or, How to Put "Failures" Behind You Like a Goalie - Mindset is very important. In November for me, it was the difference between 4,000 words and 25,000+.
There’s a quote, “aim for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Or something like that. It’s attributed to varying people, and I’m not sure how it works in astronomy world, but I get its point. I’m glad you found value in your November experiment!
lol - I'm pretty sure it *doesn't* work that way in the astronomy world. Unless you're working with long, long time delays. Like, miss the moon in about 3 days, maybe reach a star in 3,000 years...
But as a romantic sentiment: yeah, I love it!
November was a great writing month. December, not so much. Had a strong day on December 1, but then got caught up with other things since...
I wrote a shorter post this month and am happy to say I've had a better viewing response than usual. I think many people, like M.E. Proctor get bleary-eyed if a post is too long...even if they are enjoying the content. Especially this time of year whe everyone is uber busy.
Thanks for the hockey flashback. I remeber it well.
Thanks Beverley -- that's helpful to know! Seems we're two for two on the shorter posts vote.
You're welcome for the hockey memory -- I was a titch to young to remember this (I was about 19 months old...), but I do remember watching Bobby Orr play in later years. I even had a Bobby Orr lunch kit! (I still have part of the thermos around somewhere...)
I like shorter posts ... anything over a thousand words gets my eyes rolling. I subscribe to many Stacks and what gets in my mailbox every day can be overwhelming, hence, shorter articles are a lot easier to digest. And so is a lower frequency, once a week, not more than that, please, or I'll start skipping. I've been doing my stack for 3 years now, and I post every other Thursday. It's a good frequency for me (not burning out) and I think it's bearable for the readers. As to 'how to keep writing', the trick for me is varying the pleasures: short stories, posts, little book reviews for my writer buddies ... except when I'm working on a book, then I can't focus on anything else. I'm editing right now and I am totally absorbed by that.
I've done every other week as well, but frankly, subscriber growth has not been what I'd hoped since I started four or five years ago. I think there are several reasons for that, though some are beyond my power. (Like Substack pushing "Followers" over "Subscribers"...)
One tip I heard was to publish at least weekly to see faster, bigger growth. I'm not sure I have the bandwidth to do that... unless I write shorter posts. I tend to write longer ones, but I thought that some readers might actually *prefer* shorter ones anyway. I guess I can mark down at least one person in that category!
To be clear, I don't see subscriber numbers to be the be-all, end-all of metrics. But it is a handy one. I'd prefer to have an engaged readership, and that's what I've aimed for from the start. At this point though, I'm ready to push that engaged readership up.
It sounds like you and I do similar things to keep writing. I like varying it all the time, too. It's a big part of what inspired me to launch #GraNoWriMo -- a creative thing to excite and engage myself. I've also worked on short stories, posts, and other tidbits to keep the spark.
Thanks for the feedback on both points, Martine! Very much appreciated!
Yes, the growth is achingly slow ... but I like my small core of loyalists! People who make the numbers jump and then unsubscribe a week later are not fun at all.
I'm looking for growth in the engaged loyalists group area -- but yeah, not at the expense of my current readers. That's why I thought asking for feedback is a good first move, so I can gauge the sentiment(s).
There’s a quote, “aim for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Or something like that. It’s attributed to varying people, and I’m not sure how it works in astronomy world, but I get its point. I’m glad you found value in your November experiment!
lol - I'm pretty sure it *doesn't* work that way in the astronomy world. Unless you're working with long, long time delays. Like, miss the moon in about 3 days, maybe reach a star in 3,000 years...
But as a romantic sentiment: yeah, I love it!
November was a great writing month. December, not so much. Had a strong day on December 1, but then got caught up with other things since...
I wrote a shorter post this month and am happy to say I've had a better viewing response than usual. I think many people, like M.E. Proctor get bleary-eyed if a post is too long...even if they are enjoying the content. Especially this time of year whe everyone is uber busy.
Thanks for the hockey flashback. I remeber it well.
Thanks Beverley -- that's helpful to know! Seems we're two for two on the shorter posts vote.
You're welcome for the hockey memory -- I was a titch to young to remember this (I was about 19 months old...), but I do remember watching Bobby Orr play in later years. I even had a Bobby Orr lunch kit! (I still have part of the thermos around somewhere...)
I like shorter posts ... anything over a thousand words gets my eyes rolling. I subscribe to many Stacks and what gets in my mailbox every day can be overwhelming, hence, shorter articles are a lot easier to digest. And so is a lower frequency, once a week, not more than that, please, or I'll start skipping. I've been doing my stack for 3 years now, and I post every other Thursday. It's a good frequency for me (not burning out) and I think it's bearable for the readers. As to 'how to keep writing', the trick for me is varying the pleasures: short stories, posts, little book reviews for my writer buddies ... except when I'm working on a book, then I can't focus on anything else. I'm editing right now and I am totally absorbed by that.
Thanks Martine!
I've done every other week as well, but frankly, subscriber growth has not been what I'd hoped since I started four or five years ago. I think there are several reasons for that, though some are beyond my power. (Like Substack pushing "Followers" over "Subscribers"...)
One tip I heard was to publish at least weekly to see faster, bigger growth. I'm not sure I have the bandwidth to do that... unless I write shorter posts. I tend to write longer ones, but I thought that some readers might actually *prefer* shorter ones anyway. I guess I can mark down at least one person in that category!
To be clear, I don't see subscriber numbers to be the be-all, end-all of metrics. But it is a handy one. I'd prefer to have an engaged readership, and that's what I've aimed for from the start. At this point though, I'm ready to push that engaged readership up.
It sounds like you and I do similar things to keep writing. I like varying it all the time, too. It's a big part of what inspired me to launch #GraNoWriMo -- a creative thing to excite and engage myself. I've also worked on short stories, posts, and other tidbits to keep the spark.
Thanks for the feedback on both points, Martine! Very much appreciated!
Yes, the growth is achingly slow ... but I like my small core of loyalists! People who make the numbers jump and then unsubscribe a week later are not fun at all.
Oh, I agree whole-heartedly!
I'm looking for growth in the engaged loyalists group area -- but yeah, not at the expense of my current readers. That's why I thought asking for feedback is a good first move, so I can gauge the sentiment(s).