Substack Subreddit with Prompts
Why Reddit dialogue matters!
Hey Everyone,
After not finding a huge amount of high level analysis on Discord, nor Substack’s official Reddit, I decided to conduct an experiment.
Full disclosure, my Reddit handle is Mediocre_Credit, I’m not a huge Reddit user. But at times my marketing nerd hat comes on or I feel like doing a lot of dialogue around growing an audience. On a sporadic basis and mostly when I’ve hit a mental block or burnout wall myself.
But another thing I am most passionate about is the early-stage Newsletter creators and their journey. I’m always testing Substack, LinkedIn Newsletters, beehiive, Ghost, Wordpress, etc… I have limited time for networking, per se.
The current Subreddit about Substack is barely used.
So I was trying to think how could I contribute something a bit different.
Prompting Inclusive Chat on Substack Creator Journeys
Since I interview early-stage Creators on this Newsletter, which I do not actively promote, I wanted a more public chat about Substack that could be of value to some early-stage Creators.
To start the growth the channel I decided on creating my own version of “Prompts” or Discussion threads via the new Subreddit.
I’m hoping someone out there might find value in it, no matter how few. If you comment on this topic, you’d make my day.
If any of my prompts interests you for a reply, I would be very grateful to get your insights on any of the topics. Or you can also create your own posts, I’m open to more people being Mods as well.
Introducing SubstackReads
The URL for my prompted questions, is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/substackreads/
I have developed mod-flairs for various topics in case you share a post, me and the other mods will give it a flair.
This will also enable readers and viewers to sorts categories that might interest them.
I’ll be adding more flairs in the future.
As an introvert, but a people-loving introvert, I must admit I do not feel comfortable in huge Discord channels, nor am I finding much “community” per se on Twitter or other channels. So I’ve had to “create my own community” to some degree. Sometimes the “honesty” on Reddit is worth a thousand words. Especially if more experienced Creators share their insights with smaller ones like us.
Even if this is relatively unlikely to occur, I do try to reach out to some of them.
My own Curiosity
Trying to grow my Twitter account related to my Newsletter has been a sub-optimal experience. But I still have so many Creator questions for Newsletter writers and their journey of why Substack and what works for them.
While the new Subreddit is exceedingly small, a few first comers have started to trickle in to the semi hidden Subreddit. This has given me hope that the prompts might be useful as a case study that lives on for future viewers.
I believe self-promotion in pinned threads is much more valuable than as stand-alone posts on Reddit (which most people dislike and down-vote). I have pinned thus a way for you to share your Newsletters here.
As curious as I am, I can think of ways to pin self-promotion in a way that it doesn’t ruin the subreddit’s authenticity.
Reddit
Reddit is an important place since Mods can create their own set or rules around how content is shared and experienced. I’m interested in tips, marketing, analytics, Creator sharing, mental health of Creators, and generally Edu-tainment (education and entertainment) around the Substack Creator journey, as well as the Creator Economy as a whole.
Since Reddit comments are public (you can still remain anonymous via a Reddit ID), this means you are free to share in a way that can actively contributes to the benefit of the community itself far forwards in time (unlike a closed Discord where things are basically lost easily).
Future Plans
If we got enough folk together active on this Subreddit, I’d be happy to create a Geneva home (a group app) to further discuss our experiences as Newsletter Creators and writers online today.
Many thanks to the Reddit users who have already begun to participate there. I will try to continue to nurture the Subreddit with prompts in case it is appealing. I realize growth may take a long time.
Burnout of Creators
Writers, journalists, fiction writers, creators and media folk face a lot of stress and sometimes it’s just good to chat about what’s going on. Of course the topic is mostly related to Substack, Newsletter Creators, writing and marketing related to these activities.
Thanks!
Here is a visual list of some of my prompts thus far:
Introduce your Newsletter
[Link]
What is the Origin Story of your Newsletter?
[Link]
I made this short Instagram video (see below) about burnout after reading this, which I could really relate to. I was trying to remind myself, why I started this journey nine months ago.
In your Stats page on Substack…
[Link]
Fiction Writers: Why Substack?
[Link]
If you want me to add a prompt (if you do not feel comfortable posting) just DM me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Eventually if this Subreddit just fed itself with a bunch of mods and future users I’d be happy to see it.
Of course if there’s no real world demand for the experiment, that’s okay too. Everything in the Creator economy is just a temporary experiment. Although hopefully Substack enables us to have a “landing page” around our creativity for a good while.
As for SubstackReads, I have more questions than their are people who are coming to respond by a wide margin. So if you just want to support me, please just come and take a peak (I won’t know it’s you anyways).
Thanks for reading.
Reddit could be awesome for education, if Creators were willing to share.