Sparkle on Substack

Claire Venus

Stay Creative on Substack with tutorials, teaching, posts, threads, thoughts and tools. Special guest episodes with those who I massively respect and I know will help you sparkle up your Substack and find your true north on the platform! ✨ sparkleon.substack.com

  1. hace 1 h

    What feels different after a summer break and trying on a new Substack for size...

    Thank you Kate Harvey, Kendall Marie Platt 🌱, Claire Machado, Nance Scott, Jenny Karlsson, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Sparklers... quick summary from my live… I deleted the Substack app the entire summer (still deleted, if I’m honest). I took a break then took Sparkle down to two newsletters a month instead of my usual cadence, same depth of content but flagging the archive more… And I said something out loud I want to say here too. My Substack growth had genuinely slowed to the point where I wouldn’t have had a business if I was relying on it alone. So I made a call - mastered content creation - grew my Instagram by over 2,000 followers this summer, something I’ve never really done before, and leaned into well-aligned summits instead of waiting for the algorithm to catch up adding 500 subs to my list. None of that is a Substack failure story more what building this actually looks like some seasons. If something in your setup feels stagnant right now, whether that’s your cadence, your day, or where you’re putting your energy... you don’t need my blueprint or anyone else’s. Change it? See what happens? Claire ✨ Join our joyful growth to Substack bestseller challenge - on all of this week… Turn the Page Retreat - next weekend… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

    What feels different after a summer break and trying on a new Substack for size...
  2. 16 jul

    Let's audit a Substack live!

    Thank you ✹The Unmasked Woman✹ (Hannah), Vera Lúcia, Rose Wippich, Lisa Conquet, Rita Riebel Mitchell, and many others for tuning into my live video with Bella younger! Join me for my next live video in the app. You can subscribe to Bella here… And I highly recommend following her on IG here…where you can also download the template I mention… * https://www.instagram.com/deliciouslystella * Her book The Accidental Influencer is here… https://www.amazon.co.uk/Accidental-Influencer-Likes-Nearly-Ruined/dp/0008402493 Ai overview thanks Claude What this session was: a live audit with Bella Younger (author, “The Pug’s Ear” on Substack) covering identity/rebranding on the page, the about page, positioning. Old identity, new chapter: Bella’s wrestling with how much to reference her old “Deliciously Stellar” persona. Claire’s take: you can honour a past identity without leading with it; people don’t need to know who we are in the world, we can just be who we are. * The about page is prime real estate: a photo, a book link, and social proof (testimonials) belong there — and most people never find the edit button because Substack keeps moving it. * Subscribe buttons need repeating: one at the bottom isn’t enough. Put one early too, because people get distracted mid-scroll. * Say less than you’ll do: if you might publish weekly, promise two to three times a month instead — it protects you on a bad week and it’s fairer to readers who are giving you their attention. * Pricing is emotional, not just mathematical: low, easy price points (the “cost of a coffee”) bring in more subscribers overall, and subscriptions are often the first thing people cancel when they feel overwhelmed — a cheaper annual plan protects against that. * Momentum beats perfection: scheduling a post before it’s fully finished can be the deadline that actually gets it out the door. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

    Let's audit a Substack live!
  3. 12 jun

    War and Peace - a world wide reading experience & full time job with 46k readers live on Substack

    “It became acceptable. It’s okay to ask people to pay for your creative work... every minute that you spend working on these projects is valued.” Simon Haisell I sat down with the wonder that is Simon Haisell in Spring to chat more about his patron model here on Substack (the one I always use as an example). It was such a precious conversation about the magic of Substack and community. I know you’ll be super inspired. If you’ve not heard of Simon - you’ll be enchanted to meet him - he’s the creator behind Footnotes and Tangents on Substack which is now in year 3. He’s based in the North East of England (like me) and I always adore supporting North East creative minds - this conversation was just an honour. Simon runs slow read-alongs of classic and literary fiction (his flagship being a chapter-a-day of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace across a full year). He started the book club on Instagram before moving to Substack around end of 2023. “You read a chapter (of War and Peace) each day and you’re living the life with the characters rather than racing to the end... it does allow you to make connections with your own life.” The conversation covers his journey from passion project to full-time Substack creator, how word of mouth (including a major Gretchen Rubin (!!) shoutout) drove lots of his growth. We talk about why he uses a “soft paywall” model including complimentary subscriptions for anyone who can’t pay, and how he intentionally stays off the leaderboard numbers to protect the soul of his work. We also touch on how we manage our nervous systems in relation to ‘leaderboards’ and ‘being’ online. The episode ends with exciting news: Simon has just signed with literary agency Curtis Brown and been in conversation with Penguin, directly because of his Substack presence. What a well deserved whirlwind. I can’t wait to see what happens next!! “If I chased the numbers and tried to make the world’s biggest book group, all of the soul would suck out of it very quickly... what comes across in my writing is my love of the books, that’s why I’m here.” Simon Haisell War and Peace Daily - https://footnotesandtangents.substack.com/s/2026-war-and-peace-daily Free Masterclass with me - The four types of monetisation on Substack. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

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Stay Creative on Substack with tutorials, teaching, posts, threads, thoughts and tools. Special guest episodes with those who I massively respect and I know will help you sparkle up your Substack and find your true north on the platform! ✨ sparkleon.substack.com

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