the novelist

MacKenzie Scott announced this month that she is publishing an 80,000-word serialized novel for free on Substack. (I am not making this up.)

Let me give you the context.

Before she was a billionaire philanthropist, MacKenzie Scott was a writer. She had published a novel, recognized in literary circles for its careful attention to character. She was known, among people who read that sort of thing, as someone who understood how people deceive themselves. At that time, she was also married to Jeff Bezos.

Then they divorced. The settlement was among the largest in history.

Over the following years, Scott gave away billions of dollars in grants. She did not require applications. She did not request proposals. She identified organizations she believed were doing useful work, and she sent them money, without preconditions, without ceremony, without naming rights. She did not hold galas. She did not install plaques. She would research privately, decide privately, and then transfer funds directly. After the money had already moved, she would post a brief note online explaining what she had done. She did not take further questions.

This is an unusual way to give away money. The standard approach involves a great deal of letting people know. Institutions are named. Speeches are delivered. Newsletters are established. Scott did not appear to find any of this necessary.

She is now publishing a novel. It is free.

I want to be precise about what is happening here. She is not releasing the novel as a promotional exercise. She is not building a public profile. She is not touring. She is not, as far as I can tell, available for comment. She is publishing an 80,000-word work of fiction on a newsletter platform, at no cost to anyone who reads it.

The woman who gave away $19 billion without conditions is giving away a novel without conditions.

She seems to have one mode. She has had it for a long time.

The most interesting detail in the announcement — and I say this as someone who has read a great many press releases — is what is not in it. There is no price. There is no launch event. There is no strategic rationale. There is no explanation of what any of this means for her brand.

There is just a novel. It is 80,000 words. It is free.

She appears to have written it. She also appears to have no particular plans for it beyond that.

I find this clarifying.