If you’ve spent any time on Substack this week, you know there’s an ongoing debate about the future of publishing. The debate is between (mostly) one person who is saying that people don’t buy books anymore and (seemingly) everyone else saying that people do still buy books.

Well, I hate to burst your bubbles, “everyone else,” but the “no one buys books anymore” person is right: the book publishing industry is dying and will soon be completely replaced by Substack. And to prove it, we need look no further than the $74 I made on Substack this month.

Substack presents a refreshing alternative to the failed business model of traditional book publishing. Here, writers have lots of ways to get their newsletters in front of people that traditional publishing doesn’t. For starters, they can gain subscribers by posting consistently on Notes and getting recommended by other newsletters. Substack also highlights certain high-performing posts and keeps a running list of the most popular newsletters in each genre. Substack even offers a select few “Pro” deals that give writers the financial cushion they need to get a full-time newsletter off the ground. 

Who needs a “social media following,” or “author blurbs,” or “press reviews,” or “Bestseller lists,” or an “advance,” when Substack offers such completely different alternatives? As you can see, Substack is nothing like the terrible and unsustainable book world.

Traditional publishing sucks because most of the money goes to the top few authors while the rest struggle to sell even a couple hundred copies of their books. 

Not so on Substack. I may not be Heather Cox Richardson, but I just raked in $74 this month from paid subscriptions alone — that’s almost enough to pay my share of the electricity bill! The audience on Substack is clearly way more evenly distributed. While most books sell less than 1,000 copies, I doubt there are many Substacks with less than 1,000 subscribers.

Since I started my newsletter last year, I’ve written 33 pieces of around 1,200 words each, or roughly 40,000 words. So with a few more paid subscribers, I’ll be earning a healthy four figures just by writing one short book’s worth of words a year. Try doing that with traditional publishing!

But perhaps the most exciting idea about the future of publishing is that Substack could eventually become a “Netflix for books.” It would be the nail in the coffin for the publishing industry AND mean that our work would be read by more people. Win-win! I have a few friends who are musicians and they LOVE Spotify. Musicians these days are rolling in it with the $0.003 they earn per stream. And Spotify even demonetized songs with less than 1,000 streams annually just to be able to pay those at the very top more money. If Substack ever rolls out a “Substack Unlimited” option, count me in!

So spare me the “facts” about how people buy “1 billion books a year,” or that books can be “profitable” without earning out their advances. Books are dead, and the creator economy is going to make things better for every single one of us — just look at the $74 I made this month. 

Disclaimers

You know I gotta have ‘em, but I’ll keep them short this time. As usual, I’m being harsh to prove a point. And I’m not about to sit here and defend traditional publishing, either. It has its pros and cons, and I agree that some writers could benefit from disintermediation. I self-published my debut book, and it was the right call for that particular project.

I don’t claim to be an expert on book publishing, so I won’t weigh in on the financial arguments. But I can smell a “Substack is better because it works for ME” post from a mile away and I will call those out every time. 

I think what is true is that, regardless of the health of the book publishing industry, it’s hard to make a living writing, period. So try different things and find what works best for you — whether it’s writing on Substack, self-publishing, traditional publishing, or all of the above. And there’s a good chance you won’t make a ton of money doing it, so whatever route you pursue, make sure you’re having fun along the way.

END DISCLAIMERS

Comments

1. To prove I’m right, I challenge any Substack with less than 1,000 subscribers to introduce yourself and what you write about. I bet there won’t be a single one of you!

2. I’ve actually heard there’s a brick-and-mortar Netflix for books called Library that has locations in most towns and is completely free. But I also heard it’s secretly funded by the government, so I don’t trust it. Has anyone used Library before? If so, how was it?

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