From what time I've spent on here, it definitely looks like the best utilization of Substack will be as a shopping window into a writer's content. You've mentioned, or hinted at it, Alicia is saying it, too.
Question/s: can writers survive on selling non-material goods, i.e., all digital content; will they pay more for sustainable made? Should you "sell" your own writer's convention (you have a group of writers, can you all coordinate and pick some locations)? If Substack is just a shopping window & eComm is the avenue, then what, if any, stats are relevant?
I'm sure I'll think of more questions after clicking post... oh, & I just saw Ann's reply about convo...must be something there.
Good thoughts, Neil! And it looks like you have been thinking about this for awhile like all of us. These are the things to explore and test! Keep me posted if you get some results. 😉🫶
I'm just starting out, in a week actually, but only a feeler serial story. Plan is to have things working over the next few years. I'm an interested party, at this point, and eager to see what works best. I hate the idea of needing physical merch to survive, but...
"Can writers survive on selling non-material goods, i.e., all digital content;"
100%. I'm proof of that. What encouraged me was selling $0.97 PDF comics back in 2005. When I saw this could actually be done, and THAT was experimental....no one was selling comics online at the time...I was full speed ahead.
I know of a woman who is a millionaire from 100% digital sales...and she's still crushing it to this day.
In fact, the very first acknowledged indie author millionaire was Amanda Hocking. Look her up. I was one of her blog fans and I was rooting for her. She made $2.2 million from Amazon $0.99 digital books.
In my case, I've never been monetarily rich, but I make enough for my needs...but yes, you can. I'll say what I always say....my sales are always a trickle.
Make more trickles and you get a stream.
Make more streams, you get a river.
Possible? 100%....but I keep going when 99.9% give up, so make sure you're doing what you love.
Here's what i hope to accomplish with this Sunstack....
To explain the actual truth about writing and publishing.
Not what popular blah-blah-blah says, but explain, "look, these are options you might consider...because I tried this, and particularly A didnt work, but part B did enough for me to tweak it and make the money I wanted..."
If we can work as a community and just have honest, open conversations with each other, we will be so far ahead of the rest of the world, we won't be able to fail unless we just give up.
Sorry to have to bring this up, but the recording doesn't match the show notes. It's about Shopify and metrics - all great stuff, but nothing about idea-problems.
Robert, I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you pointed that out.
My stomach dropped out when I read your comment.
I have so many notes to do this podcast, and because of the format, what I plan to talk about and what comes to fruition are often two separate things.
Ann is spot on about the notes -- I have 90% of my session already outlined, and I uploaded the wrong set afterwards.
So I have made a modified change to the notes....STILL not perfect, but better...because the show has already been picked up and distributed.
*ungh*
So sorry. I will be far more attentive to the notes...now that I'm paranoid.
Could have been worse. Both the show notes and the recording were captivating. Please have Ann on again, so we can have that planned-for discussion. After all, ideas can be such dangerous things if you don't handle them right - along the lines of nitro-glycerine...
Always fun talking to you, Jaime!!! St. George... ? Kathy-Lynn needs to shop and we need an in-person convo!
BTW, the writing sprints are every Monday & Wednesday at 9am Pacific time at https://tinyurl.com/fictionwrites
OOF -- forgot that. I'll change that in the show notes....
Good stuff as always, & fun!
I posted this note awhile back trying to think about new/additional ways to help monetize content; https://substack.com/@trailwx/note/c-183645972?r=5prvdw&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
From what time I've spent on here, it definitely looks like the best utilization of Substack will be as a shopping window into a writer's content. You've mentioned, or hinted at it, Alicia is saying it, too.
Question/s: can writers survive on selling non-material goods, i.e., all digital content; will they pay more for sustainable made? Should you "sell" your own writer's convention (you have a group of writers, can you all coordinate and pick some locations)? If Substack is just a shopping window & eComm is the avenue, then what, if any, stats are relevant?
I'm sure I'll think of more questions after clicking post... oh, & I just saw Ann's reply about convo...must be something there.
Good thoughts, Neil! And it looks like you have been thinking about this for awhile like all of us. These are the things to explore and test! Keep me posted if you get some results. 😉🫶
I'm just starting out, in a week actually, but only a feeler serial story. Plan is to have things working over the next few years. I'm an interested party, at this point, and eager to see what works best. I hate the idea of needing physical merch to survive, but...
"Can writers survive on selling non-material goods, i.e., all digital content;"
100%. I'm proof of that. What encouraged me was selling $0.97 PDF comics back in 2005. When I saw this could actually be done, and THAT was experimental....no one was selling comics online at the time...I was full speed ahead.
I know of a woman who is a millionaire from 100% digital sales...and she's still crushing it to this day.
In fact, the very first acknowledged indie author millionaire was Amanda Hocking. Look her up. I was one of her blog fans and I was rooting for her. She made $2.2 million from Amazon $0.99 digital books.
In my case, I've never been monetarily rich, but I make enough for my needs...but yes, you can. I'll say what I always say....my sales are always a trickle.
Make more trickles and you get a stream.
Make more streams, you get a river.
Possible? 100%....but I keep going when 99.9% give up, so make sure you're doing what you love.
Very encouraging, as always!!! 🫶
Here's what i hope to accomplish with this Sunstack....
To explain the actual truth about writing and publishing.
Not what popular blah-blah-blah says, but explain, "look, these are options you might consider...because I tried this, and particularly A didnt work, but part B did enough for me to tweak it and make the money I wanted..."
If we can work as a community and just have honest, open conversations with each other, we will be so far ahead of the rest of the world, we won't be able to fail unless we just give up.
...and most people do.
Sorry to have to bring this up, but the recording doesn't match the show notes. It's about Shopify and metrics - all great stuff, but nothing about idea-problems.
Yes, I agree. If we were ever on topic, we got right off. I think the shownotes are what Jaime wanted us to talk about. 😆
How did I out up the wrong notes???
I have just proved to all that you simply cannot second guess the outcome of a podcast conversation.
Not possible.
....AND.....don't misplace your notes!
So the updated notes are a hybrid...because the SEO, GEO, AEO are already established, but I placed an updated note at the bottom of the page.
Now I just hope this will all update on Spotify and Apple....
[crosses all fingers and toes...]
Robert, I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you pointed that out.
My stomach dropped out when I read your comment.
I have so many notes to do this podcast, and because of the format, what I plan to talk about and what comes to fruition are often two separate things.
Ann is spot on about the notes -- I have 90% of my session already outlined, and I uploaded the wrong set afterwards.
So I have made a modified change to the notes....STILL not perfect, but better...because the show has already been picked up and distributed.
*ungh*
So sorry. I will be far more attentive to the notes...now that I'm paranoid.
Don't be paranoid. It happens. Life goes on. 🥰
I know,..this is me, wanting to always do my very best for the community. =)
Could have been worse. Both the show notes and the recording were captivating. Please have Ann on again, so we can have that planned-for discussion. After all, ideas can be such dangerous things if you don't handle them right - along the lines of nitro-glycerine...
Ann has picked many of tge 100 topic list...and im looking forward to doing the round table discussions with the whole community.