Watch now | Prevent Substack overwhelm by creating a supporting editorial calendar. Highly recommended for Substackers at any stage. Expert advice on how often you really need to post and how to create a Substack editorial calendar that works for, not against you and your subscribers.
I’ve been watching this multiple times, and applying multiple times, currently my third watch 🙂
This is so valuable, I observe one big struggle is moving beyond the writer role.
Yes, I’m one who has been just fly by seat of pants and write what I want, no real strategy, hope someone likes it! And some do and don’t.
The writing what I want vs helping my readers and writing for them is a big one, honestly I’ve forgotten my readers it’s not been much of a balance at all.
I have been a quite a selfish and self indulgent writer often, and forgetting my readers. Sometimes perhaps that’s been entertaining for readers, sometimes not, but ultimately I feel I’m not really connecting.
Yet I’m not reaching key goals, paid subscribers. I went paid 2 months ago and not one paid sub, so that’s a great motivator for change.
Yet my resistance and stubbornness has been considerable! I watched this once, thought it was a good idea for an editorial and content calendar, even though I didn’t fully understand them, and then proceeded to continue to just write what I wanted.
Yet I noticed I’m not getting what I want, to connect better with readers and to gain paid subs. So, im gradually trying to grow my other roles, as editor and publisher.
The writer in me is a little frustrated, but also realises more I need those other roles to help me connect better with my goals.
I suspect I’ll need to watch this video more than 3 times again, and try to apply the lessons again and again. I learn some things fast but this area is challenging, I can be stubborn sometimes and just want to do things my own way!
Yet it’s not helping me reach my goals, so I need to learn, apply, repeat, keep going.
Thanks so much for these videos Sarah, they are so helpful! I’ll keep working at learning 🙂🙏🏾
After months of being dragged under the waves of my mental health, I finally feel like I'm swimming again, and ready to fully commit to my Substack, and to the recovery and wellbeing coaching I know I am meant to offer into the world. The two will go hand in hand, as I no longer have any desire to be on any other platform.
I've just cleared the chaos that had developed in my work room, and have scheduled time over the weekend to sit with this and other workshops of yours to get clear on my goals, my plans and my schedule.
It feels so good to be thinking about working again after feeling so low and unable to plan anything with any confidence I could execute those plans!
I feel like an idiot for asking, but I've been through this video twice and I'm still confused. What exactly do we put on our editorial calendar and how does that help support our goals? Could someone share an example, please?
You’re not being silly. An editorial calendar is more challenging than a Contant calendar. A content calendar is the what you’re going to publish on a microlevel week by week day by day. And editorial calendar takes your goals into account. So if you want hundred subscribers by the end of the year, which post do you know bring in subscribers and where during the year will you publish those types of posts. Not everyone can do this because not everyone has this type of awareness of their work and how it registers with the reading/ viewing public.
This was fantastic. Thank you. After some trial and error I have a content calendar I really like. It's a Sheets template in Google and I have tabs for different years and a separate tab that's an idea dump. Happy to share photos and the template if anyone is interested.
Hello, I would like to accept your offer for sharing your template and photos of a content calendar. I am super NOT technology friendly. I appreciate your time and effort. Thanks!
I just reviewed the replay. This was epic. Thank you thank you! There are many things I can do now to streamline my work. You've given so much information that I can follow up on. Thank you Julie for the idea of using Mural. That's very cool and I just set up a schematic editorial calendar using it which I'll refine by going thru my stats.
Thank you Sarah! As always such useful information! I think about writing all day long, I am flowing with ideas for posts, but I rarely have the mental energy to put pen to paper. I love how you break it all down into manageable steps!
I noticed at the end, when you were showing the calendar and dragging stuff around, one of your posts was titled, "Post Less, Please". Given that you briefly talked about subscriber fatigue in the workshop (and how it is changing over time), I'm wondering what the current "wisdom" is on posting amounts.
Previously I was posting once a week but doing two different things in each post (an essay and a weekly roundup of some things). I was considering splitting that out into two posts/week and the primary reason I haven't is because I don't want to overwhelm people. I had just gotten over that and resolved to do that going forward but now I'm second-guessing myself again.
Thank you for another great workshop, Sarah! I appreciate how you distinguished the Publisher/Writer/Editor roles. I'm looking forward to your Sections vs Groups workshop.
Did you see the article by @Jayshree Gururaj and @Raj Menon
I recently tested their recommendations for one of my posts that has several linked articles, like a Table of Contents. Here's my little test & link to their article. This is an additional content release option 'soft launch'. It's worked nicely
Sarah-Thanks for a great workshop. You refer to "Strategic Editorial" and "Content calendar." I understand the latter but and not clear about what is the "Strategic Editorial" content. Since I am a newcomer to Sarah World, is that a topic that is referenced elsewhere or in a previous session?
This was so great!! I do have a content calendar on asana that I currently use, but this workshop gave me so much more to think about and add as I plan posts!
I’ve been watching this multiple times, and applying multiple times, currently my third watch 🙂
This is so valuable, I observe one big struggle is moving beyond the writer role.
Yes, I’m one who has been just fly by seat of pants and write what I want, no real strategy, hope someone likes it! And some do and don’t.
The writing what I want vs helping my readers and writing for them is a big one, honestly I’ve forgotten my readers it’s not been much of a balance at all.
I have been a quite a selfish and self indulgent writer often, and forgetting my readers. Sometimes perhaps that’s been entertaining for readers, sometimes not, but ultimately I feel I’m not really connecting.
Yet I’m not reaching key goals, paid subscribers. I went paid 2 months ago and not one paid sub, so that’s a great motivator for change.
Yet my resistance and stubbornness has been considerable! I watched this once, thought it was a good idea for an editorial and content calendar, even though I didn’t fully understand them, and then proceeded to continue to just write what I wanted.
Yet I noticed I’m not getting what I want, to connect better with readers and to gain paid subs. So, im gradually trying to grow my other roles, as editor and publisher.
The writer in me is a little frustrated, but also realises more I need those other roles to help me connect better with my goals.
I suspect I’ll need to watch this video more than 3 times again, and try to apply the lessons again and again. I learn some things fast but this area is challenging, I can be stubborn sometimes and just want to do things my own way!
Yet it’s not helping me reach my goals, so I need to learn, apply, repeat, keep going.
Thanks so much for these videos Sarah, they are so helpful! I’ll keep working at learning 🙂🙏🏾
After months of being dragged under the waves of my mental health, I finally feel like I'm swimming again, and ready to fully commit to my Substack, and to the recovery and wellbeing coaching I know I am meant to offer into the world. The two will go hand in hand, as I no longer have any desire to be on any other platform.
I've just cleared the chaos that had developed in my work room, and have scheduled time over the weekend to sit with this and other workshops of yours to get clear on my goals, my plans and my schedule.
It feels so good to be thinking about working again after feeling so low and unable to plan anything with any confidence I could execute those plans!
I feel like an idiot for asking, but I've been through this video twice and I'm still confused. What exactly do we put on our editorial calendar and how does that help support our goals? Could someone share an example, please?
You’re not being silly. An editorial calendar is more challenging than a Contant calendar. A content calendar is the what you’re going to publish on a microlevel week by week day by day. And editorial calendar takes your goals into account. So if you want hundred subscribers by the end of the year, which post do you know bring in subscribers and where during the year will you publish those types of posts. Not everyone can do this because not everyone has this type of awareness of their work and how it registers with the reading/ viewing public.
91-94% of my audience are reading via email. This reflects how I'm using Substack, as a letter to readers of my books.
This was fantastic. Thank you. After some trial and error I have a content calendar I really like. It's a Sheets template in Google and I have tabs for different years and a separate tab that's an idea dump. Happy to share photos and the template if anyone is interested.
Hello, I would like to accept your offer for sharing your template and photos of a content calendar. I am super NOT technology friendly. I appreciate your time and effort. Thanks!
Here's the Google Sheets template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SJCEFWuxOajyViZX95LiVNOi01_27Kj9jU66kVZQRVA/edit?usp=sharing
I can't upload photos here ... Not sure why.
I just reviewed the replay. This was epic. Thank you thank you! There are many things I can do now to streamline my work. You've given so much information that I can follow up on. Thank you Julie for the idea of using Mural. That's very cool and I just set up a schematic editorial calendar using it which I'll refine by going thru my stats.
What a wonderful workshop. Thank you again!
Thank you Sarah! As always such useful information! I think about writing all day long, I am flowing with ideas for posts, but I rarely have the mental energy to put pen to paper. I love how you break it all down into manageable steps!
I noticed at the end, when you were showing the calendar and dragging stuff around, one of your posts was titled, "Post Less, Please". Given that you briefly talked about subscriber fatigue in the workshop (and how it is changing over time), I'm wondering what the current "wisdom" is on posting amounts.
Previously I was posting once a week but doing two different things in each post (an essay and a weekly roundup of some things). I was considering splitting that out into two posts/week and the primary reason I haven't is because I don't want to overwhelm people. I had just gotten over that and resolved to do that going forward but now I'm second-guessing myself again.
Thank you for another great workshop, Sarah! I appreciate how you distinguished the Publisher/Writer/Editor roles. I'm looking forward to your Sections vs Groups workshop.
Did you see the article by @Jayshree Gururaj and @Raj Menon
I recently tested their recommendations for one of my posts that has several linked articles, like a Table of Contents. Here's my little test & link to their article. This is an additional content release option 'soft launch'. It's worked nicely
https://www.carermentor.com/i/141034969/brilliant-gem-of-an-approach-so-cool
Sarah-Thanks for a great workshop. You refer to "Strategic Editorial" and "Content calendar." I understand the latter but and not clear about what is the "Strategic Editorial" content. Since I am a newcomer to Sarah World, is that a topic that is referenced elsewhere or in a previous session?
Hi Mike, Editorial calendar is the long-term planning + aligning your goal with your plan (use data-driven analytics from your stats).
You can download the presentation decks from the post above.
Informative as ever. I tried to follow the link on alt text but it only gave me the preview although I am a subscriber…
Fabulous workshop! Could we have the list of topics please
This was so great!! I do have a content calendar on asana that I currently use, but this workshop gave me so much more to think about and add as I plan posts!
Fantastic!
This is an AWESOME source. Not sure if I can use the calendar source.
I write, publish, and record two podcasts per day...7 days a week...365. So far I have created almost 1,400 posts.
Great workshop! Especially appreciated the tour of dashboard stats - super helpful to be more intentional in being essential to readers.
Thank you for sharing your method. It’s amazing.
My pleasure. Thanks for the invitation.