✍️ Why Top Substack Writers Are Skipping the Book Deal

Substack writers are self-publishing — and keeping the power, the profits, and the readers.

Let’s talk about book deals.

They used to be the holy grail. For a long time, if you told someone you were “working on a book,” the next question was always, “Got a publisher yet?” Because that’s what legitimized you. Not the writing. Not the readers. Not the fact that people were already buying your work. No — it was the deal. The advance. The imprint n…