Substack for Fiction Writers

I discovered Substack quite on accident not too long ago. Someone I subscribe to (for research purposes) had recently converted their entire email newsletter from being one about sharing her writing journey using a service like Mailchimp (I honestly don’t remember which she was using before) to now sharing even more intimate and interesting real-life stories that read like fiction but aren’t. I noticed the change because the layout was completely different when I opened her email.

As I said, I subscribed for research reasons. If you don’t know by now, a lot of what I do comes from being inspired by the work of others. I discovered using Mailchimp as a means to start a newsletter because certain YouTubers I followed years ago had an email newsletter and I signed up. When it came time for me to feel the need to have a newsletter I simply went back to those I had signed up for and noticed they all were using the same service. I go into more details on this with my Power of Recognition post you should check out.

Anyway, I noticed her email looked different and the content was short and simple, and clean looking. Just her logo, her story, and that’s it. She might have added a little blurb about the switch in there as well. I instantly found myself asking, “what is this?” And from that point forward I was lurking on the Substack website doing what I do best and most often; research.

The first thing I noticed was both the simplicity of design and usability. I was able to create an account and understand the inner workings of it very well. And while I can easily create a post from within the site, I learned my lesson from being burned one too many times by WordPress to do that ever again. So, let’s see how Substack works and how a writer (like myself) can use it:

COMMON USE CASES

I’ve noticed there aren’t that many “writing” or “fiction” substacks on here which can be both good and bad. I’m not sure how long this site has been in existence so there is a possibility that it’s just not as widely known? I would suggest reading about my thoughts on whether or not it can replace using an email service like Mailchimp here. But here are the types of substacks I’ve found and I’m “subscribed” to:

1. Fiction | If you are writing a series of poems, short stories, or even a web serial. That can just as easily be done here as it can be in a place like Wattpad or Medium. Of course, those two sites are much more well-known than Substack but they have issues that a lot of people I’m sure would love to separate themselves from and this might be a great home for them.

2. Writing Journey | Using this as a substitute email newsletter is a possibility as well. Just keep in mind that, unlike your newsletter, you can’t really monitor who is reading your posts so there might be some personal things you would normally divulge in a newsletter to a list you know about than on Substack where someone who finds you can opt to read your stuff first before deciding if they want to subscribe or not.

3. How-To’s/Instructional/Opinion | Like Medium, there are many “article” type substacks that are specific to writing. Those who have been in the business as either editors or publishers or writers sharing their thoughts and tips on how to navigate the industry. But in many ways, I feel Substack is far superior to Medium because it doesn’t have a paywall the way Medium does. With Substack you can if you want to, put your writing behind a paywall, but they don’t force you to and you decide which posts are free and which aren’t. With Medium, the entire site whether you like it or not is behind a paywall with very limited readability access. I hate that they changed to that model actually and love that Substack is a much more freeing option.

USER INTERFACE

Built for writers and that’s the beginning and ending selling point here. Unlike services like Patreon or even Medium, Substack is clearly just for writers to write. It’s clean. It’s not harsh on the eyes at all and for both the writer and the reader it’s not much of a hassle to use. Case in point, for many who use Patreon, the site is clunky and difficult to manage and before you know it (because I’ve done this already myself) you’re quickly finding a way to communicate to your patrons where else they can go to get the tier reward content you promised them. I instantly took a dislike to my update on the site so I found myself doing it elsewhere. Then, when it came to sharing chapters I didn’t want to copy/paste it into Patreon so I set up a “paywall” on my actual site where a patron will have to be signed into their account that will then link to my site and give them access to that content. It’s many hoops that someone who may not have a WordPress account, know how to navigate plugins, or want the hassle that comes with all that, will want to undertake every time they want to share something with a paid patron. And with Substack writers no longer have to.

Trust me, the very idea of needing to send someone elsewhere by funneling them through Substack will never be an issue or concern. Especially, since the email, your subscribers will get is just so freaking clean and pretty to look at. Honestly, that was what struck me the most when I received a Substack email for the first time.

MONETIZATION

I am not (currently) using my newly created Substack for monetization purposes. I want to build an audience first and consider that later. But that doesn’t mean the option to monetize isn’t there and isn’t oh so simple. There are no “tiers” to manage what rewards go to which level. It’s plain and simple. You write posts. Some of them are FREE for everyone and some of them are for those who pay monthly or annually. They even have a Lifetime option as well (I think…). And again, it all comes down to that user interface and usability that really hits home for me on making the decision whether or not I want to turn on the paywall or not. For services like Medium or Patreon, you have no option. If you want to write on there or use those platforms then you must connect to a payment service, whether or not your intent is to provide paid content. But by not having the option I am being forced into a model I may not feel ready for and with a place like Substack, it is really making me second guess what Patreon can be for writers (more on my thoughts here in another post for sure).

SOME NOTABLE CONS

Just because I’m waxing poetic about Substack doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some issues with it that I think can easily be fixed, though I wonder if there isn’t some hidden reason why these features don’t exist?

UPDATE: Substack does have a “Reader BETA” that you get to by going to “My Account” and then View Profile. Click on your avatar in the top right and select Reader Beta. While this page is close to what I’m looking for it’s not quite there yet. It’s missing an easy way to get to it. I still have to click one too many times to get to My Profile. Also, while it does list all of the posts for the day and previous days in a nice “feed” view, it doesn’t show the whole post and when I click on someone I’m following on the left-hand side it takes me to their page. I’d love it if clicking on someone I’m following would simply propagate all of their posts in the feed. Or at least the last 3 - 5 posts.

1. A Feed | I’m honestly surprised that, unlike Patreon or Medium, Substack, from what I can tell, doesn’t have a feed where I can easily read all of the “stacks” I’ve subscribed to? How convenient would it be if I could maybe go to my “Profile” page that so neatly shares the Substacks I subscribe to already, but it goes the extra step of including at least the last thing they posted for me to read? And a convenient “Subscribe” button for someone else who may visit my profile to see who I’m following or what I may be writing myself and they can just as easily subscribe from my profile page? It’s just a great way to not only share myself but to share others who are worth the read. So yeah, a feed would be great!

2. App | This would sort of go hand in hand with what I just said with the feed. While having an app for searchability would be great, the app would really be more for readers to read all of their subscribed things in one central area and for us writers to be able to write a post “on the go” or on our mobile devices without the use of Safari or some other web browser.

Now, I know there are ways around not having a feed on the site or an app on my iPhone that I fully intend on sharing how I do it, but I’d love for Substack to solve these things for me instead of my having to use a workaround in the first place.

You could also argue that everything we subscribe to is being sent to our email inbox which is the key point to Substack so why bother giving us the option of not checking our inbox for the latest post? Let me get back to you on my argument to that...

With Substack Grow, I hope to get an invitation to the community so I can bring these ideas (and more) to the table and hopefully be a part of helping to make it a platform worth bragging about to all of my writer friends.