Get The F Out, Glennon!
An eruption of exclusion that showed her the door right quick--and why that says more about us than her
In case you missed it, New York Times Bestselling author Glennon Doyle recently planted a flag on Substack. She migrated a following of many, MANY tens of thousands of fans to the platform and was an instant sensation, topping the charts as new Substack Bestseller.
This is not the first time a big name author has made their way onto Substack, but for some reason, it was the most egregious.
If you don’t know who she is or what the fuss is about, I’ll sum up her life in a sentence: Glennon Doyle is a bestselling author and speaker who turned her personal journey through addiction, eating disorders, and self-discovery into a powerful message about honesty, resilience, and living with purpose.
That bitch!
Instantly, there was an arm throwing, head tossing, collective Goddammit, another one!, sentiment across the platform. One person went so far as to write an unbelievably long Note about how Glennon can come in, but she should loiter around to better understand the “culture” of the platform, and then use her notoriety to uplift unknowns instead of doing her thing the way she’s always done it.
Really?
Are you joking?
You’re actually telling a wildly successful, accomplished woman that rather than bringing her success to us PROUDLY, she should shrink herself down to have a look around and then suppress her talent of connecting authentically with her own decades-long audience, so she can instead help people like you build yours?
Is it me or is this the most outlandish thing you’ve ever heard?
Did you ask that of Dan Harris when he arrived, pen a-blazing?
Glennon owes us nothing.
You went to a book signing? Great. Glad you enjoyed her work. Super. She still owes you nothing other than a thanks for buying her book (which you enjoyed and found valuable enough that you showed up to meet her in person).
I can’t help but remember James Patterson didn’t get this level of harassment when he showed up. (And we all know JP isn’t even writing his own stuff anymore!)
Big and small
It’s intimidating when the big timers show up. I feel some of that, too. But, I’m self-aware enough to realize it’s just my insecurity being triggered. And, maybe a little fear that when the big cats roar they have the potential to change the entire dynamic of the platform—which, up until today I thought was unique and nice.
Glennon left. She took her ball and went home.
All the wisdom and insight about the practice of writing, process of getting published, grit, and resilience of difficult self-discovery in the public eye…poof! All gone because the mean girls bullied her out the door.
Two things:
I’m ashamed of us, collectively, for pushing someone (another writer!) out.
I hope she writes the hell out of a new bestseller talking about jerks who felt so threatened by her success that they couldn’t just leave her alone. She’ll have the last laugh over fancy wine and caviar with her gigantic advance.
Envy is a deadly sin for a reason
You don’t get to be mean to successful people just because they’re successful. You just don’t. It’s unwarranted, unkind, and unbecoming.
Aren’t you actually here trying to be successful, too (in whatever way you define success)? I know you are. No one puts their blood, sweat, and tears into the art they share in order to intentionally stay invisible. Everyone wants to be seen and known.
But, apparently if you get too seen or too known or too loved or too followed, you’re evil and must be eradicated.
That’s what we told Glennon. (And by we, you know I don’t mean me.) The collective inferiority complex of the loudmouths came for her like a dragon from a cave, spraying hellfire all over one woman who was just doing the thing that comes naturally to her.
A woman, by the way, who is a human being with feelings. And dreams. And talent.
One and done
I saw exactly ONE post from Glennon. It wasn’t even a post—it was a LIVE. She was in the car with her partner, Abby, and she’d gone LIVE. Her hair was messy, her makeup non-existent. (Abby told her she looked pretty.) No one was around to gussie her up or airbrush a fake tan or fuss over diffused lighting. She was riding shotgun in the car doing a normal thing and coming directly to her audience to tell them she was going to use Substack to show up as she was.
And we told her that “as she was” wasn’t wanted here. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya, Glennon!
Gah! I’m so grossed out by everyone who publicly railed about her presence here. I bet her DMs were full of ever more heinous vitriol.
Where’s the abundance?
Instead of recognizing that the 200k people she brought over could potentially find and follow you, too, a scarcity mindset took over and the assumption became that there wouldn’t be enough to go around if Glennon sucked the followers up like a Dyson.
To her credit, Glennon left.
Yes, to her credit. She felt unwanted and we all know that feeling sucks. So, she didn’t fight the tide.
We lost out on whatever might have come from her adding her voice around here. And more than that, we showed the scared, small, envious underbelly that hides beneath the “Substack’s so nice!” exterior.
Whether you like her, hate her, or know absolutely nothing about her, we’re worse for this.
We must do better.
And now, the comments…
I put out a Note this morning when I head she left. People had things to say, and I want to offer a place for them. Some said she should’ve shown some grit and stuck it out. I can somewhat agree. But, on the other hand, if you get a huge palm to the face, is it really a battle worth fighting?
Others said it wasn’t that she showed up, but the way she arrived. Maybe that’s true. Like I said, I only saw the one LIVE. But, still. What makes us think we can or should have the right to control HOW someone launches here? We speak with our subscriptions, and we can withhold them if their vibe doesn’t parallel ours.
Here’s the Note I wrote:
And here are some of the responses. I’ll tag everyone who contributed at the bottom.
Seems we have no shortage of opinions around the Glennon thing. From the bings and pings I’m hearing from my phone, I think there’ll be loads more.
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Want to help restore my faith in kindness as a Substack default setting? I always appreciate a good, hot, creamy latte!
I hadn't heard that Glennon had already left the platform. I'm really sorry to learn that. More eyeballs on Substack strikes me as a good thing, not a bad thing.
"The Nickelback of writers" comment is extra bullshitty. Glennon did the turn-messy-and-rawness-into-art thing as well as anyone ever. She's all heart. The best writing isn't flowery descriptive words. The best writing is whatever grabs your insides and won't let go. She's as good at that as anyone.
Thanks for writing this, Andrea.
I'm going to posit a very unpopular opinion -
I went back to college in middle age and was surrounded by many intelligent and wonderful professors. Most were dedicated lifetime members of organizations relating to what they taught. One found errors in the first 3 versions of Microsoft DOS, another went on Anthropology digs in the summer to far away places in Africa.
There was one very special one who taught an English class, whose vocabulary would rival that of William F. Buckley. Although never having taken her class, we spoke often about the wonderful places reading would take you - (travel without moving) as one R&R group said. Every class of hers was introduced to the greats of poetry and she challenged them to write as if their imagination was boundless. Almost without fail, they would invite her to a local coffee house for a 'Poetry Slam' she would always politely decline.
I asked why, she replied that once your work is accepted in "The Circle of Greatness" there is little room to return because you will be judged harshly on every comma, every jot & tittle, every nuance and all by people whose work is not as good as your own."
Another thirty years would pass for me before the gravity of that statement became true; While there are many opportunities and organizations begging you to join, there are very few that are the right ones.
In 2002 I retired from a day job to become a photographic artist full time. Over the next 12 years, my work has been shown worldwide, collected by a great many and finally selected to become part of the permanent collection at Purdue University. I retired from the visual arts in 2014.
Sometimes you realize that the audience is not 'your' audience - and it is time to move on and rather than a tragedy, we should celebrate someone who continues to do excellent work even though it is not in our venue.