Why Substack is the best newsletter platform for authors
Substack is an amazing platform for authors because it keeps you motivated to write, it helps you to engage authentically with your readers, it requires no design skills, and it helps you grow your audience organically over time. It also connects you to passionate readers who want to hear what you have to say.
Whether you want to share personal stories, serialize a novel, promote a forthcoming book, sell your backlist, improve your author newsletter, or maintain a writing habit, Substack can help you find readers and create community. If you want to earn money for your writing, Substack provides tools to do that too. To learn more about why Substack works so well for authors, read on or watch the video, which is excerpted from my course Substack for Authors.
Substack for Authors: Getting Paid and Growing Your Audience
For years, I paid a few hundred dollars a month to run all of my newsletters through Mailchimp. But I rarely sent the newsletters out because the interface was bulky and time-consuming, heavily focused on design. I would get lost in the logistics, trying to figure out how to segment, how to create groups, and how to make each email look right. Because the process was so cumbersome, I would go months at a time without sending a newsletter update.
Focus on writing, not design
Substack, on the other hand, is all about the writing. It’s a perfect fit for writers because you can stay focused on the words. Of course, you can include images and video with your posts as well, but you don’t have to worry about design blocks or drag-and-drop. You can just write and hit send. And with the Notes feature, you can write just a sentence or two, and it will be seen by Substack users who haven’t yet subscribed to you. As soon as I migrated to Substack, I started writing more frequently. My audience grew organically. And I was even able to start earning money from my newsletters, rather than paying to send them.
Learn how to supercharge your author newsletter with Substack
If you want to learn how to make Substack work for you as an author, check out my four-week course, SUBSTACK FOR AUTHORS. (Class begins January 8, 2023).
In this class, you will learn how to set up your author Substack, how to create your about page, how to write your first posts and start building your audience. You will also learn how to migrate from Mailchimp to Substack, how to turn on paid subscriptions, how to serialize a novel on Substack, how to sell your backlist, how to promote a forthcoming book, and how to make the Substack growth engine work for you. Enrollment is limited. Save your spot.
If you liked this post, you might also enjoy reading The Best Substacks for Writers.