✍️ Introducing GuestStack: A New Column Featuring Rising Authors & Creatives

A new column I'm adding to From the Desk of Amy Suto.

From the Desk of Amy Suto is a place where I curate the best.

The best writing jobs, the best writing advice, and the best ideas to help you — the best writers! — make the most of this wild and creatively rich life as a professional wordsmith.

It seems like everything I’ve built has resonated with you, too — it’s been amazing to share this curated space with over 7,600+ of you so far.

My mission here is to help you make writing your job in a way that feels expansive, inspiring, and wholly unique to your own journey as an author, creative, newsletter writer, copywriter — or whatever other identity you ascribe to under the umbrella of “writer.”

That’s what’s so cool about being a writer: we all share a love of storytelling, but everyone has a different approach. What works for one writer might not work for another.

I wanted to create more space for writers of all different skills and backgrounds to share their breakthroughs, tell their stories, and inspire other writers to view their craft and careers in a new way.

Enter: GuestStack.

📚 GuestStack: A New Column Featuring Stories and Poetry From Rising Authors & Creatives

You might have already seen some posts on the job board, but I’ve been commissioning essays and poetry from some incredibly talented writers, which will be gracing your inboxes soon.

Here’s what you can expect here at GuestStack:

• Personal essays from freelance writers, authors, and newsletter writers who have made breakthroughs in their work

• Poetry about creativity, finding the “muse” in your work, and the ephemeral nature of life as an artistic professional

• Guest posts and articles from fellow writers who have “figured out” something about writing — both the craft and the career side of things — that is tricky, challenging, or non-obvious

My goal with GuestStack is to curate pieces that inspire and educate.

GuestStack will be an antidote to “hustle culture” and “starving artist” mentalities.

GuestStack will challenge the stereotypes of what a writer’s life looks like — instead showing you what’s possible in the fullest, most abundant forms of this creative career path of being a writer.

And it will feature you.

🗞️ How Can I Pitch GuestStack?

Pitch opportunities will be posted to the writing job board for the community here to submit their ideas to. Pitch calls will be specific, revolving around a theme, and I’ll close the forms when I’m no longer accepting submissions.

Here’s how these pitch calls work if you’re unfamiliar: I only accept pitches first — not full pieces. Then, the chosen writer will be commissioned to write the final piece (i.e. a poem, essay, etc.) and will receive some notes from me to integrate into their piece.

As your editor, my notes are meant to be recommendations to help with readability and inspiring visceral emotion for the readers. My goal is to help you dig deeper in your pieces — but my notes are not law. Everything’s up for discussion, and I want you to be proud of your piece when it runs.

Please don’t pitch me over email. I’ve (happily!) chosen a very busy life for myself, and it’s easiest for me to read pitches received via the form linked in the pitch calls.

More questions? I’ve updated my “About” page with a full FAQ! You can also leave a comment or reply to this email with any lingering questions that you can’t find answered here or on the About page.

✨ Like the Column and the Mission? How to Support GuestStack

The posts on GuestStack will be free to read when the posts go live and for two weeks after. Then, they’ll be moved to the archives, which are available to read with a paid subscription.

If you’d like to support your fellow writers and their work, I recommend sharing the GuestStack posts, subscribing to their Substacks or other newsletters, and buying their books if you feel so inclined. I’ll be including links to authors’ work with each post as well as their bios and any books of theirs.

Want to do more to support GuestStack? You can also upgrade to a paid membership on From the Desk of Amy Suto for $8/month or a discounted $80/annually, which comes out to $1.53/week.

I use a portion of the funds from this Substack to pay writers at or above market rate (I aim for around $1 - $2/word per commissioned piece!) so your subscription helps pay it forward, and allows me to allocate more time to finding, curating, and editing new pieces from writers.

Don’t want to become a paid subscriber? All good! I’m just happy you’re here, regardless of your subscription status. I hope you enjoy all of the free content I share with you weekly, from the free Sunday posts to now the GuestStack essays, poetry, and more.

👑 From the Desk as a Modern “Newspaper”

from a year ago in my travels to Seoul, South Korea. lots of exciting things have happened since then!

From the Desk of Amy Suto is my take on a modern “newspaper” — but just for writers.

There’s the “classified” section with job posts and opportunities.

There are articles with a round-up of (writing) news and other goings-on in the writing world, as well as first-person narratives from my dispatches in the writing world.

And now, you have columnists and other writers contributing to the publication.

I’m excited to keep on building for you.

Thanks for reading,

-Amy