20 Comments

I am enamored to think there are only 300 fiction Substacks at this time out of thousands of writers. I will absolutely consider myself a pioneer and try not to get dysentery along the journey.

Thank you for sharing your experiences @russellnohelty - I will be revisiting the fiction list like an ant to a sidewalk graham cracker.

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You’re welcome! There might be more. I just know what has been found.

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The quiz says I'm a Forest. I wasn't sure about that until I read this part: "Forests have a hard time writing anything that is not 100% aligned with their inner north star. "

Sounds correct. Guess I need to embrace my inner weirdo more.

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Yes! I love it.

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Such brilliant points about the slow growth too! Loved reading about this research again! 💌

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Yay! It's been really illuminating in our own businesses too as we learn more. Glad it's helpful :)

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I would love a pdf to print if you have one?

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nope. We don't do that yet. Sorry.

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That’s ok! Have saved to try and read more thoroughly on desktop!

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Great info. My biggest problem right now is time but I'm hoping to change that and spend more time here. I'm enjoying the community on Substack a lot. Thanks for this post.

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Glad it helped!

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I love how you define the different author ecosystems and then gave us hope with your brilliant article. Thanks!

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Yay! You’re welcome :)

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I love this Russell thank you! Just brand new here and I’m happy to learn from the best right from the get-go!

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Yay! Glad it was helpful.

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I submitted my link so it will grow by one. Absurd spec-historical-cryptid anthology writers unite.

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Wooooot!

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I always learn something interesting from you. According to the quiz, I'm a forest, but I also recognized elements of other ecosystems as well. No trouble drilling down into a niche for me, but sometimes I wonder if I've drilled too narrowly. Only time will tell I suppose. Thank you for another thoughtful essay.

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I highly suggest you read this, especially this: https://authorecosystem.com/forest

The biggest problem with forests is they always think they are some other ecosystem. Forests really want to be “in on the party” so they act like deserts, but they write too much of themselves in their books to maximize trends.

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Thank you, Russell. This perspective is really necessary and honestly, it validates some of my own thoughts on this topic.

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