23 Comments
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Petrena Wilbur's avatar

An interesting read for those deciding how to market their novel.

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Helen Whelchel's avatar

The brain roads traveled in a novel are unlike any paths the mind takes with other art forms. I'm so happy to learn unique writing has found support outside mainstream publishing. Good for us writers and readers alike.

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Thea Wood's avatar

This is pretty exciting!

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Ehud Neor's avatar

Talk about low hanging fruit. Sometimes I'm out wanderstacking and I read a writer and say to myself: "Ha, I'm better than this one, " and move on to the next one and say, "Son of a bitch!" and run back home to re-edit my latest draft that I was planning to publish already. Then I ran into Pistelli. With a writer like this, the wandering stops. You find a good place to sit and simply enjoy the view. If there is any sensation of competition, it is in the sense of a long-distance track runner being lapped: the race is over for you. The pressure is off. Still, deep inside, the one thing that is crystal clear to you as you read, is that reading Pistelli is going to make you a better writer.

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Anne Trubek's avatar

you are absolutely correct about low hanging fruit!

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Nancy Forde's avatar

How fantastic and I cannot wait to read it! 👏🏻👏🏻 Congratulations to Mr. Pistelli and everyone involved. 🙌🏻✨

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

As someone with two serial novels here on Substack, this is incredibly encouraging to see. Thanks for sharing this story. It gives all of us independent writers hope.

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Julie Gabrielli's avatar

This is a fascinating story. I’m in awe of John’s prolific reading and criticism - that book review list is wild! As a tarot and comics lover, and multiple-POV curious, I’m happy to learn about his novel. Congratulations on the acquisition and thanks for giving us fiction writers (and readers) hope.

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Ryan Egan's avatar

This kind of enthusiasm for literature is, I assume, what pushed John to produce this book in the first place. What an inspiring success story.

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Jolene Handy's avatar

What a great story!

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Adam Pearson's avatar

Cheers to you! The small presses that support this kind of high literary work, as opposed to the Big 5’s middlebrow leftovers, is the kind of press I like to support. I’m gonna buy this book as soon it’s available for preorder even though I already am a paid subscriber to Pistelli’s substack

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Most of All's avatar

I can’t wait to read this, Anne! (Also, a page turning city planning mystery 👀👀👀)

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Claudia Befu's avatar

This is such great news for us fiction writers who publish on Substack and love being close to our readers. I hope more book deals will be possible in the future for works serialized on Substack.

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Kathleen Collins's avatar

I loved this inspiring and optimistic post in every way. Made my heart soar. I’m departing now to enter the John Pistelli rabbit hole. Yours are the most welcome substacks in my box. Always always learn something and feel better (smarter, happier, groovier) after reading. Thank you.

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Anne Trubek's avatar

What a lovely thing to share! Thank you

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

He got a deal based on his Substack? This is encouraging

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X. P. Callahan's avatar

Wild! Congratulations!

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