Substacks recommended by David Gutowski

Recommended by David Gutowski

Strategies for publishing and marketing your book from an in-the-trenches publishing professional and published author. Always an emphasis on doable takeaways and literary community.

The Martin Douglas Mail Order

By Martin Douglas

Handy links to the work of Martin Douglas

Caroline’s Substack

By CarolineLeavittville

Books, Movies, Mischief, Ask the Writer

Hillary Leftwich's Substack Site

By HILLARY LEFTWICH

My personal Substack

Marie Cloutier's Substack

A weekly update from a writer, reader, reviewer living and writing in the NYC area.

Auraist: picking the best-written books of the month

By Sean

Join 16k subscribers & followers for our picks of the most beautifully written books from US and UK prize shortlists & major reviews, extracts from these picks, & masterclasses by their authors on prose style. Plus The Demon Inside David Lynch.

So Glad I'm Me

By Amy Key

My personal Substack

Brooklyn Girl Books (etc.)

By Randy Susan Meyers

Randy Susan Meyers examines the ‘what if’ and ‘why" of life in her six novels, grew up in a Brooklyn library and still spends at least half her life reading.

So Much Stuff

By Sue Mell

How the things we collect—and can't let go of—express who we are.

AnEarful

By Jeremy Shatan

Giving you an earful about an omnivorous array of music, from cutting edge sounds by living composers to new (and old) classics in rock, folk, hip hop, pop, R&B, reggae, jazz, global, and more. Established 2009.

TODAY YOU WILL WRITE

By TaraShea Nesbit

TODAY YOU WILL WRITE is a weekly uplift from your encouraging writer friend, TaraShea Nesbit, author of BEHELD and THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS. Expect multi-genre creative writing prompts, craft glow-ups, and love.

Wordness

By Heidi Pitlor

Life, creating, being a writer, and publishing--from the longtime series editor of The Best American Short Stories.

Prisonculture’s Newsletter

This is a monthly newsletter of my rants, musings and some other things.

Culture Trip

By Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Better living through pop culture.

Substack Writers at Work

By Sarah Fay

The only expert guide to Substack—the fastest, most efficient way to grow your Substack, earn an income, and produce your best work ✦ Home of the 2024 Substack Growth Cohort

THE EMPRESS

By The Empress

Exploring what it means to be a woman aging in the world while obsessively curating a less hellish peri/menopause... Between the mother & crone phases, there's a great deal of power in the messy middle—a dynamism that's highly generative and creative.

Ready for Nothing

By John Strohm

A newsletter about whatever John P. Strohm cares to write about, mostly music business and culture

Kurt Vonnegut Radio

By Gabe Hudson

If Kurt Vonnegut had a podcast, it would sound like this.

The Author Mindset

By Jon Reed

How to overcome mental blocks and become a successful writer

Release McCracken

By Elizabeth McCracken

Occasional notes from Elizabeth McCracken

Close Readings

By Kamran Javadizadeh

Text to go with my podcast, occasional news about things I write

To a Green Thought

By Garth Greenwell

Books, art, music, movies

The Culture We Deserve

By Jessa Crispin

The Culture We Deserve

SubMakk

By Rebecca Makkai

Rebecca Makkai's Substack: mostly writing and books! but also Zillow, true crime, etymology, food, general inanity

Dear Diary

By Michelle Tea

A newsletter about the daily whatever, including art, tarot, movies, the occult, literature, gossip, food, queerness, sex, diary and the rest.

Sleepstack

By Lisa Ko

writing in the zombie apocalypse

Girls on the Page

Reading, recommending and celebrating women in literature.

STAY BRAVE with Leah Umansky

By Stay Brave with Leah Umansky

An interview-series on 'staying brave' in the creative life by woman-identifying writers for woman-identifying writers.

Hi, it's Whitney

By Whitney Matheson

culture, comix, rock 'n' roll, bananas

Whitney Matheson is our pop culture queen, and her Substack is filled with movie, TV, music, books, art, and much more news. As a bonus, she shares mini-comics that will floor you every time.

- David Gutowski

The 7am Novelist

By Michelle Hoover

Join award-winning novelist and writing teacher Michelle Hoover with tips and special guests for your morning writing wake up call, with a range of author interviews and writing challenges to help you get a new project going and keep you in your chair.

What's Good?

By katie

New York City and sometimes the news

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

Two journalistas on media, celebrity, and what’s burning through the culture right now. Flirtatious banter for serious times.

Made You a Mix

By Hannah Mooney

Made You a Mix is a weekly newsletter on music and pop culture featuring playlists made in the spirit of mix CDs.

Dear Reader

By Gwenda Bond

Author Gwenda Bond's newsletter with all the skinny on new and upcoming books, plus reading, life and writing life updates. I want to connect with you, dear readers, on all the things we've thinking about on this here rock.

Witness

By Robert Jones

Pro-Black, Pro-LGBTQIA2S+, sometimes polemical political and pop culture testimony from author Robert Jones, Jr., formerly known as "Son of Baldwin."

Tao Lin

A blog.

Sophia

Head of Writer Relations @Substack

Submission Sunday

Eight curated literary submission opportunities every other Sunday for all genres.

CAFÉ ANNE

By Anne Kadet

It's a wonderful world—meet the inhabitants!

THE place to explore the unique places and people of New York City. Chess hustlers? Donut bakers for food carts? Anne gets the inside story with wit and intelligence.

- David Gutowski

The Tumbleweed

By Jenny Shank

Every month The Tumbleweed blows in with inspiration, thoughts on art, writing, and creativity, book recommendations, and assorted whimsy.

Oldster Magazine

By Sari Botton

Exploring what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life.

How does being a certain age feel? Oldster interviews people about their age and shares essays about aging. Edited by the brilliant and magnanimous Sari Botton.

- David Gutowski

The Reveal

By Scott Tobias

Deeper into movies (and a little TV). Essays, reviews, conversation. Past and present. From the editors of The Dissolve.

Publishing Confidential

By Kathleen Schmidt

News and analysis about the book publishing industry that you won't read anywhere else.

Bookstore Quest 2021

By Jacob Ready

One man's quest to go to every independent NYC bookstore in 2021

CultureWag

By JD Heyman

Culture: High, Middle, and Deliciously Low!

Walk It Off

By Isaac Fitzgerald

That was tough. Let's go for a walk.

Isaac Fitzgerald is bright & charming enough, but when he profiles people on walks the effect is mesmerizing.

- David Gutowski

Counter Craft

By Lincoln Michel

fiction craft, publishing demystification, weird books

Hangry Ghost

By Lizz Dawson

Exploring heartfelt chaos via personal essays, unsolicited musings, & the drama in the stars. Think pops of confetti that settle into a multi-colored pillow to rest your head. Think winding uncertainty and open-mouthed ghosts.

Lizz Dawson is one of the most talented young nonfiction writers around, her essays are moving and smart and powerful.

- David Gutowski

Fluxblog

By Matthew Perpetua

Music blogging since 2002.

A Writer's Notebook

By Summer Brennan

essays, art, and inspiration from an American writer in Paris

The Art of Flash Fiction

By Kathy Fish

Monthly Flash Fiction Craft Articles & Prompts by Writer & Teacher, Kathy Fish

The Audacity.

By Roxane Gay

Writing that boldly disregards normal restraints.

Roxane Gay's Substack. Also shares essays by under-represented writers.

- David Gutowski

Milner on Music

By Roz

The latest takes from Roz Milner on music, media and literature

Lit Mag News

By Becky Tuch

Latest News in Lit Mag Publishing

going it alone

By Michele Catalano

A newsletter about life and love and loss, about music and sports and parenting. At least twice weekly

The Querent

By Alexander Chee

The person asking a question at the beginning of a Tarot card reading. Or, a newsletter project by Alexander Chee.

The Nelson George Mixtape

By Nelson George

Black music, black culture and America.

The Melt by Jason Diamond

By Jason Diamond

The Melt is Jason Diamond's reader-supported look at old, new, and evolving classics.

No Failure, Only Practice

By Matt Bell

Fiction writing exercises, craft essays, and reading recommendations from Matt Bell, author of APPLESEED and REFUSE TO BE DONE. Publishes monthly.

Matt Bell is a writing teacher who effectively offers craft lessons in his Substack. Read this, then his books. Thank me later.

- David Gutowski

CRAFT TALK

By Craft Talk

CRAFT TALK is a weekly newsletter about writing, creativity and productivity from author Jami Attenberg. This is also the home of #1000wordsofsummer, where, once a year, we write 1000 words a day together for two weeks straight. (In 2024 it begins 6/1!)

Known for its #1000wordsofsummer, Jami Attenberg's Substack is always a source for writing inspiration.

- David Gutowski

Memoir Land

By Memoir Monday

Three verticals: Memoir Monday: A collaboration among Granta, Guernica, Narratively, The Rumpus, Orion Magazine, The Walrus, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Oldster Magazine; First Person Singular original essays; The Lit Lab interviews + craft essays.

Adventures In "Journalism" by Sari Botton

Highlights and lowlights* (*mostly lowlights) from one Gen X lady writer's rather circuitous career path.

The Practicing Writer 2.0: A Newsletter from Erika Dreifus

By Erika Dreifus/The Practicing Writer Newsletter

Curating fee-free (AND paying) calls and competitions—plus other resources—for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

The Practicing Writer 2.0 is a valuable newsletter for writers. From writing resources to contest notices to submission alerts to residency information, this is one of the most useful tools in my writing toolbox.

- David Gutowski

Hear Hear

By Adam Offitzer

Monthlyish music newsletter with playlists, songs, and artists worth listening to, across all genres.

Carefully curated & eclectic playlists delivered to you monthly!

- David Gutowski

bitches gotta eat!

By samantha irby

judge mathis recaps + occasional sad garbage

Samantha Irby is the funniest writer writing today. Her Judge Mathis episode wrap-ups are as hilarious as her pop culture recommendations.

- David Gutowski

Flow State

Every weekday, two hours of music that's perfect for working (no vocals).

Largehearted Ledger

Recommended by David Gutowski