On today's episode I dive into the Substack Recommendations feature, exploring why it's so effective and how to best make use of it.

Do check out M. E. Rothwell's article on Substack network design: https://open.substack.com/pub/cosmographia/p/how-to-think-about-the-substack-network?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Comics and television have enjoyed a close connection with their audiences for decades. By releasing issues and episodes one at a time on a regular schedule, creators in those mediums have been able to observe audience reaction in real time, while they’re still making the thing itself. That adds a layer of communication that can impact on the storytelling — if you allow it.

Reader interaction discussion: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/should-writers-ignore-their-readers?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Today is all about overcoming the fear of sharing, with some tips I've found useful over the years.

Link to another article about public speaking: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/dont-be-scared-of-doing-author-events?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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One way or another I’ve been building online communities for about 25 years, in and out of the day job. Here's how you can do the same for your newsletter.

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A friend recently reminded me of the ‘10,000 hours’ concept. The idea is that to become expert in any subject you need to actively do it for at least 10,000 hours.

Grab the spreadsheet.

BBC discussion on 10,000 hours.

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Today’s post is for all you writers of serials. be they fiction or non-fiction.

Today I’m drilling into a specific aspect of writing online serials, particularly if you’re doing it via your own website or newsletter: the idea of the ‘index’ post. You can see one of mine here, as an example.

How to publish a serial via newsletter: https://simonkjones.substack.com/p/how-to-publish-a-serial-story-in?utm_source=publication-search

Why I left Wattpad: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/why-i-left-wattpad-for-substack?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The problem with long serials: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/the-problem-with-long-form-serials?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Simon talks about the origins and development of his book No Adults Allowed. See the video version at https://simonkjones.substack.com.

Buy the book on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXNi9eX

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In today's episode I think about the unusual temporal aspects of writing a long-form online serial. Links, comments and more over at https://simonkjones.substack.com.

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Generative AI is going to disrupt a lot of industries, but possibly not in the way we're thinking. Read more and comment at https://simonkjones.substack.com

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How to set up Substack to present a serial.

My index page: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/how-to-read-tales-from-the-triverse?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Improving Substack's fiction: https://open.substack.com/pub/simonkjones/p/how-to-fix-substacks-fiction-experience?r=3rwg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonkjones.substack.com/subscribe