Author Interview: Clancy Steadwell

of Porn Name Pseudonym

Allow me to re-introduce the anonymous author who goes by the “porn name” pseudonym Clancy Steadwell, allows no photographs, has no social media presence other than Notes, and only publishes on Substack. In May, his short story, Bus Kids, was featured on Substack. I’d only joined the platform the month before, and in my eyes, Steadwell was Substack royalty.

Not long after, he went silent.

Steadwell’s writing is real and emotional. People respond—literally. His engagement rates are phenomenal, but he didn’t follow up Bus Kids with the kind of prolific flow that cause subscriber counts to soar—a metric which so many of us count as being all-important. No, he had something else in mind.

Not that he never published again. He shared reviews and flash fiction, and after Bus Kids in April, he published How the Fight Was Won in June, External Frame in August, and Bluebird in November. His Substack-active following devours every piece and showers them with a love most authors would envy, but for his level of talent and early success, six-months later, Porn Name Pseudonym was still a modest-sized newsletter—because Steadwell had other plans.

Those plans come to fruition this weekend.

After Bus Kids, he decided the next step was to write a novel. That novel is now complete, and he’s releasing it on Substack, all at once. There’s no waiting for the next installment. You can read at your own pace.

I had the honor of interviewing Steadwell, and I asked him what inspired the unusual approach.

The central idea behind the release of my novel, the Big T, is that this is a "web novel" and not a "serial novel". There are a few serials that I personally like reading on Substack, but I've seen a lot of thoughtful critique from some readers who say that Substack serial fiction is simply difficult to get into due to its segmented and partitioned nature. So I just thought: maybe the best way to do a Substack novel is to hook readers in and let them get rolling right to the end, to allow them to stop then continue at their own pace.

I think the argument against this path is twofold: one, you are forgoing a weekly release, an opportunity to hit inboxes and promote the work. Two, if you're looking for monthly paying subscribers, it makes sense to drag the thing out over months to collect more payments (if the work is behind a paywall). But something like 80% of my subscribers are from the Substack app and are regular app users, and I do all of my marketing on Notes anyway. I can post a Note promoting it anytime, and the real driver for engagement -- restacks -- will come along (hopefully) as people read it.

As far as paid subscribers, I'm not too worried about that. The last four chapters will be behind a paywall. What I want is for as many people to read the novel as possible, and then hopefully have some who care enough to pay to read the end. They can cancel after they do so.

I'm just hoping people like it. If people like it, the way I release won't matter, so, we'll see!

It’s a clever strategy if you’re in a position to make it work. For Steadwell, being featured brought him recognition; his subscriber count is reasonable for such an endeavor, but most importantly, he has an impassioned following who aren’t afraid to engage with his work. They will respond strongly to the book’s release, and that response will spawn new readers.

This all-at-once technique also sidesteps the absurd psychological reaction we have with serials in which that little voice inside our head says, “I’m so far behind.” What an odd reaction. Yesterday, I visited a bookstore, and as I perused books in which every chapter had already been released and printed between attractive covers, not once did I think—I can’t start this now. I’m so far behind.

The Big T is the second life for a book Steadwell wrote four years ago, but that early version, he showed no one. He’s spent since May rewriting.

Tommy Goodspeed is an aptly named, all-American boy who talks fast and lives faster, and Jude Harris is the introverted new kid who tells us their story.

The Big T traces their friendship from middle school to high school, through college, young adulthood, and beyond as they navigate issues of masculinity, drug use, addiction, privilege and male platonic love."

As Steadwell begins publishing the chapters this weekend, he’s unchecking that box that sends them to your app or email. They’ll all be published only to the web. Even if you’re a subscriber, you’ll only find the novel by visiting Porn Name Pseudonym or catching the restacks on Notes.

I’m calling my audience to action, if I may. Steadwell is an author who deserves to be read. Visit the site. Subscribe. Read the novel. If you don’t finish, you don’t pay, but if he carries you all the way through, he deserves the price of subscribing for those last few chapters.

Unlike Steadwell, a large portion of my readers aren’t on Substack, and interaction means making the conscious choice to leave your email and join us on the web. I’m asking you to do that now. Read Bus Kids. Read Bluebird to see if this is your kind of fiction. Many of you will find his work resonating with you even if his contemporary stories aren’t a part of your favorite genre. Branch out and try something extraordinary.

Not only is his fiction worth it, but you may find that you get more out of these newsletters when you make that effort and engage with the authors. Steadwell’s greatest joy as an author is hearing how people relate to his stories.

I am but a solitary person living within one tract of life, but the greatest compliment I can receive is someone from outside of that limited scope relaying back to me the message I hoped to impart. It means there's some universal element to my writing, which is always ultimately my goal.

If you’re a fellow writer, I think you’ll relate to Steadwell’s response when I asked him about his greatest frustration with being an author. He said it’s constantly wondering whether he really is an author:

Sure, I write things. But do I author things? I certainly affix my name below the title of things I post online, and perhaps that is enough. I think for authors, there is a real need for self-awareness that curses you to always cast doubt on your own talents and merit, a fight you can never really win, only make peace with.

Finally, I asked if he could leave us with one piece of advice for other writers.

“Find inspiration in the mundane and the banal, because that is mostly what life is.”
— Clancy Steadwell

You can find the novel here: The Big T.

— Thaddeus Thomas

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