The Writing Long Game Library

Tools, trainings, and resources to help you grow as a writer — one step at a time.

Hey friends!

Here I’ve compiled a list of 150+ blog posts, trainings, tools, and AI prompts to help you grow on Substack.

It’s everything I’ve ever written here, sorted by topic.

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Start Here

What are you trying to do?

1. Just getting started? → [Finding your niche] + [Writing advice]

2. Need encouragement? → [Encouragement] + [Mental Game]

3. Write better blog posts? → [Write better blogs]

4. Trying to grow? → [Audience growth] + [Consistency]

5. Trying to monetize? → [Monetization]

6. Interested in AI? → [Writing with AI] + [Using AI]

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How To Find Your Niche

You need to stand out in your niche, not just find one. That’s why I write about how to discover your unique perspectives so much.👇

Have a unique perspective

• How You Look At The World Is Everything In Writing — Not Skill

• Writers — If You Don’t Have This, You Should Not Even Try

• If You Want To Be An Original Writer, Try Reading Less

• We Need To Write About Taboo Topics More

General advice

• 1 Popular Writing Tip I Completely Ignore Every Time

• The Best Blogging Advice I Know Is To Write To Your Younger Self

• To Be Famous Online, You Need To Go On A Journey

• Before You Write Online, Accept That It Can Be a Prison

• Nobody Is Going to Teach You How to Write

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Writing Advice

If you don’t feel anything when you write it, the audience won’t feel anything when they read it. This advice has never let me down, and it’s the core of this section.👇

You gotta feel it when you write it

• This Is How To Strike Blogging ‘Gold,’ But It’s Rare

• How To Write Something That Everybody Will Remember

• The Secret To Great Writing Is To Make People Feel Something

100+ writing tips

• 50 Lessons I Learned After 88 Months of Blogging

• 10 Common Mistakes I See Writers Make That Need To Be Avoided

• 10 Writing Tips That Don’t Make Sense, But Work For Me

• 10 Tips That’ll Help You Write Way Better Sentences

• 5 Lessons I Learned After 5 Years Of Being A Full-Time Writer

• 5 Quick Ways To Improve The Quality Of Your Writing

• 4 Life-Changing Lessons My Blogging 'Master' Taught Me

• What I’ve Learned From Writing 500 Blog Posts Online

General Advice

• Stop — Maybe You Shouldn’t Write A Blog Post Today

• The Most Important Writing Lesson You’ll Learn Today

• I Am Not A Writer (And Neither Are You)

• To Be Great At Writing, You Need To Be Great At These Things Too

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Encouragement For Writers

For those who need encouragement or inspiration.👇

• I Was Never Trained To Be A Writer — Now I Make A Living From Writing

• How Writing Took Me From Waiting Tables To Contributing at The Huffington Post

• This Is Why There’s So Many INFJ Writers

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The Mental Game Of Writing Online

In some ways, the mental game is even more important than writing well. Here’s some traps to be aware of on your way to the top.👇

Forget about virality

• 1 View Is A Miracle — We Should Start Acting Like It

• Stop Caring About How Many ‘Views’ You Get — Do This Instead

• Why You Need To Stop Caring About Going Viral

• Seriously? You Will Not Go Viral With Your First Blog Post

Getting over fear

• How To Get Over The Crippling Fear Of Putting Your Work Out There

• Afraid Friends Will Read Your Writing? Here's Why You Shouldn't Worry

• How To Be More Vulnerable In Your Writing

It’s tough being creative

• It’s Easier to Be a Critic Than a Creator

• The Creative Life Is Not For The Faint Of Heart

My story

• How Going Viral Became My Drug — And Nearly Ruined My Life

• I Burned Out After Posting 1,000 Articles Online, Here’s Why

• I Got 500,000 Followers Making Videos Online, Then I Retired

• I Had Half A Million Followers On Facebook And Deleted My Page — Here’s Why

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How To Write Better Blog Posts

Headlines, intros, and conclusions, oh my!

General Advice

• A 2-Minute Trick To Write Better Blog Post Headlines

• Here’s The Second Most Important Part Of Any Blog Post

• Your Blog Posts Don’t Always Need To Be That Long, Okay?

• The Real Reason Nobody Cares About Your Blog Posts

Paid Articles

1. How To Find 100’s Of Personal Stories To Include In Future Blog Posts And Notes

2. 20+ Ways To Write Headlines That Get More Clicks (64 mins)

Paid Tools

1. TitleSmith - Get 15 expert headlines in seconds. Just put your full article text into this tool, and press enter.

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How To Grow Your Audience

This section is about how to grow on Notes, Substack, and on social media in general.

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How to grow on Notes

• How Substack Notes Evolved in 2024—And What's Working Now

• 6 Deadly Mistakes Writers Make On Substack Notes

• 7 Useful Notes Tips From Don Boivin

• What's Working On Substack Notes In January 2025

• What's Working On Substack Notes in February 2025

Paid Articles + Trainings

• How To Write Viral Notes On Substack

• 3 Ways I’m Writing Viral Notes In May

• 11 Powerful Note Writing Strategies You Should Try

• How To Write Viral Stories On Substack In 4 Steps

• 10 Things You Need To Know About Substack Notes In December 2024

• 5 Perfect Opening Lines For Substack Notes That Can Help You Go Viral

• 44 Tips That Will Help You Write Viral Substack Notes

• I Analyzed 1,000 Substack Notes, Here's The 10 Biggest Mistakes People Make

• I Analyzed 600+ Notes. Here's 25 Lessons That Will Help Your Notes Perform Better

• I Analyzed 80+ Viral Substack Notes — Here's Exactly What Makes Them Explode

Viral Note Templates (Paid)

• 25 Viral Substack Note Templates That Got Me 5,000+ Likes

• Viral Note Template #1 (This Note Got 160+ Likes)

• Viral Note Template #2 (This Note Got 209 Likes)

• Viral Note Template #3 (This Note Got 1,500 Likes)

• Viral Note Template #4 (This Note Got 5,842 Likes)

AI Prompts (Paid)

• 5 AI Prompts To Help You Crush Substack Notes In 2025

• How To Turn Your Journal Into 100's Of Substack Posts

AI Tools (Paid)

• NoteSmith - Send in your Note draft. Get feedback and a custom rewrite.

• NoteSmith 2.0 - Send in your Note draft. Get feedback and a custom rewrite under 50 words.

• NoteFinder - Paste in an article, and get 5 ready-to-publish Notes.

• Notes Strategist - Paste in 15+ of your Notes, and get a 6-part playbook to help you stand out and start dominating.

Notes Community (Paid)

• Notes Underground - Join our Notes community of 100+. Log your Notes, track your Notes statistics, and find a writing buddy.

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How to grow on Substack

• How to grow your Substack newsletter by 120+ subscribers in 30 days

• How I Grew My Newsletter By 10,000 Subscribers In 6 Months

• How Teri Leigh Grew Her Substack In 12 Months Without Growth Hacks

Paid Articles

• The Perfect Monthly Routine To Grow Your Substack Newsletter (57 mins)

• Why 30 Minutes Of Daily Commenting Is The Best Way To Grow On Substack

Paid Mini-Course

• The 50-In-7 Challenge - How to get 50 new subscribers in 7 days. I accomplished this feat last year after commenting on 185 newsletters.

Paid Course (Founding Members)

• Substack 1,000 - A 23-lesson program that teaches you how to get 1,000 subscribers on Substack in 6 months step-by-step.

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How to grow anywhere

• How To Grow A Ridiculous Following On Any Platform

• Stop Trying To ‘Build An Audience’ — Focus On Just 1 Person

Be a genuinely good person

• How To Be Successful As A Blogger (Even With 0 Followers)

• The Best Marketing Strategy For New Bloggers (And Anyone)

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Systems for growth

• Writing Success Is Pretty Simple — It Comes Down to 3 Things

• Want More Views As A Writer? Here’s An Easy 3 Step Strategy To Try

• 5 Content Writing Tips For Beginners To Get 10,000+ Monthly Views

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How to go viral

• I Went Viral 2 Times By Ignoring Every Content Strategy Rule

• My Super Weird Writing Hack That’s Led To Viral Articles

• 90% Of Blogging Success Comes Down To This

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General Advice

• Good Writing Doesn’t Always Win

• Stop Creating Stuff On A Billion Social Media Platforms

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How To Stay Consistent

I’ve written 1,000+ blog posts online. My secret? Writing quickly, and taking inspiration from everywhere. That’s what this section covers. 👇

How to write faster

• How To Write Faster: My Secret To Publish 1 Blog Post Per Day

• It Takes Me An Hour To Write Most Blog Posts

• Don’t Have Time to Write Every Day? Try This

How to get ideas

• How To Write Something New Every Day Without Losing Your Mind

• 5 Unexpected Places to Get the Best Writing Ideas Ever

• To Be A Prolific Writer, Draw Inspiration From Everywhere

General Advice

• 10 Tips That Helped Me Write 1,000 Articles Online

• 2 Secrets To Building A Writing Habit That Nobody Talks About

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How To Monetize Online

All my online money-making tips are here. Trust me, I’ll be beefing this out over the rest of 2025.

• How To Build An Easy $1,000 Per Month Money Stream Online

• Why You Should Offer Digital Products For Free (Sometimes)

• How I Made $2,000 From My Blog In 24 Hours

• The 9 Types Of Blogs That Make Money, And How To Imitate Them

Paid Articles

• How I Became A Full-Time Blogger After 4 Years Of Work

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Writing With AI

I’m just starting to scratch the surface on helping folks use AI in their writing process. Here’s what I’ve written so far.

• In Defense Of Using AI As A Writing Assistant

• Why I Was Wrong About AI

• 1 Huge Mistake Writers Make With AI

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Using AI

This is where I take up for AI a little bit as a worthy companion for processing life, business decisions, and blogging strategy.

• Stop Calling AI "Cold" — It's Actually Making Me More Human