Using Coda to organize my substack

I will guide you through my setup for how I use Coda as a tool to organize my substack. It’s my goto database for organizing ideas, and keep track of how my posts progress until they are published.

Using Coda to organize my substack

I will guide you through my setup for how I use Coda as a tool to organize my substack. It’s my goto database for organizing ideas, and keep track of how my posts progress until they are ready to be published. The primary language for my substack is Norwegian, but thinking this article might be of general interest to the entire substack community, I decided to write this one in English. Grab a coffee, and enjoy.

Let’s grab a good cup of coffe before we continue.

The main idea

It all started with me thinking how I can keep track of ideas and what to write about. When I first came across Substack I was immediately intrigued and somewhat overwhelmed. If I start writing on this platform, how will I manage to keep track of different ideas of what to write. I was thinking I could probably use some sort of note system, but at the same time that didn’t feel right. I wanted something better.

Coda

Coda is an online platform where you can build your own systems for keeping track of information. In many ways it’s a living document, where you can use databases to store information. It’s all very clever layed out, and when you get a little familiar with the system, you will see that it’s a really capable system.

Now, I have already been using Coda for a couple of years, and my journey started with missing some functionality with other note taking apps. I have been through Evernote, Onenote, Bear, Google Keep and more. There was always something missing. Then I came across Notion. Thats a system I really liked. It was easy to get started with it, and I liked the possibilities to create databases to store information, in stead of just notes. I really did see and like the capabilities that system offered. Then again, I guess I ended up being not quite happy about the design of the databases, especially when it came to relational databases. I found it to be too limiting. Now, in fairness, this could be because I didn’t fully understand how to use the features Notion offered. But the end result, I kept searching for other alternatives, and that’s when I quite literally stumbled across Coda.

Coda became my chosen system

With Coda I could really see how I could utilize it better than what I could with any other system I’ve tried. It wasn’t perfect, and in the beginning, I thought that the layout Notion offered, looked better then what Coda offered. For me, the deciding factor was the functionality Coda offered with it’s powerful databases. It was really easy to set ut, at least for me, and it kind of made more sense to me than any other system I tried.

So for a couple of years that I have already gotten somewhat familiar with Coda, I started using it more and more in my everyday life both at work and at home. I have come to enjoy the system quite a lot, and it has really helped me staying more organized than ever. This is why I decided I would make a document that would help me keep track of what I want to write about on my substack.

The Substack doc

Planning of how to create this document, I decided on having one master database to keep all the articles and their status. In this database I have all the information I need. Another great thing is that even though I am now alone writing on my publication, this can easily be expanded to include the posibility to have a team writing and editing different articles simultaniosuly. This can be done by assigning tasks to each member of the team. The best part, when having this document as a template, you can easily adapt it to your own needs, so that it can be tailored to your own specific needs.

The different pages

All the pages have the same layout. The major difference is what view is active, what information is shown from the database. The name of the page tells you what status will be shown. It’s that simple. The different pages are listed on the left side of the screen, and acts as menus, where each page holds different information to your choosing.

To make it more convenient, databases and templates that don’t need to be visible at all times, are hidden behind the page called Backend.

I also have both read from other document makers and from my own experience, let each page hold one type of information, instead of trying to fit everything in to only one page. If you end up with a huge document with many pages, it all becomes just a huge mess. So always be cautious of what information you put on each page. Like we see on the picture above, the different pages act as a menu, and all things that doesn’t need to be visible, are placed on the backend page. I found that this is a good practice to have a more clean document structure.

Drafts

This is where I start. On this page all the ideas are presented. The database views all articles with status “Not Started” and articles with status “Blocked”. They are however grouped together, so all “not Started” are listed first. To create a new idea, just click the button right above the table. That’s how simple it is.

In Progress

This page will show all articles that are in progress, articles that I have started writing. This way, in case I have many ideas, I don’t get confused with what I should focus on. This way of organizing the list of articles works for me.

Ready

This page shows all articles that are ready to be published. Editing is done, and all I need to do is copy the text and paste it into Substack.

Published

This page shows all articles that are published.

Backend

Let’s have a look at the backend page.

The pages act as pageholders or folders if you like. That way, when continuing building on this doc, everything is grouped together in a very tangible way. If I need to do something on the main database, I know exactly where to find the relevant information. In a different article, I can go into more technical details of how this document is made up and why. Here we are just scratching the surface, but still give you enough information to understand the logic behind the structure.

The database

The document only has one database called DB Articles. Naming all databases with DB at the beginning, is also very useful. In a large document and you want to link or reference a specific database, you just start typing “DB”, then coda will pull up every item that starts with those letters, in that means you have easily excluded all other items that you’re not looking for. In a small doc like this, it’s really not that important, but in a huge doc with multiple templates, lists, databases etc., have a fixed naming scheme, becoms more and more important. So that makes it a good habit to just name objects properly from the start.  

The main view of the database shows the title of the articles, status, deadline and the URL to the published article. This is as seen on the image below.

I have created different views to only show relevant information. These views are placed on different pages in the doc, and basically works as a menu in an app. This way it all feels very organized and simple, and each page shows only what is relevant from the database. If you only have a list of 10 articles, you really don’t need this kind of organisation. If you on the other hand are planning to write way more, and also keep track of many different ideas, that eventually could turn in to an article, then this sort of organisation might become a lifesaver.

Overview

When I have a new idea for something to write about on my substack publication Digital Coffee, I start with opening the document and go to the drafts page. There I click the button «New Idea». A new window pips up. This is actually a new row in the database. Here I start providing a title and all the other relevant fields that is relevant for what I know about my idea. At first it can be as simple as a general description of something that I at a later time will turn into an actual article. Usually it is at this later stage I will finalise an actual publishing date.

Try it for yourself

Now you have the chance to try out this template for yourself. It is published to the Coda Gallery, and everyone can try it out. Just click the link below.

https://coda.io/@iamcantonsen/substack-organizer

I hope you found this useful. Time to get a new cup of delicious coffee.