Publishing Fables

I’ve been publishing fables directly into my newsletter for almost a year now. I started it as an experiment. I’m not quite sure how it’s going, and am thinking about where to go next.

Overall it is nice to be able to publish a piece, get it out there. That force function helps. I was hoping to get more feedback though—I often get some likes but not much else.

There’s no “cost” to publishing them per se, but I do know that if I was focused on another book of fables, I would probably craft them a bit differently. The goal would be a cohesive collection, not just another post.

I’m just not convinced that people enjoy reading fiction in an email newsletter. I keep seeing Fiction discussed here and have a little traction, but I just feel like the email delivery form factor is not conducive to it. I don’t know. I also feel like if I do publish a book later, folks might be less interested in it if they already read the fables in Substack.

I do have an idea called “Fable Club” — Once a month, you’d get a beautiful printed fable in high quality paper etc. in the mail. I feel like people would engage with this a lot more. Maybe fewer subscribers but more connection? The main thing stopping me from doing this is time. It’s yet another project to maintain alongside other things.

I also am thinking of an enhanced reading experience for fables on my website. Maybe with some music, custom design and typography, even a bit of animation. Something to lure folks in and enjoy the fables at their best. This might lead to more folks wanting to get the book or subscribe. I do think this is a differentiating opportunity for me (vs just being on Substack.)