Jo Blackwell – How to Use YouTube and Substack to Build a Writing Brand (Without Going Viral)

Jo Blackwell is a writer, podcaster, researcher, and personal brand builder whose work centers on helping women over 50 rethink aging. After raising four children, navigating perimenopause, and spending 14 years as a professional portrait and brand photographer, Jo founded the Midlife Movement in 2018 to share the latest science on aging — challenging the outdated cultural narratives that tell women their best years are behind them. Her books include Oh Crap, I'm 50, 50 Facing 50 (a BBC-featured photography project), and her most recent release Aging Wonderfully Well. She hosts the Midlife and Beyond podcast and publishes regularly on YouTube and Substack.

In this episode:

• How perimenopause and depression led Jo to start writing again — and how a blog became a book and a movement
• Why building a personal brand before publishing made a measurable difference in book sales
• The "grandmotherly vibe" lesson: why leaning into who you actually are is the most powerful branding strategy
• How Jo uses YouTube and Substack as a content loop — and why she stopped trying to make Facebook work
• Using audience comments, YouTube polls, and Facebook group data to decide what books to write next
• How to overcome the fear of putting yourself out there, especially as an older woman
• Practical advice for starting a personal brand after 50: platform selection, content planning, and setting your own boundaries
• The right way to use AI in your writing process — as an editor and sounding board, not a content generator
• What's inside Aging Wonderfully Well: self-ageism, perimenopause, brain research, and the science of becoming
• Why Jo says she's never been happier than in her 60s — and what that means for women who think it's too late to start

Resources mentioned:

• Substack (platform for newsletters and audio): substack.com
• YouTube (Jo's video platform): youtube.com
• Pinterest (used as a visual search engine): pinterest.com
• LinkedIn (for collaboration): linkedin.com
• Riverside (podcast recording tool): riverside.fm

Book Recommendations:

• Aging Wonderfully Well by Jo Blackwell 
• Oh Crap, I'm 50: Journey from Fearful to Fabulous by Jo Blackwell

Connect with Jo Blackwell:

• Website: joblackwell.co.uk
• Youtube :https://www.youtube.com/@JoBlackwell-MidlifeAndBeyond
• Podcast: https://joblackwellmidlifeandbeyond.substack.com/podcast
  
  

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