I'm Starting a New Publication on Substack

I still go to my day job on the days I don't want to. So why does content get a free pass but my day job doesn't?

For years I've been trying to build a community, and I realized I'm not putting in the right amount of effort. A podcast I listened to recently made that painfully clear.

There are two things I'm doing wrong right now:

1. Not treating this like a job.
2. Not batching content on social media.

Before we dive in to talk about each separately, let me explain what this means for you.

The Ghost site stays up. Both will have the same content. The only new things are Substack Notes which is a bit like Twitter, and the Subscriber chat. Those two elements are exclusive to Substack. Subscribers on Ghost will receive the email from Ghost. Subscribers on Substack will receive the email from Substack.

Content-wise, everything will remain the same.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about those two points.

Not Treating This Like a Job

I have a full time job. It's not like I procrastinate. But I do create content mostly when inspiration strikes, or when I'm not burned out about previous content that didn't do well.

I need to put in at least more effort than the casual reader. And I need to make my life easier by starting where people already are, not on my personal website that currently receives hardly any visitors.

This is where Substack comes in. The average Substack reader is on the platform to read. So I'm going to import all of my work from my Ghost site into Substack and start being more active on Substack Notes. Perhaps I'll make some friends in the process, too.

Substack has also implemented new features that make connection with your subscribers more fun and interactive. A chat, a podcast, videos - those are all cool features that make a publication more than a simple newsletter.

Not Batching Content on Social Media

In the podcast I listened to, the guest said his co-founder has written ahead about 100 posts a week for social media.

That's SO much work.

But it pays off. Their Threads presence is 302k followers. They have over 36k subscribers on Substack, too, and they get paid from it.

I want to invest more time into short-form content on social media. I already have ideas for short-form posts I can share about the nerdy topics I love.

I have a Typefully subscription that I haven't been using that much and considered cancelling. Instead, I'll spend some time scheduling posts ahead of time. It's a grind and I think I mostly avoided it because it feels like unrewarded work, but I need to find signal and see my voice develop online.

We'll See How It Goes

That's all I have for you today, and if you're reading this letter on Substack itself, say hi in the comments! I'm a really nice nerd.

Thank you for reading.

Oren