Introducing Myself and Trying Out Substack
I’m following a template - “Beginnings are hard.”
A blinking cursor on a fresh blank page can be intimidating for even seasoned writers. Here are some tips from our Partnerships team on how to go about your first Substack post:
Okay, then, I’ll try to write this blog post. I’ll respond to the prompts in this post in italics.
1. Why this, why now
Tell your readers why you are launching this space. What brought you here and what inspired you to do it now. Think of it as a mini personal manifesto.
First, an introduction. I’m “DanceDanceRevolution” (DDR in this blog) player ROCOPLTX (fully pronounced “rah-co-pie-lit-ecks”, but “rah-co” or “roh-co” is just fine) (I go by Rock P. on Substack). I’m currently based in the northeastern United States and have been a hobbyist in this space for at least a decade now in some form.
I want a place to talk about DDR in a longform written format. Content creation is an important part of sharing this primary use of my free time with others, and as I lack the bandwidth to skill up to produce video or podcast content, and as I take interest in the written word as a means to keep clear and articulate my thoughts (and since I don’t want to touch Blogger, WordPress, or Squarespace, or X (nee Twitter) and TwitLonger due to personal preference), …and since I’ve seen many other writers write to Substack, I figured I’d try it out, at least for a few posts.
2. What kind of community are you looking to build here
You are not just starting a newsletter when you start a Substack, you are starting a community. You are inviting people to subscribe to your thinking. What kind of space will this be?
I’d like to invite DDR enthusiasts of all stripes and locales to come take a look and read what I’ve written, though I will focus my efforts on sharing these posts with:
The few friends I maintain regular correspondence with over Signal,
Members of the northeast US DDR community via Discord,
Targeted audiences (e.g. DDR tournament organizers) to share domain knowledge and my experience whenever applicable.
3. Be specific
Readers love clarity. Be clear when you explain what they should expect: how often will you be posting? Can they expect certain posts on specific days? What will the free subscribers get? What does a paid subscription buy them? (You can list these benefits in bullets.)
I will post on this blog when I feel like I have something interesting related to DDR I want to write about and share publicly. There will be no set schedule.
Regarding monetization, DDR is currently a hobby made possible as a grassroots effort by community members volunteering their free time to play and organize events. I personally endorse efforts to monetize the hobby to make pursuing the development of this game (e.g. DDR players CHRS4LFE and STRETCH appearing in a Taco Bell commercial (video unlisted), but in the spirit of “free and open source”, I want to make my content on this blog freely accessible and readable to everyone.
As of now, this blog is not monetized, but if it were, I’d pursue a “pay-what-you-want” model. Your contribution will mean to me that you appreciate my writing and that you would be interested in more content on the subject.
4. Use an image and “subscribe” buttons
A picture will look nicer when you share the post on your social media (click the image icon in the editor to search for copyright-free photos), and it will give color to your archive as you build it.
Okay, sure. Here’s an image then:
Me (bottom-center in black hair) explaining to VVVVVVVV (left, in black hair) and BOGO (center, wearing a white hat) the tiebreaker rules of their end-of-pool match at “Everything but Expert” (July 2023). Photo credit SYDIA.
5. Ignore our advice
There is no one true way to go about building a Substack. This is your playground, experiment with it. If you’re having fun, your readers will too.
You can’t tell me what to do! I’ll throw this blog ON THE GROUND. I’M AN ADULT!
(But trust us on the “subscribe” buttons!)
Okie dokie. DON’T FORGET TO SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON AND HIT SUBSCRIBE AND PUNCH THAT NOTIFICATION BELL SO YOU CAN BE A COOL KID AND GET THE NEXT POST RIGHT AS IT PRINTS B)))))))))))