Thank you Christina Bieber Lake, RAJ KAUR, mary beth kaplan🪶, Jennifer Zarin, LCAT, Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, and many others for tuning into my live video with Emilia Ferreira! Join me for my next live video in the app.

“Biohacking is the art of controlling your biology — and you are the mastermind. You can control your environment from inside and outside, but that needs to be an individual journey. We have so much more control than we think we have. Right now I am 41, about to be 42, and my biological age is 25. The reason why I say that is because I don’t do too much and that still has a huge impact.” - Emilia, on the power of simple, consistent biohacking

Thank you Rebecca Mack ☕, Julie Schmidt, Abigail Thomas, and many others for tuning into my live video with Vicki Willden-Lebrecht! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Ai Summary - thanks Claude

Here’s a summary of the conversation, which is a Substack live chat between a host and Vicky Wilder-Librett, founder of the Bright Agency (founded 2003), a literary and illustration agency with offices in London and New York.

Why Vicky joined Substack

Vicky’s decision grew from a December reflection exercise she does annually — looking back at trends and forward to the year ahead. She posted on Instagram asking: if she were setting up Bright today, could she do it the same way? Her concern was that she built the agency entirely through in-person relationships — book fairs, conferences, launches — and wondered whether that was possible in an increasingly digital world.

“If you had relationships, you could take a relationship online. Fine, no problem. If you didn’t have a relationship with someone, could you make a relationship online?”

Substack felt like a natural answer — a place to recreate those conversations.

“It’s almost like this is the conference, this is the party, this is where we need to go.”

Who the Bright Substack is for

Vicky sees it as broader than just illustrators and authors — it’s for anyone wanting to understand or work in the creative industry.

“I don’t think creativity is about drawing. I think creativity is about the way we think and the way we problem solve.”

She’s keen for the content to be responsive rather than pre-planned, mirroring how she networked in person: “You wouldn’t trot in with your ‘I’m going to talk about these things to people’... I would just be talking to people about what they’re interested in.”

The National Year of Reading

Vicky welcomed the government’s backing but was candid that it’s both exciting and alarming that such a campaign is even necessary.

“It’s a really scary time in publishing that the decline in reading, the fact that it is so needed.”

She was dyslexic and had ADHD, and credits her mother’s advice — “if you’re interested in something, read around the subject” — as formative. She’s passionate about physical books specifically for brain development:

“A book just allows the brain to rest, but still absorb... We are not robots yet. We have souls and heartbeats and brain rhythms.”

On World Book Day, she was gently critical: “From working in publishing, I get slightly irritated that it becomes fancy dress day.”

Bright’s approach to licensing and growth

Vicky was clear that licensing at Bright isn’t about merchandise — it’s about audience building and discoverability.

“Licensing for us is not about putting it on a lunchbox and a tea towel. It’s really not what we’re about at all. What we’re about is growing the readership.”

She explained that children now discover books through films, stage shows, and events rather than libraries or bookshops — and that licensing is how you meet them where they are. Even Netflix, she noted, wants pre-built audiences.

Vicky’s personal Substack: Notes from a Creative Founder

Her own Substack is about the messy reality of building a creative business — not a polished success story, but the journey, mistakes, and recovery.

“It came from making loads of mistakes. And it was about how you bounce back from them and how you grew from them... accepting that no one’s life is perfectly going to plan.”

She said she’s never felt ready to share her story before, but now feels the time is right:

“I feel in a place where I’m happy to share my war wounds.”

Her goal is to help others trust their instincts: “If they don’t believe in themselves, no one else is going to come knocking on their door and say, ‘Hey, you know that idea you’ve been thinking about — share it.’”

Subscribe to Vicki Willden-Lebrecht here

and to The Bright Agency here

💎 My Diamond Member Portal for business owners who want to use Substack as a key part of of their online home is re-open for a limited time. This isn’t just Substack - this is audience development, platform congruence and business alchemy. If you have a business and need to get right to the heart of how to utilise this wonderful platform my annual audit and monthly hot seat mentoring calls will give you clarity, community and momentum as you build. If you have questions reply to this email or shoot me a dm here or on IG.

Hi folks,

How are you? It was fool’s Spring yesterday so that was nice. Our heating system also broke down so we got our log burning stove going. 🔥 I finished work late last night and I’m still working out how much energy I have to do that at 44!

Transitioning from that into my daughter’s wild full moon energy at bedtime. I feel fragile today. As I emerged from the tussle at 9.15pm, my son guided me into the kitchen;

You’ve got to see this mum!

It was Venus - the planet - it’s our planet mum look at it, it’s incredible. (Yes Venus is our real name) And it was, really really incredible, twinkly in the centre of a jet black sky - it made me feel really small and really powerful all at the same time.

You and the beautiful network of STARS around you…

I dug this class out of the archive because it’s SO important for you all to watch if you are building here on Substack, you’re semi confused about how Substack can plug into other places (email lists, social media, search engines) and you want to get unstuck on all of that.

How your business and other online spaces fit with Substack can feel like a tricky conundrum. A puzzle to solve.

- Why would people pay for a newsletter you’ve been sending for free

- How can you move your community over from socials

- What about if you already have an email list?

- Are we blogging too?

Digging it out from the archives was inspired by this Substack Note about online ecosystems

If you’re new to Substack this class is great for beginners but I also made you a Quick Start Guide. All members get access to my four week long drip fed beginners course too.

Other bits and bobs to tell you

* I’ve just wrapped up my live Audience Alchemy programme where we’ve spent 8 weeks streamlining out audience development ecosystem… It’s been THE most fun - I have loved spending time with the wonderful women in the course and leaning into hear more of their true voices and what they are here to do. Some of them met up in real life too! 🌟

* If you missed it, I went live with Veronica Llorca-Smith to chat more about how we use Substack with other platforms and we both got super transparent about the subscriber plateaus and member churn. Listen in your pod app or here.

* I’m mid way through my experiment using IG and Substack Notes in tandem with specific outcomes. I’ll share more on IG as I go and ultimately write an article on it. Follow me over there?

* Last call to write a piece for International Women’s Day this weekend and have us share it. All the details are here.

* Members out ‘Get it Done Week’ is focussed on our welcomes to new subscribers - we will spend the week doing simple tasks like tidying up our welcome email, re-writing an impactful hero post, making a video to help folks understand Substack and drafting drip funnel emails.

What’s your flow for this wonderful platform with other online spaces you have?

How does it sit with other email newsletter platforms, social media, search engines? Need some help in the comments?

I also made a written summary of class here so you can read over it if you don’t have time to watch today.

Claire

✨

P.S - I’m speaking at the Soulful Sales Summit next week - my session is around using audio here on Substack to grow your ‘know, like and trust’ factor with your audience and ultimately convert more readers to paid subs. I know audio isn’t for everyone but along with the other 47 speakers there’s a tonne of great stuff to lean into and choose from. It’s hosted by Ruth Poundwhite who I really respect. Grab your free ticket here.

P.P.S - LAST chance to join my LIVE class teaching you how to set up your own affiliate links for places like bookshop.org and other products and services you love. It’s live next week and the replay and accountability month is included. Affiliate links brought over £3000 into my business last year and I started when I had a very small audience - it compounds over time with many links bringing recurring income.

Thank you Sarah L Kent, Rachel Joy 💖, Ruth Dale, Natalia Papiol, Karen Oline, and many others for tuning into my live video with Veronica Llorca-Smith! Join me for my next live video in the app.

AI Summary, thanks Claude.

Here’s a summary of this ~42-minute conversation between Veronica (Hong Kong, The Lemon Tree Mindset) and Claire Venus (Northumberland, UK, Sparkle on Substack) — two creative entrepreneurs discussing building lifestyle-aligned businesses:

Who they are Veronica is a triathlete, author, and public speaker with three business pillars: corporate keynotes/workshops, writing/digital business, and coaching. Claire is an audience development consultant and Substack expert with ~18,000 subscribers, focused on helping women align their voice with how they want to show up online.

On building community Both emphasised that a newsletter should be treated as the start of a conversation, not just an email. Veronica uses group chats, open “collaboration days,” and a mastermind — the latter born directly from her community asking for a “sounding board.” Claire segmented her audience into three distinct groups (beginners, creative expressionists, creative entrepreneurs) and designed different touchpoints and offers for each.

On growth not being linear Claire was honest about periods of slow growth and even losing paid subscribers. She did a deep data dive — exporting all unsubscribe emails — and found most people left on good terms, having simply moved on in their journey. Key takeaway: unsubscribes are usually about the reader’s path, not your quality.

On the LinkedIn–Substack flywheel Veronica uses LinkedIn primarily for B2B/corporate leads and recommends it strongly for anyone wanting to sell to organisations. Practical tip: don’t put Substack links in LinkedIn post bodies (LinkedIn suppresses them) — put the link in the comments instead. Profile banners and CTAs are better long-term placements.

On YouTube Claire has built a niche YouTube channel around beginner Substack content, with her top video getting 14,000 views. Veronica recently launched her own YouTube channel to repurpose existing live sessions — not to create new content, but to give existing content longevity and discoverability that Substack alone doesn’t offer.

On motivation Claire’s advice: understand how your creative practice gets fuelled — whether that’s solitude, nature, or clearing out comparison triggers. Veronica’s framing: don’t tie motivation to outcomes (likes, subscriber counts). Find it in the act of showing up — like in training for a triathlon where a bad race time doesn’t diminish the effort.

On going viral Both noted that the posts most likely to resonate are often the ones you hesitate most to publish — the vulnerable, personal ones. Veronica’s biggest LinkedIn post (40,000 views) was about starting to write at 41; she nearly didn’t post it.

Closing advice Stay aligned with your purpose, know what to say no to, and celebrate incremental wins. Veronica recommends writing a monthly public review as a discipline to pause, reflect, and course-correct.

AI summary, thanks chat.

Substack Live: External Links, Affiliate Income & Clean Monetisation

In this Substack Live, Claire explored the evolving question many writers and creators are asking:

How should we monetise on Substack — and what actually feels aligned?

She unpacked the rise of external links such as Buy Me a Coffee and Ko-fi, affiliate income, patron-style models, and paid subscriptions — not just from a tactical perspective, but from a values-led one.

This wasn’t just about buttons and links.It was about power, positioning, nervous systems, and long-term sustainability.

Key Themes Covered

☕ Buy Me a Coffee & Donation Links

Claire discussed the growing popularity of “coffee economy” links and why, personally, she chooses not to use them.

While acknowledging that these tools can feel like a softer step than paid subscriptions, she reflected on her own journey around being paid for creative work — and why she prefers cleaner, clearer value exchanges such as:

* Paid subscriptions

* Affiliate partnerships

* Ebooks

* Courses

* Off-platform offers

She encouraged listeners to read Substack’s terms carefully and make informed, embodied decisions.

🔗 Affiliate Income (Aligned & Strategic)

Claire shared how she has used affiliate income for over five years — not through random low-value links, but through partnerships fully aligned with her business.

She spoke about affiliate income as:

* A background drip income stream

* A strategic layer inside a wider ecosystem

* A way to compound income over time

She also introduced her class:

Anyone Can Be An Affiliate(Currently half price until Saturday.)

💛 Patron Models & Paid Subscriptions

The conversation moved into the patron-style model — where readers choose to support work even if everything remains open.

Claire highlighted:

* Patron models can work beautifully at scale

* Clear boundaries and business acumen become important

* Not all value must sit behind a paywall

She also shared why she personally loves the intimacy of paid subscriptions on Substack — describing it as stabilising and supportive for both creator and reader.

🧠 The Attention Economy & Nervous Systems

A powerful thread throughout the Live was the impact of the attention economy on our nervous systems.

Claire explored:

* Why headlines now require more curiosity and precision

* Why open rates respond to intrigue

* How trial reels are helping her refine messaging

* The difference between Instagram as a “shop window” and Substack as an intimate space

She described building a paid Substack as “self-development times a thousand” — a process that reveals how we relate to money, visibility, authority, and safety.

📈 Multiple Income Streams & Long-Term Stability

Claire reflected on why she believes multiple income streams are essential in today’s economic climate — particularly in the UK.

Rather than relying on one offer, she spoke about:

* Compounding skills over time

* Building assets that run quietly in the background

* Designing a business that feels steady and sovereign

Mentioned in This Live

* Anyone Can Be An Affiliate (class) - https://www.creativelyconscious.co.uk/affiliate-income-for-writers-creatives-and-entrepreneurs

* Membership (currently £20/month or £220/year — prices increasing at end of February)

* Monetisation class inside membership

* Substack calculator & quick start setup guide

* Instagram: @creatively.conscious

Closing Reflection

This Live wasn’t about choosing the “right” monetisation model.

It was about asking:

* What feels clean?

* What feels steady?

* What feels respectful of your work?

* What kind of ecosystem do you want to build long term?

"We need to hear different people's stories and see different people's perspectives — and that's very bad for a society that thrives on division." Allegra Chapman (she/her)

Hi folks,

It was a joy to chat with Allegra Chapman (she/her) at the end of last year. It’s taken me a little while to get this one out but it’s great timing as her new book is OPEN for pre-sale orders - yay!

Ai Episode Summary – Sparkle on Substack feat. Allegra Chapman

In this episode, host Claire Venus chats with Allegra Chapman — writer, neurodivergent advocate, and author of Creativity is Your Self-Care — about the intersection of creativity, wellbeing, and gentle activism.

Allegra shares how her Substack, Your Creative Fix, was born from a deep belief that creativity is innate to all humans, but has been systematically squeezed out by a capitalist, productivity-obsessed society. She argues that making art — whether writing poems, knitting, or painting — is actually a radical act in a world that prefers passive consumers over active creators.

As an autistic, ADHD, bisexual woman living with a disability, Allegra speaks passionately about the importance of amplifying silenced voices. She reflects on how storytelling builds empathy across divides, and why platforms like Substack are such a powerful tool for exactly that.

The conversation also touches on how damaging early creative wounds can be — Allegra shares how a cruel art teacher at age eight shut her off from painting for 30 years — and how her membership space is deliberately designed to be low-demand, neurodivergent-friendly, and accessible for people with limited energy or time.

Both Claire and Allegra close the episode with a hopeful note: that even small acts of creation ripple outward, and that in a noisy, overwhelming world, choosing to create rather than consume is one of the most powerful things any of us can do.

“The main work to do in life and in the online world is nervous system work.”

Thank you Eva Lydon 🌿, RAJ KAUR, mary beth kaplan🪶, New Harmony Homeopath, Geetika, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Here are the resources and people I mentioned…thank you for coming to my impromptu Ted talk with over 850 PEOPLE - woah!!

* Kendall Marie Platt 🌱 at The Seed

* Keris Fox at The Ladybird Purse • Talk Money to Me

* Amie McNee and The Pound Project - video here in my lives or listen in your podcast app.

* Caro Giles at Open In The Middle

* Audience Alchemy - my FREE audience development classes.

* My wonderful mentor Leonie Dawson - sign up for her brilliant academy here.

* Home page design video -

AI Summary - thanks Claude.

Summary

This is a live session by Claire on her Substack Sparkle on Substack, covering joyful growth in 2026 — specifically how to grow a Substack publication in a way that feels sustainable, aligned, and community-rooted rather than hustle-driven.

Core themes covered:

Substack growth tools: Claire walks through the key in-platform tools for growth — the Recommendations feature (she credits it with 10,000+ subscribers), the welcome page with blurbs, and Substack Notes. She emphasises curating your Notes feed to protect your nervous system, using fresh (original) notes over restacking, and treating the whole thing like a networking event built on genuine reciprocity.

Depth of connection: The central argument for 2026 is moving away from vanity metrics toward genuinely knowing your audience. She talks about the “magic trio” of likes, comments and shares for algorithmic reach; using the subscriber tab to send targeted emails; adding polls in posts; and understanding whether your readers engage passively or actively — and being okay with both.

Audio and video: She cites a Substack stat that publications using audio grow 2.5x faster than those that don’t. Video, she says, is the “golden egg” — it breaks the parasocial wall instantly. She personally felt terrified of video for years and encourages self-compassion in learning it.

Unsubscribes and churn: Handled with a healthy perspective — subscriptions are fluid, unsubscribes aren’t personal, and the pause button exists for a reason.

Off-platform growth: For faster growth, especially toward Substack’s “Bestseller” tier (101 paid subscribers), you need to grow off-platform too — whether through Pinterest pins, SEO blog posts, or Meta ads (which she’s curious about but hasn’t used herself). Going viral is described as “a lottery.”

Making time with a full life: For someone with a young child and full-time job, she recommends optimising your phone (delete other social apps, keep Substack and a notes app), capturing threads of ideas, and writing in small windows like nap times.

Guest posts and collaboration: She did guest posts once a month to build confidence and visibility, and invited guests onto her Substack. She notes there are far fewer gatekeepers than people think.

“Subscribing to someone’s life — it’s not natural to be subscribed to multiple people’s lives for the long term. We need to think about the power of REAL and power social relationships and the impact we want those to have on us and our work”

Welcome BACK to a brand new season of Sparkle on Substack the podcast. I am delighted to have another 12 BEAUTIFUL conversations on voice, community and Substack sparkle for you!

This one is with my online pal Nicola Washington who is a BRILLIANT member of Sparkle on Substack - brand new Substack bestseller and IG expert for authors looking to connect rather than broadcast and shout.

I hope you enjoy it and do feel free to leave a comment or even better a 5star review on Apple or Spotify.

Bio

Hi, I’m Nicola.I live in South London with my husband, two children and dog, although Stoke-on-Trent, where I grew up will always be ‘home’.

I became a Social Media Manager in 2017 after a twelve-year-long career as a secondary-school English teacher. I retrained, set up shop, and started to work with small business clients, helping them get noticed online.

After 7 years of working with small businesses, in 2023, I took the decision to start supporting writers, authors and other word-lovers with your use of Instagram to find more readers. By doing so, I get to combine my professional expertise and experience, with my first loves of books and writing.

I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child and I’ve been working on my own fiction projects since 2020. I’m currently querying agents and ‘enjoying’ the roller-coaster of that experience.

I know that for many writers, Instagram can sometimes feel ‘Too Much’. I’m making it my mission to tackle the overwhelm and anxiety many of you feel so you can make the most of the opportunities Instagram offers, without it feeling horrible or burning out.

Nicola Online

IG - https://www.instagram.com/toomuch_social

Website - https://www.toomuchsocial.com/

Substack

AI Overview - Thanks Claude

A podcast interview from “Sparkle on Substack” hosted by Claire Venus, featuring Nicola Washington, an Instagram educator and strategist who specializes in helping writers and authors build their presence on social media. The conversation explores how authors can navigate Instagram authentically, connect with readers, and market their books in ways that feel genuine rather than overwhelming.

The discussion covers the challenges writers face with social media, particularly around authenticity and introversion, and offers practical strategies for building meaningful connections rather than chasing follower counts.

Key Quotes

On the challenges of Instagram:

“It is so noisy and so overwhelming now. And then on top of that, a lot of writers and authors are quite introverted people. So they’re sort of thinking, how can I do this?”

On authenticity:

“The work I do helps people overcome a lot of those obstacles and barriers in a way that feels authentic to them. That’s the fundamental that underpins basically everything I do is that it has to feel like you.”

On the 🍄 mushrooms vs. 🪁 kites metaphor:

“The way publishers treat social media is as if it’s about flying kites... getting your kite up as high in the sky so as many people see it as possible... The way I think of it... is to think of it much more like a mushroom, mushrooms... networks of fungi that go underground and then they pop up in other unexpected places.”

On building true fans:

“You use your Instagram account to gather around you a core group of people who are deeply invested in the work that you do. They like you. They bought into you and your story. They’re going to buy any book that you write just because they like you.”

On traditional publishing realities:

“Lots of authors report feeling abandoned by their publishers at the point at which their books are released... taking ownership and self-driving your marketing via social media, because it is one of the most accessible forms of marketing, is something that most authors can do.”

On control in publishing:

“When you want an author as a traditionally published author, one of the various parts... the smallest parts of the process that you actually can control is your marketing.”

Thank you to JP Watson at The Pound Project and to you all for coming along live to hear us chat. If you do have questions for the The Pound Project team, do post them in the comments and JP might get chance to answer a couple.

Learn more - https://www.poundproject.co.uk/

And MOST importantly - buy Amie McNee’s book for three weeks only!!

LOOK at this beautiful graphic recording of our chat… thank you so so much Cara Holland ✨

Ai Summary - thanks Claude…

This is an interview between Claire Venus (engagement consultant and Substack expert) and JP, founder of Pound Project Publishing. JP shares the origin story and business model of his independent publishing house.

Key Business Model:

* Uses crowdfunding as the primary publishing mechanism

* Creates affordable, small-format, beautifully designed books

* Minimal upfront investment required from authors

* Community-driven support system

Origin Story: The Pound Project emerged from three motivations: disillusionment with traditional creative industries, the rise of crowdfunding as a viable business model, and a desire to create something sustainable and democratic. JP started by writing and self-publishing his own book, which became the template for the publishing house.

Recent Development: JP discusses launching “Tear and Share” - a new initiative supporting artists through gift card-style prints, created in response to declining Instagram reach for visual artists.

Key Quotes

On community support: “The creative community amongst writers and artists can be so supportive. If you’re willing to ask. And I think that intertwines with that point I’m saying about having a belief in yourself.”

On business advice: “Make sure everything is really hot and professional and there’s a website and there’s a presence before you bring it to market.”

On the payment model: “We’re giving 50% net profits on any sale post print to the person. So the person actually recoups what they’ve put in because they’re getting 50% of anything they sell.”

On Instagram’s impact on artists: “I’m like apoplectic about what’s happened with social media reach and photography and illustration and art... I don’t think I can think of an example of a business biting the hand that has fed them more than what’s happened with Instagram.”

On Amie McNee new book: “The first book is essentially a manifesto about believing in creativity... kicking off and railing about how we’ve all been brainwashed into believing that work is what it is. And then the second bit... is actually advice on how to have self-belief, how to build a sustainable community of people who want to support you.”

I loved chatting with Nikko Kennedy as part of the January Joy(ful) Growth Club with Russell and Claire . You can go deeper on this topic with her inside our workshop and get the replay. Thurs 5 Feb at 4pm.

Become a monthly or annual paid member to join us and get the replay.

Ai summary, thanks Claude

This is a transcript of a live conversation between Claire Venus (an engagement consultant and Substack expert) and Nico from “Brighter Days, Darker Nights” about circadian rhythms and managing screen time for online entrepreneurs.

Key topics discussed:

* The challenges of balancing screen time with health when your income depends on being online

* How modern work has shifted from occasional office computer use to constant digital engagement (phones, laptops, social media)

* The biological impacts of light exposure on circadian rhythms and overall health

* Practical strategies for maintaining healthy relationships with technology while building an online business

Main insights from Nikko:

* Light exposure (both natural and artificial) significantly impacts our health and well-being

* Working online creates unique challenges because screen time is tied to income, not just entertainment

* The stress and biological impacts of constant digital work are real and need addressing

* There are evidence-based strategies for getting vitamin D and managing light exposure without harm

* Apps and tools can actually help track healthy sun exposure

Claire’s perspective:

* The overwhelm of sudden online success and the nervous system impact

* The importance of finding your unique “audience alchemy” rather than chasing every trend

* The need to tune out noise and focus on meaningful creative work

* Balancing ambition with self-care and sustainable practices

They announced an upcoming workshop on this topic through Sparkle on Substack, diving deeper into specific strategies for managing screen time and circadian health for online business owners.