The readers of my Strange New Worlds newsletter have spoken!
I ran a reader’s choice poll in a March newsletter to determine the next serial I will publish in 2024. After tallying all votes, The Ghost Diaries emerged as the winner in a landslide with 67% of the total votes. Fire at Will and Tales from Lathos tied for a distant second at 13% apiece. Earth Defense Bureau Files finished fourth at 7%.
I will enjoy bringing The Ghost Diaries to life later this summer. This new serial marks a divergence from my usual approach to storytelling within the horror genre. The Ghost Diaries will deliberately blend comedy and horror, mirroring the spirit of a classic “Treehouse of Horror” episode from The Simpsons (my favorite TV show for many years).
As the title suggests, events in The Ghost Diaries unfold through first-person diary entries. The serial’s main narrative chronicles a ghost whose afterlife is turned upside down when an obnoxious redneck family moves into his haunted house. Each episode will feature multiple diary entries as the narrator ghost details his persistent efforts to frighten away the obnoxious family from his home and regain a peaceful afterlife.
I’ll share more details about key characters like the titular ghost and the family in a future edition of my author newsletter as a lead-in to the first episode. I plan to debut the first episode in late summer 2024.
The Ghost Diaries will be a limited series with a definitive beginning and end. You won’t need to set aside an entire year to read through this serial. Sufficient room exists within the story to expand into a longer series later if The Ghost Diaries proves popular, but we’ll cross that bridge once we reach it.
All episodes of The Ghost Diaries beyond the first one (and potentially the second) will be exclusively available to paid subscribers of Strange New Worlds and/or my Patreon page.
Why am I putting the bulk of my latest serial behind a paywall?
Two practical reasons drive my decision.
First, I plan to publish eBook and paperback versions of The Ghost Diaries and distribute them worldwide to major booksellers at a later date. Terms of service at Amazon (and other major book retailers) require authors and publishers to offer books for free that are available for free anywhere else on the internet — including on Substack. Offering a book for free on Amazon (or other booksellers) is a definite non-starter. I’ve been paid for my writing for two decades. I’m not in the business of appealing to freeloaders stuffing their kindles
Second, crafting The Ghost Diaries will be a time-intensive project spread out over several weeks. Writing and editing just a single weekly episode requires many hours spread over multiple days. Committing tons of time and energy to bringing The Ghost Diaries to life means it isn’t in my best interest to make this story free. I need to pay my bills and put food on my table.
Knowing your value is essential to being a successful writer or author. When I used to give guest lectures on freelance writing at the University of Utah, I always advised students to avoid working with clients who refused to pay for their services at a fair market rate. Writing well is a skill. A skilled writer should never settle for giving their writing away for free or at a severely reduced cost.
I apply a similar philosophy to writing fiction. Skilled quality storytelling deserves fair compensation. That’s a major reason why I never give away free books on Amazon or through any other bookseller.
You will notice I make exceptions for some short fiction and poems in my Strange New Worlds newsletter. These creative works require a fraction of the time I invest into longer works, so I offer them free for a year as a token of my appreciation to loyal readers and fans.
I’m grateful for your continued support and I’m excited to present what I hope will be a funny and suspenseful ghost story later this summer.