I guess I should feel pretty good about being disciplined and sticking to a schedule. (Easier to do with two novels already written.) I’ve stuck to the schedule of one nonfiction post each week (Tuesdays) and two chapters each week (Fridays and Sundays) since January. I aim for 1,000 words with the essays but they always creep up to 1,500+.
For promoting my work outside of Substack, I really need to reach out to flat-earth debunkers, who are mostly on YouTube, see if they can review or talk it up. That’s more outside my wheelhouse than just posting my work on Notes.
Another thing I realized quite early on is that Substack or probably any other similar platform is better suited for short fiction, or at least actual serialized fiction, with chapters or episodes tailored to that form. I’m not a short-form writer and my novels are standard novels with varying chapter lengths, some quite long. So my goals have shifted to being part of a writer community, and if possible building an audience for the day next year when I publish Ship of Fools in other forms. Not sure what form my newsletter will take after that.
I'm still working on finding the right balance, Thaddeus, both in terms of frequency of post and post length. I apply the 'TL;DR' too often to long posts, so assume others do too. In the main, under four minutes is my goal - shorter if possible.
Perhaps there's an argument to say 'short'=free, 'long'=paid. Or that the split should be based on content, style, theme...
Right now I shy away from 'all paid' because of the reduction in engagement, which is what I really want. I dream of reaching as many people as possible - but I'm concerned I'm not giving my paid subscribers enough.
Still trying to figure it out - there is no 'right' answer after all...
One of my biggest things is I’m still not sure about how to reach readers instead of just other Substack writers. Cross post to Tic Toc or Ingram maybe Good Reads, I guess.
I'm all for that, but about the only promotion I do is on my Twitter account because that's the only place I have some traction. As far as my system goes, though, it's all in house, here at Substack. Although you're doing a hybrid approach so that aspect of it gets lost. I was writing another article about my experience yesterday with The Sibyliad. Without doing much of anythng and without any content other than a first test article that no one's read, I've gained 7 new subscribers between yesterday and this morning... 4 of which haven't changed their aviator from the Substack standard. I checked on one, and I'm one of eight Substacks he subscribes to. And this has to be entirely off Title, introductory sentence, and categories. There's nothing else the publication offers. I'll be looking deeper into subscribers for the article. It's possible one or two are current subscribers at my other publications. I'm not seeing this happen at Our Deeper Stories, and I can see the reasons why. I'm adjusting what I can to see if I can attract some of that same magic. unless I choose to send out more than one post some day this week, this article will come out Friday.
I guess I should feel pretty good about being disciplined and sticking to a schedule. (Easier to do with two novels already written.) I’ve stuck to the schedule of one nonfiction post each week (Tuesdays) and two chapters each week (Fridays and Sundays) since January. I aim for 1,000 words with the essays but they always creep up to 1,500+.
For promoting my work outside of Substack, I really need to reach out to flat-earth debunkers, who are mostly on YouTube, see if they can review or talk it up. That’s more outside my wheelhouse than just posting my work on Notes.
Another thing I realized quite early on is that Substack or probably any other similar platform is better suited for short fiction, or at least actual serialized fiction, with chapters or episodes tailored to that form. I’m not a short-form writer and my novels are standard novels with varying chapter lengths, some quite long. So my goals have shifted to being part of a writer community, and if possible building an audience for the day next year when I publish Ship of Fools in other forms. Not sure what form my newsletter will take after that.
My posts are between750-1000 words, and I publish once a week.
That sounds perfect
I'm still working on finding the right balance, Thaddeus, both in terms of frequency of post and post length. I apply the 'TL;DR' too often to long posts, so assume others do too. In the main, under four minutes is my goal - shorter if possible.
Perhaps there's an argument to say 'short'=free, 'long'=paid. Or that the split should be based on content, style, theme...
Right now I shy away from 'all paid' because of the reduction in engagement, which is what I really want. I dream of reaching as many people as possible - but I'm concerned I'm not giving my paid subscribers enough.
Still trying to figure it out - there is no 'right' answer after all...
Very well said, and I agree. I want to find the right balance in my writing time and projects without crippling my substack impact and growth
One of my biggest things is I’m still not sure about how to reach readers instead of just other Substack writers. Cross post to Tic Toc or Ingram maybe Good Reads, I guess.
I'm all for that, but about the only promotion I do is on my Twitter account because that's the only place I have some traction. As far as my system goes, though, it's all in house, here at Substack. Although you're doing a hybrid approach so that aspect of it gets lost. I was writing another article about my experience yesterday with The Sibyliad. Without doing much of anythng and without any content other than a first test article that no one's read, I've gained 7 new subscribers between yesterday and this morning... 4 of which haven't changed their aviator from the Substack standard. I checked on one, and I'm one of eight Substacks he subscribes to. And this has to be entirely off Title, introductory sentence, and categories. There's nothing else the publication offers. I'll be looking deeper into subscribers for the article. It's possible one or two are current subscribers at my other publications. I'm not seeing this happen at Our Deeper Stories, and I can see the reasons why. I'm adjusting what I can to see if I can attract some of that same magic. unless I choose to send out more than one post some day this week, this article will come out Friday.