Starting a Dialog
Is It Time to Quit Substack??
A Story Involving Beards
Twenty-five years ago I asked Ira Levin about his writing process, and he told me a story:
There once lived a man with a very long beard. Someone, a stranger, asked him if he slept with the beard atop the bed covers or beneath them. The man had never considered the matter, so that night he tried to pay attention. He placed his beard atop the covers but couldn’t sleep. He placed his beard under them and still could not sleep. In the end he became too aware of the issue and never again slept.
Meaning: Ira Levin would not discuss his writing process for fear of becoming too self-conscious. That said, I’ve not written any fiction in six months and now wonder if the burden of Substack might be the problem. Substack offers no way to block paid subscribers from subscribing, but they have advised me to raise my rate to $5000. That would kill off paid subscribers, and I could continue to post free content — only content I thought would be useful, like more about rhetoric — BUT it could mean unaware people getting dinged for $5000. Ouch.
August is the month in which most of my subscribers are billed for their yearly subscriptions, so I want to address this now. And to address it repeatedly.
An aside? I see so many complaints about advertisements everywhere — even popping up in Ebooks — and complaints about subscriptions (the BMW heated seat subscriptions were the last straw for many). As physical media comes back into style — no ads, no on-going subscriptions — I look forward to beautiful, beautiful books making a resurgence. The movie production company A24 is moving into publishing and is already assembling a lux anthology, to date to include my story Guts and the Aimee Bender classic Marzipan. In addition, the book club Night Worms is creating a special edition of our very own Silent Nightmares for its members. This all bodes well for old-fashioned book books.
It’s Not You, It’s Me
I feel enormous remorse accepting subscription money unless I provide regular content. But focusing on Substack is choking off my fiction writing… and I suspect this goes the same for many of you. My impulse is to increase the paid rate to $5000 in August — as recommended by Substack — but to post frequent beforehand warnings so people aren’t caught by surprise. I’ll continue to post free content, but only when I’ve got something useful to offer.
This Gives Us a Month to Discuss the Matter
Please let me know your experience. Does too much talking about writing kill your actual writing? Lately, the House Calls have been a complete joy for me to do, but even those have kept my mind too occupied to pursue my own ideas.
Just know that I will address this several more times. Please let me know about your own relationships with Substack and your readers.
So, I've just suspended billing on all paid accounts. Comment if you can, so I'll see if you come through. If so, this might be the fix.
I had thought of this. Personally, I think you are BEYOND generous with your time and effort here, Chuck. I think about getting off this platform daily (I almost deleted yesterday!). Part of it is that my time on here does cut into my writing or other kinds of art (it takes tiny slugs out of my creativity). But mostly, as an old addict, I realize my tendency to want to post something not because that is what feels like it should come out, but because it feels either expected or that the pleasure center of my brain is poking me to do it.
My suggestion, if I could give you one as a paid subscriber here, is to do what feels natural to you. You give us all here so much! The house calls are all out there now. People can go back and read them and pick them apart if they want to learn. It’s a huge resource! Personally, I would, at this point, rather see you post some random musing on avocado toast or the tidal sand-winds of the Sahara, do what you do best, get weird—get really fucking human, or yes, get the fuck off this platform, as it, like all social media, is the killer of artistic vitality.