How to Write for a Living

Season 4, episode 12 is here! michelle ray spent 15 years teaching abroad in Ecuador, Bahrain, and Dubai before coming back to the States, having a kid, and eventually sitting down to write a memoir. This was a warm, funny, really honest conversation about writing and what stories actually do for us. What we covered - How Michelle stumbled onto Substack just to tick a box for a writing conference...

Season 4, episode 11 is here! Bobby Umar has done a thousand keynotes across four continents, spoken at TEDx five times, and built half a million followers on Twitter. But it took multiple job redirections before he finally stopped waiting and figured out what he was actually all about. This was a really fun chat! What we covered: - Why Bobby thinks the difference between a personal story and a pr...

Season 4, episode 10 is here! Fleur Hull has spent years working with authors on the hardest part of writing a book (which is everything that happens after you finish it!). She built the Substack Bookstore because she kept watching good books disappear without readers, and she decided to do something about it. This was a really good one. What we covered: - How Fleur went from losing her job during...

Season 4, episode 9 is here! Karen Salmansohn has sold two million books, been blessed by Madonna, and built a career entirely on the principle of doing something a little extra every single time. This one was a lot of fun! What we covered: - Why Karen left a senior VP creative director role in her twenties and what she told her parents when they said she was crazy to do it. - The story of how she...

Season 4, episode 8 is here! Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA started her Substack on January 6th, 2025. She had three kids in medical school, served in the Air Force, built and sold a telemedicine company, and spent 25 years as a physician before any of that. This conversation went everywhere, and it was brilliant. What we covered: - How Laurie got through medical school with three small children by drawin...

Season 4, episode 7 is here! Kern Carter knew he wanted to be an author at eight years old. What followed was about as non-linear as it gets: self-published novellas, indie publishers, Penguin, Scholastic, ghostwriting, a short film, school tours, and more books out before the year is done. This one covered a lot of ground. What we discussed: - How Kern deliberately treated becoming an author like...

Season 4, episode 6 is here! Nathan Baugh has wanted to write fantasy his whole life. He just needed a bank account crisis in Spain to finally make him do something about it. These days he has over 100k Substack subscribers, a successful ghostwriting agency, and a novel coming out in a couple of months. We talked about all of it. What we covered: - The moment in Spain when the bank account started...

Season 4, episode 5 is here! Seth Werkheiser has been on the internet for 25 years. He’s watched the whole thing evolve, from blogging about local bands in Pennsylvania to running email campaigns for record labels to eventually walking away from every major social platform completely. He’s not bitter about it - he’s just found a better way. What we covered: - How Seth went from third generation mu...

Season 4, episode 4 is here! Not Exactly Ana didn’t know what Substack was when she joined. She wasn’t a seasoned writer or a marketing expert. She was a 26-year-old Bulgarian woman who had just walked away from her cleaning job in Austria to chase something she’d always wanted. Eight months later, the results speak for themselves. What we covered - How Anna built close to 3,000 subscribers withou...

Season 4, episode 3 is here! Olivia Wickstrom didn’t set out to build a Substack. She set out to make affiliate income from a cottagecore blog. What happened instead was a slow, sometimes frustrating, eventually life-changing discovery of what the platform could actually do for a writer willing to experiment. We covered a lot of ground in this one. What we discussed: - How Olivia’s Substack starte...

Season 4, episode 2 is here! This one’s a bit different. No big interview, no deep dive into strategy, just a Saturday morning coffee chat, a new recurring segment, and some thoughts on who the Substack Growth Sessions are actually for. What I covered - The brand new “Things That Passed Me By at the Time” segment makes its debut, starting with a TV show I somehow ignored for decades. - Why ER feel...

Welcome to Season Four! This is the first episode of season four, recorded live on Substack for the first time. I explained why I’m experimenting with live podcast episodes, asked for your feedback on what you want to see this season, and broke down the two big things happening in April: the Substack Growth Sessions masterclass and the Catalyst Club accelerator cohort. In this episode: - Why I’m a...

Season 3, episode 25 is here! Amelia O’Loughlin joined me to talk about her journey from dance to screenwriting, how a chance encounter on South Bank led to representation, and why she’s building Table, a live event and podcast that surfaces exceptional scripts stuck in the graveyard. She shared her approach to character-led writing, why AI concerns her but the offline renaissance gives her hope,...

Season 3, episode 24 is here! Angela Hollowell joined me to talk about her journey from photographer to filmmaker, why she publishes three times a week on her newsletter Please Hustle Responsibly , and what she learned running a documentary through the festival circuit. She shared why Substack is perfect for publishing but lacks the data tools serious businesses need, her approach to in-person pod...

➡️ Learn the exact system used by Write • Build • Scale to build, launch, and automate your first mini-course so you can build your own passive income stream. Get it here . Season 3, episode 23 is here! My pal Philip Hofmacher from Write • Build • Scale joined me for a conversation about monetising on Substack without needing thousands of subscribers first. We talked about why mini courses outperf...

Season 3, episode 22 is here! I threw together this episode to answer questions from my Substack chat thread, where writers shared what’s actually slowing them down right now. As it turns out, the struggles are universal: too many platforms, not enough time, and the back-of-the-mind realisation that writing often isn’t enough - you have to market yourself too. What I covered: - When it’s okay to r...

Season 3, episode 21 is here! Dani Zacarias joined me to talk about her journey from criminology student to creator economy veteran, working at Wattpad, Skillshare, and now Sendowl . She shared a harrowing story about crossing a closed border with boulders exploding around her, why the pressure from VCs often misses what actually matters in content creation, and how writers can build sustainable b...

Season 3, episode 20 is here! Neera Mahajan joined me to talk about writing books fast, building authority, and turning a single book into a scalable business. She shared why most writers never finish their books, the difference between vanity projects and strategic assets, and how she helps creators write their books in 30 days through implementation over information. This one’s a must-listen for...

Season 3, episode 19 is here! I was super excited to have Justin Moore join me to talk about something most writers think is out of reach: getting paid by brands to create content. Justin shared the sponsorship strategies that built his multi-million dollar business, why your follower count matters less than you think, and the pitching method that stops brands from hitting delete on your emails. T...

Season 3, episode 18 is here! My friend Jari Roomer from Write Build Scale joined me for a conversation about the most powerful growth lever on Substack. We talked about why collaboration matters more than ever, how to approach other creators without feeling awkward, and the specific strategies that brought us thousands of subscribers without spending a dime on ads. What we covered: - Why collabor...

Season 3, episode 17 is here! In this episode, I sit down with my old school friend Stuart Thompson, who now runs a long-standing gym here in Northern Ireland. We talk about what it really takes to build a business over nearly a decade - not just systems and social media, but relationships, energy, and knowing your limits. We also cover fitness, creativity, confidence, and turning up consistently...

Season 3, episode 16 is here! In this week’s episode, Parker Worth and I chat about his journey from being a high school dropout to becoming a successful creator living in Brazil. Parker discusses the importance of storytelling in building a personal brand and the challenges of navigating the ever-changing landscape of online content creation, and emphasises the need for creators to build relation...

Season 3, episode 15 is here! In this solo episode, I share my thoughts on the critical importance of incorporating video and audio content into a creator’s strategy for 2026 and beyond. I walk you through how online platforms favour video, the engagement benefits of live video, and the monetisation opportunities it presents, as well as the community-building aspect of going live, the authenticity...

Season 3, episode 14 is here! In this solo episode, I walk through exactly how to build a creator presence from absolute scratch with no fancy equipment, no complex strategy, just clarity and consistency. This is for anyone who feels like the smallest voice in the room but wants to create something real online. In this episode: - Why your personal brand is actually about how people feel when they...

Season 3, episode 13 is here! I recently went live with Taylin John Simmonds to talk about the honest reality of making money as a writer, and afterwards I thought to myself, “ Hey, this would make a great podcast episode! ”, et voilà! Taylin’s currently testing ghostwriting on Substack in public, shared his coldest cold email stats, and explained why books might be the worst way to make a living...