In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Musings on Serialization
* A Cautionary Tale
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“It turns out that posting on Substack is easy and serves as additional motivation to get stories written.” George Hays
Musings on Serialization
Thanks to those who took a moment to leave a comment or email me about my serialized novels. I hope a few others will step up, but we’ll see.
Re frequency of installments, one person mentioned that maybe I shouldn’t post serial installments every day. She suggested posting an installment once a week.
I think that’s fine for short stories, but for the sake of continuity I like to post novel installments more often than that.
So I’m thinking about maybe posting installments three times per week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Any thoughts? Please feel free to comment or email me pro or con at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Re what readers would like to see next, one requested specifically that I post the third book of the Journey Home SF series. I might do that.
Another mentioned posting a western. I might do that too.
Another mentioned posting an action-adventure.
One said he enjoys my writing and my stories, including the serialized novels, but he probably would never buy any of them because he has a lot of other books he hasn’t read yet. However, he’d read anything I post free.
That comment cut two ways: He likes my work (yay), but apparently only if it’s free (ugh). A big red flag there. Of course that kind of attitude is my own fault for giving away so much stuff.
Okay, so maybe a caution here for some of you: If you want your work (and yourself) to be respected, price it fairly but don’t give it away.
Hmmm. Maybe that guy would like to become a first reader. A first reader gets to read all of my novels free in exchange for pointing out any glitches that pop out at him as he reads.
Another (a writer) commented that he loves the serialization concept and enjoys reading the novels as a learning experience. (Wow. I loved that he’s learning from my fiction.)
I’ve been back and forth and sideways on this experiment trying to decide whether to keep the serializations going.
I’ll probably serialize a few more novels in different genres as teasers. That will probably take me through the end of the year. Eventually, if the serializations don’t lead to sales and/or new readers, I’ll probably shut down the serializations and save myself the time of posting them.
Or maybe I’ll do like a friend is doing and serialize the first few chapters, then ask for a paid subscription if the reader wants to continue reading.
Shrug. I dunno. But I’ll figure out something. Again, thanks for the input thus far. Please keep it coming.
A Cautionary Tale
or Why DWS’ Blog and TNDJ Exist
A writer friend emailed to ask whether I think ‘burnout’ and ‘writer’s block’ are real or whether they’re products of the conscious, critical mind.
Every writer’s different, but yes, I think both are usually results of the critical mind.
He wrote back:
I asked the question is because I saw a post on a Fantasy writers group I’m in on Facebook and the responses were what you expect. Writing is a calling so you must take time with your manuscript. Take as long a break as you need. Go slow, ‘write crappy first drafts’. So I thought of asking you.
The myths still have a stranglehold on most people but I have noticed a few who decided to throw them off. They saw results, but they were treated almost as bad as heretics during the Inquisition (hyperbolic I know, but it fits).
Here’s my response:
Yep, ‘inquisition’ fits perfectly. And it comes from the same folks who bring us “Whatever works for you is fine.” Every time I (used to) comment about WITD over at the Kill Zone blog I had to drag my virtual, bloodied self out from under a dogpile.
The fact is, some writers don’t want anyone to disrupt their cycle of nonfiction sales. So they teach other writers to
- Fear writing.
- Fear believing in yourself.
- Fear both to the point that you can’t write.
- Let me save you! Buy my books on how to outline, revise, rewrite, and seek critical input (which in turn will teach you to fear writing).
- Lather, rinse, repeat.
DWS’ blog and TNDJ exist to help writers break that ugly cycle. But as Mark Twain once said, “It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them they’ve been fooled.”
And yes, we both have nonfiction books for sale too. But they teach you to believe in yourself, that you can write, and that writing fiction can actually be fun.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Book Marketing: Basic Elements Matter More Than You Think
9 Common Traits…Helicopter Parents Goes to characters. Scroll through all the introductory stuff to get to the list.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 840
Writing of Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty
Day 1…… 3250 words. To date…… 3250
Day 2…… 1110 words. To date…… 4360
Day 3…… 3323 words. To date…… 7683
Day 4…… 1656 words. To date…… 9339
Day 5…… 1413 words. To date…… 10752
Fiction for September……………… XXXX
Fiction for 2025………………………. 534149
Nonfiction for September.………… 1530
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 187780
2025 consumable words…………….. 714315
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29