The truth about writing on Substack

(Spoiler: it's a good truth)

Every morning I wake up, pretend I’m not going to check my emails, forget I’m meant to be pretending not to do that, hit the blue-square-with-white-envelope icon and watch as the new emails rolls in.

There’s almost always one from Stripe that says: Your payment for £150 is on its way. Or it might be £25. Or £250. It varies, because my Substack subscribers pay their small monthly contribution to read my writing on different days of the month.

Every single time I see one of those emails - which is most days - I do a little internal jig. Sometimes an external one. I get giddy and grateful and excited. I’m committed to writing one/two essays a week, and for this, I am paid. It’s truly wonderful.

I’ve been writing on Substack since March 2023 - so over a year and a half - and I’ve tried different approaches. I’ve shared personal stories like this one and this one, as well as business tips and self-development ideas.

I’ve trialled audio and people seemed to like it but the time commitment didn’t work for me, in terms of setting up interviews, editing the whole thing and uploading. Though, I might return to this, in time, as I love podcasting.

Sometimes I’ve written an essay that people don’t like and they’ve left. Other times, I’ve written an essay and welcomed 50 new paid subscribers, which is maybe the equivalent of winning the Lottery, in Substack terms.

I’ve launched a second platform, Raising Neurodivergence, which is pleasingly niche and is growing fast, organically, because of that. Over there, I invite contributions but there are no obligatory paywalls. It’s nice to do that, alongside my personal Substack.

Basically, I’ve had a really good time on Substack. I still am. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve had zero weeks off, since joining, because this doesn’t feel like work, it feels like pleasure. And when you find work that is also pleasure, you just don’t want to stop.

I told you in this piece that I’m fully committed to following The Creative Way business model that I created, which combines using Instagram creatively, earning a living from Substack essays, launching courses and getting one-to-one work.

And true to my word: I’m now launching a new course all about …

Substack.

I noticed that people were getting really hyped about this module of The Creative Way - the Substack module - so I decided to turn it into a standalone course, and go deeper on certain sections, sharing everything I’ve learn in the last one and half years.

So, if you’ve been thinking about launching your own Substack, or doing it differently, or want to know how to really get stuck in and use this platform in a joyful low-pressure way, read more about my new Substack course here:

There’s an early-bird discount on now. And we’ll start working together Monday 18th November. It’s a three-week course and you can email me any time if you have a question. I can’t wait to see who joins and the Substack essays that will follow.

Annie x

Ps. On Thursday, I’ll be writing to you about opting for the smaller life, rather than the bigger one. And the friend who ghosted me. And what I did about that.

Pps. Next week, I’m running a live workshop on writing in the first-person, on Substack. Including writing about other people. I’ll tell you more on Thursday.