7 Ways to Support Substack Creators

How to spread the love this holiday season

Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

As we enter the busy holiday season, you may not have the space and time to collaborate as much as you’d like to. Keeping up with writing for your own publication during this time may be more than enough!

But if you still want to show your support (without the extra planning that comes with a formal collaboration), I’ve created a list of a few ideas you can try.

Here are 7 ways to support Substack creators this holiday season:

1. Create a Holiday Gift List featuring Substack creators
   This could be a list of those who sell physical products or a list of paid subscriptions you could gift to various people in your life. Which newsletters or publications are best for your mom, spouse, coworker, friend, etc?
   

2. Share a general roundup or list of articles/posts, authors, or publications
   Share your favorite articles of the week or month, or create a specific, themed list that relates to a certain topic or area of interest. Check out this example from

   JFT Beach 🏖️🏊
   that links to articles and publications and tags other writers.

   
   A few more possibilities: a list of your favorite articles of the year, a list of writers on Substack you’re thankful for, a list of smaller publications you want to highlight . . . there are so many ways to go with this!

   
   One quick note: If you do a big shout out to find publications for your list, you could get a lot responses, so know your boundaries around how many you’ll want to feature and how you’ll decide who to feature.
   

3. Write a thank you note—on Notes, of course—to your favorite Substack writer(s)
   Tag them and tell them what their work has meant to you, and encourage them to keep creating.
   

4. Write recommendations for your favorite publications or newsletters
   Block a day and time to do this on your calendar. While it is easiest to just click “recommend,” leaving a written recommendation can go a long way and truly make a writer’s day! (I know this from personal experience.)
   

5. Restack notes or posts from other creators and share one takeaway or insight
   Try doing this every day for at least one week.
   

6. Cross-post an article from another writer
   Choose an article/post from an author or publication you KNOW your subscribers will love, and share it with your subscribers. Read more here from Substack on how cross-posting works. (This function needs to be enabled by the publication in order for you to cross-post their work.)
   

7. Gift Substack subscriptions to friends and family
   Give them the opportunity to hear from your favorite writers or the ones you know they’ll love!

A Holiday Challenge for You

Want some extra motivation to try some of these out? I challenge you to:

Do THREE of the ideas on the above list before the end of the year.

Let’s cheer each other on! Come back to this post and share links to any posts or notes you make related to this challenge, and then read, like, comment, or restack posts that others share.

If you have a different way to show your support, or if you have already made a roundup post or gift list, please also share that with us.

There is no formal prize for completing this challenge, but I hope that doesn’t stop you—the gift is simply in the joy of supporting one another!

Looking for others you can showcase in a list or roundup? Feel free to make a request in the comments for whatever you’re looking for. I have a request of my own for a gift list I’m building. I’ll leave mine in the comments as an example.

Directory Update

Thank you so much to all who have submitted to be part of the directory so far! Again, this is a directory of publications/newsletters that feature (or are open to featuring) other writers on their publications.

I’m currently building the directory pages and plan to launch in January, to help us all kick off a new year with opportunities to collaborate.

If you haven’t yet filled out the form to be a part of the directory, you can do it now!

Call for Collaboration Update

Earlier this month, I created a new post/thread for you all to connect and make collaboration requests. In that post, I polled subscribers to find out how often I should do these types of posts. The majority of you said once per month was preferred.

So the post from earlier this month (linked below) is the official November Call for Collaboration. Jump in and connect! I’ll do another the first Monday in December. (I will revise this if I find there is demand for another.)

Open Call for Collaboration

Thank you for reading, and until next time, happy collaborating!

Know other creators who would love to be a part of the CollabStack Directory? Love the whole idea of CollabStack? Please share and restack this post. The more who know about it, the more robust our directory will become—and the more opportunities there will be for everyone.

Thank you so much for your support!