Episodes
133
Latest episode
Jul 2026
Language
EN
Stay Creative on Substack with tutorials, teaching, posts, threads, thoughts and tools. Special guest episodes with those who I massively respect and I know will help you sparkle up your Substack and find your true north on the platform! ✨ sparkleon.substack.com
Thank you Jennifer Zarin, LCAT, Angela Limb, Nance Scott, Alison Belsom, and many others for tuning into my live video with Toni Jones! Join me for my next live video in the app.Join us over here, simply subscribe to our brand new pop up Substack and we’ll make sure you get the updates. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
Thank you ✹The Unmasked Woman✹ (Hannah), Vera Lúcia, Rose Wippich, Lisa Conquet, Rita Riebel Mitchell, and many others for tuning into my live video with Bella younger! Join me for my next live video in the app.You can subscribe to Bella here…And I highly recommend following her on IG here…where you can also download the template I mention… * https://www.instagram.com/deliciouslystella * Her book The Accidental Influencer is here… https://www.amazon.co.uk/Accidental-Influencer-Likes-Nearly-Ruined/dp/0008402493Ai overview thanks ClaudeWhat this session was: a live audit with Bella Younger (author, “The Pug’s Ear” on Substack) covering identity/rebranding on the page, the about page, positioning.Old identity, new chapter: Bella’s wrestling with how much to reference her old “Deliciously Stellar” persona. Claire’s take: you can honour a past identity without leading with it; people don’t need to know who we are in the world, we can just be who we are.* The about page is prime real estate: a photo, a book link, and social proof (testimonials) belong there — and most people never find the edit button because Substack keeps moving it.* Subscribe buttons need repeating: one at the bottom isn’t enough. Put one early too, because people get distracted mid-scroll.* Say less than you’ll do: if you might publish weekly, promise two to three times a month instead — it protects you on a bad week and it’s fairer to readers who are giving you their attention.* Pricing is emotional, not just mathematical: low, easy price points (the “cost of a coffee”) bring in more subscribers overall, and subscriptions are often the first thing people cancel when they feel overwhelmed — a cheaper annual plan protects against that.* Momentum beats perfection: scheduling a post before it’s fully finished can be the deadline that actually gets it out the door. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
“Nothing has had such a revolutionary impact on my writing... than starting to write on Substack and staying on Substack. It’s an extraordinary thing.” Mark Diacono I don’t usually email my podcast out but I really felt called to share Mark’s beautiful episode with more of you. You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts!✨Mark Diacono is a writer, cook, gardener, walker and photographer who lives in the south west of England.He writes about life, mostly through food and everything connected with it. You’ll find stories, recipes and much about growing and cooking incredible flavours.He hosts Cafe Murano Book Club and Limewood Book Club, with the wonderful Angela Hartnett. He once led the garden team at River Cottage and I created the groundbreaking Otter Farm“People from around the world can increasingly find your words and there’s no gatekeeper and there’s no permission giver.”Mark writes monthly food column for The Sunday Times, and a monthly gardening column for Country Life magazine. If you’re not yet over here I’m running a Digital Detox this week and today we are organising our photographs - today’s video will be out at noon… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
We covered;* Substack Creator Kits - * How to be a Bestseller - no drama - https://clairevenus.substack.com/t/growth-to-bestseller-challenge * Perks! (article out tomorrow). Join me for my digital detox challenge next week?Thank you Kate Harvey, SuddenlyJamie, Liza Debevec, Learn English With Jo, Dominik Wieschermann, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
If you want to join me for my free challenge Digital Detox (13-17 July 2026) - by Claire Venus 💫 ✨Thank you Claire Machado, Amy I Beeson 🐝, Angela Limb, Holly Bailie (she/her), Rachel Joy 💖, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.✨Links’ people mentioned;* My Substack book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Build-World-Class-Substack * My visioning class for 2026 - * Amy I Beeson 🐝 London writers summer picnic in Kensington - https://luma.com/coimrglv * Emma Gannon, Farrah @Substack and their podcast recording - * My friends Emma Simpson, Jo Hutton, Selina Barker, Toni Jones * Other mentions - Beth Kempton, Mark Diacono, Abigail Bergstrom, Jess Pan, Katie Clapham and the podcast I recorded with her yesterday - * My mentor Leonie Dawson * Co-founders of Substack - Hamish McKenzie & Mills Baker * The piece I wrote sharing more about my insight of the Substack Bestseller’s Party * Kate Harvey from Letters From Therapy and her gorgeous nervous system, mindset work. * Jesse Jean - https://www.instagram.com/jessijeanhome/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
“It became acceptable. It’s okay to ask people to pay for your creative work... every minute that you spend working on these projects is valued.” Simon Haisell I sat down with the wonder that is Simon Haisell in Spring to chat more about his patron model here on Substack (the one I always use as an example). It was such a precious conversation about the magic of Substack and community. I know you’ll be super inspired. If you’ve not heard of Simon - you’ll be enchanted to meet him - he’s the creator behind Footnotes and Tangents on Substack which is now in year 3. He’s based in the North East of England (like me) and I always adore supporting North East creative minds - this conversation was just an honour. Simon runs slow read-alongs of classic and literary fiction (his flagship being a chapter-a-day of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace across a full year).He started the book club on Instagram before moving to Substack around end of 2023. “You read a chapter (of War and Peace) each day and you’re living the life with the characters rather than racing to the end... it does allow you to make connections with your own life.”The conversation covers his journey from passion project to full-time Substack creator, how word of mouth (including a major Gretchen Rubin (!!) shoutout) drove lots of his growth.We talk about why he uses a “soft paywall” model including complimentary subscriptions for anyone who can’t pay, and how he intentionally stays off the leaderboard numbers to protect the soul of his work. We also touch on how we manage our nervous systems in relation to ‘leaderboards’ and ‘being’ online. The episode ends with exciting news: Simon has just signed with literary agency Curtis Brown and been in conversation with Penguin, directly because of his Substack presence. What a well deserved whirlwind. I can’t wait to see what happens next!! “If I chased the numbers and tried to make the world’s biggest book group, all of the soul would suck out of it very quickly... what comes across in my writing is my love of the books, that’s why I’m here.” Simon Haisell War and Peace Daily - https://footnotesandtangents.substack.com/s/2026-war-and-peace-dailyFree Masterclass with me - The four types of monetisation on Substack. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
Join us - it’s free https://www.creativelyconscious.co.uk/12-chapters-club This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
Tamu Thomas joins Claire for a rich, unhurried conversation about what it actually means to build a sustainable, well-rested life and business. They explore toxic productivity, the cost of following rules that were never designed for women, and why your nervous system is not a mindset problem to fix. Substack’s evolution from cosy oasis to noisy feed weaves through the second half, along with a genuinely beautiful reframe about content timing and showing up on your own terms. This one will resonate deeply with those of you feeling into soulful work, anyone neurodivergent and give you more focus to be burnout-aware.A former social worker with16 years experience, Tamu blends the science of human safety, connection and behavior change to translate complex human dynamics into clear, actionable leadership strategy. Her approach centres nervous system safety, belonging and joy as essential foundations for sustainable high performance.You can connect with her on her popular instagram channel here;https://www.instagram.com/tamu.thomasand on linkedin toohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tamuthomas/Favourite Quotes On attention as currency:“You’re already paying me something with your time, with your energy, with your attention. And I cherish that. We can make money again. We can’t get our energy back.”On not chasing perfection before starting:“People want to have the exact formula before they do something, which means they spend a lot of time ideating, thinking, procrastinating, trying to be a perfectionist, and it doesn’t give them the real world data. So I treat it as a science experiment.”On building for abundance not scarcity:“We need to get out of this intensity addiction, scarcity mindset where we actually build a business for scarcity rather than abundance.”On time scarcity:“The root of it is always a feeling of not enoughness. So if I approach time in a way where I’m working with time abundantly, it reduces that sense of not enoughness.”On the nervous system:“We don’t get to escape being human. We cannot outsmart our biology. Even the most guruified guru who does stadiums of self-help talks doesn’t get to escape being human.”On content timing: “Unless you are talking about a perishable good, there’s no expiry date. As long as you are in integrity with yourself, you are speaking in alignment with your values, it’s always going to be trending.”On sustainable business:“It’s important that you create a business that doesn’t break if you take a break.”On Substack as sacred writing space:“Writing is a place where I go and seek solace. It’s a place I cherish. And so putting pressure on that takes away from the beauty.”On breaking invisible rules:“Following the rules often means denying our inner knowing, our intuition, denying what we know is best for us so that we can look good, because we’ve been taught it’s okay for us to feel bad, but it’s not okay for us to look bad.”Watch our conversation here…We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.✨ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
Thanks for joining me beauties.Your Links… https://www.creativelyconscious.co.uk/yourbeautifulsubstackmagazine25Thank you Michelle Dowd, Learn English With Jo, Rebecca J. Gomez, Francesca Mazzucato, Claire Machado, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
Thanks so much Kristi Keller 🇨🇦 for the chat.Early bird for my signature course opened today….✨Thank you Seth Werkheiser, Georgina Dean, Daria Diaz, Alyssa Polizzi, Elizabeth H. Cottrell, Julie Russell, Julie Schmidt, Patti Wohlin, and many others for tuning into my live video with Kristi Keller 🇨🇦! Join me for my next live video in the app.Ai Transcript summary - Thanks Claude A Friday Catch-Up: Claire & Kristi on the Latest Substack ChangesThis week Claire Venus and Kristi (from UnstackSubstack) jumped on a live together for a warm, honest catch-up about everything that’s been shifting on Substack lately. If you missed it, here’s what they covered.The platform keeps changing (and it’s a lot) Both Claire and Kristi have been building on Substack for years and both create tutorials for their communities, so when Substack updates its interface overnight, they feel it acutely. Recent changes included the removal of the profile banner image, updates to the wordmark display, and the profile page now leading with your publication name rather than you as a person.Your bio now needs to work harder Without that welcoming banner image, the words in your bio are doing more of the heavy lifting. People make snap decisions about whether to subscribe, so it’s worth revisiting yours.Check out class replay here - The emotional side of building here One of the most resonant threads was around shame and the feelings that come up when tech feels overwhelming. Claire spoke about her audience skewing 50+ and how much it matters to her that people feel supported, not stupid. There was also a lovely conversation about the energetics of showing up online and how deep those feelings can run.Importing email lists doesn’t guarantee engagement Kristi shared a really useful insight: people who bring large email lists over to Substack often see low engagement, because their subscribers don’t yet know they can like, comment, and interact here. It’s worth educating your readers about that when you migrate.Claire’s Beautiful Digital Magazine course Claire shared that Early Bird access is open until 25th May. The course covers technical setup, brand identity, Human Design as a creative lens, and the energetics of truly owning your space as an editor and curator of your publication.Coming up on Thursday Claire teased an upcoming session all about female founders being paid properly, and how Substack can be a springboard to higher-ticket income. Look out for details in her membership. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe
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