Publishing is Broken but it doesn't have to Break Us

One of the great failings of tech over the decades has been the idea that the democratization of the internet meant that anyone can be successful in anything for any reason.

Creators often ask me what they should be doing to grow their publication,

For years, I've heard the same advice repeated in the writing community: write more, publish more, market more.

I spend a lot of time on consulting calls talking people through about how to get more people reading their work.

How many days a year do you really need to “win” to be successful? Is it 100? 50? Maybe 20? What if I told you it’s just 1–2?

I run into writers all the time who say some version of “I’m giving people what they say they want,” or “I’m writing more about my most popular topics, but I can’t replicate my success.”

I've spent years watching the publishing industry obsess over book launches.

I hear this question all the time and it’s kind of the whole game, right?

At the beginning of your writing journey, growth is easy and everything moves quickly.

The publishing industry, like most sectors of our economy, operates on careful calculations of profit and loss.

When people come to me after a poor launch, often even after gathering a big audience, I always ask this question:

Lots of people tell me they hate all marketing and "only want to write the next book" which is wild because,

The best way to make money as an author is to not grin and bear something you don't like.

Peter Yang from Creator Economy has been living rent free in my head for years due to his writing this about the two different types of social media companies,

Whether you’re a novelist, blogger, poet, or nonfiction writer, the ability to capture and hold an audience’s attention can make or break your career.

We've all come across classic writing advice like be consistent, engage your audience, find your authentic voice, and so on.

Sometimes it doesn't work.

Too often in life, the answer to “why am I not having success?” is that time has to happen.

Most successful people I know are masters of chaos magic.

At the beginning of my career,

I think about trust a lot; probably too much.

The publishing landscape has become increasingly complex.

I’ve written a lot about author growth in my career.