Writing Substack posts for your group
Tips on writing Substack posts for your group to get your message out and to build your network
Your Substack account is for you as an individual. It’s a good idea to have your own Substack publication even if it’s just to learn and experiment.
Your group Substack is a combined effort. A publication for your group can have multiple admins, contributors and guest posts. If you want to make posts on the group page or crosspost to the group’s Substack, you will first need to set up your profile, and then ask one of the admins to send you an invitation to be a contributor.
Tips on writing articles for groups
Your group should have an agreed direction or shared purpose and your post fits within that. (You can write on other things in your personal Substacks.)
We move in the direction of our conversations.
If you look at your post as a part of wider public conversations, what direction do you want your post to take the conversations of your reader? What thoughts or actions or further conversations are you trying to inspire?
The way you frame your subject, how you align it to the purpose of the group, and the words you choose, all make a difference.
Basic Report: What, How, Where, Why, When
We can write to create awareness about local activities and initiatives with the aim that will inspire readers to:
Be aware of activities and events run by the group or group members. This can be anything from setting up your verge garden to petitions to event alerts and reports.
Support local enterprises, visit exhibitions, participate in projects or activities, tell others about them.
Be inspired to get involved or start their own initiatives. This could mean including background stories of who started your group and why, what hurdles did they face, what helped them succeed, and so on.
Adding extra context to build connections
Include your personal responses. What appeals to you and why? Has it raised any Aha! moments for you?
Join the dots for your readers as to how this is related to your group’s purpose. For RegenBrisbane, it could be how it fits with Doughnut Economics, the SDGs, and/or RegenBrisbane. For a verge gardening group, your verge story could be about your personal aims and/or your group as a whole - see this post from
More than a Story
Consider your stories as part of building your connections with the people involved - expanding both your own and the group’s network
Consider how the story portrays your group - open, curious, positive.
Style Guides
We’re doing something different here. This is a collaboration using Substack where people are expected to speak as themselves with their own voice, not a corporate document or an academic journal.
Speak as yourself with an emphasis on your interests and disciplines. We move in the direction of our conversations - so try to make it conversational. Imagine you are writing to a friend, not a group of strangers.
Copyright of each post belongs to the author(s). People will be able to find you through your by-line and your Substack profile.
Consider collaborating on articles where you share an interest especially if you are approaching an issue from different angles e.g. reducing urban heat and resistance to tree planting.
Some Basics of online writing
Headings, short paragraphs, and bullet points make it much easier to read on a screen.
Use bold, italics and block quotes or pullouts for emphasis - sparingly.
Include links to other websites or web pages within the text.
Substack editor is deliberately minimal so people concentrate on content - images are full width, text is single font and colour.
Simple sentence structure is usually best.
Avoid acronyms and jargon where possible, and explain them if you need to use them.
Use images only when they add something to the story. On Substack, your first image, if you have one, is used for the preview. You can change this, or add a preview image in the post settings.
It is usually best to write and edit in your preferred editor and then copy and paste into Substack. I write in Scrivener or Word. I also use the spell and grammar checks but hardly ever make the changes they suggest.
Getting your computer to read the text aloud is a very good way to pick up mistakes. Your eyes see what you expect to see, but you will hear mistakes and clumsy sentences. Even better, read aloud yourself and create an audio voiceover.
Send yourself test copies, read them and click on every link to test they go where you expect.
If you make a mistake or typo, you can edit the post but you only get one go at the email.
Nobody will read your writing as carefully or critically as you do. Relax, experiment, and develop your own voice. Use a personal Substack as your sandpit.