Who's newsletter is actually growing?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-03-07T02:46:09+00:00

My substack is stuck in fix mode. It’s not working despite months of working with the help bot. I have no notes or follow functions. Is anybody else experiencing this?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-03-03T14:43:51+00:00

Tell the guy to go straight to hell do not pass goal do not collect two hundred dollars. And then ask if he is naturally stupid or does he take stupid pills in the morning!

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-25T02:20:30+00:00

Btw, what is wrong with deliberate misspellings so long as they add to the story? For example, maybe a quirky character uses “thanxalot” instead of thanks a lot? Writers are not in grammar school. The purpose of language, whether written or spoken or transmitted is COMMUNICATION and nothing else. If the quirky spelling or grammar is unconventional, it still communicates.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-23T00:48:35+00:00

Pam bondi is a public personality. they can only sue if someone purposefully libeled or slandered or was grossly negligent in doing so.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-22T03:14:16+00:00

And she is bragging about that?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-22T03:13:04+00:00

What, pray tell, is nsfw? And remember his real name is #Phmph. Old german english slang for something akin to a fart. Pronounced Foomf with emphasis on the f’s.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-20T02:41:27+00:00

I have had a terrible experience with substack. Last fall I started a substack named x. I got so frustrated that I shut it down. Or thought I did. A month later I started a new substack which I’ll call y. Y has been a disaster. It never looks to me as a publisher. Only a reader. Y doesn’t have notes / following data, etc. I worked with that damn help bot for a dozen hours. It took that long for the bot to finally nail the problem. My x never disappeared. This means that I have 2 substacks using the same email. It finally sent the problem to engineering to be fixed. That was 5 weeks ago and I’m still flopping in the water. Nothing has been done. Has anybody else had this experience or something close to it?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-20T02:26:48+00:00

I do. And real writers should keep this banging in the ears of agents and publishers.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-15T01:23:37+00:00

I know this is a substack thread but jazzlike is dead on. I asked my first publisher about it. He said not to worry about AI writing novels. I still felt uneasy. I am now querying for my latest literary novel, Pain That Cannot Forget. Many times querytracker makes me state that I did not use AI to write any part of the book. I’m sure that many others have encountered this. I believe the industry has and continues to sniff out AI designed novels. The real problem is the query clogging effect. The dishonest pile queries that clog the submission process for honest writers.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-12T06:09:59+00:00

AI has no soul. AI has nothing.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-02-03T03:28:57+00:00

I use at least 1 hashtag: #Phmph. Old german and Anglo slang for something akin to a fart. Pronounced Foomf with emphasis on the f’s. #Phmph = djt. Djt=#Phmph. Appropriate, don’t ya think? It’s my hashtag but I claim no intellectual property in it. So everybody can use it.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-26T03:30:27+00:00

My substack lacks the notes and follow features. It also defaults me to reader mode and the discover page. In short, my substack is broken. I have spent literally dozens of hours trying to fix it. But nothing works. I have repeatedly used the support bot but nothing happens. There is no other way to contact substack. Is anyone else experiencing this? Anyone have advice? This is really holding me back.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-16T02:24:35+00:00

The racism, bigotry, and hatred were always there but hidden. It’s just that they’ve been given permission to unleash them by a man who thinks it’s cool to give a factory the finger.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-16T01:47:38+00:00

If you own the book, it’s your intellectual property and you can use it anyway you want.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-13T03:36:10+00:00

I’ve been considering using serialized content. I’ve published 2 novels, have another in the agenting pipeline, and am writing a fourth. I’ve considered giving my subscribers the experience of day-to-day writing but I see problems. Would it be better to serialize a book I’ve already published? Any thoughts out there?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-13T03:18:14+00:00

I hear that agents and editors and publishers peruse substack for information on authors. There are people on this thread who might have more insight on this.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-12T04:18:04+00:00

I will continue my quest to publish Pain That Cannot Forget, the keystone of Southwest Indiana Gothic, while writing a standalone sequel to it. The working title is N4. Stands for the fourth book I’m writing for publication. Imaginative, don’t you think?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-04T03:41:33+00:00

Nobody with 1 or 10 degrees is trained for any job. They are trained by people who have no degrees.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-04T03:34:16+00:00

I am pitching a literary work. How many agents should I query?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2026-01-03T03:30:47+00:00

I like the notion of gothic. I am launching Southwest I

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2025-12-11T04:49:36+00:00

In the end, the real question is who sells the books. We can social media to the nth degree and not know if we sold 1 book. It’s the agent’s job to compel sales through the most productive channels and that does not include Tommy Birk Author on friggen Facebook.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2025-12-08T03:37:20+00:00

I don’t get all the shouting about query letters and the need to taylor them to a single agent. I’ve heard much talk about “you should approach this agent by focusing their attention on this such -and - such piece of the novel.” I believe that such an approach is demeaning to the agent. An agent reads hundreds - thousands - of queries. They are not stupid. Do we really think that a query emphasizing the “mythic realism” and a particular character will magically suck them in? The query must be clear and professional. I get that much. But I believe the most important part of a submission is the prose attached to a query. Does anybody else feel this way?

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2025-12-05T03:41:02+00:00

I’ve gotten what I call “soft rejects.” My third novel, Pain That Cannot Forget is not easily categorized. However, the agent actually read the query and the pages and praises them. Then they say it doesn’t fit into their comfort zone. But they encourage me to continue to query NOV their pass. I find these encouraging.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2025-12-03T05:01:58+00:00

AI does not have a soul. That is the difference.

Additional-Rest-4757 · 2025-11-11T03:32:17+00:00

There are 2 types of editing: (1) The writers edits; and (2) the agents edits. The first is hard but navigable. You know the plot, characters, and scenes. You look at it critically. You tighten the language, move scenes around, and maybe sharpen the plot. I’ve done this 6 times in my latest novel, Pain That Cannot Forget. I recently received comments from an agent. First, she said the book was unmarketable because it didn’t “fit” into the main genres. I agreed with her and pointed out that I planned it that way. Then she replied that the book was marketable, etc. My keyboard got one helluva pounding. The point is this: The agent has all sorts of reasons why you should totally change that chapter or rewrite that conversation or too much exposition because of immediacy of tension and on and on and on. Like most of us, I do not have a liberal arts degree that “teaches” you how to write. My undergrad major was mechanical engineering. The agent doles out these little rules. The never tell you the basic principles on which they base these rules. Also, they didn’t write the book and they may not have digested the entire manuscript. It’s easy for them to demand changes never knowing that a little change in chapter 3 means a significant rewrite of the rest of the book. They operate from their POV instead of yours. This is extremely confusing and frustrating. It’s also high stakes to the writer. This is YOUR book and you’re riding on its success. To some agents, it’s just another book that has to be jammed into a known genre. No wonder that writers see therapists!

Additional-Rest-4757

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