"Behind The Wheel" I always carried a clip board, blank paper and a pen. On all my jobs driving, (deliveries, transport, taxi cab) these are the things that made me pull over and write it down.
“The Cosmic Gumball Machine”, you never know what will roll out, comes from my graphic novel hybrid project. It is my Monday morning newsletter.
This gives me the flexibility needed to constantly write + puts a smile on my face. Poetry, artworks, & photography is how I deal with heavy grief. I write for myself, hope it helps others. Slowly able to share my backstory, getting closer to finding a one line statement.
I’m very new to Substack and just dipping my toes into social media after a long break. I’m a poet and an editor and I have a book coming out next year. I started my Substack and then froze wondering what to do.
The title I keep coming back to is Punctuated Musings. I want to build an audience for my poetry and make more connections in the poetry/writing world. I’ve been focusing on short poems, which is where the punctuated came in. I’ve also been an editor for 30 years and I have a lot of experience to share and I love punctuation. So my niche is poetry and editing.
I write women’s fiction and essays about life where culture and history interact with the struggles of millennial women. Plus I love thrift shopping, upcycling old furniture, and taking photos of the myriad of crumbling homes and barns in my community in NC. I want to combine those things into a newsletter that perhaps has small essays or fiction pieces based on my photos mixed with other practical tips about staying connected to the past by repurposing or upcycling the clutter we all accumulate. Also possible book recs, etc connected to my genre. I was thinking the name would be “Collecting Dust.” I’m not sure on the tagline yet: Celebrating the forgotten—people, places and things—to find meaning in the present moment. Plus, practical tips on what to do with all that junk.
I’d love some feedback! I haven’t actually started it and need to push myself to jump in.
I have been sitting with “The Baby Is Trying to Live” (quote from an early mentor) as a neonatologist -- pondering what I’ve been learning about spiritual growth and development from the newborn ICU. Perhaps I need to stop being a baby and start writing ...
Love the nudge this course is giving me to jump in. I’ve dabbled with writing essays and posting them on Medium but I like the idea of creating a newsletter instead.
All of my recent essays/musings are about becoming a new parent and navigating that transition. And I guess just essays about mundane life things. So like a parenting life observation newsletter!?
This is SO helpful and so timely – I've been thinking about starting a newsletter recently, and here's what I think my niche is: ADHD > Adult Creative Types with ADHD > A humorous take on the daily struggles and tips for those of us pursuing an unstructured path with unstructured brains. I'd lean heavily into my own story of being diagnosed at 34, feeling like a loser for much of my life, being a late bloomer, and realizing how much I missed out on because of my ADHD (I just got my first driver's license at 42, for example!).
On that note, I was thinking about the title and have landed on Sorry for the Delay. It has multiple meanings: the procrastination, forgetfulness, and shame of ADHD that often leads to dropped texts/emails; my own late bloomer status in life; and the inevitable unstructured schedule that I foresee happening with the newsletter! Wondering, though, if that's too vague for SEO? Does it need ADHD in the title?
The tagline: Commiseration, conversation, and creative inspiration from a late-diagnosis ADHD writer – you know you want the distraction!
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi! Late to the game on this one, but starting the newsletter program. I write personal essays that are often focused on the experience/reality of fourth wave feminism: the discrepancies between how we treat ourselves and others when it comes to things like beauty ideals, body positivity, and sexual autonomy. For my newsletter, I wanted to narrow in on sex and dating within this context -- here's what I have:
Working Title: "And Then I Wondered..."
SATC for the modern-day woman—tales of sex, dating, and everything in between for the contemporary feminist.
Title is a nod to sex and the city bc carrie is always saying "and then i wondered" or "I couldn't help but wonder," but the idea is to infuse the format of her fictional column with the experience of today's woman, and naturally it would be more like an actual column might read. The other specifics I'm working with are being neurodivergent, and also having experienced sexual trauma and an abusive relationship -- these feel like they are more specific to the contemporary culture of self-reflection and mental health. So was going to include this statement, still finessing it, in the description to further narrow the content-- not sure yet? would love suggestions!
SATC for the modern-day woman—tales of sex, dating, and everything in between for the contemporary feminist. SSRIs and the female orgasm gap, overcoming sexual-trauma while wanting to get boned, and the nuances of asserting independence in relationship-obsessed culture included.
or
SATC for the modern-day woman—tales of sex, dating, and everything in between for the contemporary feminist. SSRIs and the female orgasm gap! Overcoming sexual-trauma while wanting to get boned! The nuances of asserting independence in relationship-obsessed culture! And more!
It’s a patient who has multiple diagnoses in addition to a mental health issue and is inspired by music. I have a YouTube channel by the same name and hit big with a few videos. It’s not for everyone, but my Radioactives often know who they are!
Great info, Courtney! I really related to the impetus behind "Unruly Figures", "Input/Output" & Summer Brennnan's Newsletters. My overall niche/s are definitely writing & creative process (an obsession reflected by all my books on the subject) with feminist perspectives on the writing life thrown in. I love the idea of niching down & can see how it benefits some concepts, but can't seem to make it apply to me! So I was inspired by Summer's declaration:
“Write about what you’re truly passionate about ... You don’t need a niche. Your niche is you.” – Summer Brennan
I think "all things writing" IS my niche - I write in multiple forms/ genres, love creating prompts, introducing people to different types of literary concepts & form poetry & hope I'll attract my followers from intelligently & generously sharing my passions, learnings & links to published poetry /fiction etc, The elasticity of a title like "The Writer's Notebook" appeals to me. so I'm working to find my own version of that!
I have 2 questions.
1. Could you elaborate a bit more on how we evaluate if we can "own the SEO" for that name? What are the steps there?
2. How many times can you change your newsletter's name in Substack? Is there a limit before Substack just says: "NO. You're stuck with this one!"
Thank you - really excited to be here. I've been a it stumped by how to start on Substack!
Yes, keep it broad if you feel constricted by a super well-defined niche. What's a unifying theme in your writing? Is it about feminism? Curiosity? Do some brainstorming and figure out that defining characteristic and peg your title to that. Could be as simple as "The Sandbox." I don't think there's a limit to how many times you can change your publication's name in Substack, but you might want to Google that.
I see I am in more of a beginner stage then most writers here... still, here's my pitch!
I live with OCD and wanted to channel that into a newsletter, where I mostly try to explain how it is to live with this mental health issue. I have two ideas on how to go about this plan:
Either keep it realistic and just describe my own live/that of my friends, what we struggle with and how that is visible on both small and large scale, or-
I have also thought about making it an episodic horror-esque story, with which I aim to explain what it feels like to people who do not have these struggles in a more blatant, terrifying way. The second newsletter would follow a young woman just going about her day, with a strange condition: there is a creature made of black slime, which follows her and doesn't allow her to do certain things. Some episodes would be more fantastical then others.
Both of these would be called 'This is about my Annoying roommate O.C. Dee.'
I would use my Substack more to up my writing skills and get myself used to a set writing schedule then sell myself/my work. Still, I feel it is important to learn how to find a correct market.
If I would have to pin it, I'd say my niche is Mental health writing --) OCD --) Fictionalised story about OCD.
My one sentence would be 'My newsletter is about the daily, slightly difficult life of a woman who lives with a roommate called O.C. Dee.'
Hi Roos! I think you could do both ideas under the same newsletter. Maybe the title is something straightforward like "Living with OCD" so your audience can find you. And then your tagline could be "a newsletter about the struggles of living with a roommate called O.C. Dee," which is a unique approach to the topic.
I teach students how to write but very often don't have time to polish my own work. This post has inspired me to start a newsletter called Whittled Wordlets to edit small bits of my own writing or reflections here and there in a consistent/sustainable way :)
Wow, check out these inspired comments! Alright, I took a few days to think, and I came up with my new name and tagline.
Since I’ve narrowed down my niche to “personal essays on nature inspire mothering,” I’ve transitioned from the more general ‘Journals of a Fruitcake’ to ‘MotherWood.’
Tagline: “Literary essays from a mother rewilding herself and her family while building a house out of mud.”
I absolutely love MotherWood as your name & the tagline gave me goosebumps, Ally. Beautifully aligned, I'd say. And far more evocative than your previous one (which is cute & quirky, don't get me wrong). This just seems to convey a lot more about you, & more clearly.
I'm just reading these first lessons now - gotta catch up on the actual homework / thinking for my Substack. Great to read everyone's thoughts!
My problem is that I came up with 5 newsletter ideas in different niches and a podcast lol. And I want to do them all at once. And I can't decide which one would be better to start with....which is why I've been having such a hard time moving forward with this. Should I have one newsletter that has sub-themes that serve different audiences? My other problem is that I have a lot of interests and want to cater to all of them...so Idk what to do. The newsletter topics are: My faith journey, Book reviews and discussions, My writing journey, navigating the media production industry, and building a community around a book I want to write (this one can definitely wait though)
It is tough when you have so many interests. I can kind of relate - but at least most of mine fall under writing! Some of those ideas seem related, LaQuin ... why couldn't your writing journey encompass book reviews /discussions, TO build a community around the book in progress? What's your book about?
I actually have 3 book ides I'm actively trying to build out: one on the different ways fear manifest in my life, one on my childhood and displacement, and a romance novel about two high school sweethearts.. and to your point I do see how everyhting I mentioned can fall under my writing journey focus, I just need to make sure I'm always writing form that perspective.
I launched Up-Bringing a year ago to maintain a steady writing practice that could be shared outwardly in the run-up to publishing my double sided memoir "Up-Bringing: The Art of Raising Yourself with Side A: An Ode to Anger and Side B: No place Like Home." I launched Up-Bringing to create a sense of community wherever I was in the world, whatever was going on. My why evolved over the course of the year as I moved with my kids and partner from Sweden to South Africa. Up-Bringing became more and more of a lifeline. A connection between inner me and the outer world. Proof that I can find myself and be found by others as they find themselves through my words.
I dig deep into mother and father wound. Staying alive in spite of and because of it all. How to feel everything and be stronger for it. My writing is an exploration of exploring the great heal via the great feel, an unapologetic pilgrimage towards full-frontal, zero-shame, truth-telling. Did I mention "a pilgrimage not a set point?"
As I contemplate honing in on a specific niche a year in, I arrive at:
Self-development>Self-storytelling>Words build your world
The power of words to create our lives. The linguistics of our inner lives. That once we give ourselves access to our entire inner stories, then we are on our effing way to FREE. Then we can practice our way into that freedom on a daily basis by crafting the language of our lives. I envision Up-Bringing to be a 3-issue/week newsletter that involves 3 parts:
1. Monday Meeting: inspo and reflections on last week's highs and lows
2. Wednesday Workbook: writing tasks to ride the hump of your mid-week with the best words
3. Friday Free-Write: A creative piece from me on where I'm at with it all (book, music, geographical status - my readers love these)
I write two newsletters. I ended up dividing them because the topics were just so different. One is fiction, a serialized story, ‘The Tears of a Painter’ and the other is ‘Salat Auch Essen’ translated from German: eat the salad too. It’s a direct quote from my grandmother who used to remind us at every meal to eat our salad too. It centers around culinary adventures, mostly salads for now.
"Behind The Wheel" I always carried a clip board, blank paper and a pen. On all my jobs driving, (deliveries, transport, taxi cab) these are the things that made me pull over and write it down.
Just what I needed to read today.
“The Cosmic Gumball Machine”, you never know what will roll out, comes from my graphic novel hybrid project. It is my Monday morning newsletter.
This gives me the flexibility needed to constantly write + puts a smile on my face. Poetry, artworks, & photography is how I deal with heavy grief. I write for myself, hope it helps others. Slowly able to share my backstory, getting closer to finding a one line statement.
Thank you 🙏 😊
I’m very new to Substack and just dipping my toes into social media after a long break. I’m a poet and an editor and I have a book coming out next year. I started my Substack and then froze wondering what to do.
The title I keep coming back to is Punctuated Musings. I want to build an audience for my poetry and make more connections in the poetry/writing world. I’ve been focusing on short poems, which is where the punctuated came in. I’ve also been an editor for 30 years and I have a lot of experience to share and I love punctuation. So my niche is poetry and editing.
I write women’s fiction and essays about life where culture and history interact with the struggles of millennial women. Plus I love thrift shopping, upcycling old furniture, and taking photos of the myriad of crumbling homes and barns in my community in NC. I want to combine those things into a newsletter that perhaps has small essays or fiction pieces based on my photos mixed with other practical tips about staying connected to the past by repurposing or upcycling the clutter we all accumulate. Also possible book recs, etc connected to my genre. I was thinking the name would be “Collecting Dust.” I’m not sure on the tagline yet: Celebrating the forgotten—people, places and things—to find meaning in the present moment. Plus, practical tips on what to do with all that junk.
I’d love some feedback! I haven’t actually started it and need to push myself to jump in.
Thanks 🙏
I have been sitting with “The Baby Is Trying to Live” (quote from an early mentor) as a neonatologist -- pondering what I’ve been learning about spiritual growth and development from the newborn ICU. Perhaps I need to stop being a baby and start writing ...
Love the nudge this course is giving me to jump in. I’ve dabbled with writing essays and posting them on Medium but I like the idea of creating a newsletter instead.
All of my recent essays/musings are about becoming a new parent and navigating that transition. And I guess just essays about mundane life things. So like a parenting life observation newsletter!?
Tossing some titles out there:
- life’s little lessons
- moments and musings
- life in little doses
This is SO helpful and so timely – I've been thinking about starting a newsletter recently, and here's what I think my niche is: ADHD > Adult Creative Types with ADHD > A humorous take on the daily struggles and tips for those of us pursuing an unstructured path with unstructured brains. I'd lean heavily into my own story of being diagnosed at 34, feeling like a loser for much of my life, being a late bloomer, and realizing how much I missed out on because of my ADHD (I just got my first driver's license at 42, for example!).
On that note, I was thinking about the title and have landed on Sorry for the Delay. It has multiple meanings: the procrastination, forgetfulness, and shame of ADHD that often leads to dropped texts/emails; my own late bloomer status in life; and the inevitable unstructured schedule that I foresee happening with the newsletter! Wondering, though, if that's too vague for SEO? Does it need ADHD in the title?
The tagline: Commiseration, conversation, and creative inspiration from a late-diagnosis ADHD writer – you know you want the distraction!
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi! Late to the game on this one, but starting the newsletter program. I write personal essays that are often focused on the experience/reality of fourth wave feminism: the discrepancies between how we treat ourselves and others when it comes to things like beauty ideals, body positivity, and sexual autonomy. For my newsletter, I wanted to narrow in on sex and dating within this context -- here's what I have:
Working Title: "And Then I Wondered..."
SATC for the modern-day woman—tales of sex, dating, and everything in between for the contemporary feminist.
Title is a nod to sex and the city bc carrie is always saying "and then i wondered" or "I couldn't help but wonder," but the idea is to infuse the format of her fictional column with the experience of today's woman, and naturally it would be more like an actual column might read. The other specifics I'm working with are being neurodivergent, and also having experienced sexual trauma and an abusive relationship -- these feel like they are more specific to the contemporary culture of self-reflection and mental health. So was going to include this statement, still finessing it, in the description to further narrow the content-- not sure yet? would love suggestions!
SATC for the modern-day woman—tales of sex, dating, and everything in between for the contemporary feminist. SSRIs and the female orgasm gap, overcoming sexual-trauma while wanting to get boned, and the nuances of asserting independence in relationship-obsessed culture included.
or
SATC for the modern-day woman—tales of sex, dating, and everything in between for the contemporary feminist. SSRIs and the female orgasm gap! Overcoming sexual-trauma while wanting to get boned! The nuances of asserting independence in relationship-obsessed culture! And more!
It’s a patient who has multiple diagnoses in addition to a mental health issue and is inspired by music. I have a YouTube channel by the same name and hit big with a few videos. It’s not for everyone, but my Radioactives often know who they are!
Great info, Courtney! I really related to the impetus behind "Unruly Figures", "Input/Output" & Summer Brennnan's Newsletters. My overall niche/s are definitely writing & creative process (an obsession reflected by all my books on the subject) with feminist perspectives on the writing life thrown in. I love the idea of niching down & can see how it benefits some concepts, but can't seem to make it apply to me! So I was inspired by Summer's declaration:
“Write about what you’re truly passionate about ... You don’t need a niche. Your niche is you.” – Summer Brennan
I think "all things writing" IS my niche - I write in multiple forms/ genres, love creating prompts, introducing people to different types of literary concepts & form poetry & hope I'll attract my followers from intelligently & generously sharing my passions, learnings & links to published poetry /fiction etc, The elasticity of a title like "The Writer's Notebook" appeals to me. so I'm working to find my own version of that!
I have 2 questions.
1. Could you elaborate a bit more on how we evaluate if we can "own the SEO" for that name? What are the steps there?
2. How many times can you change your newsletter's name in Substack? Is there a limit before Substack just says: "NO. You're stuck with this one!"
Thank you - really excited to be here. I've been a it stumped by how to start on Substack!
Yes, keep it broad if you feel constricted by a super well-defined niche. What's a unifying theme in your writing? Is it about feminism? Curiosity? Do some brainstorming and figure out that defining characteristic and peg your title to that. Could be as simple as "The Sandbox." I don't think there's a limit to how many times you can change your publication's name in Substack, but you might want to Google that.
I see I am in more of a beginner stage then most writers here... still, here's my pitch!
I live with OCD and wanted to channel that into a newsletter, where I mostly try to explain how it is to live with this mental health issue. I have two ideas on how to go about this plan:
Either keep it realistic and just describe my own live/that of my friends, what we struggle with and how that is visible on both small and large scale, or-
I have also thought about making it an episodic horror-esque story, with which I aim to explain what it feels like to people who do not have these struggles in a more blatant, terrifying way. The second newsletter would follow a young woman just going about her day, with a strange condition: there is a creature made of black slime, which follows her and doesn't allow her to do certain things. Some episodes would be more fantastical then others.
Both of these would be called 'This is about my Annoying roommate O.C. Dee.'
I would use my Substack more to up my writing skills and get myself used to a set writing schedule then sell myself/my work. Still, I feel it is important to learn how to find a correct market.
If I would have to pin it, I'd say my niche is Mental health writing --) OCD --) Fictionalised story about OCD.
My one sentence would be 'My newsletter is about the daily, slightly difficult life of a woman who lives with a roommate called O.C. Dee.'
Hi Roos! I think you could do both ideas under the same newsletter. Maybe the title is something straightforward like "Living with OCD" so your audience can find you. And then your tagline could be "a newsletter about the struggles of living with a roommate called O.C. Dee," which is a unique approach to the topic.
Heya! thanks for the comment, I think that is a helpful point!
I teach students how to write but very often don't have time to polish my own work. This post has inspired me to start a newsletter called Whittled Wordlets to edit small bits of my own writing or reflections here and there in a consistent/sustainable way :)
Wow, check out these inspired comments! Alright, I took a few days to think, and I came up with my new name and tagline.
Since I’ve narrowed down my niche to “personal essays on nature inspire mothering,” I’ve transitioned from the more general ‘Journals of a Fruitcake’ to ‘MotherWood.’
Tagline: “Literary essays from a mother rewilding herself and her family while building a house out of mud.”
Fantastic update - it quickly lets people know what you specifically and uniquely offer. Well done!
Thank you so, so much, Kelly!
I absolutely love MotherWood as your name & the tagline gave me goosebumps, Ally. Beautifully aligned, I'd say. And far more evocative than your previous one (which is cute & quirky, don't get me wrong). This just seems to convey a lot more about you, & more clearly.
I'm just reading these first lessons now - gotta catch up on the actual homework / thinking for my Substack. Great to read everyone's thoughts!
I appreciate these words, Melissa! That is the exact change I hope to make.
My problem is that I came up with 5 newsletter ideas in different niches and a podcast lol. And I want to do them all at once. And I can't decide which one would be better to start with....which is why I've been having such a hard time moving forward with this. Should I have one newsletter that has sub-themes that serve different audiences? My other problem is that I have a lot of interests and want to cater to all of them...so Idk what to do. The newsletter topics are: My faith journey, Book reviews and discussions, My writing journey, navigating the media production industry, and building a community around a book I want to write (this one can definitely wait though)
Hi LaQuin! To me, those topics all seem to be related, or at least they could be. Maybe your title is something like "Writing Faithfully."
It is tough when you have so many interests. I can kind of relate - but at least most of mine fall under writing! Some of those ideas seem related, LaQuin ... why couldn't your writing journey encompass book reviews /discussions, TO build a community around the book in progress? What's your book about?
I actually have 3 book ides I'm actively trying to build out: one on the different ways fear manifest in my life, one on my childhood and displacement, and a romance novel about two high school sweethearts.. and to your point I do see how everyhting I mentioned can fall under my writing journey focus, I just need to make sure I'm always writing form that perspective.
I launched Up-Bringing a year ago to maintain a steady writing practice that could be shared outwardly in the run-up to publishing my double sided memoir "Up-Bringing: The Art of Raising Yourself with Side A: An Ode to Anger and Side B: No place Like Home." I launched Up-Bringing to create a sense of community wherever I was in the world, whatever was going on. My why evolved over the course of the year as I moved with my kids and partner from Sweden to South Africa. Up-Bringing became more and more of a lifeline. A connection between inner me and the outer world. Proof that I can find myself and be found by others as they find themselves through my words.
I dig deep into mother and father wound. Staying alive in spite of and because of it all. How to feel everything and be stronger for it. My writing is an exploration of exploring the great heal via the great feel, an unapologetic pilgrimage towards full-frontal, zero-shame, truth-telling. Did I mention "a pilgrimage not a set point?"
As I contemplate honing in on a specific niche a year in, I arrive at:
Self-development>Self-storytelling>Words build your world
The power of words to create our lives. The linguistics of our inner lives. That once we give ourselves access to our entire inner stories, then we are on our effing way to FREE. Then we can practice our way into that freedom on a daily basis by crafting the language of our lives. I envision Up-Bringing to be a 3-issue/week newsletter that involves 3 parts:
1. Monday Meeting: inspo and reflections on last week's highs and lows
2. Wednesday Workbook: writing tasks to ride the hump of your mid-week with the best words
3. Friday Free-Write: A creative piece from me on where I'm at with it all (book, music, geographical status - my readers love these)
Feedback SO APPRECIATED! ❤️
Wow Sarah, Up-Bringing sounds incredible. I’m subscribed and looking forward to reading :-)
I write two newsletters. I ended up dividing them because the topics were just so different. One is fiction, a serialized story, ‘The Tears of a Painter’ and the other is ‘Salat Auch Essen’ translated from German: eat the salad too. It’s a direct quote from my grandmother who used to remind us at every meal to eat our salad too. It centers around culinary adventures, mostly salads for now.
Makes sense to separate your serialized fiction. I love eat the salad too — are you going to use the English or German phrase?