Running a bestselling Substack publication, ‘A Narrative Of Their Own,’ for the past four years, has enabled me to build a full-time freelance writing career.  My publication focuses attention on the writing lives of women, exploring the landscape for women writers, both contemporary and historically.

The community element of Substack has been a key contributor in helping me to grow my expertise and paid writing opportunities.

My work days now have two distinct income streams.  Firstly writing, both for my own bestselling Substack, and commissions for other publications.  Secondly, mentoring other writers wishing to grow a Substack audience.

The whole ecosystem of founding my own publication and then turning this towards the dual income streams of both freelance writing and supporting others to start their own publication has been built along the following trajectory:

• Building a solid writing brand on the Substack publication.
• Utilising my expertise as an essayist and reviewer of feminist literature leading to publication in other print and online journals, such as Feminartsy and The Short Story, and regular paid reviews, articles and author profiles on The Rauch Review.
• Approaches from two publishing houses.
• Offering one-to-one mentoring to other writers.
• Co-ordinating a monthly in-person Substack Writers’ Meetup.

My experience on the Substack platform has been one of slow, steady growth. Taking up to three years to build my publication into a profitable revenue stream, my commissions from other publications began to increase, as well as collaborations with other creators.

At that point, I decided to leave my administrative role and commit fully to my writing portfolio, offering client work as an adjacent income stream.  I now split my week between Substack, commissions, mentoring and workshops.

One of the key elements I emphasise through one-to-one mentoring is the importance of finding, developing, and maintaining a strong community around what we do as writers sharing our work online, nurturing relationships with both other writers and the community we serve, and the importance of consistency in showing up on our chosen platform.

My own experience of building my platform from scratch and then leveraging this to commit fully to writing has actually been beneficial in helping me to show other writers how building an online brand might open up other opportunities.  In my first mentoring session with clients, I encourage writers to uncover their own values system and how they want to show up online, as well as brainstorming their ideas for what they want their brand to evolve into.  For some writers, this looks like simply having an outlet for their writing.  For others, they are aiming at earning an income from their work.

The work I did with one of my more recent mentoring clients involved a lot of back and forth on her concept for a branded newsletter which would allow her to grow her workshop offerings and conference talks under the same umbrella.  Together, we identified similar publications, teasing out the ways in which hers could stand out on the platform.  Building from this original idea, my guidance of the practicalities of Substack itself was essential in guiding her to reach the right audience for her writing, building community and establishing her niche.

The client in question is now thriving on Substack, seeing her reader figures increasing and the opportunity to advertise her workshops.

Other mentees have required different approaches, from a hand-holding introduction to the technical structure of the platform, to others simply looking for an experienced founder to bounce ideas around with.

Although it can be difficult to find a stable footing within the writing landscape in these days of AI, I fully believe that if we bring an authentic and community-led approach to our work, building and utilising a strong brand identity, and showing up with consistency, we can overcome these obstacles, and build both a profitable and rewarding career online.

Author Bio:
Kate Jones is a freelance writer and creative mentor who has written in many genres for both print and online journals, including The Rauch Review, Feminartsy, The Short Story, Feminine Collective, and Sunlight Press.  Her happy place is on her Substack, A Narrative Of Their Own, where she shares essays on the literature and writing lives of women.  She is currently at work on her first essay collection.

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash