#9: Why I Write on Substack
How to figure out where you should write in a fragmented literary ecosystem
This is part of a series I’m writing on the process of self-publishing my book, Spoilers. To start from the beginning, read my first diary entry.
“There’s only two things that matter…did you make anyone any money, and did you win anybody any awards?”
In a 2019 interview, filmmaker Freddie Wong talks about the difficulty he’s had jumping from his success as a YouTuber (you might remember this sketch he did with Key and Peele, or this one with Jimmy Kimmel) to a career in Hollywood. According to Freddie, in the “traditional” Hollywood system, success outside the system isn’t given the same weight as success inside the system. Or, as he puts it, “We did a lot of stuff on YouTube…we set records for crowdfunding…nobody gives a shit.” Similar sentiments have been echoed in other creative fields like the music industry.
In my early 20’s, as I was developing an interest in film, I remember being awestruck by people like Freddie who were finding ways to make great stuff without having to jump through all the hoops of the Hollywood system. So to see him, someone who has clearly proven himself, struggling to get larger projects made was disheartening. As my creative interests have shifted to writing, I’ve found myself wondering: is the literary world the same way?
“I think it’s a tough sell”
That’s what literary agent four told me about my book proposal for Spoilers, largely echoing what literary agent three had told me, which largely echoed what literary agents one and two had told me. Literary agents serve the same function as agents in any creative field — to separate the artistic wheat from the chaff, so that the folks at the head of the industry (publishers, record execs, studio heads, etc.) know who is good and who isn’t. Or, more accurately, what they can sell and what they can’t. Literary agents are, therefore, a vital part of the book publishing ecosystem. Then again, vultures and bottom-feeders are also vital parts of their ecosystems, so…
Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s SO mean! Dial it down, Carlos, jeez. Someday you’re gonna meet with an agent and they’re gonna be like “So, bottom-feeder, huh?” and then they’ll slam the door in your face, and you’ll realize the only reason they took the meeting with you was so that they could slam said door in your face. In other words, ZIP IT! Be NICE!
Although the opinion of four vital and incredibly talented literary agents is hardly enough to form a consensus, it certainly did feel like a pattern. If I wanted to write Spoilers the way I envisioned it, the traditional route would be challenging.
“You could always self-publish it”
Around the same time I was querying the book to various kindhearted (and, did I mention, incredibly cool?) literary agents, I had a phone call with author Mike Sacks to ask him for advice about how to pitch the book. It was Mike who suggested I go the self-publishing route, hiring my own editors, designers and illustrators, as he had done with several of his books.
In October 2022, I managed to crowdfund just over $10k to self-publish the book, and, a year later, the book was out into the world.
Everything is a tough sell
Even if you manage to circumvent the (fun and totally chill!) process of querying a book to agents, and selling your book to a publisher, promoting your self-published book once it's out is a whole other animal.
has a great primer on the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing. As he points out, most of the 30,000 or so traditionally published books each year get virtually no attention. So when the majority of traditionally published books are getting little coverage, it’s no surprise that media outlets are hesitant to touch the over 2 million books self-published every year.
Brent’s right, when there’s zero barrier to entry, who separates the artistic wheat from the chaff?!? If only there was a job that involved doing that! Where are the courageous heroes that will tell us what writing is good and what writing is bad? Or, more importantly, what writing will sell and what won’t!
Working outside the system
Brent notes that one of the ways self-published books sell well is when the author already has an established readership. Luckily, thanks to the internet, anyone can build their own following. Every creative industry now has platforms (YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram, etc.) where individuals can get their work in front of fans. Tech companies have created the perfect alternative to traditional media! In this brave new world, the only thing keeping the average artist from fame is…an opaque algorithm designed to keep users on the platform for as long as possible…Hooray! Hooray! Hoo…ray?
All the systems suck
I’m writing this post in response to a question
posed in a thread a few weeks back.
Having explored both options, I wish I could say I had a simple answer. But if you’re trying to decide what route to go down for your own book, I don’t think it’s possible to answer that question without first asking yourself where you’d like your writing to fit in the wider writing ecosystem.
Much like filmmakers and musicians, writers now have a wide spectrum of options to get their work out there and gain a following. So the decision to go the self-publishing route or the traditional publishing route (or the hybrid publishing route) is really about what type of writing you want to do, and where that writing fits best.
And the bad news is, every path sucks ass. The traditional route is hard to break into because it’s governed by people and is therefore (at least partially) relationship-based and subject to the whims of a small group of tastemakers. And the non-traditional route is hard to break into because there’s zero barrier to entry and it’s governed by computer code that only cares about engagement and ad revenue (yes, that includes Substack, which doesn’t have ads, but does care about subscribers, aka $$$). There are styles of writing that are going to do better in one system versus the other and figuring out where your writing fits in is something you can only discover through trial and error.
Fuck the systems
My personal view about how to navigate this landscape is to focus on doing good work and putting it out there by any means necessary. When I had a hard time selling Spoilers the traditional way, I found another way to get it made. And while it’s far from a bestseller, I’m immensely proud of it, the process of writing it made me a better writer, and trying to figure out why it isn’t a bestseller has been a learning experience in and of itself. None of that growth would’ve happened if I hadn’t tried different avenues to get it published.
One of the things self-publishing Spoilers has also made abundantly clear is that nobody knows who the fuck I am, which is one of the reason I’m writing more regularly on Substack. Although the platform has its faults (hard to grow, Nazis), it’s been a good place to meet other writers, and I like having a place to put my writing where I don’t have to cater to a specific publication’s voice, or wait six months just to be told “Sorry, this isn’t a fit for us, but thanks for sending.”
That said, I’m not particularly bullish on Substack, either, and I definitely don’t think it’s “the future of publishing.” Substack is good for certain types of writing, and I think it’s just one of many useful tools available to writers to get their work in front of more people. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, that’s totally fine.
The bottom line is: find a way to get your shit out there. If that means landing a book deal, wonderful. If that means self-publishing, excellent. If lit mags love you, beautiful. If they don’t, publish your shit on Substack. If Substack isn’t your jam, try Medium, or Ghost, or Patreon. Who gives a shit. There are gatekeepers everywhere, whether it’s a complex algorithm or some guy at Penguin Random House. So grab a battering ram and start ramming the shit out of every gate until one of them falls. That’s the only way to do it as far as I can tell.
We’re All Gonna Die
Great, thanks for the reminder, Carlos.
I promise the title of this final section isn’t meant to bum you out. In fact, it’s meant to do the opposite of bum you out. It’s meant to BUM YOU IN. That’s because We're All Gonna Die, in addition to being an unpleasant yet universal truth, is also the title of Freddie Wong’s upcoming debut feature film, which will premiere at South by Southwest next month.
Freddie is finding a way to get shit made. And, with any luck, so will we.
To read the next entry, click the link below:
I like your writing. And think you’ll find a way. I’ve done 20 books the old way, just paid back an advance to do next one on my own. If you’re not a darling of the publishing world, you’re dead. Strangely, it’s easier to be a darling when they clamour for novel one, they love marketing possibility, than when they know youre a safe but a proven list clogger. Like you say. Write to get something good written. It might work. Definitely won’t if you don’t!
I seriously had to 😂😂 all the way through this. It's your bluntness that I truly enjoy, interlaced with actual decent information. Thanks for keeping it so real 👌