Publisher's Directory & Intro to the Back Office Support/Signposting. (CM Boss)
[Updated] Signposting to Substack Publishing Support, Experts, Mentors, & Those in the Know.
Dear Carer Mentor Community,
This web-published post is for authors, writers, creators, and artists publishing their work on Substack (the platform that houses Carer Mentor).
Premise for this article.
I’ve been helping some new publishers in our community understand some of the Substack functions and how this platform works on a 1-2-1 basis. So, I thought I’d signpost everyone to the articles by ‘Substack experts’ I regularly refer to.
In addition, I’ve noticed a big jump in the time I spend reviewing new subscribers and making values-based decisions about monitoring, muting1, blocking, reporting, or removing subscribers from the Carer Mentor email list. (I’ve done this since I started here on October 19, 2023.)
Carer Mentor is a not-for-profit publication with an outreach mission. Its goal is to reach those giving and receiving care and offer empathy and inspiration through tools, resources and ideas. The publication is growing fast.
I want to ensure this outreach growth is sustainable, responsible and in the best interests of its community members.
Substack's growth has been rapid, and the vibe of the Substack Notes app has changed with the impact of US politics and the migration of new readers/influencers from other platforms.
I’ve become even more mindful of those I follow, connect with, and subscribe to.
The algorithm recommendations at the start of the subscription process have led to many new subscribers from valued community members. It’s great until a false account, a fake profile or a stream of political ‘noise2’ enters your feed.
It’s worth knowing that I’ve seen profiles where ‘quid pro quo’ subscribing and restacking is fuelling a stream of new subscribers—any reader’s automatic following and subscribing can change your author feed.
Mindful networking may be a new topic for everyone to discuss.
I’m introducing a new series—Back Office Support/Signposting (Boss)—to share what I have learned.
Other writers/publication experts may have more wisdom to share on this. I hope so!
Directory of publications sharing their learnings and wisdom
I’ve found that I’ve shared these recommendations and their publications repeatedly. This way, I can share them with one hyperlink!
This is a directory of the writers/creators/artists and their publications that have:
Helped me leverage the platform’s tools and functions
Given me food for thought to pressure-test my ideas and strategy,
Shared insights and opinions on how/why they’ve implemented ideas
Helped me keep up to date on platform changes, updates, and functions
Facilitated open discussions and comment sections for meeting new people and interacting with other publishers
They’ve all provided rich stimulus material to feed my brain! BIG THANKS to all of them!
Save this URL. I’ll keep adding to it. I’m sure I’ve missed some! So, please keep this as a reference!
Table of Contents
Simon K Jones publishes
Karen Cherry publishes
Sarah Fay publishes Substack Writers at Work with Sarah Fay
Dan Blank publishes
Claire Venus (she/her) ✨ publishes Sparkle on Substack
Mika publishes Musings by Mika
Molly Ella publishes
Elin Petronella publishes
Robin Taylor (he/him) and
and their team publish and theAmanda B. Hinton publishes
.Kristi Keller 🇨🇦 publishes
1. Directory of Substack Publishing Support, Experts, Mentors, & Those in the Know.
publishes
Video Guides for writers, e.g. What Actually is Substack? and
Finding your community on Substack. An overview of newsletter community features
Algorithms, audiences and sub-cultures. Smaller rooms, better windows and doors
publishes
How to Get More Subscribers with a Hero Post. ... possibly the best way to showcase your mission and inspire new readers to sign up
publishes Substack Writers at Work with Sarah Fay
In 2024 I paid to join the Growth cohort private Substack. It’s a video-course Sarah constructed with a Blueprint to set up the essentials for a publication.
This year, Sarah has set up Substack Success Foundations Course. Unlock Your Potential.
publishes
A reintroduction, and please introduce yourself! Who I am and why this work matters. You’ll find a link to Dan’s book that helped reframe several things for me “Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience” I recommend reading Dan’s book.
I have a paid subscription to Dan’s work because I’ve found his insights and thoughts are helping me to translate my two decades of commercial experience to publishing content for readers.
publishes Sparkle on Substack
Welcome and Contents Page 💫 “How to Build a World Class Substack is a co-authored book with Russell Nohelty.”
Wise words: The Substack Notes Frenzy: Hype, Virality & Finding Your Own Way. A powerful tool—but is it serving you, or just spiking your dopamine? Here’s how to use it with intention and lean into the magic that already exists inside of your work.
The heads-up on Tax. I can't put my head in the sand about this one...Important info for those in the UK who offer paid subscriptions here on Substack
I’ve joined Claire’s Joyful Growth on Substack a seven day. In Claire’s “💖 Intro - Joyful Growth (on Substack) Challenge (12-19 Feb)” she shares,
“I feel like Substack has shifted and changed so much this past few months. Well really since the American election so I’ve launched a short challenge to get us back into our joyful growth arena. Your voice is important, your stories deserve to be shared.
You can take part whatever stage you are at with understanding Substack and building your readership. You are so welcome.”
Mika’s ‘Find your Tribe’ sessions are a great place to meet people. Here’s the January link
Mika’s Fav Five are helpful: Fav Five 🖐️ | Five Substack features you might not know about
writes
A year of being a Substack Bestseller. What I've learnt & how to grow your own membership
What I've learnt from my first year on Substack. How to grow an audience writing online
publishes
and and the
SmallStack (<500 is Beautiful) and the SmallStack Library. Browse the publications by category.
SmallStack is passionate about finding the quiet folks whose work deserves attention. This is the place for writers with a smaller audience to be found, seen, and appreciated. Substack writers with fewer than 1,000 subscribers are eligible to be listed on SmallStack. Those with fewer than 500 subscribers are given priority in this space.
writes .
writes
publishes Welcome to the Online Writing Club
Here’s Kristina’s YouTube Channel
2. Introduction To The Carer Mentor Back Office Support/Signposting (BOSS).
BOSS: An intentional acronym to remind myself that I’m the ‘Boss’ of my publication, to give myself the due respect of acknowledging how much time I’m spending in the Back Office**, to let my community know I take this responsibility seriously AND to share my journey and choices as support/signposts for others.
Imagine a sticker that says, ‘Victoria was here, and she went that way because..’
You have your unique choice points, and I have mine. I’m sharing my publishing choices in case they can help anyone else on a similar path.
** January 2025 I have spent a LOT of time in the Back Office alongside life priorities and commitments.
I review every new subscriber so that I can personally welcome caregivers or those receiving care. I also mute the ‘feed’ of some subscribers, and in some instances, I’ve blocked or removed subscribers from my publication email list.
Carer Mentor is part of one of my companies. It is BOTH a personal and a not-for-profit service. It needs to be ‘Bossed’ and led with clear intention.
Its reader-customers deserve this support, especially when life’s challenges are already tough enough!
I intend to, as far as possible, create a safe space for open discussion, networking, and sharing our most vulnerable stories so that we can support each other with empathy and inspiration.
The first Carer Mentor website I published was launched in May 2020, which would have been my Dad’s birthday.
It was a landmark decision to give back what I’d learnt from everything I’d researched and experienced, on the birthday of my father who embodied substance, character and ‘doing the right thing’ in the service of others as a Consultant Geriatrician (doctor for older people…yes, the irony of our journey, he’d built a day hospital for dementia, stroke and elderly people and their families and it was knocked down before it could use it for himself!)
I also needed to launch it when we were about to enter chemo cycle one for Mum. A distraction, or a focused comfort through connecting with others? Both, I think.
Five years and three website versions later, Carer Mentor will be just over 1.5 years old on Substack in May.
Since I joined Substack, I’ve restructured the publication’s website twice because my articles simply outgrew the format. I use 100% of everything I’ve published. The complete archive is free because I’m interlinking and building a website.
This is a journey behind the scenes, leveraging my commercial experience and the knowledge and support of the experts in this directory.
This will NOT be a guide for growth. As you can see from the Directory, there are some really good Substack experts, writers and publication experts for that.
I’m also not delving into my history of ‘learning how to build a website’ through Wordpress, Squarespace, Notion, and Super.
Interwoven with these insights about how I operate the publication, I’m laying out the values and behaviours that guide it, as well as my intentions and thoughts about how it’s evolving.
Please bookmark this page for future reference.
Thank you for being here, reading Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration and being part of this community network.
If you found something that resonated, helpful information, and would like to show your support, please consider subscribing for £6 a month or £50 a year.
Please Remember to ‘❤️’ LIKE the article to guide others to these resources
Your support is greatly appreciated and helps validate my time and effort.
Thank you!
P.S. Given the time I’m now spending in the Back office, I may have to paywall this series. If you think you can support my work, I would appreciate your paid subscription.
Substack app bot says: When you mute someone on Substack, you won't see their notes or activity in your Home feed, including their replies to your notes. The muted person won't be notified that you've muted them, and they can still see your Substack profile. If they restack someone else's note, those restacked notes can still appear in your feed since they originate from a different user. You can manage your muted accounts by going to your Substack Settings page at https://substack.com/settings under the Content Preferences section. (read more)
‘noise’ I’m becoming more sensitive to emotional venting, for social connection. For the sake of my readers, I'm choosing to focus on evidence-based information and facts. I’m not closing my eyes to the hurt, injustice and mayhem. My eyes are wide open. However, I choose to be an umbrella to serve my readers with the empathy and inspiration they seek. My publisher-choice.
Victoria, thank you for including me in this robust list of Allstars 😊 There are so many of us here trying to give a leg up to anyone who keeps it. This is such a collaborative community. I wish you the very best on your Substack journey, no matter how many times you change things up!