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[DIGEST] Wizarding...
Your weekly stackable roundup
For the first time in several months, I don’t have any pictures of far-off places or cute dogs to share. If you are just joining us, then you probably don’t know what to do with this information, and neither do I. As I’m preparing for NINC next week, I’ve been running headlong into a million meetings, which prevented me from doing anything else. We have some really cool things happening behind the scenes, but that means more meetings than I’ve ever had in my life. On top of client work and publishing needs, it’s a very, very tiring time to be me, but at least it’s the good kind of tired (or that’s what they say).
Hopefully next week I’ll have some pictures again. Meanwhile, here’s one of me in my new wearable blanket (with feet pockets) that I got for my birthday. I can’t wait until it’s cold enough to wear it. I’m gonna live in this thing. Plus, it makes me look like a wizard.
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.
Headed to NINC next week, which meant this week was very trying. 2.
What I wrote on Substack: This week, I wrote a post for The Author Ecosystems all about how to tailor email marketing to your ecosystem.
WEBINAR REPLAY: We were able to coach four people (two Forests, one Grassland, one Tundra) on our live coaching call yesterday. Plus, we showed attendees how to use their ecosystem to build a thriving author business.
If you weren’t able to join us live (or had to leave early) you can watch the whole replay for free. We go through each ecosystem, including some new findings we’ve learned over the past few months we’ve never shared publicly.
An hour later, I was standing above ground with a group of Benny’s troops. The three orcs, decked out in battle armor, would lead the charge with their snub-nosed shotguns. Behind them, a dozen goblins would scale the walls and lay down cover fire while the dwarves and I broke through the front gate after the changeling blew the door clean off with a carton of C4. Meanwhile, the pair of elves perched across the street would take out the guards on the opposite roof. The whole plan should take less than two minutes beginning to end once we blew the door.
Candy wasn’t much of a fighter, so I convinced her to stay under armed guard with two troglodytes in Benny’s office. If we all survived, I would deal with her later.
“Don’t die,” Candy said to me.
“Very little chance of that,” I replied. “I’m quite hard to kill.”
She smiled. “I’ll bet you are.”
“Remember that, Candy.” I squeezed her hands tightly, almost violently. “That’s as much a threat as a fact.”
“I got it.” She turned toward the troglodytes, who brought her inside the drug store.
I motioned for the rest of the attack squad to gather around me. “Killing demons is tricky,” I said. “Benny equipped you all with special bullets made of black steel from the bowels of Hell itself. In a moment, I will bless and consecrate them. My mother was an angel, so I can do things like that.” I stared into the faces around me. “Before I do, I want to remind you that demons are fast and strong. They respect a show of force, but it also infuriates them. Demons are hard enough to kill when calm, and even if you do kill them, they just rematerialize in Hell. It might take them eons to get back out, but when they do, they’ll come back with a vengeance. So, don’t let them find out who you are, no matter what.”
New chapters are free, but paid subscribers can access the archives. You also get access to a bunch of free books and stories from my back catalog.
CURRENT KICKSTARTER: I have a Kickstarter live right now for my first new horror comic in close to a decade!
Do you love horror comics? Are you excited about dark and creepy shared universes? Are you ready for me to get back to writing horror comics for the first time since 2015?
Then you'll love Hospice: One Damned Good Thing, a one-shot horror comic about a terminally-ill prisoner who is sent to a hospice to live out his last days, only to find a horrible secret that threatens his very soul.
Upcoming article: Next week, and I will be making a case for the future of publishing. Every month the future of publishing changes more than we've seen it move in years. This article will help you understand the scope of the problem, and the size of the opportunities, and then show you how to take advantage of it.
I don't think anyone in the industry would disagree that publishing is changing right now.
Publishing is currently following natural business model trajectories that can be predicted from other similar industries like music, film, television, blogging, podcasting, and more. Every creative industry either has or will go through the same cycle.
We live in an attention/engagement economy where attention and engagement are more valuable than most other things.
Attention and engagement drive spending, which is directly related to money in our bank accounts. As these factors reach a fever pitch, attention and engagement fracture.
But there is hope.
Roundup: Here are some of my favorite articles of the week. People seem to like the new format, so I’m gonna keep it, and hopefully refine it. This week I’ll be separating everything about writing and publishing into its own category called Publishing-like.
Business-y:
crafts a bullshit-proof offer, explores how he makes $128k a year on Substack, and provides 12 podcasts to help creatives build and run their business.
is surprised at the lessons she learned from her first year on Substack, grows indifferent to social media, and expands the Dunbar effect.
reaches half a million subscribers, writes better emails, is an AI cyborg, and got trolled on Substack.
wonders where all the old game designers have gone.explores how generative AI will affect research, andcan’t believe what The Inventor pulled off.
Publishing-like:
writes for his best readers, writes useless advice, helps books sell, and explores the deep-seated ageism in publishing.
unveils the dangers of a six-figure book deal, dissects the six-figure success of , builds a consistent writing habit, and makes the novelist’s dilemma more apparent.
Lifestyle-ish:
and have more than five senses, forgets what someone looks like, and is tired of healing.
hates Punk’d (and the type of men it represents) as much as me, doesn’t know what she wants, is built to process pain, and learns to trust life unconditionally.
explores the poetry of Basquiat, one of my favorite artists, praises Ethan Hawke, the patron saint of lost artists, and explores Okinawa.
UPCOMING KICKSTARTER: Get Your Book Selling Direct to Readers
Monica and I have been talking about direct sales for a long time, and many of you have asked us to put together another definitive guide like we did for Kickstarter.
So that’s what we did, and it’s coming in November.
Learn how to sell from your website, crush it on Kickstarter, make a profit at conventions, and generally succeed at direct sales. It’s going to be a monster book, and we can’t wait to share it with you.
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 alternate history YA 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 aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.