What is Midstack?
Midstack is a new membership community for midlife women with Substacks who want to grow their publications and connect meaningfully with other midlife writers.
This new community will be about growth through collaboration, networking, and community with other midlife women.
No worrying about algorithms. No obsessing about statistics. No comparing ourselves to the “big names” on Substack.
It is managed by
and , the editors and co-founders of The HerStories Project and , a bestselling Substack started last year.It is for midlife writers who want to:
learn strategies to grow their Substacks
increase their publication’s visibility through our Directory and our community features
build authentic relationships with other midlife women with similar challenges, both on Substack and off
Why Midstack?
For over a decade, Jessica Smock and Stephanie Sprenger have published women’s writing through our website and anthologies and have led writing dozens of groups and classes. In 2023, we started our Substack,
, to publish personal essays for and by midlife women.
Throughout the past year, we’ve helped dozens of other writers start and grow their Substacks, starting with a month-long winter workshop on building a Substack and then through coaching and mentoring writers in our groups and classes. We’re continuously learning ourselves about how to use Substack to reach our goals as writers and as women who want to promote other women’s writing.
We want to help other women define and reach their goals on Substack.
At Midstack we will:
highlight and promote other midlife women’s writing on Substack through our Midstack Directory
build a community of women learning and growing together through instructional posts and workshops, threads, and guided collaborations
What Does a Subscription Include?
A free subscription to Midstack includes:
inclusion in our Midstack Directory
free posts about monthly topics
A paid subscription to Midstack includes:
workshops on the monthly topics
weekly share threads to boost your posts and Notes
Ask Us Anything threads for tech help, writing guidance, and feedback on setting up and growing your Substack
monthly co-working/co-writing session
other members-only events and posts
What Are the Monthly Topics?
Each month we’ll focus on one aspect important to growing your Substack with a monthly live workshop, lesson, co-working, and feedback threads. That doesn’t mean that other topics won’t come up or are off-limits, but we’ll be making sure that you “master” this part of your Substack and its growth.
Here’s a (tentative) list of topics:
September 2024 — Your Substack’s One-Line Description: who is your Substack for and what will you promise your readers? An overview of collaborations on Substack.
➡️ Find your people: Build a small network of Substacks in your niche.
October 2024 — Collaborations: find ways to grow your Substack through round-ups, interviews, workshops, guest posts, and other opportunities
About Pages and Welcome Emails — your most important (and neglected) introductions to your Substack
November 2024 — Notes and Recommendations: how to use these Substack features to grow your Substack
December 2024 — Setting Your Goals for 2024
January 2024 — Setting Up Your Substack For Success: your Substack’s design and structure
Want to Meet One-on-One?
If you’d like to meet me with me individually to talk about your Substack — or about starting one — you can book a 30-minute meeting with me here.
Meet with me over Zoom to:
Talk about if Substack is right for you — or if some other platform might work better
Go over the layout and navigation of your Substack
Ask more detailed questions about how you might get started
Discuss what's working and what's not
