đŹ In This Monthâs Issue
â How I recommitted to writing, business, and joy (and why Juneâs word is now BUILD)
â Bookstackers you absolutely should follow
â Other Substackers nailing the aesthetic of their publication
â How I âquitâ Instagram without deleting my account (and what a âstatic gridâ is)
â Client shoutouts for new Substack launches!
Plus: Iâm giving paid subscribers access to the Instagram Static Grid Canva Template I use for client branding work (normally $375 for the custom design - this is a blank template for you to complete - email with this monthâs template drop coming this week).
Hi Creatives
My word for last month was: RECOMMITđ
Hereâs how I lived it:
⨠Reevaluated and recommitted to my business: The US Election caused things to get a little shaky for me for a while but in that, was a beautiful opportunity to think about the kinds of work I most like to do, and focus specifically on that. Since then, Iâve spent most of my time designing and launching Substacks for authors and working with my VIP VA clients.
⨠Recommitted to my own writing: Iâm slowly gathering steam on my own WIP againâhonestly, it feels like pulling threads out of a very tangled historical tapestry, but Iâm loving the challenge (keep up with my progress on
). If youâre also juggling a big creative project, whatâs helping you stay the course lately?Oh, and Iâve been writing microfics again! I didnât expect so many subscribers to
(hi, youâre scaring me in the best way)âbut this weekâs stories were pure fun: oneâs post-protest sex in â70s Melbourne, the otherâs about grudge-fuelled Hollywood hookups. IYKYK.⨠Recommitted to my meditation practise:
spurred a return to meditation for me last year and Iâd fallen off the wagon again. Picking the practise back up has been the biggest contributing factor to enjoying my writing and lowering my stress levels. Iâm feeling increasingly more frequent moments of peace in my life and finding it easier to get into creative flow.⨠Recommitted to slow fun: I am almost finished a tank top I started knitting months ago (pic above, me with my knitting circle). I find the practise of knitting to be so beneficial. Mostly because Iâm a raging perfectionist and a terrible knitter. Iâm having to make space for being both bad and imperfect at something. I have rage-quit that tank top like three times so far. I also bought myself a Kobo for my birthday and am enjoying getting back into reading fictionâŚitâs been a while but Iâm really looking forward to reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid in a few days time.
⨠Recommitted to this monthly newsletter!: I genuinely liked writing this round-up. However, because Iâm not on Meta actively anymore (more on that below!), I needed to change the segments over. Here we are!
My word for June is BUILD.
đ Bookstackers You Should Follow
1ď¸âŁÂ Possibly the cutest Bookstack design Iâve seen but also just a really great stack to get into. One of my favourite posts of theirs is: This is what a slow burn is supposed to feel like.
2ď¸âŁÂ What it says on the tin! Book recommedations youâll love. A fav post: The 100 Least Shitty Books List!
3ď¸âŁÂ Yes, the worldâs most piping hot genre has its own Substack! One of my favourite posts are the weekly drops of the trending romantasy charts.
đ¨Â Substack Design Inspiration
1ď¸âŁÂ
What I love: I donât think this could be prettier. From the retro colour palette pairing with that gorgeous 60s font, plus the way theyâve designed their feature images (*takes notes*) it is a design dream.
2ď¸âŁÂ
What I love: A serialised fiction series with stunning graphics and a vibe that invites you in. Whatâs not to love?
3ď¸âŁÂ
What I love: A gif logo, a beautiful and well laid-out page and all of Hollyâs signature branding, this Substack is simply gorgeous.
âď¸ Want to quit Instagram but not quite ready to surrender your account?
Same. I made myself a static page instead.
Meta and I have been arguing for a while. During a rough patch in my personal life, I found myself doom-scrolling reels and feeding my cognitive biases on repeat. What used to be a lighthearted way to keep up with friends had turned toxicâand after Metaâs latest round of AI thievery against authors, morally repugnant too.
So I joined an action group called
(Substack logo and design by yours truly đ), and Emma and co got me thinking: What would leaving actually look like?Because I still run a business that requires some Meta presence, deleting my account didnât feel viable. So instead, I built a static page.
What is an Instagram Static Page?
A static page is a curated 9-grid that you rarely (if ever) update. Think of it as a mini-website pinned to the top of your account. You can still post reels, show up in stories, and be taggedâbut the pressure to keep your main grid active is gone.
For authors, I suggest designing your top three tiles to showcase your latest release. Then, when your next book comes out, you only need to update those threeâno full grid refresh required.
The downsides of a static Instagram page
Reach will drop. If youâre currently active, youâll lose that visibility. Reels, paid advertising or divesting to other platforms (hello, Substack) will need to pick up the slack.
FOMO is real. At first, anyway. But give it a few weeksâyou may find you forget Instagram even exists.
Set up an auto-responder for DMs. Trust me, youâll stop checking them.
Do you even need an Instagram profile at all?
You might not. Plenty of authors donât have oneâand thatâs valid. Whether you keep or delete it is deeply personal (and often business-related).
All I can tell you is that Iâand many members of
are finding life off-the-grid far more nourishing.The bottom lineâŚ
If youâre over Insta but not quite ready to pull the plug, a static page might be your ideal middle ground.
Want to DIY?
Use Canva with dimensions 1456 x 1058 to get started. Iâll be sharing a template with my paid subscribers this month đ
Or if youâd rather hand it offâŚ
I offer custom on-brand static Instagram design for $375.
Join the waitlist below đ
đ Happy Substack Birthday to My Clients
Since my last missive, Iâve played a part in launching a few new Substack publications into the world! Some are in full swing, some are fresh off the design press and still working on their first posts!
If you havenât already, go and check out:
- launched
- launched
- launched
- launched
- launched
- launched
- launched
- launched a serialised novel over on
Hi Annie, I just read this. (How did I miss it?) I'm going to stay active on my personal IG page, but my author IG page is static - most of my readers are on FB or (increasingly) here. The 9 grid static page sounds like the perfect solution.
Oooh, I really like the idea of a static IG page! And I liked the featured photos on Platonic Love as well. That's a branded look I wouldn't mind incorporating.