There's something I've been talking about a lot to our private clients over the last few weeks, so I figured it's time to write it down. 😅
Creating GOOD content and getting attention for that content are two different games.
I know it stings, but it's the truth.
We all secretly believe that if we just keep creating, the right people will find it. So we pour hours into an article, get the ideas right, hit publish... and wait for the work to speak for itself.
But the work rarely speaks for itself.
Think about how someone actually meets your writing for the first time:
They're on their phone, half-answering a message, thumbing through their feed while a hundred other things fight for the same three seconds.
Your post appears.
They read your title.
And before they decide anything, one question runs quietly through their head:
"So what? Why should I care?"
If your title doesn't answer that fast, they keep scrolling. Not because your writing is weak, but because the packaging doesn't give them a reason to stop.
Here's what I want you to hear: the packaging is not the shallow part of the work. It's the part that decides whether the deep part ever gets read.
So here's the test to run on your next post before you publish it:
Read your title the way a stranger would. A tired stranger who owes you nothing.
Then ask the "so what" on their behalf.
"So what does this give me? Why would I stop for this instead of the next thing in my feed?"
If you can answer in one clear line, your packaging is doing its job.
If you can't, that's not a signal to write something better.
It's a signal to package what you already wrote so the value shows from the outside.
Then do it again to your opening line. And to the promise under your title. And to the first sentence of every Note. Each one is a small door, and every door needs a reason to be opened.
If I'm honest, this is the part I got wrong for two years.
YOU are the worst possible judge of your own packaging.
You can't see your title the way a stranger sees it, because you can't un-know what you meant.
You read "5 lessons from a hard week" and your brain fills in the whole story, the feeling, the payoff. YOU know what the piece is all about. A stranger doesn't.
You're standing too close to your own work to know what it looks like from the outside.
That's why you need people who'll tell you the truth about how your work lands before your readers quietly decide for you.
Worth Your Time This Week
If you're sitting on years of expertise and wondering how it actually translates to Substack, these are worth your time:
→ Stop Waiting to Be Discovered: 5 Visibility Truths Most Substack Creators Get Wrong. Jari and Jenn on why the readers you can't see outnumber the ones you can.
→ You Can't See Your Own Substack Clearly. My new one on the blind spot in your own work, and what it quietly costs you.
→ The Substack Setup That Keeps Readers Coming Back. My video on choosing where every reader goes the second they finish a post.
→ How to Make Real Money on Substack (for Coaches, Founders & Experts). The three-layer system behind a Substack that actually pays.
Here's to making your good stuff impossible to scroll past,
Sinem
PS. We're hosting an exclusive meetup for Substackers in Orlando on October 2nd. If you're in the area and would like to join us, reply to this email for the registration link. 👋