How to sell a book on Substack
A guide for authors, publishers, booksellers, and beyond
There’s nothing that drives book sales like email. It’s a direct line of connection to your most passionate supporters, and, for many authors, Substack is the most efficient and powerful way to promote their upcoming and published books.
told us, her publisher “credits [her] Substack for helping to drive continued sales. It’s sold just under 25,000 copies.”In this guide you’ll learn how authors like Melinda use Substack to support their work as an author, including:
How to promote a new book, from preorders to the launch and beyond
How to promote existing books
How to grow your audience as you go
How to pitch your Substack to publishers
Download a PDF copy here:
Promote your new book
Authors on Substack don’t have to cater to algorithms or advertisers to connect with their readers. You can communicate directly with your subscribers at the most important moments in your career—like promoting a new book.
Preorders
A great preorder campaign includes the following ingredients:
Be loud and clear with your book announcement. You might be tempted to just include the announcement of your new book as an intro or footer in one of your regular posts. When you first make the announcement, we recommend creating a stand-alone post. Be bold about the fact that you’re launching a book—don’t bury the lede! For inspiration, see announcement posts from Gabrielle Blair, Virginia Sole-Smith, Yung Pueblo, and Freddie deBoer.
Encourage orders with custom buttons. Include a link to preorder your book above the fold using a custom button.
used custom buttons with a Q&A for readers so they had the full details on how to preorder. Learn more about buttons.
Tell your readers why this is important. Remind subscribers why preorders are important.
tells readers, “Preorders are the best way to support an author and help a book succeed.” Additionally, she thanks them for being some of her most dedicated fans. Read the announcement post. Picture-book author got creative with his post about preorders, sharing a little of what readers could expect from the book. Finance writer told subscribers that if every single one of them preordered, they’d make his first major book a bestseller. shared a detailed story of why her publisher means so much to her, alongside her book announcement.Get strategic. Consider:
Telling your paid readers first.
announced her book tour to paid subscribers first, allowing her most dedicated fans to get access. She sold out three cities, and the next day she invited free subscribers and followers on social media.Sharing special discounts.
offered subscribers 25% off preorders for one day only. offered readers subscription discounts of up to 60% for friends and family members preordering or for preordering three copies.Using video.
shared a more personal message following the unboxing of her book and encouraged subscribers via video to preorder. Learn more about video on Substack.Keep reminding about preorders.
shares the link to preorder his forthcoming book at the top of every new post.
Book launch
Build up to launch day. Continue to build momentum up to launch day with behind-the-scenes moments, posts sharing your feelings about publication, and cover reveals. A book’s creation is a series of stories that you can share with your readers.
Celebrate publication week. For her publication date post,
shared a custom button for readers to buy the book. Authors can offer early and behind-the-scenes access to readers and incentivize them with special deals. Authors Gabrielle Blair, Heather Havrilesky, Virginia Sole-Smith, and Rebecca Makkai use Substack to drive sales for their books. Virginia also created a special section on her Substack so that she could get really detailed on the book news for superfans. When the book subsequently became a New York Times bestseller, she wrote:
“There is no doubt in my mind that this happened because of Burnt Toast. You preordered, you regular ordered, you library-requested, you left reviews, you talked the book up on social media and in your group texts, you did this.”
Go deeper with readers. Beyond launch week, authors start book clubs, run AMAs, and invite readers to meet them on their book tour.
Celebrate milestones.
sent out a Substack post when her book became a New York Times bestseller. shared a note when he was featured in the media.
Don’t forget to promote your Substack as part of your book launch too. Add your Substack URL (your.substack.com) to your author page Visit our brand assets and resources for more information.
Read more: How to promote your book on Substack
Ongoing promotion
Here are some ways writers can promote books after launch and continue to drive book sales on autopilot.
Add your books to your profile. Your Substack profile is a simple way to share all your social handles, web-profile presences, and books, all in one place. Update your profile.
List books as permanent links on your Substack homepage. Cookbook author
promotes his books on the homepage of his Substack, . Update your homepage links.
Headers and footers. Writers can create headers and footers for all emails, which can be bespoke for free and paid subscribers (head to Settings, Publication Details, Email banner, header, and footer settings).
created a custom banner displaying his books, which he adds to the bottom of all his posts.
Create a growth loop with your audience
Here are some ways authors are growing their Substack audience alongside their ongoing book sales.
Include your Substack on your “About the author” page in the finished book. We are seeing more art departments checking in on using the Substack logo with their personal URL for back pages of the published book. This is a great way to bring new readers to your newsletter.
Share the ongoing journey.
updated subscribers on the U.S. leg of her publishing journey, to drum up preorders and interest after a successful U.K. launch—at the same time inviting those wishing to see U.S. book tour details to upgrade to paid.
Invite subscribers to endorse your book.
welcomed endorsements of her book her Substack subscribers, which she then shared in Notes. Virginia also regularly mentioned her Substack in interviews in the media and on podcasts about her book. This creates a loop of growth that allows your Substack to grow while your book sales do, and vice versa.
Here are some other ways to make full use of the Substack network to increase your growth through your book launch and beyond.
Write blurbs and recommendations of other authors. Authors can make use of Recommendations to help grow their publication as part of the Substack network. Writers who make a recommendation are three times as likely to receive one. What’s more, you can turn any recommendation written about your publication into a blurb for your book or an endorsement on your welcome page. Read: How to set up endorsements on your welcome page.
Guest post or interview with other Substack writers. Maggie Smith answered Oldster’s interview questionnaire,
was interviewed by Substack writer in about Rebecca’s book, and spoke to about her book on the British royals.Notes. Substack Notes is a space where you can publish short-form posts and share ideas with other writers and readers on Substack. In its early days, some writers are already seeing subscriber growth from it. Visit A guide to growth and collaboration on Substack Notes.
Pitch your Substack audience to agents and publishers
In December 2020, cookbook writer
started her newsletter after being rejected by traditional publishers for not having enough “social reach.” In April 2023 her book of the same name sold after demonstrating an email list of more than 60,000 subscribers on Substack.
Caroline’s story isn’t the only example of Substack writers getting a book deal because of the audience they’ve cultivated here—
’s Leslie Stephens and of both credit their book deals to their Substacks.If you’re speaking with potential agents and publishers, make sure to highlight your Substack audience, and how engaged they are, by including engagement metrics such as open rates and free and paid subscriber numbers.
Remember to make clear that on Substack, audience size isn’t the most important metric. When your open rates are 50% or more, you know that you have a very engaged and captive subscriber base, which is essential for book sales. (Comparatively, social media posts may reach only 1% to 3% of your follower base.)
You can also share where your readers are in the world by using the Audience insights tab in Stats. Toggle between where subscribers are located around the world by country and by states in the U.S. You can also sort the data by all subscribers or paid subscribers and time period—last 30 days, last 60 days, or all time. You can sort the same data in your subscriber dashboard to send targeted emails. For example, send an email to all U.S.-based subscribers about an upcoming book tour.
The insights also display audience overlap with other publications to help writers spot opportunities for collaboration.
Looking for more guidance? Read our guide on How to promote your book on Substack and our interviews with authors Melinda Wenner Moyer and Luke Burgis.
Are you a publisher wanting to onboard your writers to Substack? Write to us at partnerships@substackinc.com for support and guidance, and to grab your affiliate link.
Are you a book author selling your book via Substack? Share what other tactics and methods you use to do so, in the comments.
I’d love to see a book from Dante Papier – deardante.com is the funniest page I’ve found on Substack.
Many thanks, fan.
Or https://substack.com/profile/21725659-lavey-lovell?utm_source=substack_profile
😁
I love Dante 😂
This post was so timely and helpful! Im launching pre-orders for my book next week!
I know the feeling. I actually have a post coming out later today mentioning the beginning of writing my book in more detail.
Congratulations!!!!
Congratulations!!!
Thank you so much!!
Such a fun and inspiring read! I’ve personally bought/pre-ordered at least four books recently thanks to Substack newsletters reminding me to do so.
I must admit that I usually have to see pub/pre-order notices at least 3-4 times before I remember to actually order the book, so consistently mentioning the book is important! I think Virginia Sole-Smith was particularly excellent at this. It kept feeling like, oh yeah, I need to do that, until I actually did.
I think I’ve been especially swayed by people being interviewed in other Substacks, and I love when authors include some tidbits about their books, like pictures and stories about their inspiration.
I agree with what you are saying and I think repetition is absolutely essential. I listen to some podcasts, where the host will mention a particular product they are selling, for example a book, maybe twice in the same podcast, so after a few episodes per day and listening everyday for weeks I have heard the same pitch something like 100s of times. Also radio commercials, repetitive over and over but seems to be the key to success to breaking past all of the 'Noise' in today's world.
Yes! And honestly, if I’m there digesting their content, I’m really not annoyed that they’re trying to share more with me!
That's one interesting part about it, You think it would get old after the first 50 times, but after awhile it just becomes part of the landscape of the podcast...interestingly enough. Also there was a radio station that I used to listen to for like 12 hours per day, eventually it got to the point where I looked forward to certain commercials just based upon how the owner / DJ said the commercials. Which then made listening to his regular show even more interesting. Funny how things like that work...anyways! I subscribed to your Substack, looking forward to reading your writing!
Yeah same!
I am launching a book next January.
This will be really useful
👍
dear publishers: I'm sure you're reading this going 'yea! I'd love to scoop up the next hot comedic wunderkid (is it kid or kind) who writes about being a lil immigrant from Ukraine in america and then becoming a dad and intergenerational karma and and everything else and wow let me just say- it me. my open rates are sometimes over 100% and people do comment a lot on my posts we even had one person say they'd stopped walking cuz they were sad but then they read my posts and started to walk a bunch so I mean wow if that ain't success then what is??! plz do reach out asap as I am walking to the big apple right now to set up some meetings in person with both simon and schuster (separately)
I'm not sure what I just read but I loved it!
I'm rooting for you!
Lol. I really hope you are able to find one here. It'll make such an awesome headline someday. Good luck!
As someone who has always felt terrible at self-promotion, I'm delighted to see my janky homemade footer graphic featured here—thanks!
I got the exactly same feeling, Mason! I thought self-promotion was something only to celebrities and discovered it concerns everyone after I launched my first book.
Yeah, it's such a bigger part of the "job" than I ever anticipated, and it also takes a lot more skill/finesse to do well than I think most people realize.
Rather than direct book sales, I’ve been using Substack to offer my novels to my members to download at their convenience. It’s something of a real time experiment, but seems to be working so far...
https://joelbowman.substack.com/p/a-novel-idea
Nice 👍
Fabulous round up with so many incredible, practical notes and examples. Launching a book is HARD and takes everything from an author, for months leading up to and post launch--thank you for giving us a platform to reach and connect with our most dedicated audiences!!
❤️❤️👍
Thank you for this post! I am a new substack writer, closing in on my first month on the platform, but I gotta say I love it. Incredible community of writers and always something interesting to read. I am also working on a book and I am glad to have this platform to connect with my growing audience, and these tips are very helpful as I move towards completion and publishing of my future memoirs of the same name as my Substack.
Welcome
Welcome. Yeah: it’s fantastic here 👍
This is a useful post, thanks!
I'll admit that I'd love to get a book deal off the back of Why Aren't I Writing, my newsletter about writer's block. I'm doing well on open rates and just have another 59,700 subscriber to go before I can boast a big enough audience. 😂
Isn't that the dream :P
Yes, yes it is!
The whole premise of your “advice” is built upon the assumption of a larger audience built in for people who have book sales from. You just assume that people have paid subscribers to provide a discount to.
None of your examples are from complete unknowns. They’re all established writers who are already making money from Substack.
I am a complete unknown, and I used almost all of the methods here to help sell my fiction book. I have a small audience (less than 500 subscribers) and I don't have a paid option. Around a dozen purchases came through Substack, and the rest were family, friends, co-workers and the result of recommendations from those individuals. No author is an overnight success.
This platform will never make or break an author. Platforms don't do that. Good writing and industry expertise do that. If you think the reason these authors are making any money selling their books is simply because they're already known, then you need to ask yourself why their known. Go do everything they do first, then write a book, and you'll feel differently.
I never claimed that they weren’t good writers. But industry expertise is part of what I take issue with. I’ve followed “industry expertise” for years and it never really worked. I’ve also improved as a writer for years and I get pretty much universal praise for my writing.
People make the claim that “good writing rises to the top” but in reality the people who say that often are doing that while being featured in the New York Times after a chance meeting at a random event. Or because they have spent thousands of dollars on advertising. The idea that this is an organic process and that people who succeed are doing it purely because they’re good is a fictional claim.
How many terrible books or movies or TV shows got made over decades? They didn’t manage that by being good writers.
I agree completely that there are a number of good writers that never make it, while there are others that aren't as talented, but through some stroke of luck make it big. However, those chance meetings, side introductions and insider connections aren't really that lucky. There are so many combinations of factors that are indicators of success that the only common denominator is perseverance. Those successful authors still have to put themselves out there in some capacity, and while for a time they experience success, to continue on a forward trajectory they have to keep trying.
Brian, though Andrew makes some important points below (hi, Andrew! :), you are correct about the perseverance factor as being *one part* of the picture. Have you read the book 'Don't Trust Your Gut'? It looks at data across a variety of areas of life, including success as a creator. Being prolific (part of perseverance) is a top factor for success. You might also enjoy this article https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/100k-author/ which speaks, too, of the issue of being prolific. Regarding Andrew's comment, I do find it to be especially dangerous and demoralizing for writers to think that simply *trying harder* across any platform at all is a key to success. It takes savvy. Insight. And, often, money to succeed.
To paraphrase someone, “Everyone believes in luck, right up until they succeed, then it was all their doing.”
The idea that persistence pays off is another fictional thing people tell themselves to justify the fact that they aren’t succeeding. Or that they don’t get paid.
Substack’s CEO just sent out a Note about the “Pay It Forward economy”.
https://substack.com/profile/3567-hamish-mckenzie/note/c-15904673
The “pay it forward” economy is just the latest version of the “exposure economy” that people in the creative economy use to pretend that paying people has to be earned.
When you go to a job in retail or at a factory, you don’t hear anyone saying “do the job for 10 years for free and then we’ll consider paying you”. No one would accept that. Your landlord doesn’t believe in being paid in “pay it forward dollars”. Your grocery store doesn’t accept “pay it forward dollars”.
But somehow writers are expected to be paid in “exposure dollars” or “pay it forward dollars”.
(Caroline Chambers is a great example mentioned here! Valorie Clark, Lerato have also grown a lot via Substack primarily)
Your CEO just sent out a Note about the “Pay It Forward economy”.
https://substack.com/profile/3567-hamish-mckenzie/note/c-15904673
The “pay it forward economy” is just the latest euphemism for the “exposure economy” where everyone in the creative field is expected to do free work “for the exposure”. It’s part of what the Writers Guild of America is striking against. The idea that they shouldn’t be paid for their work because they haven’t “earned it yet”. They need to do thousands of hours of free work in order to justify people who make millions of dollars paying them the bare minimum wage in 10 years.
You have 3 examples out of something like 20 people and you’re using this as “evidence” that Substack is helping people succeed and make money. It’s a marketing message you’re sending out in order to justify the thousands of writers on the platform who are providing traffic to your service while making zero dollars over years. Some of whom are probably going to become homeless trying to succeed on Substack. Your paycheque is dependent on the thousands of writers who make nothing from Substack driving traffic to your platform so that the small number of people who have institutional support and discretionary income to promote themselves and make millions of dollars.
Andrew, I've been thinking about the "thousands of writers on the platform who are providing traffic," and considering that it might be a fair exchange. Websites that writers set up for themselves can take considerable $ to keep going (plus a fair amount of technical knowledge and maintenance—especially if a writer wants to set up paywalls), while Substacks take no $ to set up or maintain. Both scenarios require hard work (writing capital), but the Substack ones... well, if they make no $ in return, at least there was no $ outlay to get started or to maintain.
Thoughts?
You're assuming that writing takes no effort. Many writers don't have a consistent schedule but others do. I have had weekly new content from February 2021 to pretty much the end of this year so far. The claim that because the website takes "effort" and writing doesn't actually take "effort" assumes a value for one kind of effort and not for another.
To use a similar argument that I used replying elsewhere in this thread. You would never have a grocery store worker and tell them "Work here for 10 years for free and if we like you, in 2033 we'll consider paying you. Not retroactively to today but only going forward from 2033 and only if other people want you to keep writing will we pay you."
The assumption that the grocery store worker is providing value but the writer isn't providing value is inherently devaluing writing and the product of writing. Why would it make sense to completely dismiss writing as having value?
Hmm. I'm wondering where the impression that writing takes no effort arose from in what I was thinking about? Writing is such a deep effort, on so many levels. Websiting... well, that's effort that takes away from writing time. Some days I wake up and can't believe my new good luck in having a place like Substack where I don't have to pay a dime to collect Substacks like notebooks (the way I like to collect and manage websites :). And some of the Substacks even pay. Not tons of $ by any means, but something that exceeds the model I was using before, where I had to not only pay for the websites (which I still do) but also to pay Mailchimp to handle my lists, and it was hard to break even.
I think maybe we are agreed that writing is valuable. That it should earn. :)
(Re: the grocery store idea: the workers aren't making the products, yes? The writer makes the product. Products sometimes are given away as leads. Which a writer can do, too. I'm thinking here specifically about authors and books. It's a proven method.)
Now, I've looked at your profile again. You are a screenwriter! There's so much going on there right now that's a really big deal. Are you in on the strike?
No, I have my issues with the writers strike too and not part of the union. I call myself a screenwriter because I’ve written screenplays, none of which have been produced.
But I put together the idea that you’re looking at writing as less valuable from your comments about how you have to pay for a website. That the Substack platform allows you to not have to pay for a website. That this somehow justifies Substack profiting off the thousands of writers who make no money and drives traffic to their website.
There was a recent conversation with the “Godfather of AI” who talked about this in part regarding the artificial intelligence question but had the issue with it before. We are prioritizing the platform over the people using the platform. We did it with Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and now Substack.
Substack claims to be “about the writers” but instead they’re doing what Google, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms are doing. It’s just got a nicer shine on it because how it is presenting itself.
People are currently striking by the WGA because they are being exploited by giant corporations just like big tech. Which Substack is also doing. Disney and other major studios are creating “mini-rooms” and trying to cut writers out of the process of writing through using AI. This is exactly the same thing with Substack.
So if I understand correctly, your thesis is that Substack profits off unknown, never-going-to-make-it writers who drive traffic to the site. Can you say a little more about how this profit from non-earning writers comes to be? (Substack runs no ads, like WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube; they charge no annual hosting fees like Bluehost, Hostgator, WP Engine; they charge no monthly fees like Mailchimp and Constant Contact—so the profit model is ... ?)
Also, to move it to a more action-oriented conversation, I would be intrigued to hear maybe 3-5 very specific fixes Substack could engage in to handle this concern.
It’s fairly straightforward. If a company “isn’t charging you for their product, then the product is you.”
Driving traffic to the website increases its standing in search engines, which increases the amount of times it comes up in searches, causing people to use it more.
The vast majority of people who Substack promotes as “successes on Substack” are people who are already successful elsewhere. People who either worked for or were featured in a legacy media outlet like the New York Times or Washington Post or wherever. If not that, they have a university degree in the topic at hand, often they are professors in the field at a university or college or were historically. They already have successful careers, they come to Substack and, surprise surprise they are successful at Substack because they can call up their friends at the New York Times and be featured in it about their Substack which drives large amounts of money their way.
Then Substack features them in their “official Substack newsletter” which everyone on the platform is defaulted to receive. Which drives more money to the already successful people. And Substack promotes them as “successful on Substack”.
How this relates to the thousands of writers is that these people come to Substack, drive traffic to the website but don’t pay any money to any of the smaller people. But they receive the official Substack newsletter promoting the person who doesn’t need their help making money and they say “Well Substack is endorsing them, I will give this person money but continue not to pay the person who introduced me to the website in general.”
Substack is running ads. It’s running ads for itself through its official Substack newsletter and it uses the newsletter to make itself more money from bigger people who don’t need their help while leaving the smaller people out of the benefits.
You ever hear of the phrase “sponsored content”? It’s an advertisement for a product disguised as a news article. The “official Substack newsletter” is sponsored content.
Out of the probably 20 writers they featured in this article we’re commenting on, 3 of the people are people without an established audience. That means like 17 people in the article didn’t need their help. But they promote the idea that those 3 people who were successful before being featured is “evidence” that they help writers who don’t have an established audience.
There’s a South Park line about this with regards to talent agencies:
“We‘ll help you make money. You just do all the singing, get yourself the jobs, do all the work and we’ll handle the rest.”
That’s what Substack is currently doing. They’re the talent agency expecting everyone else to do all the work and they do “the rest”.
One of the slogans they keep putting out is that the greatest indicator of trustworthiness is the willingness to pay for something. By that logic? Gambling establishments, tobacco companies, and pharmaceutical companies are the most trustworthy people in the world. Do you trust a tobacco company to tell you the truth about their products?
The best thing that Substack can do is feature people before they become successful in their official Substack newsletter. They claim to focus on quality of writing rather than quantity of followers or money. But their actions don’t back up this claim. So start doing that and they will be doing themselves a favour.
Part of the problem with promoting people who are already successful on the platform is that these people can take their audiences elsewhere and make just as much money, if not more without Substack. Glenn Greenwald recently did that with his move from Substack to Locals.
But if Substack creates a group of writers who were successful on Substack first rather than being successful somewhere else and coming here, they aren’t going to see as many people move away from the platform. Which is better for Substack’s long term viability.
I like this explanation. :) It has always seemed disingenuous to me to say that someone built their big [name of platform] from nothing, when in fact they have other platforms (life platforms being the most overlooked; like the writer who wrote the book on being an ordinary guy who got a million followers "just like that," when he actually had quite a large number of life connections in Hollywood and with corporate clients before trying his million-dollar-follower experiment :)
So, to define "before they become successful," what would that look like? (10 free subscribers? 100? 500? No paid subscribers. 2 paid subscribers? 20 paid subscribers?) And, how would Substack find and vet these people easily. (Ease would be important, I'd think. As would vetting.)
If Substack were my business, I might use the same model it appears they are using (kind of an 80/20 model), but perhaps it's the messaging that's going awry here. Being honest about using an 80/20 model would be just fine as far as I'm concerned. A business needs a model and a strategy to succeed, after all. :) What kind of model would you use, if it were your business?
That’s something the people in charge would have to figure out but I think quality and consistency would be a solid first start. They claim to prefer quality over quantity, so they must have some mechanism for evaluating that.
But I have seen people post about having 5,000 free subscribers and no paid subscribers. Obviously something is wrong with their strategy. Assuming that someone has actually turned on paid subscriptions. Substack could help with that by highlighting the person.
Another person in this article thread talked about being a success on the platform despite not having a paid option available for people. Someone like that probably doesn’t need the money because they haven’t turned it on.
A while back Substack highlighted a Substacker in their official newsletter who started a Substack literally the same month I did. The same year too. We had a nearly identical schedule in terms of posting weekly. Yet they had a large number of paid subscribers, which I don’t have, and much more free subscribers than me. The difference? They had a large number of Twitter followers and a budget to pay for social media marketing.
That’s a major difference. I could’ve used Substack’s help, this person didn’t.
I’m not necessarily saying that I deserve to be highlighted. But just as an illustrative example of how to determine what the criteria could be.
True. She interviewed me for Collected Rejections a year ago when she’d just come back from hiatus. She had great, consistent content and has much deserved recognition.
How much of a social media presence did they have prior to coming to Substack? Did they have institutional support previously like a PHD or MD? Were they a professor? Did they have a column in other publications?
Hello Substack! Thanks so very much for including Beyond in this wonderful newsletter! I love interviewing Substack authors. I've already interviewed quite a few in addition to Rebecca Makkai, including Emma Gannon, Cheryl Strayed, Katherine May with more to come! Next up: Maggie Smith.
Amazing!!
Love this! It’s such a great blueprint from beginning to end and really offers an alternative to traditional publishers. We can build here and have a platform to launch our work directly with the people who support us most. Definite bookmark for the book of poetry I’m secretly compiling. 🤫
Last week I made a decorative divider (in Canva) that will link to my books (on my website). It hasn't gone in a post yet, but I'm curious to see if it drives any sales. It feels like a subtle way to remind people that I have books. My next book comes out in 2024, and I'm looking forward to promoting it on my Substack and seeing how that goes.
This is such a brilliant idea Julie... especially with new folks joining all the time...
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, that maybe new subscribers don't know what my books are. I had a fairly large graphic with all my book covers that I stuck on the bottom of some posts, but it was a lot. I'll probably play around a bit making different dividers and see what works the best.
That’s a good idea! I made a header on canva for my other publication here COMPANY OF TWO and it had space for 6 photos in frames which was a lovely way to introduce the project. Do you use canva? I just think it’s such a gift for sorting stuff from your vision onto the page?! 💡
Just created purchase buttons for my book. Such a great idea that seems obvious to me now. Thanks for the advice!
My plan has always been to finish my book, then find a publisher, but substack is making me seriously consider it as an alternative plan, where I can either :
-be better situated to get my book published because I can show them I have an audience
Or
-publish it through substack and sell it directly to subscribers
Either way, I'm going to keep investing in growing my substack as a way of reaching people, writing, doing journalism, and possibly making a living. If that path can eventually lead to me getting my book(s) published, that would be a win win.
What experiences do others have to share?
helpful. hopeful.
Perfect timing. I'll point to this when talking to readers next week at Jane Friedman's place (where I have an article coming out on Tuesday, about why authors might want to ditch Mailchimp and switch to Substack. :) Thanks for making it easier to talk about "why Substack for authors" :).
I have a piece with Jane: https://www.janefriedman.com/the-secret-sauce-to-being-a-good-writer/
Quick, somebody get this Oscar Wilde guy a book deal - he’s got talent! And with Ozempic selling fast in your neighborhood, he’s never been more timely:
https://gaty.substack.com/p/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-is-not
Oh! People can read your post and read Dorian along with it, right here on Substack. :)
https://doriangrayweekly.substack.com/
Ha, that’s awesome!
It's a bit of a thing that has happened on Substack. Mostly done by readers, not writers. Did you see the one that started it all? https://draculadaily.substack.com/
Which also shows the pure value of just having fun.
Good advide no doubt :)
Awesome 👀💋♾
So much great information. Thank you! ❤️
This is full of helpful information. A lot has changed in the online media landscape since I published my first book back in 2015. There was still a lot of discovery happening for books on Twitter back then, for media outlets especially. Whether or not Twitter really drove book sales is a matter of some debate, but it could definitely help put your title in front of journalists and reviewers. Then, once your book was in newspapers and magazines, that did drive sales. Things are different now, and I think most people in the industry are still trying to figure it out, but it's heartening to see success stories like this and explore other channels of possibility.
And as a side note: if your book is coming out, do not be shy! There will always be someone who complains about you promoting it "too much," but you should not pay attention to those types of people. If done tastefully, it's an author's job to promote their book as much as possible.
What a brilliant point! ✨⛰️📖
Thanks for this. A lot of new-to-me ideas. I really love the custom banner at the bottom or top of every newsletter.
I wish this was available as a download....thank you. Great information. :)
I really appreciated how concrete this was. One of my favorite things about Substack is that subscribers are folks who reeeeally care about reading (in my case - reading little essays about making art when you’re super sad), rather than followers on other platforms that might only tangentially care about me / my random photos and vids. It feels more meaningful (and more relevant to my novel-in-progress) even if the number is small(we)!
I should add that, if you're publishing a book, novella, or collection right here on Substack, you can add it to The Library, where we help readers and writers connect!
https://thelinklibrary.substack.com
Before reading this article I immediately sent it to myself because this is EXACTLY what I've been looking for!! I'm working on my first novel and I've been thinking about how to use Substack to promote it along the way as I write it and having an audience for it when it's done and ready to be published and sent into the world. Thank you in advance! 😊
SOOO useful thanks so much. I've now added book links to my home page (although I can't for the life of me work out how to delete one, because I made an error, but hey ho). This will be so useful closer to the publication date of my next cookbook, so I must bookmark it.
This is solid newsletter promotion advice whether or not your newsletter is on Substack. As I begin to build my audience here, I look forward to promoting my new book as well as hopefully finding a new audience for some of my older work. And I hope to be able to connect with some of my favorite writers around their new releases.
How to sell a book - does not explain how to sign up, etc.
Thank you Substack for including Letters from Tuscany and our cookbook in this newsletter! Previous newsletters about book publishing have been an inspiration, and this one offers again lots of insights! thank you
I just launched my Substack last month, where I publish chapters of my books as I go. My plan is to have my books in print after being fully published on Substack, building attention and attracting an audience along the way.
After seeing this post, I feel more confident knowing that Substack has the resources needed to promote a book to subscribers. Thanks for sharing!
That’s great!
From your article:
"Sometimes it takes 'real' writers years, even decades, to succeed."
That. Is. A. Bottom-line. :)
(Fun that you have written for Jane! :)
Will Substack ever have a Gumroad like feature with a pay as you can model for ebooks? Feels like it would be a good seamless integration on the roadmap.
Interesting. You do hear all kinds of stories about successful books these days, including books pulled from blogs and that type of thing. I’m currently publishing two of my books for paid subscribers on my stack and that’s working well so far, but I have thought about maybe doing a few more books in the near-ish future as self-published, perhaps POD books, encouraging my subscribers to purchase. I’ve also thought about turning my Substack pieces into a collection, or multiple collections based on topic/genre etc. Ditto my other stack, creating a collection of essays about my father’s cancer and my experience the past 22 months caretaking. Many ideas. We’ll see.
It’s hard to say of course how many readers here would translate into buyers but it seems worth a try to me. I have one book which I’ve worked on endlessly and many agents have read and which I’d love to post for paid subs or do a POD thing but I’ll probably wait until I have a few thousand subs. I will say I have heard that most often social media followers do *not* turn into buyers, but Substack is different from social media in important ways.
I’m also a developmental book editor if any of you writers need structural editing. (Paid, obviously.)
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Great article and good ideas. I'm almost done with writing book 1 of my very first book series. 6-part murder mystery romance book series. I'm trying to get the first book out in this autumn. Second one out early next year.
And hopefully able to grow my substack subscribers in mean time. The first 3 months starting from zero audience hasn't been easy for me.
One thing about sharing my poems in my substack I have gotten rid of the anxiety for sharing my own writings. I now really enjoy putting new poems on my substack. Even though there ain't many who are reading them yet.
Congrats 🎊
Thank you
This is ver insightful. Thank you
A great way to advertise your book? Maybe. But if your book turns out to be a dud, is Substack going to pay for all the Return requests. No one wants their book to be a dud, but realistically most books end up in the garbage heap, despite what we authors/writers want. When my book comes out I will let my audience be the judge. It may take years, I'm okay with that. I'm not in it to make money. I wrote it and am in the process of revising it because I wanted to write it. My name is not Stephen King. But I can hope I am another Richard Bach.
I recommend Amazon KDP as a way to start with no risk
Great! Awesome article.
Mohan
I can't use Substack. I need to write. I have no time for finding a publisher or selling a book.
https://substack.com/@yellowshelf
Welcome to the Yellow Shelf Newsletter we'll keep you current, connected, informed and entertained about new books being launched, and where to find these books featured on podcasts.
good job
Good luck to those who can register ...
I neither speak nor tolerate chyberibberish ...
Been trying to join subtrack ... buried in sybergibberish ...
Is there a working page for those of us who do not dream in digital ???
colrfcunningham@worldchangeiscoming.com
Great post. My Substack has been surprisingly successful, although I have a decent YouTube presence and built an audience doing stand-up for ten years. The manuscript that’s been sending me crackers for the last six years is nearly ready to give to my editor for the final hacking of limbs and then it’s publication time. To be honest I’ll be glad to get the damn thing out from under my feet and twist myself senile with the next. Thanks for the tips. Most writers don’t like the reality they need to also be marketers, especially - but not exclusively - self publishers. Get on it!
Great advice, strategic and motivating. I'm writing a poly-potential series with a futuristic thrust. Maybe it's a new kind of genre. I'll let the writing decide. Watch this space.
This post was very helpful. Good to get the knowledge while I'm still learning and working to build my career as a writer!
I love creating my newsletter but I do struggle with how to gain new subscribers. Most of the ones I have now are people I know in real life, which is great, but I'd love to find a wider audience. Perhaps I need a content change-up.
I found this article very helpful for promoting a book on Substack.
I cannot find "publication details"on my Settings page.
I feel like it is a great way to get great audience for your business including if you are publishing your book. Those that are subscribed with the newsletter every week would be very effective to make them to buy your book.
Great content. Thank you.
I’d love to see a post on “How to write a book using Substack” about how authors can Substack their way to a book, dial in their topic, test the popularity of ideas, etc.
Very useful, thank you for sharing. I've implemented some of these strategies and tools on my own stack.
Great tips here, thanks. I'm looking forward to promoting my book in 2024.
Thank you!
Alice in Wonderland goes Goth and Punk:
https://okamicarroll.substack.com/p/vibrant-night-chapter-1
I have a question for your many smart readers: would anybody perhaps know why there is an image of Baphomet, obscured by a red Maple leaf, right behind King Charles in his newly released portrait?
Love this so much. Thank you!
How to build an audience on Substack from zero and then sell a book. Let's come back to that next year when my book is ready!
That's fascinating stuff! Even just getting traction with https://hiddenjapan.substack.com/, substscks been helpful
Thanks team Substack for including me in this most helpful and insightful post. I am still learning everyday. My followers are enjoying having a less erratic space for us to learn, share and feast together. Great tips from other authors.
partnerships@substackinc.com doesn't link to an email ... it links to a massive page of jackass ...
And you're trying to convince me you can move a book ??? or anything else ???
POPPYCOCK !!! Tried it, never got an answer ... evidently the autoresponders are jackass too !!!
Cunningham@Albuquerque
pre-orders so important on Amazon KDP to train the algorithm for perpetual promotion...I’ve done it once using a LinkedIn following. I suspect Substack will be more efficient, since everyone here loves to read.
Great
Any KAK there able to make and IDENTIFY links to all thos folderal ???
Lots of yap, but nothing to go forward with: or is Substack limited to dedicated socialists or those too stupid to know their socialist puppets !!!
Somebody write a pamphlet entirled "Links Ahoy" ...
Cunningham@Albuquerque
I'm not writing a book, but I know someone who is, and I wonder how Substack could be used as companion through the entire process, not just the post-submission period.
This article came in a good time for me. I released my book "The Divine Comedian: Ukrainian's Journey thorugh Hell, Purgatory and Paradise" one month ago, telling about my experience as a Ukrainian citizen these days, and I didn't considered proper promotion and marketing strategies, so it went quite deceptive, and I've reached a limited audience so far. My strategy was built on the idea of offering the book for free but leaving the possibility of placing a voluntary contribution, in order to build trust and reach a wider public. I'll take this article as a valuable advice, thank you.
How do you add your books to your homepage? Is there an option I missed in the settings?
Did you try this? https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059181172-How-do-I-add-links-to-my-Substack-homepage-#:~:text=To%20add%20a%20link%20to,or%20other%20publications%20you%20own.
Came here expecting to see an explanation of how to integrate e-book publishing directly to Substack, but disappointed to find the article seems to be more about affiliates promotion for another book publishing company.
Question. If my Substack is still free for all my subscribers, can I create content (like a book or practical guide, etc) and sell only that artifact to my free subscribers?
Yes. If you set up a section for the book etc and then have people subscribe to that section, you can put that content behind a paywall.
Thank you Sarah!
Is a "section" a separate link/folder in your Substack?
It’s like a publication within a publication. You can have people sign up just to that. The other thing some people do is publish a book a chapter at a time and have that as the paywall content?
To all new writers, I am attaching one of my poems here, if you like it subscribe and send in one of your links too.. https://kallolpoetry.substack.com/p/feeling-the-blood-when-its-oozing Do read my piece and subscribe to my substack news letter
How do I sell an ebook on Substack, without a third party?
👀👀
jasmina.alagicova@gmail.com
eduard.chmelar@gmail.com
redakcia@standard.sk
lubos.blaha@gmail.com
redakcia@veci-verejne.sk
info@vecos.sk
store@attilavegh.sk
veghattilastore@gmail.com
manager@tomikid.com
tomi@tomikid.com
pp2024@pellegrini.sk
televiziaslovan@protonmail.com
rano@infovojna.bz
dominika244@gmail.com
info@jozefbanas.sk
Thank you for an informative, inspiring and do-able guide to publishing!
Excellent!
That is an interesting experiment, to write and publish something every day. Any insights that you have gathered from this so far?
I'd be so curious to know what your current methods are to finding more subscribers. (And I do agree that Recommendations are one great way. :)
Commenting on posts like these tbh, and then doing a follow back :P
Am particularly interested in your ghost writing about clean energy! Do you follow The Carbon Almanac's Daily Difference? https://thecarbonalmanac.org/the-daily-difference/
Oh my fault. I totally misread this comment haha. I thought you were talking about yourself. No i haven't even heard of it until just now. Looks like a pretty cool project and a good way to remind yourself to do little changes.
My stuff is mostly for companies, like solar power, wind, batteries etc. Less about humans and more about government policy, industry updates and technology. I like it though :)
:)
I was privileged to meet Seth Godin at his first book event for The Carbon Almanac. It's an important project, but, for "myself" I tend towards the more artistic side, building scientific truth from the inside out for people. To that, our small press sponsors https://poeticearthmonth.com (which is both a website and a whole month, to bring Earth Day out of its single-day designation in April).
Do you write anything specifically about clean energy? I did notice your Substack is more generally global/political. (Wow. :)
I make sure to include one climate change story per issue, in part because I can talk about it easily as I spend 40-50 hours a week thinking about this stuff. But this substack is a bit of a personal break from that particular topic haha.
Cool! I actually work in clean energy (albeit this newsletter is a bit of a break). Subscribing! Mine (A6) is here: https://kevinmcsa6.substack.com/
No, you can't sell just about anything because you have subscribers. This is the poorest fallacy propagated by social media influencer syndrome. If Substack brought you 100k subscribers tomorrow, do you think they would automatically buy from you? Why? They don't know you. There is no trust relationship, you didn't write anything they could latch onto of value (speaking generically), so what reason would they have to spend the money?
There is a reason traditional non-fiction agents and publishers only back people who have already built an industry name for themselves and have an actual audience. Because the trust is already built. They are the experts. They worked hard, they wrote, and I'm sure failed in a lot of areas and that's what ultimately gave them success.
I like your take on this!
"And of course it matters what you offer to your readers and build trust etc, that’s not rocket science and I have built my audience past two decades through other social platforms and they now follow and me on sub because I bring value to what I offer."
You just proved my point.
We need to support each other regardless https://kallolpoetry.substack.com/p/feeling-the-blood-when-its-oozing
Send in your link as well.
Let's gooo
Yupp
Concordo em ter mais suporte para novos escritores e aqueles que não têm muitos assinantes. Mas não com "vender qualquer coisa."
What’s the issue with non writers making money on the platform?
This is a site for writers. We are not Amazon.
I’m hardly suggesting ‘we’ are. And you couldn’t really use Substack in that way. But there are people who write content as part of their business, so, in my opinion, writers of a sort, who can use the platform creatively as part of their business.