Join Projectkin in the Members’ Corner
This special program gives Projectkin Members a way to share their family history stories with new readers, and it's now open to for new writers. Join the new cohort — deadline is the 21st each month.
I brought Projectkin to Substack because of the rich community features of the platform. Three months in, our community has bloomed. We’re thriving with a focus on creative project ideas as a way to share our stories:
We’ve shared projects ranging from framed pieces and playing cards to a scavenger hunt and a cookbook. Our project “recipes” transform the crazy ideas invented in our “clinics,” into practical and inspiring projects anyone can reproduce for their own stories. As our community grows we’re now encouraging each other with tips, resources, and support.
With our Members’ Corner, we have a place to share our stories too.
Join us. Be a Projectkin Guest Author!
Many Projectkin members already have their own sites, blogs, and stacks to share family stories. Not all of us do. Even if you already have site, perhaps you’d benefit from added visibility in a like-minded community.
We’re here for you.
The Members’ Corner is a dedicated section of the Projectkin Forum that features stories our members have written as guest authors. Each month, a new selection of articles is released as a cohort to the Members’ Corner. During May 2024, we’re introducing themes starting with a very special focus on the stories of war, veterans, and the military experience. Learn more in Holding Space for Veterans
Holding Space for Veterans
Members’ Corner Posts
Stories can be in text, video, or audio formats — the three forms of posts currently supported by Substack. They are arranged chronologically, much like our popular Recipes and Tips sections.
At the end of each month, we’ll share the new cohort with a release of the new posts
by email,
in one or more of our social channels
as a feature of the home page at Projectkin.org
AND using Substack’s generous share features.
To ensure that we get a range of voices, I’ll include no more than one post per member in any monthly cohort. In the near term, the cohort will be arranged on the Members’ Corner page by month with the first posts submitted in each month at the top. As the corner expands, I anticipate adding categories to make it easier to browse and explore.
Why Bother?
Given the mechanics of sharing and search engine optimization, sharing an article under your name on Projectkin benefits you and the community.
Here’s why. It benefits you by introducing your work to new audiences—all of whom share a foundational interest in Family History here on Projectkin. It helps Projectkin as a community grow by introducing it to prospective new members among your friends and family and creating a nexus of interest that’s visible to search engines.
By growing Projectkin, we build our base and create more options to help sustain the program in the long run. (More about that on the About page.)
Exposure for your work using Substack’s recommendation tools
Adding a guest article to the new Projectkin Members’ Corner also lets you double down on the incredible discovery and recommendation tools on the Substack platform. If you have your substack, you’re welcome to cross-post, mention, and share your post anywhere you’d like. If you don’t, it lets you publish without fussing with the management of your own stack.
The Members’ Corner gives you a convenient way to showcase the work of others, too. It’s a community; we all benefit from the exposure. Projectkin is free, but we are thrilled to see your free or paid subscriber base grow. We want to see a thriving community of family historians here.
Share your stories without the fuss!
If you don’t have your own Substack publication, this will be an easy way to start sharing your writing and recordings without the fiddly bits1 of building out a blog, newsletter, or website. I’ll help with the technical issues of getting started, and you won’t even have to manage the Substack editor.
You’ll submit your copy, images, and recordings as files! (Almost any form will do: .doc, .rft, .txt, whatever works for your words, plus image files. For recordings, I’m happy with .mp3 or .mp4 files.)
Keep in mind that I’m neither a writing coach nor an editor. My role here is as your Substack-based publisher, curating family history writing, recordings, and other work to share and celebrate. If you’re looking for an editor or memoir coach, we have some world-class talents in our community—and in Substack as a whole.
It’s not just about writing!
Notice that I keep saying, “And recordings?” I’m serious about that. I’ve been blown away by the sophistication of the audio and video features that are now standard in Substack posts, and I welcome their use in Projectkin stories.
In addition to traditional prose storytelling with images, maps, and video elements for illustrations, the new media features of Substack support:
Video recordings for historic footage, performances, or animations.
Use voice recordings or other audio recordings to complement your writing or deliver your story with the richness of your voice.
Any media type that fits the requirements below is welcome!
Settings to optimize SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO)’s subtle art can get complicated. One of the nice things about tucking in with a writers’ platform is that they’re doing the heavy lifting for us. I’ve tried to take advantage of these features in the configuration of the Projectkin substack. In the Members’ Corner, our publication-wide settings favor writers with these toggles:
They’ve even covered the newest elements to protect your writing from being scraped for AI training:
As a Projectkin guest author, you’ll get…
Content control. This is your work with your byline. I’ll help edit and add imagery, but you get the final word. If you change your mind after it’s published, or decide to publish it somewhere else, that’s okay too.2
Exposure to new readers. The Members’ Corner is now a regular feature of our community. Members are already looking out for new posts and warmly supporting each other.
Bragging rights. This seems immodest, but it’s not. Sharing that your work has been featured on Projectkin is a Thing. Projectkin can help get your work the visibility it deserves.
Analytics. If you’re unfamiliar with them, the tracking tools Substack offers publishers are extraordinary. As a Projectkin member with a guest post, I’ll share details about the exposure your piece is getting. If you cross-post the article to your substack newsletter, you’ll see the analytics for the post in your dashboard.
Want in on the Projectkin Members’ Corner?
I do have a few requirements
To keep the scope manageable, I have a few requirements. I expect to tune these requirements over time to optimize our visibility and incorporate feedback to the benefit of our members:
For the
, the publisher and executive editor is responsible for determining which posts and guests are included and promoted.All guest posts to the Members’ Corner must be written by subscribing members to the Projectkin forum on Substack.
Pieces submitted for posting must be your work and not something you’ve previously published. This is a hard constraint for both copyright and SEO purposes. There’s a little wiggle room for media publishing; I’m happy to answer any questions.
Your pieces will be accessible to all readers and cannot (while on Projectkin) be subject to a paywall. After participating in a Members’ Corner cohort, you may remove your post from Projectkin to add to a paid section of your substack.
Your pieces should be true stories about your family and are presumed to be factual unless you’ve disclosed them to be otherwise. They may be fictional or about another family, but please note that.3 I’ll consider procedural pieces, which may be better suited to project recipes or tutorials. I welcome those, too, but generally not in the Members’ Corner. Let’s discuss if you’re uncertain.
Content guidelines for the Projectkin Forum apply to the Members’ Corner as well. Details are on the Projectkin Forum About page. If I see a problem, I’ll let you know as quickly as possible.
All articles should have at least one image, either yours or from a referenced source. This helps us optimize for visibility and SEO. You’ll approve the final image along with the edited copy and layout.
Your name will be on the post, and you will have time to review your formatted post on Projectkin.org before the publication date.
⮕ NOTE: Substack’s guest writer feature does not allow guests to edit their posts directly before or after publication.
All pieces to be included in each cohort must be submitted by the 21st of the month (or 12:00 AM (midnight) Pacific Time on the 22nd.) Each new cohort will be released before the end of that month (sometime between the 29th and 31st of each month.)4
Each cohort will generally be limited to 6 posts. There may be exceptions, but that’s the goal.
Ready? Let’s do this!
FIRST, let me know if you’re interested in submitting a post by tapping the button below. This will give you the first shot at one of the six posts for the month. If you can’t make the deadline, that’s completely okay. I’ll know to follow up to get you in or find you a spot next month.
When you’re ready to submit your article, tap below by the 21st of the month! A Google form will capture the details and create a safe way for you to send me your draft (includes options for large text, image, or video files and links.)
Questions?
At the risk of making this post too long, below are answers to basic questions you might ask so you can get started immediately.
How long?
“Long enough to cover the material, but short enough to keep your reader interested,” — said every English teacher. For written posts, 500 to 1200 words is a good target. For audio or video recordings, I can easily accommodate 30- to 60-minute pieces. Care to serialize? That’s okay too.
How soon?
To handle the mechanics of guest posting before the end of the month, need all submissions by the 21st of each month (that’s midnight 12:00AM, Pacific time on the 22nd of the month.) Yep, I’m serious. When I share your draft with you, I’ll also give you a deadline to review it.
Hang on, what’s in it for Projectkin?
ALWAYS, a good question to ask. Showcasing the work of our members introduces Projectkin to a larger audience on and off of Substack. As people are exposed to Projectkin.org, they’re inclined to join us. It’s that simple, more in our About page.
Why isn’t this simply a “cross-post”?
We may add cross-posts, but for the moment they cannot be added to the Members’ Corner which is a “Section” in Substack terms. We can’t modify the section designations in cross-posted articles so they can’t currently appear on the Projectkin Substack.
Why not just @-mention or embed articles?
Mentioning authors and publications, and embedding articles are nice features of Substack, but they doesn’t yield the long-term benefits for sharing that guest posts do. I’ll use this in the initial promotion, for example. In my view, they’re a nice complement to guest posts, but not an alternative.
Do I have to be a Projectkin member?
Yes. This is an exclusive offer for Projectkin members. It’s a “Members’” corner after all. 😉 Was this forwarded to you? And you STILL haven’t subscribed? That’s okay. There’s still time. 👉 Subscribe now.
How do I know this is okay?
See for yourself. Explore the Projectkin Forum and the writings of other Projectkin Members in the Members’ Corner and on social media. Add comments to their work, or just ask them about their own experience.
Do you still have questions? That’s completely fine. We’re figuring this out together. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ll remove your article from the Members’ Corner at any time based on the guest author’s direction. I’d appreciate a commitment to keeping posts up for at least 30 days—that helps justify the editorial and promotional effort.
Footnoting is a very useful feature. Don’t be afraid to use it. 🙃
If a cohort is oversubscribed, I’ll favor those who submitted first and move later submissions to the next cohort.