Hello,
TLDR:
I’m leaving Substack as a writer. You can now find my stuff on my custom-made website, Dax Dreaming.
Too Long, Still Read:
I never really understood Substack. I came here because I was considering moving here from another platform, one that was failing to meet my needs. Many people assured me that Substack would meet my needs, but I really struggled with it. And then management started making choices and decisions that I didn’t vibe with, and I learned about past choices and decisions I also didn’t vibe with.
There was also something of a culture issue I ran into. In trying to interact with other writers on here, I came up against it again and again. Maybe it’s because I’m rather queer, rather disabled, and come from a low-income / low-class background, and even a college education couldn’t quite get all the weird out of me. Anyway, it led to a lot of overwhelm on a very social platform and I realized I really am a hermit. I want to socialize, but not in the kind of manner that this platform promotes. I just don’t fit in here, and if I don’t fit in here, I don’t think my writing should be here either.
I was really determined to try to make this space work for me, but even things like choosing a theme seemed to be fighting against me. I couldn’t make the features work the way I wanted them to work. I couldn’t get things set up how I really wanted them to be.
So, what am I doing instead? Moving. Again. Before I’ve even unpacked here. If you’re interested in my serials, including Crossroads of Fate, it’s going to be on my own website now.
I’m self-hosting a Ghost site. It doesn’t have discovery or the sorta-kinda social media feel to it and that’s what I’m looking for right now. I want to focus on my stories and writing. I’ve done some light coding to an open-source theme for Ghost to make it work how I want it to work and customized it to be exactly what I need it to be. For a long time, I thought discovery was a feature I wanted and needed out of a site where I posted my serials. But what I really want above everything else is control of my work. The pros of a platform like Substack is that you can get amazing discovery, but that means nothing to me if I am having to fit my writing into a mold and also fit myself into a box for that discovery to happen. Despite being otherwise felinesque, I abhor boxes.
Since Ghost is open-source, I can take the bits of it I like to spin something up quickly, but I can make all the modifications and changes I need in order for it to be the perfect place for my writing. It still allows me to have a free newsletter and pay tiers for access to further content. It still allows for scheduling and customization of posts, and has a great text editor that allows me, within the editor, to paste in HTML and inject CSS and JS if I am feeling lazy and want one styling just for that page without having to make edits to my whole theme. I recently was able to add a feature that allows readers to choose whether or not they want the text in the posts indented on the first line or not. I feel so free. It feels like the days of Xanga and the customizable web again. I’m really happy with it so far.
I’m still unpacking on my Ghost platform and getting things set up, but I’m at the point where most of the boxes have been unpacked and flattened. Just a few more where I’m trying to decide where they go.
I’m also going to be taking down my stuff from Ream if you followed me there, too. It’s been sitting stale for awhile. I don’t want to get into it in too great a detail, but I just don’t think my works belong there anymore, either. Much of the works there now are erotica and romance, and I love a good erotica and romance the same as the next person. Absolutely not bashing those genres, to be clear. I am glad there is a safety for people who write those genres when it is so hard for them to get published anywhere else. But the discovery feature there is hugely hampered by how much of the content is erotica when my stuff isn’t. Discovery isn’t working for me on there, to say the least. So again, if my readers aren’t there, I’m gonna move to somewhere that allows me more freedom and control over my works. And the best way to maximize both of those for the sake of getting the most value out of a move is to Build It My Damn Self.
I want all my work to be on a domain I own, on a platform I am entirely in control of, and without having to worry that changes will be made in the interest of profit or seeking further venture capital. I don’t want to worry that my Frech-Revolution-But-Make-It-Gay-and-Magic book will get lost in a sea of M/M ABO when people search “lgbtq fantasy” because as valid as M/M ABO is; those readers are not my readers. My books can’t get lost in that if my books are the only books on the platform.
If you wanna come along on the journey, you can now find me at Dax Dreaming. I will be sharing new episodes of The Last Page, my sapphic otome isekai alongside Crossroads of Fate as well as early access to my next novel, Shackles and Shards.
Thank you to everyone who has followed me here, even if you just found a mostly empty room that still smelled faintly like wet paint. I am grateful that you still hit the “sign up” button even when this was clearly just a ramshackle cabin.