The Editing Spectrum

⚪️ Part 1 — What It Means To Cultivate Trust 🟢 Part 2 — Designing Your Trust-Based Audience™ Profile ⚪️ Part 3 — Exploring a Sample Profile ⚪️ Part 4 — Using Your Profile to Make Real Decisions ⚪️ Part 5 — Keeping Your Audience Profile Alive Now it’s time to start doing the real work of understanding who you’re trying to reach through your creative or publishing work. Traditionally, you’d start learning about your audience by creating some kind of marketing persona or avatar.

This post includes a sample profile for you to consider. It’s rich in examples of a creative entrepreneur and her audience’s knowledge wounds, desired online experiences and more. But first let’s meet Leah and learn about who she is. And then I’ll share a PDF of a finished Trust-Based Audience Profile. Name:Leah R.

The digital media landscape is loud, fractured and in flux. Platforms are breaking down (and emerging), algorithms are becoming less predictable and creators — whether independent or institutional — are feeling the weight of trying to do more with less attention, less clarity and less trust. At the same time, I think we’re witnessing something new: a return to smaller ecosystems of connection.

It’s 2 p.m. on a Tuesday. Three essays are staring you down. You could spend the next hour toggling between them, trying to figure out which one to finish first. Or you could open your calendar — and start a conversation. This time each month becomes something different: a container. Not for output, but for orientation. Not just another deadline, but a ritual. This is where you stop being “just the writer” and start stepping into your role as the publisher of your work.

Have you taken our Substack Audience Trust Survey yet? It takes 90 seconds and all results will be shared with everyone in May! We covered a lot in this month’s Pivot Hour — from surprising patterns in open rates to what it really means when your post views spike. → What did you learn from your data audit? Drop your takeaways or questions in the comments — we’d love to hear how you're thinking about your numbers. 1.

Originally published in May 2024, this conversation with Buddhist teacher and bestselling author remains one of the most luminous interviews in my earlier Cave of the Heart series. I’m resharing it now in a new format because Substack makes captions available inside all videos and this format is just much, much nicer for everyone. Plus! Susan is now on Substack, and you should consider reading her work here.

In most business contexts, it would be unthinkable to offer a paid product online without a complex marketing funnel behind it. Nurture sequences. Multi-step segmentation. Behavior-based automations. But Substack operates differently. Discovery is democratized. Engagement signals are public. And I’ve watched plenty of well-positioned publications grow here — not because they built sprawling infrastructure, but because they stayed close to their work, their audience and the rhythms of the platform.

You know that moment when something just feels… off? You’re reading a beautifully written post, and suddenly it pivots. You’re being invited into a story — and then you realize you’re in a funnel. You’re asked to subscribe, but you’re not even sure what you’re subscribing to. In a world full of creators, newsletters and digital brands, we’ve all developed quiet instincts about what makes us stay — and what makes us leave. What does trust feel like to you?

This month inside The Editing Spectrum, we’ve been exploring what it really takes to extend the life of our work and create lasting resonance — not just reach. We’ve talked about using the Nudge Cycle to re-engage readers, designing creative rhythms that support sustainable publishing and understanding how our writing performs — not to optimize for clicks, but to amplify connection.

A few weeks ago, I got on a call with a writer I deeply admire — someone whose Substack I’ve followed since almost the very start. is a communications pro, a working mom and a longtime writer who's turning her Substack into the place where her book (a parenting memoir) and her voice as a cultural commentator can fully come alive. She’s funny. She’s emotionally honest. And she has stories — the kind you can’t make up.