I've always been one to try new things. Even as a youngling I was reading fantasy, sci-fi, historical, literary fiction, and the classics. But over time my taste has become more precise, and I've also learned what I like and what I don't. I've stagnated.
I still force myself to try new genres and time periods, but 95% of the time it just reminds me why I don't read more of that. I wish this wasn't the case, but I'm in the camp of readers who've eaten a few too many poison berries and now are afraid of the unknown.
Yes, I'm the same way myself, though my aversions are more temporal that genre-based. I've tasted so many bad berries in contemporary work that I have come to distrust almost everything written in the current millennium, something I wrote about recently (https://gmbaker.substack.com/p/why-does-contemporary-fiction-not).
Part of my marketing troubles could also come from the fact that I write in a 20th century style which is increasingly removed from 21st century style with its fixation of close POV and first person narration.
Lots of valuable points there Mark. I just started a substack with a goal to start publishing when I retire in a few years. Good to know the challenges.
Subscribed. Good luck with the newsletter. I can say with some confidence that the challenges will be completely different in a few years. I say this based on all the marketing strategies recommended by people who started a few years back which clearly worked then and clearly don't work now.
Thanks Mark for subscribing and the valuable experience you have offered in this article. Marketing my substack is currently a bit of a black box. Haven't quite figured it out yet.
Thank you for this nutritious essay filled with tasty musings. It started as a "do's and dont's" of marketing but wandered into all sorts of interesting asides. I wanted to read this piece, based on the title, because I too am at my wits' end when it comes to building an audience on Substack. My own substack, thenaturepreserve.substack.com, will be a year old in two days. It mainly exists due to all the things you said about trying to sell a novel conventionally. I went through a wasted year of due diligence with agents and publishers and getting nowhere despite, if I say so myself, my excellent, well-crafted submissions. I'm guilty! I wrote The Nature Preserve, without identifying a market for it, not because I'm stupid but because I'm hopelessly romantic, and by that I don't mean I write Romance, RH or SAM. I mean that I hold onto the romantic notion that literature is an art form that is ever-evolving, and publishers and agents, if they really cared about literature, would not be simply trying to cover off on tried and true formulas, but looking out for new and intriguing voices that don't fit into the usual tired categories. Yes, I created my product first. I do not have a clear genre and I am not tuned into a signal. It was that "left field" thing I was counting on. My hope in going digital was that somebody somewhere would read installments of my novel on substack and reach out with the keys to the publishing kingdom or, failing that, an enthusiastic audience would emerge for me right here which I could parlay into even better, more far-reaching literary experiments.
I'm putting out my second serial novel now, Real Voices, a comedy set in a sort of hyperbolic San Francisco, and I have to say I'm getting a bit discouraged about all of the stuff you mentioned. I, luckily or unluckily, have managed to gain a few dedicated readers and it's because of them I keep banging away. When it comes to writing newsletters and essays as a means of self promotion I'm not a fan though I've done a few. I agree with Chekhov that it's the business of an artist to ask questions not to answer them. I like your thought that fiction is about "getting at the inexpressible itness." I'm with you on that, and I am appreciative of your diligence and your struggle. I guess I have to accept that I exist among the "blithe and artsy." There's no clear path. For now, all I can do is carry on.
Wandering into all kinds of (hopefully) interesting asides seem to be my brand. :-) Congratulations on only wasting a year on agents and publishers. I wasted 15. Hopefully you will be similarly quick in picking up the right signal for your work. Good luck!
Glad to know I am not alone in this. I'm wondering if the idea of the newsletter as the ideal form of marketing is really as general as it is made to sound. I often find that if you trace some of the great generalities of the literary market back to their source they really only seem to apply to specific niches, particularly the high-volume romance market. I'm convinced that the book market is not one market at all, but dozens of smaller markets in which quite different strategies may apply.
I agree and Substack is yet another marketplace. I have paid newsletter subscribers, so I see my newsletter as another written product I produce now instead of a marketing tactic. To me, it’s now about discovery, connection, expanding the minds of my readers, and offering them monthly written value. If they happen to also buy one of my novels, great.
The danger I find for me with the newsletter also is that it takes time away from finishing books, but I ultimately think it’s worth it because I love writing it and people seem to enjoy reading it. So even if it slows my book output, it’s a worthwhile trade.
Yes, that is pretty much where I am with the newsletter and the books. Not one thing supporting the other but two separate things in two separate markets. Still considering whether to go pain on the newsletter, but it makes sense if I view it as a separate offering.
The question of time is a good one too, but I've never been one to go straight from one book into another, so doing the newsletter between books works for me.
I limit myself to one Substack a week, otherwise I could get totally sucked in and do it every day as I really enjoy blogging. The once a week schedule makes sure I still have lots of time to work on new books.
I've always been one to try new things. Even as a youngling I was reading fantasy, sci-fi, historical, literary fiction, and the classics. But over time my taste has become more precise, and I've also learned what I like and what I don't. I've stagnated.
I still force myself to try new genres and time periods, but 95% of the time it just reminds me why I don't read more of that. I wish this wasn't the case, but I'm in the camp of readers who've eaten a few too many poison berries and now are afraid of the unknown.
Yes, I'm the same way myself, though my aversions are more temporal that genre-based. I've tasted so many bad berries in contemporary work that I have come to distrust almost everything written in the current millennium, something I wrote about recently (https://gmbaker.substack.com/p/why-does-contemporary-fiction-not).
Part of my marketing troubles could also come from the fact that I write in a 20th century style which is increasingly removed from 21st century style with its fixation of close POV and first person narration.
Lots of valuable points there Mark. I just started a substack with a goal to start publishing when I retire in a few years. Good to know the challenges.
Subscribed. Good luck with the newsletter. I can say with some confidence that the challenges will be completely different in a few years. I say this based on all the marketing strategies recommended by people who started a few years back which clearly worked then and clearly don't work now.
Thanks Mark for subscribing and the valuable experience you have offered in this article. Marketing my substack is currently a bit of a black box. Haven't quite figured it out yet.
If you do figure it out, let me know. 😉 I may have some Canadian history questions for a novel I have in mind.
Be glad to help Mark. Been doing the research for my articles for 5 years now, aside from my studies at Waterloo.
Really insightful thoughts!
Thank you for this nutritious essay filled with tasty musings. It started as a "do's and dont's" of marketing but wandered into all sorts of interesting asides. I wanted to read this piece, based on the title, because I too am at my wits' end when it comes to building an audience on Substack. My own substack, thenaturepreserve.substack.com, will be a year old in two days. It mainly exists due to all the things you said about trying to sell a novel conventionally. I went through a wasted year of due diligence with agents and publishers and getting nowhere despite, if I say so myself, my excellent, well-crafted submissions. I'm guilty! I wrote The Nature Preserve, without identifying a market for it, not because I'm stupid but because I'm hopelessly romantic, and by that I don't mean I write Romance, RH or SAM. I mean that I hold onto the romantic notion that literature is an art form that is ever-evolving, and publishers and agents, if they really cared about literature, would not be simply trying to cover off on tried and true formulas, but looking out for new and intriguing voices that don't fit into the usual tired categories. Yes, I created my product first. I do not have a clear genre and I am not tuned into a signal. It was that "left field" thing I was counting on. My hope in going digital was that somebody somewhere would read installments of my novel on substack and reach out with the keys to the publishing kingdom or, failing that, an enthusiastic audience would emerge for me right here which I could parlay into even better, more far-reaching literary experiments.
I'm putting out my second serial novel now, Real Voices, a comedy set in a sort of hyperbolic San Francisco, and I have to say I'm getting a bit discouraged about all of the stuff you mentioned. I, luckily or unluckily, have managed to gain a few dedicated readers and it's because of them I keep banging away. When it comes to writing newsletters and essays as a means of self promotion I'm not a fan though I've done a few. I agree with Chekhov that it's the business of an artist to ask questions not to answer them. I like your thought that fiction is about "getting at the inexpressible itness." I'm with you on that, and I am appreciative of your diligence and your struggle. I guess I have to accept that I exist among the "blithe and artsy." There's no clear path. For now, all I can do is carry on.
Wandering into all kinds of (hopefully) interesting asides seem to be my brand. :-) Congratulations on only wasting a year on agents and publishers. I wasted 15. Hopefully you will be similarly quick in picking up the right signal for your work. Good luck!
Feel the same way about the newsletter situation as an author.
Glad to know I am not alone in this. I'm wondering if the idea of the newsletter as the ideal form of marketing is really as general as it is made to sound. I often find that if you trace some of the great generalities of the literary market back to their source they really only seem to apply to specific niches, particularly the high-volume romance market. I'm convinced that the book market is not one market at all, but dozens of smaller markets in which quite different strategies may apply.
I agree and Substack is yet another marketplace. I have paid newsletter subscribers, so I see my newsletter as another written product I produce now instead of a marketing tactic. To me, it’s now about discovery, connection, expanding the minds of my readers, and offering them monthly written value. If they happen to also buy one of my novels, great.
The danger I find for me with the newsletter also is that it takes time away from finishing books, but I ultimately think it’s worth it because I love writing it and people seem to enjoy reading it. So even if it slows my book output, it’s a worthwhile trade.
Yes, that is pretty much where I am with the newsletter and the books. Not one thing supporting the other but two separate things in two separate markets. Still considering whether to go pain on the newsletter, but it makes sense if I view it as a separate offering.
The question of time is a good one too, but I've never been one to go straight from one book into another, so doing the newsletter between books works for me.
I limit myself to one Substack a week, otherwise I could get totally sucked in and do it every day as I really enjoy blogging. The once a week schedule makes sure I still have lots of time to work on new books.
> If you have enjoyed my novels, could you send me a list of the other novels you have read this year, and of your favorite books of all time?
I can tell you since you asked, but I am not sure if you will find much signal in it.
Books I read this year
- Joel on Software, by Joel Spolsky
- Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
- Circe, by Madeline Miller
- Jirel of Joiry, by C. L. Moore
- Atomic Habits, by James Clear
- Radical Candour, by Scott
- Mad Investor Chaos and the Woman of Asmodeus (online story)
- Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, by Dowden
- The Wistful and the Good, by G. M. Baker
- On Tactics, by Clausewitz
- The Face of Battle, by Keegan
- Brains and Bullets, by Murray
- Leaders Eat Last, by Sinek
- Muster, by Eero Tuovenin
- and about 15 old Star Wars novels (I won't list them)
Favourite books of all time
- Impro for Storytellers, by Keith Johnstone
- What Do You Care What Other People Think, by Feynman
- A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken
- Never Let Me Go, by Kazua Ishiguro
Out of those, I suppose the one most similar to your book was Circe, by Miller.
Thank you. This is a considerable service and I am grateful for it. I shall start by looking up Circe. Thanks again!