Bonus Post: Farrah Storr Talks About Substack in The Bookseller
And generously name checks yours truly...
Hanif Kureishi © Kier Kureishi
Substack is helping to boost UK novelists’ discoverability and sales, The Bookseller has heard.
Seven years from the publishing platform’s launch, it is helping many writers "break through the noise” and build communities and engagement, while still retaining rights to their work.
Farrah Storr, head of writer partnerships at Substack, told The Bookseller: “Novelists are using Substack in a number of inventive ways. Some, like [US novelist] Chuck Palahniuk, used it to self-publish a novel, Greener Pastures, that he deemed ‘too out there’ for mainstream publishers. Though ironically enough he ended up getting a deal with Simon & Schuster once the novel was completed on Substack, which is due to be printed with some new additions later this year. British thriller writer S J Watson has a real-time serialised novel, The Experiment, on his Substack, Compendia.”
She added: “Award-winning novelists such as Tim Lott have followed in the footsteps of George Saunders who has a hugely popular Substack, Story Club, where he teaches readers how to write. Tim’s Substack, Tim Lott’s Writing Bootcamp, does the same which also enables Tim to do readings of back catalogue books and write personal essays which may not have ever found their way into a book.”
Storr said that what marks out the most popular authors on Substack “tends to be those who are either doing something very bold and unique, such as Palahniuk and S J Watson”. She said: “Or those novelists and authors who are nurturing a community... most readers only stay in touch with the writers they love through the books they publish, at best, every few years. Substack enables them to have a constant dialogue with their favourite authors, understanding their thoughts and ideas beyond the novels they write.”
Substack complements the traditional book publishing industry, Storr said, though “it is true there are many writers who are using Substack as a place to self-publish”. She added: “One of the most exciting examples is by "Killing Eve" creator Luke Jennings, who has brought the "Killing Eve" series back to life with his Substack: Killing Eve Resurrection.”
But Storr believes “most writers see the two working in tandem”. Vanity Fair Journalist and author Joe Pompeo recently put his Substack URL on the back of his latest book to give readers a place to further engage with him beyond his book while American writer Virginia Sole Smith documented her book launch on a vertical on Substack, detailing her book tour outfits and offering readers special pre-order bonuses.
In terms of Substack’s engagement with editors and agents, Storr said: “While it’s still very much writers coming directly to Substack, agents and some of the major book publishers are showing increasing amounts of interest in the platform. I think they see that the platform is not in fact a competitor, but a brilliant place for authors to own their audience (which they do not do on social media), be supported directly by that audience and a great place to market their books from.”
Caroline Michel, c.e.o. and agent at PFD, told The Bookseller how she became excited about Substack’s possibilities early on: “I read about it when it first started and thought it was a fantastic other avenue for content for writers to get paid, and was very much in their control, so fun to have something in front and behind the paywall, and what works, and to build up different communities compared to other types of media, particularly people are very dedicated and interested.
“We very early did a deal with Jeanette Winterson being one of the writers of the month and sharing four of her ghost stories, which later came out in a collection, Night Side of the River [Cape], but were originally in Substack, and because of the range and because it was open internationally there was a lot of buzz and we got a lot more people engaging with her both in front of and behind the paywall.”
Michel added: “So for fiction and non-fiction it’s a really good platform. It’s rigorous because you have to keep it up. Once you start it, if you want to build a following you have to keep going, it’s pretty relentless but very rewarding.”
Michel believes said that after Hanif Kureishi’s accident, he became more interested in using the platform to communicate instantly with readers. “He wanted to get the message out and the perfect place was Substack so he began, very early on into his accident, getting out those very affecting, powerful blogs, which are now going to be published as a book by Penguin in October. Without that, I don’t think he would have had the will to fight as hard as he has been, without this extraordinary ability to engage with an audience so regularly. At one point he was doing it every day and now it’s twice or three times a week, but to have that outlet for his creativity and the frustrations and anger, to be able to write about it so viscerally and powerfully, and get that instant reaction, where else can you do that?” Michel said that not only does he have a high level of subscribers but also a high level of paid subscribers within that.
Michel said: “You’re always aiming for discoverability, it’s such a noisy world out there – how do we get our writers to be discovered and noticed, how do we transform that into sales, and I think Substack is a very interesting development there.”
Emma Gannon © Paul Storrie
Watson told The Bookseller of his experience: “Having initially signed up to Substack as a mailing-list delivery service, I quickly realised it was so much more. Traditional publishing is becoming increasingly risk-averse, but Substack has allowed me to totally rethink my approach to getting my work in front of readers. I can now start something in the morning and have people reading it by the afternoon, and since Substack doesn’t rely on an algorithmic feed I can publish something knowing that anyone who wants to read it will be able to do so.
“It has also opened up myriad opportunities to foster a creative and supportive community of writers and readers. I love being able to publish and connect on Substack and can’t wait to take my publication in some exciting new directions as the platform develops and grows.”
Emma Gannon told The Bookseller how she joined Substack partly following her disenchantment with the network X, formerly known as Twitter. “Every time I went on the platform [X] I felt more angry, negative or upset, and realised that as a creative person, it wasn’t good for me to be kept in that state.
“In March 2022, I started a Substack newsletter called The Hyphen, moving over my existing email list from Mailchimp. It has since grown to almost 35,000 engaged readers and I am the one of the first in the UK to make my newsletter into a six-figure business via paid subscriptions for my writing. I write a column for my readers every week on the topics of creativity, books, wellbeing and technology and it feels exciting to have the freedom to write from the heart again without any gatekeepers.”
Substack said Gannon is one of the most popular UK novelist on Substack with more than 35,000 subscribers. Some of the other most subscribed-to UK novelists include Hanif Kureishi (23,000+ subscribers), Katherine May (22,000+ subscribers), Stephen Fry (14,000+ subscribers), Luke Jennings (5,000+ subscribers), Elif Shafak (9,000+ subscribers), S J Watson (3,000+ subscribers), Howard Jacobson (3,000+ subscribers) and Tim Lott (2,000+ subscribers).
It's fascinating to see how Substack is changing the game for UK novelists, helping them cut through the clutter and directly connect with their audiences. The platform's ability to let writers retain rights to their work while building engagement and community is a massive win-win. Can't wait to see how this platform evolves and what new voices and stories emerge from it!
Explore captivating Contemporary, Romance, Thriller & Suspense, Science Fiction, Horror, and more stories on my Substack for FREE at https://jonahtown.substack.com