A New Way to Collaborate With Other Substack Newsletter Writers

Writing a newsletter doesn't have to feel lonely. Learn a new way to collaborate with other Substack writers.

photo credit: freepik, edited in Canva Magig Studio

Wow!

176 hearts and 216 comments on my newsletter issue about Substack's growth engine show how important networking and cooperation opportunities are for you and all of us.

Okay, it’s 176 likes. I gave it a heart too 😉 I mean, why not?

This week, I came across many success stories from newsletter writers via Notes, Substack’s built-in social media platform.

To be honest, although I love to share success stories from my part-time mompreneur business and other WOW-worthy writers, I often feel:

• overwhelmed

• intimidated

• frustrated

• and confused.

And I’m not alone.

Actually, I’m in good company.

I know there are so many others out there feeling the same.

Did you know?

Most Substack writers won't make it past week 14.

You can’t believe this?

Katja Groesser from Germany belongs to the top 6% of publishers here and shared with me that her readers are her accountability buddies.

Katja Groesser is German and shares finance tips. She managed to not break her streak 42 weeks in a row.

If you need an accountability buddy, you can join my Substack School experience which is included in my premium newsletter subscription.

But there’s more.

Besides keeping the newsletter writing hula hoop spinning it’s beneficial to make use of Substack’s recommendation engine.

🥳I reached 1,000 subscribers from recommendations and I thank every single one of you!🥳

Recommendations overview shows 161 publications are recommending me and I gained 1K subscribers from Substack’s recommendations engine. I also helped others win more than 800 subscriptions via my newsletter.

This shows you don’t have to start and grow your newsletter alone.

Tapping into Substack’s community, connecting and collaborating does the trick.

All newsletter starters ask me the same question:

“How can I add (more) new subscribers to my list?”

After writing my popular newsletter about the power of Substack’s recommendations, I introduced ConvertKit’s Creator Network to you where you can find the “perfect match” = creators with a similar audience.

Based on this, I created the "Spreadsheet Directory of Publications"…

The Google sheet wasn’t *sexy* at all (but as a part-time creator, your time is limited. Better done than perfect.)

So today, two weeks after my initial spreadsheet idea, I have exciting news for you…

Serendipity brought me Magnus Hvidtfeldt who showed me a way to make the Google sheet *sexier* and collaborating more doable for all of us!

Now you can find 349 Substack writers from all categories on Letdir, which stands for Letter Discovery:

Letdir is a newsletter directory to discover and subscribe to high-value newsletters.

Magnus is the founder of this site and was so kind to migrate all Substack newsletters from the spreadsheet.

“I want to build a new home for Substack newsletter writers”, he shared with me.

🎧Magnus sent us a nice audio message to introduce Letdir🎧

How to use Letdir?

👉1 - If you were already part of my spreadsheet, today is your lucky day. Magnus added you already to his newsletter directory, Letdir. However, you can edit your profile and update your subscriber numbers or one-liners.

👉2 - If you want to add your Substack newsletter, fill out this form:

Requirements: Your newsletter needs to be active and you should publish at least once per month.

👉3 - Go to the website, pick a category you’re writing in or are interested in collaborating with.

If you select “Business” you’ll find other writers to collaborate with:

👉4 - As of today, you can’t contact the newsletter writers directly via Magnus’ site.

But here’s what you can do:

• checking out other newsletters and then offering to collaborate via comments or Substack Notes.

Spoiler alert: Soon you will have the possibility to DM someone via Substack. Since I’m not a beta Substack DM tester, I can’t tell you more about it, but that could be the future and a way to collaborate.

Now we need you!

• What can Magnus do better?

• How can he improve the site?

• How can we create a true “collaborative” site?

I’ll go first:

As a listed newsletter writer, I’d love to contact people directly from the site.

Meaning I search for someone to collaborate with in my niche, then I check out 1-3 on Substack.

Pick one and then contact the writer directly via Letdir.

My intention with this post was to show you how doable this whole list-building thing can be for you and that you don’t have to do it alone.

List building is so worth it and you’re capable of it.

Have fun collaborating!

Tell Magnus in the comments what you like, dislike, suggestions you have, and bugs you might encounter.

Thanks so much, Magnus! That’s what serendipity is about. Finding good things without looking for them. Finding other creators who build awesome things, connect, and grow together.

Thanks to more than 40 (!) subscribers who are already inside “The Substack School” and want to feel that list building can be fun in a community!

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Wait, please, could you do me a favor? 😘Re-stack and/or share this post, so more people can engage!😘 Spread the news so more people find collaboration partners! Thanks!