You've had a truly awesome year on here. I'm one of the thousands who arrived after the New Yorker review. My favorite post of yours since then was your review of Big Fiction. Excited to see what's coming in the new year!
apparently i'm in the minority here, but the tales are what i like most about the newsletter. sometimes the other pieces really hit if they happen to be about something that speaks to me, but the fiction is always interesting.
I appreciate your de-mystifying the process in posts like this. It seems more honest than a lot of "writing and literary career advice" posts I've read over the years.
My favorite of your tales was the Lonely Island Adventures. Really felt like I was reading something unique, a new form for fiction that's native to online platforms like this.
I'm so happy for your great year! I still remember the first writing of yours I ever read, your essay The Uncle Tom Trap. As it dawned on me paragraph by paragraph what a fresh new voice i was hearing, I asked myself, "Who is _this_?" It's been so rewarding to read you ever since. My horizons broaden with every new read. Just pre-ordered your book BTW! Can't wait.
As a longtime reader (since the Icelandic saga days), it has been so great to see your growth and success this year, and the surprise of whatever new tale is coming in the inbox every Thursday is such a treat.
My favorites are the Erdric saga and the fascist country teenager. That boy has such a funny, frank voice. The teenager who believes they are the only reasonable one (but who also, somehow, kind of is). The Lonely Island Adventure tale was great, too - Borges if he wrote in a way that's easy for a modern English speaker to understand.
Wow a longtime fan!!! Yes those are some of my favorites. I think you will see more of my unnamed teenage protagonist. Erdric I kind of want to develop into a standalone novella, but I need to think if I have vision for it :)
I have been thinking a lot about this, Naomi, in my own work. In terms of a novel: I want to walk into a bookstore and see my book, so that's that. But in terms of other things I write... I've been blogging since the early aughts, so transitioning that to Substack was a no-brainer. But maybe my equating Substack with a blog has perhaps limited me in thinking about what I post there. If I don't want/need writing to be my profession, my means of supporting myself, then what is the huge value-add in the external validation of submitting short stories, creative non-fiction, whatever weird prose poems I devise, to "traditional" publishing outlets? Do I need the credentials? Do I need the proof that someone else liked it? Do I need to think strategically about my "writing career?" All questions that come to me, especially as I spend an hour formatting Word documents and pasting my bio into various Submittable forms.
It’s very inspiring, thanks so much for sharing your insights! As a writer who has just started on Substack, this is a real boost of motivation and a helpful peek into the options available to us as writers. Not only traditional publishing, but self-publishing as well. I especially love the idea of treating Substack like a journal!☺️
Wow, a good year! Thanks for all the good reading. Your survey of Westerns led me to read the LoA compilation volume, which was fun. Even if the thin page-stock was a bit frustrating. The sewn-in bookmark made up for that.
That’s exciting. Yes that was a good LOA volume. I also find those books to be a bit hard on the eyes, but it’s hard to beat the convenience and curation.
Definitely fair. I feel like there’s no harm in sharing your work online, though it can be emotionally difficult if it’s your first experience with publication. There is a kind of comfort in seeing your work in a journal and knowing someone else (the editor) has already approved it.
This newsletter was one of my best finds, early in 2025, and it was delightful to watch you grow. Congrats on an amazing year and hope 2026 is even better! This post was amazing to read. As someone without a literary/MFA background, reading these posts gives me a look at the actual machinery of how something like Woman of Letters was built – otherwise, there's a lot of mystique around how writers "make it" and not enough concrete insight on strategy and tactics. I appreciate the willingness to dissect your own experiments and put them on display.
"That’s the basic Woman of Letters bargain. Readers get high-quality posts about contemporary and classic literature, most of which aren’t paywalled, and in return I get to try out various experiments and see if I can catch their interest."
This part alone is a discourse on career risk management for writers. Loved it :)
A request: I remember you mentioning in a note once that if you were to publish a collection of your stories, you'd pick the ones that you deemed the best instead of including every story you wrote. I'm curious if you already have a Canon of Tales in mind based on what you've already written – maybe there are two versions, tales that you personally like the best and tales that enjoyed reader acclaim, in which case I'd like to see both lists. The tales you've mentioned at the end of this post are a good starting point. I didn't even know some of these existed or were connected. I really enjoyed "Money Matters" and "On Mars we are all equal", but then I didn't have the patience to weed through all your published stories looking for the best ones (including the ones published elsewhere, like Clarkesworld). Would appreciate it if you compiled these lists and shared them as a post!
This post was so helpful, I've bookmarked it. Thank you! I've experimented on Substack with my own fiction on my author newsletter, but never fully committed. But I do publish a lot of flash memoir by others on the litmag I started in 2005, Fiction Attic.
Fiction Attic is a micro-press, so even though I've published quite a few well-known writers, most people sending out submissions have never heard of it. The subscriber base has doubled since I moved it to Substack, which to me makes a great argument for publishing fiction here. I do think readers here are hungry for short literary works, and Substack is an excellent format for reading them.
Thank you for these words- as someone who has shared fiction (on a very small scale) I am grateful for the information, pleased with the other substackers you have recommended, and still deciding what my final decision will be.
You've had a truly awesome year on here. I'm one of the thousands who arrived after the New Yorker review. My favorite post of yours since then was your review of Big Fiction. Excited to see what's coming in the new year!
Thank you :) Glad you’re liking it!
apparently i'm in the minority here, but the tales are what i like most about the newsletter. sometimes the other pieces really hit if they happen to be about something that speaks to me, but the fiction is always interesting.
congrats on your great year :)
Maybe the minority of my readers, but the majority of who I write for :)
I appreciate your de-mystifying the process in posts like this. It seems more honest than a lot of "writing and literary career advice" posts I've read over the years.
My favorite of your tales was the Lonely Island Adventures. Really felt like I was reading something unique, a new form for fiction that's native to online platforms like this.
That one was such a gift. I’m glad you liked it.
I'm so happy for your great year! I still remember the first writing of yours I ever read, your essay The Uncle Tom Trap. As it dawned on me paragraph by paragraph what a fresh new voice i was hearing, I asked myself, "Who is _this_?" It's been so rewarding to read you ever since. My horizons broaden with every new read. Just pre-ordered your book BTW! Can't wait.
That was a long time ago! Thanks for sticking with me and for preordering :)
As a longtime reader (since the Icelandic saga days), it has been so great to see your growth and success this year, and the surprise of whatever new tale is coming in the inbox every Thursday is such a treat.
My favorites are the Erdric saga and the fascist country teenager. That boy has such a funny, frank voice. The teenager who believes they are the only reasonable one (but who also, somehow, kind of is). The Lonely Island Adventure tale was great, too - Borges if he wrote in a way that's easy for a modern English speaker to understand.
I am looking forward to your book!
Wow a longtime fan!!! Yes those are some of my favorites. I think you will see more of my unnamed teenage protagonist. Erdric I kind of want to develop into a standalone novella, but I need to think if I have vision for it :)
I have been thinking a lot about this, Naomi, in my own work. In terms of a novel: I want to walk into a bookstore and see my book, so that's that. But in terms of other things I write... I've been blogging since the early aughts, so transitioning that to Substack was a no-brainer. But maybe my equating Substack with a blog has perhaps limited me in thinking about what I post there. If I don't want/need writing to be my profession, my means of supporting myself, then what is the huge value-add in the external validation of submitting short stories, creative non-fiction, whatever weird prose poems I devise, to "traditional" publishing outlets? Do I need the credentials? Do I need the proof that someone else liked it? Do I need to think strategically about my "writing career?" All questions that come to me, especially as I spend an hour formatting Word documents and pasting my bio into various Submittable forms.
Thanks, Naomi—looking forward to your book next year!
Hell yeah, Naomi. Congratulations! (And DIY success stories are a favorite mini-genre of mine.)
Also real quick: "an eighty thousand page book[…]" (Though it's a delightful thought.)
Agree that eighty thousand pages is probably too long, but I preordered anyway. There are a lot of classics out there.
It’s very inspiring, thanks so much for sharing your insights! As a writer who has just started on Substack, this is a real boost of motivation and a helpful peek into the options available to us as writers. Not only traditional publishing, but self-publishing as well. I especially love the idea of treating Substack like a journal!☺️
Thank you! Yes there are definitely options :)
Wow, a good year! Thanks for all the good reading. Your survey of Westerns led me to read the LoA compilation volume, which was fun. Even if the thin page-stock was a bit frustrating. The sewn-in bookmark made up for that.
You would almost certainly enjoy reading Annalee Newitz's new novella, "Automatic Noodle." My review is over at Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7733540197
Best wishes for 2026!
That’s exciting. Yes that was a good LOA volume. I also find those books to be a bit hard on the eyes, but it’s hard to beat the convenience and curation.
I’ll check out your review :)
I admire your commitment to the whole project! As far as self publishing, it’s fair for a writer to ask: Why wait to be more traditionally published?
Definitely fair. I feel like there’s no harm in sharing your work online, though it can be emotionally difficult if it’s your first experience with publication. There is a kind of comfort in seeing your work in a journal and knowing someone else (the editor) has already approved it.
This newsletter was one of my best finds, early in 2025, and it was delightful to watch you grow. Congrats on an amazing year and hope 2026 is even better! This post was amazing to read. As someone without a literary/MFA background, reading these posts gives me a look at the actual machinery of how something like Woman of Letters was built – otherwise, there's a lot of mystique around how writers "make it" and not enough concrete insight on strategy and tactics. I appreciate the willingness to dissect your own experiments and put them on display.
"That’s the basic Woman of Letters bargain. Readers get high-quality posts about contemporary and classic literature, most of which aren’t paywalled, and in return I get to try out various experiments and see if I can catch their interest."
This part alone is a discourse on career risk management for writers. Loved it :)
A request: I remember you mentioning in a note once that if you were to publish a collection of your stories, you'd pick the ones that you deemed the best instead of including every story you wrote. I'm curious if you already have a Canon of Tales in mind based on what you've already written – maybe there are two versions, tales that you personally like the best and tales that enjoyed reader acclaim, in which case I'd like to see both lists. The tales you've mentioned at the end of this post are a good starting point. I didn't even know some of these existed or were connected. I really enjoyed "Money Matters" and "On Mars we are all equal", but then I didn't have the patience to weed through all your published stories looking for the best ones (including the ones published elsewhere, like Clarkesworld). Would appreciate it if you compiled these lists and shared them as a post!
This answers so many questions. Thank you.
This post was so helpful, I've bookmarked it. Thank you! I've experimented on Substack with my own fiction on my author newsletter, but never fully committed. But I do publish a lot of flash memoir by others on the litmag I started in 2005, Fiction Attic.
Fiction Attic is a micro-press, so even though I've published quite a few well-known writers, most people sending out submissions have never heard of it. The subscriber base has doubled since I moved it to Substack, which to me makes a great argument for publishing fiction here. I do think readers here are hungry for short literary works, and Substack is an excellent format for reading them.
Thank you for these words- as someone who has shared fiction (on a very small scale) I am grateful for the information, pleased with the other substackers you have recommended, and still deciding what my final decision will be.
Thanks for your thoughts on pitching to the literary magazines.
I'll put on my thinking cap and see if I can come up with some strategies to sneak in.
Maybe I'll get struck by lightning if I fly my kite enough.