Thank you, Brian and Eleanor, for a great interview! I When someone writes both nonfiction and fiction on their Substack, do they use different sections? I’m curious as to what’s the best way to start sharing fiction when you’ve only written nonfiction pieces for your Substack audience? Thank you in advance!
I'm curious what the bulk of the 6 to 12 months is going to, in finding an author's groove?
Is the author mostly perfecting their craft (for those writing and publishing seriously for the first time)
Or is the author mostly learning to listen to their readers?
Or is the 6 to 12 months the time it takes for the author to be found by their readers.
The question is going to whether it is an idea to break these things up in order to work the 6 to 12 months faster.
Perhaps to even find ways to work them/practise them before one launches a newsletter.
I was thinking that apart from an already established audience, the other advantage that established writers have may be things like; the discipline to keep writing to a schedule, not being surprised/overwhelmed/disheartened by the real need to do ‘marketing and promotion’ of their work, or even some skill in listening and applying feedback.
So if there was some way one could practise these things before they launch a newsletter…
Great question, Susanna! I have found the 6 to 12 months is necessary for the following reasons, and some of it really depends on the author:
1. Finding your community. You're going to want to subscribe to at least a dozen or more active and influential authors on Substack that align with your category/genre and focus. This gets your Notes feed populated with related content and allows you to see how they interact with their readers. Some of them will post about contests and writing opportunities on Substack. This took me at least 3-6 months to really understand the fiction (especially speculative) ecosystem.
2. Understanding what you can handle in terms of posting frequency. You may launch with the intent of posting once or twice a week, or maybe even once a month, but when you get into it, you might discover you can do less... or more. That actually does determine how your readers will respond. All of this change will determine how big your backlog is, and readers sometimes view that as consistency and commitment they can follow. This took me at least 6 months to really find a groove and build up a backlog.
3. Content. This is where you can definitely plan ahead but be open to change. Will you write essays? Will your essays align with your fiction, if you're writing fiction? Should you do separate sections or one section? Who will provide your images and what will your "theme" look like? There's a lot to consider, but it can all be done upfront. You can actually keep everything private, write for several weeks or months to experiment and then launch publicly. If you want to see someone who did this right from the beginning, check out Erik Hoel of The Intrinsic Perspective (https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/).
If I missed anything let me know and I'm happy to answer any further questions.
Thanks, Eleanor. I thought we used to be able to post to Notes and a comment simultaneously, but now I can't find that feature. Maybe I'm getting old and misremembering. 🤔
Good interview questions. Substack's SFF community would be poorer without Brian embedded within it.
Thank you Johnathan! I appreciate that.
Thank you, Brian and Eleanor, for a great interview! I When someone writes both nonfiction and fiction on their Substack, do they use different sections? I’m curious as to what’s the best way to start sharing fiction when you’ve only written nonfiction pieces for your Substack audience? Thank you in advance!
Hi Priya, I open a new section for every project, whether it's fiction or non-fiction. It makes the whole thing easier for the reader and for me.
Thanks, Eleanor!
Excellent, Brian, and good luck.
Thank you, Mary!
Thank you, Eleanor, for the great opportunity and excellent questions! If anyone has follow ups, I'm happy to answer.
Thank you so much for this, Brian (and Eleanor)
I'm curious what the bulk of the 6 to 12 months is going to, in finding an author's groove?
Is the author mostly perfecting their craft (for those writing and publishing seriously for the first time)
Or is the author mostly learning to listen to their readers?
Or is the 6 to 12 months the time it takes for the author to be found by their readers.
The question is going to whether it is an idea to break these things up in order to work the 6 to 12 months faster.
Perhaps to even find ways to work them/practise them before one launches a newsletter.
I was thinking that apart from an already established audience, the other advantage that established writers have may be things like; the discipline to keep writing to a schedule, not being surprised/overwhelmed/disheartened by the real need to do ‘marketing and promotion’ of their work, or even some skill in listening and applying feedback.
So if there was some way one could practise these things before they launch a newsletter…
Great question, Susanna! I have found the 6 to 12 months is necessary for the following reasons, and some of it really depends on the author:
1. Finding your community. You're going to want to subscribe to at least a dozen or more active and influential authors on Substack that align with your category/genre and focus. This gets your Notes feed populated with related content and allows you to see how they interact with their readers. Some of them will post about contests and writing opportunities on Substack. This took me at least 3-6 months to really understand the fiction (especially speculative) ecosystem.
2. Understanding what you can handle in terms of posting frequency. You may launch with the intent of posting once or twice a week, or maybe even once a month, but when you get into it, you might discover you can do less... or more. That actually does determine how your readers will respond. All of this change will determine how big your backlog is, and readers sometimes view that as consistency and commitment they can follow. This took me at least 6 months to really find a groove and build up a backlog.
3. Content. This is where you can definitely plan ahead but be open to change. Will you write essays? Will your essays align with your fiction, if you're writing fiction? Should you do separate sections or one section? Who will provide your images and what will your "theme" look like? There's a lot to consider, but it can all be done upfront. You can actually keep everything private, write for several weeks or months to experiment and then launch publicly. If you want to see someone who did this right from the beginning, check out Erik Hoel of The Intrinsic Perspective (https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/).
If I missed anything let me know and I'm happy to answer any further questions.
Great detail here, Brian. I feel like a lot of people would find this answer useful.
Thanks, Eleanor. I thought we used to be able to post to Notes and a comment simultaneously, but now I can't find that feature. Maybe I'm getting old and misremembering. 🤔
Yes, I thought that, too. I don't where that option's gone. Shall I copy - paste into onto a note with a link to the post?
Sure!
Glad you enjoyed. So happy to have you be part of it.
Great interview. Brian is one of the essential fiction newsletter writers for me. His anthology is also fab.
Thanks, Simon! I've really appreciated having you in the fiction community. 👍