Update: 2/10/2025: Experiments are ongoing for everything. I am actually going to be doing everything on both my new Substack AND this site. It’ll be a little bit more work to manage both, but it makes more sense. And there will be more content that will be “free” or general release.
This has been on my mind for quite a good length of time. Maybe years. At one time, I tried it on another platform, though I never could figure it out. Honestly, I gave up too soon — like usual. Either way, I took too long stalling and debating on restarting, and now I am making a change.
Introducing my Substack:
Yes, I am moving (partially) over to Substack. This will be the new place to find my fiction and poetry; plenty will remain here on this site — such as updates and all the other things not classifying as stories or poetry.
What does that mean? It means from now on, if you want to have access to my poetry and/or fiction outside of my books, you will need to subscribe to my Substack.
What am I promising? How much does it cost? What do you get if you pay?
For a free subscription, you will get one of my poems sent to your inbox each month. At random, you will get all micro-flash fiction stories (those at <500 words). Sometimes this might be 0, but often it will be at least one and sometimes many stories a month. They will remain accessible to everyone for 6 months before they move to the archives.
A paid subscription will be $5 per month or $50 per year. There will also be a $200 per year tier for the insane among you. Here is what they will offer:
$5/month – $50/year tier: at least 1 poem to your inbox each week (this includes the “free” monthly poem + 3 to 4 additional, depending on how the days of each month fall). Additionally, paid subscribers get all “free” posted short stories and content, of course, and at least 1 short story at >500 words. This means that unlike those on the “free” tier, paid subscribers will get 1 guaranteed short story a month. On top of all that, paid subscribers will get any additional content I may choose to post. And access to all the archives — which will grow as time goes on.
For the insane who go the full $200+/year route, I am still trying to figure out how to compensate for such a generous subscriber. More will come there if anyone even goes that route. I am debating on a signed copy of whatever book(s) I publish that year. I mean, it’s an option to select to make available, so I will, but I don’t really expect takers.
Why am I doing this?
For some time I wanted to do something more with my writing. Having stories be “free” on my website never quite sat well with me. I like free, but I also don’t believe it is the best option. (Libraries are an exception here and I don’t feel like getting into the nitty gritty about how they aren’t technically “free”.)
Ultimately, this is more about control of my work and an avenue to publish work without going through the full process of building a book, either ebook or print. Sites like Patreon, SubscribeStar, Substack, and more exist for this purpose. Substack seems to fit my criteria more than the others in terms of simplicity, capability, and ease of use. It seems more focused on writing. While I have a lot of options here on WordPress (this site), it is a little more cumbersome. WordPress isn’t as clear-cut and conducive to a subscription model as are these other sites. It can be done, but it is trickier. Then there is the status and reputation of each for this purpose, with WordPress being relatively little known compared to Substack to the wider public for subscription services. It’s a lot of nit-picking, yes, but after a LOT of consideration, I felt Substack was the best option for what I am after.
In no way do I believe this is going to be a get-rich-quick scheme. I’m an indie-writer after all. A mediocre one at best.
I do have stories and poems I am sitting on as I figure out the best ways to distribute and/or publish them. Even to this day, the publishing world is simply more friendly to longer pieces of fiction, otherwise it expects writers to simply dump their stories out there for free in favor of the phantom of exposure. Or you put them in literary magazines, or newspapers, or anthologies, or this or that.
Poetry… well, that’s even more obtuse.
Either way, I want a simpler avenue to publish my work that is not all for free. There’s a limit to what an artist or anyone else should do for free. It needs to be calculated and purposeful. This includes those artists who are unknown like myself.
What does this mean for jeremyckester.com (aka: my WordPress site)? It means there will be very little fiction (if any) here. Any blog posts, pictures, painting, updates, book announcements, etc. will continue to be on this site, which is what mostly existed here to begin with. Basically, it will largely be business as usual — just without new stories or poems.
Any of my currently posted poems and short stories will be removed and added to the archives for paid subscribers. Sample chapters of my books are not included; they will remain on the site.
I hope to see everyone who is willing to join me there!
The first free post will be on January 1, 2025. Paid will go each Wednesday after.
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Jeremy C Kester 
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