Differences between Substack and Patreon
I wanted to write a post today in this neutral space (!) about the differences between a paid membership to Substack and Patreon, and what each might offer you.
In short, I think of Patreon as a community-based hub, and Substack as a place which is focussed more on my writing, reviewing and general bookish musings. In the courses and slow reads that I run on the latter, it is more of a teaching-based offering instead of a book club, as Patreon is. On Patreon, I am generally reading books that are new to me with you all, whereas on Substack I’ll generally be sharing books I’ve already read and analysed myself. The reason I have both set up like this is because of the way the platforms are designed—Substack is great for any form of writing, but does not provide good integration for community-led stuff.
A paid membership to Substack is about the price of a coffee a month—it is currently pretty much as low as Substack will allow me to set it. It’s possible as it takes an enormous amount of work that this price will rise in the future, but if you subscribe now you will always be able to receive paid posts on this lower fee.
There are multiple different tiers on Patreon, so you can pick and choose what would work best for you. If you wanted to subscribe to both, it is about the price of a pretty bad pizza once a month. Why have a bad pizza when you could have access to all of the below!? And it is less than the cost of a new book.
You can also subscribe to either on an annual basis, which is ultimately cheaper and is a bit less irritating than a monthly fee.
Let’s get into some of the details.
Substack
Substack has allowed me to achieve my dreams of being able to write about books and make it part of my living! If little me could see me now! In this space, I really want to help readers find great books, and get the most out of their reading experience. I’m sharing everything that I’ve learned over the years here.
On Substack as a paid subscriber (£3.99) you would receive:
Access to all paid courses, past and present. This year I am running one called How to Read and Analyse a Novel, as well as an Introduction to Speculative Fiction.
Access to all slow reads, past and present. I am running one for John Crowley’s Little, Big over summer, and The Gormenghast Trilogy at the end of the year.
Subscriber-only chat, which we mostly use in conjunction with the courses and slow reads above.
Full access to The Minutiae; a regular newsletter covering a wide range of things, mostly bookish but occasionally more personal.
Novel Matters: a regular-ish series where I deep dive on a book that actually looks at the novel form itself. Learn about that weird thing—the novel!—with me.
I have also updated the free offering to include more. As a free subscriber, you would receive:
Monthly reading round-ups.
Further round-up content, like reviews of new releases or overviews of backlist titles.
Occasional free Minutiae newsletters.
Occasional interviews with authors.
Patreon
Patreon is my spiritual internet home. We chat regularly, and many of my ideas for other content start in the crucible of our Discord server, or in our Zoom meetings. I have made IRL friends through the space, and am so grateful that it is full of so many wonderful smart people. They’ve given me so many great book recommendations, of course, but also a real sense of community and belonging.
Click here for a full breakdown of all the different facets of our book club. We have our monthly book club pick, of course, but we also dip our toes into new releases, speculative fiction, big books, nonfiction, and more.
Tier 1 - The Reading Nook (£3 a month)
On this tier you get access to our community Discord server. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the biggest attraction of this Patreon is the absolutely incredible community we have over there. Your TBRs will grow, and you're sure to find all time favourites through the chats we have.
You also get early access to YouTube videos, access to all the Storygraph readalongs (so the Moon club, the MBC readalongs, the Big Books) and of course, any buddy reads, too.
This tier will suit those best who aren't sure they can or want to commit to a proper meetings-based book club and want to dip in and out a bit more, and also just want access to a great bookish community and Discord.
Tier 2 - The Reading Notes (£5 a month)
Naturally you get all that's available on tier 1, and you will also get access to my more in-depth posts on the Big Books and Moon picks (sometimes in video/audio form).
You also get access to The Review on this tier. This is a monthly meeting which is like a show-and-tell for books, and they are some of my absolute favourites. It gives us a chance to discuss books that aren’t monthly book-club picks, and add to the ever-growing TBR.
This tier will suit you if you aren't sure you want to attend a meetings-based monthly book club, but you'd still like access to the community and the monthly Reviews. And of course have access to a constantly growing selection of in-depth posts about various novels.
Tier 3 - The Reading Room (£8 a month)
Unsurprisingly, you get access to all the above on this tier! The book club meetings, MBC meetings, the Review. You can watch back recordings of them all too if you aren't able to make the live event. If you want to follow along with the monthly book club, this is really the tier to pick. Our meetings have deepened my understanding of all the books we pick, and it has been so rewarding to take part in them the last couple of years.
This tier will suit you if you just want an all-access experience, and our best and most in-depth discussions. For me I love the monthly meetings because it feels like all the best parts of the university experience; being able to break down a book into its parts, see what works, what doesn't work, how the book functions as a whole. But without all the horrible essay deadlines. And also with a bloody great bunch of people. I know a lot of folks make use of the recordings, too, if you're not sure you want to contribute directly.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not sign up for the book club through the Patreon app as Apple charges you extra fees—so you'll be paying more for the same thing! Use your web browser instead (on mobile or desktop).
Testimonials
Here are some of the lovely testimonials I have received from patrons:
Joining “The Unseen Review” has been one of the best decisions that I have made in the last 5 years. I have always been a reader. Reading has been a constant in my life. Different hobbies have come and gone over the years, but reading has always stuck around. In 2022, I reached a point where I was reading less and less, and the books that I was reading lacked any sort of impact, meaning or exposure to new perspectives. I found myself on a treadmill of reading mediocre new releases with picture perfect Instagrammable covers, constantly chasing a neverending, algorithmic, and overfamiliar “TBR” of books that everyone else seemed to be reading. At this time in my life, I was experiencing a lot of personal heartbreak and upheaval, and deeply missed the role of reading in my life, which has always had the capacity to lift my spirits, put me in the shoes of others and provide a much-needed escape from the chaos of our wider world. When I came across Jess on Youtube, I was thrilled to finally come across some books that I had never heard of, and to finally find a creative and imaginative outlet that I was craving in my reading.
After joining the Patreon, I read. I read and read and read again. I read bucketloads of speculative fiction. I stepped into fantasy worlds I hadn’t imagined since childhood, and trained my anxieties on imaginative dystopias while ignoring the real ones. I started to read a lot more translated fiction, exposing myself to new worlds, languages and cultures. I felt like I was back in my beloved English classes at school, truly nerding out on the analysis of the books we read together. While discussing books with people from all over the world, over time, I could almost feel my empathy, vocabulary and communication skills growing and forming a brand new lens upon which I started to see the world.
The most surprising gift from the Unseen Review has been the gift of reading in friendship and community. Before the Unseen Review, I often found myself wanting to share thoughts about books with others, and had been in many in person book clubs, but the experience always seemed to fall short somehow. Nowadays many love to speak of the division that seems to have befallen so many of us as a result of the internet, and how community seems to have fallen by the wayside. However, I have found to experience the opposite through my time in the Unseen Review. In a very organic way, I have found some incredible friends from all over the world through the Unseen Review. Through buddy reads and the regular Zoom meetings, many friendships grew surprisingly naturally which led to many in person meet ups and trips. I was shocked to experience a depth of empathy and friendship that I had never anticipated, and a couple of years on, I would count some of these new unanticipated friendships to exist alongside those of some of my closest and oldest friends. We have so much more in common than that which divides us. I would highly encourage anyone with a love of reading to join the Unseen Review, it is truly my favourite place on the internet.
—Martina
I've always loved Jessie's online book content, so it was a natural decision to join The Unseen Review Book Club once it launched. What really makes me excited to be a part of it, is the community aspect, which I didn't expect to be as lovely, enriching and engaging as it is. Talking books with other like-minded folks from all over the world is an experience I cherish a lot. Particularly our online meetings and passionate Discord discussions made me less anxious to talk about my reading and sharing thoughts with others. Coming from someone who never spoke up in class, this should be viewed as a true testament to the kind of comfort Jess has created in the Book Club.
—Patrycja
I joined the Unseen Review in order to find and read new books I may not have heard of or not taken the plunge to read before, but I stayed because of how impressed I was by the offering. Jess doesn't only host the book club with a one-off meeting, it's genuinely a deep-reading experience with thoughtful analysis and questions (without removing the casual, lovely environment brought on by everyone). There's also extra meetings to allow for other book discoveries and discussions, it's a lot in the best way! The community is also so nice, there's never an air of pretension or judgement during meetings, and I've found some genuinely close friends through it.
—Natalia
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that other people enjoy the Patreon as much as I do. Although I nominally run it, I feel like it is such a collective space, and I enjoy it as a participant as much as a host. It has quite literally changed the trajectory of my life—when I realised how much I was enjoying working on book club, I knew I had to make some changes so that I could do more of it. I find it difficult to ‘sell’ this space as it is quite precious to me. But I really think there would be so many out there who would enjoy it, and I hope that some of them will find it today.
