Wisdom in the Stacks
Prime Post for 31st Day
Photo credit: “Stuttgart, Germany from lifehack.org” SEO
Greetings and salutations my dear readers,
First Things First: Thank you God for being my Almighty Muse and for Jesus saving my “jeckel” from my “hyde.”
Also, with just about as much enthusiasm: SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMER (though, not out “forever”). I have come to love Alice Cooper all the more as I get older. He is one of the most apolitical people you will ever come across (he has stated time and time again, he flat out does not care about people’s “political positions” and even called Rage Against the Machine “social fiction.”) He has met and partied with all the classic rockers and has outlived most of them. And he is a born again Christian—what? Yep. The king of Shock Rock has bowed his knee to the King of Kings.
Open Rate% I am (as are you all in one fashion or another) still learning the ways of Substack. I became aware of the open rate (by reading another’s post) and that the Substack algorithm demi-god watchdog might flag me if I get below 10% of subscribers opening emails. Well, how do you combat that?
Two ways come to mind, well, three when you remember one should always pray first. Prayer always helps. Not just the one praying but the object to receive said prayers and the agent who delivers them. Anyway (and not “anyways”), one way is to write content that people actually want. Now as to how one does that is a mystery that AI is trying to decode and mimic for their cybernetic dog collar holding masters. The secret to writing something that others will want to read is to write with honesty and inspiration. In the words of Ray Bradbury, “write, relax, don’t think; write, relax some more. Don’t hesitate. Hesitation is death to art. Write about something you love or something you hate.”
Make it real as you make it up.
Since we are all here to prove Number One in our own way, I think prayer is another secret ingredient. Consistency. Commitment. Repetition of opportunity to be heard, seen, read, and recommended.
Two, “the purge.” Not all subscribers are equal. Not all subscribers are real. All subscribers subscribe for connection, true, but not in honesty about expectation and result of the connection. Some are sex workers furthering their clientele portfolio to fund their version of “Buy Me…Coffee.” Some have turned out to be cryptid-solicitors for crypto investing (the sex-workers and solicitors work the same: subscribe and message you within seconds with a “Hi, friend!” Both want your money to live their live style. I am different. I haven’t asked for money, yet. I ask for something greater: your TIME and your consideration. Let’s face it: we all need the exact same amount of money: MORE. We can always get more money, but not more TIME). The other kind of joker who subscribed to me three different times is the DEEP FAKE fraudster. The most prominent being a questionable version of Thomas Keneally who began the exchange with “Hello, friend!” After being impressed with him bestowing me any attention and interest in what my experiences on Substack and as a self-published writer have been like, I noted that his responses came rapid fire within seconds and were multi-paragraphs with compound-complex sentences. I began to smell a rat (I am an English teacher and when grading writing, my rule of thumb is if a student’s writing is better than mine and could be published as a pristine example, double check). So, I copied some of Tom’s answers and pasted it into an AI checker…and…he was a “synthetic”, an “android”, AI all the way.
Time lost, my dear readers.
But wisdom gained.
So, the second thing to do is the “PURGE.” I got rid of the sex workers (one of whom who has returned twice more with variations on their name, but now I recognize the teaser picture), unloaded the crypto solicitors, and unlinked the frauds. Lost six or more subscribers. But within four days, I had gained that many more new subscribers.
Substack is about building a community, but not about growing subscribers within the ap. One has to go outside and do some sidewalk signs on other media. The more people who join Substack will raise the exposure for others’ posts, so the thought goes.
Giving Back:
Many of you have been most kind in reading and commenting and championing my posts and recommending others in like fashion. Now it is my turn to give back in kind. I will be scrolling through my collection of posts and catching up on reading in my Substack library. There are so many talented writers of different stripes and genres and means of craftsmanship. I plan to use that “Restack with Note” feature to help give shout-outs on the Substack app. Future Posts:
I have a few things to add to my on-going “How I Write” and “Why I Write” and “What I Write” series—as do many others. While it’s no longer novel to read another writer’s thoughts and experience on writing, one thing that we all agree on: no two self-publishing platforms are alike in ease and navigation. I find Amazon’s KDP to be the best, Press Barnes and Noble to come in second, and Spark Ingram to come in dead last or just dead.
The next thing I will try to cover is dealing with critics. This has been an on-going battle since I was a twenty-year-old in alternative rock bands back in the twentieth century. It is what is: the battle (with critics) rages on.
As of 05/25/27, I started a new series: “Influences.” This is in preparation for a future proposed serial Substack fiction project that I plan to post to the unsuspecting and unwitting and uncaring world come January 2026. Books and libraries will have a special place in the story, so I am waxing nostalgic and reflective over my sources and influences.
Second thing:
Upcoming Full Moon Ghost Tales Posting Schedule:
June 11, 2025 Strawberry Moon “Blue Harvest” (on Substack)
Question: What happens when teens go legend tripping?
For those of you who have been reading the other stories about the “Raven Twins”, this is the first story I ever wrote about Morgan Kelley “Mercury” Branscombe
New Moon**reposting “Holes At Tearing” (on Substack)
I originally published this on Amazon’s Kindle Villa platform, but it has gone the way of the sabre-tooth tiger stuck in the LaBrea Tar Pit.
July 10, 2025 Buck Moon “Lethe Home” (on Substack)
Question: What if a ghost wants to join a game of hide and seek?
New Moon**reposting “A Sort Of Homecoming” (on Substack)
My first published ghost story on-line onto the now defunct Kindle Villa.
August 9, 2025 Sturgeon Moon “The Day the Ghost Walks” (on Substack)
Question: What happens when Shakespeare’s company of players find themselves cursed upon their first staging of Hamlet?
A Shakespearean ghost tale told in five acts.
September 7, 2025 Corn Moon “Night At the Black Orpheum” (on Substack)
Question: Can a song be haunted?
October 31, 2025 Collection of all 13 Full Moon Ghost Stories (on various platforms)
Third thing: once the collection has been published, I will put these thirteen tales in a table of contents for a subscription fee of $3.99 which will be the same as an eBook on the usual platforms.
Fourth thing: Thank you to those who responded to my survey. If you are still interested in taking it (it deals with levels of AI), the link is below. It, along with the series of posts on “influences”, will be used for the Fifth Thing.
Fifth thing:
Serial Book Teaser: I am moving forward (at my turtle race-winning speed) on it. After doing a Tom Philips Humament style art project with my students on found/concrete poetry (and one-upping black out poetry), I decided to make a cast of characters out of a card deck. I’ll share the results as a tease for the project. I am not that artistically inclined. I am not even that talented. I am not even that tall, folks. I have “ideas” that “haunt” me and I torture myself in trying to make them come alive (what else is worth the time and sweat?). That’s all I got to say on that.
Summer Promo:
I will be promoting my other two self-published works before the ghost story collection is published.
If you are interested some longer reads for summer days (and OH! Summer nights), I have self-published two fiction books on the usual platforms:
My first book (with a striking new cover!), a Young Adult fantasy, published in 2021. Here is the ebook edition:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09CDX58SP/ref=x_gr_bb_series?caller=Goodreads&tag=x_gr_bb_series-20&binding=kindle_edition
My second book, a post-modern, post human re-telling of A Christmas Carol, told through the lens of depression, medicaitons, and recovery, published in 2023. Here is the ebook edition:
Long Term:
I am about half way through my latest novel which is a steam-balloon adventure story ala Jules Verne in a post-apocalyptic world. This is about a grandpa who makes the steam balloon in order to take one last great adventure only to discover that his granddaughter has stowed away on board. And shenanigans ensue!
cont;nue
@jybyky thanks for the like! We are NOT failures as long as we keep trying! cont;nue
***edited it, sorry
@Janine Eaby thank you for the like 👍