I serialized a novel on Substack. Now what?

How'd it go and what do I do now?

If you’re just tuning in, and you’re interested, check out The Apocalypse Saga here

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After six years of world building, eight months of edits and rewrites, 204 pages, and over 120,000 words, The Apocalypse Saga has come to an end. It feels… surreal. But more than anything, I feel really grateful that I had the space and the audience to do this. So, before we get into anything, I want to say thank you so much! This has been… well, it’s been awesome. So thank you for reading, liking, commenting, following along, and for some of you the chaotic phone calls as the plot unfolded. Now, here’s the big question: What’s next? Get ready for a longer than normal retrospective because we have A LOT to discuss. If you’re looking for a specific section, Here are the subsections:

1. What’s Next

2. The Retrospective

3. The Review

4. TAS playlist

5. Concluding thoughts

Feel free to jump around as needed! Now, let’s hop into this…

What’s Next?

1. Posts every Friday are officially coming to an end

That’s right! After 21 months of consistent posts every single Friday, I’ve decided it's time to slow wayyyyyyy down. Stories will still come when I have some to share, or if I see a prompt I like, but otherwise I’m going to take it easy. I’ll still be posting short stories, serials (such as Marrow Chronicle), sci-fi today posts, and book discussions! I also think I would like to start doing monthly updates on what I’m working on, how it's going, and what I’m doing outside of the substack realm. Similar to what

Leigh Parrish

does on the first of every month. Also, between us, I’m starting to write my dissertation in the coming months and I need to switch my writing focus a tiny bit.

2. I’m going to spread my stories outside of Substack

Speaking of things outside of the Substack realm, I want to try and do some new things. New things like entering stories into anthologies, magazines, and also creating my own prints of novellas, zines, and maybe even full length novels. Recently, I was at a book fair for adults, and as much as I appreciated the concept, I felt like the books that were there were really geared towards a specific audience (mostly romance - though to be clear, it wasn’t all romance. It wasn’t specifically advertised as a romance-oriented event, but that was definitely the primary audience), and that’s okay! BUT I wondered if I could fill a space for other people like myself who may have gone looking for something else. Maybe if I could make my short stories into zines, and some of my longer stories into novellas, I could fill a different niche.

There’s also a local market near me that you can pay $25/month for a cubby space that you can sell things in. I’ve seen a couple local authors selling books in there, maybe I could sell some short story zines too. I probably wouldn’t break even, but it could be a fun way to get my work out there. I think it’s worth a shot, what do you think?

3. Let’s finish a couple novels

Before I ever finished TAS, I actually finished the story that comes after it. Beyond Corrupt Eyes (BCE). This book has been through four rounds of edits, and honestly it's one of my favorite stories I’ve ever written. The sequel to BCE is also in first draft format - Famine of Flame (FoF) - and the third and final book in the Astra world has also been started, but is nowhere near completion. I want to finish all these projects and then… I want to query and see about trad publishing. Maybe.

4. It’s time to query (again)

Last year in September, I queried 6 agents. Rookie numbers, I know, but I wanted to see what the experience was like. It was - honestly, it was a little demoralizing. I learned a little, and felt a little bit like my stories didn’t have an audience, or maybe they weren’t good enough. But I think better of that now. It wasn’t because of what any agents said to me. I definitely just got in my own head. But I’ve had more experiences, and time to reflect since then. And now, I have a new plan. I need…

5. Beta Readers

It’s official! Writing on Substack and posting TAS has really helped me feel like I can handle the process. It certainly won’t be easy, but I feel way more ready than before, and I’d really like to start! So, if you’re interested I have set up a new email for communications about being a beta reader for BCE, a new story in the world of Astra! If you’re interested, email me at LLford.author@gmail.com or DM me on Substack! I’d be happy to have you! I’m hoping to take the first 6 or so people to reach out, but maybe I’ll increase that number if there’s high enough interest! I’m hoping to have a mix of people beta reading. People who know a lot about Astra, a little about the world, and next to nothing. I want to test the barrier of entry to this story. My hope is that BCE can stand on its own and tie new people into the story. Here’s a little back of the book description to get its hooks in you if you’re on the fence:

The magic of Astra has disappeared since the apocalypse 15 years ago. Prayers go unanswered, sorcerers have gone into hiding, and the world leans more on the futuristic tech than ever before. Ex-militia member, Yebo, spent years trying to protect her family. With a solar rifle in hand, she vowed to never let anything happen to them again. Now she’s looking towards grander horizons. Alone, Yebo embarks on a journey to discover herself, the secrets of Astra, and uncover the truth about an ancient legend from her childhood. That’s when she meets Ember, a mysterious woman running from her past, and right into lockstep with Yebo. Together, they uncover corruptions untold, traumas of the past, and where the heroes of old failed. With Yebo’s optimism and Ember’s rage, they embark on one of the greatest challenges either of them have ever faced: Making the world a better place.

Quick tags so you can decide if this sounds like it might be for you: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Adventure, Cosmic mystery, post apocalyptic, high-tech, high fantasy, cyberpunk meets solarpunk, Afrofuturism inspirations, and LGBT+ friendly. Again, if you’re interested, email me at LLford.author@gmail.com or DM me on substack!

Okay, that’s all the updates on the future of my writing plans. Don’t worry, stories on Substack are not coming to an end by any means! Don’t expect anything new for a little while (I’ll be honest, I need a bit of a break after TAS), but I have ideas churning and stories on the horizon. Stay tuned for that! Okay, now it's time to talk about TAS. One last time, gang, into the void…

The Apocalypse Saga Retrospective

129,850 words. 204 Microsoft Word pages. That’s the raw numbers of it. When I lay it out that way, it seems a little absurd. But even more absurd is that the original story that started all of Astra was written six years ago, and that was Chapter 11, The Third one. Six years ago, I jumped out of my bed late at night and I started a new story. A story that has changed my life in so many ways. Back then, that story was one dimensional, bland, and as the kids may say ‘cringey.’ Well, I’d like to think it has improved quite a bit. Here we are, a story I used to fear would never be finished, and we are indeed at its end. I’m really honored and grateful to everyone who has read the whole thing, even through the ups and downs of the story. Thank you for sticking with it. Even if you didn’t finish, thank you for giving it a chance! Let’s talk about some of those ups and downs real quick.

1. Saying goodbye

I never thought it’d be so hard to say goodbye to dear Akashi. He was originally written as dead. All the original stories in Astra had him as an undead character, but having him alive for so long and watching you, my readers, fall in love with him made it even harder to kill him off. He was an awesome character - genuinely one of my favorites I ever made - and I spent years fleshing him out. And we had to say goodbye to him twice in this story. Hurts double, right? Still, it was time to move on. We basically plotted out his entire life. That was a really cool thing to do with a single character, but I think we’ve done everything we can with him. Don’t get me wrong, I have stories about him (mostly cut chapters of TAS) that never saw the light of day, but that’s expanding on already established stories, not making something entirely new.

At the end of the day, I’m just happy so many more people got to appreciate his character as much as I did. I won’t say a fictional character’s death is like experiencing a death in the family, but it is like having a falling out with a very close friend and knowing it can’t be fixed. One day he’s there, and the next he’s gone. But, much like Ophee, we’ll always have the good memories, right?

Something you may be wondering is if we’ll see some of our other characters again? Or if some of the plotlines picked up across Astra will be resolved. Or maybe you’re wondering if Akashi’s legacy will have reverberations throughout Astra. And to that I say: Hey wouldn’t it be cool if my post apocalypse trilogy was published? Email me at LLford.author@gmail.com or DM me on Substack if you want to beta read the next story in Astra!

2. TAS isn’t ‘finished’

One of my favorite things to see in writer’s communities is the vast number of people who only after they hit publish realize they made a massive typo - or multiple for that matter. About a third of the way through working on TAS, I was starting to get frustrated because that was happening a lot. Then I realized something: It’s because this wasn’t a final draft. Let’s be so for real right now: This is a second draft, maybe a third if I’m being really nice to myself. Now, in my opinion it's a very well put together and organized second draft, but there are spelling and grammatical errors galore. Not only that, but there’s probably some space to trim even more fat than I already did, or maybe even add some significant things in. For example: As much as I love chapter 7, it doesn’t really contribute a whole ton to the story. Or, I was thinking how interesting it would be to actually see Carja’s army of fiends coming together. We saw how he did it when Akashi died, but we didn’t see how he got so many. Sure, he explained it, but wouldn’t it be nice to experience it? But maybe that would be the exact kind of thing I was just saying would need cut.

I don’t intend on exploring this any time soon, honestly. I want to focus on other stories, other challenges, and that sounds less like a challenge and more like a chore right now, so It’s something to keep in mind, but not something to live by. For now.

3. Serializing to an audience is… hard

Let me get this out of the way up front: I love my audience. You guys are awesome. Beyond awesome. Some of the coolest people out there if you ask me. The interactions I have, the discussions I’m so fortunate to partake in, the way people share my work… It's all so amazing and I am so honored to have you all here. That being said, serializing something this long to an audience? It’s hard. Not hard in the traditional sense. Instead, I mean it is extremely emotionally taxing. Especially if you start thinking about the numbers too hard. Engagement fluctuates, that’s just the way things are! That is by no means a bad thing. In fact, I don’t think it should matter that much. People’s situations change. Their interests wane. Their availability changes. Their free time to read ebbs and flows. The longer things get, the harder it is to keep up, OR they hate it.

Now, what’s the truth here? Probably depends on the person, but it didn’t stop me from getting really in my head about this entire thing. Everytime the readership wasn’t as high, or my ‘30 day view’ plummeted, I felt a pang in my chest. What was I doing wrong? How could I fix this? Is the story bad?

But these numbers really aren’t the end all be all. They just aren’t. When I post standalone pieces, my numbers soar, but when I post long-form multi part projects, interest wanes as the months drag on. And that’s okay! That isn’t why I’m doing this. Still, there’s a voice of doubt in the back of my head trying to egg me into reacting instead of being patient, and getting it done. That reactionary voice can shut its mouth, but unfortunately for me, it doesn’t exactly like to. That meant that I was generally engaging less on Substack, and trying not to focus on analytics. As subscribers stagnated, viewership collapsed, and self doubt crept in, I began to wonder if I was even doing the right thing. Honestly? Yes, I was.

The regular comments, reads, people tagging me when recommending writers, and the fact that I had a story published during this time reminded me that these basic analytics are nowhere near the end all be all. I just needed to focus, ignore that voice, and do what I came here to do. And I did. Damn it, I did! My point is, it is really difficult. You can 100% serialize a novel on Substack, but it does require a different sort of resilience then just posting short stories I think. And that’s okay! I’ve been working on building up my mental muscles for this sort of thing for months, and I think it paid off.

So, yes, it is hard, but it is also completely worth it.

4. Consistency is key(?)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty good at consistency. Every Friday at 10am EST for 21 months, I was in your inbox with a whole new story or chapter to share. I’ll give myself credit, I think it's awesome that I was able to do that. But that isn’t exactly what this is about. This is a short point of contention, but I wanted to mention it anyways: The length of chapters. I really tried hard to keep all my chapters around 8 MS word pages (between 5000 and 6000ish words). I worried this size was too long week to week. I worried if I went longer than that people would lose interest. I worried about it being too short. Something in my head insisted that the chapters had to all be close to the same length. There was some variation (especially towards the end), but 8 pages was my sweet spot. Was it a good sweet spot? I’m not so sure. A lot of the serials on here I’ve seen are typically shorter chapter to chapter. I’ve seen a couple that are longer too though. I’m not even sure if this remotely matters? In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I’m talking about something that’s ultimately pointless. Something to think about for future serials, but not really something that matters now.

5. Astra World Tour

Part of this being the original story written in Astra is that a lot of the world building happened here. Originally, a big part of the story was that Akashi and Seijun aren’t the strongest, coolest, most powerful people in the world. They were just the most convenient people to get the job done. I think that still rings true, but it definitely isn’t the most important part of the character’s path anymore.

At one point in the story, our Million Named Man refers to their journey as a world tour. A friend of mine actually said that and I snatched it up. He originally called it an ‘Around the world.’ Both ideas work and ring true, but world tour is much funnier. In a way, I do worry about the quality of the storytelling given that this was originally designed as a way of building up a playground to tell other stories in. These were the mythical times that lead to the next big thing. The next big thing being BCE (LLford.author@gmail.com or DM on substack). But I think this story still has value, and does show how the world works and how sci-fi and fantasy mesh together in a unique and fun way. Not only that, but I do genuinely think this story is good. It needs work, sure, but I think it is worth my time to work on, and your time as a reader.

Speaking of if I think the book is good or not, how about a self assessment?

The Review

I want to give myself my own little review based on what I just said above. If I had to score TAS out of 10, I’d give it a…. 7/10. Is it my best work? No. Is it perfect? Far from it, BUT I’m really happy with how it came out. I’m especially proud of the characterizations, the dialogue, and the descriptions of Astra. I’m also beyond proud of the fight scenes - the fight scenes have got to be the shining star of this entire journey. I love a good fight scene if you couldn’t tell. I especially liked the chaos of chapters 23 and 24. They weren’t the most intense action scenes for our protagonists, but they’re still absurdly fun.

I do think the connectivity between chapters could use some work. The grammar, the spelling, and specific plot details could stand to be fleshed out more. I also worry that Ophee’s introduction in the last three chapters may be a little jarring for people who haven’t been following Astra since The Children of War, and so specifically for those people, I think that will dampen the final review. Ultimately, I think The Apocalypse Saga is a clean 7/10. Maybe one day I’ll bump it up a little higher, but for now, we’ll stay happy with this self imposed 7. Okay, this is getting to be a really long retrospective, let’s move on.

The TAS Playlist

When I started the editorial process, I created a playlist. The theme? The weirdest, most unnerving music I could find OR music that aligned with specific characters. Mind you, this is entirely vibes based and not based on the actual story being told in the music, but hey, how about I share with you some music by character. If you really like a certain character, maybe check out their inspiration music. Much like me, maybe you’ll find some new music you like. I for one discovered that I really like Doom Metal in the process of writing this book. What a fun discovery! Seriously, Faetooth is one of my favorite bands now. Anyway, in no particular order…

• Akashi

  • Time of Dying - Three Days Grace

  • Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

  • Get out Alive - Three Days Grace

  • Rabbit Hole - Chevelle

• Seijun

  • Delusion - Max Madly

  • Song for Genichiro Ashina/Song for Isshin, The Sword Saint - Luke Westaway

  • Wacced out murals - Kendrick Lamar

• Akashi and Seijun (the original music that I wrote them to over the last 6 years)

  • Traffic Jam and Deference for Darkness - Halo 3 ODST soundtrack

• Lady Vey

  • Sacrifant - Frayle

  • Peril - Halo 2 Soundtrack

  • Strange Ways - Faetooth

• Centu

  • Product of my own design - Artio

  • Gemini - Foxcult

  • The Emerald Grove - Foxcult

• Lou/The Brahman

  • Movement - Hozier

  • Orfeo Negro - Guayaba

  • Unshaken - D’Angelo

  • These Walls - Kendrick Lamar

• Vajra, The Dragon Mother

  • Possession of a Weapon - Ashnikko

  • Possess Me - Ashnikko

  • Innards - Ashnikko (Ashnikko’s body horror-esque vibes were a huge influence for The Dragon Mother)

  • Deliverance - ZAND

• Guaya, The Weaver of the Cosmos

  • Mother of Nine - Guayaba (clear influence in the name alone)

  • Sanguijuela - Guayaba

  • Treacle & Revenge - Frayle

  • She Cast a Shadow - Faetooth

• Oran-Koh

  • First Light - Hozier

  • All Things End - Hozier

  • Ptolomea - Ethel Cain (Specifically in chapter 24)

• Carja, The Void Tyrant

  • I Spit On Your Grave - ZAND

  • Worship Me - Max Madly

  • L’Oratoire - Black Bile

  • Swallow - Harpy

• Ophee

  • Punish - Ethel Cain

  • Serpentine - Vana

  • Crawling - Vana

• Little bonus one - Celie Green. Not in this story but in A Peacekeeper’s Oath, I was listening to so much Kendrick Lamar (DNA, Humble, and a lot of To Pimp a Butterfly) and one of my favorite bands: Nightlife (No Pleasure specifically gives major Paradia after dark vibes). Like, so much. Really captured the more upbeat and action oriented scenes for me.

• Oh, and one more thing: The unofficial theme of TAS was 100% Survivor by Destiny’s Child. Always got me amped up to start editing. Needless to say, we were a bit all over the place.

There’s definitely more that I missed, but I think that’s enough for now. Okay, let’s move on!

Conclusion

Okay, that brings our discussion to an end. I once again want to thank you for reading. Thank you for getting me here. I’ve come so far as a writer and as a person, and I’m proud of the ways that I’ve grown since I’ve started this journey. The journey isn’t over, but it's changing a little. Can’t wait to share those updates with all of you. Thank you for being here. I do want to give a special thank you to some people who either read, uplifted me, or both:

• Caitriana NicNeacail
  for stumbling upon my stories almost 2 years ago and being an awesome reader every step of the way. I couldn’t possibly be more thankful.

• David Perlmutter
  for always being the first one to like a post without fail.

• Mary Sonny
  for putting up with my panicked texts about how things are going on an erratically irregular basis.

• Olivia Keller
  for chatting with me about the joys of world building and the difficulties of the editorial process.

• Michael B. Morgan
  for following along every step of the way and reposting and sharing!

• Ama, Into The Gray Unknown
  and the rest of the
  Locked In
  community for holding space for me in weekly writing sessions where I put in a lot of my editorial work, and am actively working on reading my work out loud to build up some confidence!

• My friend Emma who called me after almost every chapter to hype me up and cheer on the absurdity that was this fantastical story.

• And to a Substack contributor who is no longer on the platform: Sam Rake. Sam, if you’re still reading this, thanks for being such a stalwart reader and supporter who always helped me see the value in my work.

• Thank you to Dave Slebodnick (@Daviddrawsdrawings on instagram) for making the art that is the TAS cover.

• And lastly, I want to thank anyone who has been a regular reader, lurking on each chapter. Thank you. You’re awesome!

Lastly, I want to leave you with a couple of questions that I hope you’ll answer some of in the comments:

1. What do you think of our cover art revealed in the epilogue?

2. How was the barrier for entry to this story? Do you think it was friendly to newcomers in the world of Astra? Contrarily, was it satisfying for long-time readers too?

3. Who was your favorite character?

4. What was your favorite chapter?

5. Do you think Astra could appeal to a broader audience of people?

6. What do you think of selling short story zines and potential novella prints from my stories on substack?

7. Do you want to beta read BCE? Email LLford.author@gmail.com or DM me on substack!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’ll see you all soonish. As per usual, I will have the tip button at the end of this post. Keep in mind, tips will be used moving forward to specifically fund my writing journey. So, if you’re worried, it’ll definitely go to a good cause. I have a really fun horror story cooking that I can’t wait to share. I’ll tell you the name for now: Death Bloom. Stay tuned for that, and I can’t wait to chat in the comments. Thank you, and I’ll catch you around.