An Experiment in Serialization

Publishing my first novel on Substack

C.S.M.

Aug 30, 2024

Time flies, doesn’t it?

There’s only one chapter of NORMIE left before the story concludes.

For the last couple months I’ve been publishing a chapter every Wednesday through this Substack digital newsletter.

There have been a number of benefits to this strategy, but the best part has been getting instant feedback from you all.

Once the final chapter is released, the full book should be ready to go on Amazon for anyone who wants to get a physical copy.

This entire process has been a publishing experiment.

I’m not the first person to serialize a novel through a digital newsletter.

I first heard about the concept about a year ago and was instantly fascinated.

Elle Griffin wrote a viral article that detailed the economics of modern publishing:

The Elysian

Writing books isn't a good idea

The New York Times caused a stir recently when, in an article about pandemic book sales, it disclosed that “98 percent of the books that publishers released in 2020 sold fewer than 5,000 copies…

4 years ago · 277 likes · 136 comments · Elle Griffin

Basically, traditional publishing is dying (which you probably knew already).

At the same time, there has never been more opportunity for authors who are willing to work independently.

People are still reading stories, but the way we engage with the material is changing.

Websites like Wattpad and Ream allow authors to publish serialized stories. Readers then use “tokens” to unlock additional chapters.

Amazon Kindle Unlimited gives readers access to thousands of titles for a single monthly payment. Authors receive money based on the number of pages read for their books.

Substack allows writers to publish content for free and grow a mailing list, while also offering paid content for those who are interested.

I’m going the Substack —> Kindle Unlimited route.

NORMIE is only the beginning.

Quantity seems to be the name of the game in this new world of publishing.

I want to publish as many novels as possible over the next couple years, while ensuring that I keep to a high standard of quality.

I’m going about things with a fairly in-depth strategy. Some stories will stand alone, while others will develop into series. I’m also consciously writing shorter books (at least for now) to make it easier for people to jump into a story as it’s serialized.

Publishing through this newsletter is great because it forces me to follow weekly deadlines. I’m not writing chapters from scratch week-to-week, but the deadlines force me to keep the pressure up so I can have my work in a shareable form. This keeps the writing and editing process chugging along consistently.

What’s next?

Look for news about my next story at the very end of the final chapter of NORMIE 👀

I’m currently in the research and outlining phase of the process, but plan to start serializing new chapters very soon. Probably sooner than you think. At this point I’ve developed a fairly good system and think I will be able to write novels much quicker than before.