Substack Writers Salon

It’s not every day you get to chat with someone who’s been doing what you do—but at a much higher level—for 15 years straight.

This week on Substack Writers’ Salon, I sat down with Brad Listi novelist, founder of Deep Dive writing courses, and the creator/host of Otherppl with Brad Listi—a literary podcast that has racked up over 1,300 episodes and interviewed hundreds of leading writers, including George Saunders.

I’ll be honest: I started the conversation feeling a healthy dose of podcast envy. Brad has spoken with authors such as Ottessa Moshfegh, Dave Eggers, and countless others I’d love to have on my own show. So I asked the obvious question:

“What’s your secret sauce?”

Starting Early + Staying Consistent = Magic

Brad’s answer was refreshingly unglamorous:

* He launched in 2011, when literary interview podcasts were still rare.

* He reached out directly (he even emailed George Saunders at Syracuse—and got a reply).

* Most importantly, he fed the stray cats. Week after week. For 15 years.

“If you don’t feed the stray cats, the stray cats are going to go to somebody else’s house.”

Today, his schedule is: new author interview every Tuesday, a fun pop-culture series with Mira Gonzalez on Thursdays, and archival “golden oldies” on Sundays. He’s missed hardly any weeks in a decade and a half.

Consistency, it turns out, builds legitimacy. After enough time, people start seeing your show as “a thing.”

How Does He Book Big Names Now?

Early on: cold emails and personal connections.

Now? The publicists come to him. He gets 50–75 requests a day. For someone like Stephen King? Probably not happening unless it’s NPR-level. But for most working authors, the door is open if the show has proven staying power.

My takeaway: If you’re just starting, reach out directly. Be genuine. Build your own small audience first. The snowball takes time, but it does grow.

The Money Question (and the Reality Check)

Brad is candid about monetization. He makes some money—through ads via an ad network (The Podglomerate), his long-running book club, and Deep Dive courses—but he’s not in the “podcast empire” category.

“It’s a 1% economy. I’m not in the 1%.”

He doesn’t believe every author needs a podcast. Only do it if you genuinely enjoy the conversations. And he pushed back hard on the marketing-guru advice that “you must do a podcast tour to sell books.”

His realistic take:Podcast appearances are like bookstore events. Even a “middling” show can expose you to hundreds of people. Conversion rates are low (think banner-ad math from the old internet days), but the long tail matters—someone might hear you today and buy your book two years from now.

Word of mouth and cosmic timing still rule book sales. Nobody has cracked the code.

Audio Purist in a Video World

This was the most fun part of the conversation—Brad and I gently sparred about video.

He loves the intimacy of audio: earbuds in, walking the dog, letting a conversation unfold without staring at another screen. He resents the algorithmic pressure that turns everyone into a TV show.

I played devil’s advocate: many people (including me while cooking dinner) prefer video. Clips on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are how many listeners discover new podcasts.

Brad’s stubborn (and principled) stance: He’s holding the line for audio lovers. Radio didn’t die when TV arrived, and good podcasts won’t die either.

(Full disclosure: I’m still team “do both when you can.” But I respect his resistance.)

Other Gems from Brad

* He reads (or rather, speed-listens at 2.5x) most guest books to honor the work, while keeping the conversation human and accessible.

* He runs a paid book club via PayPal where members get the selected book + an author interview. There’s churn, but it’s been running for 15 years.

* On outsourcing: He’s a one-man band by choice (trust issues with editing!), but he admits a good VA could solve 99% of his headaches.

* His advice to new podcasters: Use something like Riverside for clean audio. Don’t obsess over the “perfect” platform. Just start.

Final Thoughts

Brad Listi is proof that longevity and genuine curiosity still matter in the crowded creator space. He’s not chasing every trend, not turning himself into a brand, and not burning out trying to game algorithms. He just keeps showing up, having real conversations, and building something that enriches his own life first.

If you haven’t listened to Otherppl, go fix that. It’s available wherever you get podcasts (just search “Otherppl” — spelled annoyingly but worth it).

Links:

* Podcast: Otherppl.com

* Brad’s site: BradListi.com

* His Substack: bradlisti.substack.com

What about you? Are you team audio-only or team video clips? Would you start (or keep) a podcast purely for the love of conversation, even if the money stays modest?

Drop your thoughts below—I read every comment.

And if you enjoyed this, hit the ❤️ or share it with a writer friend who’s thinking about launching their own show.

Until next time,Natasha

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, and you will get lifetime access to some of my courses and paid masterclasses (worth over $300).

P.S. Special thanks to everyone who joined the live Substack Salon—especially Holly for the kind comments that made Brad (temporarily) less cranky. 😄

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

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been putting off recording an audiobook for years.

My excuses were plentiful: I don’t have a studio. I have an accent. It’s too expensive. I don’t know the technical side.

Then I sat down with Gunnar Habitz, a 28-time published author, course creator, and Substack writer from Sydney, Australia, for an episode of the Substack Writer’s Salon. And within an hour, he dismantled every single one of my excuses.

Here’s what I learned.

The Mindset Shift You Need First

Gunnar opened with a story that stopped me in my tracks.

He bought a book from a well-known Australian sales expert, whom he personally knew. When the audiobook version arrived, it wasn’t his voice. A professional actor had read it. And Gunnar said: “I heard the voice. I know how he speaks at conferences. It’s his words, but not his voice. Then I realized — that’s not good.”

That’s the mindset shift. Your readers don’t want a perfect voice. They want your voice.

As one of our live viewers, Coach Sean, put it beautifully in the comments: “Your true readers want to hear your words. Those who are hung up on your accent are not your real audience.”

I needed to hear that.

What It Actually Costs

Here’s the breakdown Gunnar shared, and it’s far more accessible than you’d think:

Studio route: $2,000–$2,500 to record at a professional studio, get it edited, and submit to Audible. High quality, but is the ROI there for an indie author? Gunnar had his doubts.

The bootstrapped route: Gunnar’s preferred approach for self-published authors involves two main tools:

* Riverside FM — a recording platform with built-in noise reduction and audio optimization. Around $20/month (and they often have free trials). You record your book yourself, chapter by chapter, in a quiet room.

* ElevenLabs — an AI voice cloning tool. Around $5–$10/month for the starter plan. You upload your Riverside recording, it clones your voice, and then it can generate audio for additional books in minutes.

Gunnar’s total investment to produce two audiobooks? A couple of months of software subscriptions — well under $100.

The Step-by-Step Process

Gunnar shared his exact roadmap for indie authors. Here it is:

Step 1: Have the courage to record yourself. The authors want to hear you. Not an actor. Not an AI clone (unless necessary). You.

Step 2: Find a quiet space. You don’t need a professional studio. A quiet hotel room, a silent library, even a closet with soft walls can work. Many city libraries now have podcast recording rooms — free to use.

Step 3: Record in Riverside FM. Record each chapter as its own file. (Gunnar’s tip from experience: don’t record three chapters in one take. You’ll regret it.) Before you start, record a few seconds of silence so the software can calibrate the ambient noise level.

Step 4: Upload directly to Spotify. Spotify has a lower barrier to entry than Audible and is actively competing for market share in the audiobook space. Gunnar uploads directly from Riverside to Spotify, no studio engineer needed.

Step 5: Use ElevenLabs to clone your voice for future books. Feed ElevenLabs two-plus hours of your Riverside recording, and it creates a professional voice clone. You can then upload the text of any book and generate an audio version in about 30 minutes — even for a book that takes two hours to listen to. Gunnar used this for his fiction series.

Where to Distribute Your Audiobook

This is where things get interesting. You have more options than you think:

* Spotify — accepts recordings straight from Riverside. No professional audio engineering required.

* ElevenLabs Reader (11 Reader) — their own marketplace where listeners can purchase your audiobook directly.

* Your own platform (Kajabi, Gumroad, Teachable) — sell the audiobook as an upsell or order bump at checkout. 60% of Gunnar’s buyers add the audiobook when it’s offered as a $10 bump. And when you sell it yourself, you keep nearly 100% of the revenue. Compare that to Spotify’s ~60% royalty or ElevenLabs’ ~70%.

* Your Substack — offer the audiobook as a bonus for annual paid subscribers.

* Audible — yes, this is possible, but requires professionally edited audio. Gunnar’s workaround: hire a sound engineer on Fiverr for around $200 to take your Riverside files and make them Audible-ready.

The Accent Question

I asked Gunnar directly — because this is something I personally wrestle with. Does having an accent hold you back when recording your own audiobook?

His answer: “There are people who want to read the book from us, not from anyone else. And there are people who want to hear the story from the author. That is better — authentic — compared to perfectly read by a machine or by a professional actor.”

He even pointed out that discovering Tony Hughes’ co-author through an audiobook — because the co-author read his own book in his own voice — led Gunnar to buy four more books from that author.

Your accent is not a barrier. It’s a fingerprint.

A Note on Audible and AI

One important clarification for those wondering: Audible (Amazon) does not currently accept AI-generated voice clones. If your goal is Audible distribution, you’ll need to record in your own voice and either edit the audio yourself or hire a Fiverr sound engineer (~$200) to make it Audible-compliant.

But as Gunnar said: “Audible is not everything.”

Spotify, ElevenLabs Reader, and your own platforms are legitimate, profitable distribution channels — and you keep more of the money.

The Big Takeaway

What struck me most about this conversation is how much of the barrier to creating an audiobook is mental rather than technical.

The tools are affordable. The process is learnable. The platforms are accessible.

What’s actually standing between you and your audiobook is the belief that you need a studio, a perfect voice, and thousands of dollars.

You don’t.

You need a quiet room, a $20/month subscription, and the courage to press record.

This post is based on my Substack Writers Salon conversation with Gunnar Habitz, a 28-time published author, course creator, and strategic networker based in Sydney, Australia. You can find him at his Substack and on LinkedIn.

Have you recorded — or considered recording — your own audiobook? I’d love to hear where you are in the process. Drop a comment below.

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, and you will get lifetime access to some of my courses and paid masterclasses (worth over $300).

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

This week on the Substack Writer’s Salon, I sat down with Carrie Loranger, a Substack strategist who helps creators and solopreneurs turn one newsletter into multiple income streams. What followed was one of the most practical conversations I’ve had about building a real business on this platform.

Carrie Loranger didn’t come to Substack with a grand plan.

She came to it after losing everything.

After 18 years in corporate marketing, a health scare, Guillain-Barré syndrome that left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, forced her to completely reprioritize her life. Then, just as she was building her online business, Meta’s automated systems wiped out two of her businesses overnight. Instagram, Facebook, Threads, her ads account, gone.

“I had to start over from scratch,” she told me.

She chose Substack. And within a year, she had nearly 8,000 subscribers and a full-time income built around what she calls a portfolio of paychecks, multiple income streams that don’t all depend on any single platform, employer, or algorithm.

Here’s exactly how she built it.

The Foundation: Get Your Messaging Right First

Before you think about paid tiers or digital products, Carrie is direct about what she looks at first with every client: your messaging.

“Some people say, ‘I’m clear about what I do — I do this, that, and the other thing.’ That’s three things. That’s not clear.”

If you want people to pay for what you offer — whether that’s a paid newsletter subscription or a coaching program — you need to be laser-focused on the single outcome you help people achieve. What is the transformation? What does someone walk away with?

The same applies to your homepage. Is it obvious what your newsletter is about? Is there a logical next step for someone who likes what they see? If someone has to work to figure out how to work with you, they won’t.

Carrie’s foundation checklist:

* Clear, singular messaging (one outcome, not three)

* A homepage set up for conversions, not just aesthetics

* Pricing tiers that reflect what your audience has actually told you they’ll pay for — not what you assume they’ll pay for

The Revenue Model: More Than Just Paid Subscriptions

Most people think Substack monetization begins and ends with flipping on paid subscriptions. Carrie has built a much more layered model, and she was generous enough to walk me through all of it.

1. Paid Subscription Tiers

Carrie restructured her tiers this year. Her founding member tier is now called the Creator Cashflow Club, designed for serious creators who want to build multiple income streams. Members get a monthly group coaching call and access to her full Substack 360 course.

The key insight here: she took content she might have sold as a standalone course or cohort and bundled it into her founding tier. This increases the perceived value of the membership while deepening her relationship with her most committed subscribers.

2. Live Events, Workshops & Bootcamps

She recently ran a Digital Product in a Day workshop, helping participants build or refine their first digital product. These live events are time-limited, create urgency, and generate a burst of revenue without requiring ongoing maintenance.

3. Digital Products (The Passive Layer)

This is where the “autopilot” income comes in. Carrie has a store on Gumroad stocked with templates, guides, and resources. Once created, these products earn money with minimal ongoing effort — she mentions them in articles, links to them, and moves on.

“I created it, I put it on the digital store, I mentioned it and gave a link. That’s it.”

4. Done-With-You Services

This is the hands-on layer. Her Substack Setup Sprint involves four sessions where she works alongside a client to build out their entire Substack presence: homepage, paywall, welcome emails, about page. It’s not done for them, it’s done with them, which keeps it efficient while still being high-touch.

5. Done-For-You Services

For clients who want it fully handled, she offers that too. These command higher rates and are selective — but they exist as an option for the right clients.

6. Affiliate Income

Carrie only promotes tools she actually uses. (WriteStack, her scheduling and analytics tool of choice, is one.) This keeps her recommendations credible and her audience’s trust intact, while generating passive income on the side.

The Engine Behind It All: Substack Itself

Here’s what I found most interesting about Carrie’s model: Substack isn’t just where she publishes. It’s the engine that drives clients and customers to everything else.

“It’s not entirely from Substack, but it’s my engine that drives everything else.”

She uses an automation to move Substack subscribers into her CRM (Go High Level), where she can then add them to email sequences, communicate about off-platform offers, and track revenue from digital products and services.

This is something worth sitting with if you’re building on Substack: the platform gives you the audience and the relationship, but your business can extend far beyond it. The newsletter builds the trust. The trust converts into clients, course buyers, and workshop attendees.

A Note on Mindset

I asked Carrie about the early days — the months when she posted notes and heard nothing back, when her chat thread got zero responses, when growth felt invisible.

Her answer was simple: she treated silence as data, not rejection.

“I didn’t take no results as rejection. I just took it as data. Like I was doing something that wasn’t working and I needed to try something different.”

For those of us building slowly, and yes, I include myself here, that reframe matters. Every post that doesn’t land is telling you something. Every chat thread with zero comments is a data point pointing you toward what to try next.

The Bigger Picture

Carrie built her model out of necessity. A health crisis, a layoff, a platform wipeout , life kept pulling the rug out from under her. The portfolio of paychecks isn’t just a business strategy for her. It’s a form of protection.

“I really believe everybody needs multiple income streams, employed or not, because things change so fast.”

Whether you’re building on Substack as your primary platform or layering it into an existing business, the framework she’s built is worth studying: strong messaging, a homepage that converts, paid tiers with real value, digital products that earn passively, and services for those who want deeper help.

None of it is complicated. All of it takes consistency and the right mindset.

You can find Carrie at thrivewithcarrie.substack.com. If you want to explore what a multiple-income-stream model could look like for your own Substack, her DMs are open.

Thank you Kimberlee Jennette, Susan Collins, Dear Daughters, Love Mom, Sumu Sathi|Entrepreneur, Patricia, and many others for tuning into my live video with Carrie Loranger! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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

When I invited author David W Litwin Litwin to join me on the Substack Writers Salon, I set a very specific benchmark for our conversation: I wanted to leave inspired and liberated (well, at least that’s what he promises in his bio). Good news, I did.

David is a designer, writer, speaker, and the author of multiple books, including Creative Success and The Blueprint. He runs a creative agency called Pure Fusion Media, which he’s been managing for 30 years, and he has this quiet, almost unnerving confidence about him that comes not from ego, but from something else entirely. Something he calls flow.

Not a flow state. A flow life.

“I’m in flow all day.”

When David said this, I stopped him. Because for me, flow is that rare, glorious thing that happens when I’m writing and no one can pull me out of it. Or when I’m deep into a violin practice, and I forget that my children exist.

But David is talking about something different, an entire life designed around what you love, what you’re wired for, and what you’re here to do.

His day: up at 4 am (like George Washington Carver, he noted, and if it worked for the man who found 400 uses for a peanut, who are we to argue?), straight into writing, then design work, a workout somewhere in the afternoon, and bed at 8:30. Every single thing he does in a day is something he loves.

“I play all day,” he told me. “When I get off work, I'd better start working, at my family, at my relationships.”

He’s describing a life he built by first understanding who he is.

Know Yourself Before You Try to Change the World

David’s first piece of advice for unleashing creativity isn’t a morning routine or a journaling practice. It’s a question: Do you actually know who you are?

He recommends personality profiling tools — Myers-Briggs, DISC, StrengthsFinder — not as labels to hide behind, but as mirrors. When he took an exhaustive six-hour career and personality assessment back in 2008, the results pointed to exactly two paths: managing a creative agency, or writing inspirational truth.

Those are the two things he’s been doing ever since.

“When you understand who you are,” he said, “you start sailing with the wind. Because it’s inherently in you, it’s the very nature of who you are, desperately trying to get out.”

I pushed back on this, as any good journalist should. Because I’ve seen how labels like "I’m not athletic" or "I’m not a numbers person" can become cages. I didn’t start working out until my late 30s because I’d decided I was a book nerd, not a sports person. The minute I stopped telling myself that story, I started lifting weights five days a week.

David agreed more than I expected. “Anyone can do anything,” he said. “The threshold for what’s possible now is way up there.” The negative voice that says you can’t — that’s not you, he argued. That’s resistance. (Steven Pressfield fans, you already know.)

His linguistic trick: never say I am before a negative. Say I feel like instead. Reserve I am for the things you want to claim. I am strong. I am capable. I am a writer.

Try it. It’s a small shift that lands differently than you’d expect.

Ego Is the Enemy of Flow

Here’s the idea I keep turning over since our conversation: ego doesn’t just make you arrogant. It makes you static.

David’s point is that ego constantly pulls you inward — into self-protection, self-comparison, past grievances, future anxieties. Flow, by contrast, requires you to be outward-facing. Curious. Focused on what you’re creating for others rather than how you’re being perceived.

“If you’re constantly focused on how you’re looking, how you’re sounding, what’s happening with the people around you — you’re never going to be in flow,” he said. “It’s stagnated by ego.”

This is, incidentally, one of the things he loves about Substack. The writer’s journey — dealing with the person who says your article sucked, looking at a Note that didn’t land, and doing better next time — is ego-crushing in the best possible way.

We also talked about Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and her concept of “crossing to the other side” through morning pages. David sees creativity itself as something that lives on the other side of our own resistance. Capital-C Creativity, he called it — the kind you can’t fake, can’t perform your way into. You have to clear a path for it.

“Be as curious as you possibly can,” he said. “Don’t be the biggest fish in the tank, because the biggest fish is the least flexible. Be the most mobile fish in the most influential tank you can find.”

The Idea That Could Change the World

David’s latest book, The Blueprint, is built around a single statement that he believes can reshape how we see almost everything:

The world doesn’t spin on society's actions, beliefs, or statements. It spins on the outcomes.

Actions and beliefs are personal, subjective, and endlessly debatable. Outcomes just are; they don’t have a worldview attached to them. If we focused on outcomes rather than endlessly arguing about actions and intentions, we could make real inroads in science, medicine, law, and education.

He’s giving the book away for free because he doesn’t want money to get in the way of the message. I respect that enormously.

He also wrote MLK 2.0, which argues that every human being has been given a world-shaping idea, and that most of us never access it because we haven’t done the inner work, haven’t gotten quiet enough, haven’t gotten curious enough to receive it.

“Some people will never go there because they don’t like the silence,” he said. “If you can’t sit in silence for five minutes, maybe that silence is exactly where your idea is waiting.”

One Line I’ll Never Forget

There’s a quote often attributed to Rumi — though its true origin is debated — that goes something like: When I was young, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older, I know I can only change myself.

I brought this up expecting David to agree. He did — but he flipped it in a way that stayed with me. Rather than choosing between changing yourself and changing the world, he asked: What if the gift you give back isn’t your list of accomplishments, but what’s been imprinted on your soul by how you’ve lived?

“Here’s my little micro soul when I started,” he said, “and here’s what it became.”

Not status. Soul.

Where to Find David

You can explore David’s work — his writing, art, AI radio station Flare AI Radio, and more — at davidwlitwin.com. He also has a custom AI version of himself built on Delphi.ai, trained on over a million of his words.

You can ask him anything and get his perspective back. (He told me he sometimes goes there to ask himself questions. I found this delightful.)

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, and you will get lifetime access to some of my courses and paid masterclasses (worth over $300)..

Thank you Kathy Small, Roja, and many others for tuning into my live video with David W Litwin! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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

This interview is part of my podcast “The Substack Writers Salon”. You can watch or listen to the complete interviews here.

I met Terry Brock a couple of weeks ago at PodFest in Florida, and I knew immediately I had to get him on the Writer’s Substack Salon. Terry is the kind of person who makes you feel both excited and slightly behind. He’s a speaker, author, interviewer, coach, and founder of Stark Raving Entrepreneurs, a community built around a live-and-let-live philosophy.

His current obsessionis AI and how creators and founders can harness it.

So I brought him on to answer the question I get asked more than any other: What AI tools should I be using right now?

Here’s what he told me, and it went way beyond a simple tool list.

‘It Depends’ — But Here’s Where to Start

When I asked Terry for his must-have AI tools, he pushed back the way any good strategist would: “What is the problem you’re trying to solve?”

A medical doctor needs different AI than a writer. A journalist covering the auto industry needs different tools than a ghostwriter. Fair enough. So I niched it down to my community — writers, authors, aspiring ghostwriters.

His answer: don’t pick one tool. Pick two or three.

Terry’s current lineup:

* ChatGPT — the standard, strong for writing, editing, and now generating professional infographics

* Claude — excellent at nuance (his words)

* Gemini (Google) — powerful because it ties into the entire Google ecosystem: Docs, Calendar, Gmail

* Grok (from X) — valuable because it sometimes gives you what others won’t

* Perplexity — his go-to for research and daily news briefings

* CastMagic and Taja — lesser-known but powerful tools for content creators

The key insight wasn’t about any single tool. It was about what Terry calls being a “creative conductor” — like an orchestra conductor using different instruments to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Why You Need More Than One AI Tool

Terry made this point with a story. When the U.S. military operation in Venezuela happened, he went to ChatGPT for information. ChatGPT called it misinformation. Grok confirmed it was real. The journalist in him already knew the lesson: never rely on a single source.

He applies the same principle to his writing. When he drafts something, he runs it through ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity. Each one phrases things slightly differently. Then he takes all three outputs and — as he puts it — “Terry-izes it.”

I love that. You should Natasha-ize your work. Or whatever your name is — put your voice, your values, your perspective back into it. AI gives you the raw material. You’re the artist.

He compared it to having a kitchen. You wouldn’t choose between a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a toaster. You’d learn how each one works and use them all.

How Terry Stays on Top of AI (While the Rest of Us Sleep)

This was the part that floored me. Terry uses Perplexity’s task feature to receive automated AI news briefings:

* 4:00 AM — AI tools update

* 4:30 AM — Crypto report

* 5:00 AM — General business and marketing news

Each briefing is just a sentence or two with links to dig deeper. The journalist in him scans, filters, and follows the threads that matter.

Then he hits what he calls the “University of YouTube” — watching tutorial videos at 1.5x or 2x speed, often before breakfast. He also uses ChatGPT prompts specifically designed to surface new developments in tools like CastMagic, Taja, and Perplexity.

His process: gather raw material from multiple sources, stir it up, and produce something unique for his audience. It’s content curation meets journalism meets creative synthesis.

Free vs. Paid: The ROI Mindset

I asked Terry about the cost of all these subscriptions, because they add up. His breakdown:

* Grok: $8/month

* ChatGPT: $20/month

* Perplexity: $20/month

* Gemini (via Google Workspace): ~$17/month

Total: under $100/month.

But here’s the reframe that stuck with me. Terry said his business school taught him that cost doesn’t matter as much as return on investment. If $100,000 a month guaranteed $3 million in revenue, you’d take that deal. The question isn’t “how much does it cost?” — it’s “how much am I getting back?”

For writers and creators, even the $20/month ChatGPT subscription pays for itself if it saves you hours of work or helps you land one extra client.

The Uncomfortable Conversation: AI’s Dangers

I played devil’s advocate — journalist to journalist. My 14-year-old daughter recently lectured me about AI’s energy consumption, and a friend in West Virginia told me about a town fighting an AI data center. These concerns are real.

Terry’s response was nuanced. He validated every concern — energy, water usage, environmental impact — but pushed back on the binary thinking that says we should shut it all down.

His argument: “Are you going to persuade China to stop? And Russia? And North Korea?”

Throughout history, the answer to dangerous technology has never been abandonment. It’s been innovative. He pointed to nuclear submarines operating safely since the 1950s, France generating most of its electricity from nuclear power, and the potential of solar and fusion energy. The path forward isn’t to stop — it’s to solve the energy problem with the same ingenuity that created AI in the first place.

On the water issue (raised by a sharp audience member, Karen), Terry agreed it needs proactive attention. But his take was characteristically optimistic: Florida is surrounded by water. Arizona isn’t far from the ocean. Desalination technology exists. It’s a logistics and engineering challenge, not an unsolvable crisis.

When Humans Fall in Love with Machines

I brought up the 2013 film Her, about a man who falls in love with an AI. We all laughed back then. Science fiction, right?

Then I shared a story from a recent New York Times interview about real women who have fallen in love with ChatGPT. One woman named her AI “Leo,” started exchanging flirtatious messages with it every morning, and eventually divorced her husband because Leo gave her something her husband couldn’t — the feeling of being truly heard.

Terry acknowledged this is real and growing. But he wisely deferred to mental health professionals, pointing out that humans have always formed unhealthy attachments to cars, tools, work, and substances. AI is a new form of an old pattern. The answer isn’t to ban the technology; it’s to support people with the psychological tools to maintain healthy relationships.

What’s Coming Next

When I asked about the future, Terry joked about his crystal ball’s batteries being dead. Then he said something I’ve been thinking about ever since:

Technology has always been a double-edged sword — ever since fire. It cooks your food and keeps you warm. It can also burn your house down.

He shared a story about a Harvard-trained radiologist who used AI to detect something that multiple doctors had missed — saving a patient’s life. That’s the promise. But he also acknowledged the reality: people are losing jobs, and that’s painful.

His historical perspective is reassuring without being dismissive. Farmers lost their jobs when mules were replaced by machines. Entire industries have been disrupted before. The key is using our brains to help displaced workers find new paths — not pretending the disruption isn’t happening.

The Bottom Line

After an hour with Terry Brock, here’s what I’m taking away:

Pick 2-3 AI tools and learn them well. Don’t chase every shiny new thing, but don’t limit yourself to one either.

Be a creative conductor. Use AI as your orchestra — but you’re the one holding the baton.

Invest in paid versions. Think of it as business school tuition that costs under $100/month.

Stay curious. Set up automated briefings, watch tutorials at 2x speed, and never stop learning.

Don’t fear the disruption. Channel your energy into adaptation, not resistance.

And whatever you create, make sure you put your name on it. Terry-ize it. Natasha-ize it. Make it yours.

You can find Terry Brock at TerryBrock.com or StarkRavingEntrepreneurs.com. He sends out newsletters on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and…

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If you’ve ever wondered why posting on Substack Notes feels like shouting into the void, or why managing replies can quietly eat your entire day, this conversation was for you.

I went live on The Substack Writer’s Salon with Orel, a full-time solopreneur building WriteStack, a SaaS designed specifically for busy Substack creators who want consistency without burnout.

What followed felt less like an interview and more like a masterclass in how Substack actually works under the hood.

Orel is also building in public on his way to $100,000/year from the platform (he’s currently 76% there), and he was refreshingly honest about what’s working, what’s hard, and how he thinks about building a “Substack-friendly” tool without turning the platform into a spam machine.

Here are the biggest takeaways, and how you can apply them.

The Origin Story: WriteStack Started as Something Else

WriteStack didn’t begin as a Notes tool.

Orel originally built an article generator because he personally struggled to come up with post ideas. The concept: a product that learns your writing style and topics, then generates article outlines.

But here’s what changed everything:

He sent it to a bunch of people (lots of DMs), asking for feedback, and almost everyone told him the same thing:

* “Writing articles isn’t my problem.”

* “Time is my problem.”

* And a few people added: “My real struggle is writing Notes consistently.”

That’s when Orel noticed something important: the growth engines on modern platforms are built on short-form consistency, not just long posts.

He looked at tools like TweetHunter, Taplio, and Hypefury and realized Substack didn’t have an equivalent.

So he pivoted.

What started as an article idea generator became:

* a Notes scheduler

* Plus AI idea support

* Plus performance insights

* Plus an “ecosystem” around Notes and engagement

And that ecosystem became WriteStack.

‘How Are You Doing This Without a Substack API?’

Substack doesn’t have a public open API, which is the first question most people ask.

Aurel’s workaround is clever (and very practical):

WriteStack uses a Chrome extension that sends Notes on your behalf—through your browser, from your IP address.

That’s why, at the moment, your computer needs to be running for scheduled Notes to go out. The action is happening through your Chrome session, not through Substack’s backend API.

What Happens If Substack Adds Scheduling (or an API)?

I asked the obvious question: “What if Substack builds this themselves?”

Orel’s answer was counterintuitive:

It would help him grow faster.

Why?

Because scheduling is only one feature. If Substack adds basic scheduling, it’ll likely be minimal—schedule/cancel, done. But WriteStack is designed to make the whole workflow faster:

* Managing lots of scheduled Notes without chaos

* Handling replies and engagement in a smoother system

* Having analytics and idea generation in the same place

In other words, even if Substack copies one feature, they’re not likely to replicate the convenience layer that makes a creator’s day easier.

The Most-Used Features (This Part Was Gold)

I asked what people actually use most.

Aurel ranked WriteStack’s usage like this:

1) Notes scheduling + Notes management

No surprise. That’s the headline feature.

2) The Activity Center (a close second)

This one matters because Substack replies can get tedious fast.

WriteStack’s Activity Center shows:

* What you need to reply to

* The context of the conversation

* All comments grouped under a Note

* Fast replies with keyboard shortcuts

Orel’s claim: Responding on Substack can take 30–60 minutes, but in WriteStack, it can take ~15 minutes.

3) Analytics

This is where creators get smarter about what to post—and when to repeat what works.

My Creator Workflow: Substack as the “Main Platform”

I shared how I’ve been using WriteStack analytics:

* Identify top-performing Notes on Substack

* Repurpose and schedule versions on other platforms (like LinkedIn)

* Compare performance across platforms

It’s a reminder of something many creators forget:

You can have multiple channels—but it helps to choose one main platform as the top of your funnel.

A Big Upcoming Feature: Buffer Integration

Aurel dropped a really exciting update:

He’s integrating Buffer into WriteStack.

That means creators will eventually be able to schedule a Note in WriteStack and have it sent to:

* LinkedIn

* X / Twitter

* Facebook

* Instagram

* and more

This is a huge deal for anyone trying to repurpose Notes across platforms without copying/pasting their life away.

How He Got to 261 Paid Subscribers (and 5,000+ Total)

Aurel currently has 261 paid subscribers for WriteStack, and over 5,000 subscribers on Substack (in about two years).

So what’s driving that growth?

He promotes daily

He writes at least two Notes per day about WriteStack.

He promotes in every newsletter

Every email includes some mention or call-to-action.

He sends DMs

Especially lately, he’s been DM’ing bigger creators to show them the tool and explore collaborations.

SEO is now a major lever

He said SEO has recently increased the number of people arriving at WriteStack, significantly.

The #1 Growth Tip for Substack Creators: Fix Your Profile

This was Orel’s strongest advice, and he repeated it multiple times:

If someone clicks on your profile and can’t tell in two seconds what you do and why they should subscribe… they leave.

He gave a great example of a profile that works because it’s instantly clear:

* The name signals the topic

* The bio delivers a promise

* The reader immediately knows what they’ll get

His point: your Notes may bring people to your door, but your profile converts them.

A weak profile silently kills your growth.

‘How Do You Never Run Out of Content Ideas?’

Even Orel admitted he fears running out of ideas.

But he’s built a system that protects him:

* AI idea generation

* inspiration page (seeing what others in the ecosystem are discussing)

* analytics (repeating what works)

* saving Notes/comments into a draft library

And here’s a feature I didn’t even know about until the live:

If you have the extension installed, you’ll see a light bulb icon on Substack next to the share button. Clicking it saves a Note or comment straight into your WriteStack drafts.

That means you can build a “content swipe file” in real time while scrolling.

What’s Coming Next: “Follows” and Better Discovery

Orel also teased an upcoming feature called Follows:

You’ll be able to follow specific creators inside WriteStack and see a feed of just their new Notes, so you can engage faster without digging through the whole Substack stream.

For creators who grow through relationships and visible engagement, this could be powerful.

The Honest Solopreneur Reality: Decision Fatigue Is Real

Orel was candid about his day-to-day.

He said time and energy management are still a work in progress, and that the number of things he wants to do can lead to decision fatigue.

So he relies on a daily checklist.

His “if I do this, I’m happy” list includes:

* Write 15 Notes

* Reply to all Substack comments

* Reply to all DMs

* Send 10 DMs

* Handle support tickets throughout the day

* Write one email

It’s intense—but it also shows why his growth is steady: he treats Substack like a daily practice, not an occasional marketing push.

Final Thoughts

This conversation reminded me of something I keep seeing again and again:

Growth usually isn’t about a secret hack.It’s about doing the basics obsessively well—and making it easy to stay consistent.

WriteStack exists because Orel saw a very specific creator problem:

Substack creators don’t necessarily lack ideas. They lack time, systems, and consistency.

And he built a product around that reality.

If you’re serious about growing on Substack, steal these takeaways:

* Make your profile crystal clear in 2 seconds

* Post Notes consistently (daily if you can)

* Collaborate with creators a few steps ahead of you

* Track what works, and repeat it

* Build systems that reduce friction

Thanks again to Orel, and to everyone who joined us live.

Thank you Kathy Small, Julie Smith, and many others for tuning into my live video with Orel! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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Happy holidays, friends.

I know you’re probably in the middle of holiday chaos (wrapping, cooking, traveling, parenting, all of it).

But I’m going to interrupt your festive to-do list for something that might genuinely reinvigorate you for the new year:

Automation.

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I went live on the Substack Writers Salon with someone who lives up to his nickname: Gunnar Habitz, the Busy Book Builder.

Gunnar has published 28 books so far. He’s also a strategic networker, a course creator, an MC, and a public speaker based in Sydney, Australia. And yes, his latest book is (perfectly) titled Happy Habits.

I wanted to know the obvious thing: how does one human publish that many books… and what happens after the books are out in the world?

This conversation turned into something bigger than productivity hacks. It became a lesson in reinvention, consistency, and treating books as relationships, not just products.

He Started With Travel, Then the Industry Moved On

Gunnar’s publishing journey began back in 1999 with his first book on tourism. He went on to publish around 20 travel guides, including several books about Prague and the Czech Republic.

What stood out wasn’t the number. It was the way he described the work.

He didn’t “Google research.” He did the kind of research that makes you feel tired just hearing about it.

He said he would walk every street—left and right—every year, to make sure the details were accurate. Because in travel writing, a single outdated restaurant recommendation is enough to make a book feel useless.

But travel changed.

He gave a simple example: he went to Singapore on a business trip and didn’t buy a travel book or prep weeks in advance. He booked the hotel, showed up, and researched what he needed while he was there.

That shift is bigger than travel. It’s about how information works now.

Travel books used to be the tool. Now your phone is the tool. ChatGPT is the tool. Reviews, maps, blogs, TikTok, Substack, everything is right there.

So Gunnar did what a lot of writers struggle to do:

He pivoted.

The Pivot: Self-Publishing and a Different Kind of Book

After travel books, Gunnar moved into self-publishing, writing in completely different genres, including self-development, business, and even a fairy tale he had initially written for his wife years ago.

He published that fairy tale partly for a practical reason: he wanted to learn the self-publishing ecosystem by doing it.

He talked about learning tools and platforms like:

* Amazon KDP

* Draft2Digital

* IngramSpark

And he made a point that I loved: self-publishing used to carry a stigma. It used to be framed as the “fallback” when a publisher says no.

Now it’s often the opposite.

If you self-publish, build an audience, and prove demand, traditional publishers suddenly become interested.

The Best Part: He Doesn’t Measure Success Only in Book Sales

Of course, I asked about sales.

His answer was refreshingly honest.

He shared that his LinkedIn-focused book (Connect and Act) earned royalties in the “four digits,” and clarified that it started with a 1. Roughly around $2,000.

Then he said something even more important:

That same book led to 30x more in consulting income.

That’s the real lesson.

For Gunnar, the book isn’t only the product. The book is the proof. The book is a credibility asset. The book is the door-opener.

He sees books as part of a larger system, a funnel, a platform, a trust-builder.

How He Markets Without ‘Post and Ghost’

Gunnar is extremely consistent on LinkedIn. He mentioned he published his weekly episode number 369—more than seven years of consistency on one topic.

He uses:

* LinkedIn as a primary channel

* Email funnels (he works in email marketing professionally)

* Communities and networks he’s built through projects like Open Coffee

* A publishing rhythm based on when people are actually online

He also explained why he prefers writing in the moment rather than scheduling everything:

Scheduling can turn into “set and forget,” which leads to the classic problem:

Post and ghost.

His approach is simple: post when you can also be present to respond.

Presence is part of the marketing.

LinkedIn Newsletters vs. Substack: His Take

We also got into something I know many writers are thinking about: balancing Substack and LinkedIn newsletters.

Gunnar has newsletters in multiple places (including LinkedIn), and he made an interesting point:

Some people complain that LinkedIn newsletters don’t give you email addresses.

He called that a mindset issue.

On LinkedIn, people subscribe with their identity. A profile is harder to fake than a random email address. And LinkedIn’s discovery engine can drive subscriptions automatically when people follow you.

He also shared a detail that stopped me: he did a quick analysis and found that around 40% of his LinkedIn newsletter subscribers were not people he even knew.

That’s reach.

But when we talked about moving people across platforms—like manually adding LinkedIn newsletter subscribers to Substack—he was clear:

Transparency is everything. Opt-in matters. Trust matters.

Substack Helped Him Write a Book in Public

One of my favorite parts of the conversation was how Gunnar described Substack’s role in creating Happy Habits.

He said the book wouldn’t exist without Substack.

He used his Substack community to:

* test ideas

* share drafts and direction

* get feedback on cover concepts

* build momentum without needing “10,000 subscribers”

He framed it beautifully: the value isn’t always in scale. Sometimes it’s in the right messages from the right people.

That’s Substack at its best.

The Networking Piece: “Givers Gain” and Connecting Dots

Toward the end, we talked about Gunnar’s networking philosophy, because honestly, he’s master-level at it.

He shared that he started as a shy introvert, and networking became essential when he relocated to Australia and needed to rebuild his ecosystem.

His approach isn’t transactional. He described himself as a connector—often realizing that Person A should meet Person B, and he becomes the bridge.

He talked about keeping a system to note what people need, so he can follow up later with meaningful introductions.

And he kept repeating the same underlying principle:

Give more than you take.

Be curious.

Pick good people.

Build relationships before you need anything.

What He’s Working on Next

Gunnar has a lot coming up in 2026, including:

* A book called Celebrate Your Network, planned for May 4 (his birthday)

* A book called LinkedIn for Startups, planned for March (or late February)

* More fairy tales (as a series)

* A coaching program inspired by Happy Habits, focused on habit shifts

Busy Book Builder is not branding. It’s just accurate.

Where to Find Gunnar

If you want to follow Gunnar’s work, here’s where he shared you can reach him:

* Substack: publications include Busy Book Builder and Happy Habits

* LinkedIn: search Gunnar Habitz

* Website: gunnarhabitz.com.au

A Final Note From Me

This conversation reminded me that publishing isn’t only about output.

It’s about building a body of work that supports your life and your business.

Gunnar treats books like bridges, between ideas and people, between credibility and opportunity, between consistency and freedom.

And honestly, that’s the kind of “happy habit” I can get behind.

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This interview is part of my podcast “The Substack Writers Salon”. You can watch or listen to the complete interviews here.

“We’re live.”

That’s how it always starts.

And within 20 seconds, I’m already making a joke at my own expense, because the moment David McIlroy appears on screen, people flood in.

“I can’t keep up. I’m sure they’re not joining for me. They’re joining for you, David.”

He laughs.

David is one of those Substack creators who somehow manages to do the thing we all want to do:

Build a real audience and sell books in a way that doesn’t feel cringe, pushy, or like a pop-up ad.

So instead of doing yet another “Substack growth hacks” conversation (we’ve all been there), I told him I wanted to niche down.

Let’s talk about selling books, specifically, how he does it on Substack and beyond.

And what followed was one of the most practical conversations I’ve had about book marketing in a creator economy that’s allergic to hard selling.

1) His #1 Strategy: Mention Your Book… Constantly (But Like a Human)

I asked David what his strategy is, and his answer was simple:

He talks about his books at every available opportunity.

Not in a spammy way. Not like a “BUY NOW” billboard.

More like this:

“I’ll almost always bring up my books at some point… and just try to bring them into the conversation in an organic way… try to not make things sound like an ad.”

David’s point: people on Substack connect with the human side of creators, not the overly polished, overly scripted, “sounds like it was written by a robot” version of us.

It’s not “Here is my book. Please purchase it.”

It’s “By the way, I wrote a book. It’s part of what I’m building. If you’re curious, it’s there.”

2) ROI Is Messy… But Word of Mouth Isn’t

Do you actually see book sales coming from Substack? What’s the ROI?

David was honest: attribution is hard. You can’t always tell whether someone bought because of Substack, TikTok, Instagram, or a friend whispering your title into the universe.

But he has noticed one thing clearly:

A lot of people find out about his books through other people.

Especially on TikTok.

He told me he’s been DM’ing people about a book coming out soon, and he keeps hearing the same thing:

“Oh, I know about that book. I heard someone else talking about it.”

That’s the holy grail: getting other people to talk about your book.

3) Why He Self-Publishes Some Books (And Keeps Others With a Publisher)

David still works with a small publisher for his young adult fantasy series, but he self-publishes those under his own (not-yet-official-but-coming) label.

Why split it?

Genre.

He wants to market horror in a way that’s targeted, bold, and specific, without it clashing with the brand and expectations around his YA fantasy books.

Also: it gives him more control over how he promotes, who he collaborates with, and which creators he taps to help spread the word.

4) IngramSpark vs. KDP: He’s Thinking Long-Term (and Indie Bookstores)

David currently uses IngramSpark, not Amazon KDP (at least for now).

His reasoning: he wants to support independent bookstores long-term.

He pointed out something I didn’t fully appreciate until recently:

Some indie bookstores don’t love carrying books that are heavily tied to Amazon, partly because customers will price-check and buy cheaper online, cutting the bookstore out of the sale.

He acknowledged you can do both (KDP + IngramSpark), and many authors do.

But his mindset is: if he’s going to build relationships with indie bookstores over time, he’d rather not center Amazon as the default.

That said, he also admitted he may use KDP in the future, especially as he experiments with paid ads.

5) TikTok Shop Isn’t the Main Thing (TikTok is)

I shared my TikTok experience, and let’s just say… it was humbling.

I set up a TikTok Shop, did all the paperwork, listed my books, contacted influencers, sent copies, tried the affiliate approach…

…and sold basically nothing through affiliates.

The one book I sold? It was because I posted a shoppable video of me reading from the book.

David’s take made me feel slightly less cursed:

He also has a TikTok Shop… and he’s only sold one or two directly through it.

For him, TikTok isn’t necessarily where people buy.

It’s where people discover.

Someone sees the book on TikTok and then buys it on Amazon, Waterstones, wherever they already buy books.

So instead of obsessing over the TikTok Shop link, he focuses on what TikTok does best:

Putting your book in front of people who love talking about books.

6) His TikTok Outreach Method: Search → DM → Track → Follow Up

This part was pure “steal this process.”

When David has a horror novel coming out, he goes on TikTok and searches:

* BookTok

* horror

* horror recommendations

* (and similar keywords)

Then he finds creators who are already posting about horror novels and messages them:

“Hey, I’ve got this book coming out. Would you be interested in reading and reviewing it if I send you a free digital copy?”

His response rate?

About 1 out of 10 says yes.

And yes, he keeps a spreadsheet so he can follow up and reach out again later.

It’s not glamorous.

He called it “a long, grueling process.”

But it works for building reviews, especially on Goodreads and Amazon, and sometimes those ARC readers buy a physical copy anyway.

7) How He Splits His Time (and Stays Consistent)

David’s rhythm surprised me:

* TikTok: inconsistent, bursts of activity

* Substack: daily, a couple of hours/day

* Fiction writing: mornings (in theory), Substack writing: afternoons

* Overall: still a “9–5” style day… but on work he actually enjoys

It doesn’t feel like too much work, because he finds it fun.

8) His Income Streams as a Full-Time Writer/Solopreneur

David’s Substack focuses on making a living from writing, so I asked him outright where the money comes from.

He shared a few streams:

* 1:1 coaching (building personal brand, “writing beast,” accountability)

* Substack paid membership / VIP

* Sponsorships (newsletter + podcast)

* Digital products/courses (sold via automations)

* Book sales

* Another business (marketing platform) that’s currently his biggest income source overall

He also said coaching is likely to become his most significant writing-related stream next year.

9) His 2026 Plan: More Live Teaching + Paid Ads for Books

For next year, David wants to do more:

* live webinars/teaching sessions (PowerPoint/Canva-style)

* alternating free sessions and paid member masterclasses

* possibly bootcamps

* experimenting with paid ads for books to build a sustainable “background” sales system

* writing at least 1–2 more books

So yes—he’s doing a lot.

And no—he doesn’t have a VA.

He does outsource podcast editing sometimes, but generally keeps editing minimal so it doesn’t take over his life.

10) How He Gets Sponsors (Spoiler: He Actually Pitches)

This part personally attacked me (in a good way).

Because I’ve had a podcast for years and have never gotten a sponsor.

Why?

Because I’ve been waiting for sponsors to magically discover me.

David’s method is the opposite:

He reaches out directly—via websites or LinkedIn—and pitches:

“I have this audience. I think you’d be a good fit. Would you be interested in sponsoring?”

Most won’t respond.

Some will.

He also mentioned using a platform called Passionfruit as a clean landing page for sponsorship packages.

And he’s interviewing Justin Moore (the sponsorship expert) in January to learn even more.

The Real Takeaway

David’s approach isn’t built on secret hacks.

It’s built on something even more effective (and harder to fake):

* Be present

* Be consistent

* Be human

* Mention your book like it’s normal that you wrote a book (because it is)

* Invite people in—don’t shove them through a funnel like cattle

And the biggest lesson for me?

Selling books on Substack doesn’t have to feel like selling.

It can feel like storytelling.

You can follow David’s work on Susbtack here.

PS: David and I joked about co-writing a post called How to Sell Books on Substack and maybe we should. Because authors can do so much more with this platform than we’re currently doing.

If you want that post, reply in the comments with: “Yes, co-write it.”

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When Claudia Faith started on Substack last year, she had zero audience. Now she’s sitting at over 11,000 subscribers, teaching writers how to grow their newsletters, build communities, and use AI tools to 10x their output, all while running a healthcare startup.

I sat down with Claudia for another episode of the Substack Writers’ Salon to unpack her journey and get practical advice for writers trying to grow on the platform in 2025 and beyond.

The Beginning: Finding Her Platform

Claudia’s journey into online writing started with Medium. She’d been wanting to write there for over a decade but never found the time. When her healthcare startup entered a clinical trial phase last year, she finally had the space to pursue her solopreneurship dreams.

But she didn’t stay on Medium.

“All the big writers and creators on Medium basically said, if you’re starting from zero right now, don’t do it here. Do it on Substack,” Claudia explained.

She tried Substack, disliked it after a week or two, deleted her account, returned to Medium, only to return to Substack. This time, she figured out how to use it. And she decided to stay.

The Secret to Rapid Growth

How did she grow to 11,000 subscribers in just one year, while I’ve been on Substack on and off for three years and only reached 5,000?

Claudia was honest about her advantage: “My first growth came from writing about writing. I was documenting my journey, so my target group and audience were writers who are 100% on Substack.”

But there’s more to it than picking the right niche.

“I really put a lot of time and energy into it. I didn’t give up the first six months, which are kind of the hardest,” she said. “I really said, okay, I’m not going to do this. I’m going to stick and just really share my own learnings, share my thoughts, share my experience, and try to be as human as possible.”

Her advice? Be authentic. Share your journey. Let people in.

For Claudia, the two biggest growth drivers have been:

* Notes (50%)

* Recommendations (50%)

But she emphasized that, going forward, video and live sessions will be crucial.

The Income Reality Check

In a post published just an hour before our conversation, Claudia realized that most of her income came from Substack. And it scared her.

Why? Because she felt the algorithm shift during the summer. Despite doing nothing different, her reach plummeted. It reminded her of an important truth: you can’t depend on one platform.

Her income streams currently include:

* Paid subscriptions (25% of income)

* Coaching calls (25% of income)

* Courses and digital products

* AI tools she’s built

* Collaborative projects like Cozora

For 2026, she’s pivoting away from one-on-one coaching (too much time linked to income) and focusing on collaborative projects and corporate AI consulting.

AI: The Great Equalizer

Claudia is unapologetically enthusiastic about AI. She co-founded Cozora, an AI community that brings in expert creators every week to teach practical AI workflows. At $70 per month (or $360 annually for paid subscribers to participating newsletters), it’s attracting serious learners, 60 members since launching in November.

Her daily AI toolkit includes:

* Claude for writing projects and templates

* Gemini for image generation

* Nano Banana for stunning visuals

* Cursor for building AI tools with code

Claudia’s Claude projects are particularly clever. She’s created templates that analyze her past posts, then generate outlines, hooks, and structure for new content based on her style. She even built a hook generator that helps her start articles with compelling facts and insights.

And those welcome messages to new subscribers? She automated them with a Chrome extension tool because manually sending messages through Substack’s slow interface became impossible at scale.

The Notes Strategy

Claudia’s approach to Notes is two-pronged:

* Share authentic moments from her life—like attending a local Christmas market for a shelter. These posts have nothing to do with her teaching but everything to do with building trust.

* Repurpose her content using an AI prompt that summarizes her posts and generates 10-15 different notes from each article.

She posts 3-4 notes in the morning, then restacks her own notes in the afternoon (which takes just 30 seconds). The key is consistency without burning out.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Claudia’s vision for the coming year is clear:

* More live sessions and video content

* Building corporate AI consulting services

* Growing her LinkedIn presence for B2B connections

* Collaborative projects with other creators

She’s drawing inspiration from Kamil Banc, who successfully helps CEOs and managers implement AI workflows in their companies through assessments and implementation packages.

For me, this conversation was a reminder that growth on Substack isn’t just about writing great content. It’s about:

* Showing up consistently, especially in the first six months

* Being genuinely yourself—vulnerabilities and all

* Leveraging video to build deeper connections

* Using AI strategically to work smarter, not harder

* Not putting all your eggs in one platform basket

The Bottom Line

Claudia Faith’s journey from zero to 11,000 subscribers proves that rapid growth is possible, even when you’re building part-time alongside other ventures. But it requires authenticity, persistence, strategic use of tools, and a willingness to show up on camera.

As we head into 2026, the message is clear: the future of Substack is video, community, and authentic human connection. The writers who embrace these elements while using AI to amplify their efforts will be the ones who thrive.

Want to connect with Claudia? Find her on Substack at Wonder Wealth and Level Up with AI. Or check out Cozora if you’re serious about mastering AI workflows.

This conversation was part of the Substack Writer’s Salon series, where I interview creators about their journey, strategies, and lessons learned.

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