With tens of millions of subscriptions and millions of paid subscribers across the platform, Substack has quickly become one of the most powerful communication tools available to creators. It combines elements of email newsletters, blogging, and subscription-based media into a single, streamlined ecosystem. Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, essays, or poetry, understanding how Substack works and how other authors are effectively using it can lead to new opportunities for your own authorship.
Founded in 2017, Substack is a publishing and communication platform that enables creators such as writers, journalists, experts, and influencers to provide content to their subscribers while also hosting that content on a public-facing website. At its core, Substack is built around the idea that creators should be able to reach their consumers directly and get paid by them if they wish. Instead of relying on social media algorithms or traditional publishing gatekeepers, authors can utilize the platform to build a direct relationship with readers, cultivate a personal brand, and generate additional income.
Unlike social media, Substack creators own their intellectual property and mailing list, and the data can be exported to another platform at any time. While heavily focused on writing, the platform also supports podcasts, videos, and community discussion threads. Substack creators can provide content for free to their followers or charge a subscription fee that typically starts at $5 per month. The platform handles the technical infrastructure including email delivery, payment processing, website hosting, and analytics, making it one of the easier direct sales avenues for authors to navigate. It is free to create a Substack account, but Substack does take a 10% cut of any revenue earned on the platform and the credit-card payment processor, Stripe, also takes a fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.
When it comes to bookselling, Substack offers one of the most targeted promotional strategies authors can have. This is because it allows a direct connection to their most passionate readers who have already expressed interest in their work. Several of the platform’s features are especially valuable for authors including:
Multi-Format Content
Substack's platform supports long-form articles, threads, podcasts, video posts, and static pages. It includes a rich text editor, post scheduling, drafts with autosave, version history, post templates, and search engine optimization (SEO) metadata controls. Authors can reach a broader audience by turning their valuable content into various formats.
The podcast hosting provides automatic RSS distribution to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Creators can offer private podcast feeds to paid subscribers, import episodes from other hosts, download analytics, and generate automatic audio narration of written posts using built-in AI text-to-speech with six voice options. Video hosting allows for live streaming and automatic distribution to YouTube and LinkedIn. Creators can clip highlights from longer videos, add captions, schedule live events with real-time chat, and use AI-assisted clip selection from recorded streams.
Authors can release chapters of a work-in-progress, essays, podcasts, blog-style posts, and even videos—all under one publication. This flexibility allows authors to expand their content offerings and deepen reader engagement.
A Built-In Email Newsletter System
An email newsletter can be a very powerful tool for authors wanting to create awareness for their work, build a loyal following, and share exclusive content with their readers. While social media platforms can come and go, email remains a direct, reliable, and cost-effective channel authors can control.
Rather than having to use a separate email service provider or platform, authors can use Substack’s built-in email newsletter feature to create and send communications. Every post published on Substack can be delivered directly to subscribers’ inboxes. Creators can send targeted emails, set up automated campaigns triggered by subscriber lifecycle events, customize email CSS, and track open rates, click rates, and unsubscribe reasons. For authors, this means you are not just building an audience, you are building a valuable contact list you own and control.
Free and Paid Subscription Options
Platforms such as Patreon and Substack allow authors to offer content to their most dedicated followers in exchange for a small, monthly subscription fee. The content can include book-related bonus material such as short stories or deleted scenes, serialized chapters, or exclusive videos, podcasts, and Q&A sessions with fans. Followers sign up to pay a tiered subscription amount and in return, you provide them with content. You can determine the subscription fee levels and the higher the subscription fee, the more substantial the content you provide. Subscription-based platforms allow writers to make ongoing income directly from fans and followers, while deepening those relationships and creating a community of readers eager to support them.
In addition to paid content, Substack allows creators to offer free content. This free content can be used to draw readers to your page and increase your following. Once you have captured their interest, you can try to convert them into paying subscribers with premium content offerings.
Customization to Match Your Brand
Investing your time, energy, and resources into building your author brand will make you stand out in the crowd and support your audience-building efforts. Your author brand communicates what makes you unique and represents an implied promise to your readers of what you will consistently deliver. Substack offers a visual website editor with multiple homepage layouts (profile, newspaper, magazine, custom), full color and font customization, navigation editing, and modular content blocks. Creators can build a fully branded publication with a custom domain, including purchasing a domain name directly through the platform.
An Integrated Payment System
Payments are handled through Stripe with support for monthly and annual subscriptions, founding member tiers, free trials, coupons, gift subscriptions, group billing, and Bitcoin payments. Creators set their own subscription prices and keep all revenue minus the 10% cut that Substack takes and minus the credit card fees.
Community and Discovery Tools
Substack's built-in discovery network helps creators find readers without relying on external platforms. The network includes cross-publication recommendations, category leaderboards, an exploration page, personalized search, and personalized trending searches. Creators can track exactly where their subscribers come from and run reader referral programs with milestone rewards. Features like comments and Substack Notes (a social feed-style feature) can help authors connect with readers and other writers. These built-in discovery tools can drive organic growth.
A new Substack account can be set up in just minutes. First, claim a URL and set up the basics of your publication: title, description, and upload any existing mailing list you may have. Do not forget to add links to purchase your books/s. Next, tell your readers how you plan to use this space in your first post and on your “About” page. Then, recommend any writers you read and subscribe to, and connect with your peers that are already on the platform. Most writers will recommend you back and spread the word about your Substack.
As with all book marketing efforts, it is important to research and strategize before creating a Substack account. Here are five steps to follow to ensure you are optimizing your presence:
If you want your content to resonate with readers, you will need to understand who they are and what they want. Then, build a publication that appeals to their needs. Your publication’s “About” page is a place to tell new readers who you are and what you write about in greater length than the one-line description. The About page’s goal is to establish credibility and generate interest while showing off your writing voice and style. Anything you publish on your Substack should aim to inform, educate, inspire, or entertain.
Consistency is key to growing any type of publication. We recommend publishing a new post at least once a week to get started. Publishing on a regular schedule, for example every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 a.m., helps build a habit and demonstrates to readers your own commitment to your work.
Substack posts do not have a minimum or maximum length requirement. You can publish anything from a short 200-word update to a heavily researched 3,000+ word analysis. The ideal length depends on your niche, audience expectations, and content type.
It is important to let the world know you are starting something new. An announcement post should include why you are launching a Substack, why it is important to you, what readers can expect, and why they should subscribe. This should be a free post so it is publicly available.
Add your Substack URL to your email signature, personal website, social media profiles, and on all marketing materials. Keep posting and sharing your work as you go, and cross-post your free content on social media channels such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and X.
Endorsing and being endorsed by both authors and readers on Substack is the most powerful way to grow. Setting up a few features and collaborations before you launch will help you create the most momentum.
If you are new to Substack, we recommend following some popular publications from bestselling authors, literary agents, and publishing experts to see how they are utilizing the platform, and to start connecting with influential people in the industry.
With its combination of email marketing, blogging, multi-media, and discovery tools, Substack offers a powerful central hub where readers can connect with and follow their favorite authors. In turn, authors can share valuable content, post news about their latest work, and engage directly with readers and other authors. With the right content strategies and consistency, authors can build a readership on Substack and monetize their content to generate additional income.
Photo credit: Christian Horz from Getty Images
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