I was at a backyard dinner party a couple of weeks ago, with mostly writers. One said, “I don’t read online anymore – I have no time for it.” I get where he was coming from – writer or reader, we’re all time pressed when it comes to consuming the written word.
When I mentioned Substack, the writer dismissed it as a place where retired journalists go to get their ya-yas out. Ouch. The truth hurts. But it’s not the whole truth.
Yes, a lot of people are on Substack, and for all kinds of reasons: to have a say in the all that is upending the world as we know it. To work out their frustration with a publishing industry (books, newspapers and magazines) that is ever more besieged by new media and constrained by loss of readership. To share what they know with people who might be interested in their particular knowledge. To market their brand, if their words still have currency elsewhere in the public realm. And so on. And sure, the compulsion to write is ego-driven, running on fuel that has propelled scribblers since forever.
But online writing, especially as it appears on Substack, should not be dismissed. Thousands of novels are still published each year, and many of them are bad. But the inability to read all of them or the necessity of having to pick and choose the good ones should not discourage anyone from reading novels.
Something is bugging many of the writers I know of my generation. In terms of what they do, many have become conservative and anxious. I suspect they find new media is a threat. For them, if writing does not appear on paper and is paid for, it lacks validity. It sounds in line with Plato’s notion, mouthed by Socrates, that the invention of writing degraded oral transmission of thought and weakened memory. In fact, maybe it did. I had to look that up to confirm what I remembered. And yet, here we still are.
I see new media as the furry creatures running through the bushes at the feet of lumbering dinosaurs. Many of the new species will not survive, and some that do might be nasty. Some of the dinosaurs might evolve into chickens. But one way or another things won’t be the same.
To return to the problem of too much, one solution is as old as libraries: You have to curate – pick and choose according to your taste and desires.
Stuff is coming at me (and everyone) all the time, and most of it is click, delete. I also use an old newspaper man’s trick to deal with overabundance. Editors face picking from an overwhelming number of stories. They “taste” them: read the first paragraph, and if what you see makes you want to read the second, go on. If you make it to more than half-way through a story, the story will have been worth reading.
It applies to actual writing and not algorithm-driven clickbait and other sludge clogging up internet. I’ve quit X, which has become a sewer pipe of misogyny, racism and antisemitism. Thanks Elon, for helping me kick the habit. Even Bluesky – it looked like an antidote to X – is becoming less attractive as grifters and hucksters invade.
I have nothing to say about the rest, except for good old Facebook, home to much of my g-g-g-generation, the boomers. I don’t write there, but I look at it when I get a prompt by email about a friend’s post. Inevitably, it means picking through the usual dreck that clogs up the internet.
All of this does not preclude reading in print. One daily newspaper is still flung into our driveway and various magazines choke up the mailbox. New books find their way onto the shelves taking the place of those that are occasionally culled.
But back to Substack and what I like, no ads or bots. The following list is not exhaustive, but it represents what for me passes the taste test:
Cole.notcole News
Cole Bennett
News from Nora Loreto
Nora Loreto
These two recast the news as it happens, putting their own spin on it. Bennett is virtually a one-man newspaper offering a recap of the day’s events along with an occasional op-ed broadside. Loreto’s writing is rapier sharp, and worth reading, even when I don’t agree with her.
A Considerable Age
Alice Goldbloom
seventysomething
Susie Kaufman
Alice Goldbloom brought me into the Substack fold when I wrote a post for A Considerable Age. One of the things I learned from my post’s reception was that Substack is good at appealing to communities of interest, in this case people well into the second half of their lives, that is, those who still prioritize reading, Susie Kaufman is another writer who fits this category. She’s actually just turned eighty, and her eloquence is proof that that age is no barrier to the transmission of ideas.
Postcards from Canada
Alice Goldbloom, Kristen Shannon and Sylvie Lamoureux
Among the many Substacks offering pushback on the degradation that has befallen politics and public discourse in this country and the one to the south, this is one of the best, forceful in standing up for Canadian values without stridency.
From the Mind of Wayne Grady
Wayne Grady
Two writers (full disclosure: they’re friends) write about how their minds work to produce what goes into their books. Both are fully engaged with the world.
ancestory
Lisa Maguire Beaubassin Chronicles and the Maguires of Montreal
Maguire writes history at its most granular with fascinating stories about her family. Her Beaubassin thread, about her forebears in 17th-century New France, is book-worthy.
The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter
Steve Stewart-Williams (professor of psychology)
The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter
Fetal Position
Shalom Auslander
Two from farther out: Steve Stewart-Williams is a professor of psychology. He’s one of those random finds whose inquiring instincts drew me in. And, yes, he does sometimes write about Nietzsche, although mostly about other things people are interested in, like his recent post about why time seems to pass more quickly as we age. Auslander is hilarious in a mordant, no-holds-barred way, and humour is something Substack needs more of.
I’m surely missing a few people worthy of being on this list and apologies for that. I’m also not giving detailed mentions of others I read regularly: Timothy Snyder (Thinking About …), Paul Krugman, Charlie Angus (The Resistance), Noah Smith (noahopinion). They are well-established on Substack and elsewhere.
Also, a word about paying for access: a lot of the stuff I’ve mentioned is either free or sometimes free. Many writers will paywall some of their posts while not charging for others. Auslander, for one, has gone mostly behind the wall, and it will force readers to decide: Is he good enough to pay for among all the other writing we purchase? I would say yes, but how many times does a reader want to cough up $100 a year, on average, for an individual writer? Substack’s monetization strategy is due for a rework, but more on that another day.
Thanks for the shout outs! Plenty of good writing. Overwhelming much of the time. I’m thrilled to share a tiny corner of this space with you.
I agree with your take on Substack. Another thing I like about it is the opportunity to read long form pieces. Notes is there for shorts, but I enjoy the longer essays that don't have a place on some other platforms.