Collaborations for Small Publications
Best practices and hidden benefits of Substack collaborations
Hello!
Serendipity strikes. It’s a rainy Saturday morning and I’m writing a chapter for my Substack book about collaborations. I go to Chats to get a screenshot of a conversation with someone who has recently thanked me for recommending his work. I discover he has asked if he can write a guest post (shoutout to Harrison Moore).
This is Substack Collaboration 101.
Me today: Write about collaborations > Discover I have a collab request > Smiley feeling
This week’s post was supposed to be part 5 of my series Your publication needs work, but where to start (find parts 1 to 4 here). But when serendipity appears it feels great to go with it, so today I’m posting about collaborations instead. The series will continue next month.
Substack collaborations
For many creators, the best part of owning a publication is interacting with other people, both readers and writers.
When you meet new people through your own efforts online there is something very special about the connections you make. I’ve been lucky enough to connect with some amazing people since I started my first publication in 2021. These are people whose lives would never cross paths with mine in the ‘real world’; people who live in different countries, are different ages and have entirely different life experiences and expectations.
If you have been using Notes, commenting on other people’s posts, or using Substack’s recommendations features, you’ve probably already ‘met’ some fabulous creators. You might have even done some collaborative work with them already.
If you don’t enjoy working with others, that’s okay too, no one is forcing you to ‘collaborate’. Feel free to ignore this chapter. But be warned, collaborations are not just enjoyable and rewarding, they are also a powerful way to get your work seen by new readers. So it is definitely worth making the effort to ‘meet’ and try to work with others if you can.
Why collaborate?
Collaborations help your work get seen by more people. More eyes on your work means more subscribers, and if revenue is a goal for you, more subscribers equals more income.
Sending the work of a collaborator to your audience can also bring variety and freshness to your publication. When two creators bring their unique styles and perspectives together, it creates a dynamic and diverse reading experience. This diversity not only retains existing subscribers but also attracts new ones who are looking for content that continuously evolves and surprises.
Collaboration can also increase trust and creditability. Aligning yourself and your work with creators who are seen as ‘experts’ on their topics lends an air of authority to your publication which takes much longer to achieve on your own.
What do we mean by ‘collaborations’ on Substack?
A ‘collaboration’ is a loose term used when two or more creators work together and interact with each other’s audiences. Collaborations can take the form of:
- cross-posts and guest posts;
- recommendations;
- joint posts or series;
- interviews, as audio or video posts;
- appearances on podcasts;
- Q&As (questions and answers);
- co-hosted online events or in-person events;
- shared promotional activities;
- and, perhaps most importantly, supporting each other’s work with positive feedback, advice and cheerleading.
How to find collaborators
As a Substack creator, there is nothing more enjoyable than getting to meet new people through your work. The ideal way to meet people you would like to collaborate with is by consuming content. By that I mean, reading other creators’ posts, interacting with their work by commenting and getting involved in chats and notes and generally taking an interest in what other people are doing in your topic area.
“But aren’t the people you want me to collaborate with also my competitors?” I hear you ask.
A quick word about competition on Substack
Collaboration works best if you think of other creators not as competitors but as colleagues. Every person brings something a little different to their audience, and everyone has a different way of approaching their topic.
The internet is a truly enormous place and there is always room for high-quality, unique content. For example, if you write about fishing, you may take a very practical approach, showing your readers how to perform certain tasks. Other fishing publications may focus more on the fun and lifestyle aspects of fishing, or be dedicated to one style of fishing or one geographical location. These publications complement yours because they appeal to similar readers but offer something different.
If you are truly worried about competition from other publications, I suspect you don’t have a clear idea of how your work is different from others’. In that case, it’s either not different (problem!) or you haven’t taken the time to get to know other publications on your topic. You may need to revisit my post on your offer to check that you are offering something unique.
The Substack community has more than 20 million active readers – more than enough for every creator - and a culture which is supportive and non-competitive that is absolutely magical. Let’s keep it that way!
If you are looking for new creators whom you haven’t discovered organically, the best way to do this is to review audience overlap figures provided by Substack. ‘Audience overlap’ is a list of publications that have the same people on their email lists as you. These are the publications you should be subscribing to and interacting with.
Find your publication’s audience overlap in ‘Stats’.
Publication dashboard > Stats [tab] > Audience Overlap
You can also browse topic categories on the Substack website to find popular publications by navigating to https://substack.com/browse/recommendations and choosing the topic category buttons.
Once you know who you want to collaborate with, spend time fostering a relationship, by recommending their publication, getting involved in their community through comments and chats and by mentioning them in your publication or Notes.
Reminder: Mentions is a feature that alerts another writer when you mention them in one of your posts. To mention another Substack writer in a post, type the @ symbol and then search for the name or username of the person you want to mention.
When you @mention someone they will be notified of your mention, and so this feature is a good way to let other writers know when you are promoting their work.
Best practices for collaborations
Collaborations are a two-way street, so approach a potential collaboration with the expectation that you will be giving as well as receiving. That means you will be working hard for and with the other creator.
Collaborations take work. For example, you might have to spend a few hours recording an interview, answering emailed interview questions or editing a guest post submission. You might need to do more promotion or ask your audience for more of their attention than usual. Be sure you have enough time and energy for a collaboration before you embark on one.
When seeking collaborations, approach busy creators with the understanding that they are perfectly entitled to say ‘no’, or perhaps not even answer you at all.
Say ‘yes’ to requests from creators who have smaller audiences than you. They will pay back your generosity one hundredfold. And if they make it big, your work will be in their back catalogue, being discovered by new readers months and years into the future.
Working together
Once you have found another creator you want to collaborate with, you can make a plan together. Every collaboration is completely unique, and can be as structured – for example, a monthly guest post – or as informal – for example, an occasional shoutout – as you wish.
Substack tools you can use for collaborations include:
Post contributor (team member);
Video and audio posts (for interviews);
Non-Substack tools for collaboration include:
Video conferencing tools - Google Meet is free, Zoom supports recording;
Canva - use the free link-sharing feature* to collaborate on presentations;
Appointment-setting apps to arrange meetings across different time zones (I use the free version of Calendly* for this);
Video editing software with team/sharing features - Screenpal* is a cost-effective option.
*Not affiliate links
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Okay, that’s it for collaborations. Time to work on my paid publication, where I am deliciously close to reaching $20K in gross annualised revenue 😊.
Have a great week,
P.S. I’ve recently appeared in the No to Normal podcast , talking about how to monetize a community with Substack (Episode 35) and Bill Achola’s publication Bold Begin where I shared what inspired me to start writing on Substack and discuss the challenges I have faced along the way.
Thank you for this. I have around 6 collaborative articles in development right now. Most are interview based Q&As, but some might become articles with a single voice.
Karen is the best and such a nice person too!