Nice! Welcome to the Healthy Jew community. Being Jewish, loving Israel, and eating healthy are solid starts! But I must point out that the personalized, wellness-centric angle of Judaism that I cover on The Healthy Jew is universal and relevant for anyone that values spiritual traditions and is looking to become a healthier, more balanced person.
Shmuel Robert Puelz (Rob) asked inside the membership experience
Hey there colleagues…..I want to compile my Substack posts into a digital book by topical area. I have the topical areas worked out. I prefer to avoid taking the posts into Latek and compiling them there…..Have you seen solutions for Substack writers?
Hmmmm, I'm not so sure about that. I'm pretty old school with tech, mostly work with Microsoft Word and more recently with Apple Pages (which by the way is just so much better than Word).
So after getting into a document that's organized well by subject, I hired a typesetter/graphics person to make it into a real book. For my first self-published edition, I worked with a fellow on Fiverr who was affordable and did a great job for that price (I'm happy to share with you his profile by DM if that's helpful). For the second, professionally published edition (with Menucha Publishers), I worked with a local expert who really brought the book up to the next level.
Thank you all for your lovely comments! Shmuel will reply to every single one of your wonderful pieces of feedback. Seeing this kind of engagement truly means so much—it reminds us why we write in the first place. Knowing there are readers out there who resonate with our work keeps our creative juices flowing. Thank you again for being part of this journey and The Club! 🙏
Yes, I'm here now working through every comment, and I so appreciate all of you!
Special callout to Kristina for the vision and encouragement to make this post happen. I see this as a small taste of what I touched upon in the post about understanding my marketing limitations and reaching out to partners for help: This story is my writing, but you did an incredible job packaging and promoting it. When the time is right, I hope and pray that I'll discover great partners like you to help Healthy Jew make a meaningful impact on the larger community.
Beautiful article Schmuel 🙏 Love how you take us with you on your path to being a published author. No fluff just meaningful transparent writing about your journey.
Paring 'Healthy Jewish Living' with foraging in the 'Lands of Israel' is a seamless way to share all your passions, live your Faith and teach others how to live their best life!
I look forward to seeing where your journey takes you in 2025. Be well 🙏
Thank you, Janet! Yes, this pair is the heart of my message: the healthy of the individual person is expressed in the health of the Land of Israel, which is the healthy body of the Jewish nation. This idea is the central thesis of my book!
Part of my 2025 is expanding into a third related area, which I'll probably call "Healthy Judaism." These posts will present a balanced, holistic approach to questions of Jewish faith and rituals.
Congratulations on a very innovative approach and thinking outside of the proverbial box. I loved reading your journey of starting with 3 subscribers. Very often that’s how most of us start and then life takes us on an inspiring journey that ends with book publishing, new business, new relationships..
Thank you, Magdalena! Yes, I've always been the type who likes thinking a bit different than most folks. I think that lots of people appreciate approaches to spirituality and religion that are original and personal, especially when they remain grounded in traditional sources and practices.
Thank you! As I think you sensed, I'm still a bit sensitive about that after all the criticism and rejections I've received over the years. So I appreciate that.
A big part of my growth as a writer has been learning not to compare my writing to other, more "successful" and famous writers. I don't need to be Stephen King (who by the way has an excellent book about writing, called On Writing), I just need to be Shmuel Chaim.
Thank you! I'm so grateful you enjoyed! Yes, you're Jewish friends would be write about the hashgacha (divine provenance) guiding my journey - both in what works and what doesn't!
Thank you for this post Shmuel!! I subscribed. And I love what you say here: Substack = perfect solution for people who don’t want or know how to sell. And I've also found the land is medicine. We are Earth 🌎
Indeed, on Substack it's possible to gain traction without being a born marketer. But I must say that I'm learning the hard way that some marketing help can be crucial if our goal is to directly make money from subscriptions, and not just to share our message with current and potential subscribers.
Shmuel, I had another blog before I got serious and wrote for AMERICAN ESSENCE Magazine, then there was so much I wanted to do, but couldn't find an outlet for, so I got on Substack.
I always said, and still do, that I only have THREE READERS:
1. You, who are receiving my creative efforts. I hope to lift you by it.
2. Myself, I must be satisfied with my effort.
3. The DIVINE, who sees all the doings of humankind. Is it pleasing to my CREATOR?
Anyhow, I'll ALWAYS say I only have three readers. I love your story!
Congrats! I subscribed. I’m Jewish, I love Israel and I eat healthy. Looking forward to learning more. 🥰🙏👏
Nice! Welcome to the Healthy Jew community. Being Jewish, loving Israel, and eating healthy are solid starts! But I must point out that the personalized, wellness-centric angle of Judaism that I cover on The Healthy Jew is universal and relevant for anyone that values spiritual traditions and is looking to become a healthier, more balanced person.
🥰🙏👏
Shmuel Robert Puelz (Rob) asked inside the membership experience
Hey there colleagues…..I want to compile my Substack posts into a digital book by topical area. I have the topical areas worked out. I prefer to avoid taking the posts into Latek and compiling them there…..Have you seen solutions for Substack writers?
Thank you.
Any tips?
Hmmmm, I'm not so sure about that. I'm pretty old school with tech, mostly work with Microsoft Word and more recently with Apple Pages (which by the way is just so much better than Word).
So after getting into a document that's organized well by subject, I hired a typesetter/graphics person to make it into a real book. For my first self-published edition, I worked with a fellow on Fiverr who was affordable and did a great job for that price (I'm happy to share with you his profile by DM if that's helpful). For the second, professionally published edition (with Menucha Publishers), I worked with a local expert who really brought the book up to the next level.
Thank you all for your lovely comments! Shmuel will reply to every single one of your wonderful pieces of feedback. Seeing this kind of engagement truly means so much—it reminds us why we write in the first place. Knowing there are readers out there who resonate with our work keeps our creative juices flowing. Thank you again for being part of this journey and The Club! 🙏
Yes, I'm here now working through every comment, and I so appreciate all of you!
Special callout to Kristina for the vision and encouragement to make this post happen. I see this as a small taste of what I touched upon in the post about understanding my marketing limitations and reaching out to partners for help: This story is my writing, but you did an incredible job packaging and promoting it. When the time is right, I hope and pray that I'll discover great partners like you to help Healthy Jew make a meaningful impact on the larger community.
Thank you!
Beautiful article Schmuel 🙏 Love how you take us with you on your path to being a published author. No fluff just meaningful transparent writing about your journey.
Paring 'Healthy Jewish Living' with foraging in the 'Lands of Israel' is a seamless way to share all your passions, live your Faith and teach others how to live their best life!
I look forward to seeing where your journey takes you in 2025. Be well 🙏
Thank you, Janet! Yes, this pair is the heart of my message: the healthy of the individual person is expressed in the health of the Land of Israel, which is the healthy body of the Jewish nation. This idea is the central thesis of my book!
Part of my 2025 is expanding into a third related area, which I'll probably call "Healthy Judaism." These posts will present a balanced, holistic approach to questions of Jewish faith and rituals.
Congratulations on a very innovative approach and thinking outside of the proverbial box. I loved reading your journey of starting with 3 subscribers. Very often that’s how most of us start and then life takes us on an inspiring journey that ends with book publishing, new business, new relationships..
Thank you, Magdalena! Yes, I've always been the type who likes thinking a bit different than most folks. I think that lots of people appreciate approaches to spirituality and religion that are original and personal, especially when they remain grounded in traditional sources and practices.
Schmuel, you are an excellent writer, well worth reading.
Thank you! As I think you sensed, I'm still a bit sensitive about that after all the criticism and rejections I've received over the years. So I appreciate that.
A big part of my growth as a writer has been learning not to compare my writing to other, more "successful" and famous writers. I don't need to be Stephen King (who by the way has an excellent book about writing, called On Writing), I just need to be Shmuel Chaim.
Absolutely brilliant story. Thank you for sharing. My Jewish friends would say there’s a lot of hashgochoh in there!
Thank you! I'm so grateful you enjoyed! Yes, you're Jewish friends would be write about the hashgacha (divine provenance) guiding my journey - both in what works and what doesn't!
Thank you for this post Shmuel!! I subscribed. And I love what you say here: Substack = perfect solution for people who don’t want or know how to sell. And I've also found the land is medicine. We are Earth 🌎
Indeed, on Substack it's possible to gain traction without being a born marketer. But I must say that I'm learning the hard way that some marketing help can be crucial if our goal is to directly make money from subscriptions, and not just to share our message with current and potential subscribers.
Shmuel, I had another blog before I got serious and wrote for AMERICAN ESSENCE Magazine, then there was so much I wanted to do, but couldn't find an outlet for, so I got on Substack.
I always said, and still do, that I only have THREE READERS:
1. You, who are receiving my creative efforts. I hope to lift you by it.
2. Myself, I must be satisfied with my effort.
3. The DIVINE, who sees all the doings of humankind. Is it pleasing to my CREATOR?
Anyhow, I'll ALWAYS say I only have three readers. I love your story!
Wow, I love that. So Healthy Jewish, as I'd say to my students - balanced, personal, and spiritual.
I love little Eitan snoozing while you write! Now that's real life!!!
Yes, he's such a sweet gift! He's actually sleeping on the sofa right next to me as I respond to your comment, great connection there!