So You Want to Start a Substack?

A practical workshop for curious creatives who want to start a Substack and build a home for their ideas without creator-economy cringe.

You’ve been hearing people talk about Substack. Maybe you’ve been curious. Maybe you’ve opened the site, stared at the blank setup page, and immediately closed the tab. Maybe you have ideas, stories, opinions, recommendations or behind-the-scenes thoughts you keep sharing in group chats and voice notes — and you’re starting to wonder whether they deserve a more permanent home.

This workshop is for people who want to start publishing online, but have no patience for long, boring tutorials, creator-economy brain rot, or advice that makes you feel like you need to become a media empire before you’ve written your first post.

Substack can be more than “a newsletter.” It can be a place to develop your voice, share your work, build trust with your audience, document your creative practice, support your business, promote your projects, and create an archive of ideas people can actually return to.

In this practical online workshop, we’ll demystify what Substack is, what it can do, and how to start one in a way that feels useful, sustainable and actually like you.

This workshop is for you if:

• you’re curious about Substack but don’t know where to start (or tried to and got overwhelmed)
• you’re an artist, writer, performer, freelancer, founder or creative person with ideas to share
• you want more space for your thoughts than you have on your existing social media accounts
• you want to build a deeper relationship with your audience
• you’re interested in writing online, but don’t want to become a “newsletter person” in a horrible way
• you have a business, creative practice, show, service, project or point of view that needs more room than an Instagram caption
• you want practical guidance without a tech tutorial that makes you dissociate

We’ll cover:

• what Substack is actually useful for
• how to decide what your Substack should be about
• how to shape your publication around your voice, audience and goals
• the essential features that will be your secret weapons when you're starting out
• how to think about your first few posts and simple content pillars for your publication
• how to choose a publishing rhythm you can actually keep up with

You’ll leave with:

• a clearer idea for your Substack
• a simple publication concept
• a working description / positioning line
• ideas for your About page
• content pillars to guide what you write and a list of starter post ideas
• a realistic plan for getting started
• less existential dread (and hopefullly some excitement) about the whole thing

This isn't a magic-bullet workshop about building a six-figure newsletter empire, gaming the algorithm, or monetising your every waking thought.

It’s for people who have something to say and want a practical, low-stress way to start sharing it.

No monetisation spiel. No pretending to be a media company. Just a useful, human way to build a home for your ideas.