I’ve got a new way for readers to connect with me and take a peak inside my writing practice. It’s an author newsletter called, Writing Skins, and it’s a look back at through my writing journals over the past few years, dating back to before I even sold my first story.
I used to have an author newsletter that I loved to send to readers and fans about what was going on in my life. The only issue was it was restricted to the people who were subscribers, and other people couldn’t really check it and read it unless I shared it on my website.
Eventually, I stopped doing the double work of publishing to subscribers and then sharing it on my website and focused on just sharing it on my website for everyone to read about. It’s always been on my mind to start a new newsletter.
Writing Skins will be excerpts from my own writing journal that I keep and spew my thoughts into. It’s an intimate space for me to reflect on my writing and reading life and how I want to work as an author.
Writing Skins is vulnerable. Writing Skins is real. Writing Skins is raw.
What You Get if You Subscribe
For all subscribers:
- Journal Entries– This is the main content in my mind. I started Writing Skins because I wanted a way for readers to connect with who I was as a writer behind the stories and my more marketing and updated posts here on Byline or By Crook. I also wanted to keep a viewable author’s diary for writers who are like me and scour the Internet for a peak through the crack of a writer’s door.
- Reading Lists– I build a lot of reading lists for my own pleasures, learning, and craft development A LOT. And I know a lot of the people subscribing to my newsletter are insatiable/avid readers. So I want to start sharing the books I’m reading, reviewing, studying, and learning from.
- Occasional Paid Content– At least once a month, I’ll share at least one of the posts from the paid tiers for people to read. I’m open to requests on this one, too! If there’s a paid post that someone wants to be made free, just tell me and I’ll do it.
For paid subscribers:
- Author Memoir Book Club– Since Writing Skins, in my mind, is technically a living memoir of my experiences, trials, errors, and adventures in writing AND I’m about to embark on a new writing craft journey of reading author memoirs, I wanted to invite subscribers into a space where we could read an author’s writing memoir together (Not On Writing by King—I’ll never recommend that). I’ve already compiled a list of 29 titles to read in a year and would love it if you went along with me and explored the inner workings of some mighty fine writers.
- Surprise Bonus Content– This is where we all get to be sorta loosey goosey. If one month someone wants to see a review of a specific book, they can request it. Or maybe I want to share some notes I’ve taken in books or of stories. Paid subscribers can request stories and pieces or what some people may call “content” and I can also share fun tidbits from the writing life. I want the surprise bonus content to be whatever anyone wants it to be.
And Substack has this paid tier called Founding Member, which is weird, but I’ll go with it. You can pay whatever you like as low as $30 to get access to Writing Skins for a year. It’s essentially a sugar baby tier for people who want to show more monetary support beyond the regular yearly subscription fee and support me in a big way.
Founding members get:
- Author Memoir Book Club
- Surprise Bonus Content
- Personalized Stories- You get the chance to commission a couple pieces a year that I’ll write and post for the rest of the paid members. There are some parameters around this that we can work out and boundaries around what I will and won’t write, but let’s get wacky.
You can subcribe to Writing Skins, here!
Aigner Loren Wilson 