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Season 4, episode 20 is here!

Ryan Maxwell and I have been having deep conversations for the best part of a year now, so it was about time we did one on the record. Ryan writes Chasing Maximus, and his whole journey is about working out how you became who you are and what comes next.

He built everything he thought he was supposed to want, watched it start to crumble, and has spent years since then digging into why. This was an honest, thoughtful conversation (as it always is with Ryan).

What we covered:

- The realisation midway through his corporate career that changed the whole direction of his life.

- What Ryan calls his two-by-four moments, and how to spot the warning signs long before life knocks you flat.

- Why the pressure he felt for years was never actually coming from where he thought it was.

- The difference between fitting in and belonging, and why sanding down your edges attracts the wrong people.

- What it really takes to tell someone a hard truth without crushing them, and why nice is not the same as kind.

- The line Ryan draws on how much of himself to share, summed up in one phrase about scars and open wounds.

- His golden nugget on why we mistake our adaptations for our personality, and the software update most of us never install.

Go and subscribe to Ryan’s publication, Chasing Maximus, and if you ever get the chance to have a proper conversation with him, take it.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 19 is here!

Dr. Taylor Francois trained as a lawyer, passed the California Bar, and then spent years building companies and teaching people how to actually use social media. She landed on Substack less than four months ago and has already crossed 32,000 subscribers. Behind the numbers is a story about burnout, a wake-up call she never saw coming, and a completely different way of working. This was a brilliant one.

What we covered:

- How Dr. Taylor grew to 32,000 subscribers in under four months, and the one thing she brought from every other platform that made it happen so fast.

- Why honing in on your zone of genius beats stacking up offers, and the reason spreading yourself thin is what keeps you stuck at the same revenue ceiling.

- The simple exercise she gives anyone trying to work out who they should actually be selling to.

- Her take on going all in on one platform versus being everywhere, and the 30-day test she swears by.

- The four-day weekend she guards fiercely, and the daily routine that starts at 5am for one very specific reason.

- Why she cut her output right down and started growing faster than ever, plus the signal that tells her burnout is creeping back in.

- The lunch that never happened, and the last thing a mentor said to her that made her burn down her whole business model and start again.

Go and subscribe to Dr. Taylor’s publication, Solo Millions, where she writes about building a big business on your own terms without the burnout.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 18 is here!

Suzanne Taylor-King Suzanne Taylor-King has started six companies, had two exits, and racked up many years of hard-won lessons along the way. These days, she’s less interested in growth for its own sake and more interested in building a business that hands you your life back. This was a cracking conversation, full of advice that runs against the grain of almost everything else out there.

What we covered:

- The paper round scheme Suzanne ran at 12 that got her in trouble with her parents, and the lesson about leverage she has never forgotten since.

- Why she quit a safe career at 23, drove across the country with no phone and a paper map, and accidentally found her way into business.

- The two mistakes she sees new entrepreneurs make again and again, and the question about money she asks that tends to stop people in their tracks.

- What happened when she hit her big income goal in three years, and why it nearly cost her everything that mattered.

- Why she now deletes things off her calendar without mercy, including a community bringing in real monthly money, and the counterintuitive idea behind it.

- How she thinks about the people around her in circles of ten, a hundred, and beyond, and where she would start if she had to build it all again today.

- The coaching scandal she’s watched unfold that tells you exactly where the industry is heading, and what people actually want to pay for now.

You can find Suzanne at The Idea Lab.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 17 is here!

Anjeanette Carter is a seven-figure copywriter and agency owner who now spends her time helping other writers land real, well-paid work. She runs a Substack about making money as a writer and a twice-weekly job board that weeds out the scams most people fall for. This chat was full of practical, no-nonsense advice.

What we covered:

Why Anjeanette took a $60 job after she was already earning multiple six figures, and what she calls the sweat equity that makes it worth it.

The messy behind the scenes of her job board, and why she had to take back a task she thought she could easily hand off.

What actually makes a writing job a scam, and the thing LinkedIn does that quietly sends you straight toward them.

Why personal stories matter more in 2026 than they did two years ago, and what changed to make that true.

How she went from managing seven writers to letting them all go, and the one pairing she says makes a writer unstoppable now.

The small thing almost nobody does when they send a connection request that gets hers read every single time.

The one word she says separates the writers who make it from the ones who quit, and the daily streak she uses to prove she lives by it.

You can find Anjeanette on Substack here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 16 is here!

Louise Buckley Literary Agent has worked just about every side of books, from the shop floor at Waterstones to commercial fiction editor at Macmillan to literary agent. She’s on a mission to demystify an industry that can feel like a locked room, and she was refreshingly honest about how the whole thing actually works. If you’re interested in pursuing the traditional publishing route, this one’s for you.

What we covered:

- Why Louise says being an author is harder than being an agent, and the reason your manuscript sits at the very bottom of her pile for reasons that have nothing to do with quality.

- The first question she asks about every single submission, and why a book that’s merely good is no longer good enough to make it through.

- What she really thinks when authors haven’t heard back in three months, and the story everyone tells online that quietly warps your expectations.

- The query letter red flags that get an immediate no, including one well-meaning move authors make to stand out that backfires completely.

- Whether you actually need a social media following to get a fiction deal, and how the answer changes the moment you cross into nonfiction.

- The uncomfortable shift happening inside publishers right now that means editors can love your book and still not be able to buy it.

- Her single golden nugget of advice for anyone hoping to land an agent, which comes down to one thing you should be able to do before you send a word.

You can find Louise’s publication here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 15 is here!

Shea Serrano taught middle school in Houston for nine years before freelancing turned into New York Times bestsellers, TV shows, and a Substack pulling in serious numbers.

Along the way he built his own fake publishing company and figured out exactly where the money in books actually goes. This one covered a lot of ground (and a fair bit of Scrubs!).

What we covered:

- How Shea went from freelancing for anyone who’d have him to the moment top-tier editors told him he could make a real career out of it.

- The single most important lesson he took from working with Bill Simmons that still shapes everything he makes.

- The royalty statement that made him realise something was very wrong with how book money gets split, and what he did about it.

- Why he started selling essay collections directly through Gumroad and how that became a whole publishing operation.

- His theory on why certain shows and albums imprint on us so deeply, and why nothing quite replaces them.

- What he looks for in every movie, show, and book he consumes, and the horror film this year that delivered it perfectly.

- His honest take on the new season of Scrubs, what it got right, and the one thing he wishes had been different.

You can find Shea at Good Movie on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 14 is here!

Karin Gillespie got her first book published by Simon & Schuster in 2004, and has spent the two decades since working across traditional publishing, small presses, and self-publishing. She’s studied publishing deals obsessively, teaches writing, and now breaks it all down on her Substack.

This was packed with genuinely useful advice, especially for anyone who wants to pursue the traditional publishing route.

What we covered:

- Why Karin says getting published is not the finish line most authors think it is, and the sobering statistic about debut novelists that proves it.

- What publishers are really doing for your book behind the scenes, and the parts of marketing that quietly fall on you.

- Whether the size of your audience actually matters when a publisher decides to take you on.

- The honest pros and cons of traditional publishing, small presses, and self-publishing from someone who’s done all three.

- The exact structure of a query letter that works in 2026, and the one sentence that agents often read before anything else.

- How many queries you should really expect to send, and why obsessively personalising each one might be a waste of your time.

- The self-published book that sold 170,000 copies on its own before a publisher paid millions for it, and what made it work.

You can find Karin at Pitch Your Novel on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 13 is here!

Vic Holtreman started Screen Rant in the early 2000s as a hobby because he liked complaining about Hollywood.

Twelve years later he sold it with 15 million monthly visitors. Now he writes for men trying to rebuild their lives after divorce or midlife upheaval, and he has a fitness book with 55 drafts behind it.

This was a great conversation!

What we covered:

- How Vic knew Screen Rant was worth quitting his day job for, and what finally pushed him to do it.

- Why he sold the site at the height of its success and what he saw coming that made the timing feel right.

- Why he thinks men struggle so much with vulnerability and what he believes the right way to be vulnerable actually looks like.

- The specific reason he tells men going through divorce or crisis to start with fitness before anything else.

- How he used 15 years of food tracking data and AI to write a fitness memoir unlike anything he’d planned to write.

- The AI-guided assessment tool he built for men that several people have told him is uncomfortably good at finding the real issue.

- What helped him finally stop letting anger run his day, and why he thinks an eternal perspective is more practical than it sounds.

You can find Vic at The Redeemed Second Half on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 12 is here!

michelle ray spent 15 years teaching abroad in Ecuador, Bahrain, and Dubai before coming back to the States, having a kid, and eventually sitting down to write a memoir.

This was a warm, funny, really honest conversation about writing and what stories actually do for us.

What we covered

- How Michelle stumbled onto Substack just to tick a box for a writing conference and ended up building something she genuinely loves.

- The technique she uses to help writers access memories they didn’t know they still had, and why people rarely remember in words.

- Why going back to old journals, emails, and documents can unlock parts of a story you thought you’d forgotten completely.

- What happened when Michelle found a journal from her first year in Bahrain after 15 years, and why reading it felt like reading someone else’s life.

- The vulnerability sweet spot she thinks most writers miss, and why you’re probably sharing less than you think you are.

- What her paid Story Discovery sessions actually involve, and why having your key story properly shaped changes everything about how you use it.

- Why she thinks finding a writing community matters more than almost anything else if you actually want to finish something.

You can find Michelle at states of matter on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4, episode 11 is here!

Bobby Umar has done a thousand keynotes across four continents, spoken at TEDx five times, and built half a million followers on Twitter. But it took multiple job redirections before he finally stopped waiting and figured out what he was actually all about. This was a really fun chat!

What we covered:

- Why Bobby thinks the difference between a personal story and a private story is the most important line any creator needs to understand.

- What actually happened when he posted about his body image and binge eating disorder on LinkedIn, the last place anyone expected that kind of honesty.

- The three things most people get wrong when they try to land a TEDx talk, and why the idea is usually the biggest problem.

- What a TEDx talk actually does for your authority that no other single thing can replicate as quickly.

- The red flag Bobby uses to know when someone is ready to pivot out of a job or a business, and why most people ignore it for years.

- Why he thinks 90% of business owners are making the same two mistakes with their content right now.

- What Bobby 2.0 looks like, and why he’s now working 30 hours a week instead of 60.

You can find Bobby on Substack at The 1% Brand Brilliance, where he writes for small business owners.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedavidmcilroy.substack.com/subscribe