Unpublished

Is the problem systemic, or individual? In this episode, we sit with the messy middle. Creative industries are full of scarcity, gatekeeping, bad incentives, exploitation, and cooked economics. But if we only talk about the broken system, artists are left feeling powerless. And if we only talk about personal responsibility, we ignore the real structures making everything harder. So where does that...

Welcome to the Jamesy and Amsy Q&A, in which we discuss high school romance, creative chemistry, business roles, blurred boundaries, editorial bluntness, Steam Deck timing, Space Story, travel chaos, alternative careers, and whether an ibis is from Egypt. It is not. We checked. We talk about what it’s really like to work with your spouse when one of you is a vibes guy and the other is building...

This episode is about saying: no, I cannot come to coffee at 12pm just because my calendar looks technically empty. I am busy being available to my art. We talk about creative devotion, guilt, boundaries, people-pleasing, small business weirdness, the fact that no one understands what we do all day, and why creative labour often looks like wandering around, reading, staring into space, going to th...

Welcome to the Creative Help Hotline. How can we help you? In this Q&A episode, we answer your questions about being exhausted by muggle life, creating through depression and anxiety, losing momentum, comparing yourself to other artists, wondering why your family has not become your personal fan club, whether you need a degree to make art, how to make money from creative work, and whether succ...

In this episode, we ask a strange and sincere question: could art help cure the manosphere? We talk about lonely men, alpha influencers, Andrew Tate, online rage, economic hopelessness, shame, identity, patriarchy, creativity, and why so many young men are being sold power by people who are profit from their pain. We explore the idea that the manosphere gives men a poisonous identity, while creati...

In this episode, we talk about creative energy, burnout, routines, self-preservation, and what it takes to build a sustainable creative life. We explore why burnout is not always caused by doing too much. Sometimes it comes from working against your own rhythms, ignoring your needs, fighting your process, or trying to create in conditions that make you feel unsafe, depleted or disconnected from yo...

What if you didn’t have to know everything before you were allowed to speak? In this episode, we talk about the way artists and thinkers self-censor when they’re afraid of being wrong, mocked, misunderstood, or exposed as “not expert enough.” We discuss over-researching as a form of perfectionism, the gatekeeping of big ideas, and why making things simple is not the same as dumbing them down. We a...

What if rejection wasn't bad news? What if chaos, disappointment and rejection could become part of your creative power? What if the more 'bad stuff' that happens to you, the more brilliant you become? In this episode, we explore the idea of the anti-fragile creator: the artist who does not simply endure difficulty, but learns, adapts, expands and becomes more themselves because of it....

We're recording from a hotel room with questionable acoustics and a very concerned James. Welcome to the Hotel Season! In Episode 1, Amie makes the case that if you want to be a serious artist, you need to be an equally serious consumer, not just of your own genre, but of everything you want to see more of in the world. We get into why consuming great work is more useful than craft content, th...

We're back! Topics: Creating while travelling/busy The importance of confidence in your own work Whether James' justice streak makes his life harder (feat. sauan etiquette) And lessons from the biggest year of our life I Don't Want a Job, the book , is available for the next two weeks only! Also available, cool t-shirts, a masterclass with Amie, and signed copies! Read the original ess...

We take you on a journey from Amie's first painful attempt to write a book to now, Amie's settled routine as a professional author, with all the steps along the way. Pre-order To Kill a Queen now Join Amie in Barcelona for a book event on Friday November 7th!

Join us for a rambling discussion that starts with us assessing how successful we feel, goes on to a long digression about preserving energy for hard times, talks about honesty in the publishing industry, and finished with Amie's message to artists just starting out. Pre-order To Kill a Queen , Amie's book about a non-binary detective in Elizabethan London who has the hots for their barten...

Q+A ep! It just so happened to be that most of your questions were about our work and writing routines. There are also a few other Q's answered including: how exactly is making art generous, big breaks we've almost had (and why they may not have mattered anyway). Sonja, I'm so sorry, I forgot to answer your question about bilingual artists... please email us with your question again an...

We're talking: When the internet gives you the ick The flattening of culture by algorithms How social media sows the seeds of its own destruction when it prioritises attention over quality And more! Pre-order To Kill a Queen , Amie's queer detective novel set in Elizabethan London. Remember, this is literally the most important thing you can do for an author! Order We Need Your Art or get...

Hello friends! Today we're talking about the rise of the middle class artist. Based on Amie's substack post . Buy Amie's book for F***'s sake! ALSO you can pre-order Amie's queer Elizabethan detective novel , To Kill a Queen! References: Hollywood is Broken. Can YouTubers Fix it? Colin and Samir interview Max Reisinger. Brandon Sanderson podcast about AI

I'm so sorry everyone but it's another AI episode :(Listen to us, two people who aren't experts on anything really, talk about AI, climate change, utopias, the housing crisis, Australian politics and what's wrong with the left these days. ⁠ Would love it if you bought We Need Your Art!⁠ Things mentioned: ⁠ Review of Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson⁠ ⁠Basic Income: And How We Can Make it...

We had so much fun recording a very fancy in person episode with THE Martha Beck and Rowan Mangan! How 'bout those production values? Don't forget Amie's new book, We Need Your Art is out now in Hardcover, Audio, and E-book In today's episode we discuss: The amazing power of creativity to banish anxiety How art and community building creates ripples that extend far beyond our perso...

Join us as we remind you how important it is to celebrate your own art (coz no one's gonna do it for you!). Fully raw ep today. No music (sorry to our composer/intro creator Matilda Eyre ) I ran out of time. The Collective is open for 5 days only! WNYA is our now everywhere 00:00 Introduction and First Impressions of New York City01:20 The Inspired Collective Membership03:57 Challenges with Bo...

BOOK OUT THIS WEEK BOOK OUT THIS WEEK BOOK OUT THIS WEEK BUY BOOK BUY BOOK BUY BOOK 00:00 Introduction and Holiday Hat00:30 Book Tour and Podcast Plans03:05 The Importance of Art04:05 Creative Blocks and Overcoming Them12:00 Role of Patience in Creativity25:31 Art reset challenge26:10 Rice Cakes26:44 Book Promotion and Blurbs33:18 Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing36:24 Expectations for th...

00:00 Introduction 02:13 Housekeeping and Upcoming Events03:39 25 Things to Avoid 03:45 Obsessing Over Details04:57 The Pitfalls of Excessive Research09:09 Setting Unrealistic Goals10:16 Managing Expectations and Pressure15:40 The Importance of Planning16:48 Guarding Your Creative Time19:31 Sharing Ideas and Seeking Validation22:38 Avoiding Comparisons and Judgments28:32 Over-Education and Procras...

Today we're talking to the boys! Or, given our audience demographics, we're talking to the girls and gender non conforming folks about the boys... Buy We Need Your Art here and be our best friend forever! 00:00 Introduction and Preamble00:47 Discussing Men and Creativity00:49 Housekeeping and Personal Updates03:13 How we're trying to be less tired07:10 Book Launch and Pre-orders12:12 T...

Yes I kept Amie's preamble in on purpose because I thought it was funny! Today we're talking about locking in, getting stuff done, and thriving as creatives. Expect a discussion about how to treat ourselves and our bodies well, not striving for perfection, and how to go from small steps to big goals. TOUR THINGS: We have LOCKED IN two bookshops in Brooklyn in the evenings of the 11th and 1...

We talk about ambition! How ambitious are we? Is it good to be ambitious? Is it HEALTHY to be ambitious? Inspired by Amie's substack post . We Need Your Art pre-order giveaway is now live! A chance to win a custom canvas love note when you submit your pre-order receipt here ! 00:00 Introduction: Ambition and the Hustle 00:26 Recording Struggles and Podcast Delays 01:25 Guilt and Ambition: A Person...

MORE AUDIENCE QUESTIONS PLS 00:00 Welcome to the Unpublished Podcast 01:16 Audience Questions Introduction 03:34 Multidisciplinary Creativity 16:18 Self-Publishing Insights 24:30 The Emotional Side of Money for Artists 28:56 Financial Stress and Relationships 29:24 The Myth of Pure Art 31:21 Collective Members' Questions 32:05 Balancing Work and Rest 35:43 Supporting Each Other's Strengths...

We don't want jobs, we want to make art! You can read Amie's viral substack article  here  and pre-order WNYA  here . 00:00 Introduction and Podcast Captain Hat 01:22 Discussing the Viral Essay on Not Wanting a Job 01:59 The Taboo of Not Wanting a Job 03:09 Capitalism and Meaningless Work 05:36 Artists and the Value of Work 15:21 Anti-Work Movement and Personal Reflections 18:44 Outsourcin...