Substacks recommended by Tom | My Bookshop Backstory by Tom Rowley

Recommended by Tom

Off The Fence

By The Fence Magazine

A weekly newsletter comprising features, deep-dives, tips, investigations and gossip from the The Fence Magazine.

London Centric

By Jim Waterson

Proper local journalism about who really runs London - and what's actually going on in the city.

Tom Ryan, Author

Letters from the the Cape Cod National Seashore...and Beyond

The Clearing by Katherine May

A newsletter and community for wild minds, winterers and enchantment-seekers with internationally bestselling author Katherine May.

The Booker Prizes

Sign up to the Booker Prizes newsletter, where you can discover our long reads, book recommendations, exclusive interviews and much more, from the world's greatest writers of fiction.

Footnotes and Tangents

By Simon Haisell

Slow reads of great books. Book guides and a reading community to help you get more from the best stories.

Things Worth Knowing with Farrah Storr

By Farrah @Substack

A smart new corner of the internet to talk fashion, gardens and feelings with the former editor-in-chief of ELLE & Cosmopolitan. Plus join my invite-only community. We're nice...I promise.

Unmapped Storylands with Elif Shafak

Stories, anecdotes, wise proverbs and foolish thoughts, literary musings, insights and conversations centred around my personal, unpublished notebooks

A Writer's Notebook

By Summer Brennan

Home of Essay Camp and The Book Supplement.

Before and After the Book Deal

By Courtney Maum

Real talk about the writing + publishing industry from an author who doesn’t want you to feel confused, bewildered, or alone. Plus: craft tips, reading recommendations, writing support + solidarity (unless you are a jerk to people in the comments).

Story Club with George Saunders

A place to explore the way the short story works.

savour by Alice Vincent

notes on the delicious things in life: womanhood, words and overlooked daily wonders

The Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything

By Jonn Elledge

assorted nerdery from a man who should probably be doing something else

To a Green Thought

By Garth Greenwell

Books, art, music, movies

Comment is Freed

By Sam Freedman

Politics, policy analysis, and foreign affairs from Sam and Lawrence Freedman

Striking 13

By Ian Dunt

A newsletter about British politics. Written from the bad place.

A thoughtful (and sometimes sweary!) look at British politics from a sharp-eyed observer.

- Tom

The Elif Life

By Elif Batuman

Dispatches from the author of The Idiot

The Honest Editor

By Phoebe Morgan

Behind the books: how publishing works

Jimmy’s McLoughlin Notebook

By Jimmy McLoughlin

A notebook from a former Downing Street adviser on the future of work, jobs, politics + technology

I love Jimmy's take on business and the future of work

- Tom

Publishing Confidential

By Kathleen Schmidt

News and analysis about the book publishing industry that you won't read anywhere else.

Sarah’s Substack

books, historic houses, etc

Paintpot

By Lizzy Stewart

A bit of drawing, a bit of painting, some words.

Arts & Letters Daily

The best literary and arts writing on the internet

A Fan's Notes, by Nick Hornby

Music, books, movies, work, football, TV and so on.

It'll Be Fun, They Said

By Jess Pan

Writer in London working at a tiny indie London bookshop + latest news from my book - Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes