I think (hope?) that there's something to be said for being in the early wave of a platform, which it certainly feels like is happening with Substack at the moment (especially fiction, which I'm on the record as thinking is going to be big 😜: https://twitter.com/thelinkssoap/status/1402609812190515203?s=21). It's definitely hard to see big names come in and instantly have a huge following but hopefully a high tide rises all boats (is that the saying?)
This was a post I kept working on and working on until I finally held my breath and clicked "Publish." I feel it's good but subject to criticism. And a major part of that is how big the writership and readership are going to be.
One thought I left out was that writers are often voracious readers. Many new Substack writers thus shouldn't mean relatively few readers. But we need more readers than just the writers.
Will new readers be enough of a rising tide? I think so. Another thought that's just below the surface of the post is that many more people are consumers than producers of content. And Substack has barely tried to attract consumers relative to producers. (They're relying on producers to bring in the consumers.) Can you imagine when Substack actually focuses on the consumer side?
I haven't read a novel over email. The closest was a novel on Kindle on my phone. I was pleasantly surprised by that experience. I hoped that a serial novel by email or on the web might be equally enjoyable (at least to me).
I may subscribe to Novelleist and find out. Maybe I'll have a similar experience to yours. Or maybe I'll subscribe to more. I'm thinking The Links... 😊
You can try it out for free. Classic novels in small chunks through email was all the rage - at least for a few months before people actually tried it - in the early 00's. There must be a few relics still around.
Highly interactive serialized reading apps like the ones that have blow up in China, on the other hand, are a proven commodity. Why no one - some 10 years later - has bothered trying it out for real here is beyond me.
Aah but they don't have to be novels - my newsletter is a serial, with short bursts of fiction designed to be read in a few minutes. I'm also a bit sceptical about novels - I find it a bit much to read a full chapter in an email but there are some good novels being published already. However I do think there's scope to do some interesting things with fiction (and creative writing in general) in the newsletter format.
You should start saving notes for that book. Substack is a strange something-verse, but the possibilities are that portion of the iceberg you can see. You need little things, like being able to continue text and place a photo in the margin. But it certainly beats waiting around for a rejection. Appreciate your takes. Good luck, subbing is always a gas. —Professor Mikey, Retrofit.Substack.com …
Thanks! For continuing text, are you referring to a "To Be Continued" with a (provisional) link to a subsequent post, or something else? And I'm curious about the photo in the margin. What would be a use case? (I am interested in how people envision their web pages and emails, and feel that I don't know all the possibilities.)
I’ll admit, I’ve heard of various versions of the 80/20 rule, but hadn’t heard it associated with the Pareto principle until I read this! Having been an economics and accounting major, I always think of Pareto efficiency/Pareto optimality, but ya learn something new every day 😁
Thanks for adding me to the Newsletter List you’re compiling!
I like Substack. It's kind of an idea trough. I write about whatever hits me; sometimes I post old work. It's not really a platform for my novels, more for me to work through all kinds of things. It's an exercise. It helps me to keep in touch with the fact that I do write and want to continue to write even if life intervenes and makes it difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort to commit to a whole novel. The publishing industry is pretty brutal, a deaf monolith. My goal was to become a moderately successful indie writer. That has proved much harder than I had imagined. I've broken off from that goal, though I still do the same things I did to pursue it for whatever it will be.
If you haven't seen https://ellegriffin.substack.com/ already, you might want to take a look. Many of the posts consider possibilities and challenges of being an indie writer on Substack and other platforms.
I think (hope?) that there's something to be said for being in the early wave of a platform, which it certainly feels like is happening with Substack at the moment (especially fiction, which I'm on the record as thinking is going to be big 😜: https://twitter.com/thelinkssoap/status/1402609812190515203?s=21). It's definitely hard to see big names come in and instantly have a huge following but hopefully a high tide rises all boats (is that the saying?)
This was a post I kept working on and working on until I finally held my breath and clicked "Publish." I feel it's good but subject to criticism. And a major part of that is how big the writership and readership are going to be.
One thought I left out was that writers are often voracious readers. Many new Substack writers thus shouldn't mean relatively few readers. But we need more readers than just the writers.
Will new readers be enough of a rising tide? I think so. Another thought that's just below the surface of the post is that many more people are consumers than producers of content. And Substack has barely tried to attract consumers relative to producers. (They're relying on producers to bring in the consumers.) Can you imagine when Substack actually focuses on the consumer side?
By the way, I am now singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart." (Anyone confused by this should see The Links's Twitter thread.)
I'll go on record as predicting there is no way in hell that Substack - as currently constricted - will never be a major venue for fiction.
Have you actually tried reading a novel over email? It's the exact opposite of immersive
I haven't read a novel over email. The closest was a novel on Kindle on my phone. I was pleasantly surprised by that experience. I hoped that a serial novel by email or on the web might be equally enjoyable (at least to me).
I may subscribe to Novelleist and find out. Maybe I'll have a similar experience to yours. Or maybe I'll subscribe to more. I'm thinking The Links... 😊
You can try it out for free. Classic novels in small chunks through email was all the rage - at least for a few months before people actually tried it - in the early 00's. There must be a few relics still around.
Highly interactive serialized reading apps like the ones that have blow up in China, on the other hand, are a proven commodity. Why no one - some 10 years later - has bothered trying it out for real here is beyond me.
People serialize on Patreon, I've recently learned. I'm about to do it with my thrillers. Seems worth the shot.
Aah but they don't have to be novels - my newsletter is a serial, with short bursts of fiction designed to be read in a few minutes. I'm also a bit sceptical about novels - I find it a bit much to read a full chapter in an email but there are some good novels being published already. However I do think there's scope to do some interesting things with fiction (and creative writing in general) in the newsletter format.
You should start saving notes for that book. Substack is a strange something-verse, but the possibilities are that portion of the iceberg you can see. You need little things, like being able to continue text and place a photo in the margin. But it certainly beats waiting around for a rejection. Appreciate your takes. Good luck, subbing is always a gas. —Professor Mikey, Retrofit.Substack.com …
Thanks! For continuing text, are you referring to a "To Be Continued" with a (provisional) link to a subsequent post, or something else? And I'm curious about the photo in the margin. What would be a use case? (I am interested in how people envision their web pages and emails, and feel that I don't know all the possibilities.)
Just a layout item so that a small pic might appear at the side while copy continues. Rather than
Copy
Pic
Copy
Pic
You might see
Copy
Pic. Copy
Copy
Pic
Copy pic
It seems long passages can go 2-3 screens without visuals.
I’ll admit, I’ve heard of various versions of the 80/20 rule, but hadn’t heard it associated with the Pareto principle until I read this! Having been an economics and accounting major, I always think of Pareto efficiency/Pareto optimality, but ya learn something new every day 😁
Thanks for adding me to the Newsletter List you’re compiling!
I like Substack. It's kind of an idea trough. I write about whatever hits me; sometimes I post old work. It's not really a platform for my novels, more for me to work through all kinds of things. It's an exercise. It helps me to keep in touch with the fact that I do write and want to continue to write even if life intervenes and makes it difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort to commit to a whole novel. The publishing industry is pretty brutal, a deaf monolith. My goal was to become a moderately successful indie writer. That has proved much harder than I had imagined. I've broken off from that goal, though I still do the same things I did to pursue it for whatever it will be.
If you haven't seen https://ellegriffin.substack.com/ already, you might want to take a look. Many of the posts consider possibilities and challenges of being an indie writer on Substack and other platforms.