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).