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.
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.