🤔 Question: WTF is Notes on Substack?
Long-reads are now complemented fabulously by a tab for short-form updates!
Earlier this week Substack announced Substack Notes, and we’ve started using it on Chip Paper. If you’re an active Substack reader and subscriber, like we are, this is a great way to stay on top of your favourite writers’ short-form musings and updates. Think of it as a more community-based take on Twitter (and you know how much Elon adores Substack!)
Our first note, above, was something we thought was interesting reading (rather than being a bit of self-promotion!) We’ve already seen some great writers we personally subscribe to sharing their own debut notes, like Megabites (John & Sally McKenna), Vickipedia (Vicki Notaro) and Taking the Hell out of Healthy (Susan Jane White).
How will Chip Paper be using Notes?
We spend hours, days, even weeks crafting our long-reads, like deep-dives on condiments (hello, Aromat!), personal essays (I’m having trouble saying flat white) and restaurant reviews (which began with Myrtle in London and our most recent, published today, is back in London again). We do a lot of research, go back and forth between ourselves on endless edits as well as several 30-minutes sketches to punctuate each piece –– It takes a lot of time and energy, like any craft does, and like any craftsperson is happy to do.
Notes is somewhere we can share links, shorter posts, suggest other writers’ content and pin different discussion elements that just might not fit the long-form nature of what we currently share. Plus, since we write directly for our subscribers, we plan to use it for work-in-progress updates and quick questions to have your input and involvement. Sounds good, right?
How to use Notes
Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. [Note: we personally love delving into the Substack App when we want a hefty dose of good writing. Ideal on lazy weekend mornings cosying up with a tea or coffee or indeed to kill time on the dreaded commute –– if you haven’t downloaded it yet we’d heartily recommend] As a subscriber to Chip Paper, you’ll automatically see our notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!
With your own account you can also share notes of your own, too. We’d love to see this space become where every reader of Chip Paper can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond. We can’t wait to see what YOU share, too ☺️
As Notes is new there may be niggling little errors and issues which Substack will iron out, hopefully in lightning speed so you don’t even notice. But there is a Notes FAQ for any assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!