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Jim Geschke's avatar

This is great, Paul. As a former journalist and editor in a previous life, I was more or less trained in these practices. I apply them now to "Quoth the Maven." Headline writing is an art, as is layout. Unfortunately, Substack's design tools and layouts are limited. Such is the nature of this beast ...

However I'll confirm ...

* Headlines are probably the most important part of publishing

* Using eye-catching artwork as the lead-in

* Subheads also help enormously to break up the body of your piece

* Like subheads, use photos and artwork to break up the body and enhance a point

* Pull quotes work great, too

* Better to break up body into shorter, more readable paragraphs. Write like it would appear in a newspaper

* Link key words that you think your audience may not know a lot about, or might be interested in further exploring.

Key: Avoid huge blocks of type. I've seen way too many Substack pieces that have 250-word paragraphs. Many readers use their phones. Reading long paragraphs is an instant turnoff

Good stuff. I have a growing collection of Paul Makko bookmarks. -- Jim

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Joyce Wycoff's avatar

Jim ... love this confirmation post ... curious though about "bookmarks" ... is that something on Substack I've missed or do you have a special process for bookmarking?

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Jim Geschke's avatar

Not a Substack bookmark. I don't know that such a thing exists. Just a browser bookmark in a Substack folder.

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Joyce Wycoff's avatar

Thanks. Now I actually want a Substack bookmark! ;-)

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

You can make a folder, then keep them all in there...

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Jul 17, 2023
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Joyce Wycoff's avatar

Thanks, Mitchell ... Readwise is one of my favorite apps but I hadn't thought about using it with Substack. Off to check it out!

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Thanks for the thoughtful comment! (as usual), Jim!

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Janette Parr Consulting's avatar

Thank you. Such a lot of great information to work through!

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Kathleen Clare Waller's avatar

So funny, I was just writing about “above the fold” this morning in reflecting on the death of a famous person years ago and the newspaper on that day.

Rich post! Love the ideas and breakdown.

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Love serendipity...thanks for the comment!

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Joyce Wycoff's avatar

Great, useful metaphor: Above the Fold, combined with clear examples make this a high-payoff post and I look forward to more. I'm on a similar path of putting together examples from Substack and will be following your lead and referring back to your posts. Thanks!

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Thanks for commenting, Joyce!

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Joyce Wycoff's avatar

Paul ... I'm still curious about your name ... when I use the Substack search bar, your name doesn't show up. Perhaps related to the graphic rendition? Thanks for all the value you share.

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Hi Joyce. I have been branding "Deplatformable". My name won't mean anything to anyone regarding the newsletter.

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Joyce Wycoff's avatar

Thanks. It seems like Substack has a dual branding bent: name and Substack title ... do you think new writers who haven't already branded their names should also focus primarily on their title? I'm flip flopping around on this one.

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Because a title is descriptive, it is something other people will remember more than a name. But either will work for a newsletter. For a company name, then you absolutely should use a brandable name and not a person's name.

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Frederick Woodruff's avatar

Excellent pointers Paul. Thank you!

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Thanks, Frederick!

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Jul 17, 2023
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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Good answer. Thanks, Mitchell!

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