Using Substack for an Author Newsletter

The cover image from my recent author newsletter on JOY.

Happy Friday, Type Ms! It's Shelley, and I'm going to share a little bit about writing and managing a Substack newsletter. 

I really think of my newsletter as a complete publication, not a blog post. That is why I have several sections in each one. These include an editorial letter, a bit about the art, the month’s long-form essay, publishing industry news, my own writing news, and sometimes a bit about Guam or, as in this month’s issue, a recipe for a perfect summer breakfast.

This month's newsletter's theme was "Joy." In the long-form essay, I share a moment of pure joy I experienced while working on the ghostwriting project that became my first published full-length book.

It took me a few hours to write and format the newsletter. Like the better part of a day "few hours." It's not a quick and easy task. 

How Do I Like Substack?

So far I've been happy with Substack. I'm able to follow other writers and people in the industry who know what's what. Publicists. Agents. Editors. These people scan the news and curate the industry happenings, and I feel more informed. (Okay, yes, maybe ignorance was a little more blissful, actually.)

I actually find the platform pretty intuitive and easy to use. I like the data analytics. I like that interacting with others on there, even casually, can lead to some connections. This is similar to other social media platforms.

It's not perfect, of course. I’ve been gaining new subscribers, but at the same time, my open percentage has been going down resulting in about the same number of opens/reads. 

However, the other day I actually had a comment on a "Note" go somewhat viral. According to the post's data, my comment reached 18K people, nearly 700 of which pressed the like button. Guess how many of the 18K checked out my profile? 25. Twelve of them became new subscribers. 

Every little bit helps, I guess. 

Go HERE to read my newsletter and consider signing up if you are interested in creativity, purpose, art, and writing.

I really do try to bring helpful and inspiring ideas to my readers, and I only send one per month. 

Meanwhile all 6000 of the Substack newsletters I follow seem to end up in my inbox every week. Obviously that’s a huge exaggeration--it's more like 60--but I may have to pare down.  

AI News

Did you hear the scuttlebutt about AI and how if you use em dashes and Oxford commas, people might accuse you of using AI. Ugh! I love both! This is, frankly, ridiculous. I'm going to keep writing in the style in which I've become accustomed, and if anyone accuses me of using AI, well, they can think what they want.

Book Cover Update

I worked on the cover again to make it pop even more, and I think it’s done.

I like it better than having the stripe across the bottom, and the font for the title is much more casual, less tight and stiff. 

Never mind the turtleneck. It’s night. On the ocean. Girl needs a sweater.

I finished another scene this afternoon, so I'm getting closer to finishing and releasing this baby. Lately I fashion each scene in my mind, contemplating turning points and conflict and overcoming obstacles and how each scene will lead to the next and move the story forward, plus character development and quirks and dialogue (to tag or not to tag, that is the question!) 

...all the usual craft stuff. 

Have a happy weekend, peeps! 

Been There, Going Where?

Frankie, here. Finally, getting a chance to sit down at the keyboard. This week has been busy, and that brings me to my topic for today's post.

Yesterday, I was a guest lecturer for a series on genre fiction being offered at a local college. The attendees were all adults who were there because they were interested in the topic. I had two hours, and I decided to focus on the evolution of crime fiction and how that overlapped with the evolution of the criminal justice system. I started with our friend Edgar -- Poe, that is -- the "father of the mystery short story". I talked about his contributions to crime fiction as a genre -- from the brilliant, but eccentric, detective and his narrator to "hide in plain sight".  I told them about "The Mystery of Marie Roget," his fictional detective's investigation of the real-life murder of Mary Rogers, "the beautiful cigar girl" using accounts found in the "penny press".

I followed the evolution of crime fiction from Poe to Doyle to the "Golden Age" writers. I used Chandler's The Simple Art of Murder to move from country houses to "mean streets." I paused to discuss the real-life Ruth Snyder-Judd Gray murder case and what James M. Cain did with that case in Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice and how that influenced film noir. I moved on to the birth of police procedurals, and then to the impact of the Civil Rights movement and women's rights movement on crime fiction in the 1960s and after. I ended with the rise of the thriller. Along the way, I talked about crime fiction and theories of crime, the FBI, and modern forensics.

I packed a lot into those two hours. After my whirlwind tour through the evolution of crime fiction, I turned to writers and the changing industry. We've talked about the challenges here on Type-M and they come up during panel discussions at any writers conference. The challenges include finding an agent, finding a publisher, keeping a publisher. With new technology, we have to decide whether to continue with our efforts to traditionally publish or consider self/independent publishing or maybe become a hybrid. We worry about creating our "writer's platform" and then how much time to devote to maintaining it and making sure that all of our parts (website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are all working together to ensure we reach a maximum audience. We worry about the time social media takes away from our writing. We think about how diversity and multiculturalism -- now being discussed -- affects us and the characters we create.

My audience was make up of people who read mysteries. They recognized the writers and titles I mentioned. And -- in case you're interested -- when I asked about use of social media, only 3 or 4 people out of an audience of around 50 said they use Twitter. On the other hand, I know some readers have found me on Twitter when a reviewer tweeted a link or a blogger mentioned my guest post. Something to ponder.

But, right now, I've got to run.