Why I Buy and Promote Substackers' Books

There are many ways to support your favorite Substackers, and some are completely free!

Updated with fantastic new books 👇¹

More new books!

Last year I received a DM request from a new Substacker telling me how much they enjoyed my writing, and that they would love to recommend my Substack if I recommended theirs.

I deleted the request without answering.

Honestly, I wasn’t mad. I understand, getting started on Substack isn’t easy.

Part of me wanted to respond to them individually, but considering I was going to say “No thank you,” it just seemed like too much work to explain why.

Maybe they will read this post, maybe not, but if it helps at least one other Substacker to connect with their favorite author in a meaningful way, it’s worth it.

I’ve already established the big DON’T — sending DMs, especially with a quid pro quo.

Here’s what to DO instead:

1. Subscribe to their Substack — if you can afford a paid subscription, do that. If you cannot, there’s always a free option. Both are very much appreciated.

2. Read their posts and comment consistently — I know on some posts only paid subscribers are able to comment; if you are a free subscriber, you can restack the post and add your comment there.

3. Make your comments meaningful — share how the post made you feel or how it related to your own experience. Substackers love to hear how their work resonated with their readers.

4. Be one of the first few people to comment, or restack with a comment, on posts that generally get a lot of engagement (over 50 comments) — many Substackers post on a schedule, so be on the lookout when you know a new post is going to drop. An author is more likely to see your comment, as will other Substackers, if it’s near the top.

5. Buy their books² if it’s within your budget — ebooks are generally less expensive, but I know even those can be too costly. See if you can borrow the book from the library at no cost.

I won’t say there’s a right way and a wrong way to connect with authors/Substackers, but I can tell you what is effective and what isn’t.

Let me know if you found this post helpful — it’s not my intention to make anyone feel bad about wanting to connect with their favorite author/Substacker or to grow their own Substack account.

1. Pearly Gates by

Bonnie Solomon

; If Adam Picked The Apple by

Danielle Coffyn

; Time Anxiety by

Chris Guillebeau

(Illustrations by

Emily McDowell

); But You Seemed So Happy by

Kimberly Harrington

; Rehearsals For Dying by

Ariel Gore

; In Judgement of Others by

Eleanor Anstruther

and All Fours by

Miranda July

Modern Loss Handbook by

Rebecca Soffer

(gifted); The Untangling by

Tiffany Chu

(gifted); Normalize It by

Jessica Zucker, PhD

; Story Carrier by

Story Carrier

; Living Into The Truth by

Annette Marquis

; Edge of Grace by

Prajna O'Hara

; Blue Hour Homecoming by Alle Mudrick; Happy To Help by

Amy Wilson

and You Might Feel A Little Pressure by Mary Adkins.

2. Pathological by

Sarah Fay

; Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing by

Lauren Hough

; The Part That Burns by

Jeannine Ouellette

; The Hundred Loves of Juliet by

Evelyn Skye

; The Wild Other and The Giant On The Skyline by

Clover Stroud

; Bad Vibes Only by

Nora McInerny

; Theatre Kids by

John DeVore

; And You May Find Yourself by

Sari Botton

; All Of This by

Rebecca Woolf

E-Books: Too Pretty to be Good by

Lindsay Byron

; The Mother Code by

Ruthie Ackerman

; Available As Is by

Debbie Weiss

; Lovelands by

Dr Debra Campbell

; Sex After Grief by

Joan Price

Pre Orders: Proof of Life by

Jennifer Pastiloff

; Midlife Private Parts by

Dina Alvarez

Not shown: The Guided Emotional Intelligence Journal Notebook by

K. Alexandra

Please excuse my Amazon links. My Prime account includes free shipping and generally makes life just a little bit easier for this solo mama.