What I learned from posting my first fiction serial on Substack

'The Woman in the Wood" is a wrap. Here's how it went.

Saturday Morning Serial

Saturday Morning Serial is the weekend section of Library Binding. It’s a personal corner where I publish short stories, book reviews, and literary musings.

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First of all, if you read any part of The Woman in the Wood, then please accept my wholehearted thanks. The fact that you took a portion of your precious time to read my story means a lot.

“I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”

If you did NOT read it—I understand! If I read every interesting and worthy Substack that I wanted to, it would be my full-time job.

If you’d like to go back and read the whole story, start to finish, you can do that by heading over to the Table of Contents, where you can navigate through the chapters.

Now, I’m going to mull over this little project and share some of my takeaways. I hope what follows is not too terribly self-indulgent.

Phew, we’re out of the woods

Chapel on the Edge of the Wood by Karl Lessing (1839)

We had a good time in the woods, those of us who read together.

Maria ends the story by leaving her childhood home, individuating from her family, and stepping into her future.

In the original fairy tale, the good daughter meets a prince in the woods, and when he realizes that flowers and jewels drop from her mouth, well, that’s all the dowry he needs, and he whisks her off to his palace.

Alas, this ending was too far-fetched for my Maria. Instead of running off with a prince, she unites herself with Jacob, who is of noble worth (if not birth). If anyone can see him for who he is, Maria can.

And the old woman, also, is more than she seems, but in a supernatural way. What is she? We’re not sure. Maybe she isn’t sure herself. But she has the power to pull back the veil, allowing the couple to see the good promises that await those who love goodness and exercise the courage required to pursue it, even when the chips are down.

Personally, I get a glimpse of this beautiful country when I attend church, when I listen to hymns, and when I read scripture. These things draw my soul toward something beyond the here and now, something grand and marvelous. I think we all need “beyond the veil” moments to sustain us through life, or we’ll lose our way.

When the lovely vision dissipates, Maria and Jacob find themselves back in the real world. What have they gained from this experience that they didn’t have before? For one, they have each other. We get the sense that everything will be all right for them, even if they never attain worldly heights. They possess all that really matters.

What serials do you read on Substack?

I’m curious if you read any fiction serials. Please cheer your favorites in the comments because I’d love to check them out.

Oh boy, publishing serial fiction on Substack…how did it go?

Woman at a Writing-Desk by Lesser Ury (1898)

First of all, what is “serial fiction”? According to our old pal, Wikipedia, it’s a “publishing format by which a single larger work […] is published in smaller, sequential installments.”

Serial fiction enjoyed a burst of popularity in Victorian Britain in the 1800s due to rising literacy rates as well as printing and distribution innovations. Charles Dickens published The Pickwick Papers in serial to great success.

Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, Henry James, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Leo Tolstoy, and Fyodor Dostoevsky published some of their most famous works in serial first.

If the public liked the story, then a publisher was more likely to invest in a print run. It’s similar to what’s going on now, with many publishers prioritizing an author’s social media following or paid subscribers on Substack when deciding whether or not to buy a manuscript.

Personally, I love the idea of the serial. It dredges up nostalgia for (of all things) the network television that I grew up with, where you had to tune in at 6 p.m. on Fridays to catch the next episode of Family Matters. The real-time cadence is part of the charm.

I knew I wanted to publish a serial before 2025 came to a close, and, hey, I did it. At this point, it’s natural for me to ask the question, “Was it successful?”

Well, that entirely depends on what I was hoping to achieve in the first place, doesn’t it? If I was hoping to get a huge response and lots of atta-girls, then no, it wasn’t successful. But if my goal was to share my first serial story, then yes, it was entirely successful.

I’m glad I did it. Here are a few things I learned in no particular order.

There are a lot of “hard” things about sharing serial fiction

First off, let me just say that it’s easier than ever to publish a serial—just write and post to the internet, no barriers at all.

BUT there is so much noise that it’s difficult to capture attention with one.

In my experience, it’s much easier to share book reviews, a roundup of forgotten vintage authors, or a light essay, and those consumable nuggets tend to get a lot more attention and engagement than a serial story.

Why is that?

Lots of reasons. A serial requires an investment on the part of the reader, and not everyone is going to make that investment. Not everyone is going to like a fairy tale. Not everyone is going to have time to read through it.

So, serials require more work and yield fewer of those elusive rewards we hanker for, such as likes, comments, and shares.

Speaking of stats…

Metrics tell one part of the story

There’s really not much to say about my analytics. Everything stayed fairly even keel. It’s tempting to look at metrics and feel either unduly discouraged or stupidly prideful. It’s tempting to use the numbers as a measure of success or failure, but that’s a fool’s errand.

This novella was more a writing exercise than anything, but if I had poured my heart and soul into a full-length manuscript, I can easily see myself conflating the interior of my soul with the words that poured forth from it. When people reject or overlook it, it feels personal, even though it’s not.

And that leads me to the next thing I learned.

Perspective is a beautiful thing

The day after I published the first chapter, I had to give myself a little talk. My sweet, little chapter seemed to have fallen completely flat. (I don’t say this to belittle myself; I say it to be honest, because I know I’m not the only one. Everyone has felt pinched and jabbed and consequently deflated about things they create.)

So, I said to myself, “It doesn’t matter.” That may sound unhelpful, but it was exactly what I needed to hear, and I moved on with my day. It doesn’t matter if this story gets lavished with praise or awkwardly ignored. It doesn’t.

What DOES matter is that I do the things that God has laid in front of me. Some days, that includes writing, but that’s a small sliver of my clock-shaped pie. Life is full, and that’s a blessing. I am more than my talents, my vocation, or my roles. Even if all those were stripped away, I would still find my identity held securely in love-marked hands.

I want to end with a huge thank you to those of you who DID leave encouraging notes. They meant a lot to me.

What’s next around here?

I won’t be publishing serial fiction for a while—it’s quite time-consuming!—but I do have a few fun articles coming up.

Merry Christmas by Viggo Johansen (1891)

• Believe it or not, I have finished my Shakespeare-in-a-Year Challenge. Yay! I’ll be writing about it next week, and I have some tips to share.

• To my astonishment, I have managed to read things besides Shakespeare. I’ll be posting a roundup of new book reviews, as well as the “Best Of” my reading year.

• I am building my to-be-read list for 2026. I’m going to focus on reading in three key areas: New-to-Me Authors, Retry Authors, and Books I Own. It’s not fancy, but I will be sharing a lot of titles, and I hope you’ll all chime in and tell me what your reading plans are.

I’m excited for the rest of the year! Thank you for being here.

Michelle