New Beginnings | The Quills Writing Conference

August 2022 Newsletter

Winston Malone

Aug 19

Listen to post · 4:44

Art for *The Storyletter* by Shivana Brhamadat

New Beginnings

It’s been one month since the 1-year anniversary, and I’d like to provide some updates on the state of things moving forward.

We’ve now exceeded 250 subscribers (wow!), and I can’t thank you all enough for hopping aboard the story train. At this rate, I have no idea where we’ll be in 6 months, but keep sharing with family and friends because we’re growing thanks to you all!
Daniel W. Davison, a frequent Storyletter contributor, has created his own Substack entitled, “Lamp Post in the Marsh”. He’s got some really great stories lined up for the next few weeks. Go subscribe so as to not miss out!
Submissions are currently still open for The Storyletter, so if you’d like to share your short story or poem with our audience, now is the time to do so!
New posting schedule has moved to Wednesday for community-related posts and Saturday for fiction. The release times for posts have been assigned to the evening rather than in the early morning (for my own sanity).
I’ve revamped the main page’s Section tabs. Now all stories will be in one place under “Fiction”, with a catalog for easier browsing. The “Community” tab will house things such as interviews, threads, and showcases.
I’ve teamed up with Shivana Brhamadat in order to bring you seasonal artwork exclusive to The Storyletter. Shivana is very talented and has been wonderful to work with. There’s great artwork over on her website. I highly encourage you to go check out her page!

Storyletter Anthology Update

I’ve begun work on getting the first year’s stories compiled and formatted for our first anthology. The next step is to get them edited professionally, and I may have an editor in mind. However, if you know an editor, don’t hesitate to send them my way.

The anthology will have the stories found here on the Substack, but I’ll include some exclusives that will make it something unique and fun for the fans to enjoy. I’m also hoping that having another access point will expand the discoverability of our authors and content.

I have some really neat ideas for themes and formatting that I hope can be realized in order to bring you a final product worthy of your time.

S6 Contest

Submissions close for our first short story contest on September 15th. Top prize is $100 and 2 runners up will receive $50 each, while honorable mentions receive one year of XPress (which allows free admission to future contests over the next year). Entry fee is a Paid subscription to The Storyletter, currently 50% off.

Interviews

We’ve added interviews to The Storyletter! I’ll be reaching out to people that I admire and find interesting in the hopes of sharing their knowledge and inspiration. C.R. Langille was the first guest in our great line-up and that is available to read now, while upcoming guests will be Elle Griffin (August 24th) and Daniel W. Davison (September 14th).

The Quills Writing Conference

Me and Cody sitting at the Timber Ghost Press booth

I had the privilege of sitting with C.R. Langille at their vendor booth during the League of Utah Writers’ “The Quills Conference”. I met a lot of awesome writers, publishers, agents and booksellers attending the event.

Later this month, I’ll be attending a mass author book-signing for the “Dead Stars and Stone Arches: A Collection of Utah Horror” anthology hosted at the new Legendarium independent bookstore in Salt Lake City.

How The Storyletter Gets Funding

We’ve officially generated $1,000 via The Storyletter! This blows my mind to think about, but I’m not totally surprised given the generosity and enthusiasm you all have shown over the past 13 months. $415 has come directly from Paid subscriptions, while the rest came from purchases through the Storyletter Gift Shop.

This money directly funds The Storyletter and other independent creators through artwork commissions, contest prizes, and story purchases. Thank you for helping support our small business so that we can continue to grow and provide more quality content for you to enjoy.