Interesting that the assumption here is that the serialization is of an otherwise unpublished novel. In my case I am serializing a novel that came out just at a point in my life when family issues needed all my attention, and so got little promotion. I thought I'd see if exposing readers to it in small stages encourages them to be 'impatient' and buy it. I don't know yet if the idea works, because the buy link is to a indie site that reports quarterly. But I lose nothing by doing it & perhaps pick up a few readers for all my books through it. An experiment.
I'm still debating whether to serialize the work in progress when I feel it's reached an appropriate point, because I will not change my style to 'fit' what may best for serialization.
Not an oversight - I suspect the majority of serialized fiction here is unpublished in book form.
I haven’t wanted to change anything, but then I haven’t considered it either; I have a policy that, except for typographical errors or significant errors of continuity, I don’t rework the books. If I post just an excerpt, those I will edit as needed to make them stand alone as a vignette or short story, but that change is only for the excerpt. The books are published, out in the world, and I’d rather work on the next ones than modify the previous.
Slower than I'd like, but it's getting there. I spend an hour yesterday chasing down access to information I really needed (Avicenna on the Causes and Signs of Stroke) - which I finally found...but then realized it opened another area of inquiry that I really need an answer to - but that's the joy of historical (or historical-adjacent) fiction .
I'm serializing my crime novel here on Substack. I'm primarily doing this for a final edit before I query, but I would live to get readers engaged and providing feedback. No luck on that yet, but I'm publishing a chapter a day so, crossing my fingers.
How long have you been publishing it for? And is it behind or outside the paywall? I do find getting explicit reader feedback difficult beyond ‘this was great!’ or other similar comments. And yet looking at open rates/other back office metrics can be helpful… all that to say, it’s tricky and hang on in there!
I'm on chapter 18, so I've been publishing about a month (I changed from weekly to daily early on). It's free to all!Yeah, it would be nice to engage readers as co-authors of a kind, but I don't know if those kind of readers are out there.
Ahh yeah it suddenly dawned on me recently how long my serial would take if I published only weekly…! A long, long time (I plan to wrap it up as a book). Kudos to you for doing daily instalments!
There are a few that have readers of that kind on here but I can’t call them to mind just now - some even have their readers vote for the ending they want to happen and then write accordingly! I’ll put it out as a Note to tag some people in and see if we can find out!
I've come to realise my serial is far too long and deep for Substack. The finished product would be a series of books totalling around 3-4 million words! That would take 20 years of weekly instalments, and there probably won't even be a Substack in 20 years. Then again, allowing say the first episode, or a 50k word length thing, as a promo with the intention of publishing the book(s) traditionally - I think that works as a concept.
So the advice about being clear what you want to do before you start is very, very good indeed.
I was also very glad to hear that agents and publishers don't consider work published on Substack to be 'previously published' - that's a seriously good little tip.
I think the Substack as ‘promo’ idea is a good one - or at least is what I’m intending to do. Some people love to write serials lasting years, but it’s just not for me!
I haven’t shared it with readers yet as I wanted to test the water with the early chapters of my current serial, but my plan is to self-publish/do a kickstarter campaign for the completed novel in time for Christmas 2025.
Interesting that the assumption here is that the serialization is of an otherwise unpublished novel. In my case I am serializing a novel that came out just at a point in my life when family issues needed all my attention, and so got little promotion. I thought I'd see if exposing readers to it in small stages encourages them to be 'impatient' and buy it. I don't know yet if the idea works, because the buy link is to a indie site that reports quarterly. But I lose nothing by doing it & perhaps pick up a few readers for all my books through it. An experiment.
I'm still debating whether to serialize the work in progress when I feel it's reached an appropriate point, because I will not change my style to 'fit' what may best for serialization.
Ooh yes you’re right - it does assume previously unpublished! That’s an oversight on my part.
Have you found that you’ve wanted to make changes as you serialise what you’ve already published or do you have to keep it exactly the same?
Not an oversight - I suspect the majority of serialized fiction here is unpublished in book form.
I haven’t wanted to change anything, but then I haven’t considered it either; I have a policy that, except for typographical errors or significant errors of continuity, I don’t rework the books. If I post just an excerpt, those I will edit as needed to make them stand alone as a vignette or short story, but that change is only for the excerpt. The books are published, out in the world, and I’d rather work on the next ones than modify the previous.
That makes a lot of sense! Hope the work on your current WIP is going well 🥰
Slower than I'd like, but it's getting there. I spend an hour yesterday chasing down access to information I really needed (Avicenna on the Causes and Signs of Stroke) - which I finally found...but then realized it opened another area of inquiry that I really need an answer to - but that's the joy of historical (or historical-adjacent) fiction .
I'm serializing my crime novel here on Substack. I'm primarily doing this for a final edit before I query, but I would live to get readers engaged and providing feedback. No luck on that yet, but I'm publishing a chapter a day so, crossing my fingers.
How long have you been publishing it for? And is it behind or outside the paywall? I do find getting explicit reader feedback difficult beyond ‘this was great!’ or other similar comments. And yet looking at open rates/other back office metrics can be helpful… all that to say, it’s tricky and hang on in there!
I'm on chapter 18, so I've been publishing about a month (I changed from weekly to daily early on). It's free to all!Yeah, it would be nice to engage readers as co-authors of a kind, but I don't know if those kind of readers are out there.
Ahh yeah it suddenly dawned on me recently how long my serial would take if I published only weekly…! A long, long time (I plan to wrap it up as a book). Kudos to you for doing daily instalments!
There are a few that have readers of that kind on here but I can’t call them to mind just now - some even have their readers vote for the ending they want to happen and then write accordingly! I’ll put it out as a Note to tag some people in and see if we can find out!
I've come to realise my serial is far too long and deep for Substack. The finished product would be a series of books totalling around 3-4 million words! That would take 20 years of weekly instalments, and there probably won't even be a Substack in 20 years. Then again, allowing say the first episode, or a 50k word length thing, as a promo with the intention of publishing the book(s) traditionally - I think that works as a concept.
So the advice about being clear what you want to do before you start is very, very good indeed.
I was also very glad to hear that agents and publishers don't consider work published on Substack to be 'previously published' - that's a seriously good little tip.
This was a great article - thanks!
I’m so glad you found it helpful!
I think the Substack as ‘promo’ idea is a good one - or at least is what I’m intending to do. Some people love to write serials lasting years, but it’s just not for me!
I haven’t shared it with readers yet as I wanted to test the water with the early chapters of my current serial, but my plan is to self-publish/do a kickstarter campaign for the completed novel in time for Christmas 2025.
That sounds like a good plan! Good luck!
Thanks Evelyn! And to you too 🥰
Very interesting. I will consider what she says, specially about the content. Thanks for posting this.
It’s all just something to consider - not something we have to do! I know lots of very successful serials that don’t follow this advice.
I know, but you can always extract some good ideas or consider them for special chapters of the series.
Absolutely! It’s not an ‘all or nothing’ thing, is it?