83 Comments

Thank you so much for this post. I’m listening to you.

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Really interesting and insightful as always. It seems to me that many journalists have moved to Substack.

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Great to read this post, Kathleen. Thanks for your insight!!

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As someone who is currently discerning what publishing route to take with my manuscript, I appreciate your insights. Thank you!

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This is so helpful, thank you!

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Good stuff - I never miss an issue. I am especially interested in where self-publishing is headed; it seems like the difference between traditional published, and a good self-published book is smaller than ever.

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I just started querying agents and this is all so insightful/interesting. Thank you for posting it. Given a lot of these trends, I wonder if we will soon see some type of hybrid agent/editor role emerge. Someone who specifically helps clients navigate self publishing and then takes a cut?

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Thanks for everything you do Kathleen. Your columns are so informative and useful. I'm happy to see you mention Storygraph as an up and comer. I'm very invested in LibraryThing, but I tried StoryGraph and like it and think it has a lot to offer people who want something that isn't GoodReads.

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Thank you for the kind words!

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Sounds like it's going to be a bumpy year and I'm here for it! 🥂 Thanks for the great insight.

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As an author, I find your prediction about self-publishing becoming normalized, encouraging. I am publishing via hybrid publishing and the cost of publishing, marketing, PR is, for me, astronomical. I am also now writing two more books and am considering self-publishing because of economics and the control it gives me. I'd love to see more on this topic in the future. I am currently educating myself on self-publishing and direct sales. I think the mythology that existed about being published traditionally and the dismissal of self-published books is waning. Perhaps this new shift will allow more people to dip their creative toes in waters they previously believed were not available to them. Wouldn't that be a positive thing!

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I love this and am with you in hoping it happens. The old system has been an echo chamber for years.

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I wish there was something that could improve the state of social media.

The fracturing of Twitter didn't make an already worsting environment better. In fact, it feels worse.

And above anything, I'm more disappointed at Book Threads going so toxic so quickly. It was so nice for about a month and a half when I joined, and then it just took a single weekend, and then the sluice gates opened. I really wanted it to be the platform I'm comfortable being on. Something I could share my writing and art. Have fun on. Get my upcoming novel in the public mind by sharing my journey in working on it. And then it felt so much like Twitter. I couldn't even stay on there. I deactivated my account mostly to keep from checking it and being unhappy with what I saw. Certainly, I can restart it if I need it. However, I don't want to be on social media and it be emotionally draining.

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I truly, truly, understand this. The other day, I told someone in my family that if I didn't need social media for work, I'd quit all of it. I'm really disappointed in the way people are acting on Book Threads. I'm the type of person who can't bring myself to ever be mean on purpose, so I don't understand when other people are. My job has given me a thick skin, but that doesn't mean comments don't hurt my feelings. I am human. And that's the thing: people on social media tend to forget there is a human being on the receiving end of whatever they are saying. Twitter served me well for many years, and I made friends there who became friends IRL. I really miss that. It used to be fun. The slide downhill began in 2015 and got worse. So, I feel you, I see you, and let's keep talking here. xo

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"Self publishing will become more normalized." Agree. People (readers) generally do not care who publishes a book, BUT the BRANDING is important. You know what you get from Hallmark, Tor/Forge, Scholastic, etc. I think niche publishers/niche sole authors who focus on specific brand categories (horror, self-help, diet, etc.) can more easily grow their brand/sell books than the "one-off" author.

Also - "Hybrid" publishers need to be clearer about costs and what they do and (most importantly) do NOT include in their services.

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What do you think is the best case scenario for the media landscape question at the end? Do you think publishers will start viewing, say, guest posts or interviews on Substack as an alternative? I'm a journalist and book lover, but haven't written about books a lot professionally. Still, I'm considering starting something here—particularly on modern/spicy romance since that's my thing and it's a BIG self-care practice for me. Do you think journalists will turn to self-publishing platforms even more and writing about books will become a part of that?

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I think--and there isn't data on this yet--that newsletter platforms are pulling audiences away from traditional media. Some of my publishing clients are already compiling lists of Substacks as you would a media list. That is something that will continue to occur. I subscribe to several Substacks written by journalists, and their work is A+. My 2024 mantra is "build it yourself."

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LOVE this mantra!!! And yeah, not surprised that publishers are looking to Substack as traditional media alternatives (or in addition to). I get SO many book pitches thru my journalism work but rarely can incorporate them. Really considering doing that on Substack instead.

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Over the top excellent! Thanks for sharing Kathleen!

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THANK YOU!

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Cheers to you feeling better; shorter books; and ignoring Goodreads. Jeers to the messy toxicity of Threads (but gonna keep an eye on it and see if it improves/if I can improve my own use of it...). Thank you for your excellent and insightful writing!

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Thank you! I'm putting some blind faith into Threads, so we'll see what happens. I have no faith in Goodreads unless someone else buys it.

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Totally agree to your approach to both Threads and Goodreads!

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