Menu
Archive
Optimize for joy and make great money doing it.
Daily newsletter testing
In which I keep you updated on the testing and implementation of my daily newsletter, Authoresque.
Should you "write short"?
Ever since I joined Substack, the best practice I have heard was to “write short”. It started as shorter than 1,500 words, and then it reduced to 800-1,100 words. Is that good advice, though?
The new Super Nintendo World at Universal Hollywood is peak late-stage capitalism
Maybe I'm an old man shaking my fist at coulds, but Mario Land hits different than the rest of even Universal, let alone amusement parks, and feels like the start of something ominous.
Craft+Commerce lessons
What I learned from going to my first general business conference after attending 200+ publishing events in my career.
If a tree falls in your front yard...
I can tell you from personal experience that it absolutely makes a sound.
Ditch the Circus Act: Automate Your Indie Author Life (and Get Back to Writing!)
Automation isn't just about efficiency; it's about liberation. It's about giving yourself the gift of time to focus on what you love most: writing. Here's how it can change the game for you.
Creating a sustainable Substack content plan that doesn’t take up a ton of time
You made some awesome content on Substack, now it's time to maximize.
What do we owe to each other?
If it's hard and time-consuming and people often don't even appreciate help, so why do it? Why reach out?
How to network at a conference
I am very good at networking at conferences, probably because I've been to so many. Networking doesn't have to be a heavy burden. It can be light and fun. In fact, it should be.
Fighting the Green-Eyed Monster
Bear with me. I promise that this story of teenage angst has plenty to do with both writing and jealousy.
The Revenge Trope: Tightening the Ties that Bind in John Wick
A detailed look at the first twenty nine minutes of John Wick (2014).
Writer MBA 2024 virtual summit debrief
Wherein I spill all the tea about our latest virtual summit event.
How Wannabe Press is structured
I share the org chart of my company, which is more complex then you might think
Ad reports from growth agency
If you want to know the week-by-week play-by-play of my ads growth journey, here are the raw reports.
The NSFW Framework to Help You Market Your Book Better
Writing book blurbs, queries, or pitches doesn't have to be painful. I promise.
WTF happened in the last two weeks...
...and what god can I sacrifice a goat to make amends?
Intuitive brand strategy for writers
Crafting a brand doesn’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach; there’s no magic formula or secret ingredient. Instead, it’s our intuition that often leads us to the most meaningful outcomes.
How to comp subscribers from your previous newsletter to your Substack publication
On April 28th, 2023, I comped 25,000 subscribers from my previous mailing list to The Author Stack. Since then many people have asked me how I did it.
I have things to say about how creators talk about NSFW books
I recently did my first NSFW comic and how we talk about them is not okay.
Substack Milestone posts
Here are all my monthly and important milestone posts in one place. I'm not curating this very well, but I'll keep it as current as I can.
Year 2 on Substack: Writing consistently without burning out (part 2)
Cut to a year later—I started to feel a tiny sense of dread each time I had to come up with my next piece.
Objectively good and subjectively your jam...
People ask me often how I get over bad reviews and keep going even when people are unimaginably cruel. It all goes back to a simple parsing of semantics we aren't taught in school.