Scavenging in the Media Wastelands: Or, Substacking While Trying to Make a Living Writing

From The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Yes, I acknowledge this is a bit of an overly dramatic image choice.)For this week’s Counter Craft, I’m trying something a little different and co-publishing a conversation with about Substack, the state of literary venues, and trying to make a living as a writer in the modern media wasteland. Warner is publishing the conversation simultaneously on his excellent Substack The Biblioracle Recommends, which is well worth subscribing to for anyone interested in writing, education, and literature. Before I get to the conversation, I saw two depressing writing landscape tidbits I thought I’d share to depress you too. But also because both seem relevant to my conversation with Warner about surviving as a writer in the current landscape. First, a chart from a National Bureau of Economic Research study showing that the number of ebooks published each month has tripled since ChatGPT was released: I think the chart is self-explanatory. The…