Nearly 400 people joined us live to talk about Susan Cain’s amazing Substack ‘The Quiet Life’ and how depth, thoughtfulness, and speaking to kindred spirits can create one of the bestselling Substacks on the platform.
If you don’t know Susan Cain, she’s a lovely human and the author of the mega bestsellers “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” and “Bitter Sweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.” She was a lawyer before becoming one of the most compelling writers of our time.
In this conversation, we talk about envy and jealousy, how to write your posts/articles as kindred letters, how loving what you do makes a successful Substack and a more enjoyable life, the magic of her candlelight chats (the community feature she offers as an introvert and for introverts), and why “vibe” might just be the word for 2026.
Below are some snippets for you, but do listen to the podcast this weekend when you’re out walking or cooking, gardening, whatever you might be doing.
I love how she views her posts/articles, which she calls Kindred Letters:
“I think about them as letters that I’m writing to kindred spirits who operate on a particular frequency, which is kind of like the frequency of being more quiet, thoughtful, sensitive, bittersweet. I think of them as kind of messages in a bottle that I’m sending out to people across the world who operate on that frequency.”
Think about your subscribers, not in terms of a niche or demographic or even the topic you write on. Think about the person you’re talking to. What are they aspiring to? That could be something like living a quiet life, which our society doesn’t fully embrace.
“The reason I went with The Quiet Life is I think that the quiet life is what many of our readers are aspiring, either do live already and want to think more deeply about how to live that life, or are aspiring to live it."
I asked her about how she creates such a warm vibe on her Substack. Don’t think in terms of topics; think in terms of having your subscribers enter a world:
“One of the most popular posts that I wrote was called something like, 'What to Do When You Need a Mother.' None of it was specifically about the “quiet life,” and yet I knew very instinctively that that topic and that the method of going and looking at wisdom traditions is the kind of thing that my reader really responds to.
I'm not trying to send the message of take a very narrower approach. It's more like take a deep approach to what they're looking for, and to what you want to write about, and then you'll find your subjects.”
We talked about how you can do Substack so many different ways, and so much of “succeeding” on here is your Substack and doing the work and your relationship to the work and, as Susan filled in, who you’re writing to:
“Obviously, the real core to it all is work. It’s not only that it takes a lot of work to do a Substack. It’s also that it takes a lot of consistency and showing up even when you may not be in the mood.
The medium is such that you have to keep putting things out, and the only way you’re going to do that realistically is if you love it.
Or we can modify that. Maybe you’re somebody who’s super organized, super disciplined, and you would do it no matter what, but the only way you’re going to do it well is if you love it.
And as always, I asked her what advice she would give someone just starting out on Substack.
“My biggest advice really is to find an MO of doing this: doing what you truly love and enjoy and what you’re excited to sit down and do.
Some of that is about the nature of the Substack that you build substantively, like what topics you write about and so on.
Some of it is just about building a life around it that you enjoy. For me, every time I sit down, it’s always with my latte and it’s always with a little snack that I love. It’s always in a setting that I love, whether my office or a cafe. Make the whole experience just incredibly inviting for yourself and your readers.”
Thank you, Tarra, Nancy Hendrickson, Stephanie Bennett Vogt, Michelle Dowd, LC - Silence is Complicity, and many others for being there!
And stay tuned for Tuesday’s post/article, where I share why Substack isn’t collapsing, but the way people tell you to go about getting paid subscribers is.
All my best,
Upcoming Substack Lives! Mark your calendars:
I have a few brewing, including one with Pangram’s Max Spero and the former Washington Post journalist Karen Attiah. Details to come!
Live with Elizabeth Gilbert: When a Substack Becomes a Spiritual Practice: 9/9 at 2 PM CT. Add to your calendar here.
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