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Substack Writing

Write essays people open every week — and own a home for your words that no algorithm can take away.

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Free account required to open the lessons. No card, no fees.

About this course

Learn to write on Substack as a craft: find your beat, develop a voice readers recognise, and master hooks, structure and endings that make people finish what you send. Then grow real subscribers from zero using WhatsApp, X and Substack Notes, and understand honestly when paid tiers make sense and how Nigerian writers actually get paid. This is the writer's course — our Newsletter Building & Monetization course covers the deeper business side.

If you have ever written a thread on X that did numbers, or a long WhatsApp status people screenshotted, you have already felt the problem this course solves: your best writing lives on platforms you do not control, and it disappears in 24 hours or gets buried by an algorithm. Substack exists to fix that.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 6 lessons

  1. What Substack Is and Why Writers Choose It13 min
  2. Finding Your Beat and Your Voice14 min
  3. Craft: Hooks, Structure and Endings15 min
  4. A Cadence You Can Actually Keep12 min
  5. Growing Subscribers From Zero, the Nigerian Way15 min
  6. Paid Tiers, Getting Paid in Nigeria, and Learning From the Best15 min

Your project

Launch Your Substack Publication

The public URL of your live Substack publication containing an About page with a stated beat and cadence, at least three crafted posts, a growth log, and at least two recommendations.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify.

Frequently asked questions

Is Substack Writing free?

Yes. Substack Writing is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Substack Writing take to complete?

5 weeks · ~3 hrs/week. There are 6 lessons, about 1 hour of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Substack Writing?

Beginner-friendly. You can start from scratch — no prior experience is assumed.

What will I learn in Substack Writing?

You will build practical skills in Setting up and publishing on Substack, Choosing a beat and developing a voice, Hooks, essay structure and endings, Building a sustainable publishing cadence, Growing subscribers via WhatsApp, X and Notes, Using recommendations and cross-promotion, Understanding paid tiers and Nigerian payout options. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Substack Writing?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Launch Your Substack Publication and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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Ready to start Substack Writing?

It's free, it's self-paced, and it ends with something you can show an employer.

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