I read my first book on Substack! 📕
When I joined this platform, I was ready to switch my fiction writing to an online platform but not my fiction reading. I just couldn’t imagine enjoying a book in a blog (or newsletter) format.
Why?
I read mainly on Kindle followed by real paper-and-ink books. I tried reading books on my phone but gave up.
I tried reading serialised fiction for the first time on Substack and up until now, I found it a bit cumbersome. It takes me a while to get into a book, and once I do I like to keep the momentum and completely immerse into the experience. With serialised fiction I have to wait for the writer to publish the next chapter. I also read several serialised novels in parallel (sometimes by the same author, such as the prolific with Brae’s Meteorite slake.substack.com/s/br… and Precipice slake.substack.com/s/pr…) but this parallel reading tends to turns my brain into a neurone mush.
It’s not even the reading-more-books-in-parallel itself, it’s just that there is so much distraction on Substack as a platform. Let’s say publishes several new chapters (in a single newsletter) from his novel And in the Dark They Are Born emeralddash.com/s/books. When I head to Substack to read them, there’s a flood of distractions: notifications, checking my stats, checking Notes, checking Chat, a post with a catchy title, by the time I remember why I opened Substack it’s time to cook lunch, or go to the gym, or meet a friend, or go to sleep, you get my point. 😐
But I think I found the sweet spot of reading fiction novels on Substack:
The novel has to be good.
The novel has to be finished.
When I enlisted in ’s 100 readers marketing initiative for his book Memory of my Shadow catchrelease.net/s/memo… I didn’t expect much. I was excited about supporting an author but dreaded a bit the reading experience on Substack. As a consequence, I kept postponing it until the reading deadline approached and I got an email reminder from Ben. Then I postponed it another week. The alarm bells were already ringing in my head: in the morning when I woke up, in the evening when I went to bed, every time I went on Substack, every time I read another book my brain went: ‘You have to read Ben’s book’.
Which I did.
And I loved it.
Memory of my Shadow by Ben Wakeman is a sci-fi story about a scientist who dedicates her life to creating a conscious AI while coming to grips with the trauma of witnessing her twin brother commit a mass-shooting during high school.
It’s by far one of the best AI sci-fi books that I read and it addresses many of the topics currently debated in the media in relation to AI such as ethics & moral in dealing with AI, AGI, the impact of AI on society, the role AI could play in our lives down the road, AI and sentience. It’s also beautifully written with a cast of well-rounded characters.
Ultimately, if a book is good, I’ll read it even if it’s written on paper napkins.
But as wrote in one of his latest newsletter simonkjones.substack.co…, it wouldn’t hurt if the fiction reading experience on Substack was improved. Simon’s book Tales from the Triverse simonkjones.substack.co… is next on my Substack reading list.
How about you, did you already read a whole book on Substack?
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