Online Writing Club Show

Here’s a thing nobody prints on the back of a book: How people actually get book deals is one of the great mysteries of modern life, right up there with where all your socks go. We see the shiny headline (“Signed with Hachette!” “Out March 2027!”) and assume it happened the way lightning happens: random, rare, and definitely not coming for you. But nobody shows you the boring, beautiful, page-a-da...

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I LOVE bringing behind-the-scenes publishing stories to the readers to one of the largest active writing communities on the internet,The Online Writing Club, and our podcast… because honestly, you don’t know what you don’t know when you’re starting out. Especially when you see the publishing industry shifting under our feet faster than ever. For mo...

If you’ve been following me for a while you know I LOVE bringing behind-the-scenes publishing stories to the readers of The Online Writing Club because honestly… you don’t know what you don’t know when you’re starting out. Especially when you see writers suddenly ending up in The New York Times or The Guardian. For most of us, publishing feels like one giant mystery: * How do people ACTUALLY get p...

Right now, as I’m writing this letter to you, my garden is doing the thing it does every May that makes me want to drop everything and just stand there. The roses and rhododendron are opening. The bees are fat and slow and absolutely unbothered. My kids are bouncing on the trampoline in the background, shrieking about something that will be completely forgotten in about four minutes. And I’m stand...

UPDATE: You can now also watch the video interview Picture a freezing Sunday morning on Long Island, New York. Chris B. Writes is sitting with the cold and the quiet, sick of the grey winter that won’t let go. Instead of scrolling his phone, he opens a blank page and writes a poem about mountains, about sunrise, and about climbing something that feels impossible. He calls it Alpenglow. He posts it...

There's a Substack note that stopped me mid-scroll: First, because it’s a simple template that works on Notes. Second, I read it three times because it was true. The kind of true that sits in your chest for a minute before you can scroll past it. That Note was written by Ryan Hennessey from The Unsteady Ascent . And if you weren’t in this year’s Substack Notes Kickstarter Bootcamp , you missed one...

I want to tell you something I don’t say often enough. Most people think I’m an extrovert. I run live Bootcamps . I host a podcast. I show up on Substack and Notes. I start conversations with strangers on the internet for breakfast. But…I am an introvert. A living, breathing one who learned a long time ago that the answer was never to become someone else. Because if you are too, you’ve probably he...

Hey, quick heads-up. I know a lot of you skim (no judgment) and maybe just want to listen instead of reading. If that’s you, that’s fine. But… if you stick around, we’ve got something fun: ENGAGEMENT PRIZES! 🅱️3 readers can win FREE access to thee Online Writing Club. Everyone who’s leaving a comment, sharing this podcast on Notes or forwarding this to a friend can win! Today’s podcast guest is th...

A few days back I chatted with new Substack #Science Bestseller (109 paid subscribers!) Rémi from Feed your Mind and I’m still buzzing! SO many lessons, learnings, and thoughts from a small young guy living in Paris who went from the ground to $10,000/year that I need to get out of my brain. One sentence stuck with me: “For me Substack is like a raft on which all the other people from all the othe...

Hi online writer 👋🏻 I see you there. You've been dreaming about making money (writing) online for ages... Today’s podcast episode with Jerry Keszka might what you need to know to FINALLY make that… * $1 * $10 * $100 * or $1000 on the internet in 2026, especially if you’re 50plus! Table of Contents * Making money online 50plus is doable * Why you’re not too old to earn money with 50plus * 1. The...

LinkedIn is changing fast. Substack is exploding. And most still feel stuck. If you want to be seen and paid to be you in 2026, you need a simple and reliable PATH that works and unstucks you. That’s exactly what we talked about in my latest podcast with LinkedIn expert and consultant Melanie Goodman from The Link Tank™️ . And honestly… it might change how you think about growth forever. 🤫Psst.....

Hey online writing friend, I’ve got a confession. I’ve been so busy the past weeks that I couldn’t write long form posts. Boxes everywhere. Life everywhere. Kids everywhere. Brain nowhere. But today I’m back at my laptop. And this feels huge. For the first time in my life, I’ve got my own creativity hub. My own studio. My own space. Never ever before. At our old place, my “office” was the attic. S...

Can writing on the internet change your life? Today’s podcast episode is with someone who proves that it can. Sean Kernan is one of the most interesting and consistent online writers I know. He has: * over 500,000 followers on Quora * more than 1 billion views on his content * 100,000 followers on Medium * part of Yahoo’s Creator Program * a fast-growing Substack newsletter called Thrive by Sean K...

This week’s podcast hits a nerve if you’ve… * ever feel like you’re working your butt off online... and still no one cares? * …you’re writing post after post and the internet yawns? * …there are these “Top 1% writers” and somehow they got a secret map you didn’t? So what even ARE the top 1%? And what do they know that the rest of us don’t? * Top 1% solo creator Dan Koe says you need curiosity and...

They’ll tell you it’s too late. Too saturated. Too hard to stand out. But here’s what they don’t know: Over 90% of podcasts are inactive ! That means you’re not walking into a crowded market, you’re stepping into wide open territory. So if that little voice inside your head keeps saying, “Maybe it’s time to share my stories.” This is your sign. It’s time! But I get it…the tech, the recording, the...

I know a lot of you skim (no judgment) and maybe just want to listen instead of reading. If that’s you, no problem. But if you stick around, I want to tell you a little story. A few days ago, I was curled up on the couch scrolling through Substack Notes with a cup of tea in one hand and a toddler climbing my leg. And there she was. Witchy author and magical fellow mompreneur BREANNE ✨ RANDALL . T...

Hey, quick heads-up. I know a lot of you skim (no judgment) and maybe just want to listen instead of reading. If that’s you, no problem. But if you stick around, we’ve got something fun to celebrate 1 year of podcasting with the Online Writing Club show … 🎉 Engagement Prizes! You can win a FREE subscription to Anne-Kathrin Gerstlauer’s paid newsletter TextHacks . 👉 To enter: leave a comment, rev...

Hey, quick heads-up. I know a lot of you skim (no judgment) and maybe just want to listen instead of reading. If that’s you, that’s fine. But… if you stick around, we’ve got something fun: ENGAGEMENT PRIZES! 🅱️3 readers can win FREE access to the paid tier of Karen Salmansohn’s The Stand Up Philosopher: Weighty Musings, Lightly Served . Everyone who’s leaving a comment, sharing this podcast on Not...

What if the thing you’re writing about, even if it feels niche, could take you all the way from starting at zero to signing a book deal ? That’s exactly what happened to runner and running coach Raziq Rauf , creator of the Substack newsletter Running Sucks . Raz Rauf started from scratch, with the hope someone out there would care. Two years later, he landed a book deal with UK publisher Batsford...

Put a hand up if you’ve ever… 🤚🏻felt burned out as a teacher — whether you teach yoga, art, music, writing, or anything else — this episode will show you what’s possible. Jo Hutton was a yoga teacher running on empty. Like so many teachers, she’d poured everything into her students and had nothing left for herself. I found her through a viral video post on Notes and thought to myself: More peopl...

A woman stepped into an elevator in San Francisco and asked, “What’s up there?” Linda Lebrun, still at Substack back then, smiled and answered: “Substack.” The woman had never heard of it. Back then, Substack was a small idea with a big dream. No fancy office. No millions of users. No $100M headlines in The New York Times . Fast forward to today: * Substack has a gorgeous office in California (as...

Lately, I have the feeling everyone is shouting about their funnels, growth hacks, and flashy subscriber counts... And (although I should know it better as a professional marketing manager) the truth for my part-time newsletter business is… * I’m often just over here trying to hit “publish” on my next email in the middle of the night😅, * in the tiny cracks of time, or now during my vacay in Italy...

Whenever I open YouTube in non-member, non–ad-free mode, I get a Fiverr ad telling me I can find a freelancer for almost everything. Of course, also for writing and copy. And since I know many of you are curious about offering their copywriting services on Fiverr in 2025 , I’m excited to share my interview with Maya Sayvanova from Smarter Solopreneurs , one of the top-rated copywriters on the plat...

Have you ever wondered if your personal story is worth something? Not just to your friends or your journal… but to actual readers—and yes, even publishers who will pay you for your words? Today, I want to introduce you to two incredible women who are doing just that—and helping hundreds of others do it too. Meet Jessica Smock and Steph Sprenger in today’s podcast episode. They’re authors… …and the...

I’m jumping out of my skin excited because you’re about to hear from someone incredibly special. 🎉 For the very first time , Justin Welsh sat down to talk about his move to Substack. We talked last week (and since my little ones running around in the house during our (early) summer break, it took me hours to produce and create this podcast post) and Justin shared insights every (part-time) creato...