Skip to main content

Making Substack the Center of a Writing System




Focusing Distractions with Complexity


With all of the options writers and content creators have now, finding the right one for each system sometimes takes experimentation. Flops and failures often come with such brimming efforts of zeal, yet the glimmer of hope remains in pictures of automated simplicity.

In the beginning, things were simple; then came the expansion, the maintenance, building, creating, researching, and other such effort and time into what can only be called a writing system.

Organizing this complex miasma of disparate platforms, the writer (insert content creator as needed) has become a blogger, marketer, promotor, maintenance tech, and organizing master. The actual writing is pushed to the side.

Finding Balance


Each writer organizes their system differently according to their needs and abilities. I’ve always admired someone who focuses on one platform and doesn’t get stretched too thin. We can get distracted by constantly expanding and trying new things.

What’s needed is the time to write with a clear head space not cluttered with widgets and feeds. For example, I’ve been subjecting myself to some blogging work and now I’m writing about it. If my writing system were balanced and working orderly, I would write about a topic outside of the enigmatic writing about writing topic.

Not to worry, this is a strategic writing piece, helping writers get organized to create a balanced writing system that gains traction mostly through automation.

Simple. Effective. Routine.

The creative part can then be reserved for writing, etc.

What About Substack?


I created a Substack account around four years ago; since, it has been a relatively insignificant part of my writing system.

This has changed. As I’ve been working on my writing system more in the off-season, I’ve gained more analytical and technical insight into my efforts. For instance, trying to get a popup screen on a website with a free book offer for an email subscription. Importantly, drilling down on view and read data for each blog.

See, for the last decade, my blogs have been the center of my writing system — for better or worse. Mostly, they’ve been neglected in lonely shadows online, yet that was the strategy.

While I will continue to write original articles on my blogs, they will not be the main target of my “sales funnel.” Substack will replace them.

What Substack offers is a popular platform that people trust. Both creators and readers are on the quality reader app or desktop website. They allow people to follow your newsletter for free or pay a subscription. Creators can put up paywalls on content or have it all be free.

Substack offers me a platform like Patreon, yet with a great app, a platform that is much easier to use, has more functions, looks better, and doesn’t censor people so quickly. Substack is like a mix between Medium and Patreon.

What Substack offers me is a place where I can combine all of my writing, video, podcasting, and music efforts online in one place.

It makes it easy for people to support my (mostly) writing efforts and get updates from all of the dozen or so platforms I write and create content for.

Conclusion


I spent some time in blogger tech mode today, updating my writing system to integrate Substack as the conversion prize of my “sales funnel.” For instance, I replaced my website link with my Substack link in profiles across all writing and social platforms.

Substack has become where I send people because it is more popular and reliable than my blogs. I will still write original content on my blogs, yet building up my substack has more potential for growth, interaction, and profit.

While I still work at making money with writing platforms and my books, having a platform where followers can find my consolidated online creative efforts and give support financially is perfect for what I need.

Now, I can get back to writing.

Hey, if interested, follow me on Substack:

Robbie Newport's Newsletter


Originally published at Medium in New Writers Welcome

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Future Freedom = Being Without Online Technology

Online technology was created to control humanity. One thing we can all agree on is that online/smart technology will only increase and become more integrated into our lives in the future, even at an exponential rate, as technological advancement reaches singularity. Therefore, we can conclude with deductive reasoning that our individual freedom will only be achieved without said technology. If this technology, manifested with AI automation, is going to be used to control us in every aspect of our lives, then freedom will not exist. Freedom is not just doing everything the controllers tell you to do or get punished, it is being free to do what you want do, under the natural law of treating others as you would want to be treated (do no harm physically to others, don’t steal or damage property/possessions of others, etc.). The near future is going to be defined by how technology is used to control humanity; it will be done under the guise of something other than control, but that is the ...

Working in the Addiction Field

Press enter or click to view image in full size Why being a Substance Use Disorder counselor is meaningful. Why being a Substance Use Disorder counselor is meaningful. Recently, I was hired to work as an addiction counselor for substance use disorders. The official title is Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor (CADC) intern, or a Substance Use Disorder counselor (SUD). I wanted to explain why this is a meaningful field to work in. When looking at the statistics for substance abuse in the U.S., the numbers are significant, yet they don’t or can’t tell the entire story. These stats are gathered mostly from the self-disclosure of people being surveyed or screened/treated for substance abuse; this means the stats exclude people not screened or treated, and include people being dishonest about their answers. A few interesting stats ( U.S. population: 347 million ): 29.8 million individuals have an Alcohol Use Disorder in the U.S (NCDAS, 2023). 134.3 million individuals have used alcohol wit...

Generation Alpha is the first to always know smartphones

They have never been in a society or world without smartphones. Is it a coincidence that the names of generations have just reset and begun again? From Z to A; have we as humans changed to a new alphabet and a new definition in sync because of the smartphone? Generation Alpha are the first humans to never know a time before the smartphone. They were or will be born from 2010 until 2025 . At most, they are 14 years old. Coming from someone who was around before the internet was in the public sphere, I would say the smartphone has changed people and our lives more than any other technological advance, compared to the radio, television, cable TV, and household internet. Memory has the rollout of the smartphone to the masses around 2008. My wife and I got our first smartphone around 2010. So, younger Gen Z, all of Alpha, and those coming have never known a society or world without smartphone technology. It just happens that the new alphabet distinction started right at this technological t...

5 Ways Sober Living is Made Easier in a Recovery House

While staying sober from a destructive addiction isn't easy, by choosing to live in a recovery house a person is greatly enhancing their long-term sobriety chances. Recovering from an addiction is such a tender time, and having the support and resources to combat relapse is vital for success. With this in mind, let's explore 5 ways sober living is made easier in a recovery house. Understanding environment Safe environment free of drugs and alcohol Comfortable living arrangement covering needs Provides accountability for sobriety Builds Foundation for long-term sober living habits Understanding Environment Living with other people that are going through similar challenges goes a long way in helping addicts stay sober. Being surrounded by an environment with understanding people at home provides recovering addicts the daily, meaningful interactions needed to remember the seriousness of their sobriety. So often the environment will condition a person into f...