Eight months ago, we decided to host our little solar news channel on Substack. Now that we’re almost at 500 subscribers, we thought it was time for a breakdown!

I first started using Substack to host my own blogs in 2020, and it’s since grown into a powerful hub for news, thought leadership, and culture. I love Substack. It’s pretty amazing what you can do with it as a creator.

I’m fully sold on this platform (and so are iconic human beings like Pamela Anderson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

But I realize that not everyone has used it yet, or taken the time to understand how it works! So I wanted to take a minute to walk everyone through it.

How to Engage

When one of our news roundups or interviews lands in your inbox, and you open it, this is what you’ll see:

I’ve circled the different ways to engage below, since they’re not easy to see in the emails. I go through each one in the video above, but here’s an easy guide to what happens if you click them (from left to right):

Heart = Like

Bubble = Leave a comment

Bucket with up arrow = Share

Circle with Arrows = Re-stack (re-post on Substack)

Read in App = Takes you to the Substack App if you have it, or to the download page if you don’t.

How to Read

If you don’t want to watch the video or listen to the audio for This Week In Solar, you can always just read. I write each of the news synopses I send out each week in Smart Brevity format, with “what’s new” and “why it matters” sections clearly visible.

So if you don’t want to hear my voice or look at my face and you just want to skim what’s going on in the industry, the writing is there for you. You can read Substack posts in three places:

* Your Email Inbox: Every publication you subscribe to will send new posts directly to your email.

* The Substack App: The app features an Inbox tab with a reading queue for all your subscriptions.

* The Web Publication: Every writer has a unique URL where you can browse their entire archive of past posts (e.g., exactsolar.substack.com).

How to Listen

Substack also offers several ways to listen to posts, whether that’s dedicated podcasts or narrated articles (some creators will narrate articles themselves, some will use AI).

1. Podcasts & Audio Posts

* In-App Player: You can listen to podcasts and posts directly in the Substack app. Their player supports background play, so you can continue listening while using other apps.

* External Podcast Apps: If you prefer apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you listen, you can engage there, too. Substack lets you host your RSS feed in

How to Watch

Video content on Substack is integrated into the same feed as written posts. Here’s how to watch them:

* Video Posts: Creators can upload full-length video episodes or short clips. You can watch these directly in your browser or within the app’s inline player.

* Picture-in-Picture: On the web, you can click the “two screens” icon to watch a video in a floating window while you continue reading.

As promised, that was our full breakdown of how to engage on Substack!

My deepest hope is that This Week In Solar grows into a community of clean energy professionals and enthusiasts all over the world. Engagement is how we’ll get there.

If you’ve been enjoying what we’re doing at TWiS, please like, comment on, or share posts that arrive in your inbox. It’s the only way something like this grows.

Thank you for tuning in today, and we’ll see you next week!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exactsolar.substack.com