A 90-minute private session for craft-forward Substack publishers who are ready to renew momentum in their publication.

Let's look at your data, identify what makes you distinct on Substack and design a plan for the next 90 days of publishing

Hi, I’m Amanda Bray.

I’m an editor, journalist and marketer by trade, and a publishing founder by temperament.

I’ve spent nearly 20 years inside editorial production — helping people make work that holds up, holds together and actually reaches readers. On Substack, I’ve also spent years tracking what’s happening beneath the surface: what the platform rewards, what readers respond to and where creators get quietly pulled off their own center.

I’m not a hype person. I’m not an outcome pusher.

I’m here to translate what’s true — about your voice, your readers and your systems — into grounded decisions you can stand behind.

The Substack Publishing Reset is a focused 90-minute working session.

I review your dashboard ahead of time, then bring my editorial + marketing lens to help you see what’s working, what’s drifting and what’s in the way.

What’s included

This is one 90-minute working session — with a pre-call dashboard review.

We’ll move through three lenses:

1) readership grounding (data, without obsession)

Before we meet, I’ll look at your Substack dashboard so I can come in with a grounded read on your readership.

Not “which post did best,” and not a deep analytics report. More like: what your publication health suggests, how your readers are behaving at a high level and what that means for the decisions you’re trying to make.

2) creative positioning + editorial system

This is the heart of it.

We look at the ground of your work: what you draw from, what you know, what you’re here to say — and how your current presentation either clarifies that or blurs it. We’ll work on positioning you as a distinct, trustworthy voice on Substack: the through-line, the promise, the editorial shape of your expertise and the creative system that helps you bring your best work forward.

3) publishing queue direction (what to publish next and in what order)

Then we translate all of that into a simple next-90-days publishing direction. Not a rigid calendar.

A sequence: what you should publish first to show people who you really are, what to follow with and what kinds of posts will help readers “get it” — your difference, your depth, your point of view. You’ll leave with a clear queue direction and a few post “shapes” to work from.

How this works

before the call

After you book, you’ll do two small things:

  1. add me as an admin so I can review your dashboard (you’ll get the email + instructions in your confirmation email) and

  2. reply with one paragraph: what you publish, what feels stuck and what you want your readers to understand about you.

Optional (helpful): links to 2–3 posts that feel most representative of your work. (We may reference them for context, but we’re not doing line edits.)

during our 90 minutes

We’ll work through:

  1. Readership grounding — what the data suggests at a high level

  2. Creative positioning — the through-line of your voice + expertise, and what’s currently blurring it

  3. Queue direction — what to publish next (and in what order) so readers actually understand what sets you apart

after the call

You’ll receive the recording + transcript, with the decisions we made captured in plain language so you can implement without trying to remember everything.

What you’ll walk away with

  • a clearer read on your publication health — what feels solid, what’s drifting and what to protect

  • a grounded interpretation of your readership signal (high-level patterns, not post-by-post analysis)

  • the real bottleneck: what’s most likely blurring your distinctiveness or making publishing feel harder than it needs to be right now

  • 1 – 3 next moves (plus 1 – 2 things to stop doing so your system can breathe)

  • a simple 90-day queue direction: what to publish first, what to follow with and the post “shapes” that will help readers understand what sets you apart

  • recording + searchable transcript (a decision trail you can return to)

Make publishing decisions without flattening your voice.

Choose a time below and you’ll receive directions on how to add me to your Substack publication (Note: I will need temporary admin access to pull what I need).

$449

✓ 90-minute private session
✓ pre-call dashboard review
✓ recording + transcript

What people say about working together

Working with Amanda has profoundly changed my perspective on the editing process, which I previously considered secondary. Amanda possesses a remarkable talent for identifying the technical challenges that must be addressed to align a writer's voice with their choice of words. Her empathy is one of her greatest strengths, enabling her to connect the dots and illuminate the most brilliant aspects of any work. — Swarnali Mukherjee, author of Berkana

For years I avoided writing advice and consultants because it all seemed centered on trusting someone else's process. I felt the pressure to fit a certain writing mold didn't feel like me. In working with Amanda as an editor and through reading her newsletter as a paid subscriber, I'm learning to not only be myself, but to trust my writer instincts. Amanda's shown me the freedom of weaving in and out of writing seasons without feeling shame or panic, and has helped improve my writing impact without changing my writing voice. I'm deeply grateful to know her and learn from her. — Jen Zug, author of Pretend You're Good At It

Amanda provided critical editorial feedback on our content, making significant improvements to our manuscript. I can say with certainty that not only would our book not be as good, but it would not have even been printed without Amanda's counsel and support. — Greg Baumer, Chief Growth Officer, naviHealth

We needed help turning our draft manuscript into a beautiful, conference-ready book, and we had a short (read: ridiculous) timeline to get it done. She exceeded our expectations, pulling together a top-notch team and working very hard to ensure we received an excellent product! — John cortines, COO, Generous giving

“Helped me realign fast… to a strategy that felt more like me.” — Claire Venus, founder of Sparkle on Substack