What have I learned from this Substack?

This summer, I challenged myself to post five editions of Q&A. Challenge complete, what - if anything - have I learned?

What’s the question?

What have I learned from this Substack?

What’s this all about?

Earlier this year, I was invited to ‘Pubstack’ – a meetup for Substack writers in Fitzrovia, London. There was a pub quiz, and my team came second, which was brilliant, and I met loads of interesting and impressive people, and I possibly even got flirted with (though I’m so old now that I can’t tell whether it’s flirting or just that I remind them of the grandpa in the Werther’s Original adverts). But I felt a fraud, because I didn’t have a Substack of my own.

So, I started dreaming about launching a Substack. But I was held back by all kinds of anxious thoughts. What if no-one reads it? What if no-one likes it? What if I can’t keep it up?

To clear these doubts, I set myself a simple objective:

‘Knowing that I will learn something from even a short-lived Substack, I can commit to posting five editions of Q&A.’

I stuck this message above my desk and for five Saturdays in a row, I’ve published this blog, which is all about questions and answers and the messy business of getting from one to the other.

So, now it’s time to take stock. What have I learned so far?

What are my initial assumptions?

Well, obviously I managed to post all five editions, so I can pat myself on the back about that. I have learned that I’m capable of publishing at least a short-lived Substack. There’s a bit of life in Werther’s grandpa yet. But the self-imposed schedule was a bit of a pain, as it meant finding time to research, write and publish a 1,400 word blog by mid-morning every Saturday.

What’s the other side of the argument?

Er, there isn’t an ‘other side’ to this argument.

Which highlights something else I’ve learned: this rigid Q&A format doesn’t work. I designed it to bring the intellectual virtues to every enquiry: curiosity, honesty, open-mindedness, humility and rigour. By asking myself about the other side of the argument, I was trying to cultivate open-mindedness, which works well for questions where there are other points of view, but not for questions that are about my subjective experience.

I’ve heard from other Substack writers that a standard format can help to break down the blank page into a series of manageable chunks, so I don’t want to jettison it altogether, but this particular format isn’t working for me.

What don’t I know?

I don’t really know what my audience thought about the five posts. A few friends left supportive comments and some strangers even subscribed, which gives me a particular thrill. But the vast majority of subscribers remained silent – just as I remain silent about the vast majority of other people’s Substacks that I read and enjoy (though I do usually tick the heart button, because I know how much it means to see the ‘like’ numbers going up).

I’ve learned that Substack, even if it’s a world away from TikTok and X, still has some of the fundamental emotional architecture of other social media platforms: it encourages us to seek validation by posting ever more content. The massive difference between Substack and many other platforms is that revenue-sharing is built into its architecture, so if my blog becomes wildly popular, and I turn on paid subscriptions, then I will get the bulk of that revenue.

For now, however, I don’t intend to ask for paid subscriptions, so I’m left with a handful of tiny hearts.

How can I find an answer?

No-one else knows what I’ve learned from this Substack. The only way I can find an answer is to look honestly at my own experience.

So, what’s the answer?

I’ve learned a few things from even this short-lived Substack:

• I can post regular editions, but I can also get hung up on posting at the same time each week, every week.

• I love the idea underpinning Q&A – that every answer begs a question – but my current format is too rigid. It must be possible to pursue intellectual virtues without having them set out in subheadings.

• I enjoyed getting into some of the big ethical and epistemological questions about conscience and artificial intelligence, but I was skating on very thin ice as I don’t have any particular expertise on these issues. It was an interesting challenge to think clearly about them, but of limited benefit to my audience – a kind of upmarket equivalent to the ‘what I had for breakfast’ blog.

Overall, I’ve learned that I enjoy Substacking, but I need to make some changes in order to keep going with this.

Next question, please

I’m going to reflect on what I’ve learned and come up with a new scheme for the next five editions of Q&A, which will probably be looser in design and frequency, and more focused on issues where I’ve got some expertise to share.