IMPORTANT: This Is Not A Newsletter Sent Via Substack

I thought I should write an explanatory message today about the way I'm doing things here from now on.

Tom Cox

26 Sep 2025 — 7 min read

I thought I should write an explanatory message today about the way I'm doing things here from now on. I did post last month about why I've moved my work from Substack back to my website, via the Ghost platform, but I'm aware that, because it was part of a newsletter about other things, it might have been easy to miss. I've also been made aware, via a couple of conversations, that some people think the newsletter is still coming from Substack, so here are the facts:

What has changed?

Not all that much, especially if you were already a paying subscriber. I'll still be (and still have been) posting my writing in the same way, and probably slightly more regularly, if anything. The difference is that it is not on Substack, which means I no longer have to deal with the Substack app or give ten percent of my earnings to venture capitalists. If you already subscribed, your subscription will have carried over and, if you are a paying subscriber, you also will no longer be giving ten percent of your subscription to venture capitalists. If you need to update your card details, or you want to upgrade your subscription in any way, this is now the place to do that. I have now merged my Ghost page with my website so everything is now in the same place, including my entire archive of writing, and links to purchase my books: all of it is here at www.tom-cox.com. My new 'about' page explains a bit more.

What is Ghost?

It's an open source blog and newsletter platform. It's much like Substack in some ways, or at least what I thought Substack was when I first signed up to it, in the belief it was a refuge from social media, rather than just another slightly disguised form of social media. At Ghost the emphasis is on the writers who use it, rather than the platform itself and its branding.

Why did I move?

As well as the aforementioned "ten percent to venture capitalists" situation and being uncomfortable with some of the political things Substack are making their money from, I had become increasingly unhappy with the direction the site was taking, with its prioritising of clickbait and short form noise and its hard emphasis on its Notes app. I realise that by moving away from it I have reduced my potential for "growth" (a very Substack word, that) and "discoverability" but I've instead decided to commit to spending more time working on long form essays and stories for the people who want to read them. Every paying subscriber will from now on receive between three and seven pieces per month in their inbox (i.e. everything I publish here). There will also be more music, book and film recommendations.

When I signed up for Substack, they suggested a £7 per month (or £70 per year) fee for paying subscribers. I went along with this, assuming it was standardised, offering reductions from time to time and a HUGE number of free signed books, but soon became uncomfortable with the way Substack's suggested rate cut a lot of my readers off from my paywalled writing; it also ultimately caused me to paywall very little of that writing. I'm hugely grateful for those who support me by paying that fee. But I wanted to also set up some lower tiers for people who can't afford that much, but still want to read all of my writing. I do, however, believe writers should be paid for their work, so - after a bit of deliberation - I've tried to come up with a range of options that will both keep me able to write regularly and pay the rent (taking into account my Ghost and Stripe fees in the future). I intend to stick to these for the foreseeable , and they are as follows:

Rate One, THE YOKEL: £2 per month or £20 per year

Rate Two: HELP THE WITCH: £4 per month or £40 per year

Rate Three: VILLAGER: £7 per month or £70 per year

All of these tiers give access to ALL of my paywalled writing.

If you still support my writing via the old, pre-Substack (i.e. pre-2023) system, where you subscribed to my old website, and you'd like to cancel that and subscribe here via the new system, please email me at hello@tom-cox.com and I'll cancel it for you. I'm sorry that those subscriptions don't switch over automatically but the changeover should be quite simple. And once you've done it you'll have full access to everything I post here, and the archive.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I'm hoping everything will be more simple from now on!

P.S. SIGNED BOOKS WITH FREE STUFF!

I also wanted to let readers in the UK know that I have a small pile of the newly republished Villager here, along with some postcards of my dad's beautiful map of the fictional village of Underhill, from inside the book. If you'd like a book for £9.99 cover price plus p&p, with a free postcard AND a free handmade linoprint bookmark by my mum, please drop me an email at hello@tom-cox.com. I'm happy to sign and personalise each copy. I also have a few of the other Swift reissues here - 1983, Help The Witch, 21st-Century Yokel and Ring The Hill - and just a very small pile of Everything Will Swallow You hardbacks. The same applies with all of these: happy to send signed and personalised, with bookmark and postcard (I have some of my dad's Time Travelling Cat series), while stocks last.

As an aside, I'm often asked by very thoughtful people where I would prefer that they purchase my books, so I thought it might be good to respond to that en masse here. My answer is ALWAYS independent bookshops, first. Secondly, I am happy if people purchase from Blackwell's or Waterstones. I recommend Blackwell's to overseas readers because of their amazing free delivery offer, and I am very grateful for the way they have supported the launch of Everything Will Swallow You. I would prefer that, if possible, people did not purchase from Amazon. However, when people who have enjoyed the books leave positive reviews on Amazon, it's very helpful, so on the off chance you have already read and enjoyed Everything Will Swallow You, and you fancy doing just that, it's much-appreciated.

Here are a couple of interviews I enjoyed doing recently: one about Everything Will Swallow You for Lori Feathers and Sam Jordison's Across The Pond podcast, and one about Villager with Lisa Brennan for Wild Reads.

Speaking of audio, I also had some good news earlier this week, which is that there is an audiobook of Everything Will Swallow You in the works. Fingers crossed this will be followed by audiobooks of Villager, 1983 and Notebook. Of course, the audio versions of 21st-Century Yokel, Ring The Hill and Help The Witch are all already very much available (and read by me).