How to Write a Good Description for Your Substack Publication
Did you 'set and forget' your description months ago? It probably needs a tweak.
Hi!
How’s your week been? I’ve met some awesome fellow Substack-creators this week (hi Ed, hi Steedan!) and had some unplanned rest time after my suspension trainer snapped and dropped me on my head, leaving me concussed. Ouch.
This week’s post is about choosing - and tweaking - your publication’s description.
What is a description?
The description is one or two sentences that appear on your welcome page for new visitors and in certain online previews of your publication.
Your publication’s description is an opportunity to excite potential readers by explaining what your publication is about, who it is for, and why they might want to read it.
If you’ve been writing your publication for a while, it may be quite some time since you reviewed its description. It could probably do with a tweak.
Edit your description from the Basics section of your publication settings
Publication dashboard > Settings > Basics > Short description
Top tip: Obvious is good. When new readers find your work, you only have a few seconds to convey what your publication is about, so aim for ‘obvious’ with descriptions.
Two types of description
Descriptions can provide information about a publication’s subject matter, author, audience and frequency. There are two approaches to creating a description, depending on what your publication’s title is like.
1)If your publication title is descriptive then your description should show people who the publication is for, or why someone would want to read it.
For example, a publication called “Remembering the 1980s” is obviously about the 1980s, the description does not need to explain that. Instead, the description can be used to explain the ideal reader. For example “A weekly newsletter for those who survived the weirdest decade of last century”.
Example
Title: Come Fishing With Me
Description: Thirty Decades in the Gulf of Mexico – The Adventures of a Professional Marlin Hunter and His Terrier
2)If your publication title does not clearly name your subject, then your description must do so, ideally including the subject in the first three words.
Example
Title: Pies
Description: Graphical data analysis: pie charts and other tasty charts
It’s also a good idea to add something about the writer. As Alex Dobrenko from both are true says:
“Don’t forget to let your readers know who is the person writing it! Like why should I trust you as the source for this ?.... maybe you just add to the end something like "written by someone whose spent the last 20 years trying to figure it all out"”
Example
Title: By the Stars
Description: Wilderness navigation and survival for weekend warriors by a former special forces agent
Inspiration Station! Descriptions I love…
The newsletter “Heated” has a great description that conveys both the subject matter and its intended audience in a single sentence: “A newsletter for people who are pissed off about the climate crisis.”
Here are some other title-description combinations which convey the subject matter and the personality of the author. (Note: I collected these in 2022, so they have probably changed by now.)
Both are True
Absurd, honest comedy delivered twice a weekish through the vulnerable personal essays of Alex Dobrenko: friend to all, father to one, and tv actor+writer to anyone hiring
Nervous Wreckage
A writer with panic disorder looks for examples of how anxiety manifests all around her: in pop culture, in everyday life, and beyond" AND “Anxious? SAME. This bimonthly newsletter wields anxiety as a lens into the pop culture zeitgeist, current events, and everyday life
Theory Gang
Funky, fresh takes on science, philosophy, and culture from a low-brow scholar
Invincible Career
A Silicon Valley veteran shares unconventional strategies to help you intentionally build a career that gives you the life you want
Flagging Down the Double E's
Essays about Bob Dylan concerts throughout history
More…
"Weekly analysis of US-China policy and translations of Chinese-language sources on tech, politics and the broader economy"
“Discover the UK's most interesting pre-seed startups”
"A quiet portal to the odd, curious and poetic places on the web"
A Simple Formula If You’re Stuck
I love this ‘trick’ from Elizabeth of What to Read If, who says “We all know you need to know your ideal reader to make a good Substack publication.”
Elizabeth uses a simple formula to describe a publication: Where XX community finds YY content.
If you’re stuck on your description, why not describe your publication using this formula?
That’s it for this week!
If you have any tips for descriptions, share them in the comments.
Have a fabulous week,
Karen
I've been publishing here for almost 2 months and I revisited my description last night. Tweaked and streamlined it....and got rewarded with 3 new subscribers in just 2 hours!!
Great reminder to check all the things that you may have just filled out in the beginning but forgot, or maybe, like mine, your newsletter topics have shifted. Well done!