Join Our November Writing Cohort
Happening from October 28 - November 22
A focus group for your blog.
Join an intimate group of 20 writers to:
Write 10 crucial stories from your life
Discover your personal “Hero’s journey” story
Craft a hero post for your Substack publication based off that story
Get feedback on your blog’s niche, audience, and direction.
Clarify your niche, audience, and message for Substack in 2025
We start on October 28th and end on November 22.
Most Writers Fail To Build A Following Because Their Writing Is Too Complicated
After writing online for nine years and growing a following of 10,000 people on seven different platforms, I finally understand the reason most bloggers fail.
Their writing is too damn complicated.
New writers hop online, with a bevy of life experience, and simply do not know how to simplify their writing for readers.
Then they fail, assume they suck at writing, and take courses that teach them how to write better.
“I’m not getting traction because I’m not a writer! I need to get better at writing!”
Sure. That’s a part of it..
But it doesn’t address the root problem.
Writing Skill Isn’t Your Problem—Simplifying It Is
Have you ever said to yourself “My writing is good! I don’t know why it’s not being read more!”
It’s because you’re right. You are a good writer. You just don’t know how to market yourself online.
Your headlines need work
Your cover photos are ugly
Your publication is a mess
You write about a billion different topics
Your writing is GOOD! It might even be phenomenal! But it gets lost in the sea of Substack articles, because your writing isn’t focused.
You just write. You throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
You might’ve had an initial idea for a blog and you went with it, paying no mind to your reader’s experience. You failed before you began.
I do 1-1 coaching with people, and most times they want advice on how to write their articles better. What we actually spend time on, though, is simplifying their writing. Simplifying their direction—their focus.
They don’t need to improve their writing.
They need to simplify their writing.
How Storytelling Can Help You Simplify Your Writing
Look, most people start a blog because they’re an expert in something.
“I’m good at finance!”
Then they write about random financial advice with articles like, “The importance of 401K’s for retirement.”
This is fine, but it’s also unemotional, and boring.
What if we focus on how you became an expert? Were you broke at 30 with a family and decided to get your butt in gear? Write about that, gosh darn it!
“I Had $0 In My Bank At 34 And By 55 I Was A Millionaire—Here’s How I Did It”
Which article do you want to read more? 🧐
Your story naturally focuses—or simplifies—your writing.
For one, it focuses your writing on an outcome. You’re helping X people do Y.
You know, the outcome you accomplished!
It’s mind-boggling how many bloggers don’t know what outcome they’re helping their readers achieve! That’s where EVERYTHING starts. Without that, you’re lost. Recounting your story will help you get crystal clear on the outcome you’re helping people achieve—and who you’re speaking to! Spoiler alert: It’s probably just a younger version of you!
Second, your story has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Let’s stick with the millionaire example. How did this author become one? Maybe there’s 10 actions they took consistently. Great. They should break em all down! Take us through the whole gosh darn journey from 0 to hero!
Not just in one hero post, but in dozens of other posts in 2025 and beyond! Talk superficially about the 10-step process in the hero post, then go deeper on each step in individual posts for your publication.
This focuses your writing immensely.
When you lose something, what do you do?
You retrace your steps.
When you’re lost writing online, you need to retrace your steps, too.
Reflecting on our story takes us back to the beginning. It helps us understand:
What we accomplished
What we had to do first, then second, then third to find success
What our biggest problems were
What worked and what didn’t
What we were feeling at the time
All of these bullet points👆will give you endless content. This is literally all it is, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve made my writing career focusing on these five elements over and over again!
The more you harp on all that 👆, the more you’ll resonate with your audience, and the more your writing will make sense to them.
And the more focused your writing will be.
At the end of the day, you’re just writing letters to your younger self. And chances are, there’s millions of “younger you’s” out there who need your guidance.
Basing your blog in your own story is the best way to focus your writing and begin resonating with your audience.
I’ve taught thousands of writing students since 2017, and my brightest pupils always told their stories well.
I had a student named Heidi Thompson who made $5,000+ with this story on Medium:
I was in a sex cult for 10 years—here’s my story
I had another student go viral on LinkedIn for telling this story about her Father’s suicide. It got 38,111 likes.
Here’s a story a Substack Camper wrote in July that got over 200 likes:
“But Tom, I don’t have a story as wild as being in a sex cult!”
That’s fine. Neither do I. But I’ve leveraged my story to go viral on Substack all the same.
Your Stories Are The Key To Attracting 100’s Of Readers
Here’s a spoiler alert. Your story is the reason you’re writing online.
You woke up one day and said to yourself “I got something to say to the world!” Why? Because something happened to you that you want people to either experience or avoid.
You might have discovered the power of mindfulness.
You might have become a world-class poker player.
You might have gone through a divorce
And all these things taught you something, right?
Mindfulness helped you be happier.
Poker taught you valuable life lessons.
Divorce taught you how to reinvent yourself.
Our stories teach us things. We then want to share these things with the world. That’s writing in a nutshell. And most bloggers neglect their story and skip right to the teaching.
When you decided to become a writer, it must have been a religious experience, right? You must’ve felt a pang of excitement and inspiration! Like you got struck by lightning! “I got to do this!” you yelled. But why was it so visceral?
Because you know what you’ve been through. You lived through the struggles, and pain, and elation of your life. You’ve experienced divorce, or grief, or miraculous achievement, and it left a deep mark on your soul.
But, you see, the audience needs to experience this, too. If they don’t, they won’t care. And if you don’t tell your story, they won’t feel anything!
People want to care! I know it doesn’t seem that way in this polarized world we live in, but we want to feel understood. A stranger’s story on the internet can make us feel understood. And if you can make a reader feel understood, they’ll become a subscriber and maybe even a super fan of yours. There is no greater tool in a writer’s toolkit than their own story.
Your audience must want the transformation you experienced.
Your audience must experience something new through your story.
Your audience must feel what you felt to give a sh*t about your life.
Story is absolutely essential to making people care about you online.
What’s Included In The November Cohort
I want to help you find and tell your story effectively on Substack.
Our upcoming Substack Campfire cohort is designed to help you do just that.
First Two Weeks - Write 10 Stories Together
In the first two weeks, we will post 10 Notes together that tell the 10 biggest stories from our lives. Before we start posting on Monday, October 28th, I’ll give a live three hour workshop that covers how to find your 10 core stories, and how to write effective stories on Substack Notes.
By the end of our first live workshop, you’ll have:
Your first Note already written
Your 10 core stories outlined.
A bulletproof story formula for writing your next 100+ Notes.
That live workshop will happen on Saturday, October 26th.
We’ll then spend the next two weeks publishing one story every weekday, sharing them with our intimate group of 20 writers, and tracking which stories:
A. We loved to write
B. Resonated the most with our group AND Substack
Then the fun begins!
Last Two Weeks - Write Our Hero Post Together
On Monday, November 11th, I will teach you how to select one of these stories to become your “Hero’s journey,” and how to write an entire hero post for your publication based on that.
Then over the next two weeks, we will workshop our hero posts, share our drafts with each other, and give feedback.
Finally, in the last days of the program, I will personally look at every hero post, suggest any edits, and give my stamp of approval when it’s ready!
Then you will know that your blog is built on a rock solid foundation.
You will know who you’re writing for.
You will know what to write about in the future.
You will know what core messages to harp on over and over again.
And it’s going to be beautiful.
Your hero’s journey. Crowdsourced by a group of 20 writers, Substack, and me.
Stop feeling lost as a blogger. Discover your direction on Substack for 2025.
November Cohort Schedule
October 25 - Doors to this cohort close at 5 PM EST
October 26 - Live training at 10 AM EST: How To Find Your 10 Core Stories And Write Captivating Stories on Notes
October 28 - November 8 - Post your 10 stories on Notes
November 11 - Live training at 10 AM EST: How To Select Your Hero’s Journey Story And Write Your Hero Post
November 11 - November 22 - Create, edit, and finalize your hero post
November 22 - Publish your new hero post
1-1 Workshopping With Me
In this program, you’ll receive LOADS of 1-1 time with me.
I guarantee that I will:
Read all 10 of your Notes.
Comment on at least 5 of them.
Give you personalized feedback on how to write Notes better (if necessary).
Help you select your hero’s journey story.
Give feedback on your hero post.
Personally give a “thumbs up” when your hero post is ready.
I will be deeply involved every step of the way with your writing and direction. It will be half-course, half-coaching.
Community Workshopping
My vision is to divide everyone up into groups of 5 so you can give feedback to each other during the program. Honestly, I need help! I’m not going to be the ultimate judge here of which story you need to center your brand on. I want you to get multiple opinions and make some friends in the process.
This will be a group effort FOR EACH PERSON. The fact that we’ll be crowdsourcing your brand together basically guarantees we’ll find the perfect direction for you in 2025.
Slack Channel
To facilitate our program, we’ll join a shared Slack channel to collaborate, share Notes, and edit together. Some of our shared channels will include:
#introductions - For introducing yourself to the group
#share-notes - To share our daily Notes with the community
#feedback - To get feedback on our hero posts
#trainings - To get easy access to past recorded trainings
Grow Your Following With Notes
The truth is, though, that this November program is still heavily focused on publishing Notes. You won’t only publish and share 10 notes with our group of 20 writers, but you’ll learn how to write stories that go viral on Notes, too.
Our July Campfire drove some incredible results for our students.
During our first challenge,
gained 470 total subscribers, with 311 of them coming from Notes specifically. 👇
Nik gained over 200 subscribers and 450 followers.
Sinem Günel gained over 500 subscribers to her publication, Write • Build • Scale.
Get The Love And Support You’ve Always Wanted Online
There is one feature we baked into the last Campfire that we very much want to continue with this one..
We want you to feel loved, supported, and safe.
Posting on social media can feel like shouting into the void.
It feels particularly lonely to spill your guts and then get zero likes publicly.
We all know the pain of sharing something and then having a pit in our stomach for hours wondering whether we just overshared.
We call it the Substack Campfire because this is a safe space to share our stories with a community of awesome people.
Here’s what our ‘Campers’ have said about how supportive this community is:
“I feel like I can post anything without any worries.”
This is what I have noticed about the Substack Campfire community so far:
It’s a safe space
I feel like I can post anything without any worries
Brilliant minds to learn from
Diverse lifestyles and cultures to draw inspiration from
“I am happy to help if I can” mindset
Good vibes
Givers not takers
- Ethan Musolini, Executive Coach, Motivational Speaker, and Author
“The campfire has been a real gift to me.”
“This campfire group has been a real gift to me. It is awesome to have a global writing community filled with positive encouraging people here to serve. I feel like the group mirrors the hearts of our founders, Tom Kuegler ⛺🪵🔥 and Michael Simmons 🪵🔥 ⛺, who I have found over years of being their students to have servants’ hearts.”
“I’ve never felt such a safe space with my writing.”
“I know that when Tom and Michael came up with the name Campfire, they really meant it to be a community sharing all our wisdoms as people do around a campfire. I feel like we are a tribe, warmed by the fire of our commitment to writing. I’ve never felt such a safe space with my writing.”
-Teri Leigh 💜⛺️🪵🔥, Mindfulness Coach
Sharing in a community guarantees that your story will be received and give you the fodder of what resonates.
Teri talked about how this community—and Substack as a whole—has been the best experience of her writing career. 👇
Get Access To 20+ Hours Of Training Material
Upon signing up, you’ll get immediate access to 20 hours of Note trainings, storytelling workshops, and interviews with Substack experts. Here’s the full library:
Interviews
Trainings
Pricing + $500 Discount
Since I’ll be giving lots of personal attention to each student, the normal price of this cohort is $1,000. However, I’m giving a $500 discount to the first 20 people who use discount code STORY at checkout.
Here’s how to input the code. 👆
Again, there’s only 20 STORY discount codes available, so get them while they’re hot.
The discount code also expires on Friday, October 25 at 5 PM EST.
Testimonials From Past Campers
Here are a few testimonials past campers wrote for us:
Changes from our July Campfire
This November Campfire is different from our first July Campfire.
Our first program had features like:
Post 20 Notes over 4 weeks
Learn how to write viral Notes
Watch 4 interviews with Substack experts
Now the goal is to define your hero’s journey using Notes as a tool for feedback.
We’re also changing how it’s facilitated.
Now you pay a flat fee to join our November cohort
No more annual or monthly subscriptions to join
Use Slack instead of Substack threads to communicate
More 1-1 attention from me to create your hero post
It’s a simpler program with a more defined focus.
Guarantee
We’ve all bought products that promise the moon but don’t deliver. We want to take all the risk away, and make this truly a “no-brainer” for you. If you aren’t satisfied with the results you got after 30 days, just let us know, and we will happily give you all your money back.
Still Got Questions?
Respond in the comments, send me a DM here, or send me an email at thomaskueglerllc@gmail.com.
I LOVE this new direction for the campfire! This line right here: "You woke up one day and said to yourself “I got something to say to the world!” Why? Because something happened to you that you want people to experience" << That was me in 2009 when I started my travel blog that ultimately changed my online life forever because ...here I am, still online earning a living.
We do ALL have a story to tell and I think with your guidance, people will figure out their own way to tell it!
Sounds amazing!!
Really looking forward to it 💕