Will you be coming along for the ride? (You need to be subscribed here or on Substack, not just following.)

A few weeks ago while in the middle of fighting writers block, the re-emergence of imposter syndrome and a general frustration with writing and publishing, I had the crazy idea of serialising my current WIP, Black Hare Valley and offering it to subscribers to read for free. That was a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions, I can tell you.

My biggest fears in sharing the WIP were people copying or pirating the work, and people just not reading it at all. I am still scared of both those things but I have decided to kick fear aside and do it anyway. After all, that’s what writers do, over and over. Despite it being one of the lowest paid jobs there is, despite AI rising up to steal it from us, quite literally, despite loved ones often not being supportive, we still do it anyway. We write anyway.

I made the decision to share it in hope of the following outcomes:

• increasing my follows and subscriptions on Substack where I’ll also be sharing it
• increasing my follows and subscriptions here on my blog
• enticing paid subscribers on Substack – worth a go!
• increasing my open/read ratio on Substack
• enticing people to read my other books if they enjoy the serialisation
• enticing people to purchase Black Hare Valley when it is finally published
• enticing people to purchase the rest of the series when it’s published as I won’t be serialising all of it
• gaining honest feedback from early readers of Black Hare Valley
• hopefully getting some positive comments that will encourage me to keep going!
• having conversations with readers about the series
• having fun!
• feeling brave for trying something new

I’m posting the list here as I want to refer back to it when the experiment is over. It will be interesting to see if I achieve any of the goals mentioned ahead, and if nothing else, doing this will provide me with some blogging content as I examine what worked and what didn’t.

So, how will it work?

If you are subscribed to my blog or my Substack, you will get a new chapter every Thursday morning. Please note, you have to be SUBSCRIBED not just FOLLOWING. For those following my blog, you will still get the Friday posts as normal but to get the chapters you need to be subscribed either here or on my Substack:

The first chapter will go live on Thursday 1st May. May Day is a very significant event in Black Hare Valley so I figured it would make sense to kick it all off on may Day! I may, however, divide the chapters into two parts as they are quite long, so it might be Chapter 1, Part 1 one week, followed by Chapter 1, part 2 the next week. I will also include the rough sketches for each chapter to help bring the town alive for you, and the first instalment will also have a map of the town attached.

I am actually really excited about this. It feels brave at least! It feels like I am doing something, being proactive and trying something new.

Black Hare Valley is probably best described as British Folklore Horror, so if that sounds like your kind of thing, I really hope you’ll come along for the ride!