Happy Friday, friends. My guest today shares the how, what, and why she decided to publish on a growing platform known as Substack. Many are curious about this platform, myself included. Here’s Elisabeth’s story. She’s one of many, from newbies to bestselling authors, who are making names for themselves on Substack. Please welcome Elisabeth Rhoads. ~ Donnell
A Dark, Psychological Suspense—with a Publishing Style as Surprising as the Story
By Elisabeth Rhoads
Author Elisabeth Rhoads
What do you get when you take David Copperfield, rip it apart every few chapters, and then publish the chunks? A serialized novel of course!
I had never considered indie publishing and certainly never considered putting my writing online. Like many first-time authors, I was afraid that my work might be plagiarized or that I would never be able to sell it once I had. And putting it out there for FREE? Not in a million years.
Well, not until I watched author Andy Weir’s TEDx talk called, “Ending the Old Boy Network: The New World of Publishing.” Andy discussed his experience posting The Martian chapter by chapter on his website after spending years pounding on the doors of traditional publishing. I thought, I’ve also spent years pounding at the doors of traditional, and it’s gotten me nowhere. Maybe I can do what Andy did.
So I started some research. After sifting through the options, I decided to publish on Substack. My reasoning? Salman Rushdie serialized his novella The Seventh Wave in 48 installments over the course of nearly a year there. If it was good enough for someone of Salman’s caliber, it was good enough for me.
If you’re wondering what Substack is, it’s a platform that began as a way for writers to engage directly with their audience—essentially a newsletter service. It has now expanded to include nearly every form of content including video and even podcasts. Writers own their list of subscribers (which was particularly important to me), and it is both ad-free and free to use. If writers/creators decide they want to get paid, they can enable paid subscriptions; and Substack takes a ten percent cut. Substack also has a few features for promoting your work within the platform, such as “Recommendations,” where other authors can recommend you, and “Notes,” which is essentially an in-house social media.
I started serializing my eighty-two chapter, dark historical suspense, Haggard House, in June of 2024 with a goal of completing by June of 2025. I currently publish 2 chapters per week, to what has grown to be an audience of nearly 100 subscribers.
It hasn’t been without its challenges. It’s an unusual format for readers; and for people who don’t like to read on a screen, it’s simply not a good fit.
However, the series has been slowly gaining traction, and I’m happy to report that Substack has been the source of some of my most enthusiastic readers, with some even sharing and recommending the series. It has also received the recognition of PEN/Malamud and *REA Award-winning short story writer, novelist, and now friend, Richard Bausch, who wrote, “Ms. Rhoads’s novel HAGGARD HOUSE is compulsively readable, and satisfying on every level. I am thoroughly enjoying it, and I bet you will, too.”
About the novel: Raised in malevolent Haggard House, Adam discovers a method that allows him to lead the pious life he was commanded to live, while also pursuing the forbidden young woman of his dreams. Yet as Adam matures, his method begins to cause unintended consequences, threatening his mind, his relationships, and laying wreckage to everything he believes to be true.
How to Read: If you’d like to check out the series and subscribe to read it free, you can do so anytime between now and June 1st of 2025. Learn more about Haggard House.
About the Author: Elisabeth Rhoads is the author of Haggard House and numerous short stories. She has a B.A. in Theatre Arts and is the current Vice-President on the board of the California Writers Club, Orange County branch. Since 2021, she has been volunteer judging the Scholastic Writing Awards.
Second only to writing, she is a reader. She loves classic literature, particularly anything by Charles Dickens or the sisters Brontë. In addition, Elisabeth enjoys learning Japanese, fermenting foods of all types, although mainly kombucha, and pretends to enjoy exercise-related activities, such as kayaking and running.
Thanks for joining me today, Elisabeth. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you so much, Donnell. It’s been a real pleasure!
Thanks for sharing your publishing experience of Substack. Your novel sounds interesting. I wish you great success.
Thank you so much, Steve. It’s been a fascinating journey.
Elisabeth, not only is Steve Rush published in nonfiction and fiction, he’s also on Substack. Don’t know how this work, but you two should follow each other.
Thank you so much for letting me know, Donnell. I just followed.
I’ve heard about Substack but had no clue what it was all about. I’m going to check it out. Thanks, Donnell and Elisabeth.
I’m thinking of running a long ago unpublished novel through it while I write my WIP. This has been an informative post, Elisabeth.
Thanks for reading, Kathy. It’s certainly been interesting.
Another new option for publishing! I follow an author’s newsletter (Fleur Bradley), but haven’t seen novels on Substack. Thanks for the info.
Interesting, huh, Catherine?
Thanks, Catherine. It’s still not terribly common to post novels there as serials, but I see more of them every day. A few Substackers have even started Substacks that catalog them, such as the one in the link below.
https://thelinklibrary.substack.com/
Thank you for your thoughts on Substack, Elisabeth. Every once in a while, I like to entertain thoughts of ditching my email list provider and going straight to Substack. That you made it work sounds encouraging. Thank you!
Thank you, Rhonda!
Thank you for this information. I had no idea about it. You’re a trailblazer. I subscribed to your newsletter and can’t wait to start your book.
Thank you, Venita. So kind of you! I’ll “see” you there.