"WHAT's AFOOT ?"
T.C.A. #13.
New Banner (and all text) for This Creative Adventure, personally produced by this creative human author.
THIS CREATIVE ADVENTURE IS DEDICATED TO ASSISTING NEW WRITERS, PARICULARLY THOSE WHO ARE DESIROUS OF BUILDING COMMUNITIES TO HEAL OUR WORLD….
What’s Afoot, etymology = something happening /planned / being prepared.
ERGO :- Subscribers can expect, every Friday, items from this non-chronological list of Growth Articles for 2025.
Full Free Posts include A). “Hallo Goldies” - Introductions to + Interviews with some of Substacks finest authors; and B). “Hallo Newbies” - Interviews with up & coming Stars of this Generous Platform. Also Crossposts and Guestposts on items of specific interests by leading Substack Educators.
A mix of Free, Previewed & Paid Full Articles in the “Why & How Series” on topics such as :- Storytelling, Co-operations, Recommend Others, Follow vs Subscribe, Grokking the Data, Paying, Game-upping, Use of Humour, Hero Posts, Effective use of Likes - Comments - Restacks, Value of Multistacking, Multilingual posting, Frontloading, Embracing Autism, Colour choices, Networking, Mutual Promotions, C.V. Presentations, Creating Special Pages…. Random / Targeted Promotions, etc ad infinitum…
Supplementary Items, mostly shortform, such as “Now Here’s a Thought” (general mentoring), Tipsheet, Competitions with Prizes, Green Projects and Inspirational Episodes.
I came to Substack twenty months ago bringing No imported subscriber list, BUT - considerable experience, of various Creative Endevours, and of promoting them… from which I was usually able to finance my lifestyle. Now as a senior citizen, it is my fulfilment and delight to put something back in the pot. Thereby, together with others, to Heal Our World. I have long held that “Knowledge is Not a Commodity”, yet equally, writers do deserve to be able to earn from sharing their work. To which I would add that the Substack Platform also deserves to earn something - to at least cover the management expenses. Personally, any income I derive here goes to support green initiatives.
Here’s what they say……
"We need more people like you to recognize these simple joýs" Alison Riney. "You shine a very bright light indeed" Moon Arica. "Thankyou Maurice, that means a lot and brings me delight" Susan Harley. "Thanks for this Interview, Maurice, I appreciate all you're doing to make connections here" Julie Gabrielli. "Maurice, all those adventures, incredible !" Kate Brown. "You have given me a high standard to aspire to, your contributions to the community of writers are much valued" Douglas McCleneghan. "Thanks for the restack, Maurice. This post is getting some traction" Kate Farrel. "I'm in" + "Your suggestion is a beautiful solution to the problem" Joydeep Biswas. "Maurice, this is beautiful, Thankyou" Donna McArthur. "You are offering a great service to Substack Newbies here" Julie Gabrielli.
GRATIS PROMOTIONS:
On the 20th Nov, I set myself a target - to promote 800+, mostly random, other substacks within 30 days. I actually achieved just over 700…. I had not expected to receive so many responses to answer ! Nor had I reckoned on a debilitating five days of a dry fever….. Heigh ho ! that’s life !! The other thing that was unexpected was a total readership increase of 136%, by Xmas Day ! Nice present, Lovely…. Thankyou !!
Last February I came across Suzanne Taylor’s “How I saved the World” essay competition. The concept was brilliant, inspirational, I volunteered to bring my promotional skills to bear. She had hoped for 12 to 20 entries…. She credited me with being instrumental in bringing the entry count to 175. (See Below). En-route to the 175, I observed operational features of the platform that were not actually being taught. This got me thinking that not only was it possible to scale up promotions, but also to show others how to do the same. Some deep research and testing ensued….. This Creative Adventure is the result. I continue to dig, test, initiate, and now it’s time to start publishing my findings. There is already an article drafted on the above mentioned 700….
Follow me to pick up a few pointers. SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE to learn even more - and to be shortlisted for Gratis Promotion.
Now Here’s a Thought…
This went out as a Stand-Alone Note on Wednesday… Because - A). So many writers have experienced a drop in new subscribers since “following” was introduced last Spring, and B). New-to-substack readers are too often unaware of the differences between Following and Subscribing for Free.
I am not yet aware of any attempt to mitigate the drop that makes it even harder to gain Paid Subscribers ….. So I figure it’s up to us writers here to individually and collectively to use our creativity to resolve the problem ourselves. Surely that’s the very ethos here ? In NeXt Friday’ Tipsheet, I’ll be suggesting ways we might tackle this important issue. Then on Friday 24th a Full Main Article; In the meantime perhaps you would like to share your own views and experiences with our readers - open a broader discussion…..
NeXt on This Creative Adventure. Every Friday.
T.C.A. #14, Jan 17th. “Hallo Goldie, An Interview with Douglas McClenaghan” + “Tipsheet” + “A One-Off Opportunity to obtain a Full 12 month Subscription for Only One Month Cost ($5) - This offer will be open for just 27hours, Never to be repeated”.
T.C.A. #15, Jan 24th. “Competition with Prizes” Free Post + “To Follow or to Subscribe for Free” Paid or comp only Post.
T.C.A. #16, Jan 31st. “Why Storytelling beats Fact Listing” Preview Post.
NeXt on Yes, I Author, Most Wednesdays.
Ancient Legend #15, Jan 13th. “Return to the Shrine”
A, B, C + D #10, Jan 20th. “Frida’s Dragon” (Curtesy of Jack Watson).
A QUICK MEMORY….. As a kid in the 50’s I enjoyed listening to Professor Jimmy Edward’s comedic “Take it From Here”… Each broadcast included a skit featuring the Glum family. Ron Glum (Dick Bentley) was not very bright, always nervous of the salacious advances of Eth, his girlfriend (June Whitfield). Every episode - just as she switched of the light, panting “Oooh Ron !” in would burst Pa Glum with “Hallo, hallo, what’s afoot ??!!”. Ron the dim’s panicky, standard answer was “Er, it’s that funny shaped thing on the end of your leg Pa !”
Coming soon :-
My new third stack -
is registered but not yet live. We commence with snippets in a few weeks, building to imagery, stories and articles as we go. Show your curiosity by clicking and subscribing for FREE.And if you are curious about Suzanne Taylor’s remarkable essay competition - https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/an-essay-contest-its-january-1-2050 clicking thru´ a bit will get you to the 20 short listed entries…. A feast of ideas for much thought…. (Six winners shared $14,000 in Prize Money, entirely provided by Suzanne herself)
This all sounds awesome—can’t wait! 😍 Thank you for spreading your kindness, joy, and insight here!
You've got a lot going on Maurice!
What I took most from this though was your promotion experiment, I feel I certainly got some benefit from that. The resulting increase in readership was fantastic! A nice present indeed!
Generosity as a growth tactic, that's definitely something worth writing about!