yeah, but if you write books...options? They're so much longer than Substacks (that said, I'm TOTALLY Substack ignorant--can you publish a novel here? If you do, will a hard copy ever exist?) ! And the grind of building a Substack following. I genuinely don't think I'm up for it. I've published 4 novels the old way, but going forward, I'm thinking of them more like a hobby, done for my satisfaction, should I write another. Don't think I'll Substack it but also don't expect what I'm unlikely to get from the current marketplace.
I’ve always wondered how this business model worked. As a debut author in 2021 I could see it wasn’t tangible. I appreciate you taking the time to piece this together and piecing so much for the mystery. There is a gross lack of transparency in the publishing industry which contributes to expectations not being managed or met. Thank you.
This is so detailed. I need some time to let the numbers settle. But I agree, it makes more sense to write for readers who choose our work here than hope for the validation of a gatekeeper that might fast track our way to more money and an audience.
thanks you for this, Elle. I found it very liberating. Trying so very hard to write and comply with whatever those publishing companies dictate is both soul destroying and exhausting. Writing here, on Substack, brings me joy and I will publish my novel here too when it is ready. Thanks for taking the time to read that book and make such a good analysis of it! Great job.
Actually the Brandon Sanderson story with raising 42 millions is really inspiring! It makes me feel really good to see a creative professional to make a fortune without becoming a business person. And it looks like a 1000-true-fans idea is even more relevant now than when it was coined by Kevin Kelly.
Great work. You'd think they would wise up and hire good authors with stories to tell and devote more money to marketing rather than hire celebrities and politicians who will write a bomb. Seems like substack would be a great place to recruit!
I myself probably purchase 10 books a year (more than the number of movie tickets I purchase) and almost all of them are from small publishing houses.
I just celebrated my 80th birthday two days ago. I am still saturated with my glimpses reflecting the past eight decades. How many activities, genres, and shining fashion items have disappeared? One example: As a child, I was selected through a competition to be a child actor on Hungarian Radio. I played in radio adaptations of books, or dramas called Sound Plays, with the greatest actors of the time. 65-70 years ago. I can't recall how many decades ago the extinction of Sound Plays happened. Reading this saga put forward beautifully by Elle about the fate of book publishers, I am stunned. We are at Substack, want it or not, trying to be part of the process of another extinction, just projected. I was already a seasoned electronic engineer when PCs appeared on the scene. We started to use them for circuit design and looked down upon word processing as not a serious enough use for "our" smart machine. Circuit design use must be one to the 100 million now, and extinction has eradicated the typewriters. Such changes give food for thought for instructive explanations of how our world develops, and how to accept change.
As an author preparing to expose work to the world at large I find this article enlightening and a bit.daunting
That said I am retired have a great life in music and photography and will submit work knowing full well it may not fly - but I say lets.give.ot a try
The book is about PTSD recovery of a Vietnam vet through a series.of adventures that defy the clinical approach and sometimes actually become comical and the key to surviving - we'll see what happens - all I need is a publisher to look at it. Strega459@gmail.com Tom Foster
The number of people who actually buy books or who own a lot of books is very small sort of like the number of people who listen to classical music. So the top book publishers can only make so much money off of them. Even so big publishers or independent publishers are very helpful to authors or writers. But your post helpfully indicates how writers should self-publish and need to do a lot of basic marketing in order to sell any books at all. They need to identify who they are writing for and the best format for their book. The great thing about Substack is that it modernizes the publishing process to some degree. It uses the reach of the internet and social media platforms coupled with the traditional graphics of longer length, more detailed, more in depth writing. So something like Substack seems the future.
Great job on this. Thanks so much. I used to work at Harper as a VP Publisher, and much of this rings true. It's much from the point of the view of the most elite publishers, and there would be different things said from smaller publishers on the same issues I think. There's a lot of good things happening at the grassroots.
Great article - thank you so much for this information! Overall, it is shocking to me, given what I spend on books in a year.
Does anyone have the data on the books sold per capita since post WWII for comparison purposes?
yeah, but if you write books...options? They're so much longer than Substacks (that said, I'm TOTALLY Substack ignorant--can you publish a novel here? If you do, will a hard copy ever exist?) ! And the grind of building a Substack following. I genuinely don't think I'm up for it. I've published 4 novels the old way, but going forward, I'm thinking of them more like a hobby, done for my satisfaction, should I write another. Don't think I'll Substack it but also don't expect what I'm unlikely to get from the current marketplace.
Wow, incredible breakdown. Thank you for this.
I’ve always wondered how this business model worked. As a debut author in 2021 I could see it wasn’t tangible. I appreciate you taking the time to piece this together and piecing so much for the mystery. There is a gross lack of transparency in the publishing industry which contributes to expectations not being managed or met. Thank you.
This is so detailed. I need some time to let the numbers settle. But I agree, it makes more sense to write for readers who choose our work here than hope for the validation of a gatekeeper that might fast track our way to more money and an audience.
thanks you for this, Elle. I found it very liberating. Trying so very hard to write and comply with whatever those publishing companies dictate is both soul destroying and exhausting. Writing here, on Substack, brings me joy and I will publish my novel here too when it is ready. Thanks for taking the time to read that book and make such a good analysis of it! Great job.
Bless you, Elle. This is transformational work and I learned so much!
Actually the Brandon Sanderson story with raising 42 millions is really inspiring! It makes me feel really good to see a creative professional to make a fortune without becoming a business person. And it looks like a 1000-true-fans idea is even more relevant now than when it was coined by Kevin Kelly.
Great work. You'd think they would wise up and hire good authors with stories to tell and devote more money to marketing rather than hire celebrities and politicians who will write a bomb. Seems like substack would be a great place to recruit!
I myself probably purchase 10 books a year (more than the number of movie tickets I purchase) and almost all of them are from small publishing houses.
I do.
I just celebrated my 80th birthday two days ago. I am still saturated with my glimpses reflecting the past eight decades. How many activities, genres, and shining fashion items have disappeared? One example: As a child, I was selected through a competition to be a child actor on Hungarian Radio. I played in radio adaptations of books, or dramas called Sound Plays, with the greatest actors of the time. 65-70 years ago. I can't recall how many decades ago the extinction of Sound Plays happened. Reading this saga put forward beautifully by Elle about the fate of book publishers, I am stunned. We are at Substack, want it or not, trying to be part of the process of another extinction, just projected. I was already a seasoned electronic engineer when PCs appeared on the scene. We started to use them for circuit design and looked down upon word processing as not a serious enough use for "our" smart machine. Circuit design use must be one to the 100 million now, and extinction has eradicated the typewriters. Such changes give food for thought for instructive explanations of how our world develops, and how to accept change.
As an author preparing to expose work to the world at large I find this article enlightening and a bit.daunting
That said I am retired have a great life in music and photography and will submit work knowing full well it may not fly - but I say lets.give.ot a try
The book is about PTSD recovery of a Vietnam vet through a series.of adventures that defy the clinical approach and sometimes actually become comical and the key to surviving - we'll see what happens - all I need is a publisher to look at it. Strega459@gmail.com Tom Foster
The number of people who actually buy books or who own a lot of books is very small sort of like the number of people who listen to classical music. So the top book publishers can only make so much money off of them. Even so big publishers or independent publishers are very helpful to authors or writers. But your post helpfully indicates how writers should self-publish and need to do a lot of basic marketing in order to sell any books at all. They need to identify who they are writing for and the best format for their book. The great thing about Substack is that it modernizes the publishing process to some degree. It uses the reach of the internet and social media platforms coupled with the traditional graphics of longer length, more detailed, more in depth writing. So something like Substack seems the future.
♥️
Great job on this. Thanks so much. I used to work at Harper as a VP Publisher, and much of this rings true. It's much from the point of the view of the most elite publishers, and there would be different things said from smaller publishers on the same issues I think. There's a lot of good things happening at the grassroots.