On how to start writing on education

It's both harder and easier than you think!

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

It’s really important that teachers are also writers — not just as teachers of literacy but as participants in our own profession. We are continually talked about and talked over. A Substack is a way to regain some power, put out into the world the issues that inspire and infuriate us, and practise the art and skill of self-expression.

Since I started self-publishing, a few people have asked me how to get started. This post will cover how to write but also how to promote that writing on social media, all while maintaining boundaries and personal wellbeing. There’s a little bit more to it than drafting and editing, and I hope this post gives you some confidence to get going. Use this link as a referral so that I know I have helped you and I can share your first post!

Just start

The best part about starting a Substack is that initially, nobody is going to read it! This gives you incredible freedom to write ‘not your best work’ for at least the first couple of months after you start publishing. Similarly, there are very few people judging the quality of your ideas. I’m pretty sure not even my family read my Substack when I first started.

The other tip I will give is to plan several posts in fairly quick succession to populate your Substack. Remember, they don’t have to be Hemingway, and they won’t be! Starting now, keep a note of everything in education that has ever mildly annoyed or inspired you and turn each of these ideas into a 500-word post. No post should ever take more than about an hour of writing and an hour of stewing over it. You have time, but if you’re agonising too much, read “be prepared to kill,” below.

I started my Substack as a new year’s resolution and promised to write every day. I did not keep this promise, but I was able to grow my initial audience and offering fairly quickly because of this baseline effort. I assume the readership grew because I frequently had something to say.

Have a point of view

The hardest part of self-publishing is wondering whether anyone cares about your point of view. Sometimes what we care about is quite niche. There’s a principle in business called the ‘long tail’ and I think Substack works well for this kind of publishing — a specialised product on a platform that has the capacity to reach a large and dispersed audience means you might be surprised just how many other educators are really into outdoor education, reading policy changes, or student voice. The other advantage of having a specific focus is that there won’t be a lot of competition for eyeballs.

There are a couple of caveats here. First, if you’re going to own a space, really own it. If you’re going to write about gifted education and there’s a big policy change in your city, then you’re posting on it the next day at the latest. Every bit of news about your area is a chance to be topical and timely. You’re a specialist journalist now, so make time. Second, having a point of view will often mean taking risks. People might not like your point of view. You will lose subscribers from time to time. But you’re not here to say nothing, are you?

When you first start publishing, try to plan pieces as an unpacking of a single, fairly long-held view at a time. If a topical article comes out, plan a ‘reaction’ piece, where the original acts as the springboard for your point of view. Push planned posts aside to make sure these reaction pieces are timely. If an article (journal, newspaper, someone else’s blog) is vaguely interesting, keep it in a Notes page for later. Often several of these pieces coalesce over time to form one very cohesive article. To be a writer, you need to be a fairly voracious reader.

Edit and be prepared to kill

Similarly, voice is important. Develop your style, even if you’re not a natural writer. Think hard about structure and storytelling. Be playful if that’s who you are. Be very specific with the way you use ChatGPT to coach you in your writing. It does not like informality one bit, so ask it to give you a list of editing errors, not stylistic preferences as it is wont to do. Using it to check flow and structure is helpful. Setting up a piece in a meandering style is fun, but ChatGPT will be your critical friend here. Having a ‘Boyfriend/Girlfriend of Substack’ (cousin of the Boyfriend-of-Instagram), that’s even better.

William Faulkner coined the phrase, “kill your darlings.” I have killed whole posts that have taken me hours to write. My boyfriend of Substack has a kind of veto over my posts. He will sometimes challenge me with the aphorism, “play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” Sometimes the posts are too whiny, sometimes they’re too combative, sometimes they just make me seem mean, which ultimately means the “prize” I win can only be in the form of reputational risk.

On the other hand, some posts that I think are controversial and will lose me subscribers are roundly ignored or widely shared. Win win? I don’t know. It’s hard to predict and sometimes you just have to back yourself. I often joke — although I think it’s true — that I complained about the AITSL Professional Standards for Teachers so much that I was invited to publish a paper on them.

Share your work

When I started writing, I promoted my Substack on social media, which I used a lot more during COVID-19. I have since tried harder to look after my social-media-wellbeing. My experience tells me there is nothing inherently risky about publishing on Substack. I mean there are the obvious considerations — do you have the blessing of your principal? Have you made sure no situations are identifiable or associated with your current school? Social media is the real risk. I’ve been trolled in a very intrusive way, and I consider myself one of the luckier ones. It’s just not worth the putative rewards.

The Substack channels for promotion are excellent and now that’s my main source of traffic. Substack takes care of subscribers and recommendations, which account for a lot of my growth. They offer a few effective and inbuilt ways to grow your audience base. I now have time limits on social media and have installed Buffer which allows me to post but not engage. Including a lot of hyperlinks, conducting interviews and linking frequently to high-readership education Substacks also helps create a collegial promotional circle of publishers.

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So, what are you waiting for? You have something to say? Say it. Use the referral code below and your Substack will appear on my profile.