Thank you Joy Sullivan, Sally Ekus, Emily Stochl, Seth Werkheiser, Beth Bentley, and many others for tuning into my live video with Mikala Jamison and New Yorker cartoonist Jason Chatfield.
Support Jason by pre-ordering You’re Not a Dog Owner Until… now. It’s a hilarious illustrated reflection on what it is to be a dog owner/parent. I just bought two copies—one to donate to my local used bookstore (yes, this is a way to support authors—it counts as a sale, benefits the bookstore, and gets it into the hands of other readers) and one for my sister for her birthday.
Subscribe to Mikala’s Substack Body Type—Examinations of body image discourse and body culture. Plus: How to feel better in and about your own body—here.
Subscribe to both of Jason’s Substacks:
New York Cartoons for cartoons and stories that prove being a New Yorker cartoonist & comedian in Manhattan is exactly as unhinged as you’d imagine.
Process Junkie to geek out on everything having to do with the creative process. (Best About page ever.)
Using Substack to Attract Agents and Launch Books:
Building Your Substack
Consistency is crucial. Mikala built her Substack for years before getting an agent, starting with just a few hundred subscribers.
Focus on what makes your content unique. Jason: Find what you are bringing to the table that no one else is doing.
Substack subscribers are more valuable than social media followers. Publishers and agents recognize this because these are engaged readers who actively opt in.
Getting an Agent
Sometimes agents find you through your Substack. Mikala got a cold email (!) from her agent who had been reading her Substack. (You never know who’s reading…)
For a nonfiction book (though not memoir), you’ll write a book proposal. This includes identifying comparable books (comps) and positioning your work in the market.
Mikala: When identifying comps, focus on “where on the bookshelf your book sits.” What books would be next to yours?
Publishing Process
Consider carving out the rights strategically. Jason's agent advised keeping merchandise rights and international rights separate.
Pre-orders are critical. All sales in the months leading up to publication count toward bestseller list rankings for launch week.
Understand that marketing largely falls on authors regardless of your book deal or publisher size.
Using Substack for Your Book Launch
Offer Substack subscriptions as pre-order bonuses, including a free trial or discount for book buyers.
Create a dedicated landing page to do this. Here’s how I did it for the relaunch of Pathological. Yes, relaunching a backlisted book is a thing, which I talk about in How to Use Substack to Sell Your Backlisted Book Masterclass: Bestseller-list strategies for traditionally published authors from the Writers at Work Studio.
Jason will be giving a complimentary year (!) to his Substack.
Use Substack features like lives or chats for book promotion. Both Jason and Mikala plan to leverage these tools.
What advice would you give someone who wants to use Substack to get an agent/book deal or sell their book?
