Time For A Reboot
A retooling and reshaping of my Substack site
Let’s face it, I’m Mr. Nobody.
I tried too hard to make this place something uniquely special. Nobody knows who I am, nobody is reading my books… but if they are, I do thank the chosen few, and consider them the lucky ones who’ve had a chance to experience my stories. I’ll get into the reasons why I’m doing this and what expectations are of this Substack space.
1. Paywalls are the kiss of death.
Free is the only mindset of many, subscribing is a full on commitment, but no one is willing to pay up for an author that has virtually no fans (as of yet). The more paywalls I put up, hoping for some income promises Substack fed me, the less subscriptions were actually happening. In fact, I lost a lot of them because of my paywalls. No more of those. This is a free only place now. If you want to read my stories, I will link them to their paid locations, but nothing is going to be posted here… just some minor quotes and sample chapters. That’s it.
2. Redefining the target audience.
I think people are confused about what I write and the genre. I am not defined by barriers, I like to write science fiction, horror, thrillers, fantasy, and whatever strikes me as a fun story to tell. I’m mainly sci fi, but I like to mix it with some fantasy and horror from time to time. I like to think of myself as the Rod Serling of the author world, a Twilight Zone/Night Gallery plethora of various tales. With me, you’ll never know what you’ll get, but I’ll always do my best to make it readable and enjoyable.
3. What to talk about on here.
I’ve seen nothing but endless comments and YouTube videos about what you should engage with your subscribers here. That you should cater to what they like, what interests them, and to make it more personable. Huh? Really? But they chose either to join or not, meaning they want to read what the author has to say and think… not the other way around. I’ll give my perspectives on topics, my input on books I’m working on, maybe I’ll even rant on about a show or movie I’ve seen. The point is that I want to make this my space… not theirs. I’ll invite comments, critiques, and let subscribers give their input, but this is my place, I have the final say. Just putting that out there, is all.
4. I’m through begging for attention.
It’s tiring trying to advertise all the time. I should be busy focusing on my books and short stories, not constantly pumping out social media ads that I have to do all by myself, because I have no money to afford such lavish-slick campaigns. Read my books, or don’t, I can’t keep grovelling on my knees vying for passersby’s to take notice of my work. I know, isn’t that the whole point of advertising? To get the attention of readers? Yeah, it is… but not every single day. I have a life, and it’s just as busy as theirs as well.
5. What to expect when hitting that “subscribe” button.
Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m going to post whatever I feel like on here. It might be a sample story, it might be a new book cover, it could even be a podcast. Heck, I might even just post a thought of the day. Sorry I’m not more professional about all this, but just an independent author, self published, and doing all these things on a day by day basis. So, if you don’t mind a casual update, not too much on a monthly schedule, then maybe you can hit the button and keep tabs on me, my books, and leave a comment or two.
(But trust us on the “subscribe” buttons!)