Major creators from the comics industry like Skottie Young, James Tynion IV, and Molly Knox Ostertag have announced that they will be publishing on Substack. In some cases, these authors are quitting lucrative, name-brand writing and art gigs with publishers like Marvel and DC to pursue this deal with Substack. But what is Substack - and how did it become the latest digital comics publishing venture?
Substack's newsletters are subscription-based, meaning that if a reader has decided they want to receive a writer's content, that reader is paying for the privilege of that content appearing in their inbox. While it is free for publishers and writers to use the service, Substack makes its money by taking 10% from the subscription fee writers charge those who receive their emails. It's a bit like Patreon, in that subscribers are able to pay creators directly for more of the content that they enjoy. Subscription seems to be the way of the future, with more than one billion subscribers to various streaming services - it's only natural that creator-owned comics would follow suit.
On August 9 2021, James Tynion IV announced on Twitter that he was Tynion's announcement summed up the benefits of working with this new form of publisher well:"There is nobody you need to get permission from to do what you want to do. Make the books you most want to make, the books you think should exist, the ones that it has driven you crazy that nobody is making. Make them yourself. Produce works by people whose work you absolutely love. Will them into the world."
Removing the normal trappings of publication and providing artists with a direct-to-consumer pipeline seems to be the bread and butter of what Substack was originally created for. It's a natural marriage for Substack to reach out to well-known creators who are working with larger publishing houses and see if they would be willing to jump ship to this new venture. No doubt there are thousands of creative ideas in the minds of these creators! These writers are now financially able to pursue new ventures without the trappings of a corporate style guide like one would see at according to Ed Brubaker, can come with its own set of problems), it's possible that the creators would retain their rights to their creator-owned works.
Substack also removes some of the complexities of doing a creator-owned work. A creator-owned comic can succeed if the author has fanbase behind them (like James Tynion IV's ongoing horror comic, published through DC); however, it takes time to build that fanbase. Substack seems to allow creators to still make money off of the fans they already have without having to prove to a publisher that their comic will sell. Only time will tell how Substack's experiment will fare, but with the kind of minds it has invited to be part of its pilot program, there's no doubt that the content they produce will be great.
