#Substack content marketing

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

How Substack Writers Can Leverage Reedsy to Become Published Authors

And How They Scale Their Publishing Business with Global Collaboration Dear Subscribers, Earlier today, our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz published Chapter 18 of his best-selling book Substack Mastery for free for our community. His goal is, while educating our community, to obtain feedback from beta readers to improve the quality of this exceptional book for next versions and make it a…

[sintagma11]

Que Herramienta de Email Marketing usar para monetizar mi boletín electrónico

Vamos a desglosar las principales diferencias entre Substack, HubSpot, MailerLite y Mailchimp, enfocadas en la monetización de newsletters:

Comparativa Funcional y Técnica para Monetización de Newsletters

Substack

Enfoque: Diseñado específicamente para creadores de contenido que desean monetizar sus newsletters a través de suscripciones pagas.

Funcionalidades:

Monetización directa: Permite establecer suscripciones pagas con diferentes niveles de acceso.

Comunidad: Facilita la creación de una comunidad en torno al contenido, con comentarios y discusiones.

Diseño: Ofrece plantillas minimalistas pero personalizables para un aspecto profesional.

Integraciones: Limitadas, principalmente enfocadas en herramientas de escritura y análisis.

Ventajas para monetización:

Sencillez: Fácil de configurar y usar para creadores sin conocimientos técnicos.

Enfoque en el contenido: Permite centrarse en la creación de contenido de valor.

Desventajas:

Limitaciones: Menos opciones de personalización y automatización que otras herramientas.

Costos: Puede resultar costoso a medida que crece la base de suscriptores.

HubSpot

Enfoque: Plataforma de marketing completa que incluye email marketing, CRM, automatización de marketing y más.

Funcionalidades:

Email marketing: Permite crear campañas de email personalizadas y automatizadas.

Segmentación: Ofrece opciones avanzadas de segmentación de listas.

Integraciones: Se integra con una amplia variedad de herramientas de marketing y ventas.

Ventajas para monetización:

Complejidad: Permite crear estrategias de marketing más sofisticadas.

Escalabilidad: Ideal para empresas en crecimiento.

Desventajas:

Curva de aprendizaje: Puede ser más compleja de usar para principiantes.

Costo: Los planes más completos pueden ser costosos.

MailerLite

Enfoque: Plataforma de email marketing enfocada en la facilidad de uso y la relación calidad-precio.

Funcionalidades:

Email marketing: Ofrece una amplia variedad de plantillas y opciones de personalización.

Automatización: Permite crear flujos de automatización básicos.

Landing pages: Permite crear landing pages sencillas.

Ventajas para monetización:

Precio: Opciones de precios más asequibles.

Facilidad de uso: Interfaz intuitiva.

Desventajas:

Funcionalidades: Menos opciones avanzadas que HubSpot.

Mailchimp

Enfoque: Plataforma de email marketing con una amplia gama de funcionalidades.

Funcionalidades:

Email marketing: Permite crear campañas de email personalizadas y automatizadas.

Segmentación: Ofrece opciones avanzadas de segmentación de listas.

Integraciones: Se integra con una amplia variedad de herramientas de marketing.

Ventajas para monetización:

Popularidad: Amplia comunidad de usuarios y recursos disponibles.

Funcionalidades: Ofrece una buena combinación de características.

Desventajas:

Costo: Los planes más completos pueden ser costosos.

¡Absolutamente! Vamos a desglosar las principales diferencias entre Substack, HubSpot, MailerLite y Mailchimp, enfocadas en la monetización de newsletters:

Comparativa Funcional y Técnica para Monetización de Newsletters

Substack

Enfoque: Diseñado específicamente para creadores de contenido que desean monetizar sus newsletters a través de suscripciones pagas.

Funcionalidades:

Monetización directa: Permite establecer suscripciones pagas con diferentes niveles de acceso.

Comunidad: Facilita la creación de una comunidad en torno al contenido, con comentarios y discusiones.

Diseño: Ofrece plantillas minimalistas pero personalizables para un aspecto profesional.

Integraciones: Limitadas, principalmente enfocadas en herramientas de escritura y análisis.

Ventajas para monetización:

Sencillez: Fácil de configurar y usar para creadores sin conocimientos técnicos.

Enfoque en el contenido: Permite centrarse en la creación de contenido de valor.

Desventajas:

Limitaciones: Menos opciones de personalización y automatización que otras herramientas.

Costos: Puede resultar costoso a medida que crece la base de suscriptores.

HubSpot

Enfoque: Plataforma de marketing completa que incluye email marketing, CRM, automatización de marketing y más.

Funcionalidades:

Email marketing: Permite crear campañas de email personalizadas y automatizadas.

Segmentación: Ofrece opciones avanzadas de segmentación de listas.

Integraciones: Se integra con una amplia variedad de herramientas de marketing y ventas.

Ventajas para monetización:

Complejidad: Permite crear estrategias de marketing más sofisticadas.

Escalabilidad: Ideal para empresas en crecimiento.

Desventajas:

Curva de aprendizaje: Puede ser más compleja de usar para principiantes.

Costo: Los planes más completos pueden ser costosos.

MailerLite

Enfoque: Plataforma de email marketing enfocada en la facilidad de uso y la relación calidad-precio.

Funcionalidades:

Email marketing: Ofrece una amplia variedad de plantillas y opciones de personalización.

Automatización: Permite crear flujos de automatización básicos.

Landing pages: Permite crear landing pages sencillas.

Ventajas para monetización:

Precio: Opciones de precios más asequibles.

Facilidad de uso: Interfaz intuitiva.

Desventajas:

Funcionalidades: Menos opciones avanzadas que HubSpot.

Mailchimp

Enfoque: Plataforma de email marketing con una amplia gama de funcionalidades.

Funcionalidades:

Email marketing: Permite crear campañas de email personalizadas y automatizadas.

Segmentación: Ofrece opciones avanzadas de segmentación de listas.

Integraciones: Se integra con una amplia variedad de herramientas de marketing.

Ventajas para monetización:

Popularidad: Amplia comunidad de usuarios y recursos disponibles.

Funcionalidades: Ofrece una buena combinación de características.

Desventajas:

Costo: Los planes más completos pueden ser costosos.

¿Cuál elegir?

La elección de la herramienta dependerá de tus necesidades específicas:

Substack: Ideal para creadores de contenido que buscan una forma sencilla de monetizar su newsletter y construir una comunidad.

HubSpot: Perfecta para empresas que necesitan una plataforma de marketing completa con muchas funcionalidades.

MailerLite: Una buena opción para quienes buscan una solución asequible y fácil de usar para sus campañas de email marketing.

Mailchimp: Una opción popular con una amplia gama de funcionalidades y una gran comunidad de usuarios.

Consideraciones adicionales:

Tamaño de tu lista: Si tienes una lista pequeña, MailerLite o Substack pueden ser suficientes. Si tienes una lista grande y necesitas funcionalidades más avanzadas, HubSpot o Mailchimp son mejores opciones.

Presupuesto: Considera tu presupuesto y las funcionalidades que realmente necesitas.

Conocimientos técnicos: Si eres nuevo en el marketing por correo electrónico, MailerLite o Substack pueden ser más fáciles de usar.

[adickaboutspoons]

Happy sexual Sunday. In honor of Rhys announcing his upcoming substack by pointing at hand-written bulletpoints on a chalkboard with a screwdriver, I want to share the OnlyFans Stede idea that has been in my plot bunny pen for ages, but prolly isn't going to go anywhere. Stede's OF account was set up for him by Lucius, and is completely neutral content of him demonstrating basic auto maintenance and, like, how to tie a fishing lure, and a bunch of other Dad things, and he's completely oblivious to how unintentionally suggestive he's being. Like, he's filming himself working in the garden when it's super hot out, makes a "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" dad joke, strips off his shirt and uses it to mop his brow. He's on his hands and knees, pulling up weeds, and when he manages to pull up a particularly stubborn one, roots and all, kind-of-whispery/grunting-to-himself, "Aww, yeah. That's what you want, baby." Then he sits back and takes a deep drink from his water bottle, and accidentally holds it near his crotch while encouraging his watchers to stay hydrated. Ed is one of his subscribers and finds the whole thing just brain-meltingly hot. Eventually, they accidentally meet IRL, and Ed is trying to be SO COOL and not let it be known that he knows this guy and where from. And then they keep running into one another (by total coincidence - Ed hasn't become a convert to going to the farmer's market instead of just picking shit up from the grocery store on the off (likely) chance of running into Stede while he's there. Not at ALL.), and start becoming friendly. It's during one of these meetings Ed accidentally slips that he's a subscriber. He's mortified. For a moment he thinks Stede is going to get all weirded out. But Stede is just like "Oh! You like the feed? Why didn't you say so?! Always glad to meet my Only Fan!" (Stede has a v. healthy subscribership, but he thinks making the Only Fan joke is Hilarious) Stede asks for his username, and when he tells him, Stede is all "Oh! I know YOU! I can't tell you how much your feedback means to me. Always leaves me feeling all glowy for days!" Ed is all blushy and stammery and, "Uh... yeah, man. Me too." He offers Ed a hug, and Ed is internally combusting. Stede is all "If you've got any ideas for the feed, I'm always open to suggestions. Is there anything you'd like to see me doing?" There are MANY things Ed would like to see him doing. None of which are appropriate to give voice to in a crowded open-air market. Eventually eventually, after many instances where Ed is going crazy trying to figure out if it's a date or just a hang, there would be a v. thorough railing wherein Stede whispers all the tender, affirmational things Ed could ever have wished to hear. So! here's the only bit of it I've actually bothered to write:

The man on the screen smeared a little grease around the tight little hole, then inserted the cylinder into the gap in one smooth, gratifying motion. "There we are," he said, his voice a low, self-satisfied hum, "A nice, tight fit. And doesn't it feel good to do it yourself?"

Ed's breathing picked up pace a little.

"And that's how you replace a spark plug. Nothing shocking about it." He smiled a charming, little shit-eating grin and winked at the camera.

Ed's breath caught in his throat.

"So that's it for this one! Thanks, as always to my subscribers, and a special tip of the hat to this week's new friends," he looked away from the camera and put on a pair of gold wire-rimmed glasses. Ed swooned a little as he read out the names from an actual printed page.

At the end of it, he took off the glasses and looked directly into the camera again, his eyes soft and his smile genuine and kind. "Thank you for sharing this time with me. Lots of love!"

There was nothing explicitly sexual about the CapriSun_Erotica OnlyFans page. In fact, the most shocking thing about it was how roundly wholesome the content was. Just a man and his phone camera and a world of practical advice and dad jokes. An intensely hot man in the tiniest shorts or tightest jeans Ed had ever seen, who seemed allergic to doing up the top three buttons on his shirts, and that radiated so much DILF energy Ed was a little astonished the videos didn't just melt his phone screen. It was the most intensely arousing thing Ed had ever seen.

He eased himself out of his boxers and hit the replay button.

When he had cleaned himself up, he tapped out a quick reply. "Hey DaddyStede, great vid as usual. Really got my motor running. 😘"

[the-inkwell-variable]

author ask tag

thank you so much for the tag, @the-golden-comet! ooh this is gonna be fun!

i'm going to focus on my current wip, Why Should I Be Careful? I'm Going To Die Anyway! because it's still very much in the planning stages (despite how much I'm writing for it) and I have Thoughts

What is the main lesson of your story? Why did you choose it?

I'll be honest, I haven't really thought that far ahead. I suppose, if there is a lesson to take from WSIBC?IGTDA!, it might be that you should always chase your goals and desires, and screw what other people think. Maybe put a little more thought and planning into yours than Aura does hers, though. I mean, she almost dies due to her recklessness. Don't be like Aura.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

Well, it's a zombie book - I love zombies, in case you can't tell - so the world is an amalgamation of zombie stuff I love. The zombies are based off of the Train to Busan zombies. This is a self-insert mess, so I'm using the town and people I know in the town as location and characters. Little tropes here and there that I love in movies and books alike. It's just a big chimera of stuff that I grab from stuff I remember and shove into it. It definitely needs polish when it's done, but I'm having a blast so far, so I'm'a keep doing it :3

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, or help the reader grow as a person?

Uhhhhhh this is a tough question. Right now, Aura is trying to make it to Roger's Grocery Mart to save her girlfriend, but most of the time, she's just trying to have a good time in the zombie apocalypse and hopefully not die. She does eventually grow into a character that (mostly) thinks things through and takes other people's situations into account, so I suppose the lesson is "the world doesn't revolve around you - be kind and helpful to others"?

As for what I'm trying to achieve... mostly, to be honest, I just want people to pick up my book and have a good time reading it. I want to write a zombie book because it's my passion and because there aren't enough zombie books out there. I guess I'm trying to inspire others? To show them that you can survive an impossible situation if you work hard and think things through?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

The only time I've written a full-length book (sorry, the only two times, forgot about Zero: ALPHA), it had about twenty-odd chapters. Z:A had...uh...thirty? That was a long time ago and I sadly no longer have that draft. This one is going to go until it's done. Hopefully more than thirty though!

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original content! I have no idea where I'm going to post it. I'm torn between Draft2Digital (originally Smashwords) or Substack. Thing is, I'm really bad at marketing and keywords and all that technical stuff that goes into publicizing, so I'm really hesitant to share it at all. I'm the type of person that gets absolutely morally devastated if my own self-inflicted goals aren't met, and I'm not sure if I can handle that kind of crushing heartbreak with this one lol

So yeah. Might publish, might not. Unsure right now.

When did you start writing?

My dad set up a Windows 95 computer for me in his office, his old one, and taught me the basics of using it. I was five, about to turn six. I immediately sat down and wrote a story about unicorns. I've been writing ever since.

I didn't start writing fanfiction until I was thirteen and had just binge-watched Lord of the Rings for the first time. We don't talk about those works. They were awful.

Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers do you follow?

Write it. Oh it's cringe? Who cares? Write it. Oh, it's a rare pair? Write it. You're worried people will hate it? Fuck the haters. Write it. Writing is about having fun. Writing is about pouring your soul onto the page. Writing is about getting those ideas out of your head so they don't drive you insane. It's about reaching that one person that finds your work and loves it. Even if no one reads it - you still accomplished something. You still wrote it. And no one can take that from you.

I have so many writers in my follow list. Uhh. I have no idea how many are still active, so I'm just going to tag who I know and hope for the best lol

@idyllicocean, @keeping-writing-frosty, @bloodtiesnovel, @asher-writes, @kitswrite, @theink-stainedfolk, @karkkidoeswriting, @lavender-gloom, @orphanheirs, @aquixoticwrites, @alinacapellabooks, @marlowethelibrarian, @flock-from-the-void, @dyrewrites, @storycraftcafe, @writer-imagination, @toragay-writing, @inseasofgreen, @stephtuckerauthor, @thatndginger, @finickyfelix, @eternalwritingstudent, @drchenquill, @paeliae-occasionally, @the-golden-comet, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @watermeezer, @goldfinchwrites, @winterandwords, @badscientist, @clairelsonao3, @i-can-even-burn-salad, @leahpardo-pa-potato, @mjparkerwriting, @rowanwriting, @oliolioxenfreewrites, @emelkae, @rita-rae-siller, @rebelxwriter, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @stesierra, @francineiswriting, @sunset-a-story, @chauceryfairytales, @hollyannewrites, @jaydenswaywrites, @captain-kraken, @violets-in-her-arms-writes, @romy-thewriter, @pure-solomon, @writingmaidenwarrior, @koiwrites

go, go follow them. they're all so good and make my timeline glow.

[yonahsienna]

This Was Supposed to Be Fun

Or: WTF happened to the online Commons, and where do we go now?

Let me start by saying that I don't want to be a "content creator" or “online influencer”. I don't want to "optimize engagement" or “build an agile social strategy”. I don’t even particularly want to Start a Blog or Podcast. I just want to f#¢&!ng hang out with my friends and community online, and I feel like we should have The Technology to just do that by now.

Of course (infuriatingly) we did have that technology! I first connected to the World Wide Web in 2001 when I was ten years old. Back then, the whole family shared one computer, which I mostly used to play Age of Empires, Bugdom, and Oregon Trail. Connecting to the Internet meant that nobody could use the phone, so we would log on quickly (accompanied by a symphony of discordant whistles and beeps), check emails and/or MSN messages, and then pass the computer to the next person.

As our access to the Internet grew through my teens, so did the diversity of content we consumed, shared, and bonded over. eBaum’s World and Newgrounds hosted a plethora of simple, free webgames we'd play once we got bored with the handful my parents were willing to buy, as well as the first viral videos like Numa Numa and Star Wars Kid. We also connected in new ways with a growing “social web” — profiles on sites like Myspace and Livejournal and eventually the early Facebook were a way that anyone could have their own site on the web, a little virtual locker that you could decorate and fill up to your liking, and have your friends stuff with virtual notes.

In my late teens and early twenties, the Internet was mostly for research and keeping up with student government and clubs via long weekly emails stuffed with hyperlinks and attachments. It wasn't until I was well into my twenties that I got my first smartphone. At university, the only way to connect to the Internet “on the go” was to tweet my on-the-go thoughts by sending an SMS text message to Twitter at 21212. I also hardly used the social web anyways, other than for a quick dopamine distraction or break from long study sessions in the library. I had even deleted my Facebook account that I'd had since high school, since the campus coffee shop and bar served as more than enough of a hub for socializing, philosophical and political debates, and important announcements posted on cork boards or delivered by intercom.

I know I probably sound like a stereotypical Millennial, whining about the “good ole days”, but I wanted to spend this time on memory lane for a reason. I think that no matter when you grew up, this feeling is probably close to universal: from the early 2000s to early 2020s, the Internet and social web seemed to just work. There were a lot of things wrong with the world, but the Internet was where we went to complain about other problems, not a source of them. But of course, even back then we were living on borrowed money and time. The virtual Commons we had grown comfortable in never actually belonged to us, the users. From the moment they incorporated, the big sites belonged to venture capital, who sold them out to the oligarchs, who sold them out to the fascists. We were never the customer, always the product.

Flash forward to 2025. The “big four” North American social media outlets (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok) have all been captured by the Trump administration. Smaller sites, like Reddit, Telegram, and Substack have long been a hotbed for bigotry and hate speech. Searches on Apple, Google, Microsoft, and even Pinterest are serving up LMM “AI” slop before authentic and unique human creations. Ads, suggestions, sponsored posts, and cookie pop-ups take up far more space than the content I came for. And if I ever want my family, friends, and community to actually see my updates, I either need to send them to each person directly, or market my posts not to them, but to an algorithm optimized not for users or even businesses, but shareholder profit. In parallel to all this: efforts to gather in person are cut at the knees by a lack of coherent and safe public health policies, the dismantling of Third Spaces and affordable public transportation, and the militarization of the police.

It is horrifying that exactly when the biggest thing we need for survival is to build and strengthen community, that the only accessible tools to do so, are hostile to our very existence.

Obviously this isn’t a coincidence. Every time we, the people, can talk to each other directly, we start getting dangerous ideas about the fact that the ultra-wealthy and hyper-elite are so few, and the rest of us are so many. Pamphlets facilitated the French and American revolutions, the telegraph and radio hastened the collapse of the Russian and German Empires, and Twitter fanned the flames of the Arab Spring. And here in America, The Powers That Be, Red and Blue alike, overwhelmingly want the American government in strict control over where and how we can communicate with each other.

And here I am, just hoping for a single F#¢&!NG site on the whole World Wide Web where I can just hang out with family, friends, and community that isn't owned and operated by literal fascists, kept behind a paywall, or too technical for our Elders to use. A comfy virtual coffee shop with announcement boards, conversations, the occasional performance, and a locker nearby for collecting memories and passing notes.

I don’t really know what the Takeaway/Call to Action is here. Yes, I’m already on Tumblr, Mastadon, and Bluesky, and would love it if we all continued to grow these kind of alternatives while divesting from profit-driven social "platforms". I’m still on Discord, Snapchat, and Signal and even have accounts on Loops, Pixelfed, Xiaohongshu, and WriteAs, in case the center of gravity ever moves over to those places. All of them still feel very "under construction" though, so I don't even know which (if any) I feel comfortable asking friends and family to "switch over" to. In the meantime, I'm just feeling lost, sad, lonely, and adrift; and wanted to share these musings with y’all. Just in case anyone has any advice you want to share, or are feeling the same way and want to commiserate.

xposted to Facebook, Tumblr, Medium, and WriteAs. God, I hate the Internet right now >:(

[historicity-was-already-taken]

if you want to write traditionally published ("tradpub") non-fiction...

you need to start by building a platform. significant numbers of followers/subscribers will demonstrate to literary agents, acquisitions editors, and acquisition/marketing committees that you already have a built-in audience, and are therefore a worthwhile investment.

i didn't start this blog with the intent of leveraging the platform to secure a book deal (well i mean, it was a thought, but never a serious one until i realized what book i wanted to write); i started it because i'd finished undergrad early, hadn't heard back from grad programs, and wanted somewhere to talk about history. but when it was time to make Book happen, having a platform of over 100,000 certainly helped convince the decision makers that i wasn't a bad investment.

so whatever your thing is, get on tumblr or insta or tik tok or substack or medium or whatever, and get started putting out content that you're proud of.

warning: this will only work if creating content about your thing brings you genuine joy, because it does take years to build that platform, even longer to get that book deal, and even longer to see any money. for context, i started this blog in March 2011 at the age of 21. i realized that the book needed to be a thing in Spring 2018 at the age of 28. i got the book deal in March 2023 at the age of 34. I am now 35 and working on rewrites. The book won't be released for over a year and a half.

[mightdeletelater]

when fame turns fatal: the tragic cycle of celebrity exploitation

this blog post was originally posted on my substack

How do you capture the unknowable life of someone else? Someone only seen through interviews, music videos, and invasive paparazzi snapshots? Maybe starting by laying out the simplest biographical details? Liam Payne was born in 1993 in Wolverhampton. He first auditioned for The X Factor at 14. Joined the boy band One Direction at 16. Had a son named Bear at 23. Released his only solo album at 25. And passed away at 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

Another approach could be to focus on the photos, the ones from both the beginning and the end. In 2010, when One Direction was formed, judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Nicole Scherzinger hovered over a polaroid of a 16-year-old Payne, arranging it with pictures of three future bandmates – Niall Horan, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson – as if they were playing with dolls. "That looks good." "That looks great." "It looks unbelievable." When Payne passed away in 2024, TMZ published zoomed-in, cropped photos of his lifeless body. His arm, and section of his side, both with his distinct tattoos. The article had no warning of the contents. 

Denial of dignity in death is a tragic culmination of a toxic kind of fame, one especially endured by pop stars and teen idols. Payne was simply just another one who was dehumanized throughout his life – by the music industry that propelled him to stardom, by the tabloids, by social media, and even by his own fans. Being idolized can be as depersonalizing as being vilified. He became a pin-up poster, and eventually a literal doll (fans could collect all five members of the boyband). 

The cycle of objectification persisted even after One Direction disbanded in 2015. Payne's solo career and erratic interview behaviour became a source of online mockery. Once endearingly called the "dad" of One Direction for being more serious, ambitious, and occasionally a bit awkward, these traits grew exaggerated over time. His ‘cringe moments’ became viral content on social media. Despite being open about his struggles with mental health and substance abuse, he received little empathy. He was open about by long periods of boredom that came after the highs of performing to sold out arenas which led him to an alcohol and drug addiction and suicidal thoughts. Speaking on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast in 2021, Payne said: “I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where's rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I'm very good at hiding it. I don't even know if I have hit it yet. I can either make that choice now and pick my last moment as my rock bottom or I can make a whole new low.” While the exact circumstances of Payne's fall from the balcony remain unclear, emergency services were called to the hotel for “a guest who has had too much drugs and alcohol.”

Before his death, Payne was accused by his ex-fiance Maya Henry of physical and emotional abuse, including chasing her with an axe and forcing her to get a self-induced abortion. Last week, Henry had issued a cease and desist against Payne, accusing him of repeatedly contacting her. She also alleged that the singer continuously contacted her friends and family, including her mother. 

The fantasy that One Direction embodied for a generation was always deeply co-dependent – a symbiotic relationship between the fevered daydreams of millions of teenage girls and the dream come true for five young boys. But what once seemed like a fantasy looks more like a nightmare. There is something undeniably troubling about adults marketing 16-year-old boys to children for maximum profit, despite the clear risks to their well-being and mental health. Why do we only recognize this when tragedy strikes? How can we justify doing this to such young people – isolating them from their families, their normal lives, and their sense of self – only to mock them as they struggle through adulthood? How many more lives must the pop industry claim before something finally changes? It all just feels irredeemable. What is someone supposed to do with all that fame and then all that vilification? What does it say about us when there is a market for identifying tattoos from a corpse?

And there will never be closure. Henry will not get justice. Payne will have never beaten his battle with addiction. While the tributes pour in for Payne, it is clear how most of the decisions he made – and that were made for him – never were in his best interest. But that never mattered because the industry chews and spits out young people but will continue to thrive and produce entertainment. Unregulated fame has horrific ramifications, for the person in the spotlight and all the people in their lives standing just outside of it. 

[floridakilo]

im excited to announce something thats been cooking up in my brain for awhile… i am starting a writing collective/independent publishing operation for thee fellow neo beats called JUNKIE SCHOLAR PRESS (JSP)…basically i will be collecting submissions in either digital or print form and then posting and publishing them through the platform (tumblr, ig, substack, big cartel for print, and my website)

this isnt a for profit thing it is basically just an opportunity for new creators to market yr work and so that you can say youve published…thats self explanatory for digital posts and for physical copies, you are still the sole owner of everything and any profit made through sales are 100% paid to you…

anyway message me if you want to submit yr work…content im looking for includes zines, poetry collections, chapbooks, essay anthologies, long form essays, novellas and short novels, art and photography, and more…the topic can be anything (doesnt need to be abt drugs) however anything that could be categorized as under the “beat” genre is a plus

tumblr is the best way to reach me but also

junkiescholar@gmail.com

ig at theworstgirlintheworld

[nanowrimo]

Journaling Practices to Help With Writing Funks

Feeling stuck in your writing? Journaling might be your answer to getting unstuck! NaNo Participant Ashley has some tips on using journaling as a guide to get you writing again. We all know writing is no easy feat, and it can be especially difficult when we find ourselves in a funk. Sometimes it’s best to take a break, reset, and turn our energy elsewhere and inward to help us get re-focused on the goal ahead. So, whether you’re struggling to start a new work or find yourself stumped on writing that next chapter, try these tips to help you get over the hump.

1. Brain dump

A brain dump is exactly what it sounds like. Grab a journal and write down everything on your mind. It can be specific to what you’re currently working on, or just anything that’s taking up space in your head. Set a timer for 5 minutes and let the thoughts flow. If you find this difficult to do, maybe start with one of these prompts:

What are five things I accomplished today?

How can I prioritize myself and my everyday tasks better?

Are there any goals I’d like to accomplish this week/month/year?

Pro tip: Using the voice note app on your phone works just as well! Go for a walk or hop in your car for a drive and talk all your thoughts out until there’s nothing left to say.

2. Use a guided journal

I’m a big fan of guided journals when I can’t seem to find the inspiration to write. Something about a journal prompt and the space to write freely about a variety of topics really helps me to get out of my head. There are a ton of guided journals out there, but these are a few of my favorites:

Cleo Wade’s Heart Talk

Rupi Kaur’s Healing Through Words

Michelle Obama’s Becoming

3. Keep a gratitude log

One of the best ways to get grounded and re-centered is by simply paying attention and being present to the world around us. Start your day or end your night making a list of 5-10 things you're grateful for. You can even take it a step further by choosing 1 or 2 things from your list and going into more detail about why you’re grateful for it. Give yourself a few minutes every day for this practice, and by the end of the week you’ll have a long list to look back on and come back to when you’re feeling stuck.

4. Get into nature

A change of scenery is another great way to switch up your writing routine. Find a new or familiar park, take a walk, and observe the nature around you. Take notes in your phone or in your journal of everything that comes to mind using your five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch). Get creative with what you jot down and write a poem from your observations, or perhaps a short story.

Ashley is a content marketer by day and aspiring nonfiction writer by night. She’s built a career of brand storytelling and now hopes to share stories from her own life on healing and self-care as she begins working on her first book. Follow her journey on Substack or Medium. Photo by Charlotte May from Pexels

[rustbeltjessie]

The other night, I got into a particularly good flow while working on one of my writing projects, and got excited by what came out of it. Afterwards, I realized, for approximately the 1000th time, that I’ve never had any success with my writing when I tried to suit it to what the market, or the general public, or even the lit world at large, wanted. The only successes I’ve had, in the 30+ years I’ve been writing professionally (I started young), have come when I’ve written what I most powerfully wanted to write, and written it how I felt most drawn to writing it.

This isn’t true of everything I’ve written or published; I have gotten paid for content and tech writing, as well as for reviews that were too short for me to go crazy with my writing style. I’m talking creative writing, here. So, with poetry, fiction, and personal essays/memoir, anytime I’ve tried to write in a way or about a topic that I thought was more likely to get published/win awards/find a bigger audience/whatever—it has completely failed. Those are the books and pieces that have never gotten published, that wind up moldering in a drawer somewhere because they’re so blah that I forget about them, too.

But when I write what, and how, I want to write, that’s when the successes come. Sometimes it comes in the form of publication, or accolades, but a lot of times the success isn’t financial or critical. Hell, sometimes I’m not even aiming for that sort of thing—I often write things that are specifically for my blog or my Substack or my zine. But they’re still more successful than when I try to write what I think people want to read; they always find their audience, no matter how small or niche. And sometimes no one ever reads those poems or essays or stories, either, but at least they’re something I can be proud of.

I’ll end this with a reminder to myself (in case I ever forget this again), and maybe it’ll resonate with some of you, too, whether you’re writers or visual artists or musicians, or any kind of creator: success in any kind of creative field is a crapshoot, and it’s not guaranteed, whether you try to make what you think other people want or you make what you most want to. So why not make what you most want to? Don’t try and sand all the edges off of, or take all the you-ness out of, your creations. Make what you’re passionate about, and it’ll find its audience, somehow, some way.

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Substack Mastery Book: Chapter 18: A Special Chapter for Book Authors

How Substack Writers Can Leverage Reedsy to Become Published Authors and Scale Their Publishing Business with Global Collaboration Dear Beta readers welcome to Chapter 18 of my bestselling Substack Mastery book, where we explore another powerful tool for growing and scaling your Substack newsletters. This chapter promises to be an eye-opener for many freelance writers, as I have yet to come…

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, AUGUST 2024

Hello, and welcome to my very last Marketing News update here on Tumblr.

After today, these reports will now be found at least twice a week on my Patreon, available to all paid members. See more about this change here on my website blog: https://www.cindylouwho2.com/blog/2024/8/12/a-new-way-to-get-ecommerce-news-and-help-welcome-to-my-patreon-page

Don't worry! I will still be posting some short pieces here on Tumblr (as well as some free pieces on my Patreon, plus longer posts on my website blog). However, the news updates and some other posts will be moving to Patreon permanently.

Please follow me there! https://www.patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

A US court ruled that Google is a monopoly, and has broken antitrust laws. This decision will be appealed, but in the meantime, could affect similar cases against large tech giants. 

Did you violate a Facebook policy? Meta is now offering a “training course” in lieu of having the page’s reach limited for Professional Mode users. 

Google Ads shown in Canada will have a 2.5% surcharge applied as of October 1, due to new Canadian tax laws.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Search Engine Roundtable’s Google report for July is out; we’re still waiting for the next core update. 

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta’s latest legal development: a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over facial recognition and privacy.  

Instagram

Instagram is highlighting “Views” in its metrics in an attempt to get creators to focus on reach instead of follower numbers. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is testing outside ads on the site. The ad auction system would include revenue sharing. 

Reddit

Reddit confirmed that anyone who wants to use Reddit posts for AI training and other data collection will need to pay for them, just as Google and OpenAI did. 

Second quarter 2024 was great for Reddit, with revenue growth of 54%. Like almost every other platform, they are planning on using AI in their search results, perhaps to summarize content. 

Threads

Threads now claims over 200 million active users.

TikTok

TikTok is now adding group chats, which can include up to 32 people.

TikTok is being sued by the US Federal Trade Commission, for allowing children under 13 to sign up and have their data harvested. 

Twitter

Twitter seems to be working on the payments option Musk promised last year. Tweets by users in the EU will at least temporarily be pulled from the AI-training for “Grok”, in line with EU law.

CONTENT MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Email software Mad Mimi is shutting down as of August 30. Owner GoDaddy is hoping to move users to its GoDaddy Digital Marketing setup. 

Content ideas for September include National Dog Week. 

You can now post on Substack without having an actual newsletter, as the platform tries to become more like a social media site. 

As of November, Patreon memberships started in the iOS app will be subject to a 30% surcharge from Apple. Patreon is giving creators the ability to add that charge to the member's bill, or pay it themselves.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES) 

Google worked with Meta to break the search engine’s rules on advertising to children through a loophole that showed ads for Instagram to YouTube viewers in the 13-17 year old demographic. Google says they have stopped the campaign, and that “We prohibit ads being personalized to people under-18, period”.

Google’s Performance Max ads now have new tools, including some with AI. 

Microsoft’s search and news advertising revenue was up 19% in the second quarter, a very good result for them. 

One of the interesting tidbits from the recent Google antitrust decision is that Amazon sells more advertising than either Google or Meta’s slice of retail ads. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

More than half of Gen Z claim to have bought items while spending time on social media in the past half year, higher than other generations. 

Shopify’s president claimed that Christmas shopping started in July on their millions of sites, with holiday decor and ornament sales doubling, and advent calendar sales going up a whopping 4,463%.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Taylor Lorenz at Substack:

We need to know who is funding the creator economy

Yesterday, a federal indictment revealed that a Tennessee media company working with right-wing influencers including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern, was receiving significant funding from the Russian state-sponsored network RT to push Russian disinformation. The indictment is absolutely wild and WIRED has a great rundown on the details, including how the propaganda efforts worked. The case serves as the latest high profile example of how “independent media” on the right is anything but independent, and underscores the need for more transparency around funding models in the creator economy. It also shows how disinformation efforts have increasingly focused on penetrating U.S. media through content creators, and how lucrative being a pawn in these schemes can be. While right wing content creators position themselves as scrappy upstarts, leaning into anti-establishment and populist brand positioning, they frequently accept money from far right interest groups, extremist billionaires, and even foreign actors.  Tenet Media received nearly $10 million, distributed out across a network of YouTubers and podcasters. As part of the disinformation campaign, Tenet Media influencers published hundreds of videos on social media that promoted Kremlin talking points. The videos were shared across platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok, reaching tens of millions of viewers.

[...] The far right recognized the opportunities in personality-driven media decades ago. After boosting talk radio stars in the 80s and 90s, when social media proliferated, they began to invest heavily in news influencers who seamlessly blend entertainment, news commentary, and far right political messaging into YouTube videos, Instagram memes, podcasts and more. 

[...]

Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire has been heavily funded by wealthy Republican donors, including the Wilks brothers, Texas-based billionaires known for their oil and fracking fortune. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, has benefited from significant funding from conservative mega donors including the Koch network.  When right wing creators began getting deplatformed more frequently on mainstream social media apps in the second half of the 2010s, an entire ecosystem of alternative platforms aimed at helping extremist influencers monetize and amass audiences, cropped up. Rumble, a video sharing platform similar to YouTube backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, began paying far right influencers and anti vaxx content creators hundreds of thousands of dollars to create content on its platform in 2021. Locals, a newsletter platform owned by Rumble, allows influencers to monetize through newsletters in a similar way to Substack. DLive, a right wing Twitch competitor, allowed influencers storming the Capitol building on January 6th, to make thousands of dollars off their live streams. Kick and Cozy.tv, two other right wing live streaming platforms, permit nearly any far right extremist the ability to create content and start earning money. And X, under Musk, has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to right wing influencer accounts.

The robust financial backing the right wing content creator ecosystem enjoys, allows extremists the ability to fund professional production teams, social media ad buys, and marketing initiatives that give them a competitive advantage online. In contrast, progressive creators are left to rely on meager donations and crowdfunding efforts to sustain their work. This financial imbalance has made it nearly impossible for left-wing content creators to match the reach or production quality of their right-wing counterparts. Already, several Russia-backed Tenet Media influencers, including Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, have been doing damage control. They've publicly stated that they had no idea about the origins of the money and claimed that they were merely unwitting victims who were misled by the company. 

Right-wing media influencers like Nick Sortor (even though he wasn’t named in the indictment), Benny Johnson, and Tim Pool aren’t “independent media” in any way.

[strangebiology]

My substack for is going well and I've even got some paid subscribers now! Even though all the content is free at the moment. Feel free to sign up and/or look through the old posts if you're writing a nonfiction, non-memoir book!

Of all the social platforms I've been on, Substack might be the most profitable. It might not be Substack, though, it might be because this group is focused on a professional endeavor rather than "isn't that interesting" type of content. Maybe people feel like it's worth investing money in something that should hopefully give them a return on investment? I make it clear that I love to talk about money and this group in particular approaches writing as a paid profession. It's ok if that's not for you.

I'm thinking of making some kind of guide called "How To Get Paid to Write a Nonfiction Non-Memoir Book Before You Even Write It" and maybe charge $5 or $10 for the guide. My book, Carcass: On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies isn't out yet so I can't talk about marketing books from any actual experience of success. Also I believe 99% of information on How-To-Market-Your-Book is BS because no one ever includes their ROI, profit, or sales. But I can tell you that if you are a serious writer who has tended your craft through lots of practice and self-improvement, you can make money before the book is even out.

I'll share my profit before the book is published: I got $106,000, or, after travel, fact-checking, and the agent taking a percent of the advance, around $75,000. There are things I wish I would have tried that, if successful, would have got me another $80k + $40k with no extra work except the application. (Who knows what my chances were of getting those opportunities, though, but I'd include them in the guide.) AND I want to point out that someone in the group got a $50,000 grant (the same one I did) and told me she never would have if it weren't for the group!

[inkedwingss]

For the ones joining my new writing-only blog, my baby Substack: I will upload one poem every day for the next 15 days, so expect some e-mails in your inbox! :)

If you have been here for a while, you must know I was in desperate need of a writing-only platform — in fact, if you remember, I even tried a side blog, but that didn't work for me (and the novel is cooking atm). So, for the sake of my peace of mind and my writing, I will upload all the poetry in here to this sparkling, brand-new Substack.

After a few days on that platform, though, I can already tell I'm not going to follow what I perceived to be the pattern. Do I feel like a fish out of the water? Yes. Do I plan to change? No. Is it good for ''marketing''? Nope! But I literally can't force myself into a non-authentic space. It gives me anxiety.

I believe in using the platform instead of letting the platform use me. I'm free. That is unnegotiable. So, I will do my best on my own terms, as many things annoy me about the writing culture of these times we live in and I refuse to wear the halter. Oh, I promise I'll never try to coach you, start mothering you, or try to sell you a "how to write poetry in 5 steps" guide. No hooking titles. I won't join the experts-on-shit FOMO cult to prey on other people's triggers or to feel ''good'' about myself at the expense of others. This type of thing actually creeps me out.

But I do promise we can just resonate and inspire each other by being honest and raw, by having a brave heart so we can keep being kind, and by pursuing truth, beauty and art... How about that? We can enjoy the vibe and cultivate this appreciation of words! We can even chat as writer friends, as reader friends or just as friends friends — and encourage each other through real, second-intention-free presence.

If my writing doesn't touch you, it's fine. If yours doesn't touch me, it's fine. It's not personal, it's not a bad thing. We are all finding our voice. The day you think you know everything, you're dead, so we have to keep searching, moving and growing together! How many times have I needed the words from @cssnder @goodluckclove @hersurvival or @remnantofabrokensoul, and so many others around here (iykyk)? And I'm very grateful for every word and idea you all shared here in this amazing space, helping me to keep going, to break from my shell and lay another brick in the foundations of what I want to create.

That is the beauty of it. Creation demands connection. That is respect and human experience. And I repeat it: sometimes what I create won't touch anyone but me.

Oh, but what if it does!

Well, that being said: I actually do have some crazy ideas for the Substack. At first, the focus was on creating some substantial and self-indulgent content about literature (I like to study). Although I still think that's important, exciting and valid, Poetry is making its way through my inked fingers more and more, demanding space, attention, and voice; so I will not neglect this calling.

What about the future? I don’t know. Paid subscriptions for specific academic literature content? Prophetic, devotional newsletters?Generating debates on books for the community? Just poetry that you can read for free and not engage at all because I can be quite antisocial at times? Digging around some old ancient advice on writing? None of the above? Anything is possible, really. For now, I will slow down and avoid contributing to the hamster wheel of modern despair for the speed of light living and likes.

For now, poetry, please.

And tea. Lots of tea, because it's raining.

The grass looks so green!

[mariacallous]

After years of sitting on the sidelines, content creators became a part of the mainstream political media this year, delivering election news, analysis, and political commentary to their online fans—all while sidestepping the traditional press.

Eighty-one-year-old Joe Biden was serenaded on camera by the delightfully cringe TikTok singer Harry Daniels. Bernie Sanders stumped for Kamala Harris on a Twitch stream cohosted by an anime catboy VTuber. Donald Trump collabed with the quintessential creator brothers, Jake and Logan Paul. Instead of making time for traditional sit-down interviews with the mainstream press, Harris and Trump relied on creators to galvanize votes and spread their campaign messages.

“There’s just no value—with respect to my colleagues in the mainstream press—in a general election to speaking to The New York Times or speaking to The Washington Post, because those [readers] are already with us,” Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager for Harris, told Semafor in December.

Influencing has grown into a $250 billion industry. More than 70 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say they follow an influencer on social media, a Pew Research survey found last year. A more recent survey, published in November, found that one in five US adults get their news from news influencers. That shift in media consumption was met with record spending on creator partnerships. Priorities USA put at least $1 million toward influencer marketing. The Harris campaign paid at least $2.5 million to management agencies that book creators for political advertising campaigns.

This election, creators were everywhere—the Republican and Democratic conventions, fundraisers, rallies, and even parties at Mar-a-Lago. But the foundations for this creator takeover of political messaging were propped up nearly a decade ago. In 2016, Trump showed how social media platforms like Twitter could influence voters. Throughout the 2020 election, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg spent more than $300 million on a presidential campaign that recruited influencers and meme pages as paid digital surrogates, and the Biden administration routinely invited creators to the White House for briefings.

By embracing creators, politicians have started blurring the lines between talking heads and journalists. Unlike reporters, news creators are often not beholden to editorial standards and substantial fact-checking—something that is one high-profile defamation lawsuit away from changing but that, for now, marks a difference. Many creators do work similar to what journalists do—absorbing, translating, and communicating news to audiences online. But in the online political ecosystem, many of them come off more as fans than as objective observers. Some are explicitly party activists. Still, they are often provided access similar to what the traditional press gets.

The next step in the influencer political takeover could be lawmakers becoming the creators themselves. The industry has become so fruitful that Republican ex-lawmakers like George Santos and Matt Gaetz turned to the creator economy as part of their post-congressional careers. Santos and Gaetz are setting hefty prices for personal messages on the video platform Cameo.

Elected officials like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jeff Jackson are also leveraging creator-like tactics in their everyday communications with their constituents and voters. Ocasio-Cortez can often be found answering follower questions on how Congress works or what’s inside a bill on Instagram Live. Jackson authors a regular Substack newsletter discussing his work in the House of Representatives. Ted Cruz has a podcast.

“Your candidate needs to become the creator; they need to find their niche and stick to it,” says Caleb Brock, a senior digital strategist for Democrats. “We need to find our 2028 presidential Hawk Tuah Girl—and I mean that seriously. Whichever candidate steps up and wields their respective, genuine personality into something that continuously pumps out content—content that people want to see, share, and engage with—will win.”

Adopting these tactics could be crucial to winning over young voters, millions of whom enter the electorate every four years. More than 8 million members of Gen Z entered the electorate in 2024, according to Tufts University. This year, 41 million of them were eligible to vote.

The industry hasn’t run up against much friction from the federal government either, despite criticism over its opaque nature. This year, the Federal Election Commission opted against requiring political influencers to disclose when a political group or campaign paid for content on their accounts.

“Because this is such a substantial part now of the information economy and information ecosystem, it’s absolutely vital that there are disclosures,” says Robert Weissman, copresident of the public interest group Public Citizen. “And just as disclosure is a core part of fair advertising law, it's a core part of fair election law too.”