I can see a real difference - I’ll try something again later.

Audio 🎙

Actually I just love this - it’s so simple and effective. You can record an audio snippet directly into the post. The snippet has actually embedded at the top of the post and I can’t seem to move it - but never mind, I can grapple with the finer details later.

For now, I think that’s a seriously cool function. Yes I could do it in my website, but it wouldn’t be as simple as just pressing a button. Love it.

Ask Your Audience 🤔

Again, I just love this feature. You can set your questions, decide how long the poll will last for and choose to show or hide the results.

This is a poetry block - I don't write poetry, so I've knicked something to show you how it works...

“They shut me up in Prose –
As when a little Girl
They put me in the Closet –
Because they liked me “still” –

Still! Could themself have peeped –
And seen my Brain – go round –
They might as wise have lodged a Bird
For Treason – in the Pound –
Emily Dickenson

Buttons

You can add all sorts of buttons. Some have already been set up for you and it’s a simple dropdown selection to add them…like these…

You can also add a custom button - like this one below

But - you can’t customise the colours or size. Can’t have everything I guess.

AND - I can’t tell you how important this is - if someone can tell me how to delete a damned button once it’s added I would be immensely grateful.

Duplicating Posts

Here’s the quick answer - you can’t. Duplicating posts or campaigns, or creating a template, is a standard feature on many email/newsletter platforms. You can’t do it on Substack - which reiterates that this isn’t newsletter software - it’s a bit more and that means there is compromise.

Substack suggests you create a draft version of a post you want to use more than once and copy and paste the content into a new post.

I was dubious this would work, but I tried it and it does. I selected everything underneath the author tag by dragging and then just copied and pasted it into a new post. It worked for images, links and all the formatting. I was rather surprised.

I’m prepared to accept this.

Emailing and Newsletters

Not every post has to be emailed. Not every post has to be emailed. The reason I’ve written that twice is it goes to what Substack is and how it works. When you publish your post you can choose if it’s emailed to your subscribers or just posted. You can also choose to make it available to everyone or put it behind the paywall - which means people need to subscribe to read it on your publication or to have it emailed.

Profiles

I’m going to try and explain this, but I’m not sure I’ll do it very well, or even correctly.

This is where I’m at right now though. There is the name and profile of your publication - mine is Sian Scribbles.

Then there is the profile of the author, in this case Sian Murphy.

When you publish you can post onto your publication, Sian Scribbles and you can also email those posts to your subscribers.

BUT…you can also

🙀 invite other writers

🙀 set up additional newsletters

🙀 add a podcast

This is what I suggest you avoid until you’ve got a feel for the basic architecture. I added everything and had to delete the account and start again.

The Roundup

So far I’m loving it. Simple to publish which means I can focus on the writing vs the tech.

It does take a bit of time to get your head round how the publication, profile paywall and podcasts all fit together and I’m still not sure I can explain it.

My advice though is to keep is simple to start with. Avoid starting additional newsletters and podcasts straight away.

Substack is a platform for writers, publishers and creatives who want to be part of the Substack community, and grow their own community.

If you’re looking for a marketing funnel, where you can segment your audience and send them different offers based on their activity and metrics, then Substack isn’t it. But that’s it’s beauty. It’s not mailchimp. You can set it up, write a post and publish it.

Sian x