How to Support Writers Without Actually Having to Pay or Sponsor Them

All the little gestures of kindness really start to add up after a while

This is an image of my family drawn by my daughter. I’m on the left (do you like my socks?)

Hello Friends!

I was chatting with my author friend

Alison Acheson

, and we both lamented the fact that so much of the modern writing world consists of sell, sell, sell. The fact of the matter is that a lot of us are working on “fringe” media because we want to give voice to messages that the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge.

Unfortunately, mainstream media controls all the distribution mechanisms, and almost all the revenue streams.

I think it’s actually good for us that so many people are getting frustrated and canceling their subscriptions to legacy media. Perhaps a few of those dollars will make their way to writers who actually have something to say. At the same time, it’s frustrating to think that none of us will ever get high paying jobs as columnists in major newspapers.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a built-in audience of a couple million subscribers? Oh well!

One of my objectives with this newsletter (and with all my writing when you come right down to it) is to help amplify marginalized voices. That brings me great joy, mainly because I’ve spent so much time being forced to listen to a media that I disagreed with on a fundamental level.

It turns out that if you get out into the world you find people who think the same way as you do. The even more surprising thing is that the MAJORITY of people probably think that way. It’s easy to forget that fact in our moments of despair but it’s true. Human beings always resist the constraints of authoritarianism eventually.

The simple fact is that we have to lift our voices. When we disagree with something we have to speak out. Otherwise nobody hears the message and everybody ends up thinking they’re all alone (they’re not).

The good news is that supporting each other doesn’t have to cost a thing!

Your engagement matters!

I’m not a tech person. If I was, I’d be perusing a job market with starting salaries around $250k and I wouldn’t have to ask people to sponsor my newsletter. But even though I’m not a tech person, tech people have told me that engagement is what matters on platforms such as this.

If your article is getting a lot of likes, comments, and restacks, the algorithm takes notice and starts promoting your work like crazy. So, even if you don’t sponsor a newsletter directly, you might be able to drive other sponsorships to it.

Leaving a simple “Great post!” comment, and then clicking that “Also share to Notes” box, is one of the quickest and easiest ways to support a newsletter (wouldn’t it be cool if the comment section of this article had 100 or so comments like that, wink, wink).

This idea applies to social media shares as well. Substack makes it easy for you, there’s a share button right at the top:

See how you get all kinds of sharing options? Share to all those places! Boom! You just made a friend of your writer for life (except don’t share to the last one…).

I totally understand that people hit hard times. I’ve hit hard times myself. I just did an article for Medium about Christmases from 10 years ago when I didn’t really have much to give to my kids. Fortunately, I made up for it by sitting down and painting with them. I’ll send you the link to this story when it goes live.

The point is that paid sponsorships are wonderful, but shares, likes, and other forms of engagement are also very much appreciated. It’s been my experience that good things happen when you help other writers gain visibility.

Speaking of that, I’d like to take some time to celebrate the work of others.

Some writers I’ve worked with recently

I think it’s important to share in the successes of my readers/friends. Some of you have given me the privilege of allowing me to offer comments on your work. I appreciate that trust! Also, I know that it’s not always pleasant to listen to editorial suggestions.

Here are some articles that I’ve seen and worked on (in some cases) recently. I hope they’ll attest that I’m a kind editor (I don’t like being edited either when it comes right down to it):

I’m a big fan of the work of

Shari Walker

. I worked with her on this story which was recently published in Cultured:

What Being Homeless Taught Me About Education, Resilience, and Achievement

I really enjoy the work of

Sarah3000

too. Here’s her latest:

The Danger of Being a Female in the Workplace

Here’s one I worked on with

Elizabeth Silleck La Rue

which contains some very relevant information:

Three Things You MUST Do if You Want to Emigrate from the US

And one by

Will Fullwood

who I will try to convince to be more active on Substack!

How Practicing Antiracism Is As Simple As Humanizing Your Black Students

Ben Ulansey

is a very thoughtful and eloquent writer (he’s also a great editor):

‘Interstellar’ Is a Spellbinding and Philosophical Odyssey

Robin Wilding

has some of the funniest content on the whole internet:

Punctuation Matters(?)(!)

And

Jason Provencio

is turning into the Godfather of Substack:

I'm Starting to Enjoy Podcasting More Than Writing

Those of you who are on both Substack and Medium, I encourage you to follow each other (particularly on Medium). Whether you interact with each other in the comment section of my articles, or in the comments of these linked articles, it is a huge help! Writing is about developing community and sharing ideas.

I always tell people not to be too discouraged if they write an article that doesn’t find an audience right away. There are a few articles of mine that are still languishing on Medium:

Whoo hoo! Time to retire!

But if I’d quit after writing that article, I wouldn’t have written these:

The point is that we have to support and encourage each other through the lean times. I also take sponsorships very seriously. If you sponsor me, I feel an obligation to provide equal value in return. If I can help you get an article Boosted, or I can edit an article, or I can review your book, or I can drive some traffic to one of your articles by mentioning it in my newsletter… I’m going to do it! If you sign up for an $80 sponsorship, I hope to provide you with (for starters) $81 in value.

On Wednesday, I shared a book review that I did for

Orlando Ortega-Medina

(he doesn’t appear to be too active on Substack). Here’s the review:

Nobody Should Be Persecuted Because of the People They Choose To Love

I mention this because reviews represent a HUGE way that we can support each other. Rather than sign up for an annual subscription, consider grabbing a book by an author you enjoy and leaving a review. Writers truly appreciate that.

Helping other writers is the key to growth

I’m a Boost nominator for Medium, but to be honest, quite a few months go by where I don’t see enough quality stories to nominate. I’d prefer to work with writers who follow my newsletter and who have read the articles I’ve written about formatting and good practices. It is just so much easier to work with somebody who already has a basic level of understanding than to have to explain the same thing over and over again.

Boost has been going through a lot of changes lately, but I still believe that Medium is the best place to get an immediate return on your work. Yes, sometimes even a Boosted story does not earn out very well, but writing is a marathon not a sprint. You have to keep at it and keep building up your following.

Remember, you can always repurpose your writing when you move to a new platform.

I’ve come to accept the fact that I’m never going to be one of those writers who signs a $100,000 book deal. That’s just not going to happen to me. The economic model that supports that kind of an opportunity is something that I despise to the depths of my soul (and that’s pretty clear in my work).

My dream is to build my personal network to the point where I’m able to promote a book or an article or a newsletter and help an up-and-coming voice get her/his first $1,000 payday.

Right now, my platform and the work I do on Medium as a Boost nominator means I can usually get people their first $100 payday! That’s something, and two years ago I wasn’t able to do that.

Over the next few months, I plan on sharing some of the reviews I’ve done over the years with Write & Review. I think you’ll enjoy these reviews. They’re not the standard dry offerings that you find in academic journals. Also, the fun part about reviewing independent books or small press books is that the authors tend to show up in the comments. A few of them have become sponsors of this newsletter. Let’s all grow together!

I’m out of space! Thanks for reading, as always, leave your comments below: