Writing non-fiction – crime is my beat – can be a particularly long-winded yomp. Once you’ve cajoled and seduced a publisher with a ton of unpaid research and marketing strategies for the opus (isn’t marketing their job?), you’ve then got to do a lot more digging, fact-checking, writing and arm-wrestling with some clever-dick editor.
All of which can take at least a couple of years.
The fun bits? I enjoy getting lost in archives and interviewing people. Working on a book gets you privileged access to fascinating former detectives, legal experts, profilers and forensic psychologists. What they tell you may not always make it into the book, but their expertise and insights can open your eyes to intriguing hidden elements in the story you’re trying to tell.
So, writers accrue a lot of anecdotal material and ideas that make good dinner-table conversation but go no further.
This is what attracted me to Substack, the fast-growing writing platform offering newsletters, blogs, podcasts, videos and more. Novelists, artists, tech folk, musicians, chefs, political pundits, academics – these and many more are creating quality content on Substack.
There have been stories of big-name journalists giving up the day job to migrate to Substack, where they are said to be earning six-figure incomes from its subscription model.
Not all ’stackers are charging a sub, however; many offer their content for free. Others have tiers of subscription from free to premium.
Without paying any subscriptions, you can still follow some brilliant writing. My current faves are the likes of Booker-winner George Saunders (Story Club, about how short stories work), Christina Newland on women and crime in cinema (Under the Mink), and Sarah Weinman (The Crime Lady, about true crime and crime fiction).
Apart from the humour and erudition of much of the writing, what makes Substack such a convivial place is that it is a world away from ads and click-bait. Contributors do not need salacious headlines to generate ‘likes’ and click-throughs. They are on the platform to engage with readers, write something of quality, and build a list of followers (sometimes adopting the paid subscription facility).
Substack also recently launched Notes, an antidote to the Muskification of Twitter, now sliding into a bear pit of disinformation as X. Notes is where you can publish short posts and share ideas with other readers and writers on Substack.
I am also enjoying it as a writer because it is a great space to discuss those anecdotes and ideas that don’t make into my books. It is good also to have an outlet between books and during the writing of books to discuss writing and research, true crime on TV, in books and podcasts.
I’ve recently been looking at ITV’s powerful drama about Peter Sutcliffe, The Long Shadow. I’ve posted a video from CrimeCon 2023, which was a terrific event. And I’ve also done a two-part post about the strangest case I’ve ever covered (The Blackpool Poisoner, 1953).
There’s a lot more to come – corruption, killers who got away with murder, favourite true-crime books.
My spot is called Persons Unknown (www.personsunknown.net) . I’d love to see some Shotsmag readers there, so do drop by and subscribe – it’s free.
More information about Robin and his work can be found on his website. You can also follow him on X @robinjarossi
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