Fictionistas 2022 Year in Review

Celebrate, be thankful and join us on this spectacular adventure!

Dec 06, 2022

Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Unsplash

What a wonderful year for Fictionistas! Please give heartfelt thanks to

and

for spearheading the community and running the Zoom calls, and of course, thank you for subscribing, reading, connecting, and supporting fiction on the Substack platform. In this 2022 year in review, the team is sharing a few stats as we look to the future.

An upward trajectory is dependent on authors who can write guest posts and share their knowledge and wisdom with fellow Fictionistas. If you’re willing and able, we would love to hear from you. Have a look at some of our posts in the archives, and you’ll see that we encourage a wide range of voices and subjects pertaining to fiction.

If you’re a full-time fiction agent, editor or publisher, and have industry insider tips that can help the community, then please let us know. Interviews with professionals can encourage new authors, build relationships and dispel myths, making an excellent addition to our growing list of articles.

Subscribers by the Numbers

Fictionistas saw some amazing growth in 2022. As it stands, this ‘Stack has around 1100 subscribers. The line chart provides evidence that we’re the raddest, baddest gang of fiction writers on the internet… or our corner of Substack.

The two best ways to help us grow are to add Fictionistas to your recommended list and share articles via cross-posts and social media. Are you wondering about that spike in June? That’s when The Great Substack Story Challenge hit Substack by storm, and thirteen different authors from May to August penned the greatest story of all time! We might be a little biased. Will there be another story challenge in 2023? The only way to know when it happens is to subscribe if you’re not already.

Visits From Around the Galaxy

We’re certain we’ve gone interstellar, or at least interplanetary. It’s hard to say since NASA isn’t returning our calls. For now, we’ll have to rely on this fancy bar chart that shows our two highest visit counts on August 30 and October 11.

Visits for August 30, 2022 (Click to enlarge)

Visits for October 11, 2022 (click to enlarge)

From whence they came, or their reasons, we know not why, but we welcomed them with Where has the summer gone? and An Interview with Neil Clarke, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Clarkesworld. There’s no real explanation for the higher-than-average numbers on those particular days. We’ve moved on from our detailed analysis after months of shrugging our shoulders.

The Source of Our Fame

We’re not calling it the source of our troubles yet. Each URL is more validation that readers enjoy Fictionistas on and off Substack. To all who show their love, we salute you and hope you continue to find value in the community.

Occasionally we do get trolls within the ranks that link back to our merry band, perpetuating the myth that writers can and do relax and have fun. Michael Estrin traveled to Bali (or so he led us to believe), and Elle Griffin tells us in her chat that she is in the Virgin Islands. Come on, Elle, I know a good green screen when I see one! If you enjoy their vacations, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy their writing and the writings of other Fictionistas that you can find on the Fiction substacks to follow page.

A New Friendship

Give us a shout in the comments. Throw us a great recommendation, share an accomplishment or a goal for next year, or if you’ve never reached out, just pop in and say hello. Got questions about writing fiction on Substack? That’s what we’re here for, and there are plenty of writers on Fictionistas that can share their experiences.

And don’t forget: we are having our holiday party today (Dec. 6) on Zoom. Don’t be a Grinch—join us!