Publishers Weekly reviewed my upcoming book, How to Save the Media, and called it "a glimmer of hope". Full review: 'McKenzie (Insane Mode), cofounder of Substack, makes a convincing case for a media system based on direct relationships between creators and audiences. As social networks upend traditional news outlets, he urges the industry to adopt a business model like Substack’s subscription-based system. “The marriage of infrastructure that supports direct relationships with a set of incentives that align the platform, publisher, and audience is one of the keys to a new era in media,” he argues. This direct-to-consumer approach, he explains, enables writers to sidestep traditional power brokers, like TV networks, advertisers, and billionaires. Subscription journalism, the past province of eccentric independents, is now making millionaires of writers, he claims, pointing to Heather Cox Richardson, a Boston College history professor who formerly posted for free on Facebook and now writes about politics for thousands of paying subscribers on Substack. Elsewhere, McKenzie relates a riveting recent history of media, from Twitter’s twice-attempted purchase of Substack to Bari Weiss’s founding of The Free Press on Substack and subsequent hiring as the head of CBS News. Pushing back against criticism that Substack just tells readers what they want to hear, McKenzie envisions the direct-subscription model will enable a more thoughtful future. It’s a glimmer of hope in a bleak media landscape.'