Optimize for joy and make money doing it.

Why picking the right partners at the right time matters for career success

This is our "quick start" triage guide to building your business and getting you on the right track, filled with practical strategies for balancing productivity, monetization, and more.

I was talking with a newsletter operator a little while ago and got to talking about newsletter stages, and places where writers get stuck in their growth journey. This is my answer.

There are better ways to introduce your subscribers to you than your membership. If you're having trouble converting paid subscribers, you might be looking in the wrong place.

Thinking on the mental tricks creators use to keep going in the face of self-doubt, fleeting attention, and constant audience churn.

I spent almost $50k on growth this year and went over 1,000 paid members this month. Did it help my bottom line?

We talk about sustainable productivity and making work at a pace that won't burn us out, but by doing so we're missing a big piece of the puzzle.

A Hot Mess Trope Subversion to Die For

The inaugural Author Nation conference brought changes to the indie author event scene, offering both improvements and challenges compared to 20 Books Vegas.

It's relatively easy to be grateful and thankful (or at least performative say you are) one day a year. It's considerable harder to make gratitude a way of life.

There are three words that can help, but you're probably gonna gag when you hear them. In fact, you are likely gonna have a lot of feelings reading this one.

Discover the key strategies successful creators use to bounce back from setbacks, embrace chaos, and maintain steady income streams in an unpredictable business landscape.

Another campaign in the bag. How did it go?

There are two questions we don’t talk about much when it comes to creating a subscription. They impact how much energy you invest, how you price your offering, and how it fits into your strategy.

As we toil away in obscurity, it’s normal to fantasize about being a tortured genius who will be appreciated in the future, maybe even after their death, like so many great writers of yesteryear.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're not too cool for marketing just because you "only wanna write the next book". You just love a different kind of marketing.

"You wear the crown, be toasted in the town And I'll take the fall when the wall's coming down Darling, If you're looking for a villain, I'm willing."

Your debut will probably flop, whether you are an indie or trad pubbed...and that's good news.

The best way to make money as an author is to not to grin and bear something you don't like. It's to find something you already innately understand and obsess over it.

No wonder everyone hates sales and marketing. The ways writers think about self promotion is deeply flawed. I would hate it if I did it their way, too.

I don’t talk about craft much, but I’ve written over 40 novels, plus produced over 1,000 pages of comics, so I do understand a lot about story.

Moodboards can be a powerful tool for all creators. They can help shape the visual direction of a project or publication, offer a sense of clarity, and focus your creative vision.

Do you wanna really know how to grow your Substack? There is really only one piece of advice.

This is the whole game, right? I mean, if we can all feel good about our marketing and we're reaching people that care about what we do, then it's easy to keep doing it forever.