My 100th Substack

Bundle of signed, personalised paperbacks to be won!

Welcome to the free newsletter of David (D. V.) Bishop, author of the Cesare Aldo historical thrillers set in Renaissance Italy. This time: celebrating my 100^th Substack…

Reflections on substacking

I launched this email newsletter in January 2024 for three reasons: to engage directly with my readers (often the most enjoyable part of attending book festivals); to offer progress updates and a glimpse behind the creative curtain; and to hopefully encourage readers into pre-ordering future Cesare Aldo novels.

Photo by Bimbingan Islam on Unsplash

I set myself a goal of having 27 subscribers within the first six months, and fifty within a year. In fact I had 30 subscribers within the first 24 hours, 125 after six months and more than 250 by January 2025. Now, after two years, this newsletter gets sent to nearly 450 inboxes (though more than that read it most weeks).

Initially I intended to post once, maybe twice a month. But I soon found the experience was fun, not a chore, and increased the frequency to weekly. I do worry that I’ll run out of things about which to write, but it hasn’t happened yet! (If there are topics you’d like me to tackle, please suggest them in the comments.)

To celebrate hitting 100 editions of this newsletter, I’ve got a special competition for all of my readers here. But first, I thought it might be interesting to reveal which editions of this newsletter have been read the most times, and which were liked the most – surprisingly, these are two quite different lists…

My most popular editions

The fifth most read edition of this newsletter was published in July 2025. Coping with reviews discussed the different approaches authors take to online critiques of their work. Some avoid reading any reviews whatsoever, while others pour over such things, fretting about ratings and stars. Each to their own.

My fourth most read newsletter appeared in April 2025, entitled Which book formats sell best? This used numbers from my royalty statements to reveal how many copies City of Vengeance had sold in paperback (41%), in ebook (33%), audiobook (10%), hardback (9%) or in trade paperback (7%).

The bronze medal for most read goes to Win an advance proof of Aldo number five from last February. That did exactly what the title suggests, but also featured recollections of my first crime fiction book festival (Harrogate 2016, thanks for asking). Hard to believe this year’s Harrogate is ten years on from that!

My second most read newsletter was Life on the midlist from May 2025 which laid bare the realities of being an author whose career keeps ticking over but never troubles the bestseller charts. Becoming midlist is a brilliant achievement while sometimes also a pejorative, yet staying on the midlist is even harder…

But the most read edition of this Substack to date is All Change (also from May 2025). This talked about what happens when an editor leaves a publishing house, the stresses and challenges it can trigger for authors. This clearly struck a chord as its been read by three times as many people as I originally sent it to!

My most liked editions

Oddly, the five examples of this newsletter that attracted the most likes are entirely different from the five most read editions – make of that what you will…

The fifth most read edition is from September 2025 when I mused on the one ingredient for success over which no writer has any control. Getting lucky debated how happenstance influences which books become bestseller while equally deserving novels get far less attention. It’s annoying, yet also true…

In October 2024 I celebrated the first contract for my historical thrillers had now earned out in Aldo’s first royalties. This is my fourth most liked newsletter, digging into the maths behind how a book starts to make money for an author beyond the original advance. Warning: it can take many years…

In September 2025 I published a newsletter offering a simple piece of advice: Don’t be a ****. It became my third most liked edition while simultaneously also losing me the most subscribers to this newsletter in a single day! I guess some people don’t like being told how to behave, even if it’s well meant…

My second most liked newsletter to date was December 2024’s What is success? That pondered how success means different things for different authors and you need to decide what signifies success for you as a writer. Beware the green-eyed monster of comparison, for that is the thief of all joys…

So, what is my most liked post ever on this Substack? That was published in March 2025 and tackles the important topic of Self-care for writers. It is all too easy to burn yourself out by chasing opportunities, but taking time to let your creative well refill is equally important if you want a long-term career in this industry…

Exclusive opportunities for readers of this Substack

To celebrate hitting 100, I am giving away a bundle of signed, personalised Cesare Aldo paperbacks. This will comprise the first five books in my series of historical thrillers - City of Vengeance, The Darkest Sin, Ritual of Fire, A Divine Fury, and Carnival of Lies. Alas, this contest is only open to UK residents.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you need do is post a comment at the end of this Substack before February 1st 2026 which confirms you are a UK resident and states the UK hardback publication date for Shadow of Madness, the sixth Cesare Aldo novel. (Click this link for a clue to the answer, and to pre-order a copy from Bert’s Books.)

If you are not based in the UK, you can get a special Shadow of Madness sneak preview. All you need do is post a comment at the end of this Substack that states you reside outside of the UK and I will email you an exclusive PDF of the first chapter from the novel to whet your appetite for its publication in July.

I’m sorry not to offer a competition prize of signed paperbacks for readers outside the UK, but past experience has demonstrated the challenges of sending books beyond Britain these days. Even posting to Ireland has proven too problematic and expensive! I hope you’ll forgive this and still embrace the chance to get an exclusive Aldo PDF.

If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter by a friend, feel free to subscribe. But if you no longer wish to receive it, click unsubscribe at the bottom of the page.