First, to explain what this is and what I’m serializing on substack.
I first started a substack as a substitute for a newsletter. Because substack is a newsletter that you post to like a blog.
I’d tried several forms of newsletter before, but it turns out I’m mentally deficient in highly specialized ways, and one of the ways I’m mentally deficient is dealing with software that requires me to learn a process of doing things. I read the instructions three times, forget them completely, try to wing it and run aground. Because I’m a kinetic learner, instructions don’t stick unless they already have a referent for what I’m doing. Which is why say, when assembling furniture I struggle through the first one without instructions and make all the mistakes, but all the others are free, because the hands know. It’s very very annoying, yes, thank you for asking.
I could have defeated the newsletter thing, the same way I defeated the electronic painting program or DAZ 3D. By dressing like a Samurai, putting on a red bandana, yelling banzai, going in, making every possible mistake while screaming at myself and the computer for six months. Okay, the dress up and bandana might be an exaggeration, but it gives you the attitude. The problem is to do that, it takes six months minimum, and I don’t do anything else. Both the painting and DAZ happened when I was ill in a peculiar way that made words difficult. But absent that, I have things to write and having moved … 6? times in the last six years, (Not evenly distributed, five were in a year, but imagine the confusion that caused) I have a ton of other stuff to do and sort out. So I tried newsletter programs. They failed to send out, sent out to only me, or blocked me after the first attempt.
And then there was substack, and I know how to post on blogs (Yes, there was a ramp-up for that too. Weirdly, I did that on Instapundit. (The boss was very patient at the panicked emails at four am because I’d done something stupid and locked myself out.) So I started Schrodinger Path. (This is the set of Universes I’m working in now, ranging from Winter Prince to No Man’s Land. No, I’m not abandoning Darkship Thieves. I have at least five more in that universe, though it might extend to ten or twenty, depending on how much I like the “next generation.” However, at the time I started Schrodinger Path I thought I’d lost the rights to DST for … possibly copyright time. Which would mean anything I wrote in there just gave more reason for the publisher to hold onto them. And I’m expert at cutting off my nose to spite my face. Also, to be fair, Schrodinger Worlds was my original SF universe, back when I was a teen.)
Schrodinger Path was/is doing well, when I remember to update it. I’m very bad at this stuff, truly, but I’m getting better. However, there were people trying to give me money for it, which was mildly disturbing. It was like “I’m trying to market to you and you…. want to pay me?” It felt a bit like those people who wear logo wear. “So, you’re promoting the company AND paying them for the privilege? I fail to understand this relationship.”
And then John Ringo started serializing his new novel on substack and I got very excited.
For a long time, people in my blog had asked me to move it to substack. I don’t want to and won’t (unless wordpress shuts me down. These days things are weird, and it’s possible) because I knew I would lose half the following, and the comments are a community in my blog so that would be tragic. However, it occurred to me that also for a long time I wanted to have a fiction-only blog and hopefully get the same type of engagement I had on my political blog. Because to be blunt, encouragement to write fiction would help, since that’s what I actually set out to do with my life, and also it makes me happy (which politics don’t.)
Since this came about when I was trying to figure out a new way to blog fund — I don’t dare have a paypal button on my blog, which is the easiest thing, as is having paypal as a fundraiser thing, since they went stompy boots. Gofundme which is also the most convenient for the yearly fundraiser has also felt a need to go stompy, and after what they did to the Canadian truckers, I don’t trust them further than I can throw them — I thought “Hey, two birds with one stone” and took out two of the novels in progress that were more advanced than idea and one chapter, and which I didn’t mind tying up for a year. (Unlike, say, the Dyce novels, which it turns out I could have, but hey. I didn’t know that my health and other stuff would get super-interesting for a year.)
So I promised to serialize Witch’s Daughter and Winter Prince and have them done in a year. I promised 2 chapters each a week. This might have been retarded. Or not, because it depends on if it was a natural effect or the result of some med stuff I was dealing with.
So I started Chapter House, since I post chapters.
Meanwhile I also set Schrodinger Path to pay, since I was told in no uncertain terms (by family) that it’s stupid to tell people not to give you money.
Then I added No Man’s Land, the novel that apparently won’t let me write anything else unless I write a chapter a day, and which was the first novel that appeared fully formed in my head when I was 14 and also has been known as “the d*mned novel” for years because… well, it’s my answer to The Left Hand of Darkness, okay? And the answer was “ARGH. Biology and humans don’t work like that.” Which in turn led to my becoming a writer. (Eh. The things we do when we’re kids.) When I added NML I started serializing it both substacks, because I feel bad I’m not giving the subscribers of Schrodinger anything. (Did I say I wasn’t neurotic? Where? Show me where I said that.)
Anyway, Witch’s Daughter has entered the downslope, though not the running tilting end yet, where it pushes itself to the end. (The first part of the novel, you push uphill as you stack up blocks. Then from the top, the slope turns down towards resolution. The last quarter is a run to keep up with the plot as it solves itself. Look, this is my process. I’m not requiring you to have the same.) Winter Prince has had narration issues from the beginning and is currently in pieces on the garage floor. It’s possible that it’s an introspective coming of age story, but it feels to me that I need eyes on other actions where the character ain’t. So I’m going to intersperse other narration and see how that works.
And No Man’s Land is careening along and gathering speed, and though we’re still in the adding blocks phase is pulling me along. I think it’s just so happy at being let out of my head after forty plus years it wants to finish before I clamp down again. And it’s difficult not to clamp down. Look, this story was dreamed up by a profoundly weird 14 year old, okay? She’s so embarrassing and full of all the miles of twerpitude I had to go through to become myself!
But I have found out some things about serializing fiction on Substack.
The first is something I wish substack would fix, unless they have and I haven’t figured out how to do it.
1- There isn’t a way to do a secondary back page or two, as I do on my wordpress blog, where I can keep the back chapters of the things I’m serializing. This makes it very difficult, because people miss chapters, or what to go back and look up something, or just get confused.
I will devote this evening to poking around and seeing if I can figure it out. Because it causes a lot of problem 2.
2- I knew this was a problem, but just didn’t think about it, because it’s been so long.
Serializing novels means readers get lost and demand information you have, in fact, already given them. Or want context that they’d naturally get from the setup if they were reading it all in one chunk.
Why did I know this? I knew this because it’s why our writers’ group banned submitting a novel chapter by chapter back in the day. This was after I almost destroyed Darkship Thieves’ first version adding details and context people told me were vital, and which slowed the thing to a c-r-a-w-l.
And then, reading the first version through, I realized none of it was needed. I had to go in with the pruning saw in a way I’d never done before. So, no more chapter-by-chapter.
How to fix that? I don’t know. But having the “back chapters” available would help fix it.
3- Engagement is really low.
Disappointingly low, for how many people are subscribing.
Now, to be fair, engagement was always low for serializing, even when I did it on my blog. Which is part of the reason I stopped doing it. Comments seem to be fewer for fiction, even when people love it, than for non-fic/politics. Probably because the other is more immediate, or because most of my commenters are political junkies. (Admit it guys. I do for myself.)
But I think some of it is substack. Why? Because it goes out as a newsletter, and it’s difficult to comment on newsletters. You have to go to the site to do so, instead of just reading it in email.
I’m sure that’s it, because when I do free posts and share them, I get a ton of comments, because that’s people going to the site. Also because I subscribe to friends’ family news newsletters and never comment unless something is really important, like “Don’t give the kid those meds. I gave that to mine and it has this side effect.”
Now I can live with that, truly, but it’s very annoying because I’d like to have the talk back, throwing of peanuts and such you get when performing in public. Because it’s a charge, as well as “just writing for money” and helps make a lonely job less lonely.
And I’m not a hundred percent sure how to fix it. Or how substack could. It’s a nature of the beast.
For now these are my lessons from serializing on substack. I’m sure there will be others soon.
I’m sure at some point someone will create a site for serializing fiction, one where they publish the book when it’s done, as a sort of e-arc, before it’s removed and goes on amazon. And they’ll design it to maximize engagement, after the way of fanfic sites. (Where each chapter gets added to the growing body of the story, so anyone arriving late can go and read the whole thing, then the new chapters. I mean, one solution for the issue with substack is more me to do one such post once a month subscribers only, no preview, with all previous things added. It’s a pain, but can be done.)
I could do it. I could. The problem being that while I KNOW what’s needed, the programing is husband’s, and that would take him even more of his time which is already taken by managing the financial side of my crazy business.
I might poke him, anyway. We have a domain name that’s perfect for this. So perfect.
But until then? Well, substack wasn’t designed for what I’m using it for. However for now, it will have to do. I’ll find workarounds and keep on trucking.
Mad Genius Club 
42 responses to “Lessons From Serializing On Substack”
I had to move my blog to Substack, as you know… So I am interested in hearing your further travails on this subject.
I want to keep the blog free (I find the constant “you can read three sentences, but if you want to read more, you must pay me” thing to be so fucking annoying, that I just refuse out of spite.) Thus I don’t want to do it myself, because, after all, we write to be read.
However I have considered putting some fiction out behind the paywall.
The fiction is where I am doing that.
Have you created a tab for each book? That way someone who wants to binge can go to a specific place and read through. RacPress has done this for things like open calls and such. I should do it for my recipes, fiction, etcetera. https://raconteurpress.substack.com/
Uh. As I said, I think I have missed something. I’ll poke at it tonight.
When you have time!
Navigate to the Settings of your substack, then to Website. From there you can set up homepage links (say, if you want to link to Accordingtohoyt). You can choose what shows up in the bar at the top of your substack website, and that does include creating a link for a tag (if you tagged all posts of one book with a specific tag this works nicely for a quick solution to the problem). You can create special pages, and add those to the navigation bar.
It shouldn’t be too much trouble to set up. You can do this!
Of course I didn’t tag. And no, I don’t want to put in my blog. I’m trying to keep it separate.
It’s still not the all-in-one solution that would be nice, but I can improve it. (Cracks knuckles.)
The great thing about Substack is that it is SO customizable. Fun to play with, really.
LOL. Well, to be fair, I LIKE poking at things. It is just a matter of my having time and feeling better. The second seems to be working out, now I just need to make the time.
And if you have questions, ask the AI. It’s usually pretty good.
*I’m sure at some point someone will create a site for serializing fiction, one where they publish the book when it’s done, as a sort of e-arc, before it’s removed and goes on amazon. And they’ll design it to maximize engagement, after the way of fanfic sites. (Where each chapter gets added to the growing body of the story, so anyone arriving late can go and read the whole thing, then the new chapters. I mean, one solution for the issue with substack is more me to do one such post once a month subscribers only, no preview, with all previous things added. It’s a pain, but can be done.)*
Kindle Vella is trying to be this but it’s debatable how well it’s working. They just upped the number of free episodes (which can be chapters but can also be something more like a scene or a beat inside a scene) and simplified the cost per episode, FWIW. Vella appears to have been inspired by some breakout successes on Wattpad and Royal Road.
Yeah. And I don’t want to have all my eggs in hte amazon basket.
eggzactly!
I’ve been having these problems too on Patreon & SubscribeStar. Tags help with the story navigation bit, but the lack of ‘engagement’ is annoying. On SubscribeStar almost no one ever comments. Patreon I DO get comments, but not very often. Definitely not like when I first started and I used to get feedback all the time.
To be honest, in the last year, commenting has dried up a lot.
I’ve thought of doing stuff on Substack beyond the obvious rando posts about things. That would mean posting for pay stuff in 3 places (Patreon, SubscribeStar, and Substack). Right now, I’m worried about the games Stripe is playing and that Substack is backing them. So I’m holding off doing any for pay stuff there.
And what do you mean everyone doesn’t write that way? I know my finishing pretty much goes exactly as you describe. That two of us do it that way, is surely enough datapoints to declare it a fact just like all the pollsters do!
Sustack has backed off from that. BUT I also have a dedicated account for that….
Also, all writers are the same!
It may just be that people are putting their commenting energies into some other platform. I know I got to be somewhat less of a commenter here and a lot less of one on ATH once I settled into Discord.
I’ve never heard of SubscribeStar, and only know a little about Patreon, but it seems like the latter blotted its copybook in some way a couple years back, and I wonder if that was around the time you started seeing a dropoff in engagement?
I’m still seeing the same amount of members, they just don’t talk so much anymore.
Ah, okay.
I think people are emotionally exhausted.
I feel like you’re probably right.
This! Everyone’s exhausted and we all know “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”
Yes. I’ve noticed that comments are down on my blog, even on the kinds of posts that often draw a lot of questions and comments.
Personally, I have “Prologue” “Previous” and “Next” buttons on my story posts. I have caught people (well, person) reading through it, and “Liking” each one.
Someone I am corresponding with uses a Table of Contents on each post. Both of us find the other’s method irritating. (Really, if you’re going to have a Table of Contents on each post, you need to have a “Comment” button before it, so someone doesn’t have to scroll down a mile and a half to the comment section, and forget what they were going to say.)
Since I figured out how to use templates in this last week or so, it should make things easier going forward. I’d say ask the Substack AI how to set them up, and any other questions like that. It’s the orange button on your Writer’s Dashboard page. It seems fairly intelligent. Usually.
Substack has templates? Look, I said I’m retarded with tech.
Well, sort of. You set up a post the way you like it, and then keep making copies.
On the subject of engagement, I only just recently signed up to get people’s free substacks, and am still getting the hang of commenting there. It seems like it was a year or eighteen months ago when current events pundits started moving there, and more like six or nine months when fiction writers on my radar started moving there (although Sarah and Cedar can correct me if I’m wrong about when they started.)
I feel like Substack is very aggressive about trying to recruit lurkers and casual readers into subscribers, preferably paid, and it took me a while to figure out that a lot of the stuff I might be interested in on the platform was free. Not always the sharpest tool in the shed, me, but it’s a data point about confused middle-aged persons interacting with the platform, FWIW.
I’ve noticed. The popup box that has an obvious “Subscribe” link at the top, an obvious place to put your email on the bottom, and barely noticeable in the middle a “Continue Reading” button.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that I didn’t have to try to “read around” the subscription popup and could make the popup go away without subscribing.
Uh… I think I’ll plead the fifth… ; )
Whiskey? Holds up bottle. I have some Balvenie…
Pssst. That’s pleading A fifth.
Oh…… Easy to get confused.
madly giggling…
“Easy to get confused”
I know I can get confused, especially if I’ve been busy turning a fifth into a tenth.
“I’m sure at some point someone will create a site for serializing fiction, one where they publish the book when it’s done, as a sort of e-arc, before it’s removed and goes on amazon. And they’ll design it to maximize engagement, after the way of fanfic sites. (Where each chapter gets added to the growing body of the story, so anyone arriving late can go and read the whole thing, then the new chapters. “
That sounds a little like Royal Road.
I was going to suggest this, myself. I’m not a huge fan of RR’s interface, nor of reading ebooks on a normal screen, but there are any number of people reportedly doing quite well, with fairly amateurish writing. RR has options to create subscriptions, and then a number of authors pull their finished works, and publish them on Amazon. But a number don’t. I’d been looking at it, but got sidetracked with other work. Too Many Projects.
Commenting on a blog is a culture. Or maybe it’s a social event, and you have to know how much you should speak up and how much you should sit back, watch, and listen. ATH has a well-established culture of people who like That Kind of (Commenting) Thing. CH hasn’t developed it, perhaps because we’re not sure what kind of party this is meant to be. Do we nibble wine and cheese, or sing raunchy songs and dance on the tables?
*Imagines Fox, Drak, and BobtheRegistered dancing on a table while Ian and others sing naughty ballads and ditties* Ya know, it might be either entertaining or terrifying, but it won’t be boring!
I won’t dance or sing raunchy songs, but I might hum along …
We’ll figure it out in time…
As for the serializing thing. REAM is trying to step up to do that (don’t know about the collation, but the rest.)
I know KC Ezcell is on it, and a number of other writers that I know-ish. I have not tried it, so this is all circumstantial. But, might be worth looking into.
“Meanwhile I also set Schrodinger Path to pay, since I was told in no uncertain terms (by family) that it’s stupid to tell people not to give you money.”
Wait. You mean… you can make money with writing?!?
I did not know that.
/Johnny Carson voice
“Serializing novels means readers get lost and demand information you have, in fact, already given them.”
This is also an issue in series books that refer to events from earlier books in the series, or (looks over at TxRed) refers to events that happen in other series set in the same “universe” during the same time block in that universe.
The difference is probably less jarring because you expect to have to do that between books, as opposed to chapters in the same book. In the electronic book format (especially), you have to have bookmarked the chapter rather than just turning pages.