ADD A SUBSTACK LINK IN OUR WA PROFILES

I have made a Feature Request...and here's WHY.

I tell stories.

I've been telling Wanted Hero stores for more than 30 years now, and have made a humble living from do telling these same stories since 2005.
Look, I'm NOT famous, and I'm NOT rich. Lots of folks have placed titles or accomplishments on my shoulders, which makes me very, VERY uncomfortable. I'm a husband, a dad, a grandpa...and I'm your friend.
I want to keep telling stories for as long as I am able. That means finding way that I don't have to 'pay to play', compete with ANYbody (and I don't, neither do you....cause it's NOT a thing)...and "organic" ways people can find my stories, while I continue to smile, laugh, and do my thing.
I'm not interested in advertising. I just booted my last social media account (cya In-Yer-Facebook), and Google/Amazon doesn't get a damn penny from me to compete for recognition...which, BTW, someone eslse can take from me the moment they flash a bigger wallet!
I've been told there's no other way to get seen and grow your author presence/business, but I'm living, breathing proof that's a damn lie. I've done it over and over...and I'm doing it again. Because YOU are my community online, MANY of you I consider good friends,...what I know, I want to share with you.
This not complicated.
I want to tell stories and connect with my readers is a personal, ongoing way. This forced me to look outside WorldAnvil. It's the perfect platform, IMO, where I plant seeds and develop the creative ideas of my mind and heart, and grow the imaginary environment for readers to feast upon. If you listen to my podcast, you'll know that everything I do is to plant seeds for others to find WantedHero. You can listen to that podcast here.
Yet even WA, in all its glory, plays by the same rules as every other platform when it comes to getting new eyes on your world.

That's when I found Substack.

Now, it's important for you stop, right here....and understand that I spend all my time creating ways to bring readers back here, to WA. Substack is not a substitute for WA, and it could never become so. It's a different system, with diametrically opposed goals and views on delivery and display.
It's like comparing Apples to King Kong in drag.
Not the same.
MY GOAL for using Substack, was to build a flagship and use their tools, which are provided for free...to find, connect with, and win new readers...and then funnel them to Wanted Hero here on WorldAnvil.
It's working.
The OTHER SIDE TO THIS, which I didn't consider until a fellow Anvillite pointed it out to me, was that I might win more readers on the WA side...if there was a social media link to my Life of Fiction flagship.
THINK ABOUT THIS: Substack continues to grow at a mindblowing rate. The logo is being recognized across the globe, and if it was displayed on your world...do you think a new reader might want to know what's connected to it?
I do.
That's why I made the following request...

ADD A SUBSTACK LINK IN OUR WA PROFILES

What functionality is missing? What is unsatisfying with the current situation?

Anvillites are already using Substack as a flagship for their worlds. This number is growing.

I am requesting a Substack link option be added to our WA profiles, like Ko-Fi, to complete the connection between the two platforms. I am also requesting the substack icon to be displayed on every world page (again, like the ko-fi button).

WorldAnvil lacks the tools to personally and directly connect with readers in real time. It also struggles to provide discoverability beyond ordinary sharing to other social media platforms. It’s not working for most of us. If you’re not popular on the social media platforms, what good does it do to share what no one is looking for?

How does this feature request address the current situation?

Substack is providing an ‘organic’ way for:

1. Our worlds to be discovered,
2. Personally connect with readers in real time, so we can
3. Bring them to our worlds on WA.

I have personally been using and publishing on substack five days a week for a year, branding my WA world and continue to have success in being discovered.

Organic, in this context, specifically means "functioning without having to exert extra efforts outside our normal day-to-day functions as writers".
This feature request does NOT change the current functionality of substack/WA or how they’re being used. This feature request WILL ADD to the growing success, by solidifying the connection, as with any other social media platform we already connect to (currently: Nanowrimo, Twitter/X, FB, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Deviantart, YouTube, Steam, Twitch, Instagram, KOFI, Patreon, Mastodon, & Bluesky).
Creating a button/link will allow us to make further/deeper/more personal connection with readers, centered around our WA worlds.

What are other uses for this feature request?

A substack button to link platforms will create more connections between writers and readers on the WA side. WorldAnvil is my creative home. I believe this is critical to understand, so the weight of this request and the perspective in which it is made can be felt by every other writer and creative using the WA platform.

I moved my whole professional writing/illustration business to this platform in 2019 and have made a living here ever since. I believe WA to be THE best platform to build and share our stories, and to monetize them

(or not)…at our good will and pleasure.
Sadly, WA does not have the personal connectivity features to build a community inside a single world. There are comments, yes. There are notifications, yes. There are also "likes" and message boards. These do not allow for real-time interactions.
Substack is, IMO, a ‘helpmate’ to WA, superior in its own fashion, streamlining the process of connecting with readers. I believe that as the popularity of substack grows, which it will, the icon symbol will be used more in our own WA community. It will be a way for those looking for new worlds and materials, can reach out and interact with writers in ways WA cannot currently provide. I believe that will both build WA, and strengthen relationships on THIS platform. It has done so for me and those in this community who now follow my substack =).

I'd love to discuss this if you have questions and/or concerns.

We already have multiple social media accounts listed. I'm just asking for what I believe to be the MOST effective option to be included.