A Year in the Wilderness
How I found my way
I started Bren’s Buzz because I found life funny and thought others might too. I posted my first story January 11, 2024. I was terrified, then exhilarated, then exhausted, and finally determined. I was determined to see what the future held for me as a new author. Never having used social media, other than a very brief stint with Facebook and a “corporate front” on LinkedIn, SubStack was one big mystery for me to unravel. Inspiration struck at all times of the day and night, growing my story idea list to almost 400. What I found was that posts began writing themselves in my head long before I put them to paper. And, because my brain looks like a ransacked boarding house, there were all types of ideas - collaborations, movie reviews, odes and tributes, nature photo essays, and on and on. I’ve even gotten into memes when really funny situations prompt me to share my weird sense of humor with my audience.
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Bren's Buzz | Cori Bren | Substack
Which brings me to my audience. I’m not one of these influencers blowing up the internet every time they have a thought or pass gas. I want to challenge myself, to try new ideas and see them through to conclusion, to solidify a community who appreciates at least some of what I share with the world. I went from a handful of family-member subscribers to 100 subscribers in seven months. Seven more months on and I’m just shy of 500. I had it in my head that I would write about my first year on SubStack as soon as I got to 500 subscribers but my total number has been vacillating up and down the last 6 weeks or so and not quite making it, so I’m throwing out that plan and going with 495. My growth graph looks like this - with a big lift from my Amateur to Ace Series over the summer (thank you for your help
) and the wild exposure from my first meme drop in August.
I’ve not turned on a paywall. I’m not convinced that SubStack is the platform from which to sell my work. I don’t care for algorithms and I’m not convinced that I want to sell my work in the traditional sense. Although I have $400 in pledges, I’m not in a hurry to engage with Str!pe having heard many complaints about their practices. There’s more to life, WAY MORE, than dumping money into the digital payment pit. I’ll let you know when I figure out my next move in this arena.
One thing I plan to do, with some input from my SubStack spirit guides,
and who give million dollar advice, is turn on referrals. I won’t unveil my strategy yet but watch for a Stacky Speaks coming soon, about how to turn on referrals and be creative with the awards you offer. Hint: you don’t have to have a paywall to use referrals.About “the way” and those dead bodies, I’ve learnt a thing or two about myself, my audience, and the algorithm (threw up in my mouth). I like to get all up in people’s faces, in the nicest possible way, by collaborating with other authors. I have published a couple collabs and have three more in the works. I’ve found that providing a brief description of what I have in mind yields the most amazing synergy, when my collaborator and I have not even shared details. Both collaborations were very popular, I believe because shared human experiences are attractive to people. I’ve learned that capturing the funny moments immediately in a post results in the most enjoyment by this community. Humor is powerful. I’ve also learned that everything swirling around in my mind is not enjoyable for my audience. That’s ok. Authors write for themselves.
There is no one “way”. Some say restack with a note and like and share. Others say they’ve tested it and restacking without a note works better for placement in the feed. Some say the Notes app is the secret code for growth. Others say writing posts consistently is the way. Is it wrong of me to say I don’t care - about placement, about process, or about how to get positive results from and within the algorithm? I’ve not made almost 60 trips around the sun for an invisible, unknown, incomprehensible force to determine how my day goes. When I do let it, my days mostly suck. Social media is dangerous this way.
As a digital adopter, I don’t even enjoy SubStack, neither online nor in the app. Needing to geekle every task I want to perform is NOT my idea of a quality, modern, intuitive, digital tool. Having zero tech support for small but highly impactful bugs that hamstring me is a horrible model. It is in fact the antithesis of good tech. It took me 13 months to consciously realize that I don’t earn them any money and therefore writers like myself are not their priority. As a consumer, I understand that their downcycling of my work is part of upcycling the big money gigs. That’s ok.
What I’ve found the most helpful is subscribing to the people whose work I like, including a few people who expose the secrets of the platform, seemingly right when I’m ready to deploy one of the secrets. As for me, I don’t need to or want to become a SubStack expert. I am here to share. I’m here to write. I’m here to learn from and about others who write. It’s ok to be different. I know that it’s ok to not be focused on growth in a traditional way. It’s ok to throw things at the wall over and over and over again to see what sticks in the way that works for me and my community, a community I LOVE being a part of.
This community is the best. It’s reminiscent of the small neighborhoods where I spent most of my childhood. Supportive, seemingly all-knowing in a save-the-day sort of way, there in a way that strangers we pass on the street are not and could not possibly be. Here I’ve found kindness and support I was not aware I needed, as a very independent person. This experience is remaking me as a person. To speak in the spirit of the universe, I’ve moved to a completely new timeline. It’s amazing to me!
I refuse to end this 1-year ‘journal entry’ without showcasing some of this community, without whose kind and deliberate support I’d be sitting at a folding card table figuratively selling (very little) lemonade to strangers.
DISCLAIMER: I subscribe to almost 500 SubStack authors and almost 500 people subscribe to me. It’s not feasible or desirable to rattle off some endless list during which those still with me at this point will certainly check out.
Today I chose people who either by engaging with me, enticing me to engage with them, or downright cheerleading via recommendations have literally contributed to my growth as a human being and, in some cases, my growth in subscribers.
Daniel D - My very first non-family subscriber and long time friend from my prior employer
Lacey B - My very first family subscriber
Starfire Codes - I read
(Demi’s) work every day. I always learn something about myself. The Scroll, published weekly, is THE water cooler of SubStack. Every time I feel like giving up authoring, I see something in the daily post or the daily memes that reminds me of what’s in store if I keep on keepin on.
The DoG Pound - I read
’s meme’s every day. Humor is therapeutic and the daily drop starts my day out with optimism. We seem to be in a competition for sharing subscribers - I’ve gotten 9 from DoG’s recommendation, DoG’s gotten 19 from my recommendation (falling behind DoG?!).
A blunt Oregon Girl -
and I share an abiding faith in God and a transcendental walk. We’ve collaborated on one post and her recommendation of Bren’s Buzz has resulted in 14 new subscribers. I value her loving approach to sharing her faith for the benefit of others.The Charlotte Pendragon Diaries by Charlotte Pendragon -
is like my Aunt Judy. We spent a week with her every summer after my mom died and she was the best. Always there with something interesting and fun and supportive without fail. Charlotte has read all of my work from her subscription date forward. She restacks with a supportive note, a like, and a comment. Thank you so much, Aunty Char.
The Stone Age - If Charlotte is a caring aunt,
is a well-meaning brother. We have a good bit of overlap, sharing subscribers and an earnest appreciation for each other’s work.
Mickey Z. Says - I read
’s post every day. There is nothing more pressing in my immediate life than restacking his work to get the message out about his mission to help homeless people.
Wildhood Wanted -
publishes three newsletters, all excellent, AND she is a digital assistant who takes the ‘yuck’ out of the back-office work required to manage a quality SubStack site. As mentioned in today’s post, she gives million dollar advice and is largely responsible for the makeover we gave my on line image this past summer.
The Family We Keep -
and I share a love of God and authenticity. We collaborated on one of my most popular posts, all about our families and growing up in the 70’s.
Shadows and Space -
and I have begun to collaborate a bit. I have an idea for a collaborative post about my retirement and I’m reading his first fantasy book, Lord of Bones, after which I plan to publish a review. I have not read fiction in years and this is an interesting first foray.
Kent’s Substack -
has a charmingly traditional approach to publishing that I find quite enjoyable. His daily post, one typewritten (on a typewriter) page, is always enjoyable. He also makes rubber stamps, one of which he gifted me as the mascot of my Stacky Speaks series about little SubStack how-to tips.
Ken’s Substack -
, written by Ken Macko, is a true slice of Americana. His love of baseball and reminiscence of the bygone days with friends and family gives our nostalgia a place we can call home.
In the end, there is no community without an audience. Despite my frustrations with modern digital platforms, I’m very thankful my voice has found a growing number of readers here who appreciate my snarky brand of wandering miscellany. I tip my hat to you in thanks.
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Word has it, we’re into words. Start some shit in the comments. Come at me bro!
I don't know. From what I've read of Wildhood Wanted, it's possible you might be a person who responds to a 3 a.m. call about a 'body' problem. Just sayin'...
I don't know. I'm pretty sure that based on Wildhood Wanted you are possibly the type to respond to a 3 a.m. call about a 'body' problem. Just sayin'...