We speculated about the future of the publishing industry, touching upon the Authors Equity news, maintaining your passion as a part-time writer, and hurdles specific to indie authors. We even talked about types of editing services and the prevalence of scams.

If any of that sounds interesting, here is the discussion:

I’d love to hear your thoughts on any topics we covered. I’m open to learning more from your personal experiences and those of the broader writing community. Comment here on Substack or on YouTube to further the discussion. We can’t wait to chat!

Thanks, Matt Waterhouse, for having me on the show. And , for connecting us. You guys rock!

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As the festive lights warm the ever-cooling night air of this holiday season, I find myself reflecting on the things that matter most. With the end of the year upon us, I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude to each and every one of you.

Living away from family, I'm reminded that the greatest gifts often aren't found under the tree. They are the connections we build, the stories we share, and the support we offer one another. You, dear readers, have been the most wonderful gift I could ever hope to receive. Your engagement, encouragement, and enthusiasm have been the cornerstones of our growing community and the driving force behind every post.

As we celebrate this joyous time, I want you to know how much you are appreciated. You're a cherished part of a passionate and creative family that continues to inspire and motivate me every day. Here's to a splendid Christmas and a New Year brimming with new stories, new adventures, and all the indie magic we can create together.

Thank you for being the most amazing part of Storyletter XPress Publishing. You truly are the best gift of all.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! ~ WM

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Giveaway Winners

Congratulations, , you’re the lucky winner of SXP’s Christmas giveaway grand prize: a copy of the book formatting software, Atticus, along with the independent publishing companion course!

Secondary prize winners:

• H. A. Titus

• Mr. Troy Ford

• Colin Devonshire

• Forkbeard Jon

I’ll email you individually to discuss your prizes and how to receive them. Thank you to everyone who participated. It’s always a pleasure to host these events.

Buy Indie

The Library is promoting a great list of independent books to buy this holiday season. Check it out and find your next favorite read while supporting an indie author!

Buy Indie Books

As an indie author, modern publishing can seem daunting. There’s so much to consider, so much to learn, and so many hurdles. Since the start of my indie journey in 2015, I’ve learned and re-learned the basics, and in most cases, I’m still learning. That’s the beauty of Substack; we can learn and grow together.

Storyletter XPress Publishing officially turns 2 this month, and I wanted to give back to the community for having stuck with me this long. Considering the theme, I figured the best gift would be related to writing and indie publishing. Therefore, I’ve purchased a copy of my favorite formatting software, Atticus, and will gift it to a fellow writer in need.

Atticus is a formatting software for writing, designing, and exporting your work into ebooks and physical formats such as epub, PDF, and DOCX. It costs $150 and comes with a “Publishing for Indie Authors” course valued at an additional $50. The course guides you through formatting your book with Atticus, preparing your work for publication, publishing steps for KDP and IngramSpark, marketing on BookFunnel and elsewhere, seeking beta readers, and everything audiobook-related. For more information, head over to their website at Atticus.io.

How to enter:

To know that the gift will be going to someone who wants and needs it, you must be at least a free subscriber to Storyletter XPress Publishing, share this post on social media (Notes counts) or with a friend, and drop a one-to-two sentence comment below explaining how this software will help you as an indie author. The comment doesn’t have to be overly persuasive; it illustrates that you’re a human, a writer, and will use the software so that I can enter you into the raffle.

Example:

Hi, my name is Winston, and I’d love to use Atticus to format my books because I hear it basically does it all for you, and works on PC, Mac, and Chromebook.

Once the criteria are met and I’ve acknowledged your comment, you’ll be entered into the raffle. The winner will be randomized with a number generator. The participation window will end at midnight MST on December 23, with the announcement released on December 24. Afterward, I’ll email you directly with instructions on how to claim your prize.

Thank you for joining me on this experimental journey. I’m confident the software will find a good home with a writer who loves the hobby very much. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments; it won’t affect your entry in any way. Stay positive, keep writing.

Steps to enter:

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And that’s not all…

Four additional participants will be entered to win either a $25 gift card to the Storyletter Gift Shop or a 3-month paid subscription to Storyletter XPress Publishing (includes a link to download the ebook, The Weight of the World: A Collection of Short Fiction and Poetry). The winners of these prizes will be notified in the announcement post on the 24th, along with the Atticus winner, and contacted via email separately.

This is all made possible by SXP’s current paid subscribers, who’ve graciously contributed to support independent writing on and off Substack. I couldn’t do this without you.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

| | | | | Dan Oday | | | | Yvonne | Skiddlzninja | | | | Richard Schultz | | | Clay Collins | | | Joan Lass | | | Robert D Malone JR | | Sandra | Erica

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! ~ WM

The Warthog Report

Tell us about your background. Did you always want to write fiction?

Pretty much. I’ve always been a story-oriented person. My siblings and I would even make up stories for video games that didn’t have one. Discovering fanfiction was a key moment in getting me to become a writer since it showcased a lot of people my age writing as well.

What brought you to Substack? Does the format work for you, or would specific improvements enhance your experience?

I was at an online event for fantasy writers where one of the panels was on alternatives to social media, in which Substack was brought up as one. All of the published authors and writing professors had told me to make a Twitter, which I did, but it was only out of obligation. I think we’ve finally left it behind, but there was absolutely an era of mandatory Twitter for authors. Substack was and still is an escape from that. Even with the Notes feature, it doesn’t feel compulsory.

The only improvement to Substack I could think of for my experience is letting there be a built-in Table of Contents for serials. I’ve used the suggested workaround of a pinned post, but updating it for each chapter is tedious.

Actually, this might stray a little from Substack’s vision, but it’d be great if there were options for different payment models. Paid subscriptions are a big commitment. I’d like to support more authors, but ten $5/month subscriptions would add up quickly in a way ten one-off purchases wouldn’t.

I’d still keep paid subscriptions on my own Substack. On the author's side, it offers some nice stability, so the option shouldn’t go away. But I’d feel better about doing content with a paywall if there was an option for a one-off purchase for it, like ‘you can pay $2 just for this short story, but for $5 a month, you’ll get access to all short stories on this Substack.’

I’m not sure if anyone other than fiction writers and/or readers would want this, but I don’t think it’d do harm to anyone, at least aside from the people who’d need to program the functionality.

Can you explain the name ‘The Warthog Report?’ What can readers expect by subscribing to your publication?

My family has a rather long-standing joke of referring to me as a warthog, which led to me adopting it as an element of my online personas. In hindsight, it sounds like a news publication, which is not what you should expect. What readers should expect is fiction, musing, and me talking about things I like.

For Battles Beneath the Stars, you’re developing a serialized story set in a Fantasy world in the style of a Fighting game. Can you explain what it’s like to write for video games? How does it differ from traditional prose/storytelling? 

Battles Beneath the Stars is interesting in that regard because it’s not truly writing for a video game. I write it like it is for the most part, but because the game is imaginary, I don’t need to think about production costs or difficulty in actually implementing something. In an actual game, you need to watch your writing for the kind of work it creates in other areas for other people.

One difference, even in Battles Beneath the Star’s pseudo-game format, is the control people have over how they can experience it without breaking the rules. You could crack open a book and read chapters in a random order, but that’s just weird, and nobody expects authors to account for that. With many video games, you can do things in different orders or not at all without going off the rails.

Because of that, the prologue is a little front-loaded with exposition since my intent is for people to pick different stories to follow after the prologue. As such, the more I get out of the way there, the less needs to be reiterated in each story when it comes up. I don’t want to explain something fourteen different times in the same project, and I doubt readers want to read the same information explained fourteen different times, either.

The presence of gameplay, even imaginary gameplay, also requires certain things in the story structure. A fighting game narrative like Battles Beneath the Stars must involve fighting, hence the tournament, as the axis on which much of the plot revolves. Ultimately, it’s no different from how “Murder of the Week” shows need a new murder in each episode.

One interesting thing has been thinking about special conditions for fights to keep things varied and how those interact with the plot. Sometimes, I go in with an idea like, ‘The player character gets poisoned in this chapter, and it shows in the gameplay,’ other times a fight gimmick will come to me after realizing the story naturally leads to it or as a bit of flavor to enhance the mood.

In college, you created a visual novel called “Lovely Spirits,” and you speak about the creation of it here. It’s engaging and fun. What did you learn while making the visual novel? 

This ties into the prior question well because the lesson from its creation that stuck with me the most is about the reality of writing for games.

Early on, there’s a scene where a character hands over their sword. When an artist joined the team, they were able to quickly make art of the main characters, then realized that due to the sword exchange, that character needed a version of their sprite without the sword. 

They were able to make that version quickly due to how they layered the image, but I also had to reword some prose to avoid the need for a sprite with a different facial expression. It made me realize what I write has an impact on the workload of other members of the development team.

There was also a pet crocodile that was going to appear for a few gags, who got cut to give the artist a reasonable workload.

In your opinion, what is the greatest Fighting game/series of all time and why?

Super Smash Bros. Some will disagree with the taxonomy, but it’s clearly within a subgenre of fighting game, now termed platform fighters. I’ve been playing since I was a kid, so a lot of it just feels natural to me. I love how varied it is. 

With the invention of AR/VR technology, what are some predictions in the realm of video game storytelling and the path for indie game devs moving forward?

I don’t feel AR/VR will lead to any major changes on the narrative side. It’s hard to think of what would change things in that regard beyond the bounds of a genre, even the creation of a new one.

I’m not well-versed as a developer or well-connected, so it’s hard to say what the general feeling is on that technology overall. VR, I feel, would need a much bigger install base for more people to consider making games for them. AR feels like a fad that already passed.

Other than the visual novel, have you tried to make your own video game? What are your thoughts on the Unity controversy? 

Definitely not interested in making games with Unity now. Even if they’ve walked back on it, the fact they tried to do it speaks volumes. The developers I’ve spoken with who made games in Unity already hated it before then, too. So much for the Unity tutorials I did.

I’ve been working on some small projects in Ink. I got my start with it by writing part of the code for my collaboration with Geoffrey Golden at Adventure Snack called “Smile! You’re on Alien Deathmatch TV.” And there’s an engine in development with a particular focus on fighting games, Castagne, that I’ve played around with and even made some sprite sheets for.

I also enjoy writing out design documents, which let me explore a ton of different game ideas that are beyond my power and resources to make at the moment. Battles Beneath the Stars is one of those ideas. It had multiple design docs before I started writing the story out as a serial. 

Who inspires you and why? 

There are stories I’m scared of sharing (even as I share them) or hesitate to work on, so I’m inspired by creators who have the courage to do what they do unapologetically.

How do you define success? 

Being able to keep creating. I have a lot of different things I could give as goals, but that’s one that is ongoing. Part of that is being able to support myself to some extent, but it’s also about the freedom to explore different stories and the drive to write them.

Becoming the next big thing can be nice as an occasional daydream, but I wouldn’t want that reality. The book-to-movie pipeline does not interest me for example. I want my work to be enduring cult classics. To me, that is the ideal level of popularity.

Thank you, William, for taking the time to answer a few questions for the SXP audience. Your ongoing support and participation have improved my experience here in the Substack community.

Readers, if you have any comments or questions for William, be sure to drop them in the comments section. Please make sure to subscribe to The Warthog Report below for more stories and insights from William.

The Warthog Report

Fantasy writing and writing about stories in all their forms.

By William F. Edwards

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This is part two of the exciting discussion with Diane Hatz, author of Rock Gods and Messy Monsters. It also happens to be the second to last day you can pick up the ebook for only 99 cents. Enjoy the rest of the interview, and don’t miss out on this promotion while supporting an independent author. Click here to check out Part One!

Purchase the ebook for only 99 cents before it’s too late!

Rock Gods and Messy Monsters

Can you talk about your process for writing and publishing "Rock Gods & Messy Monsters"? Was there a specific experience in your career that helped shape your perspective to write this book that you're willing to talk about?

In 1990, I decided to move to New York City and work in the music industry while I wrote books. I started at a small label that had just sold to a major (Island Records), then worked for an indie label, and finally ended up at a large corporate record company. 

I felt like I had to take my brain out when I got to the corporate monolith - the main character in Rock Gods unzips her head and puts her brain in an urn on her desk every morning. 

I worked for an insane narcissist who would yell at me all the time. He had a blood vessel in his forehead that would pound, and he’d turn purple with rage, so I took it a step further and one day imagined his blood vessels exploding on the sides of his neck. The main character, Alex, has to clean up her boss’s blood vessel explosions in the book - and sew her boss’s neck back up.

Rock Gods is a social commentary and humorous satire about working in a large company, specifically the corporate music industry. It’s surrealistic satire sprinkled with truth. The book came out of my completely insane experience working in the music industry in the 1990s. I actually wrote it in the late 90s / early 2000s after I’d gotten a master’s in creative writing. 

(TIP- you do NOT need a degree in writing to write! You need to write to be a writer.)

I was so dejected and depressed from all the rejections I got from publishers that I threw the book (then called Rock Gods of Acht) up on Amazon in 2008 but did nothing to promote it. I did it to prove to myself I was a writer.

Fast forward to 2021. A friend from my early NYC days got in touch and said she’d found the book and read it. She was so inspired by the work that she quit her job the minute she finished it. And she’s now pursuing her creative dream. 

She also informed me I had the book all wrong - it wasn’t about the demise of the corporate music industry. It was one woman’s search for meaning in a crazy world she’d put herself in. The record company was the setting for the novel but not the story.

Through her encouragement, I decided to republish it. I also wasn’t finding any consulting work (the pandemic shut down my nonprofit and my work), so I decided to go on a sabbatical and pursue fiction full-time for as long as possible.

At the beginning of 2022, I jumped into the indie publishing and marketing world. I should have bought stock in Kleenex before I started because I shed many tears over that year - but I did it. And I learned a ton. 

Rock Gods was put out as a new edition (with a new ISBN) in September 2022. And I’m getting ready for my relaunch in October of this year. (I’m calling it a hard launch and am launching a hardcover edition to celebrate.)

If you want to know more about everything I learned building up to and after launching Rock Gods, that’ll have to be another article - this interview alone could become a book!

With regard to the process of writing Rock Gods, it was five and a half years of absolute dedication. I got up at five-thirty in the morning to work on it for a couple of hours, nearly every day, before going to my full-time job. I found a writing group that went through it line by line with me, and I did at least six major edits and rewrites.

When I started the book, the manuscript was depressing and woe-is-me and oh-my-god-my-life-is-over kind of writing. A real downer. And then, one day, in my fifth or sixth major edit, the characters took over. I’d gotten to know them and the story well enough that my writing voice danced onto the page. Brains came out, body parts dangled, and blood vessels exploded all over the place - I had found my voice.

Writing, rewriting, and editing make a writer. Writing alone doesn’t cut it. I read a long time ago that writing is rewriting - and I agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, I’ve read too many books over the past year that are great stories but are only first or second drafts. Putting words on a page doesn’t make a reader want to read your work. Editing words into a compelling story does.

I’ve been worried that the sequel to Rock Gods, which I’m working on now, wouldn’t be in the same voice I had fifteen/twenty years ago, but she’s starting to come out. And I’m on my sixth rewrite. (The new book is Alex twenty years later.) I think my writing might have matured a bit, but there are still some grotesque bodily malfunctions and otherworldly goings on.

You founded an imprint called Whole Healthy Group, which you published your book through in 2022. I've heard prominent figures say that this is an important step for indie writers. What advice do you have for writers interested in incorporating? Is it necessary or only advantageous in specific cases? 

I started Whole Healthy Group because of a job I was offered at a movie company in Hollywood, so the LLC began when I became an independent consultant. So, it was a bit easier for me because I already had the company set up.

No doubt about it - every indie author should set up their own LLC and be their own publisher. This is not my area of expertise, and I can now proudly say I did everything wrong and shed many tears of frustration, but there are benefits to having your own publishing company. 

If you’re like me, find someone to help you set it up legally and file the paperwork - my accountant ended up being very kind and fixed all my errors, but I don’t recommend you try to do it all on your own if you’re not business-minded. 

Try SCORE (Society of Retired Executives) - it’s a national organization that’s free. And it is what it says: a group of retired executives who offer their expertise for free. I’m sure if there isn’t an office near you, you can Zoom with a chapter in your state.

I’m set up as an LLC S Corporation. No, I don’t know what that means, but I recommend it. Take advantage of all the tax benefits you get. In addition, you’ll be seen as much more professional in the writing world if you’re publishing through a publisher, even if it’s your own company. (TIP - when you indie publish your book, make sure to put your LLC in as your publisher, not your name!)

Oh, and if you aren’t good with numbers, get an accountant. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief. Happy to share who I use if you don’t know anyone.

I also recommend you join IBPA - the Independent Book Publishers Association. (You can join as an author without your own publishing company.) They have great resources to help you on your indie publishing path - and they’re great people to boot. 

I highly recommend their conference if you’re just starting out and you can afford it. I was able to sit with Amazon and Ingram experts for three hours and ask any questions I wanted. I met with book marketing experts (which is why I’m relaunching and have a new book cover), branding experts, and many other professionals in the publishing world.

Your work with your non-profit Change Food focused on promoting sustainable and equitable food systems. Do you approach writing in much the same way, in that you would like to promote and affect change in the world through your stories? What are the stories that most profoundly affected you and why? 

Yes! My hope is that I’ll be able to touch and motivate people with my writing. To help them discover their own truth and their own authentic self. I believe that’s how we’ll change the world.

So far, one person has quit their job to pursue her dreams because of the book, another was inspired to take up writing herself, and a third said the book got her off her tush to pursue her passion. I feel like I’ve already achieved what I set out to do. 

I hope now to reach more people with humor and satire - and inspire them to pursue their dreams and discover their authentic selves - without bashing them over the head with a message.

Probably the two books that most profoundly affected me are To Kill A Mockingbird and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I know! They are totally different books. TKAM showed me how words could open hearts and bring serious issues to light without beating anyone over the head. It showed me how words could create drama, truth, and beauty. It is an absolute must-read for everyone.

THGTG showed me how words on a page could build worlds and create absolute freedom in a person’s mind. The crazed absurdity and utter wackiness of the novel freed me to be the writer I am today. Another must-read!

You moved to New Mexico and went on to publish your first book not long after. Do you attribute the creative drive to the shift in environment, or was it a coincidence? How important of a role do you think a person's environment plays in their creative capacity? 

I don’t think our external environment is nearly as important as our internal environment. So I don’t think it matters where a person physically is, but I do believe what’s inside makes all the difference. We were in the height of lockdown; I was alone in New York City (and it was not fun); I’d been there thirty years; I’d hit a wall with my career and was fighting both menopause and ageism - and, frankly, I was broken.

I moved to New Mexico to heal. I needed to change my outer environment, but I don’t think everyone has to. The writing came about because I was getting better. I believe the healthier we are on the inside, the more creative we can be. How we find inner health is different for everyone.

Is there anything you can share about your next work in progress? What else can we expect to see from Diane Discovers that you're most excited to publish? 

I’m happy to say that I’m in my sixth rewrite of the next novel, which is a sequel to Rock Gods & Messy Monsters. It’s Alex twenty years later when her life falls apart. Again. The novel includes fallen spirits from another dimension, car chases, kidnappings, and a multi-billionaire with farting issues who’s trying to take over the world and suck the energy out of spirit guides. 

Overlaying it all, Alex is still searching for happiness. In book two, she still thinks happiness is outside of herself, in things she can own, a man she can marry, power, and money. When everything falls apart, she’s left with herself. Book three will be her journey inside.

I’ve just hired a developmental editor, so the book is coming along. I don’t have a release date yet, but would love to see it in print first quarter of 2024. (Though that might be pushing it.)  

I also might do a couple of online events to celebrate the hard launch of Rock Gods - if anyone’s interested in joining, just leave a comment, and I can send you a signup link.

Regarding my Substack, I’m not able to post as frequently as I’d like right now because of the book relaunch and second book, but I've decided on my focus. I have a private email list that will cover themes in my books, such as personal transformation, spirituality, and finding our authentic selves. My Substack Diane Discovers is going to focus on the life of an indie author - writing, publishing, and marketing one's writing, as well as updates on my work. It'll be a mix of thought opinion pieces as well as how to navigate the indie author world. And it might even get a new name! I'll figure it all out toward the end of this year.

Do you have any advice for early or independent writers?

This is a tough one for a debut novelist, and I was so angry when I first heard it, but I understand now. Odds are you will sell your first book when you publish your third.

So - if you have a limited budget, spend more time writing your second, third, and fourth book. And writing a series has a bigger impact today than one-off books. If you’re serious about becoming a writer, get into it for the long game.

Focus on building your audience with your first book. I know! I wanted royalties and people who liked my work. I’ve spent what I consider a lot of money promoting my work, and I’m nowhere near a decent readership. When you have more work published, you have more marketing options. So - don’t give up! Just keep writing.

Thank you so much for speaking with us, Diane! We wish you the best of luck on your re-launch of Rock Gods and Messy Monsters and for the sequels. Can’t wait to read the book and follow up with you in the future!

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Diane Discovers

A newsletter offering insight into our ever-evolving life adventure by exploring purpose, meaning, and the search for Self. And cool things. Join this amazing journey! Free and optional paid.

By Diane Hatz

• Rock Gods & Messy Monsters

• Amazon | Universal Book Link

• Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62304099-rock-gods-messy-monsters 

• BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/books/rock-gods-messy-monsters-by-diane-hatz 

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dianehatz.author 

• Facebook - https://fb.me/dianehatz.author 

• TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@dianehatz_author 

• YouTube - https://youtube.com/@DianeHatz 

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhatz 

• Diane Digs website blog - https://wholehealthygroup.com/blog/ 

• Patreon - https://patreon.com/DianeHatz

I got to ask the incredibly knowledgeable Diane Hatz some interview questions. Since she provided a ton of useful information, I’ve decided to break it up into two parts to bracket the limited-time promotion for her novel, Rock Gods and Messy Monsters, happening now. I’ve got my copy!

Consider purchasing the ebook for only 99 cents between now and October 15th! And wish her a happy birthday, too!

Rock Gods and Messy Monsters

Greetings, Diane. You’re a creative person with many credits under your name. Was creative self-expression fostered in your childhood, or was it a path of self-discovery?

Creativity and self-expression were unknown concepts in my household, so I was encouraged to be a mid-level manager in a large corporation. That, to me, was a fate worse than death. I don’t fault my parents, though. They were doing their best. They were from the post-World War generation, so security was important to them.

I loved rock music from an early age, so I compromised by eventually getting a job in a record company in New York City after finding a way to get a master’s in Creative Writing in London. But even working in a record company was too stifling and, well, corporate. My time in music ended up becoming the subject of my first novel. In my opinion, corporations are where souls go to die a slow, painful death.

What prompted you to start a Substack? How is it different from the way you were navigating the indie publishing world beforehand?

I started my Substack a couple of years ago to try to build an audience for my writing. I’d also hoped I could make a little income from it while I worked on my next book. I actually hadn’t been thinking about full-time fiction writing and publishing books when I started it. I thought it could potentially be a great way to get my work out to an audience rather than trying to get people to come to the blog on my website.

I’ve realized that to do a Substack properly, it takes time and effort - and a laser focus on a topic or two. I’m currently torn between getting my next book done, promoting the one that’s out now, and having an effective Substack. I find it extremely challenging to find the time to write compelling articles when I have so much work to do with my fiction writing. 

I think Substack is great for people with a large audience already and for people like you who’ve worked really hard to bring people in. Because I don’t have that kind of time right now, I’m putting less pressure on myself to build a huge audience here. Don’t get me wrong - I want to! And I’m posting here and there still, but I’m not doing weekly articles like I was. I think a lot of people underestimate how much time it takes to do a Substack effectively. 

To sum all that up, my Substack, Diane Discovers, is still a work in progress, and I’m still finding my voice. I’m giving myself until the end of the year to figure out how to be most effective with the newsletter.

Developments over the past two decades have increased the reach of indie authors to new readers without the need for a publishing house. Do you see traditional publishing evolving in the face of these changes?

Traditional publishing is going to fight tooth and nail to stay in business, so I don’t see the big houses going away anytime soon, if at all. But I do think they’ll need to modify how they operate in order to stay profitable.

Until I actually published my book and marketed it, I had no idea how much work went into the whole process of getting a book to market - and to get sales! It’s way more complicated than just uploading one’s manuscript to Amazon. 

I did everything myself before Rock Gods & Messy Monsters launched, and I’m not doing that for the relaunch. I’ve hired a company to do Amazon and Facebook Ads - I found ads extremely complicated, and life’s too short to cry over keywords. I’ve gotten help with my book description, genre identification, marketing materials, and other aspects of marketing I started to feel overwhelmed with. 

And, yes, this all costs money. I advise everyone to put a budget together before creating and marketing a book. And by that, I mean save up funds before you start marketing your book. That will help you determine how much you can do marketing-wise. 

I look at my publishing company as a startup company and myself as a creative entrepreneur. In order to make money, I’ve invested seed capital (i.e., my money) in writing, like any startup does.

I think it’s extremely important for every author to learn the publishing process and how to market their book because, today, even traditionally published authors are left to promote their work after the initial book launch. 

What I see happening are more boutique firms (former executives from large houses) offering particular services, so an author can pick and choose different companies to design their cover, format the manuscript, upload it, develop marketing campaigns, etc. 

And trust me, this can become an expensive process, so a writer needs to know what’s important and what they can skip. I’ve talked to quite a few indie authors who spent many thousands of dollars and gotten nothing in return, so you need to learn who you can trust.

For anyone who wants to learn more about publishing, I’ve written articles about the publishing process, so you can always check out the “Indie Publishing and Writing” section in Diane Discovers. A few other reputable people to follow and learn from are Jane Friedman, Dave Chesson (Kindlepreneur), and David Gaughran.

(As a side note, if you check out Dave Chesson and decide you want to purchase his Publisher Rocket - which I think is amazing - please use this link. Yes, it’s an affiliate link, and I make a little from it, but you aren’t charged more. And I can pay bills.)

I could see large publishing houses selling services a la carte down the road. When I worked in the music industry in the 1990s, large corporate record companies started doing P&D (production and distribution) deals with indie bands. I can see this happening in traditional publishing also (if it isn’t already!). 

The writer might get something of an advance (which is becoming scarcer and scarcer) - or might end up paying to have the publisher put the book together, as happens with hybrid publishers now. The writer will give up most of their royalties for a publisher to produce and distribute their books. The author will still be left marketing their book.

You've worked in the music industry for many years. Other than direct life experiences, has the music industry informed your writing in a unique way that others might not realize? Are there parallels to the music and writing industries that aren't often discussed? 

Oh, don’t get me on my soapbox! I believe when any corporation gets to a certain size, especially in creative industries like writing and music, all the creativity is sucked out and replaced by ego, power, and money. 

If anyone is interested in this, they might want to read my book Rock Gods & Messy Monsters - it’s satire and has surrealistic elements - but it’s all true and based on my time working in corporate music. (Sorry, not trying to shamelessly plug myself here, just trying to spare everyone a couple hundred pages of me ranting….)

There were vice presidents in corner offices who didn’t even listen to music! They cared about their expense accounts and getting backstage and hanging out with artists so they could look cool - but they didn’t care about the music. I’m sure corporate publishing is the same. 

And don’t get me wrong, there are wonderful, talented people who work in publishing. But there are many who aren’t. 

The belief that bigger is better is absolutely wrong in a post-industrial, twenty-first-century world. 

Executives become afraid to make any creative decisions or to go against what’s already been done for fear of losing their jobs. Oh - the bad music I’ve listened to! The entire business comes down to quarterly profits - and money is the biggest destroyer of art and creativity, whether it be music or literature.

With projects such as TEDXMANHATTAN, The Meatrix, and now with your own fiction, how do you adapt your creative drive for different mediums? Are there creative projects that you prefer to work on over others?

I don’t know if I can find the words to explain this, but I don’t do anything different when working on the varied projects I’ve launched and been part of. My creative drive is expansive, spiritual, and a way for me to connect with something bigger than myself. It’s not a thing; it’s a state of being.

I tap into the same creative force whether I’m planning an event, educating consumers about factory farming, or writing a novel. All the work I do is based around trying to help educate and inform or by giving a platform to others to do the same.  

I find joy in whatever I do. I believe every event in our lives, even the painful ones, is full of awe, inspiration, and growth - as long as we’re mindful of what we’re doing. Life is a spiritual practice.

How do you define success? 

Success is understanding that you are loved, knowing that you matter, and having the courage to pursue your dreams and passions. Success is loving yourself as you are, flaws and all, and not giving up.

Thanks for reading. Part Two is coming Saturday, October 14th!

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It’s fun to reflect on what we’ve discussed here on Substack. This one is especially interesting since it deals with community and online interaction. Very meta!

I’ve summarized some prior comments, but the discussion shouldn’t stop there! I want to hear your thoughts on what community means to you.

Original Prompt:

I’ve embraced the term “community” when imagining the future of The Storyletter Substack and where we’re heading. There’s no end goal in mind, since it’s more about the daily love of the craft and those who engage in it. I seek to establish a place where people can be themselves, and publish and read together in a supportive environment. Communities can be a lot of things, but I’m curious what you think a community is or should be? What other communities do you enjoy being a part of? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Community Thoughts

These summaries are not verbatim and are out of context. For full context of members’ comments, consider reading them here.

• Sandra pointed out that people are inherently drawn to crowds, so she tends to go down the less traveled road. Sandra also noticed that the digital world allows for voices and ideas to be heard without the same fear of rejection and that communities are essential for individuals to feel welcomed and heard. Communities can be built by like-minded individuals for the betterment of humanity.

  • Winston’s new follow-up: I love the idea that communities can be for the betterment of humanity. It’s comforting to know that even if a community is centered around something seemingly low-impact, obscure, or remotely niche, there is a sense that it’s improving the enjoyment of someone’s life in even the slightest degree to ease their everyday day-to-day struggles, producing an environment where they can potentially thrive and be themselves. That alone truly is for the betterment of humanity.

• states that she hadn’t participated in writing communities before but is finding it fun here on Substack. She especially likes that communities are often eye-opening experiences as other members have differing perspectives. And that having a division of labor within a community can mean that each member can bring their expertise into the equation.

  • Winston’s new follow-up: The division of labor concept strikes me as even more impactful now that I’m rethinking it. I don’t know where I’d be in indie publishing without the helpful books, videos, and articles from people who came before me. This handing down of knowledge is crucial in every aspect of a community. Without it, the walls go up, and the gatekeeping begins.

Additional Discussion

Let me know what your thoughts are on the subject. Have you written extensively about it before? Link it in the comments for us to benefit from your writing.

I hope the Storyletter XPress Publishing community has been a supportive place to get involved and write about the things that matter most to you. If not, please help us improve! Please email me at storyletter@protonmail.com or comment below with your suggestions.

What has been your experience with communities? Thanks for joining the discussion! ~ WM

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I attended the League of Utah Writers’ annual “The Quills Conference” this weekend. I’m no stranger to conferences or conventions, as I’ve attended them multiple times a year since JordanCon 2015.

The perks of these conferences are plenty-fold. When I started to get serious about writing, I’d attend every panel to learn about the craft. These panels generally include discussions involving pop culture analysis, writing tropes, querying agents, working with editors, story structure, etc.

As the years passed, I realized I could only learn about point-of-view and tense so many times before I needed to start writing, to learn by doing. Therefore, my recent conference experiences have been focused on volunteering and networking rather than attending for instructional purposes.* Although, every time I return, I get reinvigorated by my proximity to other aspiring authors and passionate instructors.

I want to open the discussion to other fiction writers (and avid readers). What do you get most out of attending conferences? Are there any lessons you’d like to share for new writers dipping their toes into these events? Have you had any negative experiences? Have you been a guest speaker on panels?

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! ~ WM

*As a writer, I am a lifelong learner and actively pursue new ways of thinking. An additional perk of volunteering is that you can usually attend the classes for free (given you have free time).

I sometimes host threads called “Storyletter Thoughts.” Whenever I do, I respond to everyone and try to ask questions. It’s been less enticing due to time constraints (and Notes), so I’ve been prompting fewer discussions, but past comments from the community are still incredibly insightful.

Revisiting these threads is my way of looping in new readers, highlighting valuable comments, and inviting further discussion. I want to start with one applicable to many writers on Substack, and that is serializing fiction online. In this thread from April 2022, members explained their experiences with serialized stories based on the below premise:

I’ve only written two novels in my life and both have been serialized online over the span of a year. Both were relatively bad overall, but had die-hard readers that followed each chapter along the way. At what point does the novelty outweigh the quality? And do readers really care? Let me know what your experience with reading and writing serial fiction has been like. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Community Thoughts

• said that she was serializing her first novel, “Of Wind and Wolves.” Publishing one chapter a week for 50 chapters (and weeks) kept her motivated to revise her chapters as she went for almost a full year. She was looking forward to feedback from readers and hoped to eventually self-publish her novel at the end of it. Based on her comment, I now realize this was the first rumbling of The Library.

  • Winston’s follow-up: I’m curious to hear from J.M. Elliott after completing the first book in the series and now prepping the sequel. Are there any lessons learned? Successes to be implemented once more, or things to be improved upon?

• stated that he was new to reading and writing serial fiction but that it was fun and convenient. Thomas pondered the commitment it might take to release an entire novel this way. However, he was hopeful to try it in the future.

  • Winston’s follow-up: Tom, you’ve published more adventures since this discussion. Were you able to tackle this goal in the way you wanted? Have you experienced success with shorter serials as opposed to extended works?

• explained that reading serial fiction is more difficult than writing it. T had completed 2+ books by posting almost daily, focusing on concise chapters, and the interaction helped with motivation to keep going.

  • Winston’s follow-up: T, you stated that one novel was written ahead versus the other that was “real-time.” Which did you prefer? Do you think chapter length is vital to keeping readers engaged and wanting more?

• expressed that reading a wall of text on the phone is not ideal but that writing serially was an insightful process nonetheless. Victor said publishing a serial novel as a first draft wouldn’t work for him due to the number of errors and inconsistencies that could potentially push new readers away.

  • Winston’s follow-up: Victor, are you still publishing short stories and writing in the Mega Universe? How many rounds of edits are the sweet spot for you before you’re comfortable posting a chapter or story online for others to read?

• highlighted that people enjoy the novelty of serialized fiction narratives instead of the formulaic structure of some stories (most notably the remakes in Hollywood). Matthew stated that quality is not always the most significant factor for genre fiction readers as long as it’s legible and can be followed easily. Episodic fiction aligned with Matthew’s style, and it helped push him toward completing his goals.

  • Winston’s follow-up: Matthew, do you have any updates with your podcast that you’d like to share? How has writing scripts and serial stories for the Arthadian Anthologies podcast informed your process for engaging listeners and new audiences? Do you utilize cliffhangers, or are your episodes wrapped up neatly each time?

Additional Discussion

Of course, I’d love to hear from everyone on this, especially those that have written extensively about serialization. If you already have posts on the subject, feel free to link them in the comments to help out those who may not be familiar with your work.

As for me, I’ve started my third serialized novel over on From the Tales of Havek. I know I’ll have to commit to it until the end. It’s the only way to finish novels as my motivation wanes rapidly unless I have external psychological pressure. I just wish that I could stay ahead of the deadlines.

What has been your experience reading and writing serial fiction? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for joining the discussion! ~ WM

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The publishing industry continues to evolve and Substack has established itself as a key player in the game, enabling writers to publish and monetize their work while growing a subscriber base and connecting writers in a motivated network.

Storyletter XPress Publishing is dedicated to promoting indie and emerging writers, so when mentioned a project in which she was to establish a library of books here on Substack, I jumped at the opportunity to support the initiative. I appreciate her willingness to allow me on board, and for all of her hard work setting the foundations and for maintaining the ongoing smooth operations. Her artistic abilities really brought out a wonderful aesthetic that perfectly encapsulates the concept. I’m so happy to be working with her on this amazing project.

With over 60 books stocked on our virtual shelves, you’ll easily find something to lose yourself in. So if you’re seeking your next favorite read, or wanting to showcase your latest work, then The Library is the perfect place for you. Consider signing up for free in order to receive upcoming updates on new additions, genre roundups, and more!

The Library

Check out all the best indie books published right here on Substack

By J.M. Elliott

What is The Library?

The Library is exactly what it sounds like. Well, sort of. With so many writers publishing full-length works of fiction here on Substack, as well as nonfiction works like biographies and memoirs, it became clear that readers need a central location to easily peruse and find books that interest them.

Our answer: The Library. An all-in-one resource for readers interested in discovering great reads and new authors.

While The Library is free for all to use, subscribers essentially get a digital Library Card, which not only provides access to all the best indie titles available on Substack, but also ensures you never miss new releases. The Library will send notices to members about new works added to the collection, so you’ll never miss the chance to discover your next great read!

For Authors

As writers, we know the hard work and dedication it takes to write a book. Don’t let your work go unnoticed! We hope to list as many of the books published on Substack as possible so readers can find and enjoy them. If you are an author who wants your work included in The Library, please send us the details!

We just need a little info from you for our listing:

• Title

• Author

• Specify category in which to list book (choose ONE):

  • Contemporary

  • Literary

  • Historical

  • Speculative

  • Thriller & Mystery

  • Romance

  • Young readers

  • Short Fiction Collection

  • Poetry Collection

  • Nonfiction

  • plus Genre and/or Subgenre (if applicable)

• Specify: Novel (40k+ words), Novella (17k-40k words), or Nonfiction Book (40k+ words)

• Specify: Complete or Serial In Progress (if it is a serialized work)

• Specify: Free or Paid (i.e. if it is behind a paywall)

• Please provide ONE paragraph describing the work (limit 200 words—paragraph breaks will be removed.)

• Please provide a link to the section of your Substack containing the book. We’re sorry, but works must be confined to a defined area or section of a newsletter or they cannot be accepted. If you need help creating a “Section,” a brief guide is available here, or please contact us at thelinklibrary@substack.com and we’ll be happy to help.

• At this time, we are only accepting books being serialized or published in full on Substack, whether free or behind a paywall. The full text of your book must eventually be available to readers on Substack to be eligible.

Send your listing to: thelinklibrary@substack.com, or storyletter@protonmail.com.

Be sure to update us with changes to your listing! For example, if your In Progress work is now Complete, let us know and we’ll update your listing. If at any time, you’d like your book removed from The Library, simply ask.

Thanks for your interest in The Library! We look forward to helping readers discover their next great read!

Indie Readers Unite!

Be part of a community of writers and readers who share your passion for independent literature by supporting The Library and its authors.

Subscribe now

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing David V. Stewart, an independent writer of speculative fiction. With over 45k YouTube subscribers and 24 books to his name on Amazon, David has managed to carve out a respectable amount of success as an indie author. Thankfully, he was gracious enough to do this interview and share insights about his self-publishing journey.

In this interview, I ask why he started writing, when to use pen names, his publishing distribution strategy, and handling criticism, as well as information regarding his own fictional works. Hope you enjoy!

David V. Stewart’s Website

Latest Release: Demon Ex Machina

On your website's About page, you explain that you worked as a musician and an educator, but that you eventually took up your passion for writing stories.

What was the motivating factor to switch gears and re-engage with storytelling? Has it been as fulfilling as you'd hoped it would be?

There were two things that made me want to switch gears: hearing loss and the music industry itself.

For those of you who don’t know, I have profound conductive hearing loss in my right ear due to childhood disease. Over time, I started to lose the hearing in my left ear due to medical issues (estuation tubes with reduced functionality, mainly) and sound exposure. As a classical guitarist playing an acoustic instrument, I started to lose confidence in my ability to hear and produce my tone properly, so I thought it was best to look for another long-term creative outlet. I had written a lot in college, so I just picked up where I had left off ten years earlier. 

Since then, I’ve been able to acquire a bone-anchored hearing system, which is in essence a high-class hearing aid that attaches to an implant imbedded in my skull, allowing me to hear by bypassing my destroyed ossicular chain in my right ear. That allowed me to continue recording and producing original music, which you can hear in my eclectic music project “David V. Stewart’s Zul.”

The other thing that made me want to move away from music was the industry itself. By 2010 things were pretty bad, but that was the tail-end of an event that destroyed the industry a decade earlier, which was Napster and the rise of music pirating. By the time I had graduated college it was no longer possible to have a significant income stream by recording music. Opportunities were very limited as the recording industry had completely collapsed. One of the reasons I invested in becoming a classical guitarist was that it was one of the few ways I’d found to make money in the industry, as you didn’t need to sell records or get a big record deal and you only had to split the money one way. Even before 2000 most members of signed acts got paid roughly minimum wage for touring.

Well, after the big economic collapse at the beginning of Obama’s presidency, all my reliable gigs vanished. Restaurants and clubs closed. I eventually moved out of California to Las Vegas, where I eked out a humble living, but there were still opportunities there. However, I eventually grew very fatigued from the way the business works. I was still practicing pieces I had been playing for a decade because they were part of standard repertoire and you had to keep them up to not suck at them. That gets incredibly boring, even stifling—a routine that yields no growth. 

Writing, however, was like composition (the specialty for my bachelor’s degree), in that things were done when they were done, but more so. It’s very energizing to always be working on something new, interesting and challenging. I probably do worse per hour than as a musician (including practice time), but I’m never bored.

You've been producing content on YouTube for more than 10 years, and have built an extensive catalog of over 1400 videos.

What have you learned about marketing and audience building on YouTube that someone new might want to consider? If you were to start from scratch would it still be YouTube, or another platform such as TikTok?

2023 is very different from 2013, that’s for sure. I initially started my channel to make free guitar instruction content, and I didn’t like the dearth of video instruction at the time in Classical guitar. I’ve since deleted a lot of those videos because I think they need to be better (I often recorded them in a practice room between private clients) and because as time went on I no longer wanted to attract an audience that was interested in Classical and especially Flamenco guitar. The mid 2010s had a lot of growth potential in YouTube that isn’t quite there any more, but it is one of the few platforms where growth is even possible (unlike, say, Facebook).

I don’t know if I was starting over I would do YouTube, or TikTok, or what. I haven’t really planned my career that way, but if someone were to start doing social media in 2023 I would recommend a few things. First, know what you are selling. Do you just want to get attention, or do you want to monetize? How are you going to connect to an audience that wants to buy a product from you? How will you attract people that are interested in that product?

Just as an example, I have a huge catalogue of content on story writing. I ought to have started by making a book and an online writing course, then a high-cost editing or consulting service, then started making content that sold those things, rather than just putting stuff out for free, if I wanted to actually make money.

I’d prefer to be an author selling fiction. I don’t mind putting out publishing and writing advice for free to help others.

In addition to being a writer, you're also a musician. As a matter of fact, your most popular video on YouTube is "What's the difference between a Classical and a Flamenco guitar?" at 595k views.

Has talking about your other hobbies broadened your readership in a way that wouldn't have existed if you only talked about writing? How do you suppose learning, playing, and teaching music has informed your writing process?

I don’t think being a musician has broadened my readership much, if at all. It has informed my writing process because both music composition and performance are about spending time alone, practicing, and require both self-motivation and self-discipline. Any activity that requires that approach to daily work will make you a more effective writer, especially things like bodybuilding, which is largely a solo endeavor. As a musician I also know the relationship between a process and the goal, the final outcome, of that process. Many of my peers when I was in college rarely, if ever, gigged, but I learned early on that every endeavor needs to be directed toward the final goal. In that case, it was a performance (or ideally a series of performances). In the book world, it’s the completed book.

Your published works vary between fantasy, horror, historical fiction, and science fiction. I've heard advice that one should stick to a single genre to get established and/or use a pen name in other genres.

What do you think about this advice? What has your experience been writing in multiple genres? Does the readership follow you across books, or simply within the genre you write in?

It depends what you want your brand to be and how you want readers to interact with you, as well as your total productivity. I would use pen names for genres if I was writing 20 books a year. As it is, there is little point in having a pen name for horror when my horror books are a year apart. The readers have already moved on if they have no personal investment in me. So I do everything under my real name, knowing some people aren’t going to be into everything I put out. Some are. I like lots of genres, and I tend to like writers even if they cross over into other things. Stephen King is a good example, as he is known for horror but works as much outside that genre.

The conventional advice for writers is to stick to one genre and ideally one series that runs for many books (20 or more, if you can), and to release frequently. I don’t think I could tolerate such an approach. Writing genre-fied soap operas sounds tedious and uninspired, and I could be doing many other things to make the same amount of money really successful authors make writing schlock.

I also simply don’t have the time to release 20 books a year. My main job is educating and taking care of my children. If I spend my time, it has to be on something I’m really passionate about creating.

On your Amazon author page, there are 24 published works to your name. The most reviewed book is Muramasa: Blood Drinker, a historical fantasy thriller set in Japan. It was your third book and one that you felt "finally got right".

Can you explain why you felt that way? Have you had an urge to follow up that book based on its positive reception?

I do frequently get questions about a sequel to the book, and while I could write one, I’m not going to unless the story I have in mind is really good. I love the ending of the book, with the characters riding off into the starlight (rather than the sunset), with the future open to them. There is no further conflict to tie up, so a sequel would just be another adventure, which is fine, but it has to be the right adventure. Fiction set in Feudal Japan is not a huge genre, believe it or not, so I don’t think I’m leaving a ton of money on the table waiting for the right feeling to come.

As far as why I thought I got it right, well, I had written several books before Muramasa, and learned some important lessons about how to manage a large plot with many characters as well as how to manage the tension of a story on the micro level. The story was easy to write—much easier than my first books—as a result. However, it was the ability to not write cringe garbage that made the book successful more than the big stuff. Sometimes you just have to get all the bad ideas out of your system before you can make something good.

I've noticed that you provide free editions of your work. Has that been something you've found success with? Do you have a publishing strategy that works best? For distribution, do you go through Amazon KDP, or another service like IngramSpark?

I think I still have a few free books up. One of these was a short fairy tale, for kids, really, I didn’t feel like I could get away charging for it back in 2016 when nobody knew who I was. The initial plan was to make it 99 cents once I had a few reviews. Maybe I will. The other was a science fiction book that didn’t really catch on. One of my least successful works, though it has been top in its category several times. I made it free because I wasn’t selling any copies anyway.

I do give away copies to readers on my mailing list from time to time, or to YouTube subscribers, just to say thank you. I don’t need to nickel and dime people with every little product and I find that someone really likes something they’ll pay me voluntarily for the entertainment. Anyway, free books haven’t really built my readership as much as making content has. If you had to pick one, good content related to your product or book is better than trying to get email addresses by giving things away. When there isn’t any kind of human connection there, no relationship (as silly as that might sound), they just unsubscribe.

For distribution, most of it is through KDP. Their print on demand is a very smooth process and gives me more royalties than going through IngramSpark or Lulu, though I would use one of those services if I had to do a large-scale printing run, like for crowdfunding. Most of my sales are through Amazon, so it’s most efficient to just set up print books with them.

I discovered you on YouTube because of Star Wars, specifically your analysis of The Last Jedi. In this case, you found general support for your criticism of a massive IP.

Has there been backlash from your statements? If so, how have you handled it? Or, separately, how have you handled criticism of your own books?

For Star Wars, there was huge backlash. I got death threats (not really serious ones) in 2015 and people attempting to contact my employer. Star Wars is like a religion to some people, so if you say anything bad they want to murder you. For most fans, though, Disney Wars was just a huge disappointment and YouTube was the way they found people who thought like them, since most normies, especially with The Force Awakens, were happy to watch the new stuff. It can be very isolating to not like what everyone else does (I say as I remember talking about music in the 1990s).

As far as criticism of my own books, you take it all with a grain of salt. Virtually all of my “bad” reviews were from people who didn’t read my books and got them for free (perhaps another reason not to bother with free books). It’s not possible to write a story that pleases everybody, and it’s also very difficult to ship without any mistakes. Occasionally I get docked for typos but even if I get manuscripts proofread during the publication phase typos get through. Harry Potter books still ship with a few typographical errors, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

I also say that I really don’t want people to read my books if they aren’t going to like them. What’s the point in that? I don’t want to sell a product just to make a dollar or two. Much better for them to spend their time reading something they are genuinely interested in, and better long-term to connect with real readers that like what I am doing.

If you could spend a day in the world of one of your books, which setting would it be and why? Separately, which character from your books would you like to have a conversation with, and what would you ask them?

It’s hard to say because when you write horror stories you don’t really want to be in the story. I’m inclined to say Muramasa because I think Sengoku period Japan is very interesting, but as far as fictional settings, it’s probably Needle Ash / Water of Awakening, since the cultures are so ancient and so developed. I don’t know about talking with a character since I don’t think of them as tulpas who can speak without my command.

What book are you most proud of and why?

Water of Awakening is probably my favorite, and its a bit divisive because I did such odd things with it. Muramasa proved to me I could actually write a long book and have it turn out the way I wanted. Water of Awakening proved to me I could break all the rules and still have something cool at the other side. I have a lot of good feelings toward where I was in life with both of those books, too, creating under intense time constraints and with massive personal change going on.

What is something you know now about writing that you wish your younger self knew?

That it’s something I could do. I gave it up for a long time because in the pre-Amazon days it seemed an impossible task to actually get anything published.

Has writing affected how you see the world? Please explain.

It definitely helped me understand the importance of storied and narratives beyond fiction. News stories are stories. Our memories are made, not recorded. We contextualize all events in a way that allows them to make sense in terms of causality and morality. When you know this, you understand how people talk about themselves much better and you are much better inoculated against the narrative lies of modern media.

Think of a person getting fired and how they describe it. The key details create a line of plot events with characters taking place at a certain time, and those are used to both explain the event as well as provide a moral rationale for what happened. “I got fired because Suzy hates me.” “I got fired because I refused to lie.” This is natural and I don’t judge people for it, because, honestly, we tell our own story to ourselves first. These aren’t lies or mere rationalizations, they are the way we filter the world so that we can make decisions in the future and understand our pasts.

How do you define success? 

The freedom and ability to pursue my own interests.

Just to elaborate, you can define success a lot of ways, but if you aren’t getting to do what you want to, either as a reward for your work or as the work itself, than you aren’t going to feel successful, no matter what other things you do or how other people think of you. The degree to which you can pursue your interests (leisure, family, religion, or work - whatever they might be) is the degree to which you are successful. 

Thank you for your time, David! We wish you much more success on your YouTube videos, music projects, and book releases. ~ WM

That’s the end of our interview with David V. Stewart. We hope you enjoyed it. Please share this with friends and family. Join us in the comments for any questions you may have.

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If you’re interested in picking up any of the titles mentioned in this interview, or would like to know more about David V. Stewart, consider clicking the links below:

DVS Press

Amazon Books

Changing with the Times

Back when I began my writing career, freelance authors were still often expected to physically mail submissions (including photos, in the case of a travel piece) to an editorial office, and then wait weeks or months for the inevitable polite rejection. Yes, the Internet existed, technically, but the submission process was still slightly more ancient than the new millennium.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, in those days I stored my submissions, and potential submissions, in a manila folder with a skull-and-crossbones drawn on it, labelled ‘EDITORS.’ All writers know the disappointment of rejection and handle it in their own ways. I chose comic expression to help make the rejections less painful.

Over time, I managed to publish many articles, a few stories, several books and so on, but the rate of rejection was always much higher than that of acceptance; had these submissions been infantry divisions in some military campaign, I would have been relieved of my command long ago. But while writers don’t love talking about it, that rate of attrition is entirely normal, just as it is being a part of the long war that most freelancers face.

One might argue that with the evisceration of traditional media and the instant ability to publish online today, that the concept of rejection itself has become redundant, that writers can now just get on with business, find their audience, and deliver their writing as quickly as possible. Well, we can—but does it mean we should?

While I do believe there is certainly something to this—otherwise, I would not have founded my Substack newsletter—I also want to make one simple argument for the old-fashioned ways, one that only hit me recently because of Substack. It concerns my flash fiction story “Street Scene before the Miracle,” which The Storyletter was kind enough to cross-post in April 2023.

A reader comment pointed to the story’s final sentence. And I realized that, even a month before the publication date, that particular line had never existed in precisely the same way as it does in the final version.

Without discussing the story, I’ll just say that last line involves a dream. The precise articulation of not only the language but the concept had just arisen in the final version for Substack; while all of the previous versions I had written, revised, submitted and resubmitted to various literary magazines over the previous six or seven years had included some sense of the dream, none of them had the new ending. Looking back at it now, it was clearly the only way to end the story and I was baffled at how it had evaded me for so many years, when everything else was in place.

This is, I think, the best example from my writing process to showcase and support the argument for slow revisions.

This is not just to speak of technical details, of word-count reductions, of the ‘all writing is rewriting’ sort. It is the argument that sometimes, for reasons unknown, crucial bits of stories are withheld from even their own authors for periods of time ranging from hours to years. I just feel lucky that my little story reassembled itself in the right way for its resolution; the matter of how long it took to do so is completely irrelevant now. But just perhaps, all of that effort over years got me closer to finding the hidden ending.

This sort of thinking encourages me. Writing is a solitary endeavor most of the time and we are better served as writers by finding how changing our outlook can actually improve our writing, when circumstances arise that seem decidedly disadvantageous (as with rejections or non-ideal writing environments). Such cases can simply mean a new opportunity to improve the final story.

Applying this Approach to Future Work

I take heart from this new attitude. And I will certainly need it. As I mentioned to Winston, I have been working for the past 18 months, or so, on a new series of detective stories, my first foray into that genre. It has taken me forever, since I want to do something completely differently than before, which requires a heavy amount of research on what came before.

Over that time, I have seen the contours of not only the individual chapters but the overarching plot that ties the whole thing together, evolve rather merrily. It is like the work has a mind of its own, even though I am (theoretically) the one writing it. For a while I tried to impose authority, but now I am just along for the ride. The characters, too, have changed and developed in ways I never could have expected.

I mention this example because things could have been much different, and not for the better, had I been impatient. I received a contract offer from a physical-book publisher at one point, which I turned down for various reasons. Had I accepted, I would have had a book out by now, but it would have been vastly different to the one that is being written.

So, I have no publisher yet for the series. It will be finished when it’s ready. And I’m just fine with that. Because, as I have come to realize over the decades, the chief joy of writing lies in writing itself, and if it takes a little longer to finish, then so be it.

That, anyway, is my argument for the art of long revisions. It can appear lazy to some…but I’ve never worked better, nor have I felt more intellectually stimulated.

It’s a wonderful time to be writing, and I hope that some of my experience might be interesting, even helpful, or come as consolation to any fellow writers who have faced the same challenges of the craft. Substack is providing a great platform for new creative expression that, had it existed 20 years ago, would have certainly helped me starting out.

I hope that all writers, young and old alike, find something of value in Substack as well, while attuning their intuition to understand that there can be more to the story if they’re willing to wait.

The Traveller's Literary Supplicant

Travel, Literature, History, Reviews, New Fiction and the Occasional Undefined Miracle

By Chris Deliso

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