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Season 3, episode 22 is here!
I threw together this episode to answer questions from my Substack chat thread, where writers shared what’s actually slowing them down right now.
As it turns out, the struggles are universal: too many platforms, not enough time, and the back-of-the-mind realisation that writing often isn’t enough - you have to market yourself too.
What I covered:
- When it’s okay to ruthlessly cut platforms that aren’t working)
- The 80/20 rule for your first few months on Substack that nobody talks about
- How to structure your day when you’re balancing soul-satisfying creative work with contracts that actually pay the bills
- The broken expectation every writer hits: you can’t just write anymore, you have to be your own marketing executive too (and how to make that less painful)
- Why you shouldn’t box yourself into a theme at the start
- The TikTok strategy for finding ARC readers when you don’t know 50 people willing to review your book
- Finding your value offer as a writer by asking yourself: what could you talk about on a soapbox for 30 minutes straight, and what would light you up seeing someone else achieve?
By David McIlroy5
22 ratings
Season 3, episode 22 is here!
I threw together this episode to answer questions from my Substack chat thread, where writers shared what’s actually slowing them down right now.
As it turns out, the struggles are universal: too many platforms, not enough time, and the back-of-the-mind realisation that writing often isn’t enough - you have to market yourself too.
What I covered:
- When it’s okay to ruthlessly cut platforms that aren’t working)
- The 80/20 rule for your first few months on Substack that nobody talks about
- How to structure your day when you’re balancing soul-satisfying creative work with contracts that actually pay the bills
- The broken expectation every writer hits: you can’t just write anymore, you have to be your own marketing executive too (and how to make that less painful)
- Why you shouldn’t box yourself into a theme at the start
- The TikTok strategy for finding ARC readers when you don’t know 50 people willing to review your book
- Finding your value offer as a writer by asking yourself: what could you talk about on a soapbox for 30 minutes straight, and what would light you up seeing someone else achieve?

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