I started my Substack to build a platform but really it's just the Marie Newsletter, a new version of the book blog I wrote for 10+ years on Blogger. Now the content is Marie-as-writer-and-cool-person rather than Marie-as-strictly-bookworm. My subscriber base has grown but it's teeny and that's OK for now. I don't publish any writing on it that I plan to submit. I do post what I call a "Trash Haiku" with every post. (I write a haiku a day as part of my writing warm-up and if there is one that I think is junky enough I put it on my Substack to punish my readers with.) I like the platform and it allows me to keep in touch with family and friends who might not want to bother with reading a blog. As I change and grow as a writer it will likely change and grow with me.
If you have literary ambitions and you decide to publish some of your work on Substack, HAVE A STRATEGY.
I've published a weekly newsletter, Introvert UpThink (https://www.introvertupthink.com), through Substack for more than two years. I have 1600 subscribers, some of whom pay anywhere from $30 to $100 a year to get one extra post a month in my "Introvert Book Club."
My strategy for publishing this newsletter was to build a subscriber base of at least 40,000 subscribers so I could get a book deal from a major publisher on my topic. I thought that publishing essays in literary magazines would help grow my subscriber list. This wasn't anywhere as easy to accomplish as I thought.
But the writing took on a life of its own, as I took essay writing workshops to hone my craft. I have 15 published or forthcoming new essays in lit mags or online commercial magazines since restarting at this. (I also published essays many years back.)
I still would like to pitch a book on my topic. I haven't settled on a viable angle yet, but writing 100-plus newsletters sure has enabled me to do a lot of research and thinking. For that reason I have no regrets for all the time and effort I have put into my Substack. And knowing I've had an impact on 1000-some-odd people in one corner of the Internet is gratifying, too.
I took quite a lot of online essay writing workshops. Several very good ones through Wow-Women on Writing https://wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html, which I especially appreciated because they were asynchronous - you posted and interacted whenever it was convenient for you.
I actually got kicked out of one workshop on Grub Street, mostly because I wouldn't go on camera on Zoom, even though I'd cleared that with the instructor ahead of time. And I dropped out of another one through Writing.com because it was a hostile learning environment, about which the instructor did nothing.
Trial and error in finding the right workshops, I guess.
I started my Substack two months ago; quite excited to have over 300 subscribers this quickly. I have a strong vision for There’s Nothing Wrong With You (And There Never Was) as a community, a place of healing for my readers and that’s the value I offer. I am a creative healer; it is core to who I am. I use my personal experience, the stuff of my life to make art that heals. My healing abilities are at the basis of my personal essays.
My writing is creative. I write essays and include poetry, quotes, music, visuals, and shoutouts.
I’m trying to figure out which category my Substack fits into. Health & Wellness? Spirituality & Faith? Someone said Literature, but I realized that’s wrong because, although I’m a writer and an editor, I’m not here on that basis. Certainly, I love writing and writers, but my Substack is about healing, about how to recover (from anything) find your badass, kick ass, and align with your true self.
I am thrilled with this venue - direct access to readers, a way to bypass gatekeepers. I’m a published writer but tired of the submission game. Independent publishing is the way to go and Substack is the next dimension. It is good for my writing. Readers are what matter. I do hope for a much larger readership eventually. Happy to do guest posts. I did one for Memoir Land.
I started DIARY POEMS 21 months ago, with 7 subscribers, and have just passed the modest milestone of 300 subscribers. That's fine with me. I don't do anything to actively grow or promote my 'stack but do engage with my readers and others through comments on my posts and through the Notes feature. I also use Notes and restacks to amplify others' voices when they are doing work I admire and think should be more widely seen. Yesterday I was pleased to see DIARY POEMS included as a top publication in Substack's POETRY category.
Because I spent many years as a book editor, the publishing process holds no mystique for me, and I seem to have largely outgrown any need for instititional validation. If writers want to send their work out to established outlets, with all the delay and frustration that path entails, I'm all for it. I also encourage writers to explore alternatives, including self-publishing, with the understanding that self-published work needs to be *at least* as good as the work that appears in high-quality lit mags. Often this will mean having a peer group and trusted readers who can offer helpful feedback on a piece before the writer hits PUBLISH.
All that said, here is my irreverent take on the current state of things in relation to today's conversation:
I’m a writer and photographer from Calcutta/New York and now in Paris.
I write short stories, essays, dabbled in screen plays, take photographs when I’m too lazy to think and obsessed with the perfect chocolate chip cookie— which of course, like God, is a myth.
In short a dilettante.
Substack has been incredible in ways That traditional publishing can’t really help —in that I’ve been able to reach out to other writers and photographers who need my guidance. I love being able to be a part of a young artist’s journey and I wouldn’t have been able to offer this outside an organization or institution.
For me, it’s certainly the community aspect that is most precious , more than sharing my own work. But I’m glad to be able to come to one platform and get to read Amazing work by amazing writers and photographers and connect with them in the way I haven’t before in other social media.
I’m also very bitchy and cranky and always manage to say the wrong thing .
If you’re interested in any of this , that’s what I do. Come say hi at Bukus.Substack.com
I'm pretty new to Substack, and I've committed to posting biweekly because I want to make sure I don't lose time for my other writing. For me, writing for Substack has been great, freeing, taking my writing places I never expected to go, and opening myself up to the world around me. Because it's all there to be written about! Which was what I hoped I'd get out of starting my Substack, give myself permission to write about whatever, and to be less worried about the "commas." Please check me out, The Armchair Journalist, https://nancyjainchill.substack.com/.
This is a timely discussion for me, as I started a Substack just recently.
In my case, I was feeling discouraged about submitting to litmags. I'd received a personal rejection on one story that felt worse than a form rejection. I had another story languishing on Submittable for almost a year at Fairy Tale Review. It had already been rejected everywhere else I thought might be a possible fit. It was a story that I loved and was meaningful to me, and I just didn't know where else to send it.
On top of that, it had begun to feel that even if I *did* find someone willing to publish it, probably not all that many people were going to actually read it. And it began to dawn on me that if that was going to be the outcome, maybe I didn't need to spend more time begging editors to publish my story. I could do it myself.
So, I withdrew the story and put it up on my Substack. And I asked my daughter to illustrate it. I'm still certainly submitting work to litmags, but it feels meaningful to me to have set this story aside and collaborated on it with my daughter just before she left for college.
I don't have huge ambitions to monetize my Substack or gain tons of followers. But I like the idea of having a spot to share my writing. photography, art outside of the whole litmag submission process.
I am trying to secure my answer to the questions you brought up. Until recently, my rule was simple: the good pieces go knocking at the lit mags, while the "nah" ones can appear on Substack. However, now that I have paying subscribers (not so many, but they alone have already outpaid the lit mags that published my pieces), I need to figure out how to decide which pieces go where. And it's not only about the money. Obviously, my Substack subscribers are my readers too, and it seems they are more accessible to me, and vice versa.
I publish on this platform and I have stories on hand to submit to lit mags. What I've been publish on here is short (100-200 word count) stories that never found homes in lit mags (reject after reject after reject). I'm also writing a serial story, Harold and Sallie, he's a woodsman who frees her, a fairy, from a tree and it's about the adventures they have. I'd like to eventually puplish those in book form.
I also post updates on my writing in general. And cat pictures. A LOT of cat pictures.
I'm pretty chatty on Notes as well.
The one complaint of Substack I have is the constant vibe of YOU MUST HAVE ALL THE SUBSCRIBERS AND THEY HAVE TO PAY AND YOU HAVE TO BEG BEG BEG.
Um. NO. Don't tell me how to run my stack. I will never have a paywall or charge. I want readers to enjoy my stories. As it is, I don't pay attention to my stats or email open rate or any of that silliness.
"The one complaint of Substack I have is the constant vibe of YOU MUST HAVE ALL THE SUBSCRIBERS AND THEY HAVE TO PAY AND YOU HAVE TO BEG BEG BEG." I feel the same way.
That is annoying, Liz. And that's the difference between publishing on LiveJournal or WordPress vs on Substack (or Medium), platforms designed to be monetized.
I started my Substack, The Pleasure Principle: Savoring Life After 50, because I am fascinated by pleasure and think others are, too. https://catherinehiller.substack.com/
I publish a personal essay about some aspect of pleasure most Tuesdays at 11:11. I’ve written about watching water and pedicures and vindication and the big O. I adore the absolute freedom I have on Substack as to subject and style. I impose the deadline on myself for the discipline and to keep drawing from the well.
My audience only really grows when I get published elsewhere. After an article about going to a Cuddle Party appeared in Huffington Post, I got 150 new subscribers.
I’ve learned that it’s important to write about things that appeal to readers and not just myself. My last post, No FaceTime: No Thanks https://catherinehiller.substack.com/p/no-facetime got a higher open rate than any other post.
I've been writing on the Stack for almost 2 years now. I joined to open a direct communication line with readers in a format that was "free-er" than the troubled social media options. I don't post fiction here, but I link to stories published in other places (often they are free to read). It has been liberating to write short articles, share learnings, craft tips and interact with people, and it has improved my writing "flexibility", stretching the non-fiction muscles.
I've been using Substack for about a year but only really been *using* it for the last month or so. I imported some existing subscribers from another newsletter, then populated my substack website without sending emails with existing work from elsewhere (mostly Medium).
Since July 30, which is about when I started pushing out newsletters, I've gone from 455 subscribers to 606. I lost about 30 or so when I first started, probably because they were unhappy seeing me push out a lot of political stuff. I was okay with that because if you don't like my politics you won't like my fiction, either.
I post a mix of essays and fiction. Today I pushed out Chapter Six of a novel I self-published on Amazon. I have another novel out that is not self-published. I don't have any excerpts for that.
I also drop excerpts of my newly finished novel that I'm trying to sell to traditional publishers.
I set up my own domain name. It's fast and easy with Cloudflare, and they don't charge for the first year if you go through Substack to set it up.
I have found that by following people who comment on my comments on other stacks, they often subscribe. If they comment on my articles and/or stories, I always follow and always reply. If I have thousands of subscribers, I won't be able to do that, but right now I still can.
Substack is much better for me than Medium for fiction. I have about 3,000 followers on Medium but it works better for nonfiction.
I prefer it over lit mags because lit mags might get 3,000 submissions, make me wait a few months, then reject. This is instantaneous. I'm not getting any younger!
Thank you for this question — it's something I've been thinking about so much, and it's nice to have it raised and have a chance to see others' thoughts on it.
I've been trying to think through what might come from being published in a literary journal that doesn't come from publishing on Substack. When I was submitting fiction to journals, I think that I was hoping for three things:
— First, to have the writing be read, and the ideas etc in it shared if they seemed likely to be of value to others
— Second, to be published in the company of other writers whose work I admired, and maybe in that way be part of a literary conversation and a literary community.
— Third, to get some kind of external confirmation that the writing was of value as writing, ie as art.
Honestly, I'm not sure now that publication in a journal would offer more of any of that than publication here on Substack has. I've been writing here for about 9 months, and the whole experience has been so, so much better than I dreamed it might be.
I've been publishing literary essays, not fiction, which is an entirely new form for me, and that I wouldn't have thought before this. They're being read, and a couple of people have said that they sometimes read them aloud to their spouses over breakfast and discuss them together.
Writers I admire are providing external reassurance about the quality, and the conversations and community are happening.
So I guess I wonder — is there anything not thinking of? Because for right now, at least, I'm not sure what more could come from a lit mag except payment, and most of the ones I read don't pay their writers.
I've wondered a little about publishing in non-literary publications, but that's a whole different topic perhaps…
Thanks again for the question, and the opportunity to think out loud a little.
I recently opted for creating a simple standalone website for my writing on Wix, providing notice of new posts via Facebook and X. It can be found here:
It is intended for "friends and interested acquaintences" and rather than inviting comments, it has a "blurb" page, which hasn't caught on. Wix has analytics providing a count and locale of those who click on any of your offerings. My readership count so far has resided in the mid two figures (40 to 60 per week), which is better than I expected and I find to be fully satisfying.
If it catches on more, that would be fine, but either way I have a handsome outlet for my work, which is its own considerable satisfaction.
This modest form of self publishing, because it is so accessible, should become more widespread, and it occurs to me that there are productive opportunities to connect it to the traditional literary magazine submission process: Rather than providing the cryptic rejection letter of encouragement, literary editors should consider establishing a formal system of commendation for writers of works that are admired but not accepted for publication, with permission granted to the writer to note the commendation on their self publishing site. So in addition to being able to say the writer''s work has appeared in the Such and Such magazine, the writer could say their work has "been commended by" the such and such magazine. They are reading the piece anyway, and some provide an extra boost in the rejection letter, why not formalize that as a form of encouragement for, say, the top 10 percent of submissions?
I started my substack about 6 months ago with the thought of including many of my previously published flash fiction pieces, poems, and short stories -- which I have. I am now writing memoirs and essays that I truly enjoy. I have a very small following, and few subscribers. Everything I offer is free, and I'm not sure whether I will charge for any of my writing. So much of my time had been spent looking for just the right place to send my pieces and then waiting for an acceptance or rejection. Just wasn't worth it for me. Although I always liked that my work was being validated. Now I write what I want, when I want, and am satisfied and grateful for the audience. I really love substack for giving me the opportunity to showcase my work. Thanks Substack.
Since I'm always searching for places to publish my writing, I often come across zines perched on free Weebly or free Wix platforms. (The dead give-away is that Wix or Weebly is part of the URL.) I will always pass these up. Lately I've also seen literary journals perched on Substack or on Medium - - both meant to be monetizing platforms for the owners / editors / curators. Nope. No, thank you.
Luanne, have you ever followed a person's Substack for free, only to discover there are more and more followers - - and it's being monetized - - and you (i.e., a "free subscriber") are up against a paywall?
Once a Substack site is being monetized, content will be hidden from those who refuse to commit to a paid subscription.
OK, so now you've submitted your writing to a lit mag on Substack and it's parked there, like a luscious honeybun attracting viewers. Are you - - "the content provider" - - getting a share of this lit mag's revenue? Probably not.
One exception to this is Short Story, Long (on Substack). They pay writers and artists. I believe the stories are free to read, and subscribers have access to interviews with the authors about the stories. :)
Sounds fair, Melissa - - paying the short story writers and not restricting the readership.
The Dread Machine (EIC Monica Louzon) used to be like that - - until in 2024 when they became very unfair. I've never submitted to them. I've heard the griping and grievances via private writing groups I belong to.
That's the same issue with submitting writing to print publications, too - only more so, because print journals can be very hard to track down copies of once they've shipped. Do you also refuse to submit to print journals? (Not being snarky, just curious 😊.)
Davi, my literary work has been published since I was 9 years old - - - when only PRINT journals existed. I've always received my contributor's copy.
Recently, Hedge Apple made an error and shipped empty envelopes to some contributors - - but they corrected the error and made sure we all rec'd our copies. Maybe I did not understand your question.....?
OK, so the issue you have is not getting *any* compensation for your story and not being able to access its published form yourself despite being the contributor. That makes sense! Thanks.
I started my Substack to build a platform but really it's just the Marie Newsletter, a new version of the book blog I wrote for 10+ years on Blogger. Now the content is Marie-as-writer-and-cool-person rather than Marie-as-strictly-bookworm. My subscriber base has grown but it's teeny and that's OK for now. I don't publish any writing on it that I plan to submit. I do post what I call a "Trash Haiku" with every post. (I write a haiku a day as part of my writing warm-up and if there is one that I think is junky enough I put it on my Substack to punish my readers with.) I like the platform and it allows me to keep in touch with family and friends who might not want to bother with reading a blog. As I change and grow as a writer it will likely change and grow with me.
If you have literary ambitions and you decide to publish some of your work on Substack, HAVE A STRATEGY.
I've published a weekly newsletter, Introvert UpThink (https://www.introvertupthink.com), through Substack for more than two years. I have 1600 subscribers, some of whom pay anywhere from $30 to $100 a year to get one extra post a month in my "Introvert Book Club."
My strategy for publishing this newsletter was to build a subscriber base of at least 40,000 subscribers so I could get a book deal from a major publisher on my topic. I thought that publishing essays in literary magazines would help grow my subscriber list. This wasn't anywhere as easy to accomplish as I thought.
But the writing took on a life of its own, as I took essay writing workshops to hone my craft. I have 15 published or forthcoming new essays in lit mags or online commercial magazines since restarting at this. (I also published essays many years back.)
I still would like to pitch a book on my topic. I haven't settled on a viable angle yet, but writing 100-plus newsletters sure has enabled me to do a lot of research and thinking. For that reason I have no regrets for all the time and effort I have put into my Substack. And knowing I've had an impact on 1000-some-odd people in one corner of the Internet is gratifying, too.
Did you take online essay writing workshops? Were they any in particular that you found especially helpful?
Hi Jessica,
I took quite a lot of online essay writing workshops. Several very good ones through Wow-Women on Writing https://wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html, which I especially appreciated because they were asynchronous - you posted and interacted whenever it was convenient for you.
I actually got kicked out of one workshop on Grub Street, mostly because I wouldn't go on camera on Zoom, even though I'd cleared that with the instructor ahead of time. And I dropped out of another one through Writing.com because it was a hostile learning environment, about which the instructor did nothing.
Trial and error in finding the right workshops, I guess.
I've heard about WOW--I will definitely check it out, especially because I prefer the asynchonous style too. Thanks!
I started my Substack two months ago; quite excited to have over 300 subscribers this quickly. I have a strong vision for There’s Nothing Wrong With You (And There Never Was) as a community, a place of healing for my readers and that’s the value I offer. I am a creative healer; it is core to who I am. I use my personal experience, the stuff of my life to make art that heals. My healing abilities are at the basis of my personal essays.
My writing is creative. I write essays and include poetry, quotes, music, visuals, and shoutouts.
I’m trying to figure out which category my Substack fits into. Health & Wellness? Spirituality & Faith? Someone said Literature, but I realized that’s wrong because, although I’m a writer and an editor, I’m not here on that basis. Certainly, I love writing and writers, but my Substack is about healing, about how to recover (from anything) find your badass, kick ass, and align with your true self.
I am thrilled with this venue - direct access to readers, a way to bypass gatekeepers. I’m a published writer but tired of the submission game. Independent publishing is the way to go and Substack is the next dimension. It is good for my writing. Readers are what matter. I do hope for a much larger readership eventually. Happy to do guest posts. I did one for Memoir Land.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thompsonk?r=1fhxt&utm_medium=io
I started DIARY POEMS 21 months ago, with 7 subscribers, and have just passed the modest milestone of 300 subscribers. That's fine with me. I don't do anything to actively grow or promote my 'stack but do engage with my readers and others through comments on my posts and through the Notes feature. I also use Notes and restacks to amplify others' voices when they are doing work I admire and think should be more widely seen. Yesterday I was pleased to see DIARY POEMS included as a top publication in Substack's POETRY category.
Because I spent many years as a book editor, the publishing process holds no mystique for me, and I seem to have largely outgrown any need for instititional validation. If writers want to send their work out to established outlets, with all the delay and frustration that path entails, I'm all for it. I also encourage writers to explore alternatives, including self-publishing, with the understanding that self-published work needs to be *at least* as good as the work that appears in high-quality lit mags. Often this will mean having a peer group and trusted readers who can offer helpful feedback on a piece before the writer hits PUBLISH.
All that said, here is my irreverent take on the current state of things in relation to today's conversation:
https://xpcallahan.substack.com/p/962024-814
I’m a writer and photographer from Calcutta/New York and now in Paris.
I write short stories, essays, dabbled in screen plays, take photographs when I’m too lazy to think and obsessed with the perfect chocolate chip cookie— which of course, like God, is a myth.
In short a dilettante.
Substack has been incredible in ways That traditional publishing can’t really help —in that I’ve been able to reach out to other writers and photographers who need my guidance. I love being able to be a part of a young artist’s journey and I wouldn’t have been able to offer this outside an organization or institution.
For me, it’s certainly the community aspect that is most precious , more than sharing my own work. But I’m glad to be able to come to one platform and get to read Amazing work by amazing writers and photographers and connect with them in the way I haven’t before in other social media.
I’m also very bitchy and cranky and always manage to say the wrong thing .
If you’re interested in any of this , that’s what I do. Come say hi at Bukus.Substack.com
Oh goodness, I’ve been using voice diction and I did not realize this post was full of typos. Apologies.
I'm pretty new to Substack, and I've committed to posting biweekly because I want to make sure I don't lose time for my other writing. For me, writing for Substack has been great, freeing, taking my writing places I never expected to go, and opening myself up to the world around me. Because it's all there to be written about! Which was what I hoped I'd get out of starting my Substack, give myself permission to write about whatever, and to be less worried about the "commas." Please check me out, The Armchair Journalist, https://nancyjainchill.substack.com/.
This is a timely discussion for me, as I started a Substack just recently.
In my case, I was feeling discouraged about submitting to litmags. I'd received a personal rejection on one story that felt worse than a form rejection. I had another story languishing on Submittable for almost a year at Fairy Tale Review. It had already been rejected everywhere else I thought might be a possible fit. It was a story that I loved and was meaningful to me, and I just didn't know where else to send it.
On top of that, it had begun to feel that even if I *did* find someone willing to publish it, probably not all that many people were going to actually read it. And it began to dawn on me that if that was going to be the outcome, maybe I didn't need to spend more time begging editors to publish my story. I could do it myself.
So, I withdrew the story and put it up on my Substack. And I asked my daughter to illustrate it. I'm still certainly submitting work to litmags, but it feels meaningful to me to have set this story aside and collaborated on it with my daughter just before she left for college.
I don't have huge ambitions to monetize my Substack or gain tons of followers. But I like the idea of having a spot to share my writing. photography, art outside of the whole litmag submission process.
I am trying to secure my answer to the questions you brought up. Until recently, my rule was simple: the good pieces go knocking at the lit mags, while the "nah" ones can appear on Substack. However, now that I have paying subscribers (not so many, but they alone have already outpaid the lit mags that published my pieces), I need to figure out how to decide which pieces go where. And it's not only about the money. Obviously, my Substack subscribers are my readers too, and it seems they are more accessible to me, and vice versa.
I publish on this platform and I have stories on hand to submit to lit mags. What I've been publish on here is short (100-200 word count) stories that never found homes in lit mags (reject after reject after reject). I'm also writing a serial story, Harold and Sallie, he's a woodsman who frees her, a fairy, from a tree and it's about the adventures they have. I'd like to eventually puplish those in book form.
I also post updates on my writing in general. And cat pictures. A LOT of cat pictures.
I'm pretty chatty on Notes as well.
The one complaint of Substack I have is the constant vibe of YOU MUST HAVE ALL THE SUBSCRIBERS AND THEY HAVE TO PAY AND YOU HAVE TO BEG BEG BEG.
Um. NO. Don't tell me how to run my stack. I will never have a paywall or charge. I want readers to enjoy my stories. As it is, I don't pay attention to my stats or email open rate or any of that silliness.
I do aim to post something at least once a week.
https://kimhayes.substack.com/
"The one complaint of Substack I have is the constant vibe of YOU MUST HAVE ALL THE SUBSCRIBERS AND THEY HAVE TO PAY AND YOU HAVE TO BEG BEG BEG." I feel the same way.
That is annoying, Liz. And that's the difference between publishing on LiveJournal or WordPress vs on Substack (or Medium), platforms designed to be monetized.
I started my Substack, The Pleasure Principle: Savoring Life After 50, because I am fascinated by pleasure and think others are, too. https://catherinehiller.substack.com/
I publish a personal essay about some aspect of pleasure most Tuesdays at 11:11. I’ve written about watching water and pedicures and vindication and the big O. I adore the absolute freedom I have on Substack as to subject and style. I impose the deadline on myself for the discipline and to keep drawing from the well.
My audience only really grows when I get published elsewhere. After an article about going to a Cuddle Party appeared in Huffington Post, I got 150 new subscribers.
I’ve learned that it’s important to write about things that appeal to readers and not just myself. My last post, No FaceTime: No Thanks https://catherinehiller.substack.com/p/no-facetime got a higher open rate than any other post.
I've been writing on the Stack for almost 2 years now. I joined to open a direct communication line with readers in a format that was "free-er" than the troubled social media options. I don't post fiction here, but I link to stories published in other places (often they are free to read). It has been liberating to write short articles, share learnings, craft tips and interact with people, and it has improved my writing "flexibility", stretching the non-fiction muscles.
I've been using Substack for about a year but only really been *using* it for the last month or so. I imported some existing subscribers from another newsletter, then populated my substack website without sending emails with existing work from elsewhere (mostly Medium).
Since July 30, which is about when I started pushing out newsletters, I've gone from 455 subscribers to 606. I lost about 30 or so when I first started, probably because they were unhappy seeing me push out a lot of political stuff. I was okay with that because if you don't like my politics you won't like my fiction, either.
I post a mix of essays and fiction. Today I pushed out Chapter Six of a novel I self-published on Amazon. I have another novel out that is not self-published. I don't have any excerpts for that.
I also drop excerpts of my newly finished novel that I'm trying to sell to traditional publishers.
So, yeah, I use Substack a lot for fiction.
My substack is at https://www.ruminato.com/
I set up my own domain name. It's fast and easy with Cloudflare, and they don't charge for the first year if you go through Substack to set it up.
I have found that by following people who comment on my comments on other stacks, they often subscribe. If they comment on my articles and/or stories, I always follow and always reply. If I have thousands of subscribers, I won't be able to do that, but right now I still can.
Substack is much better for me than Medium for fiction. I have about 3,000 followers on Medium but it works better for nonfiction.
I prefer it over lit mags because lit mags might get 3,000 submissions, make me wait a few months, then reject. This is instantaneous. I'm not getting any younger!
Thank you for this question — it's something I've been thinking about so much, and it's nice to have it raised and have a chance to see others' thoughts on it.
I've been trying to think through what might come from being published in a literary journal that doesn't come from publishing on Substack. When I was submitting fiction to journals, I think that I was hoping for three things:
— First, to have the writing be read, and the ideas etc in it shared if they seemed likely to be of value to others
— Second, to be published in the company of other writers whose work I admired, and maybe in that way be part of a literary conversation and a literary community.
— Third, to get some kind of external confirmation that the writing was of value as writing, ie as art.
Honestly, I'm not sure now that publication in a journal would offer more of any of that than publication here on Substack has. I've been writing here for about 9 months, and the whole experience has been so, so much better than I dreamed it might be.
I've been publishing literary essays, not fiction, which is an entirely new form for me, and that I wouldn't have thought before this. They're being read, and a couple of people have said that they sometimes read them aloud to their spouses over breakfast and discuss them together.
Writers I admire are providing external reassurance about the quality, and the conversations and community are happening.
So I guess I wonder — is there anything not thinking of? Because for right now, at least, I'm not sure what more could come from a lit mag except payment, and most of the ones I read don't pay their writers.
I've wondered a little about publishing in non-literary publications, but that's a whole different topic perhaps…
Thanks again for the question, and the opportunity to think out loud a little.
I recently opted for creating a simple standalone website for my writing on Wix, providing notice of new posts via Facebook and X. It can be found here:
eddierothreader.com
It is intended for "friends and interested acquaintences" and rather than inviting comments, it has a "blurb" page, which hasn't caught on. Wix has analytics providing a count and locale of those who click on any of your offerings. My readership count so far has resided in the mid two figures (40 to 60 per week), which is better than I expected and I find to be fully satisfying.
If it catches on more, that would be fine, but either way I have a handsome outlet for my work, which is its own considerable satisfaction.
This modest form of self publishing, because it is so accessible, should become more widespread, and it occurs to me that there are productive opportunities to connect it to the traditional literary magazine submission process: Rather than providing the cryptic rejection letter of encouragement, literary editors should consider establishing a formal system of commendation for writers of works that are admired but not accepted for publication, with permission granted to the writer to note the commendation on their self publishing site. So in addition to being able to say the writer''s work has appeared in the Such and Such magazine, the writer could say their work has "been commended by" the such and such magazine. They are reading the piece anyway, and some provide an extra boost in the rejection letter, why not formalize that as a form of encouragement for, say, the top 10 percent of submissions?
I started my substack about 6 months ago with the thought of including many of my previously published flash fiction pieces, poems, and short stories -- which I have. I am now writing memoirs and essays that I truly enjoy. I have a very small following, and few subscribers. Everything I offer is free, and I'm not sure whether I will charge for any of my writing. So much of my time had been spent looking for just the right place to send my pieces and then waiting for an acceptance or rejection. Just wasn't worth it for me. Although I always liked that my work was being validated. Now I write what I want, when I want, and am satisfied and grateful for the audience. I really love substack for giving me the opportunity to showcase my work. Thanks Substack.
Since I'm always searching for places to publish my writing, I often come across zines perched on free Weebly or free Wix platforms. (The dead give-away is that Wix or Weebly is part of the URL.) I will always pass these up. Lately I've also seen literary journals perched on Substack or on Medium - - both meant to be monetizing platforms for the owners / editors / curators. Nope. No, thank you.
You don't say why . . . .
Luanne, have you ever followed a person's Substack for free, only to discover there are more and more followers - - and it's being monetized - - and you (i.e., a "free subscriber") are up against a paywall?
Once a Substack site is being monetized, content will be hidden from those who refuse to commit to a paid subscription.
OK, so now you've submitted your writing to a lit mag on Substack and it's parked there, like a luscious honeybun attracting viewers. Are you - - "the content provider" - - getting a share of this lit mag's revenue? Probably not.
So why do it?
One exception to this is Short Story, Long (on Substack). They pay writers and artists. I believe the stories are free to read, and subscribers have access to interviews with the authors about the stories. :)
https://ashortstorylong.substack.com/about
Sounds fair, Melissa - - paying the short story writers and not restricting the readership.
The Dread Machine (EIC Monica Louzon) used to be like that - - until in 2024 when they became very unfair. I've never submitted to them. I've heard the griping and grievances via private writing groups I belong to.
* * * Everyone: avoid The Dread Machine.
That's the same issue with submitting writing to print publications, too - only more so, because print journals can be very hard to track down copies of once they've shipped. Do you also refuse to submit to print journals? (Not being snarky, just curious 😊.)
Davi, my literary work has been published since I was 9 years old - - - when only PRINT journals existed. I've always received my contributor's copy.
Recently, Hedge Apple made an error and shipped empty envelopes to some contributors - - but they corrected the error and made sure we all rec'd our copies. Maybe I did not understand your question.....?
OK, so the issue you have is not getting *any* compensation for your story and not being able to access its published form yourself despite being the contributor. That makes sense! Thanks.
Yes, Davi, that's the issue.