What if the traditional publishing world says “no”? Eleanor Anstruther—acclaimed novelist and creator of The Literary Obsessive—shares her bold leap into indie publishing, serialising fiction and memoir on Substack, and why you need an Artist DNA to draw an audience.
We discuss:
- Her aristocratic background and experience living in a commune
- Navigating rejection and the pivot to serialising work online
- The realities (and surprises) of building a paid readership on Substack
- Advice for writers considering serialisation and indie publishing
- How to build a creative community
- Practical tips: drafting, book sales, pricing subscriptions, and more
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ABOUT ELEANOR ANSTRUTHER
Eleanor Anstruther grew up in London, studied History of Art at Manchester, and spent twelve years travelling the world and starting a commune before turning to writing. Her debut novel, A Perfect Explanation, was longlisted for major prizes. Today, she serialises her fiction and memoir on Substack, where she’s built a passionate readership and runs the celebrated interview series 8 Questions. Connect with her via The Literary Obsessive on Substack.
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RESOURCES & LINKS
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This episode is brought to you by our friends at Lulu. If you're interested in self-publishing, Lulu has free resources such as helpful tutorials, templates to help you layout a book, design for print, and they have a very watchable YouTube University channel. Our community anthology is in fact published using Lulu. Check them out at lulu.com.
For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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