Category: sethwCategory: sethw

“(Substack) is still another platform hosted elsewhere. It simplifies the process for writers, podcasters, video creators, and others to publish their work for money. But their stuff is still made available at the mercy of software they do not control — and I bet there will be a time when Substack decides to make a controversial platform-wide change some publishers will want to back away from. The pressure is already there.”

Substack was a great place to grow an audience, but I believe those days are coming to an end, and I think that’s okay. We don’t want to rely on any single platform or source to grow and build upon. We should use the tools available to us, yes, but when brands such as Substack become a bigger and bigger story, yes, like Nick Heer says above, the pressure is building and someday it will pop.

Here’s a new video drop I made for Sean King O’Grady from their Substack Note, but figured it might be helpful for other folks.

1. Double check all the links in your profiles

On your profile (Substack, socials, whatever), this person has a website URL listed. On desktop, you can click it and it works — but on mobile, it doesn’t. In this case edit your Substack profile and add that link as an external website so it works everywhere.

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2. Should You Start a Separate Newsletter?

If early on in the process, no, I wouldn’t. Put all your effort into your main newsletter and get as many people on that as possible. Tell people there about whatever else you’re doing and selling. Once you’ve made some sales, you’ll have email addresses of people who bought from you — that can become your second email list.

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3. Should Your Newsletter Have a “Name?”

You’re the artist — trust your gut. If your name works, your name works. The success you see from others doing it differently isn’t your path. You’ve done great work so far — keep doing it your way. People who care about what you’re doing will sign up and stick around, no matter what it’s called.

Inspired by Lindsey Adler’s ​recent Note​, I’m trying something new for our Escape Pod Zoom call this week.

Last night, my friend Zito Madu hosted a party at his apartment that came with one non-negotiable rule: Every person in attendance had to stand up in front of the crowd and read something aloud.

Everyone in the room knew the host, but none of us knew each other. He had us wear name tags and bought a lot of fancy cheese.

There were no further parameters on the “read something “ edict. Some people read book excerpts, some read original poetry or fiction, two people (myself included) read portions of revolutionary manifestos. Someone read a magazine story about the decline of men reading fiction.

Our work grows when we stretch ourselves, which leads to even more growth. Showing up on a Zoom call with a bunch of strangers is stretching ourselves, approaching someone who books shows, reaching out to our heroes. There is tension, there is doubt.

As Seth Godin says:

Along the way, we’ve been pushed to load our decisions with a need for certainty. It’s easier, it seems, to not try than it is to fail. But the question, “is it worth trying?” unlocks possibility.

I’m not certain that asking people who show up on a Zoom call to read something aloud for one minute will work, which is exactly why we’re going to try it.

I’ve hosted over 85 Zoom calls with my Social Media Escape Club community, and it blows me away when people from these Escape Pod Zoom calls meet in real life.

There is tension in hosting a Zoom call, in meeting people in real life, in booking a show, or approaching a gallery. The tension of “this might not work,” of something going wrong, of being told no. But there’s no rewards without risk, no matter how big (or small) of a leap that risk might be.

I just told someone this via my Email Guidance offering, “don’t give your visitors a map, lead them on a path.”

I see so many websites with so many sections and headers and H1 tags, and, and, and… when really you can probably just cut things down to two or three pages.

Chances are you can combine elements from all of these into one or two pages, because making people pick and choose and decide can lead to people closing the tab.

Replace options with clarity.

Think of how an Ikea is laid out vs a grocery store. Think of laying things out in a way that gets your visitors deeper into your story without having to ask for directions.