For Book Authors, Substack Is Vital Now, and Medium Could Be an Accelerator

Inspiration for Book Authors: No, print books are not dead! They are livelier than before.

Here is a copy for Medium readers to engage there.

Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels

Dear friends, I wrote this story from the heart today as I know many of you want to be a book author or those who published books struggle with marketing and sales due to confusion caused by misinformation, rumours, and myths, which I will address quickly.

If you are not interested in being a book author, you may ignore this post, but it still has valuable information giving guidance on two big platforms most of you write for. I give this exclusive story for free for all subscribers so that everyone can benefit from it. Please share with your friends who might be interested in book authoring.

It saddens me when I see so many writers pour their hearts and souls writing hundreds of wonderful stories but they hardly earn $10 monthly on Medium, for which I explain the reasons and offer possible solutions. This post is not a criticism or praise of any platform but of how we can navigate them and get the best out of them.

As a seasoned book author who tried both traditional and self-publishing, I make my decisions based on solid data, not emotions, rumors, or circulating second-hand information from people who have never published a book but pretend to know everything. If you listen to them, books died years ago, and now social media is where you make money, which is wrong based on my experience and systematic observations.

I wrote this helpful and heartfelt story to help book authors and aspiring ones who are misinformed and afraid of starting because they believe books don’t sell, we need tons of reviews to sell books, and we must spend a fortune to publish a book. I will briefly debunk all these myths because I want you to genuinely succeed and gain financial independence with the effort you already put in the wrong places.

First, I will debunk that books; especially, print books are dead. Interestingly, while my earnings from my articles significantly (in order of magnitude) decreased, my income from books just did the opposite. As I said before, I don’t write to earn income from my content, as I use that income for networking and philanthropic purposes. I have my full-time consultancy and other investments for living expenses.

However, I know thousands of people earn a significant income from books. Yes, there are six, seven, and even eight-digit income earners from books.

Normally, I don’t like sharing income publicly, but to make my point about print books, I will share a couple of stats to show you that print books are not dead.

I’ll provide one screen capture for income generated in the last month from just one outlet. My books are sold in over 50 outlets globally.

As you can see, print royalties are close to digital books. But ironically, subscription royalties are significantly low. I personally don’t give exclusivity to any publishing platform, as I prefer the freedom of publishing my book on as many platforms as possible.

Last year, when I surveyed over 100K book readers who subscribed to my mailing list, I noticed that around 80% of book readers are over 50 years old. More interestingly, at least 60% of them asked for print books as they don’t enjoy digital books.

Here is another perspective to show how print books are among my top five earners out of 39 books on this particular platform. I circled two to give you an idea of how important print books are in earning income.

In the first circle, the print book doubled the digital ones. The second one solely sold print books. Imagine I did not create a print book for this one, and I’d lose A$1125. This book is only read by paperback lovers due to its nature. In previous months, it earned some royalties from the digital version, but it always sold more print versions.

There are also cultural factors. For example, one interesting finding from my observations is that my readers from Japan mostly love print books. Over 90% of them buy my technical books in print format. Ironically, Japan is a technologically developed country, and one would expect everyone would like read digital format. But it is different in my experience.

So, our emotions and beliefs can be wrong; therefore, I prefer hardcore data when making decisions.

Recently, I published a book titled Cortisol Clarity. I distributed around 500 free copies to early readers. Interestingly, around 40% said whether I could provide a print version so they could read it and provide feedback. To cater to their needs, I worked with an on-demand company and sent print copies to those readers who donated significant money for my flexibility. I did not ask them to pay as I invited them to be free beta readers.

Like many wise people, I personally read paperback books every night to enhance my cognitive abilities, an important personal development practice I covered in my recent book, Train Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life.

After this important point, I want to touch on a few more critical points for book authors.

Some writers who created comfort zones on Medium write randomly without thinking about what readers want and without solving any reader problems, expecting to make earnings but ending up getting a few cents daily. They keep saying it is impossible to make money on Substack. I respectfully disagree. Every writer, including myself, makes more income on Substack than on Medium. Substack announced 7000+ bestsellers earning thousands of dollars, which nobody is talking about. I wonder how many writers earn over $100 on Medium.

But frankly and to be fair, we cannot compare these two platforms as they have different functionality and audience. Both platforms have their pros and cons. Until June 2024, my income on Medium was 100% more than Substack, as I was not monetizing my content there.

However, after June 2024, my income on Medium was reduced by 95%, but it increased by 600% on Substack. I didn’t put more effort into Substack, but I created a smart strategy and solid plan to succeed.

I only stopped writing on Medium for around three weeks due to a problem that was resolved recently. I still write on Medium almost daily, but not for earning income. Medium has many intangible benefits. I discussed them in multiple stories before like this one, but within the context of a story, Medium brings a lucrative intangible benefit for book authors.

Unfortunately, book content on Medium does not bring much income. For example, I shared around 20 chapters of one of my best-selling books on Medium, and it only earned around $30, equating to 3 copies. However, through Substack, that book sold over 10,000 copies.

Now, you might be asking why I still write on Medium if my earnings are so low. It is because Medium accelerates my book marketing and sales significantly. Like many, I was unaware of this situation last year and thought we could only feature one book. But Medium generously allows an unlimited number of books to be featured on our profiles, as shown in my profile.

image screen capture from my Medium profile

This is a fantastic opportunity for book authors. For example, I applied for six books to be featured in my profile, and the support team kindly featured all of them. When I check my dashboard daily, at least 500 views and clicks to those books come from Medium. The good news is that they don’t need to be members. Any visitors of Medium can click on our books.

Here is a screenshot of the last 8 hours of traffic to one site which is even more than Facebook and Google.

I mentor many aspiring book authors,, and some of them are not even aware of this feature. When I tell, them they get nicely surprised. It is a very simple process. If you have a book, you fill an online form providing basic information like the title/substitle, publisher, ISBN, and hosting link. Then, the support team will quickly add them to your profile.

So, Substack is wonderful for marketing or selling books and earning money, and Medium can accelerate it. If you use these two platforms wisely, you don’t even need paid ads. You don’t have to chase reviews. You will find readers much easily.

By the way, it is possible to make a book bestseller without any reviews and I proved it last year and this year. My Substack Mastery book had only 3 views, and one fo them was one star; yes, the person who read and possibly couldn’t understand the purpose gave one star. It did not bother me at all.

Ironically, after that person left that unfair review saying the book lacks information, the book's sales increased. Buyers are not stupid. Genuine readers hardly leave feedback.

For example, in the last two years, I have read over 1,000 books from Amazon and listened to over 500 audiobooks from Audible but have not left a single comment and never read comments from others because I know they won’t make a difference as touted. It is just the marketing pitch. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about book authors. I deeply care!

For example, I supported hundreds of those authors by promoting their books in different formats, like writing articles or sharing them in my circles and book clubs. For example, I helped a book author sell 5000 copies through my network, as the book was a life changer. I will write an article about it soon.

Interestingly, many first-time buyers of my Substack Mastery book from Amazon wanted to leave positive reviews, but they couldn’t, as they did not spend $50 on that platform, so they did not qualify to leave an honest review. I told them not to worry as I don’t expect any reviews and can sell a lot without them. But they can be important for first-time book authors, so getting reviews still has value.

Some writers have hundreds of articles on this platform or others which bring no income. It is a low-hanging fruit to turn that content into structured books and start earning. I provided practical guidance and handy tips for interested writers who can boost their freelancing business.

The Fastest and Easiest Way to Become a First-Time Book Author in 3 Months
A 10-step practical approach to creating a book in a niche repurposing your content without wasting your time and…medium.com

One more good news for book authors is that Amazon created a new opportunity a few days ago, allowing digital books to turn into audio books. I was fortunate to be selected for the beta of this program, and they helped me to turn my multiple books into audio to be sold on Amazon and Audible sites. I will write a detailed story about it as it is comprehensive.

To give you a perspective for those saying Medium is great for writing but Amazon sucks. It is again we cannot compare. Medium, as one of the largest content hosting platform, only earn around $5 million monthly, but KDP earned over 56 million last month. So, KDP is only one platform, and there are hundreds of others, and there are even bigger ones than that in some countries that not many book authors are aware of. Some of them are easier than KDP; therefore, I publish in many of them, which increases my earnings in an order of magnitude compared to KDP, which I also love and use.

I will write about these facts in my new Book Club soon to inform book authors. Last month, I created a book club on Substack, and many writers became members. I explained the benefits in a story here.

Why I Created the ILLUMINATION Book Club on Substack
How Book Authors and Book Lovers Can Benefit from Itmedium.com

You are welcome to join and reap the benefits of this low-cost education and marketing service. For beginners, I offer a 40% discount from the $5 monthly fee as I know how difficult it is to make money from books initially. You can still post your book content to my ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, not for earning money but to promote your books and find new readers for them. Here is the link to the submission guidelines:

ILLUMINATION Book Chapters: Submission Guidelines 2024
If you are a book author or planning to write a book, you can write for this unique publication on Medium which awards…

My aim is not to make money from these services but to help as many writers as possible become book authors and support book authors in marketing and selling more books. As a seasoned author, I will guide you and help you promote your books to gain more visibility through my extensive network.

In addition, I provide practical guidance to over 32,000 freelance writers through my Content Marketing Strategy Insights. Interestingly, the publication hit the top #5 as best selling in the Education category, though I offer most content for free.

Source

Until June 2024, this pub was not even in the top 1000. This indicates that when we approach with a good strategy and a solid plan, it is possible to succeed on Substack.

I am grateful that Substack announced my two publications as bestsellers in March 2025. I shared my strategy transparently, although it might not suit everyone.

How My 2 Publications Became Substack Bestsellers in 8 Months Without Even Aiming for It
I created two unique publications, each hitting the top 100 lists in two domains, and what you can learn from my…medium.com

I will share more lucrative strategies from other bestselling authors I worked with hundreds of them.

Health and well-being are essential to me and my readers. Therefore, I focus on it by writing and curating insights from other writers, practitioners, and thought leaders.

I recently authored a book titled Train Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life and shared some sample chapters on this platform. You can find links to ten chapters through this introduction story:

Early Access to “Train Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life”
Why I wrote this comprehensive book and how readers can benefit from it to improve their cognitive performance and…medium.com

Congratulations, ILLUMINATION Health and Wellness Network 🌟

I’m pleased that our Health and Wellness Network was announced as a bestselling publication on Substack in March 2025. Thank you for your excellent support in growing this network. These funds will go to our Substack Mastery Boost Pilot program to empower writers, readers, and editors of the program who keep the community vibrant. I wrote a story about this on Medium to guide freelance writers. To celebrate this milestone, I am providing a 50% discount to free subscribers who want to support our work and help this community grow fast.

Health and Wellness Network

Thank you for being part of our joyful and exciting journey.

I also interview many book authors and create visibility for their books on Medium, Substack, my website, and social media. Here is the latest one I did for one of my favourite authors

Maria Cross

🌹🌟👏 You may find many more great writer conversations at the end of the story. If you are interested, you can contact me via Illumination Slack, Substack profile DM, or my website.

Insightful Conversations with Registered Nutritionist Maria Cross
Maria is an expert in nutrition science and practice with over 30 years of experience empowering her clients with her…medium.com

I also opened my website to guest bloggers to help them create visibility for their articles, stories, newsletters, books, and resources for free. All authentic writers and book authors are welcome to apply as explained in the attached story.

Here’s Why I Opened My Website to Freelance Writers as Guest Bloggers from Multiple Platforms
I explain why and how writers can benefit from this free blogging opportunity, empowered by a non-commercial writing…medium.com

If you are a freelancer or have a startup to scale, I offer a Substack Mastery Boost Pilot initiative and also a low-cost service via Patreon.

I hope this story provided you with some guidance. My goal is not to convince those who are against book writing but to help those who are interested to increase their earnings from writing and diversifying their content. I respect everyone’s choice.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

If you are a writer, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 36K writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. You can contact me via my website. If you are a new writer, you might check out my writing list to find some helpful stories for your education.

I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter, where I offer experience-based content on health, content strategy, and technology topics to inform and inspire my readers. In addition, each publication is designed to empower freelance writers in different ways.

Health and Wellness Network

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights

Technology Excellence and Leadership

Illumination Book Club

I also lead ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers and Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community to empower our writers and readers.