Congratulations on one year and hitting 1000. That’s a big accomplishment.
I did two Book Funnel promos in 2021 and netted about 200 followers. But in January I quit doing promotion. It wasn’t long before Substack became the biggest source of my new subscribers. Currently 78%. In the past few months my newsletter has grown faster than ever with no promotional effort on my part. I even ditched my Twitter account. I think Substack has finally cracked discovery.
Of course, I am a hobbyist writer, so I have the luxury of not having to promote. But It is surprising how my growth has taken off in recent months without any promotion.
That's encouraging to hear! BookFunnel is very hands-off for me, which is a big part of why I use it. It takes almost no time, is *extremely* cheap in terms of paid promotion, and seems to get useful results. Anything which took time away from my actual writing wouldn't be useful.
I do hope to hit that tipping point of organic growth - I've definitely seen an uptick of late, and it does feel like the more connections we make naturally on Substack, the better that organic recommendation cross-promotion will work.
I agree. Book Funnel is fairly painless. But I think organic growth on Substack is taking off. The recommendations feature and app may be part of it. Or just being around long enough to "catch on." I can't really say why, I just know mine took off a few months ago and my news subs have been triple ever since. I don't feel like I need Book Funnel any more.
But I haven't gotten a new paid sub since October. Although my previous paid subs have all repaid for another year, so far.
Thanks for sharing Simon! I love your latest book cover - it’s actually how I found you as I was searching for any discussions about Midjourney and was drawn in by that image. I’m quite new to Substack - I write a non-fiction newsletter, but am looking into the idea of serializing my first fiction novel here so I appreciate you sharing your experience. My biggest concern is, how do you start sharing chapters without first completing the book? What if half way through you realise something in chapter 3 should’ve been different?
I’m looking forward to reading your writer’s tips, and will have to catch up on the book!
That is the trickiest aspect, and it will depend heavily on your writing technique. Some writers compose their books in a very non-linear fashion, jumping around the manuscript and piecing it together that way. Other write in a deliberately 'messy' way, relying on further edits to produce a useful text. I've always written in a largely linear fashion, starting at the beginning of the book and going through to the end, very much telling myself the story as I go. That helps when it comes to serialising.
The two tricky bits become foreshadowing of any kind and, as you say, the risk of wishing you'd done something differently earlier in the book. I try to handle both of those at the planning stage, and by having a flexible approach to plot. I tend to have key story moments that I know I'm going to hit, but how I get from A to B is always very loose. That way the writing hopefully stays fresh, but it also afford me the potential to tease upcoming story beats and to address any looming plot holes before I hit them.
I've found this tends to create the illusion of being more ordered and planned than I actually am. As long as some of the big moments are threaded through the manuscript, a lot of other stuff happens for free, or coincidentally.
Plus, of course, you always have the option of going back and editing earlier chapters, or even of doing a complete revision in another form. I'm prepping an ebook version of one of my serials at the moment, which is significantly revised from the online edition.
Congratulations on your first year and your growth on Substack!
As a new writer on substack, hearing your journey has been invaluable. I'm over here scribbling down some notes as I'm looking at adding a paid version to my substack this winter. Thank you for sharing!
Congratulations on one year and hitting 1000. That’s a big accomplishment.
I did two Book Funnel promos in 2021 and netted about 200 followers. But in January I quit doing promotion. It wasn’t long before Substack became the biggest source of my new subscribers. Currently 78%. In the past few months my newsletter has grown faster than ever with no promotional effort on my part. I even ditched my Twitter account. I think Substack has finally cracked discovery.
Of course, I am a hobbyist writer, so I have the luxury of not having to promote. But It is surprising how my growth has taken off in recent months without any promotion.
That's encouraging to hear! BookFunnel is very hands-off for me, which is a big part of why I use it. It takes almost no time, is *extremely* cheap in terms of paid promotion, and seems to get useful results. Anything which took time away from my actual writing wouldn't be useful.
I do hope to hit that tipping point of organic growth - I've definitely seen an uptick of late, and it does feel like the more connections we make naturally on Substack, the better that organic recommendation cross-promotion will work.
I agree. Book Funnel is fairly painless. But I think organic growth on Substack is taking off. The recommendations feature and app may be part of it. Or just being around long enough to "catch on." I can't really say why, I just know mine took off a few months ago and my news subs have been triple ever since. I don't feel like I need Book Funnel any more.
But I haven't gotten a new paid sub since October. Although my previous paid subs have all repaid for another year, so far.
Thanks for sharing Simon! I love your latest book cover - it’s actually how I found you as I was searching for any discussions about Midjourney and was drawn in by that image. I’m quite new to Substack - I write a non-fiction newsletter, but am looking into the idea of serializing my first fiction novel here so I appreciate you sharing your experience. My biggest concern is, how do you start sharing chapters without first completing the book? What if half way through you realise something in chapter 3 should’ve been different?
I’m looking forward to reading your writer’s tips, and will have to catch up on the book!
That is the trickiest aspect, and it will depend heavily on your writing technique. Some writers compose their books in a very non-linear fashion, jumping around the manuscript and piecing it together that way. Other write in a deliberately 'messy' way, relying on further edits to produce a useful text. I've always written in a largely linear fashion, starting at the beginning of the book and going through to the end, very much telling myself the story as I go. That helps when it comes to serialising.
The two tricky bits become foreshadowing of any kind and, as you say, the risk of wishing you'd done something differently earlier in the book. I try to handle both of those at the planning stage, and by having a flexible approach to plot. I tend to have key story moments that I know I'm going to hit, but how I get from A to B is always very loose. That way the writing hopefully stays fresh, but it also afford me the potential to tease upcoming story beats and to address any looming plot holes before I hit them.
I've found this tends to create the illusion of being more ordered and planned than I actually am. As long as some of the big moments are threaded through the manuscript, a lot of other stuff happens for free, or coincidentally.
Plus, of course, you always have the option of going back and editing earlier chapters, or even of doing a complete revision in another form. I'm prepping an ebook version of one of my serials at the moment, which is significantly revised from the online edition.
This is so informative, thank you!
Congratulations on your first year and your growth on Substack!
As a new writer on substack, hearing your journey has been invaluable. I'm over here scribbling down some notes as I'm looking at adding a paid version to my substack this winter. Thank you for sharing!
Amazing! Good luck with it all. Main thing is that I've been enjoying the writing this whole time. :)
Congrats, Simon!
Congrats, well done Simon!
Thanks, Mark!