Serializing novel into newsletter experiment

[j tanner]

If only the people getting bonuses are doing well, that's a total fail for everyone else.

You're misunderstanding what happened with Vella bonuses. If you had any readers at all, you got a bonus, and it was way more than what you made from the reader. Basically, Amazon is subsidizing the platform to an extent to prevent author exodus. Note however, that scammers have now noticed this dynamic and if there are enough of them in the system, the Oct bonuses could reverse this value prop by spreading the bonuses too thin for the real writers. We'll see in a week.

[Lorri Moulton]

I think new ideas can sometimes be very good.  The key is to find the ones that work.  I've found some that do not work for me.  They may work for others.

I started using Substack nine weeks ago, and I really like it!  I don't like asking people to pay me, so I can write my books.  I should be able to sell the books and make money.  So, my serialized stories are free for now.  What I really like is that Substack does not charge ME regardless of how many people I have sign up for my newsletter.

Eventually, I may try releasing new books and then may charge a monthly fee.  If I do, I'll grandfather in everyone who already gets the newsletter.  Well, newsletters.  I'm starting a new one in a different genre next week. 

These are books I've had for sale for a while...yet people seem to enjoy reading them a chapter at a time.  Maybe it's the anticipation.  Maybe it's just different.  I don't know, but I'm glad they're having fun.  If they start buying a lot of my other books, I'll let you know. 

[RBC]

I always enjoy seeing what other authors are up to! Thanks for sharing it. Now, speaking with my reader hat on, I think it's nuts. We're talking about $50 for a book, and more than that, $50 for a book dribbled out slowly. Nothing about that is attractive to me as a reader.

I mean, I love almost everything Stephen King writes, but even he isn't getting $100/yr from me. She may *want* that kind of money from her superfans, but she's offered nothing (in my opinion) that would make me hand it over, even if she was my favorite author.

After all, as the going wisdom states: it only takes 1,000 true fans spending $100/year for a creator to earn a salary of $100,000/year. Theoretically then, an author could release a new chapter every week, charge subscribers $8 or $9 a month, and earn $100,000 a year—from only 1,000 readers.

Theoretically, sure. But as a reader, what's in it for me?

It's because you're thinking too logically and simply. This isn't a $50 bucks for a book transaction. It's not that simple or 100% logical. These spends are irrational passions and thus the spend is bigger than logic would dictate.

Some people are super cheapskates, but everyone has one hobby where they spend much more than average (providing one isn't completely broke of course). It could be collecting sneakers for some, it could be buying $3000 stick for playing Pool, buy collectible cards for thousands of dollars because it's person's favorite player or buying first edition signed book of a classic.

None of these make logical sense on the price for all people. It's not supposed to.

Authors need to realize you are actually becoming 'known' people to readers and some celebrity rubs off on you. It's weird, but there is a person who thinks your books are greatest thing since sliced bread. They'd want to get your autograph and would totally freak out when meeting you.

As someone already said, it's not easy to get ton of these fans and it takes time. But they are there.

And these psychological dynamics of why people buy what they buy or have irrational fixations should be studied more frankly. Observed from the side. By everyone who has a business, which all of us do here. Worst case it will help write more diverse and dynamic characters, best case it will make understanding your business side better and not be scared to ask for what your art is worth.

[Crystal]

The entire field of behavioral economics is focused on people making "irritational" financial decisions.

People aren't always logical in terms of doing what is the most financially savvy, but they do things for a reason, even if the reason is subconscious. What is the reason why fans will sign up for your mailing list when they can buy a book instead?

You need to find that and work it.

[PJ Post]

And to me it's like this....

Everything new thing that comes along is devised to make the inventor or the investors money. Not to help authors or anyone else sell books or anything else.

Perhaps I'm the one who is naïve, but I don't think it's this extreme. Most new enterprises are driven by profit, yes, but not all of them do so to the exclusion of happy customers.

There may be another big thing, but you will have to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time and then add in some more luck. Not every new platform or every new thing will necessarily have any success for anyone. Most will be completely worthless.

You are dismissing others taking into account what other people have experienced and saying, this isn't worth the risk to me. I am saying here is my experience, make your own decision. You are saying just because one person couldn't make it work, it could still work. I am offering my own experience so people can make an informed decision on what the platform actually is and they can decide for themselves if they want to pursue it.

So if you want to help people row faster and get useful information faster, why don't you put your books, time and money on the line and try out these things and let us know how it goes.

I understand and acknowledge that experience, I even share much of it, but I've been in business too long to reject next wave opportunities. Sometimes they're useless or the tech isn't there yet, sometimes, if leveraged appropriately (maybe not as intended), they can be a great tool/resource and occasionally - remarkably even - they work exactly as advertised.

When it comes to business, I believe in long-term synergies and efficiencies. And anything, new or old, that may satisfy those parameters is worth a look.

And I have been. I'll report back when I have more data. 

[jaxonreed]

I am an author on Substack. I moved from Patreon.

Before, I had a mailing list and I had Patreon. A handful of readers supported my work on Patreon thanks to my time on Royal Road.

The Royal Road model (as mentioned above in regards to the author Shirtaloon) is where an author puts up a serial with (typically) daily posts, all free. Readers who get into the serial can then pay a small donation on Patreon for access to the next installments in advance. It's a pay-to-read-ahead model. It doesn't work for everybody, but for those who do make it work, it can be quite lucrative (i.e. Shirtaloon's $30k/mo.).

It requires giving away a lot, for a long period of time. Sometimes a publisher like Aethon (Rhett Bruno's outfit) will pick up some of these more popular serials. At that point the author will remove all but the first 10 percent on Royal Road, continuing with chapters that haven't been published on Amazon yet. When they get to that point they can dip into both pies, KU and Patreon support (again, like Shirtaloon has done).

My sci-fi serial was probably not a good choice for Royal Road because that platform is more fantasy and lit-RPG oriented. Anyway, I learned a lot. But moving over to Substack enabled me to combine pay contributions with my mailing list. So, I can make a newsletter go out to everybody, or I can post the latest chapter in my book to paying members only. It's the same thing I used to do with my mailing list and Patreon, it's just all in one place now.

Finally, I like posting chapters online somewhere because it's yet another place to back things up. And if folks get a sneak peek at what's coming up next, for those interested, that's all for the good too.

[RBC]

I am an author on Substack. I moved from Patreon.

Before, I had a mailing list and I had Patreon. A handful of readers supported my work on Patreon thanks to my time on Royal Road.

The Royal Road model (as mentioned above in regards to the author Shirtaloon) is where an author puts up a serial with (typically) daily posts, all free. Readers who get into the serial can then pay a small donation on Patreon for access to the next installments in advance. It's a pay-to-read-ahead model. It doesn't work for everybody, but for those who do make it work, it can be quite lucrative (i.e. Shirtaloon's $30k/mo.).

It requires giving away a lot, for a long period of time. Sometimes a publisher like Aethon (Rhett Bruno's outfit) will pick up some of these more popular serials. At that point the author will remove all but the first 10 percent on Royal Road, continuing with chapters that haven't been published on Amazon yet. When they get to that point they can dip into both pies, KU and Patreon support (again, like Shirtaloon has done).

My sci-fi serial was probably not a good choice for Royal Road because that platform is more fantasy and lit-RPG oriented. Anyway, I learned a lot. But moving over to Substack enabled me to combine pay contributions with my mailing list. So, I can make a newsletter go out to everybody, or I can post the latest chapter in my book to paying members only. It's the same thing I used to do with my mailing list and Patreon, it's just all in one place now.

Finally, I like posting chapters online somewhere because it's yet another place to back things up. And if folks get a sneak peek at what's coming up next, for those interested, that's all for the good too.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Sounds like a good direction to go and hope it will keep growing for you.

[Paul Gr]

This post reminds me of those books (published by a bricks and mortar publisher) that were sold in installments.
Booklets, really, about the same size as a magazine.
I haven't seen them for a while, and I'm the UK so it might not be an international thing.
I forget what the books were about, maybe craft work, DIY, can't remember.
You bought one booklet, then the next, until you had a complete collection of them.
It was probably cheaper to buy a complete book, but that idea didn't seem to occur to the suckers that bought them.

[RBC]

This post reminds me of those books (published by a bricks and mortar publisher) that were sold in installments.
Booklets, really, about the same size as a magazine.
I haven't seen them for a while, and I'm the UK so it might not be an international thing.
I forget what the books were about, maybe craft work, DIY, can't remember.
You bought one booklet, then the next, until you had a complete collection of them.
It was probably cheaper to buy a complete book, but that idea didn't seem to occur to the suckers that bought them.

Somewhat similar maybe... It's kind of what online courses these days often do. Like weekly lesson releases etc.

Those made sense when there was no internet and you could read and do stuff slowly, in phases.

[Vijaya]

Even as a kid I hated serials...having to wait a whole month for the next installment of the story but it's how many made a living. So if you can do it, go for it.

[TimothyEllis]

Even as a kid I hated serials...having to wait a whole month for the next installment of the story but it's how many made a living. So if you can do it, go for it.

It's worked for me on a 6-8 week schedule. As long as my fans get a new fix every 2 months, they're happy. 

[j tanner]

Even as a kid I hated serials...having to wait a whole month for the next installment of the story but it's how many made a living. So if you can do it, go for it.

I love them, but I was raised on comic books. I also like the turn TV has taken into offering long-form serialization (except how absurd some season-ending cliffhangers have gotten with no guarantee of future seasons for the show.)

[Vijaya]

That is truly wonderful, Timothy. Judging from all the successful writers here who have serials and a following, I think a newsletter format offering chapters is definitely viable. I'm an outlier, even though I also grew up on serials and comics, jtanner.

[Hopscotch]

Am I correct in thinking that Substack serializing a novel likely doesn't work unless you already have a substantial newsletter following?

[RBC]

Am I correct in thinking that Substack serializing a novel likely doesn't work unless you already have a substantial newsletter following?

Well you can have it for free to build the following and then release something else for paid subscribers.

You can send people from your Amazon books front/back matter there and build up following.

It does obviously help immensely if you do have multiple books out and a list that's over 500.