Style Your Stack Design: Abigail Thomas

A beloved and well-known memoirist, living in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Kudos from Abigail Thomas:

“As far as computers go, I know how to write on one and how to open email. That’s it. I am a technical illiterate. But I know a good thing when I see it, and after Nan did whatever she did to my Substack page, all I can tell you is I don’t need a website anymore. I love how it looks. So if you are anything like me, or just don’t have the time, give Nan a call. She has a great eye, and she really knows her stuff.”

I’ve had the great fortune of knowing Abigail Thomas for over 20 years. She lives about 13 miles from me, and is a vibrant and generous member of the Woodstock, NY community. She’s a master memoirist, an inspiration, my friend, and my writing mentor.

I’ve been bugging her for years to let me design a website for her, even though she already had one. I wanted to make the one she had even better. It didn’t come to pass, and in the last year, she accidentally lost use of her domain name and her site disappeared. I was the first one to discover it, because I’m online a lot! I got in touch, and asked again, she said she’d think about it, but a person close to her might have had their feelings hurt if she chose to work with me. So, I let it go again.

But then, something amazing happened. Abigail started a Substack newsletter. When I saw it, I nearly had a stroke. It said “Abigail’s Substack” with the default Substack icon as her identifying image. “Impossible!” I said to myself, and made a new resolve to get in touch and ask for a favor. I called her on a Saturday morning, and said,

“Abby, I need a favor, and I hope you’ll be willing to do it for me.” She asked me what I had in mind, and I explained that I wanted to start this business, Style Your Stack (though it was nameless at the time), and that I needed to build a portfolio. “Could I set up your newsletter, and get you started, show you around the backend, and teach you the finer points of posting?” She was a little reticent, but we agreed that we’d meet later that day and look at everything together. That weekend we spent about 8 hours––over the course of two days––together, and got her all set to really be active on the platform. To be seen––and presented––in a way that complimented her place in the world of writers.

I created a custom book page for her, so she could list her publications, and provide a way for readers to learn more about her writing and buy her books. I designed a wordmark, we made a choice about her logo, and we brainstormed a name for her newsletter. We set up her Stripe account because she had thousands of dollars of pledges, sitting and waiting to be realized. Now she knows that she doesn’t have to worry about building a new website. She’s got everything she needs on her Substack site. Oh, and I found out what happened to her old domain name. Someone snatched it up after the renewal didn’t happen, and set up an unofficial Abigail Thomas fan site. And it doesn’t pass muster with this designer. Yikes.

I love fun collaborations with fascinating people. Her stack is going strong, she’s got a lovely newsletter. She’s mesmerizing people who’ve followed and loved her work for years, and is exciting a whole new group of readers who’ve never heard of her before. Check it out Abigail Thomas’s What Comes Next? You won’t be sorry. She’s hits it out of the park every single time she posts.

Abigail Thomas is the best.

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The Work

Of course, you can just go to her stack, What Comes Next? and read some of her writing, and then, you’ll automatically want to subscribe. Or you can look at some samples here:

Abigail’s welcome page

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Wordmark

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Take some time, look around, and if you’re asking “What comes next?” maybe the next right thing to do is make an appointment to talk with me about styling your stack, or just go for it, and sign up for Design My Stack, and I’ll get you started!