Substack Writers Salon

➡️ Before we dive in, if you want to learn the exact mindset and habits that turn aspiring writers into published authors, you can download it free: The Author’s Code: 10 Proven Mindset Shifts and Daily Habits That Transform Aspiring Writers Into Published Authors

In the latest episode of the Substack Writer’s Salon, I sat down with Renee Puvvada who helps successful entrepreneurs build what she calls “immortal authority” through their self-published books.

I’ve been reading Renee on Substack for a while, and we recently connected around one of my posts about how life can feel like an open-world game. When I saw her phrase immortal authority, I knew I had to ask:

What does that actually mean for authors, especially self-published ones?

This conversation was rich with practical tactics and mindset shifts, so I turned it into this post for all of you writing, publishing, or relaunching your books.

What Is “Immortal Authority”?

Renee works with entrepreneurs and business owners who aren’t beginners anymore. They’ve:

* Been in the game for a while

* Built skills

* Made good money

* Created a lot of content

But now they want more than income or visibility. They want to be known for their wisdom in a way that outlives the latest algorithm update or social platform.

That’s where immortal authority comes in.

A book, especially a well-positioned, well-marketed one, becomes a long-term asset:

* It compounds in sales

* It compounds in reputation

* It opens doors to podcasts, speaking, media, and opportunities long after launch week

Renee helps people design their books and launches for that, not just for a quick spike on Amazon.

Why She Works Only With Self-Published Authors

I asked her the obvious question:

“Why self-published books only? Why not all books?”

Simple answer:That’s the world she knows and loves.

She came into self-publishing through a classic internet promise: a course that told her she could sell books online, make money, and maybe just maybe retire to Bali with a laptop.

She did most of those things… and then realized she wanted more out of life than just “escape to Bali.” That kicked off a deeper spiritual and professional journey, and she stayed in the self-publishing lane.

Now she’s a genuine champion of self-publishing because of the mindset it requires:

“I love the tenacious, scrappy energy of self-published authors. It’s very Taylor Swift energy — getting so good at your own marketing, branding, and sales that you don’t need a gatekeeper.”

She points out that even some big names, like Robert Kiyosaki, started as self-published authors who rolled up their sleeves and figured it out.

The Beyoncé Haircare Launch… and Your Book

One of my favorite moments in our conversation was when Renee used Beyoncé’s Sacred Haircare launch as a metaphor for how we should be launching books.

A lot of authors do this:

* Write the book

* Hit publish

* Post “My book is out!” a few times

* Send their audience to a lonely Amazon page with 10 reviews

* Wonder why nothing is happening

Renee compared that to setting up a lonely booth at a farmer’s market with no line and no social proof. People see the product and just… keep walking.

Beyoncé did the opposite.

By the time Renee opened an Ulta catalog and saw Sacred Haircare for the first time, it already had 5,000 five-star reviews.

How?

Because the pre-launch was doing the heavy lifting:

* She rallied her “cousins” — her community and superfans

* Got them to pre-buy, test, and give feedback

* Primed the pump so that when launch day came, the product had social proof baked in

Renee’s doing the same thing right now with Amy Suto’s upcoming book. Instead of just dropping a link and hoping for sales, they’re:

* Selling pre-orders to Amy’s Substack audience

* Giving away advanced reader copies

* Lining up people who are ready to buy, download, review, and share the moment it goes live

Think domino effect, not lonely farmer’s market booth.

The Biggest Mistake Self-Published Authors Make

When I asked Renee what biggest mistake she sees self-published authors make, she didn’t hesitate.

It’s this:

Writing and publishing the book first… and only then figuring out the marketing.

She told the story of a client, Ann, who wrote a deeply personal book about her ovarian cancer journey. She poured a year of her life into it, hit publish… and then realized she had no clear idea:

* Who the book was really for

* How those readers currently solve their problem

* What other books or content they were already consuming

* Whether they wanted that type of book or something slightly different (more case studies, a framework, timelines, etc.)

It’s not that writing from the heart is wrong. But when you’re trying to sell a book and build authority, market research first, book second will save you an enormous amount of money, time, and heartache.

A Thousand Copies Can Change Everything

A lot of people think you need some massive breakout hit — 5,000 or 10,000 copies — before anything meaningful happens.

Renee’s first ever client proved otherwise.

That client paid her $500 for six months of 1:1 help. They worked closely, implemented consistently, and in six months she had sold 1,000 copies of her book.

Not “New York Times bestseller” numbers, but here’s what changed:

* She could confidently say: “I’ve sold 1,000 copies and hit #1 in my Amazon category.”

* She used that line in pitches to podcasts, TV, and brands

* She landed a statewide TV appearance

* She got on top 2% podcasts

* She booked more speaking gigs

* She landed a brand deal

All from that initial 1,000.

You don’t necessarily need a blockbuster. You need enough traction to open the next set of doors , and then you run with it.

Amazon Ads vs. Everything Else

I asked Renee about paid ads: Facebook? Instagram? Amazon?

Her answer was very clear:

Amazon ads are the bread and butter.

She learned her system from publishing.com and has seen it work again and again, especially for nonfiction:

* Her friend Dan has sold ~40,000 books

* Another friend, Ollie, has sold ~200,000

* Renee herself has sold ~15,000

Why Amazon?

Because it is, in her words, “the biggest, hungriest bookstore in the world.” People go there already in buying mode, and they often buy multiple books on one topic at once.

Amazon lets you:

* Target readers who are looking at similar books

* Show up in the “customers also bought” ecosystem via ads

* Ride that click-to-click browsing behavior straight into more sales

Meta ads (Facebook/Instagram), on the other hand, are:

* Usually more expensive

* Harder to make profitable if your goal is selling a $20 book

* Better suited for people who already know and love that ad ecosystem

If you’re a scrappy self-published author with limited time and budget, Renee’s recommendation is to master Amazon ads first, not try to become a Meta ads wizard overnight.

You can learn Amazon ads:

* Through YouTube tutorials (plenty exist)

* Or via a structured course / coach if you want to go faster and avoid mistakes

In her own practice, she walks her paid clients through the setup and optimization step by step.

The Year She 10x’d Her Business (and Didn’t Go Back to Corporate)

One of the reasons I wanted Renee on the Salon is that she’s very honest about her business numbers.

* Year 1 of her coaching business: $5,000

* Year 2: $50,000

Yes, that’s technically 10x — and yes, she used “10x” in the title because she knows it’s a hook. But the story behind those numbers is the real lesson.

In year one, she was already a successful self-publisher. She’d sold six figures’ worth of books and thought of herself as “a marketing person.”

So making only $5,000 with her new coaching offer was… humbling.

She felt embarrassed. She worried about not pulling her financial weight in her marriage. And she had that classic internal dialogue:

“Am I kidding myself? Should I just go back to a 9–5?”

But going back to corporate, she says, would have felt like “dying a slow death.” So instead, she did something else:

She mentally walked herself through the worst-case scenario.

* What if she made no money?

* What if her husband lost his job too?

* What then?

She followed that thought all the way down:

“We’d probably have to move out of our h…

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

➡️ Before we dive in, if you want to learn the exact mindset and habits that turn aspiring writers into published authors, you can download it free: The Author’s Code: 10 Proven Mindset Shifts and Daily Habits That Transform Aspiring Writers Into Published Authors

If you hang out in the online world of alternative careers and “off the beaten track” life paths, you’ve probably heard of Paul Millerd and his bestseller The Pathless Path, a memoir-manifesto for people who feel misaligned with the traditional script: get the fancy degree, get the prestigious job, keep climbing, feel dead inside, repeat.

I read his book a few years ago, and it genuinely shifted something in me. It recalibrated how I thought about work, security, and the life I was building.

So when Paul joined me live from Taipei on the Substack Writer Salon podcast, I wanted to ask him all the questions people are too polite to ask.

* Do you really not regret leaving McKinsey?

* How on earth do you turn down a Penguin two-book deal?

* How do you not obsess over money when you have a family?

* And is this “pathless path” actually practical, or just romantic?

Here’s a lightly edited version of our conversation.

Leaving McKinsey (and the “Prestige Path”)

Paul started his career in what many would consider a dream trajectory: GE → McKinsey → business school → high-paying consulting roles.

And yet, the higher he climbed, the worse he felt.

“My salary definitely kept climbing. But my curiosity and sense of aliveness kept going down. That disconnect just tore at me.”

He loved consulting early in his career, especially at McKinsey, which he still describes as the “best job” he ever had.

“McKinsey was fast-paced. Great managers, great mentorship. I learned a lot. It was really amazing.”

But after business school, things shifted. More money, more status… and less life.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just knew that if I stayed on my current trajectory, I was heading almost assuredly toward a life I was not satisfied with.”

So he did the unthinkable: he stepped off the default path.

Does he regret it?

“No. I wish I left earlier.”

If he could rewrite his story, he says he would have skipped business school, stayed a few years at McKinsey, then gone off to travel and explore, before taking on debt and doubling down on a path that wasn’t right for him.

The Spark Behind The Pathless Path

Unlike a lot of “build your brand” nonfiction, The Pathless Path wasn’t written as a strategic product. It emerged as the obvious next step in his experiment with a different way of living.

In 2018, Paul moved to Taiwan without a plan.

“I was just looking for distance from my old life, both metaphorically and literally. In that first month, I decided I would do the opposite of everything my brain was telling me to do: make money, pursue impressive things, start stuff.”

Instead, he wandered. Read. And discovered that what he most wanted to do every morning was write.

“I enjoyed it so much. I thought, what if I just make this the aim of everything? So I decided to build my path around writing as the core activity.”

For years, that’s what he did, without a clear promise of success:

* He wrote.

* He talked to people about his ideas.

* He lived in a way that would give him energy to keep writing.

Only after three and a half years of this did he finally publish The Pathless Path.

And the book… took off.

Why?

Partly because it’s not the usual “do these five things and you too can be free” business book.

“I didn’t write a popular nonfiction ‘how-to’ book. I wrote a memoir-ish book. It’s my personal journey, with side quests into the history of work and reflections on why people feel so weird about work today.”

Above all, he says, he wanted the book to say one thing:

“You’re not crazy. The way you feel about work makes sense. I just spent three and a half years mapping this all out.”

Why He Self-Published (Twice)

Here’s where it gets spicy.

Paul didn’t pitch The Pathless Path to agents or publishers.

“I had a tiny audience. I didn’t even try. I wasn’t interested. Writing a nonfiction proposal just to get permission to write a book on a topic a publisher chooses—that was fundamentally opposed to how I was living.”

Instead, he self-published and spent about $7,000 doing it, on editors, design, ISBNs, and audiobook production.

“If you want to do it well, with good editing and design, you’re probably looking at five to ten thousand. Anything less and you’ll need to bring a lot of the skills yourself.”

His second book, Good Work (published in 2024), cost even more—around $10,000—because he paid existing collaborators better and cycled through several cover designers.

Has he made a profit?

Yes—but modestly.

“I’ve probably made about $5,000 to $10,000 profit on Good Work in a year. Not amazing. The Pathless Path still sells better.”

And then came Penguin.

Turning Down Penguin

About a year after The Pathless Path launched, Penguin came knocking with a two-book deal:

* $70,000 to buy the rights to The Pathless Path

* $130,000 to write a second book on a topic they would choose

And he said… no.

“At that point I was selling about 2,000 copies a month and making around $10,000 per month from the book. After the agent’s cut, I’d net maybe $52,000 from that advance—and then I’d have to earn it back with a smaller royalty percentage.”

Worse, they planned to take his self-published version out of print.

“It was just a bad match. I didn’t connect with them energy-wise. So it was a pretty easy no.”

This is where other authors often raise the “but what about reputation?” argument. Don’t traditional publishers still give you legitimacy?

Paul doesn’t buy it.

“Who published your favorite book? Do you know? You probably read it because someone recommended it, not because of the publisher’s logo. We care about our friends’ reputations, not the publisher’s.”

What does matter, he acknowledges, is speaking.

Traditional publishers have relationships with PR firms and conference organizers—and that’s often what they quietly sell authors: not royalties, but access to speaking circuits.

“That’s exactly what Penguin told me. ‘We’ll get you on the speaker circuit. You’ll make money from speaking.’ But I like writing. I don’t want to be a professional speaker.”

His stance is simple: if you own your audience, it’s insane to give away marketing and rights control to a company that will own your book, your merchandising rights, and your options, often for a deal that doesn’t make financial sense.

What Actually Sells Books (Hint: It’s Not Hacks)

People love to ask him: What’s your secret? What’s the playbook?

His answer is almost disappointingly simple:

“There’s one thing that sells books: people buy it, finish it, and then share and gift it to others.”

There was no grand launch strategy. No mass outreach to influencers. He didn’t even ask Ali Abdaal to promote it.

“Ali just happened to be a reader of my newsletter. His brother sent him my stuff. He supported my presale, I offered to send him free copies, he read the book, liked it, and started recommending it. His behavior was almost indistinguishable from other readers who loved the book.”

Paul’s “strategy,” if you can call it that, is radical generosity:

“I see my creative work as a gift. I don’t feel like I deserve money for it. I already feel paid in the privilege of being able to do it. So if someone loves my book and gifts it, I’ll often say, ‘Can I send you five copies?’”

He also shares all his numbers publicly—royalties, foreign rights deals, percentages, everything—so people can judge his opinions in context.

“Most traditionally published authors won’t tell you the size of their advance or how many books they sell. Without that, it’s hard to learn from them.”

Money, Family, and “Is This Sustainable?”

At this point in the conversation, I pushed him on the thing many people are quietly thinking:

Okay, this all sounds very spiritual and poetic, but… you have a family. How sustainable is this?

Paul doesn’t pretend to have a neat, practical framework. What he has instead is clarity of priorities.

He and his…

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➡️ Before we dive in —If you want to see the exact message that landed me a $20K memoir client, you can download it free: The 5-Minute Memoir Ghostwriting Pitch

A few days ago, I hosted a Substack Live with someone I have been following and learning from for a while. Maya Say, a monetization strategist who has worked one-on-one with two thousand solopreneurs.

She has:

* 10+ years of solopreneurship under her belt

* Hundreds of 5-star reviews on Fiverr

* A business that now includes copywriting, digital products, Substack, and even real-estate flipping

And she does it all while working around 2–4 hours a day, picking up her kids, going to Pilates, and working from coffee shops.

Meanwhile, I am over here refreshing Stripe, chasing invoices, and wondering why my 25 years of experience are not translating into the peaceful, abundant solopreneur life I imagined.

This conversation was a bit of a pattern interrupt for me. Here are the ideas that hit hardest.

1. A solopreneur is not “someone who works alone”

If you Google “solopreneur,” you get a sad definition about “an entrepreneur with no employees.”

Maya laughed at that.

You don’t define a singer as “the person in the band who doesn’t play an instrument.”

Her definition is much more useful:

A solopreneur is someone who delivers the core value of their business themselves.

So:

* If I write the memoir and hire help for admin, design, social media, or bookkeeping, I am still a solopreneur.

* If a copywriter hires other copywriters to do the writing while they manage clients, that is no longer solopreneurship. That is an agency.

The key question is: What is the core value of your business, and are you still the one delivering it?

That one definition already made me feel less “small” and more like a deliberate choice, not a failed agency owner.

2. Maya tried the agency dream. She hated it.

There was a moment in her journey when she landed her first 5-figure client (12K for a copywriting project).

Her first thought:

“I must not be good enough to do this alone. I need a team, an office, and an agency if I am going to work with clients at this level.”

So she did it.

* Rented a trendy office downtown

* Hired a couple of people

* Filled her calendar with meetings, research, user testing, management

And she realized she had accidentally built a business where she no longer wrote.

So she shut it down. Let the team go. Closed the office. Went back to being “just” a solopreneur.

But now she knew something important:

She did not need to become an agency in order to work with high-paying clients. She needed better offers, better pacing, and better boundaries.

3. Multiple income streams do not mean “scattered”

Today, Maya’s income looks roughly like this:

* Around half from client work (copywriting)

* Around 10–15% from digital products, Substack, and Medium

* A new stream from flipping real estate, where she uses contractors for the physical work

On paper, that looks like a lot. In practice, she built it slowly:

* First she was “just” a copywriter.

* Years later, she added Medium.

* Later still, she launched Substack and digital products.

* Only now, with a stable business and history, is she experimenting with real estate.

It did not happen all at once.

Her rule:

You can be multi-passionate, but you cannot build four things from scratch at the same time.

Start with one, get it stable, then layer on the next.

4. My bottleneck: Do I need more clients or more money?

When I described my situation to her –

* Ghostwriting memoirs (most of my income)

* Book coaching that grew organically

* Corporate newsletter ghostwriting

* Constant feeling of being on a financial hamster wheel

– she stopped me and asked a deceptively simple question:

“Is your problem that you need more clients or that you need more money?”

Because those are not the same.

If I double my prices and halve my clients, that is a very different life from packing my calendar with more and more work at my current rates.

Ouch.

5. “With your background, 20K for a memoir is not enough.”

I told her my current memoir pricing. I braced myself.

She did not flinch.

“With your experience, 20K for a memoir is not enough.”

Her point was not “charge wildly random numbers.” Her point was:

* Raise your confidence first. Believe there are clients who will happily pay more.

* Make your process so good that even you think, “this is underpriced.”

* Add things clients really care about: structure, interviews, research, maybe user testing of titles or positioning, support around launch, etc.

* Then go after bigger clients on platforms where they are actively looking to buy.

I immediately felt my own resistance rise:“But where do I find these magical premium clients?”

Which led us to the part that surprised me most.

6. Fiverr is not “for cheap clients.” It is a buyer-intent platform.

We love to dismiss platforms like Fiverr and Upwork as “race to the bottom” marketplaces.

Maya built her entire business on Fiverr. She has:

* Thousands of reviews

* Long-term client relationships

* A recent client who turned into a 40K project and works with the US government

Her distinction:

“There are not cheap platforms. There are cheap sellers on good platforms.”

On Fiverr right now there are millions of active buyers. That means people who have bought at least one service in the last 12 months, often more.

These people do not go there to “browse content.”They go there to buy.

So if you are offering:

* Ghostwriting

* Newsletter writing

* Website copy

* About pages

* Articles

You can either:

* Try to convince a random LinkedIn follower to hire you, or

* Show up where someone is literally typing “memoir ghostwriter” into a search bar with their credit card ready.

Her question for me (and by extension, for you):

Why are you trying to sell in places where people are not there to buy?

7. Stop chasing trends. Fix your offer instead.

Because she has worked with so many solopreneurs, Maya has seen the same pattern over and over.

People come to her saying:

“Nothing is selling. I need you to write magic sales copy for my offer.”

And almost every time, the problem is not the copy. It is a confusing, weak, or misaligned offer.

No clear “who.”No clear “what.”No connection to what people are already looking for.

On Fiverr, her breakthrough came when she stopped offering “website copy” and started offering About pages.

Everyone was stuck on writing their About page. They felt awkward writing about themselves. Her About page gig exploded. From there, she could upsell homepages, sales pages, full sites, emails, and more.

Sales copy cannot fix a broken offer. But a clear offer often “sells itself” once you describe it plainly.

So before we run to new platforms or trends, her advice is to ask:

* Where are people already trying to give you money?

* What do your existing clients keep asking for?

* Which offer feels like a “door opening” project that leads to more work?

8. Substack: what actually converts free readers to paid

Maya currently has around 50 paid subscribers, and has been higher in the past.

What moved the needle for her was not posting more, but:

* Auditing 200+ past posts

* She tagged them by topic and tracked which ones led to paid upgrades.

* Two of her five main topics reliably convert. The other three? Not so much.

* Sending occasional, honest sales emails

* A pure sales email like “Next week I am running a paid webinar for subscribers on X, here is what you get…” works surprisingly well.

* People do not mind being sold to if:

* The offer is genuinely useful

* You do not do it every day

* Your free content is already valuable

* Giving paid subscribers the “how”

* Free readers often get the “what” and the story.

* Paid readers get the “how”: tools, planners, assessments, prompts, and deeper breakdowns.

* Some tools live on Gumroad (where paid subs get them free or discounted), others live in Google Docs or inside the paywalled section of the post.

Her reminder to me:

If you never actually ask people to upgrade, you cannot be surprised if they do not.

Guilty.

9. Doing less, better

My favorite part came near the end, when I confessed how tired I was.

Her advice was not “work harder” or “add three more offers.”

It was:

“Do less. C…

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 a prolific creator Anfernee joind me from Singapore for a live conversation last night, I thought I’d get some tips on selling digital products. What I got instead was a complete business model overhaul and a challenge I couldn’t refuse.

Anfernee is a full-time solopreneur who earns 90% of his income selling digital products on Gumroad.

Let that sink in!

Not through his paid newsletter. Not through services. Through digital products. With 35,000 subscribers on his Gumroad email list and products that have sold thousands of copies, he’s built something most of us dream about: a scalable, sustainable business.

And he did it by failing. A lot. Fast.

The 56-Product Experiment

When Anfernee started in 2023, he had no idea what would work. So he did something most people would consider insane: he launched one digital product every week for an entire year. That’s 56 products.

“Nobody knows what to do when they first start,” he told me. “Those who tell you they know what to do are bluffing you.”

Most of those 56 products didn’t work. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to discover what does work—and to do it fast enough that he didn’t burn out or give up first.

His secret weapon? Speed. With AI tools, he can now create an entire email workflow in five minutes that would have taken three days a few years ago. This speed allows him to test ideas rapidly instead of spending months perfecting something that might never sell.

My $139 Problem (And Maybe Yours Too)

Here’s where it got personal. I confessed that in three years on Gumroad, I’ve made a grand total of $139.96. I have a free ebook on ghostwriting that seven people downloaded. A paid guide on pitching that maybe ten people bought, and a free short story set at a Catholic school in Amman, Jordan, that some downloaded.

“So you have a flow problem,” Anfernee said.

He explained that my free products weren’t connected to my paid products. There was no pathway, no natural next step. My ebook wasn’t a good lead magnet because people have to finish an entire book to get value, and most never will.

What works better? A one-page checklist. An infographic. A five-minute video. Something that gives people an immediate transformation the moment they see it.

Then he walked me through the value ladder concept: free lead magnets should naturally lead to low-priced products ($9-20), which should lead to higher-priced offerings. Each step should feel like the obvious next move.

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 free courses (Worth over 300 dollars).

The 1% Rule

Of everyone who subscribes to your email list, only 1% will actually care about what you’re saying. And of that 1%, only 1% will buy something.

That’s why Anfernee has 35,000 email subscribers, and why his best-selling product has around 6,800 sales. The math checks out.

The mindshift here is clear. This isn’t depressing. It’s liberating. You’re not trying to convert everyone. You’re trying to find your people—the ones who won’t ask “Why should I buy from you when I can use ChatGPT?” Those aren’t your audience. Your audience is the people who already trust you and want to learn from you specifically.

The Challenge: 60 Days to Transform

Live on the call, with 20+ people watching, I asked Anfernee to give me a challenge. Here’s what he assigned:

Within 60 days, I must:

* Create three lead magnets on memoir ghostwriting (my niche)

* Change my ghostwriting ebook from free to $10-19

* Upload my ghostwriting course to Gumroad

* Build two email workflows: one from lead magnets to ebook (5-7 emails), another from ebook to course (5-7 emails)

* Niche down from “ghostwriting” to something more specific—like memoir ghostwriting for business leaders or media personalities

* Build in public throughout the process

“When you’re creating your first lead magnet,” he said, “tell all your subscribers immediately. Ask them what should be included. If people tell you to build something different, switch and build that. You’re validating ideas.”

Please watch as I make changes here on Substack and update you as I build in public.

Why This Matters for Writers

Most of us writers have the model backward. We offer high-touch services (ghostwriting, book coaching, editing) as our main income source, with digital products as a side hustle.

But services aren’t scalable. Every client requires pitching, onboarding, and hours of work. There’s a ceiling on how much you can earn because there’s a ceiling on your time.

Digital products flip the equation. You create once, sell infinitely. You serve people at different price points. You build an email list that becomes an asset.

Anfernee still does mentorship, but he limits it to four clients per month at high ticket prices. Everything else is products.

The Mindset Shift

When I asked Anfernee what makes solopreneurs quit, he said it comes down to two things: mindset and speed.

You need the mindset to accept that being a solopreneur means “zero dollars for a long time.” You need savings. You need to experiment without getting discouraged. You need to understand that most people in your audience will never buy—and that’s okay.

And you need speed. You need to test ideas fast enough that you find what works before you burn out and give up.

“Knowledge is free,” he said. “Implementation is priceless.”

What Happens Next

Starting today, I’m building in public. I’ll share every lead magnet I create, every pricing decision I make, and every email sequence I write. In two months, Anfernee and I will go live again to see what happened.

Will I transform my Gumroad earnings from $139 to something sustainable? Will the value ladder work? Will niching down to memoir ghostwriting actually help?

I have no idea. But that’s the point.

Follow along as I document the journey. I’ll be posting updates in Notes and in my regular newsletter. Tag me with your own experiments; maybe we can learn from each other.

Because if there’s one thing I learned from an hour with Anfernee, it’s this: The only way to find out what works is to build it, ship it, and see what happens. Fast.

Want to connect with Anfernee? Find him at Solopreneur Code on Substack, where he shares strategies for building a sustainable solo business. And yes, he replies to 100% of DMs.

Resources mentioned: The $100M Offer, $100M Leads, and $100M Dollar Models by Alex Hormozi

Travel back to 1980s Amman in my FREE short story, Ustaz Ali , set inside a Catholic school filled with secrets, lessons, and nostalgia. Get it here 🚀

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I had the pleasure of hosting Veronica Llorca-Smith for a raw and honest Substack Live conversation about what it really takes to turn creativity into a thriving business. Veronica is a writer, author coach, and public speaker who recently published The Anti-Procrastinator with Penguin Random House.

What made this conversation special?

We committed from the start to being completely transparent—no sugar-coating, no hustle culture promises, just the real story of building a creative business in 2025.

The Unconventional Path to Traditional Publishing

Before landing her deal with Penguin Random House, Veronica self-published two books and worked with an indie publisher for a third. The rejections were many, but they led to a strategic insight that changed everything.

Veronica secured her book deal before writing the manuscript.

Her approach was inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love strategy, pitching the concept first rather than completing the book and hoping for interest. But this wasn’t a random shot in the dark. Veronica did extensive research into Penguin’s structure, discovering they have over 300 imprints, each with different focuses and audiences.

She found an imprint in Southeast Asia (she’s based in Hong Kong) that specifically sought stories from authors in that region and didn’t require agent representation.

The lesson?

Intentional targeting over volume.

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: The Real Comparison

When I asked whether she’d continue with traditional publishers, Veronica was clear: yes, despite making less money per book (8% royalties compared to self-publishing).

Why? The intangible benefits:

* Credibility and authority that open doors to literary festivals

* Speaking opportunities at higher rates

* Professional validation that distinguishes you in an AI-saturated market

As Veronica put it: “It’s not about the money from the book itself, it’s about what the book enables you to do.”

The Six-Figure Reality Check

This is where our conversation got really honest.

Veronica challenged a common misconception: “I don’t know one single creator who actually makes six figures from a writing business.”

Here’s the truth: most successful “writing businesses” are actually diversified income ecosystems where writing is the foundation, not the sole revenue source.

Veronica’s Income Breakdown:

Primary source: Public speaking (workshops and keynotes for Fortune 500 companies at $3,000-$5,000 per session)

Secondary sources:

* Digital courses on Gumroad (launched in July, already published four courses)

* One-on-one coaching

* Premium webinars for paid subscribers

* Book sales (the smallest revenue stream)

The timeline is equally important. Veronica barely made money in her first three months. After six months, she could pay some bills. It took two full years to reach a sustainable income, and even now, most months don’t match her former corporate salary.

The Substack Growth Strategy

With over 13,000 subscribers, I had to ask: how did she get there?

Veronica’s answer challenged the typical “just be consistent” advice. She treated her first year as a learning period, then paused to reassess when growth stalled.

Her turning point: Shifting from a hobby mindset to a business mindset.

This meant:

* Defining her ideal reader clearly

* Creating a strategic content plan

* Identifying growth drivers beyond just posting regularly

The Three Pillars That Accelerated Growth:

* Notes - Consistent presence, though she acknowledges it’s a numbers game

* Collaboration - Guest posts, joint webinars, and live sessions that expose you to new communities

* Going live - Building trust through face-to-face connection

On the notes debate, we got real. I admitted my notes sometimes get minimal engagement despite posting regularly. Veronica’s take? Different formats serve different audiences. She publishes both video and written summaries to avoid alienating anyone.

The Public Speaking Pivot

Veronica’s journey from corporate Apple employee to international speaker wasn’t planned; it evolved strategically.

Phase 1: Practice and exposure through podcasts and YouTube interviews Phase 2: Premium webinars for paid Substack subscribersPhase 3: Corporate workshops and keynotes

Her strategy is brilliantly simple:

* LinkedIn for B2B business (where HR heads and learning development professionals live)

* Substack for B2C business (books, courses, coaching)

Her LinkedIn profile “screams public speaker”, complete with microphone icons and speaking photos. It leads to a dedicated website showcasing testimonials and previous engagements. She also focuses on SEO for terms like “leadership speaker Hong Kong” to appear in search results when companies are looking.

The Hard Questions

When Should You Give Up?

This question hits home for many creators. Veronica’s answer was nuanced: Don’t give up, but be smart about risk management.

Her advice:

* Build your creative business as a side project while employed

* Create financial cushion before going full-time (she had 15 years of corporate savings)

* Consider returning to part-time corporate work if needed while continuing to build

She was refreshingly honest: “If I didn’t have any financial cushion, I wouldn’t have survived past six months.”

Is Everyone Going to Be an Entrepreneur?

We discussed how mass layoffs and AI disruption are pushing people toward solopreneurship. Veronica believes the future of work is shifting in this direction, particularly for younger generations seeking purpose and freedom over the outdated nine-to-five structure.

But she’s clear-eyed: not everyone will thrive as an entrepreneur, and that’s okay.

The Infrastructure of Success

How does Veronica manage publishing books, running a business, raising kids, and training for triathlons?

Her answer centers on one principle: Know what you need to be at your best.

For her, that means:

* Protecting her sleep

* Morning exercise (where most creative breakthroughs happen)

* Saying no to protect her time and energy

* Focusing on just two platforms instead of spreading thin

As she put it: “If you want output, what is the input?”

The Bilingual Advantage

One insight that excited me: Veronica’s Spanish Substack (El Limonero) hit 2,500 subscribers in just one year.

Her observation? Non-English publications are one to two years behind the English market, creating a first-mover advantage for multilingual creators.

This inspired me to consider launching Substack content in Arabic, where there’s even less competition.

Final Thoughts: Books as Business Enablers

Veronica’s approach to books is strategic. A book isn’t just a product, it’s the center of an ecosystem that includes:

* Speaking opportunities

* Courses and digital products

* Coaching relationships

* Community building

Her Anti-Procrastinator launched in February, but she’s still in “launch mode” for the full year, attending literary festivals, doing international book fairs (including 1,000 copies at the Delhi World Book Fair in January), and continuously promoting.

As she said, “Being an author is not just the action of writing a book. It’s the mindset and the lifestyle.”

The Bottom Line: Building a creative business is possible, but it requires patience, diversification, strategic thinking, and often longer than the internet would have you believe. There’s no shortcut, but there is a path, if you’re willing to play the long game.

You can find Veronica at The Lemon Tree Mindset and connect with her on LinkedIn for her public speaking work.

Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Paul Cobbin, Fleur Hull, and many others for tuning into my live video with Veronica Llorca-Smith! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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 free courses (Woth over 300 dollars).

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

Most writers never make it past “publish” to a real paycheck. Derek Hughes did just that. Starting from zero and in two years, he built thousands of Substack subscribers, converted 100+ paying readers, and turned templates and tools into a steady income. In this conversation, we unpack the system behind his results: the platform he focused on, the cadence he keeps, and the products that actually sell.

Derek’s arc: from “nobody reading” to momentum

In early 2023, Derek started writing online with no formal writing or business background. The first months were crickets, until curiosity took over. He treated writing like an experiment lab:

* Share broadly → notice what spikes interest

* Double down on what readers respond to (in his case, writing about writing)

* Systematize what works → turn it into templates/tools → ship as products

By mid-year, he focused his niche and saw compounding growth. He joined Substack ~12 months ago, learned the culture, then leaned in. Last month: ~800+ new free subs, 100 paid overall.

“People don’t always want more tips—they want something they can use today.”

My new novel, Karma Unleashed, is out now. It’s a mystical suburban thriller set between the US and the Middle East.

Why Substack (according to Derek)

* The ecosystem connects: posts ↔ notes ↔ chat ↔ lives ↔ DMs

* The platform rewards keeping people in-platform rather than punishing links

* Once you learn the moving parts, it’s a built-in growth loop

Caveat: onboarding can feel complex (profiles, publications, posts/notes/chat). Learn the basics, then pick the features that serve your goals.

The model: free value → paid tools → products → cohorts

Derek doesn’t chase paid subs as the main business model. He makes most of his income from digital products and live cohorts—with paid subs as a tidy, targeted add-on.

Free subscribers: 2 posts/week with practical tips and examplesPaid subscribers: 1 actionable tool/week (templates, prompts, frameworks)Products & cohorts:

* Most popular product: Resource Bank (templates, frameworks, checklists)

* Cohort: The Substack Growth Map (6 live Zoom sessions over 6 weeks)

Hosting: digital products on a lean, low-cost platform.Pricing: cohorts are higher-ticket (fewer buyers needed), products stay accessible (<$100).

Derek’s cadence at a glance

* Substack (free): 2 posts/week

* Substack (paid): 1 tool/week (Mondays)

* Email list: 1 newsletter/week (Wednesdays)

* Sales cycles: 8–10 email sequences during launches

“If I send one or two emails, nobody buys. Focused sequences win.”

Notes → Posts → Email → Offer: the funnel

Derek is ruthless about the reader’s journey:

* Discovery: Notes

* Depth: Long-form posts

* Control & Sales: Email list (he imports new Substack subs monthly)

* Monetization: Cohorts and products

Workflow tip: Once a month, he exports last-30-days subs from Substack, imports them to his email provider, and sends a friendly welcome. Quick, no Zaps needed.

Tools readers actually want (a peek)

* 15 headline templates

* First-sentence frameworks (question, stat, bold claim, etc.)

* Short story checklist to keep anecdotes tight

* Outlines & prompts to speed drafting

The test: if it saved Derek time, it’s worth packaging.

Focus beats FOMO

Derek’s mantra: pick one platform, get good, then expand.He avoids scattering energy across socials, SEO, and websites. Substack is his public hub; his email list is the sales engine.

Mindset & stamina

* Treat everything like a learn → apply → share loop

* Morning deep work: 90–120 min writing → 40-min walk (idea generator)

* Reads widely to cross-pollinate (writing, productivity, psychology, business)

Influences: Nicholas Cole, Kieran Drew, Cal Newport, Adam Grant

What’s next for Derek

* Continuing to alternate live cohorts with digital products

* Upcoming idea: The Visibility Blueprint (how to get seen as a writer)

* Long-term: staying flexible, following what works, not chasing shiny things

TL;DR

Derek Hughes’ playbook for Substack growth:

* Give yourself a year — treat it as an experiment lab before expecting results.

* Build an email list — sell to it with focused sequences, not one-off posts.

* Paid = tools — subscribers want shortcuts they can use, not just more advice.

* Alternate products & cohorts — products give passive income, cohorts give higher-ticket live revenue.

* Focus beats FOMO — master one platform, then consider expanding.

“Walking in the same direction for a year beats hopping from shiny thing to shiny thing for a week.”

Thank you Juan Salas-Romer, Ja'Reese Moore, Laura Howard, Ruth O'Reilly, Wilmenda Mina, and many others for tuning into my live video with Derek Hughes!

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a paid subscriber, and you will get free access to my writing courses (over $300 in value) and a signed copy of one of my novels.

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

Most freelance writers dream of hitting six figures. But what does it take to scale beyond that milestone to seven figures?

In a recent live conversation, bestselling author and seven-figure memoir ghostwriter Amy Suto shared the exact strategies that transformed her business, and they might surprise you.

The Branding Breakthrough That Changed Everything

Amy's most dramatic income jump didn't come from improving her writing skills. It came from a $3,000-$5,000 investment that felt "ungodly" at the time: a professional website redesign and headshots.

"I had a pretty bad WordPress website that I designed myself," Amy recalls. "My partner Kyle took one look at it and said, 'Maybe you should upgrade this.'"

The result? Her monthly income skyrocketed from $4,000 to $50,000.

The lesson: The leap from six to seven figures isn't about becoming Shakespeare; it's about positioning yourself as a luxury service provider.

My new novel, Karma Unleashed, is out now. It’s a mystical suburban thriller set between the US and the Middle East.

Why Clients Pay Premium Rates for Ghostwriters

Amy discovered that clients aren't just buying writing skills. They're buying an experience, a brand, and the confidence that they're working with someone who understands their vision.

"When people are looking to hire freelancers, it's not just about skill," she explains. "It's about customer service, presentation, and making clients feel like they're getting something really special."

This shift in mindset, from craftsperson to entrepreneur, is what separates six-figure writers from seven-figure ones.

The Memoir Goldmine

Why did Amy choose memoir ghostwriting over other niches? The answer reveals why some freelance specializations command higher rates than others.

"Memoir ghostwriting pays so much better because a client is publishing a book that's going to lead to speaking gigs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, coaching clients, or capturing their legacy," Amy notes. "The value of a memoir is truly priceless."

Unlike copywriting projects with measurable ROI, memoir writing serves deeper emotional and legacy needs, which justifies premium pricing.

Building the Inbound Client Machine

Today, Amy receives 3-4 client inquiries daily without any outreach. Here's how she built that system:

1. SEO-Optimized Everything

* Treated every platform (LinkedIn, Upwork, website) as a search engine

* Used "freelance memoir ghostwriter" consistently across all profiles

* Made herself findable for her ideal clients

2. Strategic Content Creation

* Built a blog sharing the journey of freelance writing

* Moved to Substack to fill the gap in transparent income discussions

* Created valuable resources for other writers

3. The Job Board Ecosystem

When clients started reaching out for writers Amy couldn't accommodate, she created a job board that now serves her community while positioning her as the go-to expert in the field.

The Cold Outreach Reality Check

Interestingly, Amy's success didn't come from cold emailing memoir prospects. "I reached out to every single entrepreneur who has ever been on Shark Tank," she admits. "I had some great calls, but none of them were ready for a memoir."

Instead, she focused on being discoverable when clients were ready to find her—a strategy that proves the power of inbound marketing over outbound sales.

The Burnout That Led to Breakthrough

Amy's journey wasn't without challenges. In early 2021, she pushed herself to the brink, developing rheumatoid arthritis from stress and overwork. This crisis forced her to:

* Raise her rates significantly

* Work fewer hours

* Implement better systems

* Turn off phone notifications

* Use her calendar as a comprehensive task management system

The result? She doubled her rates, worked half the time, and eventually put her autoimmune condition into remission.

Tools and Systems That Actually Work

Amy's approach to productivity is refreshingly simple:

Free Tools:

* Calendar app as a to-do list (time-blocking everything)

* Toggle for time tracking

* Inbox zero commitment

Paid Tools:

* Superhuman for email management

* Notion for project tracking (she's creating a template for subscribers)

The key insight:

"You don't need a shiny automation tool to have a better system. Sometimes it's just turning off all notifications except texts from people you love."

The Self-Publishing Advantage

Amy believes self-publishing is the future for authors. Walking through an Oakland bookstore, she noticed self-published books sitting alongside traditionally published ones, with identical reader experiences.

"Why would you, as a writer, not want to keep the royalties and have total control over your books?" she asks.

Her publishing team includes line editors, proofreaders, cover designers, and interior formatters, but she notes that tools like Vellum make it possible for authors to handle typesetting themselves.

Building Community While Building Business

Amy's Substack serves dual purposes: it attracts ideal clients while building a community of writers. Her job board emerged organically from the overflow of client inquiries she couldn't handle.

This ecosystem approach, where content creation, client attraction, and community building mutually support one another, exemplifies how modern freelancers can scale beyond traditional one-to-one service models.

The Bottom Line

Amy's journey from $4K to $50K months reveals that scaling a freelance business often has less to do with improving core skills and more to do with:

* Positioning yourself as a luxury service provider

* Choosing a niche where clients see tremendous value

* Building systems that bring clients to you

* Creating multiple revenue streams that support each other

* Prioritizing sustainability over short-term gains

For writers still in the feast-or-famine cycle, Amy's advice is clear:

"Get as many shots on goal as possible with jobs that feel like the right fit, while also building up those funnels for clients to find you."

The goal isn't just to make writing your job, it's to make it sustainable, profitable, and aligned with the life you want to live.

Want to learn more about building a successful freelance writing career? Amy Suto shares detailed strategies and hosts a job board for writers at Make Writing Your Job. She's also offering a free freelancing 101 class—check her Substack for details.

Do you want to become a ghostwriter? You may want to consider my self-led course, “Make Income from Ghostwriting,” available for only $79.99.

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a paid subscriber, and you will get free access to my writing courses (over $300 in value).

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

What does it take to build a writing community with over 6,000 subscribers and that coveted verified checkmark on Substack?

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Smock, co-editor of Mid Story Magazine and co-founder of the Her Stories Project, to find out exactly how she and her partner built their thriving community for midlife women writers.

The Power of Long-Term Community Building

Jessica's success didn't happen overnight. She and her co-editor Steph Sprenger have been building their writing community since 2012, long before Substack existed. What started as two "mommy bloggers" reading the same book about female friendship evolved into a multi-platform business that now serves hundreds of midlife women writers.

The key takeaway? Community building is a marathon, not a sprint. When they moved to Substack, they already had an established email list and network of writers to bring with them.

Finding Your Niche and Sticking to It

Mid Story Magazine has a laser-focused mission: supporting midlife women's stories. This specificity has been crucial to their success. As Jessica explained,

"We have a very small niche, and Substack is really good for niches. It's so much more of a direct way to find a readership."

Their clear value proposition—"a publication for and by midlife women"—gave people something concrete to support, even before they offered specific perks to paid subscribers.

Multiple Revenue Streams

What impressed me most was how Jessica and Stephanie have diversified their income:

* Paid workshops and classes (their main income source)

* Membership community ($39/month on the Circle platform)

* Published anthologies (five so far!)

* Writing coaching

* Paid submissions (they always pay their writers)

They use a combination of platforms: Kajabi for courses, Circle for community (after finding Kajabi's community features too glitchy), and Substack for content and discovery.

The Pain Points They Solve

Through surveys and constant communication with their audience, Jessica identified the #1 struggle for their community: finding time to write consistently. This insight shapes everything they offer, from co-working sessions to accountability groups.

Understanding your audience's real pain points, not what you think they need, is crucial for building something people actually want to pay for.

📘 New Release: Karma Unleashed: After five years in the making, my second novel Karma Unleashed is finally here. A supernatural thriller set between the Middle East and the American suburbs, Karma Unleashed explores immigration, identity, and mystical visions that won't be ignored.Grab your copy here.

Marketing That Works

Jessica shared some fascinating insights about what's driven their growth:

* Anthology submissions brought in the most long-term growth

* Contributor marketing (writers sharing their published pieces)

* Substack discovery is now their main source of new subscribers

* Clear mission that people wanted to support

The Substack Advantage

What struck me was how much Jessica loves Substack for community building.

"It helps us find our people so much better," she said. Before Substack, they relied heavily on Facebook for discovery, but Substack's algorithm seems particularly good at connecting niche communities with their ideal readers.

Practical Takeaways for Your Own Community

* Start before you're ready - Jessica and Stephanie began with a simple idea about female friendship stories

* Be specific about who you serve - "Midlife women writers" is much more powerful than "writers"

* Always pay your contributors - This builds loyalty and quality

* Survey your audience regularly - Let their pain points guide your offerings

* Consider partnerships - Having a co-founder helped them balance different strengths

* Diversify your platforms - Don't put all your eggs in one basket

A Personal Note

One thing that really resonated with me was Jessica's authenticity about the challenges. Building a community isn't always glamorous; it requires consistent effort, genuine care for your audience, and sometimes stepping back during busy seasons (like summer schedules and travel).

But the rewards are clear: a sustainable business built around supporting other writers, meaningful connections, and the satisfaction of seeing your community members succeed.

📘 New Release: Karma Unleashed: After five years in the making, my second novel Karma Unleashed is finally here. A supernatural thriller set between the Middle East and the American suburbs, Karma Unleashed explores immigration, identity, and mystical visions that won't be ignored.Grab your copy here.

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. If you enjoy my work and want to support it, consider becoming a paid subscriber. As a thank-you, you’ll get access to two of my self-led courses—valued at 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 post is based on my recent Substack Live conversation with book marketing coach and bestselling author Fleur Hull, who has helped nearly 100 authors successfully launch their books.

As authors, we often think the hardest part is writing the book. But as Fleur Hull, a bestselling author with over 25 years of marketing experience, revealed in our live conversation, the real challenge begins after you type "The End."

Fleur's journey into book marketing started during the pandemic when she lost her marketing job and decided to write her first book with a friend. That book became an Amazon bestseller in the career category, launching her into a new career helping other authors navigate the complex world of book promotion.

The Revolutionary Approach: Marketing First, Writing Second

Here's Fleur's game-changing advice that turns conventional wisdom on its head:

"Start with the marketing first before you write even one word of your book."

This means:

* Identifying your target reader before you start writing

* Understanding what your audience expects from your genre

* Building your email list and audience throughout the writing process

* Creating your marketing plan before your manuscript

As Fleur puts it,

"Planning that upfront is the best way to make sure that you have some success when you finally launch rather than writing the book and then realizing when you're about to hit publish... you haven't built an audience."

For Time-Strapped Authors: Where to Focus Your Energy

When I asked Fleur about the biggest priority for busy authors juggling full-time jobs and family responsibilities, her answer was clear: Substack.

"I think Substack is the best place to be for an author... building your email list is so critical because they're the people that follow your journey. They're the audience that you own."

Why Substack Works for Authors

Fleur is very bullish on Substack because it allows authors to:

* Build an owned audience (not dependent on social media algorithms)

* Test their writing with excerpts and samples

* Bring readers along their author journey

* Connect authentically with potential book buyers

* Create long-form content that showcases their craft

The Power of Going Live: Why Video Changes Everything

One revelation from our conversation was the impact of video content. I shared how seeing James Patterson on Substack Live completely changed my perception of him as an author—it made me want to give his books another chance.

Fleur agreed: "Seeing an author live, I think in this day and age of AI, seeing a real human talking and showing that they've... what's inspired them to write the book, what they're interested to hear from readers about. I think that's a really human and very powerful way for authors to connect."

The takeaway: Don't hide behind your writing. Show your face, share your personality, and let readers connect with you as a person.

Growing on Substack: The Author's Blueprint

For authors just starting on Substack, Fleur recommends:

* Find other authors and engage with them in comments and notes

* Start early in your book-writing journey. Don't wait until publication

* Be patient—growth is a "slow grind" with peaks and valleys

* Share your process—readers love behind-the-scenes content about your writing journey

* Use both long-form posts and short notes to stay connected with your audience

The Reality Check: Why Books Launch to Crickets

One of the most sobering moments in our conversation was when Fleur mentioned the constant stream of posts on Reddit's self-publishing forum from authors saying, "I launched my book last week and I haven't had any sales."

The harsh reality? 70,000 books are published on Amazon every week.

As Fleur asks: "How do you stand out?... How is your perfect reader going to be drawn to your book above the bestsellers, above the famous authors? Why are they going to take a shot at a new author that they've never heard of?"

What Actually Moves the Needle

From Fleur's experience with Amazon bestsellers, the most effective strategies include:

* Your existing network and audience (like podcast listeners for her first book)

* Strategic Amazon and Facebook advertising (though these require expertise and careful monitoring)

* BookBub promotions (competitive but powerful when secured)

* Authentic audience building rather than relying on friends and family purchases

The AI Challenge for Writers

An interesting side note: Fleur mentioned that AI has impacted her ghostwriting business, particularly for business writing. Clients now question paying for content they feel AI could produce. However, memoir ghostwriting remains AI-resistant because it requires human interviewing skills and personal connection.

Fleur's Innovative Substack Strategy

Here's a brilliant monetization strategy worth noting: Fleur offers a customized 6-10 page book marketing plan as part of her annual Substack subscription ($60 US). This creates immediate value for subscribers while generating leads for her coaching business.

Key Takeaways for Authors

* Start marketing before you start writing

* Build your email list early and consistently

* Use Substack as your primary platform for audience building

* Don't be afraid to show your face and personality

* Understand your target reader deeply before you write

* Be prepared for the long game as success rarely happens overnight

Final Thoughts

The most powerful insight from my conversation with Fleur was this shift in mindset: thinking of yourself as a "marketing-first author" rather than someone who reluctantly promotes their work after the fact.

As uncomfortable as it might feel to put on that "business hat," the authors who succeed are those who embrace both the creative and commercial sides of their craft.

Want to connect with Fleur Hall? Find her on Substack at "Author Growth" or search for Fleur Hall.

What's your biggest book marketing challenge? Share in the comments below, and let's help each other succeed in this author journey.

Read and Write with Natasha is a reader-supported publication. If you enjoy my work and want to support it, consider becoming a paid subscriber. As a thank-you, you’ll get access to two of my self-led courses—valued at over $300, in addition to a copy of my novel They Called Me Wyatt

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

In a recent Substack Live session, I had the pleasure of chatting with Talyn Simmonds, a former college teacher turned full-time ghostwriter and content marketing expert. Taylin shared his journey into ghostwriting, strategies for client acquisition, and how to stand out in an increasingly competitive market.

Below, I’ve distilled key takeaways from our conversation to help aspiring ghostwriters build a thriving career.

From Classroom to Content: Taylin’s Ghostwriting Journey

Taylin’s path to ghostwriting began with a desire for financial freedom. As a college teacher in Canada, he loved his job but struggled with the income. A chance coffee shop conversation led him to start writing daily on Twitter (now X), where he discovered ghostwriting through a mentor, Dakota Robertson.

After working for free to gain experience, Taylin landed his first client, charging premium rates right away by showcasing tangible results. Since 2022, he has run a content marketing agency, primarily ghostwriting for LinkedIn and X, with plans to expand to Instagram and newsletters.

Building a Moat in a Saturated Market

With more people entering the ghostwriting space and AI tools threatening to automate content creation, how does Taylin stay competitive?

He emphasizes two key strategies:

* Stay Ahead of the Curve: Ghostwriting is challenging, and platforms are constantly evolving. To succeed, you must adapt to what works now, not last year. Taylin’s agency stays cutting-edge by researching trends and creating content that resonates with today’s audiences.

* Focus on Revenue, Not Just Content: Instead of just building a client’s brand, Taylin’s agency acts as a “revenue partner,” delivering measurable ROI (e.g., 2-5x returns within months). This embeds them in clients’ businesses, creating a moat against competitors. For example, some clients rely on them so much that stopping services would hurt their bottom line.

Proven Strategies for Landing Clients

Taylin shared actionable tips for ghostwriters looking to attract clients:

* Build Proof First: Early on, Taylin worked for free with agencies to gather social proof (e.g., screenshots of impressions, follower growth, and leads). This proof allowed him to charge $3,200/month for his first client, bypassing the low-rate trap many beginners fall into.

* Leverage Referrals and Inbound Leads: Initially, Taylin avoided cold outreach, relying on referrals and inbound leads from viral content on X and LinkedIn. He wrote posts targeting founders, coaches, and consultants, using calls-to-action like, “If you’re a founder looking for these results, click here.” While inbound leads were plentiful in 2022-2023, market saturation now makes cold outreach necessary for consistency.

* Optimize LinkedIn as a “Wall of Testimonials”: For LinkedIn, Taylin recommends posting case studies (e.g., “This founder struggled with leads until we implemented X strategy, yielding Y results”) 2-3 times a week, alongside value-driven stories about your ethics or leadership. This turns your profile into a persuasive landing page, boosting responses to cold DMs.

Navigating Platforms: X, LinkedIn, and Substack

Taylin’s approach varies by platform:

* X: Write viral threads with a sophisticated tilt (e.g., summarizing a book like The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch) to attract high-caliber clients like founders. Case studies work better as thread add-ons than standalone posts.

* LinkedIn: Focus on case studies or broad, top-of-funnel content like productivity hacks. These build authority and trust, especially when paired with cold outreach.

* Substack: Taylin sees Substack as a “fun” creator platform, akin to “old Twitter.” While it’s great for newsletters and personal content, he’s skeptical about its potential for ghostwriting leads yet, as most Substack users prefer writing their own content. To grow on Substack, he spends 1-2 hours daily commenting and DMing to connect authentically, uses keywords like “ghostwriting” or “copywriting,” and drives subscribers from X and LinkedIn via lead magnets (e.g., journal prompts or a free AI ghostwriting course).

The Role of AI in Ghostwriting

Taylin isn’t worried about AI replacing ghostwriters—yet. While AI can generate decent posts, creating top-performing content requires detailed, 1,000- 2,000-word prompts, which demand deep platform knowledge and writing experience.

He challenges skeptics to outperform him using AI alone, noting that none have succeeded. His agency uses AI to streamline processes, but human creativity and strategy remain the core of their success.

Growing Your Substack Presence

Taylin’s Substack strategy is straightforward:

* Port Existing Subscribers: He moved 8,000+ subscribers from Beehiiv to Substack for social proof, using Zapier to automate adding new subscribers from lead magnets on X and LinkedIn.

* Engage Authentically: Daily commenting and DMing build community connections, driving organic growth.

* Cross-Promote: Most of his 20-50 daily Substack subscribers come from other platforms, not Substack itself.

Taylin’s Long-Term Vision

Taylin’s current focus is scaling his agency to offer omnichannel services (LinkedIn, X, Instagram, newsletters) and refining his ghostwriting coaching program. However, his five-year goal is to transition to writing fiction, a lifelong passion. By building “high-leverage businesses” that run efficiently with minimal hours, he aims to create space for creative pursuits without financial stress.

Key Resources and Recommendations

Taylin credits Alex Hormozi’s YouTube and books for tactical business growth advice and The Almanac of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgensen for philosophical insights on leveraged income. For podcasts, he prefers Modern Wisdom for self-improvement and big ideas over business-heavy content.

How to Connect with Taylin

Want to dive deeper into ghostwriting or hire Taylin’s agency?

Reach out to him on Substack Taylin John Simmonds.

Taylin’s journey shows that ghostwriting success comes from combining strategic content, tangible results, and relentless adaptation.

Whether you’re a new ghostwriter or a seasoned pro, his insights offer a roadmap to thrive in this dynamic field.

Ready to grow your own ghostwriting business?

Check out my course:👉 How To Make Income From Ghostwriting

Grab my free cheat sheet to get started:✅ Ghostwriting Cheat Sheet – Download the Free Guide

Let’s keep the conversation going.

Drop your thoughts or questions in the comments!

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