I've seen people have success with shorter serials. Short stories do well around here. Limited series of, say, 10 parts as well. That way you can telegraph the length in advance, and people know what they're getting into.
The challenge I've had is that my stuff is VERY long, and that can be a challenge in terms of convincing new readers to give it a go.
It's hard to say whether 'fiction works' on Substack. Still feels quite early to make a call on that definitively.
That said, there are a LOT of fiction writers here (myself included!), and the writing community is really wonderful. Finding readers is as hard as ever, but I've thoroughly enjoyed serialising a story here for the last couple of years.
- Social media is largely a bit useless, especially now.
- Using services such as BookFunnel to join author promos has worked really well to bring in completely new readers.
- The reason I mix my fiction with 'how to' type stuff on the same newsletter is twofold: 1. I enjoy doing it and 2. The 'how to' is a good way to bring in new readers who are looking for answers. Most fiction writers are also readers, so a good chunk of them will hopefully also enjoy my fiction.
- It's a cumulative thing. The more good material you have, especially of the 'how to' kind, the more people come to your newsletter for answers, whether that's via Substack's systems or Google or elsewhere. (Googling 'can substack be used for fiction' for a time brought up my article as the top result).
Please, as transparent as I can… I’m a total Substack N00b! =] So, please, bear with me would you please? Only my second instance of even leaving a comment on the platform… I wanted to personally reach out and say thank you for this particular post. You single-Handedly are the only mitigating reason I did not just shrug it off and blast this app into my MacBook trash. I am not entirely sure I will ever be a Substack ‘Super-Star’. However, this is a real platform I can at the very least test the waters and finally confirm one way or another — Am I a talented writer in any way? Or should I go back to college and try something totally unrelated?? I suppose only time can answer that, and with that being said, Thanks once again and FYI… My name is Ty, Canadian, 34, Disabled due to a myriad of mental and physical health issues stemming from a workplace incident. I also should say I have some grand “Revolutionary” ideas [IMO mind-you.] I hope I can at the very least help some folks in their struggles and journey through suffering with mental health issues and/or addiction. As well, I am a PC Programmer by trade and I am in the early stages of creating ‘Turigma’ a Universal coding language that is an inspired and dedicated to the hero Alan Turing. hope to hear from and read everyone’s content! Thanks SubStack! ✌️❤️
Simon K. Jones of Norfolk, d'you know what a panic attack you just provoked? I mean, there I am, rolling along nicely, in therapy and under treatment, more handlers than an Amazon packing warehouse, and then you pop up asking, "Do you actually KNOW what's in your treatment?"
It's sugar and spice and all things nice. That's what Substack's made of. But I'll read your piece tonight, ta. When my condition's stabilised.
That alleyway is, indeed, rather splendid, but the view from the front, with the two old stone sections rising above the sign, is far more interesting, hinting at the building as it was before development partially-obscured That What Was. It is the small details such as these which give a place character, and show the continuity of change which a location has gone through. While I've no real reason to return to Great Yarmouth any time soon, I'll definitely be looking into the history of that building when I do spend time there.
Substack, for me, is a replacement for Wordpress, which I can no longer access. Most of the things which I posted there were three computers and two email addresses ago, and it doesn't seem worth the hassle to try and return. I very much appreciate these posts which illuminate things I may have skipped over while setting up Substack, or treated as irrelevant to any task at hand.
My lack of commitment to platforms hasn't softened. I'm still using Ko-Fi, and if another website appears to be useful, for any reason, I will add that to my arsenal. Being tied to a single platform, when so much of the internet changes constantly, seems limiting. Maybe my cynicism has increased thanks to what happened with Twitter, but I don't really feel like starting completely from scratch ever again.
I can understand your cynicism. I bounced around between ideas and platforms on and off for many years before settling for a Ghost and Substack split and eventually tipping more towards the fiction side of things.
To be honest... wish I'd jumped on SS years ago!
Ghost lacks the platform and networking capabilities of SS and therefore acts as a kind of backup or motherbase in case the platforms I use fail for some reason. It's a small price to pay for a bit of reassurance.
I like the Ko-Fi donation app which also allows monthly subs, but what I'd really like to see is a native tipping app or a superchat function on SS for people that don't want to set up a subscription but feel comfortable chipping in when they feel like it (and not having to reach for details every time or fill out a form) just set up once and then tip an amount by clicking a nice big TIP button.
This is excellent material and information! Now to get more followers that love to write, are putting themselves out there and being fearless everyday!
Yes .. you can definitely get overloaded with all the available materials. Narrowing down to a niche will help but keep you busy as well. Such as real life!
There’s simply so much stuff on Substack that discoverability (or even finding something that you already know exists!) is a bit of a problem.
It’s easier in this case to bypass Substack as an app/platform and instead look at my publication as a separate, standalone entity. That way you’re solely dealing with the navigation that I’ve set up at simonkjones.substack.com.
Just wish someone would do a guide to Substack from the reader’s point of view.
The app is labyrinthine and I think I shall never find my way.
Rally helpful info about Substack! I just signed up today 👏✨
Thanks,Michael!
One challenge will be word count.
Serialisation seems to lend itself to long stories. Min is a 36,000 word novella.
More in the pipeline !
I've seen people have success with shorter serials. Short stories do well around here. Limited series of, say, 10 parts as well. That way you can telegraph the length in advance, and people know what they're getting into.
The challenge I've had is that my stuff is VERY long, and that can be a challenge in terms of convincing new readers to give it a go.
Hello Simon and friends. This is very encouraging. Just what I needed to read.
I'm wondering whether to serialize my vampire-climate change novel 'Nancy and the Count: Vampires' Gold' [Frogmort Press 2023] on Substack.
The hardcopy and e-book were published in August <www.FrogmortPress.com>
I would love to release the novella, and subsequent stories, on a weekly or maybe monthly basis - but wasn't sure if fiction worked on Substack.
I've published a lot of mainstream non-fction [mostly academic and policy stuff on Burma/Myanmar: <www.AshleySouth.co.uk >
But fiction writing and publication are a new for me.
I'll watch the videos. Many thanks!
Ashley
It's hard to say whether 'fiction works' on Substack. Still feels quite early to make a call on that definitively.
That said, there are a LOT of fiction writers here (myself included!), and the writing community is really wonderful. Finding readers is as hard as ever, but I've thoroughly enjoyed serialising a story here for the last couple of years.
Thanks for the encouragement Simon.
Any tips for finding readers?
We had a good discussion on this back in April (!) which is worth digging through: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/how-do-you-find-readers?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Lots of great tips from the community there.
For my part, this is what I've found:
- Social media is largely a bit useless, especially now.
- Using services such as BookFunnel to join author promos has worked really well to bring in completely new readers.
- The reason I mix my fiction with 'how to' type stuff on the same newsletter is twofold: 1. I enjoy doing it and 2. The 'how to' is a good way to bring in new readers who are looking for answers. Most fiction writers are also readers, so a good chunk of them will hopefully also enjoy my fiction.
- It's a cumulative thing. The more good material you have, especially of the 'how to' kind, the more people come to your newsletter for answers, whether that's via Substack's systems or Google or elsewhere. (Googling 'can substack be used for fiction' for a time brought up my article as the top result).
Hope that helps a bit!
Hello,
Please, as transparent as I can… I’m a total Substack N00b! =] So, please, bear with me would you please? Only my second instance of even leaving a comment on the platform… I wanted to personally reach out and say thank you for this particular post. You single-Handedly are the only mitigating reason I did not just shrug it off and blast this app into my MacBook trash. I am not entirely sure I will ever be a Substack ‘Super-Star’. However, this is a real platform I can at the very least test the waters and finally confirm one way or another — Am I a talented writer in any way? Or should I go back to college and try something totally unrelated?? I suppose only time can answer that, and with that being said, Thanks once again and FYI… My name is Ty, Canadian, 34, Disabled due to a myriad of mental and physical health issues stemming from a workplace incident. I also should say I have some grand “Revolutionary” ideas [IMO mind-you.] I hope I can at the very least help some folks in their struggles and journey through suffering with mental health issues and/or addiction. As well, I am a PC Programmer by trade and I am in the early stages of creating ‘Turigma’ a Universal coding language that is an inspired and dedicated to the hero Alan Turing. hope to hear from and read everyone’s content! Thanks SubStack! ✌️❤️
Glad the video helped, Ty!
Thanks Simeon.
Just what I needed 🤗.
Thank you! I needed to read this, it explained a lot. The information enlightened me on how Substack works and, provided an entire overview.
i don’t get it. i want to follow one specific person not these ppl i’ve never heard of.
Hi Todd. How do you mean?
Excellent.
🫵
Simon K. Jones of Norfolk, d'you know what a panic attack you just provoked? I mean, there I am, rolling along nicely, in therapy and under treatment, more handlers than an Amazon packing warehouse, and then you pop up asking, "Do you actually KNOW what's in your treatment?"
It's sugar and spice and all things nice. That's what Substack's made of. But I'll read your piece tonight, ta. When my condition's stabilised.
That alleyway is, indeed, rather splendid, but the view from the front, with the two old stone sections rising above the sign, is far more interesting, hinting at the building as it was before development partially-obscured That What Was. It is the small details such as these which give a place character, and show the continuity of change which a location has gone through. While I've no real reason to return to Great Yarmouth any time soon, I'll definitely be looking into the history of that building when I do spend time there.
Substack, for me, is a replacement for Wordpress, which I can no longer access. Most of the things which I posted there were three computers and two email addresses ago, and it doesn't seem worth the hassle to try and return. I very much appreciate these posts which illuminate things I may have skipped over while setting up Substack, or treated as irrelevant to any task at hand.
My lack of commitment to platforms hasn't softened. I'm still using Ko-Fi, and if another website appears to be useful, for any reason, I will add that to my arsenal. Being tied to a single platform, when so much of the internet changes constantly, seems limiting. Maybe my cynicism has increased thanks to what happened with Twitter, but I don't really feel like starting completely from scratch ever again.
It's a fascinating town. You can see layers of history all on top of each other.
I can understand your cynicism. I bounced around between ideas and platforms on and off for many years before settling for a Ghost and Substack split and eventually tipping more towards the fiction side of things.
To be honest... wish I'd jumped on SS years ago!
Ghost lacks the platform and networking capabilities of SS and therefore acts as a kind of backup or motherbase in case the platforms I use fail for some reason. It's a small price to pay for a bit of reassurance.
I like the Ko-Fi donation app which also allows monthly subs, but what I'd really like to see is a native tipping app or a superchat function on SS for people that don't want to set up a subscription but feel comfortable chipping in when they feel like it (and not having to reach for details every time or fill out a form) just set up once and then tip an amount by clicking a nice big TIP button.
The tipping option would be very nice to see here
Thank you for this. Just getting started, and I'm so excited about finding Substack!
This is excellent material and information! Now to get more followers that love to write, are putting themselves out there and being fearless everyday!
Yes .. you can definitely get overloaded with all the available materials. Narrowing down to a niche will help but keep you busy as well. Such as real life!
Thank you for this information! I’m getting started on Substack, and I’ve been searching for training tutorials.
I look forward to learning more from you; yes, I subscribed.
Very helpful but finding this article was impossible (for me) on Substack, had to do a web search entitled what is Substack by Simon K Jones.
Thanks Simon
There’s simply so much stuff on Substack that discoverability (or even finding something that you already know exists!) is a bit of a problem.
It’s easier in this case to bypass Substack as an app/platform and instead look at my publication as a separate, standalone entity. That way you’re solely dealing with the navigation that I’ve set up at simonkjones.substack.com.