The dreaded about page of Substack. If you’re unfamiliar it’s probably because you’re using Substack like you would Mailchimp or any other newsletter service that doesn’t have an about page, and that’s okay. But you should know that Substack is more than a newsletter service. I like to remind myself that Substack is a combination of Mailchimp, WordPress, Patreon, and (now) Social Media all rolled into one. The part that requires creating an about page comes from WordPress. Think of your personal website (if you have one). You likely have an “about me” page, right? Well, on Substack it’s no different. In fact, I’ll give you a tl;dr crash course right now if you actually have an about me page on a personal website! Go there right now, copy/paste that information into your about page on Substack. Boom! You’re done. No need to read any further… UNLESS…
If you’re looking to up your game on Substack (and you most certainly should be) it takes more than just producing great content. The more new readers come to Substack, the more they know what to expect and beyond the usual “welcome page” that shows a lovely image and short description of your Substack, they’ll find themselves looking around your Homepage. One of the first things I like to snoop at when I’m on anyone’s Homepage is their about page. It’s the best way to get to know if this Substack has what I’m looking for. At least, that’s what I expect to find there. It’s what everyone else will expect to find there as well. And as much as I like to thank Substack for taking the initiative to put generic information on any new Substack for us, I think those who don’t know it exists leave it untouched and the rest who can’t be bothered or don’t think it matters just ignore it. Well, if you’re reading this you care very much and you want to do something about it. I’m here to help and offer advice I’ve garnered after meticulously looking through 200+ fiction Substacks. Trust me when I tell you that I’ve seen my share of really good and really bad about pages.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through:
- How you need to talk about yourself.
- Explain your mad skillz to visitors!
- Why do you have this Substack?
- Why all visitors need to subscribe to you…or else!
- How your time is worth their money? (If your Paid Subscription is turned on)
- The perfect CTA (Call To Action) send off!
Say it don’t spray it!
We all want to stand out. There are hundreds in our niche and hundreds of thousands of Substack users. It can be overwhelming if you feel the need to compete with everyone. But you don’t. There is no competition. Substack is a bookstore. There are many floors and on each floor hundreds of books to choose from. The more people know about this bookstore, the more people will walk right on in. Your job is not to stand out so much that no one knows what the heck you’re about. Your job is to create great content and be as transparent as possible with what that is. You want your page and your name to be synonymous with what you do. But you gotta tell me point blank!
Don’t be flowery in your explanation of the goods. So, when you start your About page, seriously, and I know this might seem bland and boring, but give me your name and what you are writing (or illustrating or photographing or whatevering) in no less than two (maybe three?) sentences. You’re on an elevator and you’ve only got till we reach the ground floor to sell me something. Oh, the good old fashioned “elevator pitch” example. Yep, I went there.
HOMEWORK
Don’t spray me with words that are so adjacent to what you write that I need a dictionary, a map, and a compass to decipher the codex! Nuh, uh, there is a time and a place for that. Not here.
Feel free to share your “elevator pitch” in the comments and let’s see why you simply cannot explain yourself in just three sentences.
You got mad skillz right? Well let’s give the people what they want!
If you don’t hype yourself up, who will? This is your newsletter and your time to shine. And I don’t mean you have to be some animated fake version of yourself either. But if you love what you do and have any sense of passion in that, you gotta let me know! I don’t mean the sweet talkin’ either! I just want you to take that elevator pitch you wrote earlier and back it up with a little sumthin’ sumthin’. Now, what exactly does that mean? Cause by this point you probably think I’m nuts or something…
I didn’t go to college for my MBA. I’ve only ever been published in a magazine once. I’m not some prolific author with dozens of published books on Amazon. But, I’m not here to sell you on something that I am not. Let’s talk about what I am and what I’ve done instead. I’ve been writing stories since before I started going to school. Storytelling is in my blood and to prove it I’ve been writing and sharing one story every single day for several months. Prior to that I was writing longer pieces of fiction. All of which is documented and can be read here, here, and here. I’ve read many books and watched many movies. But what I love to tell people most about my writing is that I don’t do happy endings. I’m not a happily ever after kind of writer so if you’re looking for that don’t stop here.
Okay, now you might not have written as much as I have. And you might start feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to look at your own resume and wondering if you should say that in your About page? Is it really relevant? Looking from a fiction writer’s perspective, if you’ve written something and it’s public then it is very much relevant. We make things public so that it can be read.
And if you don’t have it written yet but just the kernel of an idea, that is relevant as well. There is nothing more hopeful or exciting than hearing a person profess their dream and then go do it and ask us, the humble reader, to join them on this journey! That could be you. Bring us along on your as-yet-started journey! You’ll be surprised how many will be glad to join you! But we can’t if you don’t tell us. Stop being so shy and make some proclamations. It’s okay of they don’t happen exactly as you stated in the About page. The edit button is there for a reason! Use it!
HOMEWORK
Let’s write a couple more sentences, and if you are feeling so inclined, a full on paragraph about what you’ve written or what you intend to write in this glorious Substack of yours.
What’s the deal with this Substack thing, anyway?
Everyone knows about Mailchimp and Mailerlite and Converkit. Charming email marketing services (EMS) but you didn’t choose any of them. And while sometimes it’s not necessary or customary to explain a decision, in this case, it might be beneficial for you to do so in this instance. I didn’t like all the bells and whistles those other platforms had. They are truly for marketing first and I wanted a platform that was for community building first. I’m sure that is something a newcomer wouldn’t mind knowing about you. If that is the reason you went with Substack over the others. You can totally steal my reason if you want. And you can also leave this part out altogether as well.
But, if you are using some unique Substack features, such as Chat, Notes, Threads, Podcasts, or whatever else they may unleash on us at any moment in the future, then this is the ideal time and place to not only mention those things but how you are using them specifically. I won’t go into some of the ways those features can be useful for fiction writers specifically as it would make this post far longer than it will already be, but if you want some examples, let me know in the comments and I might work on that piece next.
If you’re already using those features and are wondering why you’re not getting much interaction with them, now is the time to spend a paragraph per feature explaining how to use them, how you’re using them, and why your subscribers should join you in using them.
HOMEWORK
Write down each feature you’re using and how you are using them. Give each about two to three sentences. Utilize the Custom Button feature to add a convenient link for your readers to get to those features easily as well.
Also, any features that you may not be using, write down why not and possible ways how you could incorporate them into your Substack if pressed. Sort of like a pros and cons list. It doesn’t hurt to be sure if not using them is the right move for you.
Time to show ’em the goods!
Okay, so a quick recap, you explained who the heck you are in a few sentences. Then you expanded a bit with explanation about your passion. After that you go into the features you’re using and why. Now we are going to do a brief road map specific to your Substack.
Are you using Sections? If so, now is the time to explain what those are. And if you’re not, this is a great time to explain the number of emails you intend on sending on a regular basis. You are going to be sending an email on a regular basis right? Whether that’s once a month, a week, or every freaking day, being consistent is key. This might be a tough pill to swallow but I’m going to need you to put your big boy/girl pants on when I say this with mad love and respect: Don’t promise what you know in your heart you can’t keep up with!
All too often I see writers promise a weekly post. They fall behind and within just a couple weeks they are late every single time. They run out of ideas and the content they do share is mediocre at best. They see less comments, less Likes, and less opens. They become disheartened. They scale back to maybe one email a month. Then that falls away as well till they are barely writing something every couple months. I don’t want this to be you!
How can you make sure you keep showin’ your subscribers the goods (ie your mad skillz we talked about earlier) without burn out or lack of consistency? The easiest solution is to figure out what you can do then give yourself extra time on top of that. So, if you can write something weekly, a buffer wouldn’t hurt, so make that writing something every other week (or twice a month). This way you can be ahead with your writing instead of scrambling to play catch-up. If monthly is your preferred frequency of communication, just make sure you’re ready with content or some ideas for those future months. I deliver my updates email on the first of every month. I have the rest of 2023 planned out on paper already so my Draft posts are already created where I talk about what I’ve done, etc. Now, when I get to that time of year it is quite possible that I may miss the mark of my intentions but at least I laid out my intentions and I’m holding myself accountable. If I don’t, who will?
Be intentional with the decisions you make because in the long run they will pay off. Speaking of long run, one more bit of advice I want to leave you with that may be an even tougher pill to swallow: You need to follow through on your consistency of delivery for several YEARS before you can (or should) expect any sort of results!
I know what you’re thinking, “but Billy over there started a month ago and she’s already got twice as many subscribers and hundreds of them are already paid!” Sure, that’s nice for Billy. But we are all different. We all have different paths and vastly different definitions of success. My advice to you is not to worry about what Billy is doing unless it’s to learn and observe, not to covet or turn green with envy. We are all not sharing the same race track. Each of us has a different number of laps to go before we finish our own race. Stay in your lane and stay focused on your journey. If you can do that and be truly consistent and patient it will pay off.
Sorry for the brief Nascar analogy, I must have my mom looking over my shoulder as I’m writing this. She loved Nascar and had the number 3 with his signature tattooed on her arm.
HOMEWORK
Pull out a calendar. It can be a blank one of just 30/31 boxes. Doesn’t have to be of a specific month. And just write in each box when you envision sending out emails and how many days beforehand you’ll want to give yourself to either write it or tweak it to perfection before delivery.
Now, hypothetically speaking, how could you, if pressed, give yourself even more time than what you just gave yourself?
I’ve got a few tips for how to write a great (and consistent) update email on a monthly (or weekly) basis. If you’d like that to come in the future, let me know in the comments and I’ll see when I can drop it into my rotation of Wednesday posts I have planned.
Let’s collectively shake our money makers?…Yes?…
The dirty truth of it all is that we’re here to try with all our might to convert, convert, convert. But how? And with what? If you’ve got paid subscriptions turned on, read on! If not, don’t fret, I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing something you’re just not ready for. This is definitely not for everyone and we all reach that stage in our lives differently. Some of us need the money to earn a living, some of us use it as a side-hustle, and the majority just enjoy the community and the writing and already have a pretty decent paying job. So, no pressure felt? Good! Let’s do this!
This is probably the easiest part of your About page you’ll ever write of all that came before and whatever is left after. Simply put, tell me what you’re offering for my hard-earned money. Most of the time you’ll offer nothing and that is perfectly fine, too. In fact, that might be the easiest sell because you don’t have to set aside time to write an extra thing for no one (cause we all start with zero paid subscribers) or a handful of people. Better to just be honest and say “hey, your paid subscription is your way of letting me know you value my work at whatever price you can afford.” At the end of the day all of your work will be free and therefore those who can pay, will, and those who can’t, won’t miss out. When you get a good number of paid subscribers you can always revisit this idea and add some “paid only” perks.
If you’ve already got some “paid only” perks, then share what those are, frequency of delivery, stuff like that. Bullet points is always nice here. But just like your delivery schedule, don’t paint yourself into a corner you can’t get out of by promising something you know you really can’t deliver on especially if your perk leads to getting paid subscribers. You’ll find some really pissed off people not only canceling their paid subscription but possibly even unsubscribing! Let’s not risk that, okay?
A model I am currently using is changing 99% of my 100 Word Stories to Paid Only (aka Archive) when a new month begins. I leave the first of the month as free to read to give newcomers something to look at from the past. Is this a winning idea? Check back in a couple years when I do a recap and let you know.
HOMEWORK
If you have paid on but don’t know what sort of perks, if any, you should offer, my advice is to check out the list (if you haven’t heard about it, check out my substack menu bar and you’ll find it) and filter all of the PAID or BOTH options and then do some research to see what they are doing and do as I always do:
STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST!
Make that list of ideas and then decide which works for you and which won’t!
The wind-up and the final pitch
If your About page seems jam-packed it’s cause it probably is at this point! And you thought you had nothing to put there! What I do want to say is you don’t have to use every damn example I put here, nor do you have to do all of the homework! If you did, here’s a gold star just for you!
The last bit is that final reminder. You’ll notice all throughout I mention buttons as infrequently as possible. I love a good CTA button as the next person but putting one after every section or paragraph can be annoying. I know I’m not a huge fan of it so I use them sparingly. But if some new person happens upon your page and made it all the way down here, the least you can do is make sure they subscribe or upgrade to paid before they leave, amiright!
So, one suggest I like to add down here (and in my Welcome email too) is a question. Some sort of ice breaker. It helps them know you’re interested. It’s a bit tricky to ask a question in the About page because there is no ability to leave a comment. However, you do have a Substack specific email that I always recommend people use because it saves you from having to create another email account if you don’t want to share your personal email. Your substack email is simply the URL of your substack “@substack.com” at the end. So mine would be ericadrayton@substack.com, feel free to email me with any questions you may have!
When someone uses that email to contact you it will forward to the email you used to create your account. What I have not tested out is what happens if you reply to their email. I will do some testing and get back to you on that front rest assured!
ADDITIONAL TIP – RECOMMENDATIONS
as of July 2024
I’m sure an entire “killer” post can be written just on recommendations, but for the purposes of creating the best About Page, I’m going to assume you know all that’s necessary about Recommendations, including where to find any that may have been written about your publication.
Unfortunately, you can only select three recommendations to display on your Welcome Page. The Welcome Page is a static page that newcomers see, but only the first time they visit your publication. I’m not exactly sure when that may reset (if ever) after your page has been visited. So, while those recommendations are great to have on the Welcome Page, there is way more that can be done with them.
If you have more than three, or even just one, a great place to include them is on your About Page. Why?
Well, the About Page is where you want to give newcomers a reason to subscribe to your publication. And what better way to do that than by giving them first hand, honest, opinions from strangers about your publication!
All you need to do is copy/paste their blurb and then be sure to “at” mention them, and their publication as well, to give them credit for the kind thing they said. You don’t have to share all of them if there are some you don’t think are necessary or are repetitive/generic in what they say.
Whether you mention all of them, or some of them, this is yet another great resource to include on your About page.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This might surprise you to know but this has surpassed 3k words to write! Wow! I hope it was helpful to you. Take your time with each section. You don’t have to have the perfect About page on day one of your Substack. I’m still tweaking mine constantly. Perfection cannot be the end goal here! All we can do is try to be clear with our messaging and let the content we create after do the talking for us!
