- The Author Stack
- Posts
- [DIGEST] Dead week...
[DIGEST] Dead week...
Your weekly stackable roundup
Hi friends,
I learned a new term this week for the time between Christmas and New Years…Dead Week. It sounds like a very campy horror movie, but I love the sentiment of embracing the nothing of this week to devolve into a slug and become mud.
I do not rest by resting. I rest by fidgeting with stuff, and that’s what I have been doing all week. I tested out some new tech, watched movies, and read so many books, which is about as oozy as I get.
Christmas was nice, but I never got into the spirit of the season even when we were opening presents with my nieces and nephews, which is weird because my #1 love language is gift-giving. Unfortunately, that often clashes with my dislike of capitalism, and Christmas is peak capitalism, where people judge how much you love them by how much you spend on their gift.
Still, it’s always nice to see family and make people happy, which to me is the true beauty of the season. That sentiment is not revolutionary or anything, but I still like it anyway.
As a holiday treat, here’s a picture of Cocoa munching treats out of his stocking, the purest form of Christmas spirit.
If you want to share how you are doing this week, then there are two ways to interact with this post.
1 - If you don’t want to say anything, or bristle at identifying yourself, then you can reply with this nifty poll.
2 - If you’re feeling very brave, then reply below and tell us how you are doing right now on a scale from 1-5.
I made it to a 3 this week, less because of feeling better and more because I’ve lowered my expectation of what a 3 means. To me, a 3 is average, and I think this is my average, so I’ve adjusted my expectations as such. Earlier this year I would have definitely called this a 2.
ENDING SOON: This is the LAST WEEK of our campaign. If you care about direct sales at all, you must have this two-volume guidebook to mastering direct sales for authors.
and I have been working on this book for basically our whole careers. This book contains a combined 25 years of hard-won practical experience from building our own direct sales empires and helping hundreds of authors build them, too.
If Author Ecosystems is the lens by which you look at direct sales, then Direct Sales Mastery for authors is the guidebook. Whether you are just thinking about direct sales or you want to take your business to the next level, this is a must-read book, and it’s available exclusively to Kickstarter backers. It won’t be on retailers for several months after we deliver it to Kickstarter. If you want to get ahead of the curve and hit 2024 running, then we hope to see you behind the backer wall.
WHAT WE WROTE ON SUBSTACK: This week, I wrote a post with my friend Lily Wong about how to print books and the options available to authors.
from Geniuslinks wrote an article about why and how you should use universal book links.
Finally, wrote a post about how to build a sustainable Substack in 2024.
The number led to a pay phone outside of a laundromat. Another dead end, or so I thought until I watched a cockroach-faced monster walk out of the laundromat every time the phone rang and jot down notes on a pad of paper before returning inside.
By the end of a single day, the phone must have rung a dozen times, and the cockroach diligently answered every single one but never made an outbound call. The bug never talked to anyone except customers who asked for change, and the notepad never left his pocket.
Around six in the evening, just when I thought I couldn’t look at a stupid roach anymore, an oversized lizard ambled into the laundromat. The cockroach nodded to the lizard, pulled out the notepad, and handed it over.
The lizard thanked the man and left. Finally, some action.
All chapters of The Godsverse Chronicles are now free for all subscribers. You can read the whole series from the beginning right here.
You still only get access to a bunch of free books and stories from my back catalog by becoming a paid member. You can start your membership with a 7-day free trial.
UPCOMING ARTICLE: Next week, I’m releasing a two-part article all about how to create a content calendar. Have ever wondered how companies seem to know what to write every week of the year like they are some sort of magic toad that never gets blocked? I'm about to blow your mind.
I’ll be honest. The thought of creating a content calendar makes my jaw clenches and every hair on my body stand on end. Then, this song just starts playing in my head.
So why, if I find creating a content calendar so disagreeable, am I talking about creating one? Why? Oh why?!
Because my friends, life is insufferably long and you have to keep doing this work forever. After enough time, you just run out of things to talk about and it’s nice to have something to fall back on and say;
I have been writing articles about building a creative business since 2008 and it’s so hard guys. It’s so hard to keep having things to say, but if you don’t have things to say then people will fade away and stop paying attention. Or maybe they won’t. I know they whole thing about subscriptions is that people are there to support you, but like…they do eventually want some decent content.
ROUNDUP: Here are some of my favorite articles of the week.
Business-y:
investigates the insufferable bros that run corporate America, muses about their time as a weary CEO, quits their job for happiness's sake, and lays out their top 10 lessons for product managers from 2023.
becomes a better leader through anger management, doesn’t think NFTs or AI will kill photography, and asks why only the rich and powerful can go bankrupt without losing everything.
Publishing-like:
and play the long game learning curve, witnesses a literary renaissance in Basra, and wins the metaverse by writing a year-in-review about how to write year-end reviews.
finds the courage to write less, lists the over 200 lit mags founded in 2023, and learns game-changing Substack writing secrets by studying wombats.
sets process goals, teaches us how to support writers in 2024, and knows that writing a memoir ain’t easy.
Culture-ish:
defines their values for 2024, decides what’s in and out in 2024, and issues an Anti-New Year’s challenge.
deobjectifies the male gaze, dead weeks, and finds their voice.
isn’t lying or insecure about how many books they read this year, dreams of rouge rapids, and is kind to themselves for Christmas.
used to be a grinch, is sick of women being ignored at Christmas, and splits Christmas with their ex.
finds a starlight of integrity, has been hiding things from us, and knows two things can be true at the same time.
discovers a long-lost sister, prefers presence to presents, and pens a diary entry from a truck stop diner.
reimagines Charlie Brown as an incel, wonders whether Yoda was a Boomer, and fans out over Taylor Swift,
This is clearly the time to reflect on leaving Instagram. says goodbye the platform this week, joins in, and makes it a trend. Meanwhile, asks if they are allowed to leave too, and I think these writers would answer a resounding yes.
produces magic moments, shines bright like a diamond, and is forced out of the broom closet.
aims at something noble, explores Schopenhauer's contempt for Hegel, and learns to love an utterly out-of-control world.
owns whatever they do, throws pants into the fire, and boxes thoughts.
relearns how to breathe, would rather be whole than good, and uncovers the unconscious thought patterns we still fall for all the time.
Find anything you loved enough to swoon over or hated enough to make your blood boil? Let me know.
If you like what I’m doing around here and want to check out the archives, you can do that with a 7-day free trial, or simply go straight to being a paid subscriber. You also get access to my ya alternate reality fantasy novel, The Marked Ones.
Rosie is completely average. There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about her in any way.
For most people, that would be a blessing, but Rosie wants nothing more than to have a spark of magic, even if people say that all mages are evil.
She wasn’t born with magic, though. She’s sure of it. After all, she is 17, and magic always presents when you are 13.
Always.
So, when she’s suddenly able to wield magic, Rosie is initially confused, then thrilled…until the soldiers come for her, and she realizes everything she’s about to lose.
There is one place that is truly safe for people like her. The lost city of Toledo – a haven for witches and warlocks since before the war, and the only place Rosie can be free.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written.
If you are not a paid member, you can read everything with a 7-day free trial, or give us a one-time tip.