How to Forge Community as a Writer!

Why you should have a strong writing community, and how to find one 😊👥

“Writing is an isolating profession.” I’m sure you’ve heard this adage before.

It’s certainly true - writing can be a very isolating profession, but it can also be a very community-driven profession. Like everything in life, the way in which you go about your writing career determines whether you’ll live a life that’s private, public, or a combination of both. Reflect on your writing habits for a minute: Do you sit alone in your home office every day? Or do you mix up your work schedule by attending community writing groups, writing in public spaces, and participating in workshops? Even for the most introverted of writers, the freelancing profession can be overwhelmingly lonely without a community to be there for your wins and losses, push you towards success, and pick you up when you’re down.

Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

An especially beautiful thing about Substack is its focus on forging real community for writers. Substack allows users to find “their people” and have real, meaningful conversations with new friends. The platform is full of authors who want to support one another and forge long-term friendships. Of course, Substack isn’t the only avenue for growing your community, but it’s definitely a good one!

To help you get started on forging your writing community, here’s a quick list of both on and off Substack things you can do to find “your people”:

1. Join a writer’s group or co-working space: This is a great way to make friends while getting work done. Plus, if you find the right writer’s group, it’s the perfect opportunity to find peers who may be open to editing and offering feedback on your work in exchange for your review of theirs.

2. Cultivate a community-centered Substack page: If you’re comfortable with it, clarify that your Substack page isn’t just your own content-spilling newsletter. Repeat often how excited you are about growing a real community through your publication. Encourage your readers to participate in or contribute to your page by posting frequently on notes, incorporating audio, pictures, and/or video in your posts, utilizing polls, and offering workshops or community-building events to your subscribers. Consider offering extra value for your paid subscribers - perhaps discounted editing of their work, paid-only workshops or one-on-one assistance, etc.

3. Join a book club: Bonus points if you can find a club that focuses on the type of writing and/or reading you cover, as this will help you find like-minded writers and potential early reviewers for your next book!

4. Write in bookstores or coffee shops: If you’re able, grab some writer friends and hang out somewhere fun! Work quietly together, edit each other’s work, or chat over some coffee. Get to know the person or people you bring along. If you don’t have anyone to bring with you yet, that’s okay! It may just take a little bit of extroversion on your part to make new friends out of bookstore strangers. But it’s possible!

5. Search for Substack pages that discuss or center on the type of writing you’re interested in: Don’t just subscribe to these pages - contribute something meaningful to them, whether it be a thoughtful comment on a post or a question in the author’s chat. Find others who subscribe to these pages (like you, they’re probably interested in the topic that page covers!). Finding smaller Substacks (those with a lower number of subscribers) is a great way to grow your community. The authors behind these pages typically have more time to chat with you than the major Substackers, and often (but not always, so don’t hate me big Substackers!), they’re extra excited about making new friends on the platform because they don’t have an established writing community yet. Be an early friend to these Substackers and grow alongside them. Try not to get into the follow-them-so-they-follow-you mindset that you learned from Instagram. Remember, the goal is to grow a dedicated community, not a major following of mindless robot accounts. A dedicated community will encourage and support you. A dedicated community is more likely to pay for your work down the road.

   When looking for community on Substack, think about who you’d want to be friends with in the non-digital world. These are the people who will make a good community for you - the people who want to engage in meaningful conversations and get to know you.

Photo by Croissant on Unsplash

One of the main goals that I’ve set for my own publication is to create a space for authentic community. I want my page to be a place where authors dedicated to success in a digitized world can find like-minded friends. I hope that writers come to my page not just to read my words, tips, and advice, but to add their own as well. Piece by piece, I’m building a newsletter chock full of useful information for writers and book-lovers that doesn’t sacrifice friendships, laughter, and community development along the way.

I’d love it if you’d consider joining my growing community and contributing to the friendship atmosphere forming here. You’re always free to share resources/tips for budding writers and editors in the comments or chat. No matter where you are on your writing journey, you’re welcome here! Let’s be real friends and create an authentic community. 💙

Let me know what you do to grow and maintain your writing community in the comments! ✨