“We all really, really, really need each other right now.”
Welcome to Well Published, Live! the Substack video series were we talk about all aspects of getting and being… well published! And thank you to Joshua Irving Gershick, Homi Hormasji, Jeff Curry, Carol Malzone, Robert Masello, and the many others who tuned in live.
Today’s conversation on Writing Fellowship is the first in what I hope will become an occasional series of chats with fellow authors who helm stacks on creative writing and the writing life. The wealth of these publications can be overwhelming for readers, and the competition for attention can be equally challenging for writers on Substack. But I’ve also found this space to be incredibly generous with high-level expertise. Most of us offer different sorts of insights and “services.” So my aim is to highlight both our goals and approaches in our stacks – as well as our different MFA and writing journeys.
My guest today is fellow Substacker, author, and professor Christine Sneed.
Christine’s novels include Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos, Little Known Facts, and Paris, He Said, and the story collections Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry and The Virginity of Famous Men (Bloomsbury USA & UK). She is also the editor of the short fiction anthology, Love in the Time of Time’s Up, and her seventh book, Direct Sunlight, is a short story collection published in 2023 by Northwestern University Press. Christine lives in Pasadena, CA and teaches for the graduate writing program at Northwestern University in the School of Professional Studies and for Stanford University Continuing Studies.
Her Substack, Bookish , focuses on literary and literature-adjacent topics including the craft of writing, the publishing and entertainment industries, and making a life as a writer.
Read the takeaways from our discussion below.
Save the date
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at 11am PT/ 2pm ET
Our next Well Published, Live: Publication via Contests
We’ll be chatting with Toni Ann Johnson , who’s won FOUR writing contests that led to publication of her books. Her next is a story collection, But Where’s Home, to be released on February 10 by Screen Door Press, an imprint of The University Press of Kentucky.
Join us to find out how she did it!
Aimee Liu & Christine Sneed on Writing Fellowship: Takeaways
On Substack and Building Community
“It’s so crucial to keeping yourself from despair at times and also to being part of a group of like-minded people who care deeply about books and the process of writing.”
Christine’s Journey to Substack
Started in March 2023 after conversation at AWP with poet Sean Singer
Felt she needed “a new address in Writerland” despite publishing multiple books
Bookish focuses on author interviews (especially small press writers), craft lessons, and highlighting literary voices
Posts every 6 days
Sees it as extension of teaching work
Aimee’s Approach
Started five years ago, transitioning from Medium
Began with personal essays, evolved to teaching-focused content (”essence of an MFA education”)
Posts 3 times weekly: Monday prompts, Wednesday curated pieces, Saturday craft essays
Finds Substack provides structure and deadlines that help keep protect sanity in the current political climate
Publishing Realities
“Luck has an enormous part to do with almost every writer’s career. I would say that’s probably 98 or 99% true.”
The Mid-List Author Experience
Christine: Published four books with Bloomsbury, one a Kindle bestseller, most recent books with small/university presses
Discoverability remains chronic problem, especially for small press books
Bookstores often don’t carry small press titles unless there’s established relationship
“I submitted to Ploughshares for 10 years before they accepted a story.”
Submission Strategies
Persistence is key: Christine submitted to Ploughshares for 10-12 years before acceptance
Quality over speed: Both emphasize not rushing work out
Most literary journals won’t publish work previously posted on Substack
Editorial preferences vary, but dogged submission to journals you admire pays off
Christine has published nearly 100 stories in journals but written twice that many
The Importance of Writing Community
“Comparison is like the death of joy... I found that cheering someone on, even if I am envious, is really the best thing to do. I’m going to try to celebrate your good luck and your good fortune and your deserved success, because it makes me feel good.”
Mutual Support Networks
Aimee’s “Lockdown Lit” group during pandemic provided crucial support when her novel launched in 2020
MFA programs (Bennington, Goddard, Northwestern) create lasting professional relationships
Writing groups essential for feedback and perspective
“I find that living in the United States right now is like trying to write in your journal with Chucky leering over your shoulder.”
Current Political Climate
Recent reports of publishers stopping acquisition of manuscripts with politically incorrect “liberal” themes
Greater reliance on small presses and literary journals anticipated
Community support more critical than ever for writers facing uncertain publishing landscape
Craft and Process
“Nourish yourself with other people’s loopy imaginations and wonderful points of view and the necessary strangeness that John Gardner said fiction has to have to be good.”
On Revision
Christine: After 30 years and extensive teaching, can usually tell when work is ready
Aimee: Still need distance—”put it in drawer for a year” approach
Both emphasize importance of reading widely, especially Best American anthologies
Creative Approach
John Gardner’s advice: fiction needs “necessary strangeness,” so, as Aimee says, “interrogate the weird.”
Keep notebooks of ideas (Christine has used same one for 25 years)
Balance ego and humility in assessing own work
Practical Wisdom
“There is no trick. It’s basically just keep writing new work, do write the work with your full attention and heart and, edit it, use your writer’s group if you have one, or just rely on your trusted reader. And then just doggedly submit.”
Comparison is “the death of joy”—celebrate others’ success even when envious
Not every book you write will or should be published
Maintain strict division between Substack content and work intended for traditional publication
Find joy and meaning in the work itself, not just outcomes
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