YES!! This exact topic has been on my mind a lot lately. Imprints within publishing companies should redirect some social media efforts to Substack. They need to cultivate an audience here.
YES! I mean, they always should have. And sometimes they did. Look at Scribner's and that amazing magazine it published a million years ago. (1887-1939, I had to look it up.) And one of my publishers, Algonquin, used to publish a zine-sized essay collection called The Algonkian. And some publishers created big blog/online magazine type things a decade ago--I think HarperCollins had one for YA? Maybe they still do? But the combination of newsletters + Substack's way of reaching more subscribers feels new and fresh and full of possibilities.
Great question, Amy. I see no reason why they don't. You would think a direct relationship with readers is useful for them just as much as for readers.
I know! Publishers have struggled to figure this out. I applaud them for jumping into social media and giving it a go, but for many (not all!) publishers, it has turned into, “Hi, here’s our marketing copy, please engage with it.” I really feel like I can be myself on Substack, and I would love for publishers to do that too!
Thank you for the shout out-- I loved this post and your take on this subject. I would eat up a publisher Substack! Plus then they would see for themselves how much work needs to go into one and perhaps stop telling every and any writer that they should "go start a Substack" without understanding what that entails.
YES! Of course, I think that about so many things publishing-related. I had a publisher who one time sent a publicist out on book tour with an author, just to find out what it's like to actually survive on the road and do All The Things. I thought that was so smart! (And the other day I spent 6 hours scripting, filming, and editing a 90 second video at my publisher's request and thought exactly what you just said--have any of them ever had to do one of these? They're so complicated!)
What a generous and intelligent thing that publicist did-- would love to hear more examples like that. I mean-- have they tried making a TikTok video with proper lighting and editing? You need a film crew!
Totally! My brother is a slick Hollywood editor/director and he shot some book trailers for me. This gave my publisher the idea that I'm great on video. My denials were useless. I had to break it down for them: "Here's how this worked. My brother would stand behind the camera and feed me one line at a time, and tell me exactly how to say it, like how to pitch my voice and what word to hit and when to smile or look away. Literally every move, he had to tell me how. That part where I'm walking and talking and then I stop to say the last line? That took dozens of takes. I cannot walk and talk and hit a mark."
Inspiring read. I love seeing watching things shift and evolve. As a self published author considering other options, it would be great to see this collaborative vibe here.
But, Amy, I AM the publisher...if Substack gets taken over by Big Five backlist authors and their publishers, I'll turn elsewhere to drive sales...inviting them here works against new talent ever having any share of traffic. The point of this platform is to blow all that sh*t up. I
I'll be the first to dance on the grave of traditional publishing.
I don't believe it's a zero sum game here. If Substack became a place for readers, attracted by publishers' newsletters, then we'd all benefit. Part of the problem of Substack right now is that seems to be mostly writers here, and we need a lot more readers.
What a great post! I totally agree with you although I am wondering: how does one start a group substack anyway? As you said you are a part of GardenRant… any tips would be appreciated.
Well, I notice that when you make a Substack post, there's a place to tag a co-author, so I think the software is set up for multiple contributors. As for logistics, it's pretty much about reaching out to likely contributors, figuring out what your shared agenda is, any ground rules etc, and making a schedule. GardenRant was daily, so I was every Tuesday or whatever. A weekly substack would only need 4 contributors to cover the month. And of course everyone has to be a little forgiving, as life gets in the way.
This is great. As a former publisher, I couldn’t agree more. Publishers know what makes a great book, but rarely have a direct sense of their own customers because there’s little unmediated interaction. A genre-specific Substack would solve that and create a lot of organic traffic for their books at the same time. A great way to drive discoverability.
Yes, exactly! I mean, blogs would've accomplished that too, but never did somehow. And regular newsletters don't have a comment feature (and the Mailchimps of the world don't help promote your newsletter.) So this seems like a good thing to experiment with!
Amy, your article here is brilliant, refreshing, innovative, and simple. I love the peppering of sarcasm, as well. So I'll add entertaining to my litany of adjectives.
I'm not a new writer but I admit I feel like I am these days. I don't know what the hell is going on in publishing, so I guess I do feel like I'm starting over. Your article gave me some perspective as to the rapidly shifting industry. Thank you for that.
And the idea of Substack groups - well, there's so much I didn't know existed on this platform! How does one find or create a group of other writers in similar genres?
That’s a good question! The way I did it with GardenRant is that we were all reading and commenting on each other’s blogs (this was before social media.) So we just kind of started reaching out to each other to say “hey I like what you’re doing and we have similar sensibilities and maybe if we teamed up we could have some fun and put out something really great.” I think that’s basically how it still works today, only we find each other on social media, or maybe we meet at a book festival, or maybe we straight up email an author out of the blue because our books share an audience.
Awesome, thank you. So, logistically (since I am a technological dunce), do I just make a general announcement on Notes that I'd like to join a group of memoirists?
Love this idea! Makes me think of Stained Page News by Paula Forbes -- amazing commentary on the cookbook industry. Would be curious how this translates to sales for the books featured!
What a great suggestion. What you’re proposing does seem to account for a shift in content consumption from “the reader,” perhaps exponentially over the last decade (thank you political commentary that reduces down substance to the lowest common denominators: sensationalism and provocation?).
I’m curious, as a new writer, and substacker, and one who is anxious to get his writing “out there” with little to no fan base, agent, or publisher, do you think my current tack of releasing portions of my book (historical fiction) in weekly installments is a good way to navigate this consumption shift? Am I undermining my ultimate goal of publishing by sharing too much for free? Thanks for sharing your wisdom/insights!
Honestly, I don't know. I wonder about this myself. There are these great examples of blogs/newsletters/social media accounts that turned into books, from Julie/Julia to Humans of NY. But those are exceptional examples. There's still a prevailing wisdom in publishing that if the book's already been given away for free online, it's less publishable. Right or wrong, that idea is out there.
Having said that, from a strictly creative and non-business point of view, I still think a blog/newsletter is a great way to noodle around with an idea that could someday become a book. You don't have to commit to a structure, a voice, a word count, you can just mess around.
And doing it in front of an audience, even a small one, changes the process in ways that *might* be beneficial creatively. The only question is whether you're the type of author, or your book is the type of book, that could benefit from a bit of an audience. I think I am not that type of author. I don't want any other voices in my head. But for some people, or some book ideas, I think it could actually be incredibly helpful and clarifying.
Thanks for your thoughts here, Amy. I think that’s a great way to frame this (can we call it a) conundrum. I think my newness to the world of literary fiction has made me especially, maybe even unhealthily!, curious about the degree to which my writing has any audience at all. As such, sharing - even in a truncated form - pieces of my book does have a certain appeal. I also don’t typically like many voices in my head when I’m writing, but I do crave feedback at this point in my process, nearly a decade on with this particular book. I appreciate your thoughts.
YES!! This exact topic has been on my mind a lot lately. Imprints within publishing companies should redirect some social media efforts to Substack. They need to cultivate an audience here.
YES! I mean, they always should have. And sometimes they did. Look at Scribner's and that amazing magazine it published a million years ago. (1887-1939, I had to look it up.) And one of my publishers, Algonquin, used to publish a zine-sized essay collection called The Algonkian. And some publishers created big blog/online magazine type things a decade ago--I think HarperCollins had one for YA? Maybe they still do? But the combination of newsletters + Substack's way of reaching more subscribers feels new and fresh and full of possibilities.
Totally agree. Some genre publishers used to build online communities & then shut them down. This is the perfect opportunity to revive that here.
Great question, Amy. I see no reason why they don't. You would think a direct relationship with readers is useful for them just as much as for readers.
As for writers*
I know! Publishers have struggled to figure this out. I applaud them for jumping into social media and giving it a go, but for many (not all!) publishers, it has turned into, “Hi, here’s our marketing copy, please engage with it.” I really feel like I can be myself on Substack, and I would love for publishers to do that too!
SO GOOD. I hope this gets into the hands of publishing folks.
Many thanks! If nothing else, I was glad to get it off my chest!
I feel it!
Thank you for the shout out-- I loved this post and your take on this subject. I would eat up a publisher Substack! Plus then they would see for themselves how much work needs to go into one and perhaps stop telling every and any writer that they should "go start a Substack" without understanding what that entails.
YES! Of course, I think that about so many things publishing-related. I had a publisher who one time sent a publicist out on book tour with an author, just to find out what it's like to actually survive on the road and do All The Things. I thought that was so smart! (And the other day I spent 6 hours scripting, filming, and editing a 90 second video at my publisher's request and thought exactly what you just said--have any of them ever had to do one of these? They're so complicated!)
What a generous and intelligent thing that publicist did-- would love to hear more examples like that. I mean-- have they tried making a TikTok video with proper lighting and editing? You need a film crew!
Totally! My brother is a slick Hollywood editor/director and he shot some book trailers for me. This gave my publisher the idea that I'm great on video. My denials were useless. I had to break it down for them: "Here's how this worked. My brother would stand behind the camera and feed me one line at a time, and tell me exactly how to say it, like how to pitch my voice and what word to hit and when to smile or look away. Literally every move, he had to tell me how. That part where I'm walking and talking and then I stop to say the last line? That took dozens of takes. I cannot walk and talk and hit a mark."
I love this idea!
Thanks!
Inspiring read. I love seeing watching things shift and evolve. As a self published author considering other options, it would be great to see this collaborative vibe here.
Agreed!
But, Amy, I AM the publisher...if Substack gets taken over by Big Five backlist authors and their publishers, I'll turn elsewhere to drive sales...inviting them here works against new talent ever having any share of traffic. The point of this platform is to blow all that sh*t up. I
I'll be the first to dance on the grave of traditional publishing.
I don't believe it's a zero sum game here. If Substack became a place for readers, attracted by publishers' newsletters, then we'd all benefit. Part of the problem of Substack right now is that seems to be mostly writers here, and we need a lot more readers.
That's what I was thinking... thanks for saying it!
Talking to James F. Richardson in my comment!
What a great post! I totally agree with you although I am wondering: how does one start a group substack anyway? As you said you are a part of GardenRant… any tips would be appreciated.
Well, I notice that when you make a Substack post, there's a place to tag a co-author, so I think the software is set up for multiple contributors. As for logistics, it's pretty much about reaching out to likely contributors, figuring out what your shared agenda is, any ground rules etc, and making a schedule. GardenRant was daily, so I was every Tuesday or whatever. A weekly substack would only need 4 contributors to cover the month. And of course everyone has to be a little forgiving, as life gets in the way.
This is great. As a former publisher, I couldn’t agree more. Publishers know what makes a great book, but rarely have a direct sense of their own customers because there’s little unmediated interaction. A genre-specific Substack would solve that and create a lot of organic traffic for their books at the same time. A great way to drive discoverability.
Yes, exactly! I mean, blogs would've accomplished that too, but never did somehow. And regular newsletters don't have a comment feature (and the Mailchimps of the world don't help promote your newsletter.) So this seems like a good thing to experiment with!
Amy, your article here is brilliant, refreshing, innovative, and simple. I love the peppering of sarcasm, as well. So I'll add entertaining to my litany of adjectives.
I'm not a new writer but I admit I feel like I am these days. I don't know what the hell is going on in publishing, so I guess I do feel like I'm starting over. Your article gave me some perspective as to the rapidly shifting industry. Thank you for that.
And the idea of Substack groups - well, there's so much I didn't know existed on this platform! How does one find or create a group of other writers in similar genres?
That’s a good question! The way I did it with GardenRant is that we were all reading and commenting on each other’s blogs (this was before social media.) So we just kind of started reaching out to each other to say “hey I like what you’re doing and we have similar sensibilities and maybe if we teamed up we could have some fun and put out something really great.” I think that’s basically how it still works today, only we find each other on social media, or maybe we meet at a book festival, or maybe we straight up email an author out of the blue because our books share an audience.
Awesome, thank you. So, logistically (since I am a technological dunce), do I just make a general announcement on Notes that I'd like to join a group of memoirists?
Love this idea! Makes me think of Stained Page News by Paula Forbes -- amazing commentary on the cookbook industry. Would be curious how this translates to sales for the books featured!
Oh! That’s a strong HELL YES from the back
Thanks Amy!
Thanks! I think it could be good!
This is brilliant! Bravo Amy!
This is so great, I actually told my publisher about it — as in sent them the link. I hope that’s okay! They’re open to stuff, so who knows.
What a great suggestion. What you’re proposing does seem to account for a shift in content consumption from “the reader,” perhaps exponentially over the last decade (thank you political commentary that reduces down substance to the lowest common denominators: sensationalism and provocation?).
I’m curious, as a new writer, and substacker, and one who is anxious to get his writing “out there” with little to no fan base, agent, or publisher, do you think my current tack of releasing portions of my book (historical fiction) in weekly installments is a good way to navigate this consumption shift? Am I undermining my ultimate goal of publishing by sharing too much for free? Thanks for sharing your wisdom/insights!
Honestly, I don't know. I wonder about this myself. There are these great examples of blogs/newsletters/social media accounts that turned into books, from Julie/Julia to Humans of NY. But those are exceptional examples. There's still a prevailing wisdom in publishing that if the book's already been given away for free online, it's less publishable. Right or wrong, that idea is out there.
Having said that, from a strictly creative and non-business point of view, I still think a blog/newsletter is a great way to noodle around with an idea that could someday become a book. You don't have to commit to a structure, a voice, a word count, you can just mess around.
And doing it in front of an audience, even a small one, changes the process in ways that *might* be beneficial creatively. The only question is whether you're the type of author, or your book is the type of book, that could benefit from a bit of an audience. I think I am not that type of author. I don't want any other voices in my head. But for some people, or some book ideas, I think it could actually be incredibly helpful and clarifying.
Thanks for your thoughts here, Amy. I think that’s a great way to frame this (can we call it a) conundrum. I think my newness to the world of literary fiction has made me especially, maybe even unhealthily!, curious about the degree to which my writing has any audience at all. As such, sharing - even in a truncated form - pieces of my book does have a certain appeal. I also don’t typically like many voices in my head when I’m writing, but I do crave feedback at this point in my process, nearly a decade on with this particular book. I appreciate your thoughts.