Some of us can’t help but get a tinge of jealousy when someone says, “My post went viral and…” Others respond with disdain because writing with “going viral” in mind is silly at best and shameful and/or selling out and/or unartistic at worst. 

Either way, these responses come from not knowing how to write a viral essay.

What’s the secret? And is it possible (just possible) that writing in the hopes of going viral can make us better writers?

Find out!

What we cover:

  • What “going viral” means

  • What counts as “viral”

  • The 4 reasons a post goes viral

  • What prevents a post from going viral

  • The 5 things that make long-form posts go viral

  • Viral posting strategies

  • A deep dive into one Substack writer's viral post

  • A writing exercise to help you write your viral post

  • The one thing we know a post definitely needs to go viral

What qualifies me to teach this workshop?

(You should ask this of everyone you work with!)

The guidance I give you is based directly on the advice Substack gave me. No marketing tricks. No gimmicks. 

I also share with you my experience as 

  • the creator of two bestselling, featured Substack publications (Writers at Work with Sarah Fay and Cured: The Memoir); 
  • an author at HarperCollins; 
  • a member of Substack’s Product Lab; 
  • a former advisory editor at The Paris Review; and 
  • a creative writing professor at Northwestern University.


No one else has the relationship with Substack that I do and specializes in the unique nature of the platform, how it can be used to earn an income, and how it complements traditional publishing and all aspects of a writer’s career.

For more, visit www.sarahfay.org and follow me on Instagram @sarahfayauthor (though IG is mostly my cats, who get tens of thousands of views).