"200. Writing (Serializing) a Book on Substack" // A new post, a new year, a new section in Hardcore Software. Over 2 yrs writing I've been asked many times about writing a "real" book versus serializing on . A lot to this question, Thoughts… 1/14
Conversation
2/ There are as many reasons to write a book as there are to publish a book. Jane Friedman outlines them every year.
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3/ If you ever thought you'd write a book you probably googled around and found some informative yet depressing takes on the challenges in the book industry. w/7 books wrote "A Half Dozen Lessons About Writing and Getting a Book Published"
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4/ Even the "bible" of the industry Publisher's Weekly has an oft-repeated style of post offering up lessons or things you never knew about when setting out to write a book. "Ten Things Nobody Tells You About the Publishing Industry"
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5/ I'd written one book. I knew the process. I also experienced many of these downsides. Among them the incredibly slow pace, high up front/out-of-pocket costs. And the realities of sales. But of course there's also prestige and accomplishment that come from a book. That me 👉
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6/ In my case I started off going the normal route. I secured an agent. Shopped the proposal (more on a proposal in the post). I even secured the much coveted "six figure advance". Just as the agent was about to do the post on Pub Weekly, I had second thoughts…
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7/ A big problem I saw with the process was time. I waited 7 or 8 years or so after leaving MSFT to write—because I think time changes how you tell the story and washes away a lot of unnecessary color. Now I was looking at another few years of production. Hmmm...
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8/ On top of that, the constraints of the print world were really going to make it difficult to tell the story. Where would I put photos? What about memos, PDFs, videos?
Most of all, I just felt like there was a lot of detail, background, analysis about the story yet to be told.
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9/ I was reminded of the old-school method of writing books used by everyone from Dickens to Arthur Conan Doyle to Tom Wolfe. While hardly in that category, the idea quickly resonated with me. And then Substack surfaced…
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10/ I'd "blogged" for 20+ years and yet right away saw Substack as something more. It was not a publishing destination so much as a place for authors to build community, express themselves, and "write". It was very exciting.
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11/ The idea of being able to tell the story I wanted to tell was the high-order bit for me. But then overlay all the benefits of Substack and the choice was a no-brainer.
Just a few weeks after signing up I was off and running. Exactly 2 years ago.
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12/ That's important because if this were a physical book, there's a good chance about now is when the book would be for sale. Yet now I'm "done" and made for a much richer, more engaging, experience.
I also detail the economics in the post. This will surprise most ;-)
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13/ The post lists many benefits:
Great software
More than text
Posts don’t have to be done
Metrics
Own the content
Own the subscriber list
Sharing and Engagement buttons, Freemium
Community/Referrals
Audio
Pricing controls/structure
Low cost, all-in-one
Extras
Writer community
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14/ If you've thought of writing a book and have a strong idea of what/how to say it, then at least give post a consideration. As a published author and book lover, I can say I had a great experience.
Writing (Serializing) a Book on Substack
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Disclaimer: I have no investment participation or interest in Substack. I received no advances, support, or compensation beyond what everyone who signs up receives. All net profit from HCSW goes to not-for-profit. And to be clear:
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