Amateur to Ace: Going Pro on Substack

Credit: Adobe stock

---

I joined Substack last September, started publishing Bren's Buzz 6 months ago, and grew my subscriber base to just over 100 - while working 2 day jobs and attempting to reconnect with my inner humanoid. I’m a bit frazzled, to say the least - staggering around tripping over online tools and busting shit up on Substack.

It’s time to tame the frazzled snarl kitten and go pro.

I can’t possibly be the only person who’s first foray into social media is Substack, or who doesn’t have a clue the difference between a whoozit and whatzit, can I? Just in case I’m not, I’ll share a couple stories about my metamorphosis along the way with deets about my transition and my before and after stats.

How I see Kristi Keller. Credit: Reddit

---

Before I go any further, I’d like to acknowledge

Kristi Keller

whose humor, sassy style, and Unstack Substack newsletter got me started on the right path. I had an amazing introductory session with her ‘digital assistant’ persona today, where she made it easy for me to begin my evolution from the grungy potting soil aisle at a 1970’s A&P store to an immaculate FAO Schwarz, full of sparkle and wonder. She gets * * * * * Highly recommend her talents in this arena. She also put her spin on the title of this post, thank you Kristi.

With her help, I am focusing on 4 things.

1. Branding - Images, Hero Post, color scheme and photography

2. What’s the story - About the site (Welcome and Publication Introduction), about me (About page and testimonials)

3. Layout and Navigation - New layout, use of tags to organize and reorder posts, use of navigation bar to guide visitors

4. Community - Recommendations, both mine for others and others for me

The last area of focus, recommendations, is a sticky wicket. Being an analyst at heart (sometimes - Gemini, duh!) I’ve noticed that those who I recommend have gotten many subscriptions from my visitors. However, Bren’s Buzz is also recommended by several authors and I’ve only gotten a couple subscriptions from them. This led me to speculate about the quality of my home when they come in the door. Seeing it from their eyes, something is lacking.

I am not interested in standards, or how to get big on Substack, or whatnot. But I do want to grow a decent base at a reasonable pace and sometime soon turn on some paid activity. To do this, I want the people who visit my site to sit for a spell, have a coffee or bourbon, and lose track of time. All joking aside, subscribers are our lifeblood. So, over the next several weeks you will literally observe my visual transformation. I hope by also sharing stories of what I learn along the way, fellow travelers will have an easier journey.

How To Fill Lonely Blank Spots In Your Publishing Schedule