Well according to the website – Substack is: building a new economic engine for culture.
We started Substack because we believe that what you read matters and that good writing is valuable – and as the platform has evolved, we've come to expand that view to include all forms of cultural work. On Substack, writers and creators can publish their work and make money from paid subscriptions while readers can directly support the work that they deeply value.
I joined Substack in response to Kyle Mills announcing his next Fade book via a new publisher Authors Equity and it turns out they have a Substack so I checked it out.
Then I got a link to a TEDx talk by Elle Griffin. “What if you could follow your favorite book the way you follow your favorite show?”
Elle talks to the traditional model of a book or two a year versus serializing the book via a chapter a week. She relates novel serialization to watching a TV series – like in our thriller genre – The Terminal List.
I found her description of the publishing market 28-billion-dollar business (don’t hold me to the exact numbers) comparison to the 22-billion-dollar radio business interesting. But the streaming/online market at 375 billion is an eye-opening metric.
She said that Substack has 95 million users that spend on average an hour a day reading/interacting with content.
But, here is the rub, in my mind – 80% are in their early 20s….. That is not the Thriller genre as I know it.
So, questions for you.
Would you be interested in a serialized Lance Bear Wolf or Janet Winter (my new protagonist) story?
Would reading a chapter a week be interesting?
Would you pay .20 to .25 cents per chapter
Would higher tiers of subscription that included bonus videos, a paperback, etc. at the end of the novel have value?
Let me know,
Best Steve
There is more on Substack below.
More from the Sunstack website:
For Authors:
When it comes to bookselling, a Substack offers the most targeted promotion a writer can have, precisely because it is not advertising: writers are speaking to their most passionate readers who have already expressed keen interest in their work.
How the Substack model works
You wrote it, you own it.
A Substack is the writer’s property: the email list, content, and payment relationships (should you choose to monetize) is the writer’s and the writer can take all of it with them if they ever decided to leave the platform.
A direct line to your biggest fans
A Substack grows over time and with every post a writer sends out. Readers become your best promoters: they forward and share the emails and posts, and this results in an ever-growing email list.
Subscription publishing made simple.
It is not technical: even the most luddite writers can easily set up and use a Substack. We handle the admin, billing, and tech so you can focus on doing your best writing.