The next ‘Challenge 69’ instalment (due out this Saturday at 10am) marks the halfway point of my book, and takes a break from the usual story/challenge format to throw in an offbeat, mid-novel ‘teaser’ section which reveals a little more (but hopefully not everything) about who and what sits behind the story’s mysterious online competition.
Having reached this milestone, I thought I would share a quick ‘C69’ progress report:
I don’t know about anybody else, but this summary feels all to familiar to me, and closely resembles pretty much every school report I ever received!
While sometimes I can summon up the commitment to push on, and run that much invoked ‘extra mile’, if there’s a perfectly good pub at the point I’ve already reached …!
To follow the wise words of that famous philosopher, Jane Fonda, “Good enough is good enough. We’re not supposed to be perfect. We’re supposed to be complete,” although I don’t seem to recall her mentioning that when she was flogging all those fitness videos!
Anyway, enough of all this ‘slacker’ talk, if the Half Term report above is to be believed, what can be added to the ‘credit’ and ‘debit’ columns for ‘Challenge 69’ so far:
Good Results
Attracted ‘hundreds’ of subscribers, achieving the target set at the outset.
Made a start on world domination, with readers in sixteen different countries.
Positive feedback, and complimentary reviews, suggest people are enjoying it.
Great engagement level, with 60+% of subscribers regularly opening/reading posts.
Support for each story element, with musings, music, and quizzing all having fans.
Could Do Better
Didn’t maintain the ‘new subscriber’ push once the initial target was reached.
Not yet achieved the number/feedback levels that may sway a sceptical publisher.
Now I imagine, from that summary, you can guess what’s coming next!
In parallel with continuing to release ‘Challenge 69’ to all subscribers bi-monthly, between now and August, I am planning to go back out to publishers in March/April, seeking to persuade one of them that my story is strong enough, with a large enough market, to make it onto Amazon and into Waterstones! But I still need a bit more help.
Following my previous ‘plea’ a number of (very kindly) readers have already:
Upgraded their subscriptions to ‘paid’ (9% so far, with a target of 15%).
Or provided me with a review of what they, “think about C69 so far.”
To strengthen my ‘campaign’ however, I could do with a few more in each category, so could you please consider taking ten minutes today to:
Use the button above to upgrade your subscription (£5 monthly, or £40 all-in). Remember, this is not a money making exercise, so if you also nominate a preferred charity then I will happily make a ‘matched’ donation.
Or email me at challenge69@substack.com (or reply to this post) with a brief review of the story so far. Please let me know what you’ve enjoyed (which is clearly good!) but also what could be better (as this will help with ‘positioning’).
Thanks in advance for your help and, as I committed to before, all responders will also be rewarded with an appropriate ‘acknowledgement’ in the book when it gets published (and please note, ever the optimist, I said ‘when’ and not ‘if’.)
Finally, having not learned from the earlier ‘Report’, I have, “wasted a bit more time,” and created another playlist (with a half-way theme) to leave you with.
It’s a bit of mixed bag, but I particularly enjoyed; 1961’s tenth best selling single, a reminder of ‘The Royle Family’, a cautionary tale of inappropriate band merchandise, and Sting’s daughter giving a more than passable impression of her dad!
Remember, the story resumes on Saturday.