My 10 favourite Substacks to read
I make a living as a writer here — but I'm also a top 5% reader. Here's what I read on Substack during Summer 2024.
The reason I love compiling my popular Sunday Scroll newsletter round-ups is because I really enjoy reading. A lot. As much as I am a writer, I am a reader — and I believe those things are intertwined. If you meet an author, there is a big chance they’ll bring up the book they’re currently reading, or have their nose in something. I just pre-ordered a bunch of novels from the recently unveiled Booker Prize shortlist (and I’m subscribed to
on Substack).I read a lot, mainly because I love it and it relaxes my nervous system, but it also makes me a better writer. I also used to read three books a week as part of my former role as a podcast host between 2016-2023 interviewing lots of authors, a show that amassed 13 million downloads. I shut the podcast down last year, because as much as it was still a great job, the podcast industry had become so saturated, and so many podcasts started launching, I wasn’t sure I was adding anything that new or different. When I get bored of something, it’s game over.
I still keep abreast of what’s coming out, still receive proofs, still receive all the press releases. If you are a professional writer, it’s good to get a sense of ‘the market’ — i.e. what is everyone writing? What am I inspired by? What book covers are killing the game? Who/what would my book sit next to, on the shelf?
(Btw, if you’re thinking: ugh how do you have the time? I kindly point you in the direction of this brilliant post by
that explains that if reading takes priority, something else must indeed fall by the wayside. For her, it’s exercise. For me: I think it’s probably the fact that I don’t have kids.)I was delighted to receive an email from Substack today, telling me that they had launched a “Substack Summer Recap” (a bit like Spotify Wrapped). According to their data, I am in the top 5% of readers on Substack and read 2,059,184 words on Substack this summer. Bloody hell.
When do I read? One of my favourite days of the week has always been Sundays. I get up early, make breakfast and coffee and have a slow start to the day with my husband and then I go and buy a load of newspapers and sit at my kitchen table reading them. The Sunday supplements in The Times and The Observer and I like the i and The New York Times. I’m also subscribed to Readly where I can read things like The Hollywood Reporter, Fast Company, New York magazine (The Cut), TIME, Vogue etc all in the one place.
Recently, however, I’ve been feeling like these papers don’t really scratch the itch like they used to. Either it’s the overwhelming amount of adverts (and nepo baby content) or maybe with some papers I’m feeling a potential creeping generation gap. My new favourite thing to do is to read my saved Substacks on my iPad. It nourishes me in a way that the papers used to. Brilliant writing, from my favourite writers, sent directly to my inbox — and I get to pay them directly, too.
Highlights
☕ I read the most in the evening
💌 I subscribed to 14 new Substacks this Summer
💬 I left 289 comments on posts
🕵️ I discovered 155 new posts via Notes