Substack Chronicles

Interested in weekly recommendations of the latest fiction published here? You might discover your new favorite read or author. No algorithm required. Curated by fiction writers.

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

Substack Chronicles

If you're interested in weekly recommendations of the latest fiction published on Substack, join us. You might discover your new favorite read or author.

Not dependent on Substack's algorithm. Curated by fiction writers for fiction readers. Offering a variety of stories in a small, neat package.

Join, hop on board, Substack Chronicles here:

Join Substack Chronicles

About Substack Chronicles

Many works of fiction on Substack are at the height of their art, and beyond. But as much as we love them, one of the difficulties with many of these articles (not only in Spanish, but even more so in English) is finding them. To redress the balance, we have decided to bring together our favorite fiction publications: stories in which the writing is beautiful and compelling and in which, sometimes, there are no images at all.

It's true that we now have, on Substack, the excellent “link roundup” by Mercedes de Santiago, who will also be leading this initiative, but with Crónicas de Substack, which launches this Sunday (but you can already subscribe), we want to go a little further.

In this regard, we are deliberately vague with the term “fiction”: because in Crónicas you will also find literary criticism, literature, or “short” fiction (as in traditional literary magazines) and exclusive articles (commissioned expressly for Crónicas). The only thing that really unites the stories we publish or review in Crónicas is that they are all exceptionally good reads.

Because Crónicas was originally conceived as a way to inspire the creation of fiction on Substack, providing a space for writers on the platform to increase the audience and distribution of their publications. To be an alternative “feed” to Notes and its rankings, free from algorithms. To convey that the only thing we really care about is the quality of the fiction. Which, of course, is always excellent when selected by Mercedes.

So, dear reader, if you are looking for fiction writers and great fiction stories, but don't know where to find them, you've come to the right place.

For lovers of nonfiction: We recently launched a similar project about nonfiction Substack articles published in Spanish, as well as news and tips about Substack. It has been very well received. Check out our testimonial page for now...

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Some things you should know, both as a writer and as a reader of Crónicas:

What does Crónicas de Substack do?

This publication selects the best fiction stories published in Spanish (either partially or entirely on Substack) and presents them in an easy-to-read format, without ads or clickbait, that you can read in a few minutes. You don't need to fight through digital clutter to find fiction, because we've already done it for you.

In addition, we bring you an article of interest to fiction lovers, often commissioned especially for Crónicas de Substack.

Oh, and it's FREE.

Do you only review articles from Substack?

Yes, we only feature fiction from Substack publications (for now).

How often is Crónicas de Substack published?

Weekly, on Sundays.

Can we recommend fiction articles if we are the authors of those articles?

We encourage writers to promote their own work, but we prefer recommendations from readers of other people's work.

How old should the article be?

We try to review only NEW stories. This means that the articles we review and you read in our emails will never be more than a month old, with reasonable exceptions.

How can I recommend something?

We accept recommendations for notable stories via the comments section of the weekly Substack Chronicles.

Who compiles the recommendations and how?

The list of recommendations has been compiled by the people who know what good fiction is out there: YOU! (through your recommendations and the comments we see in Notes and elsewhere).

We do NOT use algorithms of any kind to compile our lists. Handcrafted by real humans.

We are also not influenced by audience size in our decisions.

Because we want to provide perspective, describe but also explain why we liked an article. (We have been helped in this strategy by Robin Good.)

This way, everyone can check out the comments section to discover stories worth reading and support others' recommendations.

Is it useful for discovering new newsletters and articles?

Of course. This is the main goal of Crónicas. Every week, it explores featured collections on different fiction topics and finds the best sources (newsletters or individual articles) selected by the community and curated by Mercedes. If an article catches your eye, you can easily follow its source!

Is there a ranking of the traffic that Crónicas drives to other Substack articles?

Yes, there is. Because this initiative not only helps other Substacks get more traffic, but also makes Crónicas a real tool for discovering what's out there in the Spanish-language Substack universe, without relying on Notas.

Do you have any other initiatives or projects for the Hispanic/Spanish community?

I'm glad you asked. In addition to this directory, we're going to try to offer solutions to authors who can't charge through Stripe, and we've already started with fiction reviews in addition to news about Substack, in Spanish. See about the Diario de Substack (about Substack).

Sign up today for Crónicas de Substack, and you can be the first to recommend great stories.