Do authors still need gatekeepers? Talking self-publishing with Emma Gannon

About a year ago, I showed up to a writer’s retreat led by Sunday Times Bestselling Author Emma Gannon on the Tuscan countryside. I had found Emma’s work through her excellent Substack The Hyphen, which I felt was a rare look into a working writer’s life. The Hyphen pulled back the curtain in a way that was authentic and vulnerable in a way I didn’t see other writers doing, which is why when I saw Emma was holding a retreat, I knew I wanted to attend.

The retreat was also when I started to work on the book that became Write for Money and Power. That’s why this interview was a full circle moment — Emma’s great book A Year of Nothing was self-published, and in this conversation we both talked about what our experiences in working on books sans gatekeepers has looked like.

Emma’s perspective has been especially fascinating because of her success in the traditional publishing sphere. She makes a good point in this interview, saying that ‘Substack is self-publishing.’ It’s true: if you’re publishing directly to your audience, that’s self-publishing!

In the past, self-publishing has gotten a bad wrap, but I’ve sensed things are shifting. Self-published books are on bookshelves. Self-published books are looking even more well-made than traditionally published books in certain cases.

As you can probably tell, I have lots of thoughts on this subject (and wrote my whole book on this!) but I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to chat with Emma Gannon about all of these topics. Watch the full interview below: