Is Substack a Newsletter or a Newspaper or Both?

A comment that deserves further thought

Recently, the Substack staff had a podcast discussion about various topics and one of them happened to be about FICTION! It’s not often we get a nod of acknowledgment from the higher-ups so this was great to hear.

From this podcast, several fiction writers on Substack had plenty to say and took it to Notes to express their thoughts. But it was the comment made by

Claudia Befu

that made me stop and think for a bit. Let me preface this by including the original Note and my reply that led to her comment above:

The question I found myself asking is “What is Substack?”

To answer that I had to first understand that I had no answer for what Substack isn’t. They are, for better or worse, trying to be everything for everyone. A place for photographers, illustrators, political analysts, teachers, learners, explorers, gamers, engineers, podcasters, singers, travelers, authors, opinionators (sp?), writers, etc.

So, that answer is clearly a grey area. But what about a newspaper vs a newsletter? Because, let’s face it, no matter how you use Substack, one thing is clear, the delivery is the same: Email

WHAT IS A NEWSPAPER?

MERRIAM-WEBSTER DEFINITION

a paper that is printed and distributed usually daily or weekly and that contains news, articles of opinion, features, and advertising

I would argue that the definition of a newspaper applies to a newsletter. But I prefer to get my answer from a reputable source:

WHAT IS A NEWSLETTER”

MERRIAM-WEBSTER DEFINITION

a small publication (such as a leaflet or newspaper) containing news of interest chiefly to a special group

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You might be wondering why I’m even looking at the answers to these very philosophical question and what these answers have to do with the statement that started this all: “Ultimately, this is a platform for sending newsletters and not serialized fiction. It’s a huge difference.”

WHAT IS SERIALIZED FICTION

Too long of an answer to get into right now but I want to look at how and where it started:

The first serialized fiction is widely considered to be Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers. It was delivered monthly as a “newspaper” to the masses. Granted, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a newspaper because the story was all that was featured in each issue. As far as I can find, there were no other stories or features included in each issue but if we fast forward a bit, we can see that over time, serialized fiction was popular for many newspapers (and print magazines).

And while serialized fiction had a bit of a rest for a while, these days, this form seems to be on the rise. I’ve seen more and more serial fiction popping up here on Substack in the last year! As someone who is trying to have the largest directory of Fiction Substacks anywhere, boasting 500+, I can say that over 100 of those have active serials going on right now! That’s 1 out of every 5 Substacks with a serial of some kind started or about to start soon!

Then I think of the many ways in which serialized fiction is delivered today? Back during Charles Dickens time, he was limited by the advancement of their technology, or hindered by it? Without the internet and only the printing press at their disposal, that was the only way to go. But printing has its limits. Cost being chief among them. Sure, they could print out a set number of issues but who could afford to buy them? And would they be willing to buy them each month to continue the story? Turns out, this was a successful model! So many other fiction authors of the Dickens era had their own works serialized. The materials to print a newspaper monthly cost far less than binding the finished book for sale. They knew they’d made more sales and more money. By they, I mean the publishers of the day.

Today, we are lucky enough to not require a printing press of our own to put our work out into the world. We have the benefit of the internet and the various social platforms created for the purpose of sharing content. Whatever our content happens to be.

So, when I answer the question of whether or not Substack is a newsletter or a newspaper, I have to answer that it’s both. It’s a means to an end to sharing our creative journey’s, whatever they might be. Is Substack a political journal? A graphic novel or comic book? Is Substack a podcast? Can Substack manage to handle all of the different ways in which we, as creators, choose to interact with it? So far, yes. But that doesn’t always make it a good thing. But that’s a discussion for a different day.

I think Substack is a newsletter in that we are sending emails, but it is also a newspaper because it is our means of recording the creative work we want to do. We have to change the way we see newsletters. It’s more than just a time to tell our readers “this is what we’ve written” and instead give them what we’ve written. A newsletter can be a poem, an essay, a memoir, a review, a political opinion, a financial tip, and yes, even a chapter from a novel.

In closing, I agree with Claudia, partly when she says “Ultimately, this is a platform for sending newsletters and not serialised fiction. It’s a huge difference.” Substack is a platform for sending newsletters. But it’s not a platform that dictates what the content of the newsletter ought to be. As evidenced by the vastly different kinds of newsletters that exist. There can be music, illustrations, photographs, comic strips, you name it, in a Substack newsletter. Why not serialized fiction?