The publishing industry is broken, but it doesn't have to break us
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.
Bouncing back: The defining feature of successful creators
Discover the key strategies successful creators use to bounce back from setbacks, embrace chaos, and maintain steady income streams in an unpredictable business landscape.
Wannabe Press Income Report - Q3 - 2024
This was a wild quarter, so this is gonna be a wild income report. I honestly don’t even know how to conceptualize it, but I'm gonna try.
The growth-to-monetization parallel
Balancing audience expansion and revenue generation in a way that won't burn you our or drive you mad...there are plenty of other tasks for that.
You build the structure for your next launch during your current launch
Most entrepreneurs expect sales the minute they get started, but there's a huge flaw in their logic. Once somebody joins your ecosystem, they're still a long way from giving you money.
Are you running a low touchpoint or high touchpoint subscription?
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.
Tortured genius
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.
Letters to villainous ghosts
"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
Your debut will probably flop, whether you are an indie or trad pubbed...and that's good news.
The. Only. Good. Marketing. Is. The. Marketing. You. Do.
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.
Always sell the transformation
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.
Platform, audience, and assets
The success of any launch usually comes down to these three factors. Can you guess what they are? It's not a trick question.
Be interesting enough for long enough around enough people
Do you wanna really know how to grow your Substack? There is really only one piece of advice.
"How do I market myself without feeling gross about it?"
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.
I know my Author Ecosystem. Why do I even care and what do I do now?
People are often stumped as to what to do once they have their author ecosystem. This is a guide all about what you do with it to get to success faster than you ever thought possible, and it's a lot.
Prioritizing your business using a modified Eisenhower Matrix
Master your priorities with my own version of the Eisenhower Matrix: a simple tool to focus on what truly matters.
Most of your best readers haven't even been born yet
A seeming contradiction about marketing, sales, and finding your people.
Outward success, inward turbulence
Sometimes, maybe even often, maybe even most of the time, it looks much different than it is behind the scenes.
How to form strong strategic partnerships in publishing
My motto is "do cool things with cool people" but what does that mean in practice?
The era of rapid trend cycles in publishing
AI's Impact on rapid releasing, a decreased ability to find category arbitrage, and the shift in the balance of Author Ecosystems dominance in publishing.