Hi readers!
I was fortunate to join Ryan Woldt on February’s Fictionistas call and he gave us a lot of great tips on promotion that were outside the usual social media signal boost. The great thing about Ryan’s advice was it felt accessible to those who are not savvy at marketing.
The obvious choice to promote my newsletter was a bookstore, so I chose a small retailer in a nearby town. I planned to break the ice by inquiring about a hard-to-find book of poetry and then casually lead into whether I could advertise for my Substack at their front desk. I’d be real smooth. But when I approached the counter, which sat high up, I felt a bit small. The counter staff was very nice and accommodating, but did not have the books I inquired about. My insecurity took the lack of availability as a rejection. I chickened out and didn’t ask at all.
Outside was a corkboard for non-profit advertisement only. This was a chance at redemption, but for a moment, I wasn’t sure if my Substack counted as non-profit. I froze. Then I walked away down the street. I immediately recognized two things: I was not prepared with material to post for advertisement and I attempted to collaborate with a business I did not frequent or trust.
Lesson learned.
I entered a refill store down the street, one that I follow on social media, and actively respond to on their posts. I had already submitted a guest post draft to another Substack, Save Our Happy Place, and messaged the owner to say her business inspired the collaboration. To my surprise, she remembered me! She was more than happy to let me take photos of the shop and even took my family’s photo for the business’s Instagram story. It was a much more comfortable, pleasantly reciprocal interaction, which made all the difference in this instance trying to promote my work.
As a recap, two things were at work here:
Promoting my writing skills and body of work through guest posting.
Positioning myself to have future industry partners by promoting their businesses. Ryan had legacy industry partners.
Once in the right venue and with the right tools, I could see the makings of a marketing regimen forming.
Cross-promotion
Without much hesitation, I had been showing up to Substack’s Office Hours and offered to collaborate for guest posts. The initial steps got me comfortable proposing potential topics and working with writers who, while not necessarily exploring similar topics to my Substack, had something to offer.
This may be one of the best ways for someone to challenge their talents by writing, drawing, or producing music for someone else. One of my recent newsletters featured an artist whose work I used as a prompt and I received a great response. It also opens up a Substacker to be seen by a variety of audiences, some of whom may sign up.
A New Angle: The QR code
The conversation around promotion was lingering after a Twitter Space I co-hosted with Diane Hatz of Whole Health, an Office Hours contact.
I had considered attending a magazine launch but didn’t know the best way to point people to my Substack without yelling out the name over bar music or leaning in close for strangers to see my screen. Then it came to me: create a QR code. Most restaurants I’d visited in the past year had replaced paper menus with QR codes. Turns out, it was simple, effective, free, and could even be put onto an Apple Watch screen.
Takeaways
1. Identify promotion sources. These can be a local bookstore, retailer, beauty shop, or any business that could feature your work, or you theirs. It helps if you know and trust the business so it’s easier to ask for a feature or hand out promotional material.
2. Be prepared. You never know when an opportunity will come to promote your work or collaborate with someone. If there’s a forum available to hand out your media kit, get them edited, printed, and ready. If you need to travel light, or prefer digital distribution, have your QR code ready or an image of your media kit ready to be emailed or airdropped.
3. Be brave. This is hard and it might take a few tries or the right time to get your footing speaking to a live audience or even another person about your work. Some of us have not had the opportunity or never tried before. It’s a new venture!
4. Try new methods. Can you advertise at a grocery store? Perhaps there’s a farmer’s market where you can set up a booth. Maybe there’s a writers’ meetup or business function where you can promote your work.
5. Write it down! This helps shrink the enormity of the task but also provides a consistent-looking brand. Sure, I could hire a company to help, but there are free and low-cost resources available. I created my media kit on Canvas along with social media post templates. For me, it was part of creating an identity and reminding myself what my Substack is about and what inspires the work. All these blurbs you compose can go into your media pack and help nail down your ethos.
Most believe that getting our work into the world can only occur through a few avenues and for a long time, that was true. In addition to the communities we build online or social media boosts, there are real-world ways to get seen that make use of our talents while making a tough process relatively smooth.
Chevanne is a writer and healthcare leader whose catalog of fiction and poetry explores genres from horror to romance to the surreal in her Substack The FLARE. Chevanne also writes personal essays, of which generational connections are her favorite. When not in the throes of inspiration, she’s enjoying gummi bears.
