Let’s Build a Substack That Actually Pays
Our Summer Writing Challenge starts now!
✍️ What would happen if you consistently wrote & published for the next 10 weeks? If you actually committed to growing & monetizing the Substack of your dreams? Let’s find out — together.
Welcome to Our Community Substack Challenge!
For the next 10 Weeks, we’ll all write a weekly Substack post to finish the Summer season off strong 💪
Every Tuesday, if you’re subscribed to our paid tier of £5/month, you’ll receive a newsletter with (1) this week’s Visibility Challenge, (2) a Reflection Prompt, & (3) tons of Substack tips, resources, and insights.
It doesn’t matter if you already have a Substack, or if you aren’t sure about Substack long-term: no one ever regrets creating a body of work, or sticking to their writing discipline. Plus, it’s a lot more fun writing with a community!
Upgrade here:
Sometime this week, I want you to write for 5 or 15 or 60 minutes – whatever you have available – and immediately hit POST on Substack.
Then, I want you to complete…
👁️ This Week’s Visibility Challenge
Once you’ve created & published your post, share its URL in the comment section!
(BONUS: Check out some of the other URLs from fellow writers in the challenge)
💭 This Week’s Reflection Prompt
Take a few minutes to journal (consider this your Substack “morning pages” for the week):
What would ‘success’ look like for your Substack in 6 months?
👉 This Week’s Substack Tips & Insights
If you are anything like me, you’ve dreamt of growing & monetizing a Substack for waaaaay too long now – but have yet to truly commit.
The desire is there – what could possibly be better than penning one inspired post per week and making a good living from our writing? – but we haven’t truly made a concerted effort toward making this a reality.
THIS is the inspiration for our Summer Challenge, because it would be my ultimate dream if in 10 weeks we are ALL several free/paid/lovingly enthusiastic subscribers closer to our goal.
I’m in the trenches with you. Immediately after publishing this newsletter, I’m going to hop onto my brand new personal Substack, quickly whip out a post before my imposter syndrome takes over, and then jump into the challenges.
I know it’s not easy. I know life is busy. I know there are one thousand reasons why not writing is easier than writing, every single week.
But I also know that this is a dream that millions of us writers hold close to our hearts, and have for years, and the dream will never go away. And while I’ll just speak for myself here now – I know if I don’t give this a solid GO, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
Who’s with me?
🩷 This Week’s Love Notes from Me to You 🩷
✅ 1. One True Thing
→ A fact, truth, or principle about Substack-building, audience growth, or monetization
You do not need a massive audience to start making money on Substack — you just need clarity, consistency, and a clear reason for people to pay.
✅ 2. Writerly Field Notes
→ A short, personal insight from my own experience as I join you in this challenge
This week I’ve noticed: the biggest thing slowing me down isn’t the actual drafting or revising — it’s overthinking & procrastinating. Once I sit down and actually start typing, I don’t actually need that much time to create a post.
This week’s reminder to myself is: This newsletter doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to exist.
✅ 3. One Line of Encouragement
→ My reminder to you to KEEP GOING 💛
You don’t need to 100% “find your voice” before you start. Trust the process – our voices emerge through showing up.
✨ Which note hit home for you this week? Hit reply or leave a comment — I’d love to hear. ✨
📚 Want more inspiration?
Every week I’ll share one Recommended Reading article, from a fellow newsletter I admire that’s also building great Substack resources:
(PS: None of these are affiliates. I just love them.)
✨ Have you upgraded to our paid tier yet? Join us in this Writing Challenge. Let’s make the next 10 weeks the most transformative of our entire writing career:
Want the ultimate added accountability? Our Bottega Collective Membership is just £25 per month and includes a 2-hour community video call on zoom every week, where we chat about progress & get a hour of silent writing done.
Simply hit ‘reply’ & let us know you’re interested – we’ll share 2 free weeks, where we can guarantee you’ll produce some solid writing you’re proud of.
Hi Loren, just published my this week's post. The first one. Sharing the link here https://njametalk.substack.com/p/sitting-in-the-unknown and waiting for other writers to join in and share. Also want to read yours, please share it.
Challenge accepted! Here's my post for this week! :) https://open.substack.com/pub/lizzymadrigal/p/lessons-in-central-park-lessons-in?r=2cs910&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true