I use Notion for my writing and you can too.

Part 1 - Notion can be a boon to writers with a little setup and planning.

This is the first in a multi-part series on how you can put Notion to use when writing on Substack. Substack is an excellent example of a content creation platform where Notion can provide structure, organization, and process management. These concepts are not exclusive to Substack writing and can be used with almost any content creation platform. If you are interested in learning about how to use these strategies on other platforms, leave a comment about the platforms that interest you.

Write when the words come

At the very core of using Notion to help with your Substack writing is the capture of ideas on the fly. Inspiration can strike almost anywhere, and avoiding losing that inspiration is key to getting the words on the screen. Notion is an excellent tool for writing on the fly because of two key features: pages and moving.

When in Notion, you can create a new page at any time, whether you’re in an existing page or at the top of your system at the Home screen. On Android for example (where I’m writing this right now) a click of the new page button immediate sets you to a blank page for writing your missives.

You may be wondering, and I’ve been often asked, “Why create a blank page just anywhere when you could create it in your production tool?” After all, if you are taking the time to build a production tool to manage your writing process, why wouldn’t it be the first place to put your content? My response is simple…just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you have to do a thing.

It’s more important to not lose the idea than it is to make sure it winds up in the system immediately. One of the productivity methods I teach is my CPR method:

C - Capture

P - Process

R - Report

In this method, capturing the information (in this case your writing idea) is more important than processing it into the workflow of your solution (at least right away.)

Moving right along

Pages in Notion can be moved into databases (a key component of the system we will be spending a good deal of time with) at any time and when they are they pick up the properties (data fields) that are defined in the database. This means your writing productivity tool can include due dates, scheduling information, tags, images, links and ultimately all the information to manage your writing. The best part is you don’t have to worry about capturing all that when your muse is whispering in your ear.

One of my favorite pro tips for writing in Notion is to use the formatting and styling you want represented in your Substack post while in Notion. Headers, bold, italic, and such can all be created in Notion and then copied and pasted into Substack for immediate use. By doing this you can shorten your post-production writing time significantly.

AI isn’t just for research

Pro tip number two relies on the AI functionality of Notion to aid in creating summaries of your writing. These can be helpful when sharing your posts on social media. Write your post in Notion and then when finished, ask the AI to summarize the page.

For example, when I prompted the AI to “summarize this page in a paragraph and write it in a way that encourages reading the page” I received the following result in seconds:

Dive into this insightful guide on leveraging Notion to supercharge your Substack writing process! This page offers a treasure trove of practical tips for content creators, from capturing fleeting ideas on-the-fly to streamlining your post-production workflow. Learn how Notion's flexible page creation and powerful database features can transform your writing organization, and discover time-saving tricks like formatting preservation and AI-powered summaries. Whether you're a seasoned Substack author or just starting out, this guide promises to enhance your content creation journey with Notion as your secret weapon. Don't miss out on these game-changing strategies that can be applied to various content platforms beyond Substack!

Leveraging the AI capabilities of Notion is something we will revisit frequently as part of this series, so if you have questions about how to use the Notion AI, please leave them in the comments for all to see and share.

I’m hoping you’re starting to see some of the possibilities of using Notion to manage your writing process and allow you to focus on the words rather than the workflow.

In Part 2, I’ll share the basic structure of my writing database that helps keep my work flowing and going.