lessons learned from the list

what is it and why it's the best resource fiction writers will ever need

I look before I leap
I love margins and discipline
I make lists in my sleep baby
What's my sin?
Never quit
I follow through

- Joanne from Rent (Take Me or Leave Me)

On June 4th, 2023 for reasons I can’t quite remember, I made the crazy decision to create a master directory of all fiction Substacks. And I don’t expect you to know this, but I love lists. No, I mean it. Every aspect of my life can be boiled down to my collection of lists. Whether spreadsheets or bullet points. On average, I would say I create 3 - 5 lists a day! A day, people! Get it? Got it? Good.

Now that we got “Erica’s Crazy” out of the way, let us proceed…

---

Over the course of two weeks I was given names, and I personally sought out names, within the depths of Substack before the list surpassed 200! I examined, poked, prodded, dissected, and all but committed to memory, each and every single one that is now on the list. Does that now make me an expert? Have I done the impossible and uncovered the secrets behind what makes some Substacks far larger and more active than others? Maybe yes, and maybe no. But I’m not one to keep all that I’ve learned to myself or stick it behind a paywall. That’s just not me. I also can’t dedicate time to put together a zoom call and invite you all so I can verbally share what I’ve learned. I honestly don’t think you’d want me to do that, cause as my wife is always telling me, I talk too damn much and take too damn long to “get to the point!” Take this post I’m writing as an example!

So, let’s start with some basic information first.

WHAT IS the list?

A directory of every “active” fiction Substack today. Two key points to keep in mind here: 1. In order to confirm a Substack is actively writing fiction is not as easy as you may think, it requires I check each and every one. This won’t happen daily. This check (as of right now) will happen every 3 months to make sure the list remains as up to date and current as possible. 2. It’s a living, breathing document. I’m constantly adding to the list almost on a daily basis as I discover new Substacks that write fiction or I’m told by a third party or directly.

I created the list for my own selfish reasons as a way to do my own research from the smallest to the largest. What they may be doing right, what I might steal along the way for my own Substack, and as always, what great storytelling I could discover as well.

In the end, the list is whatever you want to get out of it. Whether it’s just to be on it among your peers or to do your own granular level of research to bring back to your own machinations, the choice is yours.

If you haven’t seen the list, please click the button below. It’s all created and maintained using Notion:

WHAT CAN YOU FIND ON the list?

I’ve told you about who you can find; fiction writers. A pretty broad definition there, as it can literally be any kind of fiction. But there are some key pieces of information I feel that every fiction writer, especially those of us using Substack, should have visible on our pages in order to make the visit for newcomers as easy as possible. It’s these pieces of information that I’m tracking on the list and here they are broken down for you:

Name: (Last, First) Some people might think the publication name should be most important but I feel it all starts and ends with the name. Whether it’s a pen name or your real name, it’s the name that will be searched and Googled to possibly find out more about you on the internet. Like your social media, websites, etc. If you don’t want to share your government (full legal name) that’s totally fine but you want to make sure whatever name you go by, it’s the same across everything you use. Your name is your brand. Some of us are not so lucky that we can be like Nike or Apple where the name of the business is the brand. For the majority of us it all starts and ends with our name.

Publication Name: Next up is the name of your Substack. Now, I’m a firm believer that what you offer or share or do creatively should be in your Substack name. It doesn’t help to be so unique and different that a person who happens across your Substack may not click into it because they have absolutely NO idea what you’re about based on the far too unique name you’ve got. It’s ok to be blunt and direct with your name if it means the difference between 10/10 visitors subscribing and only 5/10 because the name just doesn’t make sense.

Logo: Not on the list but I wanted to mention it here. A picture is worth just as much weight as your name and publication. People read and experience the world with their eyes. Using your face works but if you’re going to use a logo with words, make sure it’s legible cause Substack can make things pretty small.

Short description: It’s so very important that you use keywords. If you write fiction say it! I understand, again, wanting to be flowery and different and all that. But save that for your emails. Want subscribers? Tell them what you do! I cannot tell you how many fiction Substacks go unnoticed because they’re not using the right keywords in their description.

Paid/Free/Both: It’s important to let your readers know what they can expect in terms of, free vs paid or a mix of both. I recommend putting this information in your About page and Welcome email. This way you can be informative to those who happen upon your Substack homepage and to those who sign-up expecting one thing but possibly getting something completely different. Again, this is a place where being mysterious is not ideal.

Format: We are all storytellers but we don’t all share it in the same way. Some of us like to write really short stories. Others want to release chapters. And then there are the storytellers through illustration and comics. Whatever format you use, again, let your prospective reader know in your About page and Welcome email. Another great idea is to use the Substack Sections feature to designate what kind of fiction goes together so navigation is easy to understand as well.

Genre: This might seem like a no-brainer, but you may be surprised to learn that less than 25% of the list actually say somewhere, anywhere, on their Substack what kind of fiction they write. Using cryptic words or images as hints, again, is not the way to go. If you write sci-fi, say it. If you love gore, say it. If you’re all about that romance, tell me! What are you hiding your preferred genre to write in for? It won’t stop someone from eventually finding out and then feeling cheated or frustrated that it’s not what they thought. Save mystery for your story if that’s what you’re into, but not here. Again, put this kind of information in your About page and Welcome email.

Frequency: Probably one of the most important pieces of information that I feel less than 10% of us know or if we do know it, don’t say it anywhere. Why? I know it’s hard to commit. Believe me. No one flakes or misses a deadline more than me. It’s tough. But you gotta do it. You gotta set some sort of expectation with your subscriber and then do whatever is needed to meet that expectation. If you promise a chapter a week, deliver it. If you promise one short story a month, deliver it! And if that is your schedule, for Pete’s sake, could you do me a favor and say it somewhere? You already know where I’m going to say this sort of information should go but in case you need me to repeat it; About page and Welcome email!

THINGS I NOTICED WHILE EXAMINING 200+ SUBSTACKS

• We have collectively taken the phrase “less is more” much too literally. Yes, less is more when we are writing our fiction. But NOT when we are trying to introduce ourselves and our work to others. It’s frustrating me to the point of my eye twitching with how often the information that I feel is so basic to include is just nowhere to be found. I shouldn’t have to spend more than five minutes looking over a Substack to find answers to questions I want to know. Especially if it means the difference between getting me to subscribe to you or not. I’m doing it because I’m trying to fill out the list. I can guarantee you, someone else is not going to spend that kind of time. They are going to give up and move on without subscribing to you.

• Fiction is going nowhere! I often hear how no one reads fiction and it’s a waste of time, especially for indie authors, to try and self-publish “in today’s market” but seeing how many tens of thousands of subscribers are subscribed to people who aren’t the Brandon Sanderson’s of the fiction world here on Substack is comforting to me. I love to see the big pies. The bigger the better. It means there is more than enough to go around for the little guys. And my list is barely scratching the surface of how many fiction writers there truly are on Substack sharing their fiction with the world.

• Incomplete or default is not a good look. I know we are all busy. We start a Substack, we start writing things. We send emails. It’s not anything like Mailchimp (although that has its own special skillset that users need to learn in order to maximize its potential) but it does have it’s own particular set of bells and whistles. We don’t need to use all of them but we should know what they are and we definitely shouldn’t rely on the default information that Substack puts there for us to consider our Substack “finished” by any means. Take the time to really examine your Substack. If you create a Section, make sure you fill in a description for it so people know why that Section exists. We all have a Welcome email, do yourself a favor and update it so it’s not the carbon copy that I see used way too often. And if you’re overwhelmed by the fact that there are multiple types of headers and footers (especially if you have paid subscriptions turned on) do what I do and copy/paste the free header/footer you created into all of the others. Fast and easy. Same thing goes for the About page. Too many of us just aren’t bothering to put anything there. I’ve even seem some Substacks turn off seeing the About page altogether. Big mistake. If you want advice on how to spruce up your About page, stay tuned because I will have a breakdown of how you can write one that does everything it should.

• I’m sure

  John Ward
  will appreciate this statement: I see too much “subscribe to everyone” happening but a severe lack of community or communication within each Substack. Speaking for myself, I’ve had people subscribe to me with 800+ other substack subscriptions! Seriously?! I know there is such a thing as doing research. And maybe, maybe, they intend on unsubscribing to a majority of those over time. But whenever I see that number I feel like that’s a person who has very little value for the work being produced or for their own time. This isn’t a competition. Substack is not Twitter or Instagram. Your status is not judged based on how many Substacks you’re subscribed to. If anything, I see that and I cringe inside because I know that person isn’t going to see, let alone read, my work. The work I spend a lot of time making the best it can be. That person (and others like them) are going to bring down my view count and average percentages considerably. Sometimes I wish Substack didn’t make this number visible, especially in the new subscriber emails. It does nothing for me except to give me self-doubt that I have to perform over and above 800+ other people I don’t even know in the hopes that my email will be seen and read out of all the rest.

LESSONS I HOPE YOU’LL LEARN FROM the list

• Substack is a marathon. Along the way there will be hurdles to jump, mountains to climb, oceans to swim. You’ll miss deadlines. Make typos (oh so many typos). Change direction. Change publication names (I plead the fifth here…). But remember every change or mistake you make is a lesson learned and a chance to do it better the next time. If you mess up, no one is going to point fingers or play the shame game. And if they do, send them to me! This is supposed to be a fun experience of growth. If you’re not enjoying this journey, take a step back, reevaluate, and try to remember what made you so excited to write on Substack in the first place.

• Make connections and friendships. With the introduction of Substack Notes I’ve managed to meet other like-minded individuals that I don’t mind admitting I would never have met if not for Notes. Those connections will hopefully lead towards so many new opportunities for collaboration that would never have happened otherwise. Be open to new possibilities (however they come about) and be genuine in those connections when you make them.

• I AM NOT A GURU! I don’t have thousands of subscribers. Sure, I’ve had a newsletter for nearly two decades of my life but have done very little with it in that time till now. I have ZERO paid subscribers. All I am sharing is from experiences I’m currently having and living through right now. My opinion may change in a year, a month, a week, heck, tomorrow! Substack might (and they’ve done this countless times so you may quote me here) up and release the most game-changing thing we’ve ever seen that will render all that I thought I knew about Substack obsolete. I AM A GUIDE! I can only tell you what I know from what I’ve observed so far. If that helps you in some small way then that is a win for me.

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW TO USE the list TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

I wish I could say the list is 100% finished. It likely never will be as it’s difficult to get everyone to put all of the information I need in their Substack. This means we’ll never have as accurate a picture as I would like to do any real conclusive research but we can do the best with what we have!

So, I suggest you open a blank note on your computer or get a scratch pad and pen because from this point forward you’ll need to rely on your own keen sense of observation. Before you get started, I suggest you know what already works for you and what you’d like to tweak. It’s homework and learning time!

Answering the Paid vs Free vs Both question:

I know many of you, myself included, often wonder how to handle whether to make our stuff free all the time, paid all the time, or a mix of both? How does that work? What does it look like? So many layers to peel away from this onion. I would filter to those who are PAID or BOTH and do some investigating into their Substacks.

I want to write a serial but have no idea where to begin:

It’s one thing to say you want to release a serial on your Substack. But ask any veteran serial writer, it’s not a beast to reckon with unless you are thoroughly prepared. And I can think of no better way to prepare than to see the good, bad, and ugly of the serials currently within Substack today. There are many, so you might want to first filter the Format, then the Genre, and for an added bonus, check and see if any of those are FREE vs PAID vs BOTH and discover their how and why within their Substacks.

I write poetry or I illustrate and share comics, am I the only one:

No, no, and a resounding no! You are definitely not the only one. There are so many of you out there and I’m adding many more all the time. Go find your people and connect. Some of them are not only out there but really successful at what they are doing! Time to put on your learning caps and get to work!

How do I make myself look and feel more like my genre:

I must say I am impressed at what a difference the right color or images used can make towards giving the impression that someone writes Sci-Fi or Romance or even Comedy. It’s all in how you present yourself on your Homepage. Filter within the Genre section and then take a peak behind the curtain of those Substacks.

A MESSAGE TO THOSE READING THIS WHO ARE ON the list

Psst, you, yeah you, cool person already on the list. Congratulations! I am proud of you. We are all proud of you. But, and however, consider this a warning (a gentle one) that because of the existence of the list there will be fellow writers coming to your Substack with a lens of learning on, as well as readers expecting to discover gems they didn’t know existed. The time has come to spruce up the place! Get out your broom and dustpan. Put on your “get messy” clothes and your favorite tunes cause it’s time we all did some serious seasonal cleaning. And I can think of no better time to do that than RIGHT NOW! So, go!

But read my one last thing first. Then go. You hooligans!

ONE LAST THING

I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I didn’t at least mention the fact that my newsletter is paid. If you upgrade to paid then it means you:

1. Support my work (both fiction and non-fiction).

2. Get access to my 100 Word Stories archive. They go behind a paywall one month later.

3. Will receive a Hardcover Special Edition collection of my 100 Word Stories that will feature well over 100 stories and so much more! Monthly subscribers must be paid for at least 6 months. US only for monthly/annual subscribers. Global shipping available for Founding Members.