Turn your Substack into a Technical Book

The most underrated business model for technical writers.

An early version of this article was published in the now defunct Tech Writers Stack. This version has recent statistics, some additional experience, and a whole new section on tooling and workflow.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I decided to try the paid subscriptions model about a couple of years ago. It was not because I thought I could make technical writing my day job—I already have three of those, and I can't imagine not doing any of them. It was mostly for validation: to see if I could get anyone to care enough about my writing to be willing to pay something, not much, for it. And also, it couldn't hurt, right?

Long story short, it worked... somewhat. Regarding validation, I'm more than happy for my 70 paid subscribers. I couldn't imagine even a single person would be willing to support my writing. That extra energy also helped motivate me to write more and, I hope, better.

However, in terms of affordability, technical writing still is little more than a hobby—and sometimes a rather expensive hobby —for me and probably for 95% of my fellow writers here at Substack.

Many of you have deep expertise in areas where you could charge a substantial amount by the hour, yet you choose to share that expertise for free.

And I get it, believe me. I also struggle with the dichotomy of wanting to share as much as possible with the widest audience I can and the reality of having too little time and too much work—like, real work, the one that pays the bill—to be able to give my Substack all the love I'd like to pour into it.

So, over the past year I've tried different models to strike the right balance for doing something that I love—sharing some hard-earned lessons on sometimes fairly niche and complex technical topics—in a way I can afford to.

On one extreme, I tried doing exclusive articles, but I found out some of my best writing was hiding in plain sight from the vast majority of my readers. Why write exclusively for 70 people when other 2000 are eager to read it?

On the other extreme, I tried the patron-like support-me-if-you-can model, but most readers can't afford to support you, even if they want to. And to top it all, the subscription model seems to be declining—I know I have subscription fatigue, and probably you, too.

But I think I've found a sweet spot, and I want to tell you about it because I honestly think if it works for me, it'll work for many of you, probably even better than for me.

The gist is this: write a technical book alongside your Substack, using free articles as the primary material for content and the main channel to drive sales.

Over the last eight months or so, I've experimented with this idea and found a reassuring, if modest, level of success. So, in this article, I want to do three things. First, convince you that this might be a very good business model for you, too, regardless of your background. Second, give you some statistics from my own experience to show you how this might work. Third, offer you some concrete pointers to get started right away.

Buckle up!

The Big Picture

Here is (just one way) how to do it.

1. Pick a topic you're reasonably knowledgeable about and think you'd enjoy writing consistently about—for example, graph theory is one of those topics for me; large language models is another. Aim to write between 2 and 4 articles a month on that topic.

2. Each article is published for free in your Substack and becomes a new chapter (or part of a larger chapter) in your in-progress book.

   
   Now, here's the part no one tells you (or at least no one told me!) You don't have to wait for the book to be complete before selling it. On the contrary, start pitching the book from day zero.
   

3. Write a launch article with a table of contents or a couple of introductory chapters. Explain to your readers why this is the best way to support your Substack, although they will still get all the content for free. Find a platform to sell PDFs (more on this later) and set a camp there.

4. Add a call to action for every new article to remind readers the book is a thing. Maybe throw in a temporary discount. Also, as new articles become new chapters, you’ll find yourself returning to old chapters and doing some editing, refactoring, etc. This is ok, but don’t overdo it.

5. From time to time, publish a short book progress update article restating the book's purpose and timeline and laying out what has been added since the last update (I do it every four articles or so). This is your chance to reintroduce the whole book idea to potential new readers and remind old readers they can support you that way in more than a footnote.

6. When the book’s content is finished (after no less than a year probably), and a first draft is ready for publication, write a summary article and explain your readers where they can get the finished version (I will most likely self-publish, but you can choose your own adventure).

And that’s it! It's so simple that it seems it can't work, but my early experiments say it works one order of magnitude better than paid subscriptions.

Will anyone get into this?

Yes, believe it: some people will buy the crappy version 0.1, assuming it's an exciting topic! Others will buy the 0.2 and 0.3, all the way to those who will wait until the final draft is ready.

To sweeten the deal, I often set a reasonably low “early access” price compared to what a full technical book might cost. I also offer other perks, such as a private Discord for early readers, a special shout-out in the acknowledgment section, and other things to encourage readers to become part of the process rather than just recipients of the final product.

But mostly, the selling point is just the fact that I'm writing this thing in public, incorporating early feedback. That, and the fact that your readers are amazing and will do everything they can to support you. This gives them something concrete, a one-time transaction that doesn't trigger our dread for another subscription.

Since I stumbled upon this idea, I've completely changed my Substack business model. No more paywalled articles. With this model, I've been able to make all my content open and free while still having something valuable enough that some readers are willing to pay for.

I still have subscriptions enabled on my Substack, though they have now become a free-ride ticket to all my current and future books. Readers who want to support all of my work and can afford to do so will still go for a traditional subscription. But those who can’t or don’t want to be attached to another subscription have this alternative. It's a win-win.

Besides all the advantages in terms of profitability, there's another way in which this pivot has positively impacted my writing, and it's even more important: I'm more motivated than ever to write.

Since all my writing is now public, I know I'll have as many eyes as I could wish for every article. And at the same time, I know I'm not writing exactly for free. Each article brings a trickle of new book sales, not enough to make a living out of it (yet), but enough to trick my primate dopamine-seeking brain.

Some results of my own

If you’re here for the numbers, let me share some of my statistics for the past 8 months. I started with this idea in late February, and I have been running three book projects since in my Gumroad account:

1. The Science of Computation is a long-term project that aims to map all of Computer Science in an accessible and exciting way. It’s perhaps 20% completed.

2. The Hitchhikers Guide to Graph is a fun introduction to graph theory and algorithms that doesn’t require college-level math. It’s about a third of the way, although behind schedule according to my initial intentions.

3. How to Train your Chatbot is a practical handbook on using large language models to build cool applications. It’s almost finished now, and it’s by far my most successful writing project to date.

Each has the same business model. You can buy the early access version for a reasonable fee or a bundle that gets you all three for the price of one. That is my most sold product, of course. I often offer up to 50% discounts as CTAs on new articles, which are the main drivers for new sales.

I have almost 200 sales so far, which is not much by any stretch but is at least two to three times larger than my subscription-based income (exact numbers are hard to come by because of all the middlemen in both models). This is still insufficient to replace any of my regular income streams, but it’s getting closer by the day.

But, but…

"But wait—I hear you ask—writing a book is supposed to be very hard!"

Yes, it is. It is harder than just writing a sequence of more or less interconnected articles. There is definitely extra work involved in writing, formatting, and setting up yet another platform (because why the hell Substack doesn't have that feature yet, right?).

But here is the thing. Writing is way harder than any of that, and you're already doing the bulk of it. The rest is not that much harder. If you can consistently pump one article every couple of weeks, believe me, you can write a technical book.

"Ok but, what if I don't write about a single, focused topic?"

I hear you, I'm writing not one but three (!) distinct books on very different topics and for different audiences because I have many diverging interests—and I have three or four more that I just want to get started on, but I’m sensible enough to understand I can’t handle more than 3 at a time.

Perhaps you can find a subset of your articles that can be tied together into a coherent topic like I did. Or perhaps variety is your thing! Maybe your book is about 20 weird, interesting things few people know (I’m looking at all you polymaths out there!)

"But—I hear you again—I just want to share my knowledge freely!"

I get it, and it's commendable, truly. If you can afford to, that is. But what I've found out is that more often than not, even those who already are in a very stable financial position eventually discover they can't write for free as much as they'd want to. There is a finite amount of time and so many things to do with it. This is a way to make that free writing at least a bit self-supporting.

But you can still make 100% of your content free. That's what I'm doing with all my books. Everything, including source code, is available for free online. The book is just a convenient packaging with some additional syrup and a couple of cherries on the top—if you can pardon the lousy metaphor.

The point is that you can adapt this model to your interests and values. You can make all or most of the content free, or you can make the book an extended version of your articles. The core of the idea is that 80% or more of the work is already done when you hit publish on Substack. And the remaining 20% could be enough to make the whole thing, if not profitable, at least affordable.

Some final words

Listen, I'm advocating strongly for this business model because I'm rooting for you. I truly believe most of you technical folks out there have what it takes to make a compelling book on your area of expertise. But I understand this is not for everyone. So here are some reasons why you might not want to do this.

First, it does take some extra effort. The hardest part is, as you might suspect, consistent writing. I waited more than a year to ensure I'd found the workflow and rhythm that allowed me to write more or less consistently without the rest of my world breaking apart. If you're only a couple of months into technical writing, maybe it's better to wait until you've found your pace.

Second, it does put some extra pressure on you. Once you commit to a topic, you'll have to find a way to stay motivated to write about that same topic for over a year--or as long as it takes to finish the book. You can take some rest here and there, of course. But once you have people paying in advance for something you'll deliver in the near future, some pressure will inevitably build up.

Finally, we all know that once a hobby becomes a job, it stops being fun. There is the risk that this model turns your otherwise pleasurable moments of exploration into yet another thing you have to do instead of a thing you want to do. I don't have any magic potions to fight that. Still, I've found that keeping a healthy variety of topics to write about lets me procrastinate from one topic while investing in another, tricking my primate brain into thinking this is not work.

But all in all, I think this is one of the most underrated business models for technical writers, and there has never been a better time to do it. You have the technology, the platform, and now a community of like-minded writers to support you and help you stay motivated, and sometimes kick you in the butt if we must.

Please go ahead and give this idea at least a fair chance; you'll be surprised by how much you can enjoy it. If you want a bit of advice on getting started, feel free to reach out in the comments and ask around. I’m happy to share whatever little experience I have on this journey.