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Sarah Fay’s How to Start (or Restart) Your Substack

Get started—or restarted—right.

The only three-week program with leading Substack Strategist Sarah Fay to create your Substack—one readers want to follow, return to, and pay for.

Find your Substack DNA. Build and brand your Substack. Create a paid strategy that fits you. And launch—or relaunch—with a plan.

Investment: $945. Doors to the bonus live sessions close October 30.

Yes! I’m in
Sarah Fay

“This course is the best intro course to Substack, hands down.

So informative, and the step-by-step approach makes sense of the wealth of confusing options on Substack. I feel confident to relaunch.”

— Marie-Elizabeth Mali

You want to start—or restart—your Substack but don’t know if you have the energy for yet another platform.

You don’t want to waste a year or more of trial and error.

Maybe you’ve tried other platforms that haven’t grown. Maybe you’ve already put time into your Substack but aren’t attracting the readers you want, or you’re exhausted even thinking about spending hours creating more of your creative work that disappears into the void.

You want subscribers who look forward to hearing from you, an engaged community, and a real platform that means something.

You don’t want to dread taking care of your Substack.

You may still be trying to understand how it all works and what will work for you.

It isn’t you. It’s Substack.

You don’t need to waste any more time, energy, or money. You need an expert with a behind-the-scenes view into what actually works on Substack.

This is for you if:

  • You’ve been meaning to start on Substack and have taken the first steps but haven’t seen it through.
  • You started your Substack—and started strong—but haven’t found a rhythm for continuity and consistency.
  • You’ve been on the platform, putting in time and effort, and aren’t attracting the readers you want.
  • You have subscribers and they love what you do, but you don’t know how to distinguish between your free and paid offering.
  • You have a hundred ideas but can’t choose a direction.
  • You’re posting without a particular direction and still don’t understand the platform.
  • You want to build community without spending hours creating more work that disappears into the void.
  • Some days you wonder if you’re too late, or if you’re the only one who hasn’t figured this out.

“The OG of Substack education.”

— Melissa Scala

Let’s get started right!
Sarah Fay headshot

About Sarah Fay

Phd, ma, mfa

I started on Substack nearly half a decade ago and fell in love with the platform.

It was so different from other platforms. It felt like someplace real, something I could make my own.

I immediately wanted to help people like you use Substack to build a platform, earn an income, and bring your work to the world.

After Substack set me up to see private clients, I helped hundreds 10x their subscribers, triple their income, and build a platform of loyal subscribers.

I quickly became known as the leading Substack Growth Strategist and the go-to Substack expert.

My Substack DNA Growth Framework™️ is the result of four years of pattern recognition based on my work one-to-one with more than 1,000 private clients and tens of thousands inside Substack Writers at Work.

I'm the Founder and CEO of Substack Writers at Work, a bestselling author—my memoir Pathological was an Apple Best Books pick, a USA Today bestseller, and featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, and NPR—and I teach writing at Northwestern. I'm also Fortier PR’s Substack consultant and do Substack trainings for companies, organizations like NPR, PR agencies, literary agencies, and publishers around the world.

The New York Times  •  The Atlantic  •  Time  •  NPR  •  HarperCollins  •  USA Today bestseller  •  Northwestern

The biggest mistake I see people make:

They get bogged down in Substack’s tech and the platform.

And they never get clear on what their Substack is—or how to communicate it to readers.

So every decision becomes another thing to figure out. What should I call it? What should I post? How should it look? What should be free? What would people pay for?

We start with your Substack DNA.

“A transformative experience, and worth every penny.”

— Denise Pyles

Understand what you’re doing—and feel invigorated by the possibilities.

Here’s what changes when your Substack finally runs on its own DNA—and you understand not just how Substack works but how it can work for you:

  • You can say what your Substack is in one sentence—and so can your readers.
  • You’re clear on what you offer and why readers would want it.
  • Your title, short description, bio, and About page communicate what your Substack is and why people should subscribe.
  • You have the technical know-how to get started and a Substack that looks like you.
  • You have a paid strategy that fits your work, with clear decisions about what’s free and what’s paid.
  • You know where to focus your time instead of trying to do everything.
  • You have a plan to launch or relaunch—and a clearer idea of what you’re doing and why.
  • You’re building something you’re proud of and can see yourself continuing.

Everything flows from one core: your Substack DNA. It’s the foundation we’ll use to guide your decisions about readers, growth, and income.

Substack DNA Growth Framework: your Substack DNA at the center, with Growth, Engagement, and Revenue

“I felt invigorated by the possibilities and loved having hands-on knowledge so I can get started with clarity.”

— Joelle

Real Substacks.

Real results.

David Roberts subscriber growth
David Roberts subscriber growth

David Roberts

Sparks from Culture

Featured bestseller ¡ +4,000 subscribers in a year

“I was clueless about how my posts were landing on Substack. Sarah is a superb teacher. The result has been an improvement in the quality of my posts and a surge in subscribers. I’m also having a lot more fun as a Substack writer.”

Jeannine Ouellette subscriber growth
Jeannine Ouellette subscriber growth

Jeannine Ouellette

Writing in the Dark

Paid subscribers jumped from 560 → 953 in 70 days

“Sarah is brilliant and knows Substack inside out. Her guidance is not cookie-cutter; it’s very precisely tailored based on your specific publication and vision.”

Petya Grady subscriber growth
Petya Grady subscriber growth

Petya Grady

A Reading Life

400 → 7,500+ in a year

Renamed her Substack through the DNA work, became a bestseller, and was featured by Substack three times.

Emma Vivian subscriber growth
Emma Vivian subscriber growth

Emma Vivian

Attempts at Optimism

150 → 600+ in 9 months

“I dilly-dallied, wondering if I ‘deserved’ to make such an investment in my writing/my Substack/myself. I’m so thrilled that I ignored my fears and went for it. I feel so much more confident, with a clearer idea of not only what I’m writing about, but also my very identity. These insights are truly blessings.”

These are individual results from my broader Substack work, not guaranteed outcomes of this three-week course.

What’s inside

Three weeks to go from “I don’t know what my Substack really is” to understanding what you’re doing, getting clear on what you offer, and having a plan to start—or restart.

1

Week 1: Find Your Substack DNA

Understand Substack and discover what makes your Substack different from anyone else’s. We’ll work on your Substack DNA and explore Project, Topic, or Lens as distinct ways to clarify what you want to do here.

Start communicating what you offer through your title, short description, bio, and About page. Learn the mechanics of posting and how to welcome readers into your Substack.

Leave with: a clear sense of what your Substack is and whom it’s for, a compelling title, a short description, a punchy bio, About-page direction, and the beginnings of your welcome journey.

2

Week 2: Build Your Substack & Create a Paid Strategy That Fits You

Design and brand your homepage, welcome page, and posts so your Substack looks unmistakably like you. I’ll guide you through the full branding and graphic-design work myself, including colors, fonts, your icon, wordmark, and images.

Then make your foundational paid decisions. Understand the three basic paid models I teach—the traditional paywall model, the NPR/patronage model, and the service/teaching model—and choose a direction that fits your work. Get clear about pricing, tiers, what belongs behind a paywall, and how to invite people to pay without feeling salesy.

Leave with: your branding and design, essential setup, design templates, and a clear paid strategy—including what you offer free and paid subscribers.

3

Week 3: Grow & Launch or Relaunch with a Plan

Understand your growth opportunities without trying to do everything. We’ll cover Notes, recommendations, connections with other Substacks, and the foundational marketing decisions that help readers find you and understand what you offer.

Bring it together with your welcome journey and a coordinated launch or relaunch plan.

Leave with: clear growth priorities and a launch or relaunch plan you can follow.

4

ACCELERATE

Hit velocity.

Perfect your welcome emails with automated welcome journeys that keep subscribers. Crack the Notes algorithm with my Notes Hour One system for real, sustained subscriber growth, and get traction via Substack’s recommendation engines.

Leave with: your coordinated launch/relaunch to get the traction on Substack you deserve.

+

Plus: my exclusive templates and guide library

These are the templates and guides from my private-client work, so you aren’t creating everything from scratch:

  • The Complete Guide to Launching or Relaunching in 2026.
  • The 8-step hero post process.
  • Short description, bio, and About page templates.
  • Templates for your icon, wordmark, welcome-page image, and homepage image.
  • Your Substack Strategy Handbook.

You’ll have the teaching—and practical resources to help you put it into your Substack.

Save my spot

Your live bonus!

This enrollment only.

You, in the room with me.

Your questions answered, working alongside writers doing exactly what you’re doing, so you can get clear on your next steps and follow through.

Bring your questions about your Substack, what you offer, your design, your paid strategy, or your launch or relaunch plan.

Mark your calendar:

Choose the time for the live session that works best for your schedule each week:

  • Wednesday, November 4, at 12:30 PM CT
  • Friday, November 6th, at 12:30 PM CT
  • Wednesday, November 11th, at 12:30 PM CT
  • Friday, November 13th, at 12:30 PM CT
  • Wednesday, November 18th, at 12:30 PM CT
  • Friday, November 20th, at 12:30 PM CT

The live sessions are part of this enrollment, with doors closing October 30.

“This class saved me hours of trial and error.”

— Christine Destrempes

Enroll in How to Start (or Restart) Your Substack

You’re investing in the one thing that makes everything else on Substack work: you.

Because people ultimately subscribe to you, not your Substack.

Sarah Fay’s How to Start (or Restart) Your Substack

$945

Yes! I’m in

Or enroll with three monthly payments of $345.

14-day guarantee

Your guarantee

Complete the first section and all the Substack DNA work. If you don’t walk away with a clearer sense of your Substack than you had when you started, email us within 14 days and we’ll refund you in full.

I can promise this because I’ve watched it work thousands of times—but you have to do the work. This guarantee holds you to that as much as it holds me.

You don’t need another year of trial and error.

You can put in the time and effort and still not understand what will work for you.

You can publish consistently, change your design, try Notes, and turn on paid—but still be unsure what your Substack is or why people would subscribe.

That’s what we work on together.

Discover your Substack DNA. Build and brand your Substack. Make your foundational paid decisions. And launch or relaunch with a plan you can follow.

So you move from “I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing” to “I know what my Substack is and why people want it.”

I’d love to have you.

Let’s build my Substack!

Investment: $945. Doors to the bonus live sessions close October 30.

Success stories

Sherold Barr

Sherold survived a near-fatal car wreck in 2017—six abdominal surgeries, and she had to learn to walk twice—to come back and serve.

Her Substack had an abstract name a reader couldn’t understand. Through the DNA work she made it clear and valuable, and renamed it High Road to Healing.

“I got so much value out of it. I would take another class.”

Catherine Palmer

Catherine was ready to quit.

She reflected deeply on her Substack DNA and shifted her strategy to something that feels more authentic and sustainable.

“Sarah combines writing and marketing expertise, and she speaks ‘Substack.’”

Sara Engram

Sara was stumbling around Substack in the dark and stuck on growth.

She did the Notes work and the DNA work, sharpened her short description and bio, and watched her subscriptions jump about 60%.

“Notes was a huge help — my subscriptions jumped by about 60%. Knowing my DNA, I don’t feel I’m stumbling around Substack in the dark anymore. It feels great to have a guide like Sarah.”

If you’re still here…

You’re probably thinking one of these things:

“Let me try a few more things on my own first.”

You can. But you don’t need another year of trial and error.

You’ve been trying things on your own. That’s how many people end up here—not for lack of effort, but because they still don’t know what their Substack is or how to make it work for them.

That’s what we work on.

“Do I have the time and energy for this?”

The digital lessons are on demand so you can return to them as you work on your Substack.

And the live sessions are here to support you through the decisions—not leave you with more things to figure out alone.

This is work. But it’s work on the Substack you want to build, rather than another round of guessing.

“I’m not sure I should spend this on myself.”

You’re investing in your writing, your work, and a Substack you want to bring to readers.

Everyone deserves to be paid well for their work, from McDonald’s to Substack.

You don’t have to wait until you’ve figured everything out on your own before getting guidance.

“I’ve been on Substack for more than a year, so I’d figured out a lot of things. But I did it the HARD way. Sarah makes it so much easier. I wish I’d known her when I started.”

— Lynda McDaniel

Frequently asked questions

Get started—or restarted—right.

A practical three-week program with the leading Substack strategist to create your Substack—one readers want to follow, return to, and pay for.

Find your Substack DNA. Build and brand your Substack. Create a paid strategy that fits you. And launch or relaunch with a plan.

Sarah Fay’s How to Start (or Restart) Your Substack

$945

Yes! I’m ready to start—or restart!

Bonus live coaching and Q&A included with this enrollment. Doors to the bonus live sessions close October 30.