Quick note ref copyright in the UK: currently (2025) for UK-based writers and artists, copyright is automatically granted to the creator of the work under UK law, and nobody needs to pay anything in order to have copyright in their work.
I say this because there are probably a bunch of places online that will suggest you need to pay them to register your work if you are a writer based in the UK, but that’s not true.
However, it can be useful to email a digital copy to someone you trust, maybe even a lawyer or other such professional, and you can also do the old-fashioned thing of printing out your work and posting it to yourself.
Get the post office to put the date stamp over the seal of the envelope. When it arrives back with you, don’t open it! Just put it somewhere safe, still sealed, so the date stamp becomes the proof that it was in your possession at least from that date.
Write a note on the outside of the envelope that will remind you what’s inside it. Otherwise you might build up a collection of envelopes and then not know which one you need to open in case of requiring legal proof. Once opened, which should be done on front of a legal representative and/or in court, I think the whole thing becomes invalidated because you could just have put anything into an open envelope.
I've switched to writing instalove short stories (up 3K words) available to read free for 24hrs before paywalling them, BUT.... when I started my serial fiction journey, I: added Chapter numbers (but didn't know about the pull quote to center the header. Very clever), used one photo (of my characters), created a Section for the story and put a chapter index there. At the beginning of each chapter, I just created a link that pointed to the section page if readers wanted to "catch up". Thanks for sharing the book directory. I'll keep those in mind when I bundle up my stories for publication.
Really appreciate the copyright tip and that 90% completion advice to the other reader! First-time novelist here writing a sci-fi space opera blending Indian mythology with futuristic warfare, so this practical guidance is incredibly valuable.
As the author of The Worst Fiction Story - Part 1, which I published the day before on Amazon—I would like to thank you for this deeply insightful post, Rebecca.
I'm someone who's new to Substack, so I'm literally invisible here, apart from a few hearts and comments (which I barely get nowadays) and I definitely hope to make use of this knowledge in the near future.
Hi Abdullah! Many of people feel invisible here, so you're in good company 😉 Hope my post is helpful to you, especially the link to Linda's posts on getting started.
Hi Rebecca, this was very informative (and funny! I love The Thing). I have questions.
What is/how do I pay for copyright. As copyright is free, I didn’t know there was a paid version.
I’m keen to find out more about serialised fiction on Substack (to publish at a future date). Is there a serialised crime fiction directory available on Substack?
I’ve just subscribed to Linda Caroll, thanks for tip, my learning continues ☺️
Hi Louise! As others have pointed out, Copyright really varies by country. Your work inherently has copyright under Substack policies, I just like the extra assurance of the paid copyright. For United States, I put the link in the article.
I’m not aware of a serialized crime fiction directory… but if I was you, I’d take that as the opportunity to make one!
Hope you find Linda’s Substack helpful, I certainly have!
Oh yeah, a lot of things here that are useful, smart and worth consideration. One thing I really hadn't thought about is copyright. I'm writing here all the time. I have multiple Substacks. It simply hasn't occurred to me that someone would run off with my story, although I totally expect AI to steal it for training. I'll take a look.
As for some of the other issues -- genres and subgenres would be really nice, but like with most sites like this, the site wasn't set up for fiction from the beginning, and so the rich landscape that is fiction feels (and is) shorted. Ficstack and the work Hazel is doing is going to be very useful. I get it that most of the writing world thinks the only writing out there is novels, but it's time for people to rediscover serial fiction because I absolutely love serialized fiction.
Sections or another Substack? Still no good answer there. What is needed is for sections to have their own presentation formatting like the main page, then it wouldn't be some pathetic list. If we just had a decent way to present content in the sections, everyone would be happier and you wouldn't even think to have a new Substack. All you'd need is a solid section url.
I've seen several authors say not to post chapter numbers, and I think that's probably good, but also, opening an article to see that it's chapter 17 is not good either. Maybe "Chapter 6 or 22" or something, but in the end, as long as the author states up front in the text how to get to the start of the story, it might make that suddenly realization that there's a lot of catching up to do easier to swallow.
Also, I love pull quotes.
Anyway, long answer -- hope you don't mind. Definitely some good points here.
Hi Lisa! I'm not a copywrite guru or anything (and definitely not a lawyer), but I believe the general rule of thumb is for the work to be about 90% complete when you copywrite. It shouldn't have any large sections missing. If you're writing and posting as you go, you're probably okay with the limited coverage of Substack's copywrite. But I suppose time (and future court cases) will tell!
Super helpful and enlightening, Rebecca, thank you! And there are some great links now to check out.
Simon Jones and Linda Carroll have such brilliant newsletters, glad you highlighted them. I've learnt so much about serialising fiction from them and so many other great writers. I never considered doing this until I joined Substack. I started serialising my first novel a couple of months ago (we're up to chapter 10) but my Substack was originally the usual essays and narrative non-fiction stuff and I've kept everything all in the main publication, mainly because I'm disorganised and I was overthinking think, eventually deciding just to keep it simple and include disclaimers at the start of each post with fiction saying 'hey, don't go anywhere, I haven't transition to full-time fiction, I'll still post my usual nonsense 😂)
Not surprisingly, I have lost a few subscribers, but I still find it odd - do people punish you for having the audacity to publish fiction? Some of those who've left have been my earliest and most loyal supporters - maybe they hate fiction so much that they thought 'to hell with you, I'm outta here!'
One note on copyright - I'm going to publish my novel around the halfway mark of serialising it so it's all out there officially and legally - at least I hope that's the case? Other writers here have done the same.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Daniel! I hope you don't mind my thoughtful reply.
I feel like so many things go into the decision to unsubscribe... there's the simple one -- "you didn't subscribe back to me!" -- for which I am glad to see people go (because that just isn't how I live in the world). Then there's more complicated ones.
There's a few folks who subscribed to me early on who straight up deleted their accounts. I think, unfortunately, they weren't getting what they wanted from Substack and just opted out of the whole thing. And there are others where I expect my content is either too varied (similar to you) or they were just getting too may emails!!! If I unsubscribe, it's usually due to the volume of email.
Anyway, I'm sad to hear you lost some subs when you decided to post fiction! I had a similar experience, but on Instagram (where I primarily post fine art) when I started sharing links to my Substack. To me, writing, like anything, is a practice. The folks that subscribe should want to engage and assist you in all practices -- whatever the content may be. Otherwise, what are we all doing here with one another?
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, I definitely don’t mind, Rebecca - appreciate you taking the time 🤗
I’m not losing too much sleep over the lost subscribers, I get it (kind of), if they don’t want to read me, they’re not my audience anyway. BUT…(there’s always a but!) that said, the baffling thing is many of them were my earliest subscribers and even up until the time they unsubscribed, they weren’t subscribed to anyone else. They barely interacted with Substack but they had high levels of activity and I could see they were opening my posts and reading them. They were also my original target audience. I’m just wondering what prompted them to leave - the funny thing is I’m a language teacher and my original posts were more learning English-focused and my book is about, you guessed it, an English teacher! And it’s full of language tips in a more informal, snarky, amusing way (at least I think so).
Anyway, no big deal, just wanted to share that. Nothing is going to change, I’ll keep at it!
Thanks so much for the shout out, Rebecca! I’m still under the weather, but wanted to say thank you. This is a wonderfully comprehensive piece.
I will never be able to do as much as you do for this community. So, the pleasure is all mine. Thank YOU! 🙏
I hope you feel better very soon.
This is super useful, thanks so much.
Quick note ref copyright in the UK: currently (2025) for UK-based writers and artists, copyright is automatically granted to the creator of the work under UK law, and nobody needs to pay anything in order to have copyright in their work.
I say this because there are probably a bunch of places online that will suggest you need to pay them to register your work if you are a writer based in the UK, but that’s not true.
However, it can be useful to email a digital copy to someone you trust, maybe even a lawyer or other such professional, and you can also do the old-fashioned thing of printing out your work and posting it to yourself.
Get the post office to put the date stamp over the seal of the envelope. When it arrives back with you, don’t open it! Just put it somewhere safe, still sealed, so the date stamp becomes the proof that it was in your possession at least from that date.
Write a note on the outside of the envelope that will remind you what’s inside it. Otherwise you might build up a collection of envelopes and then not know which one you need to open in case of requiring legal proof. Once opened, which should be done on front of a legal representative and/or in court, I think the whole thing becomes invalidated because you could just have put anything into an open envelope.
Thanks so much for adding some UK insight!
I really appreciate your support for other writers. It’s not only useful, it’s also inspiring and empowering. Thank you ❤️
You’re so welcome!!! ❤️ Substack (to me) is mostly writers supporting writers.
I've switched to writing instalove short stories (up 3K words) available to read free for 24hrs before paywalling them, BUT.... when I started my serial fiction journey, I: added Chapter numbers (but didn't know about the pull quote to center the header. Very clever), used one photo (of my characters), created a Section for the story and put a chapter index there. At the beginning of each chapter, I just created a link that pointed to the section page if readers wanted to "catch up". Thanks for sharing the book directory. I'll keep those in mind when I bundle up my stories for publication.
Thanks for reading/commenting, Evolet! Glad you found something useful in here.
Some great advice & ideas here.
I'm plannin to self-publish my novel later this year, and thinking about serializing some (all??) of it on Substack to see what people think.
Glad it was helpful, Jesse! Wishing you luck 😄
Really appreciate the copyright tip and that 90% completion advice to the other reader! First-time novelist here writing a sci-fi space opera blending Indian mythology with futuristic warfare, so this practical guidance is incredibly valuable.
Glad you found it useful, Rajiv. Wishing you luck with your writing! Everyone loves a good space opera.
Thanks- your tips look really helpful
I’m bookmarking this
I hope it helps you out, Posy!
Thank you for your post! I just started posting serial fiction under a pen name, gotta go through your checklist!
You’re welcome, John. I hope it helps you out!
As the author of The Worst Fiction Story - Part 1, which I published the day before on Amazon—I would like to thank you for this deeply insightful post, Rebecca.
I'm someone who's new to Substack, so I'm literally invisible here, apart from a few hearts and comments (which I barely get nowadays) and I definitely hope to make use of this knowledge in the near future.
Hi Abdullah! Many of people feel invisible here, so you're in good company 😉 Hope my post is helpful to you, especially the link to Linda's posts on getting started.
Hi Rebecca, this was very informative (and funny! I love The Thing). I have questions.
What is/how do I pay for copyright. As copyright is free, I didn’t know there was a paid version.
I’m keen to find out more about serialised fiction on Substack (to publish at a future date). Is there a serialised crime fiction directory available on Substack?
I’ve just subscribed to Linda Caroll, thanks for tip, my learning continues ☺️
Hi Louise! As others have pointed out, Copyright really varies by country. Your work inherently has copyright under Substack policies, I just like the extra assurance of the paid copyright. For United States, I put the link in the article.
I’m not aware of a serialized crime fiction directory… but if I was you, I’d take that as the opportunity to make one!
Hope you find Linda’s Substack helpful, I certainly have!
Thanks for reading and commenting ❤️
Hi Rebecca, thank you for explaining. I’m in Australia and didn’t realise it was different in the US.
Create a serialised crime fiction directory… 🤔 That does sound like a good project!😄
You should do it 😉
Super helpful. Thank you!
Glad you found it helpful, Jay!
Oh yeah, a lot of things here that are useful, smart and worth consideration. One thing I really hadn't thought about is copyright. I'm writing here all the time. I have multiple Substacks. It simply hasn't occurred to me that someone would run off with my story, although I totally expect AI to steal it for training. I'll take a look.
As for some of the other issues -- genres and subgenres would be really nice, but like with most sites like this, the site wasn't set up for fiction from the beginning, and so the rich landscape that is fiction feels (and is) shorted. Ficstack and the work Hazel is doing is going to be very useful. I get it that most of the writing world thinks the only writing out there is novels, but it's time for people to rediscover serial fiction because I absolutely love serialized fiction.
Sections or another Substack? Still no good answer there. What is needed is for sections to have their own presentation formatting like the main page, then it wouldn't be some pathetic list. If we just had a decent way to present content in the sections, everyone would be happier and you wouldn't even think to have a new Substack. All you'd need is a solid section url.
I've seen several authors say not to post chapter numbers, and I think that's probably good, but also, opening an article to see that it's chapter 17 is not good either. Maybe "Chapter 6 or 22" or something, but in the end, as long as the author states up front in the text how to get to the start of the story, it might make that suddenly realization that there's a lot of catching up to do easier to swallow.
Also, I love pull quotes.
Anyway, long answer -- hope you don't mind. Definitely some good points here.
Thanks for your thoughtful response! And yes, I would love better formatting options for the subpages.
I’m laying the ground work to start sharing a serialization of my own and this was just the sort of insight I was looking for! Thank you
So glad this was helpful, Brian!
Looking forward to reading this one, thanks!
Glad you find it helfpul!
Can you copyright an incomplete manuscript? (Posting chapters as you write them)
Hi Lisa! I'm not a copywrite guru or anything (and definitely not a lawyer), but I believe the general rule of thumb is for the work to be about 90% complete when you copywrite. It shouldn't have any large sections missing. If you're writing and posting as you go, you're probably okay with the limited coverage of Substack's copywrite. But I suppose time (and future court cases) will tell!
Thanks for the insights
This is so helpful thank you! I'm just about to start releasing a serial and had a lot of questions answered by your article.
So glad it was helpful, Javier! Best of luck 😄
Super helpful and enlightening, Rebecca, thank you! And there are some great links now to check out.
Simon Jones and Linda Carroll have such brilliant newsletters, glad you highlighted them. I've learnt so much about serialising fiction from them and so many other great writers. I never considered doing this until I joined Substack. I started serialising my first novel a couple of months ago (we're up to chapter 10) but my Substack was originally the usual essays and narrative non-fiction stuff and I've kept everything all in the main publication, mainly because I'm disorganised and I was overthinking think, eventually deciding just to keep it simple and include disclaimers at the start of each post with fiction saying 'hey, don't go anywhere, I haven't transition to full-time fiction, I'll still post my usual nonsense 😂)
Not surprisingly, I have lost a few subscribers, but I still find it odd - do people punish you for having the audacity to publish fiction? Some of those who've left have been my earliest and most loyal supporters - maybe they hate fiction so much that they thought 'to hell with you, I'm outta here!'
One note on copyright - I'm going to publish my novel around the halfway mark of serialising it so it's all out there officially and legally - at least I hope that's the case? Other writers here have done the same.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Daniel! I hope you don't mind my thoughtful reply.
I feel like so many things go into the decision to unsubscribe... there's the simple one -- "you didn't subscribe back to me!" -- for which I am glad to see people go (because that just isn't how I live in the world). Then there's more complicated ones.
There's a few folks who subscribed to me early on who straight up deleted their accounts. I think, unfortunately, they weren't getting what they wanted from Substack and just opted out of the whole thing. And there are others where I expect my content is either too varied (similar to you) or they were just getting too may emails!!! If I unsubscribe, it's usually due to the volume of email.
Anyway, I'm sad to hear you lost some subs when you decided to post fiction! I had a similar experience, but on Instagram (where I primarily post fine art) when I started sharing links to my Substack. To me, writing, like anything, is a practice. The folks that subscribe should want to engage and assist you in all practices -- whatever the content may be. Otherwise, what are we all doing here with one another?
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, I definitely don’t mind, Rebecca - appreciate you taking the time 🤗
I’m not losing too much sleep over the lost subscribers, I get it (kind of), if they don’t want to read me, they’re not my audience anyway. BUT…(there’s always a but!) that said, the baffling thing is many of them were my earliest subscribers and even up until the time they unsubscribed, they weren’t subscribed to anyone else. They barely interacted with Substack but they had high levels of activity and I could see they were opening my posts and reading them. They were also my original target audience. I’m just wondering what prompted them to leave - the funny thing is I’m a language teacher and my original posts were more learning English-focused and my book is about, you guessed it, an English teacher! And it’s full of language tips in a more informal, snarky, amusing way (at least I think so).
Anyway, no big deal, just wanted to share that. Nothing is going to change, I’ll keep at it!