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5 Reasons Why Publishing on Substack is Better for Authors than Amazon
I got tired of not knowing if anyone liked my book, so here's what I did about it.
When I first published my book on Amazon, I did what so many authors do — I hit ‘publish’ and imagined my words finding their way to readers, moments of connection lighting up across the world.
But here’s the thing they don’t tell you about publishing on Amazon. Once your book is out there, it’s like shouting into the void. Unless a reader leaves a review (and most don’t), you have no clue if your words helped them in any way — or even if they’re being read at all.
For months after, I kept refreshing the sales dashboard, hoping to glean insight from the numbers. But numbers don’t tell you who read your book on a sleepless night or whose life it might have shifted just a little. The silence was deafening. Every writer knows that creating is an act of vulnerability, and publishing on Amazon felt like I had tossed my book into a black hole.
That experience led me to rethink everything about how I wanted to share my writing, which is how I landed on Substack. Writing on Substack gave me something Amazon couldn’t — a chance to connect with the people who need the kind of help I offer.