28 Comments
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Michael Mohr's avatar

"I’m obsessed with podcasting, but let’s face it: podcasts are a lot of work. Newsletters, on the other hand? They’re a no-brainer, especially for writers. I think every single writer should have a newsletter."

100%.

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

🙌

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Lindsey Goldstein's avatar

Will you be hosting another workshop akin to the one you mentioned in this essay? I wasn’t aware of the last one and missed it!

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Lindsey Goldstein's avatar

Great! Thank you!

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Lindsey Goldstein's avatar

Hi! Will you be hosting another workshop about newsletter ins and outs? I missed your last one.

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Todd Shaffer's avatar

Courtney, this is a great edition of your newsletter. I love podcasting too, but my workload just got to be too much. Will start up again this year. My newsletter is The Creative Underground at https://creativeunderground.substack.com

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Danyel Smith's avatar

hi — mine is SHINE BRIGHT HQ https://shinebrighthq.substack.com/p/in-our-california-nothing-is-promised

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

Great, just followed you!

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Ms. d. j. mathews's avatar

Well, I missed your workshop. I have a newsletter on my website attached to Mailchimp. Is there a way to tie a website to Substack for a newsletter and way to get subscribers?

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

Yes, you can embed your Substack sign up like I've done here: https://www.podcastbestie.com/. Just give a Google if you get stuck.

And I'm teaching another newsletter workshop in April if you'd like to join: https://writingworkshops.com/products/start-a-newsletter-to-supercharge-your-platform-network-business-zoom-seminar

Good luck!

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Crone Life's avatar

I started my newsletter, Crone Life, about living with the consequences of aging, in August 2023. I had finished a master's program earlier that year and enjoyed the experience of weekly writing assignments, so decided to continue doing it for my own sake.

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Shawna Kenney's avatar

Great advice! My (new) newsletter is called POSER—on yoga, writing & seeking peace in a violent world https://open.substack.com/pub/shawnakenney?r=nket&utm_medium=ios

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

Awesome! Just followed you.

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Shawna Kenney's avatar

Thank you!:)

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Joy V.'s avatar

In ‘23, I started a newsletter about overcoming midlife trauma….only to get hit with the fresh hell of new trauma a few months ago, which tanked my productivity. I’ve been losing subscribers ever since. However, this is not my day job, so it’s all for “fun” and not a monetary loss. (But man I’d love to be independently writing for money versus doing what I do now, which is editing information about hearing aids…)

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

There's a thriving midlife community on Substack! You should connect with Brooke Berman (who also commented on this post) and Amanda Miller Littlejohn. I love The Shrieking Cactus as a title.

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Brooke Berman's avatar

ramona at midlife, newsletter i started as a companion to my upcoming film (also called ramona at midlife) but like everything you describe here has evolved into a creative safe space and literary outlet.

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

Break a leg with the newsletter AND the film! I'm also working on a short, though it's unrelated to this newsletter. I love the idea of a newsletter as a film companion.

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Brooke Berman's avatar

I made two shorts first. Lmk if you ever want to talk about the feature - how to, etc. Happy to share what I learned! Mine was a SAG ULB and it did well on the fest circuit. www.ramonaatmidlife.com

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Kasey Butcher Santana's avatar

I have a newsletter where writing and alpaca farming collide: Life Among the Alpacas. I actually workshoped the title when you did a series for The Forever Workshop, so thank you for that!

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

Awesome! Great to reconnect.

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grce mco's avatar

hi! my newsletter “meat cute” is where i share my thoughts on all things queer horror and romance while i write my “gay cannibals” manuscript 🥩 💕 join me!

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

That is such a cute name! Love the premise, just followed you. :)

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Kasey Butcher Santana's avatar

omg amazing title!

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Nathan Slake's avatar

Enjoyed this read, thank you. Bit of a confidence boost.

I've been on Substack for two years now, as a from-nothing writer of fiction. I feel I have good engagement and a decent following (close to 1k now, which I know is pittance but still feels good considering it started at zero). I think for me the big challenges are exposure and how to push something relatively niche here like fiction (though, having said that, some big authors are now on the platform).

Anyway, it's a fun game. I'd love to pursue it full time but that's not viable yet.

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Deborah Jeanne Weitzman's avatar

Building my platform, getting my newsletter ready... but not addicted... perhaps more conflicted

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Courtney Kocak's avatar

Say more.

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