MacKenzie Scott’s Novel Comeback After 13 Years

MacKenzie Scott, one of the world's largest and most private philanthropists, is returning to her first career: fiction writing. She will publish her third novel, “Últimos días en dos naciones (Una historia en dieciocho mentes)” — translated as “Last Days in Two Nations (A Story in Eighteen Minds)” — for free on Substack, releasing the 80,000-word, 317-page work in installments throughout August.

Scott has not released a novel since 2013's “Traps” and has maintained an extremely low public profile. Since her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, she has been known almost exclusively for giving away more than US$26 billion to over 2,500 organizations, often with no reporting requirements. The author, who studied creative writing at Princeton under Nobel laureate Toni Morrison — whose praise helped her debut, “The Testing of Luther Albright,” win an American Book Award — now steps back into the cultural conversation on her own terms.

On Substack, she posted only the cover, table of contents, a list of characters, and the epigraphs, inviting readers simply: “Read and subscribe.” No plot details have been revealed. The move bypasses advances, publishers, and promotional tours, echoing the directness that defines her philanthropy.

Inside the Decision to Publish for Free on Substack

The choice of Substack is more than a distribution channel; it is a statement about control and audience. Scott has long communicated through sporadic Medium essays and her Yield Giving platform, preferring to let her actions speak. Now she is applying that same philosophy to literature.

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Substack as a Platform for a Billionaire Author

By serializing the novel on Substack, Scott avoids the traditional publishing circuit entirely. There are no advances, no agents, no marketing campaigns. The platform allows her to retain full editorial control, publish on her own schedule, and build a direct relationship with readers. For a writer navigating a public identity dominated by her divorce settlement and massive charity, it sidesteps questions of commercial viability. She is not selling the book; she is sharing it.

What Scott’s Free Novel Says About Her Approach to Creation

The move mirrors her philanthropic style: give the work away at scale, with minimal conditions, and let its value be judged by those who encounter it. In a 2022 Medium essay, Scott explained that a “belief in the diversity of voices” pushed her to abandon privacy for a time to shine a light on the organizations she supports. Returning to fiction, she appears to be doing the same — placing the text directly in readers' hands, free of charge, and disappearing from the spotlight once it is released. It is not a commercial strategy; it is a personal return to origination, where the writing circulates on its own merit.

How You Can Read It

  • Subscribe to the novel’s Substack — named after the book itself — to receive the serialized chapters for free throughout August. No payment or subscription fee is required.