To Substack or Not To Substack My Ups and Downs and Everything-in-Between in my self-publishing career?

This is the question and a long title.

So, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in forever. It turns out that an international move, a house sale, a bunch of admin tasks, and the general chaos of life can swallow entire months.

Photo by fr0ggy5 on Unsplash

I’m only just now in my new office (which currently looks like a raccoon with tax documents tried to build a nest) and I’m finally sitting down to ask myself: To Substack Or Not To Substack.

Why?

Well… because I have:

• Three websites to manage - spoiler alert: I haven’t updated any of them in forever.

• Three newsletters to manage (with groups and segments and welcome sequences) - spoiler alert: only one gets regular content.

• A FREE Patreon: which I love. Sharing my work early as I go is fun. And it being free right now doesn’t add pressure - not that much pressure.

• Four pen names. Really two active ones. I haven’t published under Elodie Nowodazkij in years. Or under Duo Bilingue in months.

• Books to write. Really that should have been number one on my list.

• A podcast which I do enjoy.

• Social media. Kind of. I’m not really posting and right now going on TikTok seems more like trying to play the lottery for me because I haven’t posted in forever. I did however get an offer for someone to be my patron for “mentorship and loyalty”. :P

• I have a release in two days which I have not promoted. (Hi, if you love steamy Christmas rom-coms… it’s called “Nice Guys Don’t Kiss Like That At Christmas” - does this count as marketing? Yes? No? Maybe?)

• I’m trying to establish my business in Belgium while navigating the tax realities of being a dual US/French citizen.

• A YouTube channel.

• I’m recording audiobooks - in French. My own. Because duh, why not add one more thing to my list?

• And that’s just a quick snapshot….Did I mention Goodreads changed my name to Elodie Nowodazku and B&N has for some reason rejected my vendor account? You can listen to *this* mess on my actual podcast (see more platforms?) Oh and if you want to follow Elodie Now on Goodreads, well.. don’t hesitate :P That counts too, right?

And so… My Substack is gathering dust.

I want to share the ups and downs and everything in between of my creative / self-publishing life (the way I do on my podcast) but more often, and in shorter bursts. But Substack currently feels like another website I need to go to. Another thing I need to “do properly.”

• Should I just post everything on Wordpress? Just use my www.elodienowodazkij.com as the hub for everything (except Patreon). Like this I post only the audio files on my actual podcast and not twice?

• Or I could add a paid tier to my Patreon - even if no-one joins, then I’ll be sharing…

• Or I could just keep Substack. Leave those voice memos here. And call it a day. Ask myself less questions. And share what I want to share here without grand expectations or feeling bad if I’m only just reading the posts I get in my email and not in the app.

So. Many. Questions.

And also: should I be making any platform decisions three days after setting up my desk in a room that still looks like I raccooned my way through boxes? Possibly not.

If you’d like to follow along while I figure it out, thank you.
If you just wanted some self-pub tips and are wondering what you stumbled upon, thank you.
If you’re also a raccoon: welcome, friend.

We’ll make it work somehow.

And also WHAT DO YOU THINK? If the answer is simply: “Take a deep breath,” that counts too. :P