11 steps to supercharging your writing career with our Author Stack framework

This is the most comprehensive guide to building your author career I've ever made (outside of a book), filled with practical strategies for balancing productivity, monetization, and more.

Hi,

I’ve written a lot about author growth in my career. So much that it often paralyzes people from taking action. While we have loads of books and frameworks, I’ve been trying to collect my most powerful concepts together into one place to help you stack processes on top of each other to generate outmoded success.

I believe that most authors, at the end of the day, have a sequencing problem. They are trying to do step six before step two and after step twelve. If we could just get writers to take these challenges in the right order, than each would build on the last to amplify each other. Instead, what happens is that their process often negates their previous effort, forcing them to start over and they lose all the momentum they built up.

If instead we can sequence our author careers correctly, then we would keep gaining momentum over time, and be able to get to success faster.

This article is my best attempt at getting you the correct sequence of events to think about to get you to success faster and to stop spinning your wheels. Much of it is compiled from other articles I’ve put out recently, but there’s a lot of new and bulked out content as well.

*** Please note that if you are reading this via email, Substack only sent out a partial version and the article will eventually stop without notice. If you want to read the whole 16,000-word+ article, then go to this website or download the app.***

1. Sustainable productivity vs. sustainable monetization

If you’ve been in authorship for any length of time, you’ve probably heard people talk about “sustainability” in order to prevent burnout. The conversation around sustainable productivity and slow growth often emphasizes the personal benefits of aligning work with natural rhythms and patterns, such as reducing burnout, enhancing creativity, and fostering a healthier work-life balance.

Writers and content creators are encouraged to cut back, focusing on quality over quantity, and to create in ways that are more attuned to their personal energy levels and creative flow. This approach can lead to a more fulfilling and sustainable creative process, where the pressure to constantly produce is replaced by a more mindful and intentional pace.

However, what often gets overlooked in this discussion is the impact that sustainable productivity can have on income. When you slow down and produce less, especially in industries where output is directly tied to earnings, there can be a significant reduction in revenue.

If you drop your output from 12 books a year to 2 books a year because that’s what you can sustain, then you have to figure out how to make up that drastic reduction in revenue or you’re just going to replace burnout of one type with burnout of another type.

You can’t sustainably create content if you can’t sustainable monetize that content.

We usually talk about sustainable productivity as a function of our own work, but sustainable monetization requires a broader thought process. It should take all the stakeholders into account, including the ecosystem of authors, and readers, and publishers, who collectively work together toward creating an environment that is mutually beneficial for all parties.

Unfortunately, the publishing industry is not set up to work that way, and neither is capitalism on a broader scale. It’s set up so that every person is incentivized to maximize their own needs while giving the least to the collective as possible.

This is incredibly short sighted, and why America’s infrastructure is crumbling. Collectively, we can build enough leverage into society to land on the moon. However, if we don’t all contribute a little bit, we don’t have enough to fill the potholes on main street.

In today's society, we celebrate those who amass the most wealth and resources for themselves, viewing it as a mark of success and intelligence. Individuals and businesses are praised for their shrewdness in maximizing profits, cutting costs, and leveraging every possible advantage to come out on top.

This "winner takes all" mentality glorifies self-interest and often incentivizes actions that prioritize personal or corporate gain over the broader societal good. For instance, executives who drive up stock prices by slashing jobs or outsourcing labor to cheaper markets are often rewarded with bonuses and praise, while the broader impacts on employees, communities, and economic stability are overlooked.

On the flip side, those who choose to invest in the collective goodm, whether through paying fair wages, contributing to social programs, or supporting environmental initiatives, are often criticized for not maximizing their profit potential. Companies that prioritize ethical practices or sustainability over short-term financial gain can be seen as naive or inefficient, and individuals who advocate for higher taxes on the wealthy or more robust social safety nets are sometimes scorned as unrealistic or anti-business.

This scorn stems from a deeply ingrained belief that the primary goal of any financial endeavor should be to extract as much value as possible for oneself, even if it means skirting ethical lines or neglecting the welfare of others.

This dynamic creates a cultural environment where contributing to the collective good is not just undervalued but actively discouraged. Maybe, on a small scale we can build a community that looks out for each other, but once you get beyond 150 or so players, all of that collapses. I am deeply sympathetic to socialism, but I can also admit it doesn’t work on a societal level. Neither does libertarianism, though, which is what’s left when we over-index for the needs of each individual actor.

As an individual actor, being self motivated by making the optimal decision to maximize your own needs is almost always the correct choice, especially in the short term. If you know everyone else will make the selfish choice, then game theory says the only logical move is to also do the same thing.

But to what end?

Each individual actor might not do much damage to the ecosystem by themselves, but collectively they become like a horde economic locusts picking everything clean as they carve a path of destruction through an industry. When you think that way, you create and perpetuate an industry that offers asymmetrical upside for people who act in their own self interest at the expense of anyone else.

You might say “but I’m not talking about systemic issues. I just want to monetize my own work in a sustainable way”, and that’s great, but what happens when a customer leaves your perfectly balanced ecosystem and runs headlong into a creator who’s only interested in making the most money, even at the expense of the customer? Worse, what happens when they run into that person first? Then, they probably won’t even give your work a shot.

This is a rampant problem in the coaching space, where we are constantly trying to find people before they get jaded and indoctrinated by bad actors propper up by endless capital.

You can't build sustainability in an environment where everyone is singularly focused on leveraging their own best interest.

Whether it's overusing resources, cutting corners, or exploiting loopholes, these actions collectively contribute to a system that is fragile and prone to breakdown. When everyone is making decisions toward optimizing their own self-interest, cooperation breaks down, and the collective good suffers. Resources are depleted faster, markets become volatile, and inequality widens, leading to a cycle of instability that harms everyone in the long run.

The longer this goes on, the worse the problem gets, as more and more actors have no choice but to act in their own self interest simply to survive. True sustainability thrives on cooperation, shared responsibility, and a long-term view that balances individual and collective needs. It requires an understanding that personal success is intricately linked to the health and stability of the broader community.

When individuals recognize that their actions impact more than just themselves, they are more likely to engage in practices that support the greater good, such as conserving resources, supporting fair policies, and investing in community well-being.

By shifting the focus from short-term personal gains to sustainable practices that consider the collective impact, we create environments where stability, equity, and resilience can flourish. Without this shift, any efforts toward sustainability are undermined by the constant friction of competing self-interests pulling in different directions.

Unfortunately, thinking beyond the individual to the platform needs, or the genre, or anything is only possible if you expect everyone else to make the same decision and that would be lunacy, right? If you decide to help the group at the expense of yourself and everyone else goes the other way, then you are left holding the bag.

That would be irresponsible to yourself and your loved ones.

When you make the best decision for you to maximize your own needs, then who cares if they are bad, or boring, or turn people off listening to them, because that's somebody else's problem.

That's the next guy's problem.

And that is intrinsically not how a society works. Or how an ecosystem works. Or how sustainability works.

Sustainabilty only truly works when you take the entire supply chain and all the stakeholders into consideration and realizing every part of the process, from raw material sourcing to production, distribution, and consumption, is interconnected.

A company might boast about using eco-friendly packaging, but if the materials are sourced from suppliers who exploit labor or degrade the environment, the overall impact is still harmful. Involving all stakeholders, including suppliers, workers, consumers, and communities, ensures that sustainability efforts are comprehensive and not just surface-level fixes.

So, how do you build sustainable monetization when at least half the industry is working actively to burn it all down at any one time and human nature amplified by capitalism pushes people toward the most selfish and thus least sustainable choice?

I don’t know the answer, but it’s not to keep making the same choices we’ve been making and hoping for different results.

That’s how we got into this stupid mess in the first place.

What I do know is the two things we need to think about first are:

• What does sustainable production look like to me?

• What does sustainable monetization look like to me?

We don’t have to have those answers yet. We’ll get to them, but as you go forward on this article, and your career, it will be helpful to keep that in the back of your mind.

2. Money as means or money as ends?

Most advice about "growth" comes from people who see money as the ultimate goal. They are usually agnostic about what they sell or how they sell it. To them, the process, whether it is crafting a book, building a platform, or designing a marketing plan, is just a means to an end. Their focus is on the outcome: the accumulation of wealth.

For many creators, this mindset grates against their souls. Writers tend to care deeply about the process and the work itself. Writing is not just a job; it is a craft, a calling, and often a form of self-expression. For most authors, money is not the ultimate goal. Instead, it is a tool, a necessary means to create more books, connect with readers, and sustain a writing career. Once the basics are covered—keeping the lights on, buying time to write—money often fades into the background.

This difference in priorities creates a disconnect. Advice aimed at maximizing revenue can feel out of sync with what authors truly value. When money is the end goal, the strategies you use are very different than when writing and creating are the end goals. This misalignment leads to authors and growth experts talking past each other, unable to connect because they are speaking entirely different languages.

Money as means

For authors, money serves as a way to sustain their writing lives and foster creativity. It enables them to invest in their craft, expand their audience, and build a sustainable career without constant financial stress. Writers who see money as a means prioritize creative integrity and long-term growth over short-term gains.

This approach often involves reinvesting earnings into areas like editing, cover design, marketing, or learning opportunities. For example, an author might use royalties to pay for a professional editor or a marketing campaign that helps their book reach a wider audience. The goal is not to accumulate wealth for its own sake but to create a virtuous cycle where financial stability supports better work and better work leads to greater impact.

Seeing money as a means allows authors to focus on their craft and their readers. It aligns their financial decisions with their creative values, ensuring that their work remains authentic while still reaching those it is meant to serve. This perspective often leads to careers that are deeply fulfilling, even if they do not yield massive financial rewards.

Most importantly, when money is the means, you aren’t spending a lot of time focusing on how to make more, unless it aligns with the work you are already doing.

• Focus on growth through craft: Authors reinvest earnings to improve their skills and their books, prioritizing quality over quick wins.

• Create stability for creativity: Money is used to remove financial stress, allowing authors to focus on what matters most—their writing.

Money as ends

For most entrepreneurs, money is not a tool but the ultimate goal. This mindset shifts the focus from the process of writing to the financial outcomes it can deliver. Authors who take this approach often prioritize market trends, scalability, and profitability over personal or artistic considerations.

This perspective can lead to strategies that emphasize quantity over quality. An author might focus on publishing quickly in high-demand genres, even if the work feels formulaic or disconnected from their true interests. While this approach can result in financial success, it often leaves little room for creative satisfaction or personal fulfillment.

When money is treated as the end goal, decisions are driven by external metrics like sales rankings or revenue targets. The creative process becomes secondary, valued primarily for its ability to generate income. This can create a disconnect between the author and their work, as well as between the author and their audience.

These types of entrepreneurs don’t care about what they are selling (with some exceptions) just that they are making money doing it.

• Prioritize market trends: Decisions are driven by what is profitable rather than what is personally meaningful.

• Measure success by financial metrics: The focus shifts to sales and revenue, often at the expense of creative satisfaction.

Two worldviews colliding

The tension between these two perspectives is why authors often feel disconnected from conventional growth advice. For those who see money as the end goal, the strategies are straightforward: focus on the numbers, optimize for profitability, and treat the process as a means to a financial end.

For authors who see writing as the end goal, these strategies can feel alien or even harmful. Writing is deeply personal, and treating it as just another "product" in the marketplace can feel like a betrayal of what brought them to the craft in the first place. This misalignment leads to frustration. Growth experts may feel that authors are resistant to proven strategies, while authors feel misunderstood and pressured to compromise their values. The real issue is not resistance to growth; it is resistance to treating their art as someone else’s financial means.

When growth advisors offer advice, they often assume that all creators share the same goal: making more money. For authors, though, money is only part of the equation. Their goals often include writing books that matter, building meaningful connections with readers, and leaving a legacy. When advice ignores these deeper motivations, it fails to resonate. For example, a growth advisor might suggest aggressive pricing strategies or upselling tactics that feel exploitative to an author. What the advisor sees as a way to increase revenue, the author sees as a threat to their authenticity and their relationship with readers.

The tension between money as means and money as ends will always exist, but it does not have to divide us, and we don’t have to stay consistent. Maybe one project is focused on money as the means (like your passion project) while another is about money as ends (where you are very focused on hitting market trends).

The tension between money as means and money as ends will always exist, but it does not have to divide us. Different authors can find common ground by respecting each other’s goals and values. Growth does not have to mean chasing money at all costs; it can mean building a sustainable career that allows you to keep doing the work you love. When approached with mutual respect and understanding, growth becomes not just a financial outcome but a way to amplify your voice and reach as an author.

3. Money to growth parallel

On top of sustainability, we have to decide whether we’re in a period of growth, monetization, or a balance of both. To help with that, I’d like to introduce you to the growth-to-monetization parallel.

On one end of this parallel, you have growth. In order to grow your audience, you need to invest in marketing to get in front of them and reduce friction to hook them. Basically, you have to give stuff away to lots of people for free by spending lots of money.

At the other end of this spectrum, you are trying to maximize your money in the bank to keep your business running and pay your bills, which means paywalling content, raising prices, and severely increasing friction.

These two actions consume most business actions, and it’s nearly impossible for a small business to do both at the same time. Each of us lies somewhere on the growth to monetization parallel, but it’s a bit nebulous where for most of us, most of the time.

Once you understand this parallel and give context to it, though, hopefully you can make better decisions in your business moving forward.

Growth phase

For most writers, their initial focus is on building an audience, or even just growing as a writer who can create content consistently, sharing your work widely, and engaging with readers to build a loyal following. These types of writers are heavily indexing for growth, knowing that in order to be read they have to be found.

However, this growth-focused approach comes with financial sacrifices.

You are almost always undercutting your money situation in a growth phase because you’re almost always giving at least some portion of your work for free.

Maybe it’s just a story or maybe it’s whole books, but growth is about removing friction, and the biggest friction point to somebody reading your work is spending money on it.

Many self-published authors on platforms like Wattpad or A03 start by sharing their work for free. These platforms allow them to reach a broad audience, but monetization opportunities may be limited initially. As their stories gain traction and readership grows, these authors often transition to monetization strategies like offering paid versions of their books, setting up Patreon accounts, or selling exclusive content.

However, this problem exists even with writers who build a big, engaged audience. Sometimes, successful people are actually struggling financially even harder than newbie authors under the weight of all their expenses. Many leverage all their time and resources to maintain audience growth, leaving little room for income-generating activities. The illusion of success, driven by high follower counts or large subscriber lists, can mask brutal (and unstable) financial instability.

Bloggers and social media influencers who amass large followings often face this challenge. While they may have millions of subscribers or followers, the income generated from ads, affiliate marketing, or donations may not be enough to sustain them. The pressure to continually produce free content to maintain and grow their audience can lead to burnout, especially when the financial returns are minimal.

Meanwhile, if they stop hustling, so does the growth of their channel, which puts them in a very dangerous doom loop, especially as they try to change their content to appeal to a broader audience.

Monetization phase

After writers build their audience, their focus eventually shifts from growth to monetization by finding ways to generate income from the readership they’ve cultivated. This might involve introducing paid content, offering services like editing or coaching, launching a Patreon, or selling books directly to their audience.

Money is great. I enjoy the act of exchanging it for things we need and want, but most authors have trouble simply asking people to financial support their work. Even if a writer grows comfortable with selling their work, it’s a tricky balance to maintain, especially when many people are only in your audience for the free stuff.

Nothing kills growth like monetization.

I run a lot of launch events, and I always lose the most subscribers when I’m promoting one, which means I have to make a concerted effort to grow my audience and nurture them once the event is done.

On the other side, if you’re giving away too much for free, you are undercutting your own revenue. So, you end up with a volatile and precarious balancing act that you’re trying to walk at all times, but especially during a monetization event.

The balancing act

Successfully navigating the growth-to-monetization parallel as a writer involves finding the right balance between expanding your audience and generating revenue.

The growth-to-monetization parallel is not just a one-time challenge but a continuous, fluid process that ebbs and flows throughout a writer's career.

Sustainability is key in this journey. Writers need to recognize that growth and monetization are not distinct phases but intertwined elements of their ongoing career. The balance between expanding an audience and monetizing that growth is something that evolves over time, requiring constant adjustment and adaptation.

The question to ask here is:

• Where on this axis am I on now, and what actions can best support my growth toward that end?

4. How much do you want to make in the next year?

I’m not saying everything comes down to money, but I am saying that it is good to have enough that you can sustainably exchange it for goods and services without struggling. In this section, we are gonna help you find that number for you.

What you measure you manage, so we’re gonna figute out how much money you need and the best way to get it.

This is the first true exercise we’ll run during this framework, and it should take about an hour to get right, as long as you have easy access to financials. If not, it’s going to take as long as it take for you to get comfortable with the whole money situation.

We talked a lot about sustainable monetization in the first section, and this is how we come put a number onto that concept. By the end of this, you should know your sustainable monetization number, or at least what you’re shooting for in the next year.

Step 1: This is the longest and hardest part because it requires you to go back to last year and figure out how much revenue you generated across all projects, including your job (if applicable). This is your baseline.

Step 2: Once you have looked back, it's time to project forward until the end of this year and ask yourself how much money you want to make. Not necessarily how much you think you'll make, but how much you want to make.

Don't worry, we'll bring you back to reality later, but for now, just pick a number and, as they say, dream big, honey.

Step 3: Get out a sheet of paper (but a different sheet of paper you used for the last exercise) and separate it into four columns. Label the columns Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4.

If you don't do a lot of financial stuff, then those labels mean quarters 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Quarter 1 runs from January 1-March 31st. Quarter 2 runs from April 1-June 30. Quarter 3 runs from July 1-September 30. Quarter 4 runs from October 1-December 31.

Now, under your quarter heading, take the number you want to make this year and divide it by four, then put the final number at the top of each column.

So, if you've made a goal of $100,000 (which is what most people use if you want a guidepost for what number to choose), then you would put $25,000 at the top of each column.

Step 4: Next, take any recurring revenue you make and put it under what you just wrote. This could include your average Amazon revenue, your salary, your membership income, etc.

The thing is, though, you have to add this up by quarter, not by month. So, if you make $3,000 a month, then you're going to put $9,000 down on the sheet.

Why do we do this by quarters? Because things change month to month throughout the year, and it's not a very good predictor of year-over-year growth. Quarters are easier to analyze and better to budget around.

Additionally, often a marketing action starting in January won't pay off until February or even March, so judging a campaign by any one month is folly. Judging it by the complete three-month cycle is more accurate to chart success.

Step 5: Now that you've got your recurring revenue down, write out any planned launches you have for the year, and how much you estimate making on them.

If you've never launched anything before, I'll be frank with you...this is probably not the time to do this exercise. You need baseline data before you can grow.’

However, if you insist, then a single launch on Amazon for a new author will probably make between $250-$500, and a first-time Kickstarter will make about $1000-$2500 if you use our system. If you're trying to launch a membership without a fanbase, I would have a hard time believing you would make more than $25/mo. in the beginning, but your mileage may vary.

It's much better to use baseline metrics and then chart growth from there, but if you really want to do this early in your career, bully on you for getting ahead of the game. There will just be more variance than an established author doing this same exercise.

Back to our exercise, if you have three launches in Q1, then you need to add them all up. So, if you plan a book launch in January, February, and March, and you estimate to make $1,000 at each launch, then you'll put $3,000 in that column.

Make sense?

If you're wondering how to come up with your estimates, I recommend taking your baseline number and measuring it against your mailing list and social media reach at the time of your launch.

Then, find out how much growth you've had since that launch and use that growth to project your number out.

If you had 300 people on your mailing list and made $1,000 back in March of last year, and you currently have 600 people on your list, your reach doubled, and you can expect to make $2,000 on that same launch this year.

Please note that even the best models are guesses and while you can get very good at guessing, there is variance at even the best estimations.

The biggest culprit of bad estimation is inorganic email list growth strategies.

I have no problem with inorganic email list strategies like viral builders and have run them for authors for years, but authors tend to believe that when I ethically deliver a list to them that all their problems are over, which is simply not the case.

If you use a service to help you grow your email list, they might deliver 1,000 or even 5,000 emails to you at the end of a campaign, but that does not mean your potential income grew by that much.

You have to do the painstaking work of whittling those subscribers down to find the people who will love and buy your work. It could take a year or more of nurturing those subscribers before you see any tangible value from them.

I recommend that if you've participated in these high-growth strategies, use your previous baseline number as a predictor until you see how the new subscribers perform.

In general, the best way to estimate well is to be ultra-conservative until events tell you otherwise. I often use my previous baseline when I estimate how something will perform without accounting for any growth.

Step 6: Let's take stock of where you are by subtracting everything you've done so far from your topline number. If you're tracking our example, we put $25,000 as the topline number, and then put $9000 in recurring revenue and $3,000 in launch revenue for Q1.

If we subtract all that out that would leave us with $13,000 remaining in Q1 to "make up" in order to hit our targets.

How do we do that? Let's continue. We're almost done.

Step 7: Here is where we brainstorm what other actions we can take in order to make up that deficit.

• Can you run a Kickstarter for a special edition hardcover? I've seen people make $10,000+ on something like that, though only 25% of campaigns ever pass that threshold.

• Could you put together a direct sales offer? I've made thousands on just one offer and I know people who run 2-3 a month.

• Are you able to do a membership drive to get new subscribers? Maybe you could add $100+ a month using that.

• Could you add more advertising possibilities to help your series make even more money?

• Do you need a new pen name, or to jump to another subgenre in order to make the kind of money you want?

• Are there conventions you could attend that might put some fast cash in your pocket, or book signings you could set up?

• Could you write a signature series that will up your baseline number with every release so that by the end of the year you're making thousands more a month?

• Is there a new project you can spin up like an anthology that would put additional money into your pocket without adding a backbreaking amount of work?

As you come up with these options, write their potential income on your list with a different color pen. I like to use black for income I'm confident I'll receive and red for income that is theoretical.

This is another reason you should break things up into quarters instead of months. Making up a big deficit in any one month is next to impossible, but making it up in three months is considerably more attainable.

Multiple times in my career, I have, for example, added additional launches and extra conventions into my schedule when I've seen budget shortfalls that accounted for $10,000+ in additional income to my bottom line and literally saved my business.

Being able to make money out of nothing is the kind of magic every successful business knows how to do and is essential for long-term sustainability.

Don't stop adding options until you have either made up that deficit or run out of ideas.

Step 8: Now it's time for an "oops here comes gravity" moment. Is your number achievable this year? Were you able to easily make up that deficit or did it seem impossible?

If it seems impossible this year, that's okay. Now you know the scaffolding you have to build next year in order to make it work. This is why we call it long-term planning.

Or, did you easily make up that deficit? Maybe you undershot and can look at even bigger and better things this year.

Maybe you can't make it up this quarter or even next, but could you start seeing a bigger impact later in the year, or early next year?

The whole point of this exercise is to show you what is possible and how to expand your mind to different ways of making money.

It's all one bucket of money at the end of the day, and there are hundreds of ways to expand it.

The question to ask during this is:

• What is your sustainable monetization number?

• Does your schedule allow you to reach that number without stretching?

5. Prioritizing your business using a modified Eisenhower Matrix

One of the best tools I use is a modification of an Eisenhower Matrix, one of the single best prioritization tools I’ve ever found.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful time management tool that helps you prioritize tasks by dividing them into four distinct quadrants: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important.

Building one for yourself allows you to focus your energy on what truly matters, ensuring that essential tasks are addressed promptly while avoiding the trap of busywork that often feels pressing but yields little value.

My process isn’t exactly an Eisenhower Matrix, but it’s very, very close. If you’ve never done one before, then I highly recommend taking taking some time to audit your business.

Here’s the exercise I do every year.

1. Write down all your responsibilities and tasks, no matter how small, either on a notepad, a spreadsheet, or a whiteboard. Really it doesn't matter where you write it down, but try to make it comprehensive.

2. Create two new columns with headers NECESSITY and ENJOYMENT. The necessity column deals with how important a task is to the day-to-day functionality of your business. The enjoyment column deals with how much you like doing that task.

3. Now, rank each of your tasks on a scale from 1-10. Something with high necessity can be monetary or functional, but not always. Some admin tasks are critical for a business, even if they don’t add any revenue to your business. Meanwhile, some monetary tasks might not be very necessary at all. The enjoyment level should be self-explanatory. Here’s the rub. You can’t use the number seven as an answer. Seven is the default when you don’t want to make a hard choice, so you can’t use it here. You must choose either a six or an eight, for reasons that will be clear very soon.

4. Once you have your list, it’s time to make a hard break between 1-6 and 8-10. This is why you can’t use seven. Everything on the 1-6 side falls on the DON’T LOVE/DON’T NEED side of the barrier. Everything 8-10 falls on the LOVE/NEED side of the barrier depending on the column.

5. Draw a grid with four quadrants. Mark the X-AXIS as ENJOYMENT and the Y-AXIS as NECESSITY. Everything you LOVE and NEED should end up on the TOP RIGHT QUADRANT. Everything you NEED but don’t LOVE should end up in the TOP LEFT QUADRANT. Everything you DON’T NEED and DON’T LOVE should be in the BOTTOM LEFT. Everything you LOVE but DON’T NEED should end up in the BOTTOM RIGHT. It should end up looking something like this when you are done.

6. Now, you assess. What is in the top right quadrant? Those should be your core products and offerings. You might even find some new services you could offer that more align with your passions. What is in the bottom right quadrant? How can you make those more important to your business? What is in the top left quadrant? How can you outsource those, or change them so you love them? What ended up in the bottom left quadrant? Cut those things ASAP.

The more time you can spend doing those, the more your company will grow.

What you should find are the things in your business that bring the highest return and provide a high level of satisfaction. You should immediately find ways to double down on those parts of your business.

The question to ask during this is:

• What are you keeping to have your best quarter ever?

6. Transition points: Why readers buy during life changes

As an author, understanding the psychological and emotional triggers that drive people to buy books is crucial. People are most likely to make purchases when they are in flux; times of transition when their lives are changing, and they're seeking clarity, support, or an escape.

This is true whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction. By recognizing these pivotal moments, you can craft books that resonate deeply with readers who are in search of solutions, inspiration, or stories that reflect their inner world.

Readers in transition are often dealing with uncertainty, and as they navigate major life changes, they look for things to bring them clarity, comfort, or perspective.

During these times, people seek books that either provide practical guidance (in the case of non-fiction) or offer emotional resonance and escapism (in the case of fiction). Understanding this need gives authors an opportunity to position their work as timely and relevant, creating an emotional connection with potential readers when they are most vulnerable and receptive.

Non-fiction: Providing clarity and solutions

In non-fiction, the connection to life transitions is clear. Readers who are in a state of flux often want answers, strategies, and a roadmap to help them navigate their new circumstances. Whether it’s a guide on starting a new job, a self-help book on personal growth, or a memoir about becoming a parent, non-fiction books provide readers with the information and insights they need to make sense of their evolving lives.

For example:

• Graduating from school or college: Non-fiction books about career planning, financial literacy, and life skills become essential as young adults step into an unfamiliar world, looking for practical advice.

• Starting a new job or career: Readers in this phase want reassurance or tips to succeed, and books on career advancement or leadership fill that gap.

• Becoming a parent: Parenting guides or memoirs about the challenges of family life provide new parents with valuable advice and comfort during an overwhelming transition.

The more your book aligns with these transition points, the easier it will be to reach readers who are actively searching for content that speaks to their current situation.

Fiction: Offering emotional resonance and escape

When I talk to fiction authors about this, they usually say “Well, that’s great for non-fiction, but that doesn’t apply to me”, and yes it does, absolutely apply to fiction. Fiction is just a different way to incept knowledge into people by letting them empathize and learn from a parable instead of a real event.

For fiction authors, these same transition points offer rich opportunities to connect with readers on a deeper, emotional level. Fiction allows readers to see themselves in characters facing similar challenges or provides an escape from the stress and uncertainty of their real lives. Here’s how fiction can play a vital role during transitions:

• Starting a new job or career: Novels about characters striving for success, navigating office politics, or starting over in a new field provide relatable stories that resonate with readers in similar circumstances.

• Moving to a new place: Fiction that explores themes of belonging, identity, and the search for home can offer solace to readers uprooting their lives.

• Getting married or entering a long-term relationship: Romance novels, or literary fiction exploring the complexities of relationships, resonate deeply with readers experiencing love and commitment, offering both an escape and a mirror to their own lives.

• Divorce or breakup: Fiction about heartbreak, rediscovery, and the strength to move on provides emotional catharsis for those recovering from a breakup. Readers in this phase often seek out stories that help them feel understood or inspired by characters who overcome similar challenges.

• Loss of a loved one: Novels dealing with grief and loss can serve as a source of comfort for those navigating the emotional turmoil of losing someone close to them.

• Health changes: Stories about resilience, healing, or characters overcoming physical challenges can offer hope and emotional support to readers facing their own health battles.

Escapism also plays a key role here. For readers overwhelmed by transitions, fiction provides an escape into another world; a necessary break from the stress of real life. Whether it’s diving into a fantasy realm, a thriller, or a romance, readers in flux often use fiction to recharge emotionally, and authors who provide that escape will find a loyal audience.

Fiction that reflects personal growth and self-discovery

Another major transition point that fiction can speak to is personal growth or self-discovery. Readers at these stages are often drawn to novels where characters embark on similar journeys, whether it’s a coming-of-age story, a novel of self-transformation, or a plot centered around identity and belonging. As fiction writers, weaving these universal themes into your narratives makes your stories more relatable to readers experiencing their own personal evolution.

For example:

• Young adults facing identity issues might gravitate toward stories that explore self-discovery, offering them the emotional resonance they need to feel seen.

• Midlife transitions often trigger a desire for stories about second chances, reinvention, and rediscovery of purpose and fiction that mirrors this process resonates with readers seeking to redefine their lives.

Why targeting transitions works for both fiction and non-fiction authors

Readers buy during life transitions because these are moments of vulnerability, uncertainty, and emotional intensity. For non-fiction authors, this means offering content that directly addresses readers’ immediate needs, whether it’s how-to guides, memoirs that inspire, or advice that offers clarity.

For fiction authors, targeting these transition points means crafting stories that emotionally resonate with readers who are grappling with similar themes in their own lives. Whether they’re seeking escape or reflection, readers in flux are looking for books that provide an emotional anchor.

By tailoring your marketing and messaging to readers going through these transitional moments, you can position your books as essential resources for readers seeking connection, understanding, or a break from their current reality.

Whether through practical advice or an immersive story, your book becomes part of their journey through change.

No matter what genre you write in, understanding the psychology of transitions allows you to connect with readers when they are most likely to seek out content. By addressing their emotional needs, offering clarity, or providing an escape, your books can become a pivotal part of their process of navigating life’s many transitions.

The question to ask during this section is:

• What is your transition point where your customers are most likely to buy?

• Are you focused on it, or scattered around working with less effective transitions?

7. Platform, audience, and assets

Building a sustainable author career requires aligning three things in a strategic way; Platform, Audience, and Assets. If you can make these three things work for you, then you’ll be on your way to reach your priorities.

• Platform refers to the online or offline space where you promote, sell, and engage with your work. It's the foundation for how you share your writing with the world and includes the tools, websites, or systems that allow you to connect with readers and manage your author business.

• Audience consists of the people who consume your content, whether that’s reading your books, following your blog, engaging with your social media, or subscribing to your newsletter. Understanding your audience is essential because their needs, preferences, and engagement directly impact your success.

• Assets are the tools, resources, and intellectual property you already have that can help you grow your author career. These include everything from your backlist of books, your email list, your social media following, and your unique skills or experiences.

Each of these elements plays a distinct role in how you grow, engage, and monetize your work. When aligned, they create a cohesive system that supports both your creative output and business goals.

Platform: Meeting the demands of the market

Your platform, whether it's Amazon, Patreon, your website, or social media, has its own unique demands and dynamics. Each one requires a tailored approach to content, engagement, and sales. The key to success is understanding what the platform prioritizes and how you can meet those demands while staying true to your voice and goals.

The main thing I want to get through here is that if a platform isn’t helping you grow, then there’s no reason to give them your money, time, or attention. So many people are on every platform, even when their incentives are not aligned with, or even in direct opposition with, their goals.

You should only be working on platforms that actively help you grow.

Types of platforms:

• Online platforms: Amazon, Patreon, Substack, your own author website, social media (e.g., Instagram, Twitter, TikTok).

• Offline platforms: Bookstore events, speaking engagements, writer conferences, and book signings.

What makes a platform important for authors?

• Visibility: Platforms like Amazon or social media provide access to a wide audience, allowing your books or content to be discovered.

• Sales channels: Platforms such as your website or eBook stores like Kobo or Amazon are where readers can buy your books directly.

• Audience engagement: Platforms like Patreon or a newsletter are where you can build direct, ongoing relationships with your audience, nurturing superfans who support your work long-term.

Examples:

• Amazon: A powerful platform for discoverability, leveraging its algorithm for ranking books and reaching a large, diverse audience.

• Patreon: Focuses on community building and deeper, more personal engagement with fans through memberships and exclusive content.

What does the platform want?

Platforms like Amazon are driven by algorithms that favor popular categories, frequent releases, and reader engagement. To thrive here, you need to write to market and optimize your work for the genres or keywords that are currently trending. In contrast, platforms like Patreon may prioritize deeper connections with your audience and regular, smaller updates that foster a sense of community. On social media, platforms reward engagement and shareable content, like creating bite-sized insights or visuals can help your work go viral.

• What kind of content does well on the platform: On Amazon, writing consistent, genre-specific books helps you show up in search results and recommendation algorithms. For Patreon, exclusive behind-the-scenes content, serialized fiction, or fan engagement polls often work best. On social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter, eye-catching visuals or quick, meaningful interactions are vital for expanding your reach.

• How to align with platform expectations: To give the platform what it wants, optimize your content. On Amazon, use targeted keywords, book covers that match the expectations of your genre, and release schedules that keep your name in front of readers. On Patreon, offer tiered rewards that reflect your creative process, giving fans a reason to engage at different levels of commitment. On social media, post regularly, engage with your audience, and create content that encourages shares and comments, driving the platform to boost your visibility.

Differentiating between platforms

Each platform has different requirements for success. For example:

• Amazon requires a focus on keywords, genre conventions, and release frequency.

• Patreon is about nurturing community with regular, exclusive content.

• Social media is driven by engagement metrics, frequent posts, interactive content, and shareability.

Tailoring your approach to fit the specific platform you're using can maximize your success. Authors often make the mistake of trying to apply the same strategy across platforms, but recognizing and adapting to each platform's demands can dramatically improve your results. I recommend 1-3 platforms, expanding beyond that only when you are estabished on your previous platforms.

Audience: Aligning your content with reader needs

Types of audience:

• Super fans: These are the types of people who will fly to meet you or spend $100 on a special edition of their favorite book.

• Core audience: Your most loyal readers or superfans who engage with your content regularly, buy your new releases, and advocate for your work.

• Casual readers: Readers who may have enjoyed one or two of your books but aren’t deeply invested in everything you create.

• Potential readers: People who fall within your target demographic but haven’t yet discovered your work. These are readers you aim to convert into fans.

Why Understanding Your Audience Matters:

• Targeted content: Knowing what your audience loves allows you to tailor your work to meet their preferences, increasing the likelihood that they will buy and recommend your books.

• Engagement: A clear understanding of your audience helps you build strong relationships through direct engagement, offering them content they’re eager to support.

• Marketing efficiency: When you know your audience, your marketing becomes more focused and effective. Instead of casting a wide net, you can reach people who are most likely to become loyal readers.

Examples:

• Romance readers: If your audience is primarily romance fans, they may expect certain tropes like happily-ever-afters, and knowing this helps you write and market accordingly.

• Newsletter subscribers: These are readers who have given you their contact information and have expressed a deeper interest in your work, making them a valuable group to nurture for long-term success.

Your audience has specific needs, preferences, and pain points. As an author, your success hinges on how well you can align your content with those desires while considering the platform’s demands.

What does my audience want?

Your audience could want different things depending on where they engage with you. For instance, readers on Amazon are often looking for the next book in a series, consistent quality in their favorite genre, or books that fit popular tropes. On social media, your audience may be looking for updates on your writing process, personal engagement, or sneak peeks of upcoming projects.

• How does this align with the platform’s needs? Your challenge as an author is to align what your audience wants with the platform’s mechanisms. If your readers want updates on your writing journey, Patreon is a great platform to offer behind-the-scenes content. If your readers are looking for consistent new releases, Amazon’s algorithm will reward you for frequent publishing. On social media, timely posts and interactions keep your readers engaged and can help build buzz for new releases.

• Creating a feedback loop:Consistently engaging your audience allows you to understand their changing needs. Use surveys, beta readers, or email list engagement techniques to see what they want and how it aligns with your platform. For instance, if you notice that readers are highly engaged with certain types of updates or book previews, you can double down on those types of content to enhance both audience satisfaction and platform performance.

• Tailoring for Different Audience Stages: Newer authors may focus more on building their audience by offering free content or engaging on platforms like Wattpad or social media, where discovery is easier. Established authors, on the other hand, might focus on monetization by launching higher-priced products, exclusive content, or more personalized interactions.

Assets: leveraging your unique strengths

As an author, you have assets beyond just the words you write. These include your mailing list, social media following, your backlist, or even your personal story. Your assets are the tools that help spur your success and grow your reach beyond your core audience.

What assets do I have?

Your assets could include:

• A robust email list: A direct line to your readers that you own, which allows you to promote new releases, offers, or collaborations without relying on platforms.

• A backlist of books: Multiple titles that allow you to leverage different parts of your catalog, bundling books, running sales, or promoting lesser-known works.

• A strong social media presence: This is where you can engage fans, run promotions, and drive traffic back to your website or Amazon page.

• Personal experience or expertise: If you have unique insights or a niche area of expertise, this can be a powerful asset, especially when building a thought leadership platform or writing non-fiction.

Why Assets Are Crucial

• Monetization: Assets like your backlist or email list can be leveraged to generate income, whether through book sales, memberships, or exclusive content.

• Growth: By leveraging your assets strategically, you can expand your reach and increase your visibility across platforms.

• Audience engagement: Assets like exclusive content, book bundles, or direct access through email make readers feel more connected to you, which encourages loyalty and repeat purchases.

How can I leverage these assets to reach beyond my core audience?

To grow beyond your current audience, consider how you can leverage what you already have:

• Collaborations and partnerships: Use your network to team up with other authors or influencers in your genre. This can introduce you to new readers while also enhancing your credibility.

• Cross-promotion: Utilize your backlist by cross-promoting new releases with older works. For instance, you can offer discounts on previous books when promoting a new release or offer exclusive bundles to your email list.

• Scaling your brand: If you have a strong email list or a loyal social media following, consider launching exclusive products, like limited edition signed books, merchandise, or even offering workshops or coaching.

Growing your assets over time

Continue nurturing your assets by:

• Building your email list: Use lead magnets like free chapters or exclusive short stories.

• Strengthening your social media: Be consistent and interactive, offering unique insights that make people want to follow you.

• Refreshing your backlist: Update book covers, run promotions, or reformat for new platforms to keep older works generating revenue.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Authors often make a few key mistakes when aligning platform, audience, and assets. These include:

• Neglecting platform demands: Not optimizing your work for the specific platform, such as failing to use relevant keywords on Amazon or not engaging regularly on social media.

• Ignoring audience needs: Focusing too much on what the platform wants without keeping an eye on what your readers are asking for.

• Underusing assets: Failing to leverage existing assets like your backlist, email list, or social proof (e.g., reviews and testimonials) to grow your reach.

Measurable action steps

To align these three elements, here are some concrete steps you can take:

1. Platform optimization: Choose two key platforms and optimize your content (e.g., update keywords on Amazon, increase social media engagement). Track your progress monthly.

2. Audience feedback loop: Send out a survey to your email list or social media followers and adjust your content strategy based on the feedback.

3. Asset leveraging: Run a promotion using your backlist or cross-promote your new release with older works to boost sales across your catalog.

4. Growth goals: Set specific growth targets for each asset, such as increasing your email list by 20% over the next six months or doubling social media engagement through regular posts.

To thrive as an author, you need to think of your platform, audience, and assets as interconnected parts of your overall strategy. Understanding the demands of the platform helps you tailor your content to what will succeed, while knowing your audience ensures that you meet their needs in a way that aligns with the platform’s strengths. By leveraging your assets strategically, you can amplify your reach beyond your core audience and build a sustainable author career.

When you align these elements, you create a system where each part supports the others, allowing for growth, engagement, and monetization to happen in a balanced, sustainable way.

There a lot of questions for this part, but they boil down to:

• What platforms do I want to focus on?

• How can I gather my audience?

• What assets do I need to make best use of my platform and audience?

8. Author success paths

We’ve identified five author success paths to help authors build sustainable, thriving careers by focusing on different aspects of their writing and marketing strategies. Each path is a proven way to grow your audience, increase visibility, and drive revenue. Let’s explore each of these paths in detail.

Virality / writing to market

Virality refers to content that spreads quickly and organically among readers, often driven by word-of-mouth or social media. Writing to market, on the other hand, means aligning your content with popular trends, tropes, and reader expectations in a specific genre. Both of these strategies focus on maximizing visibility by producing work that resonates widely with readers.

Key components:

• Understand reader expectations: Identify the current trends in your genre by researching bestsellers, reading reviews, and following discussions on forums or social media. For instance, if enemies-to-lovers romance is trending, crafting a novel that fits this trope can increase its appeal.

• Target high-demand genres: Writing in popular genres such as romance, thrillers, or sci-fi increases your chances of virality because readers in these markets are actively searching for content that fits their tastes.

• Optimize for discoverability: Use relevant keywords, engaging covers, and compelling descriptions to ensure your books stand out on platforms like Amazon or BookBub, where visibility can lead to a viral effect.

Actionable steps for authors:

1. Market research: Research trends in your genre and choose a high-demand category to write in.

2. Align content: Write to market by using familiar tropes and delivering the story beats that readers expect, but with your own unique spin to stand out.

3. Encourage sharing: Include features in your book or marketing strategy that make it easy to share, like social media-ready quotes or special editions that encourage fans to spread the word.

In our Author Ecosystem framework, we call these Deserts.

Deserts are pliable creators who are good at writing to market and audience. They can make unemotional business decisions and can also ride a trend by delivering a solid experience. When they find a trend they want to ride, they are usually very good at hitting the market at the right time and place. They also do a good job of doubling down on things that seem to be working, and tend to put all their chips on one square.

Because Deserts are good at riding trends, they need to have a few different skill sets, including strong research skills, ability to produce quickly, and willingness to detach, both to double down on what’s working well, and to cut activity on anything that’s not working. Deserts tend to put all their sustenance in one cactus and build a highly profitable pathway of readers to sales. This brings more money in the short-term, though it can put their business at risk if any aspect of their system dries up. Many Deserts balance this risk by having multiple pen names or by maintaining a freelance career on the side that they can always fall back on.

Healthy Deserts maintain a camel hump (or several) where they can store away their “riches in the niches” to get them between oases where water is plentiful. They watch the warning signs that the market is changing and they pivot when necessary; to another genre, to another source of readers, or to another platform. Unhealthy Deserts stray too far from a water source and end up thirsty when one or several of their money makers dries up. Because this type is focused more in the short-term, it’s extremely important that they feel confident in their ability to figure it out, though in their unhealthy versions, they fly too close to the sun.

Content marketing / Thought leadership

Content marketing involves consistently producing valuable content that attracts and engages your target audience. Thought leadership takes this a step further by establishing you as an authority in your niche, building trust with your audience, and positioning you as a go-to resource.

Key components:

• Write for your readers: Focus on delivering content that solves a problem or provides valuable insights. This could be in the form of blog posts, newsletters, or videos. For non-fiction authors, this is especially critical, but even fiction authors can build thought leadership by discussing writing craft, industry trends, or the themes in their books.

• Engage consistently: Whether through your blog, social media, or newsletter, build a steady stream of content that keeps you top of mind for your audience.

• Establish authority: Use guest posts, podcast interviews, or articles to share your insights and experiences with a wider audience. By consistently delivering valuable content, you establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche.

Actionable steps for authors:

1. Content strategy: Develop a plan for producing blog posts, podcasts, or newsletters that speak directly to your audience’s needs.

2. Authority building: Contribute guest content to other platforms to expand your reach and establish yourself as a credible expert in your field.

3. Community engagement: Respond to comments, ask for feedback, and create content that sparks discussion and engagement, helping you build stronger relationships with your audience.

In our Author Ecosystem framework, we call these Grasslands.

Grasslands are focused, deep delvers that seek out popular topics that align to their interests. They plant grass to feel out a plain, but when they find something that takes root with a large potential audience, they quickly go extremely deep with it, deeper than anyone else has the energy to do! They tend to consider every angle of their genre, niche, or topic, so when they put something out, it tends to blow people’s minds and rise to the top. In nonfiction, they tend to be correct about whatever their thesis is. Grasslands are capable of becoming the absolute best-in-class at whatever they do, which is why they need to choose new potential projects carefully!

Because Grasslands are intense and obsessive about their chosen topic, they must stay focused to see the fruits of it. It does not serve them well to have multiple projects going at once because they don’t have the energy to devote to each one. It also doesn’t typically work for them to cross over audiences between two different interests, unlike some of the other types.

Healthy Grasslands find fertile soil to take root in and grow the tallest, most epic tree in the garden. They also dedicate so much of their energy to one area that they become above reproach. Unhealthy Grasslands plant a lot of seeds but never gain momentum in any one area, and struggle to deliver on deadlines they’ve set for themselves.

Launch cycles

A well-executed launch cycle can make or break the success of a new book. This path involves planning your book launches strategically to maximize sales and visibility during the critical launch period and sustain momentum afterward.

Key components:

• Pre-launch planning: Build anticipation for your book well before its release. This can involve cover reveals, sneak peeks, ARC (Advance Reader Copy) distribution, and pre-order campaigns.

• Release strategy: Launch events, special promotions, and partnerships with bloggers or influencers can help generate excitement and ensure that your book gets noticed.

• Post-launch momentum: After the initial release, continue to promote the book through advertising, guest appearances, and continued engagement with readers.

Actionable steps for authors:

1. Pre-launch timeline: Create a timeline for each launch phase (3–6 months before the release) and assign specific tasks like cover reveals, pre-orders, and reader engagement.

2. Leverage influencers: Build relationships with bloggers, podcasters, and reviewers to get your book in front of new audiences.

3. Sustaining sales: After the launch, maintain momentum through promotional campaigns, cross-promotions with other authors, and ongoing audience engagement.

These people utilize the build, launch, recover cycle. In our Author Ecosystem framework, we call these Tundras.

Tundras love to build cool things and launch them, and they are extremely well-versed in turning a ton of attention to themselves and their project for a short period of time. They are the type to study the platform and see what trends they can tap into to make their next launch bigger, and they are most likely to know how they are going to market and sell something before creating it. Once done with a project, they wipe their hands free of it and rarely think much of it again now that the launch is over!

Because Tundras survive on a feast and famine cycle, they need to be able to peel as much meat from the bone as possible. Tundras become stackers; stackers of trend, stackers of value, stackers of audience. They are comfortable with having a lot of one-off projects and comfortable with building a diverse audience that only likes a portion of their catalog, though they welcome superfans who enjoy everything, too!

Healthy Tundras have a firm understanding of their seasons and build safeguards to make sure there’s never a point of starvation. They also learn to connect their body of work, usually somewhat disparate projects, under one banner so that every launch offers a bigger feast on their backlist. Unhealthy Tundras struggle to create enough feast to get through the famine periods, leaving them burnt out and under-resourced before the next launch.

Ambassador marketing / Community building

Ambassador marketing involves turning your most loyal readers into advocates who help spread the word about your books. Community building focuses on cultivating a dedicated fanbase that actively supports your work and feels personally connected to your journey as an author.

Key components:

• Identify ambassadors: Your superfans can be your biggest asset in marketing your books. These readers will often volunteer to share your work, leave reviews, or even promote your books on social media.

• Foster community: Build spaces (Facebook groups, Patreon communities, Discord channels) where your readers can engage with each other and with you. By creating these spaces, you build a sense of belonging, turning casual readers into lifelong fans.

• Reward loyalty: Give ambassadors exclusive content, early access to new releases, or special shout-outs. This strengthens their connection to you and motivates them to continue spreading the word.

Actionable steps for authors:

1. Superfan engagement: Create a group or community where your most engaged readers can connect with you directly. Offer special perks like early access or exclusive content to incentivize deeper engagement.

2. Incentivize ambassadors: Encourage your readers to share your work by creating referral programs or offering rewards for their advocacy.

3. Nurture relationships: Regularly check in with your ambassadors, involve them in your creative process, and make them feel like a valued part of your author journey.

In our Author Ecosystems framework, we call these Forests.

Forests are often marching to the beat of their interests and putting their own unique spin on everything they do for their readers. They have a close relationship with their fans largely because they inject so much of their own personality into all their books. They could write a murder mystery, a sweet romance, and cozy comedy, and readers will gobble it up because it’s [insert name here]’s take on the genre!

Because Forests are multi-passionate, they tend to have multiple pen names going at once. Whereas this might overwhelm other types, Forests are good at watering each of their trees every year on a consistent schedule so everything grows steadily. They are extremely competent and tend to stack an impressive number of skills to deliver high-quality work across everything they do. Forests are good at being top of the class and being part of the conversation. To do this, Forests must be consistent, hard working, and patient, as it takes time, energy, and money to stand up each of their trees. (And they still need to do so one at a time to get a bit of momentum in one area before moving on to another!)

Healthy Forests survive by cross-pollinating their work across all their interests. The key connection is their personality, and their fans gravitate toward them for who they are rather than what they do or write. Unhealthy Forests chase trends, explore too many interests at once, and don’t pay close enough attention to the marketplace to ensure enough others will share their interests.

Strategic partnerships

Partnerships with other authors, influencers, or organizations can amplify your reach and create opportunities for mutual growth. This strategy is about leveraging the networks of others to extend your visibility and credibility.

Key components:

• Collaborate with authors: Whether through co-writing projects, shared marketing initiatives, or group anthologies, teaming up with other authors in your genre can open you up to their readers and expand your reach.

• Cross-promotions: Partner with other creators, such as podcasters, bloggers, or YouTubers, to cross-promote your work. This helps you tap into new audiences that may not have discovered you yet.

• Joint events: Hosting webinars, live chats, or virtual book tours with other authors or experts can increase engagement and attract attention from a larger audience.

Actionable steps for Authors:

1. Identify potential partners: Look for authors or influencers in your genre or niche who share your values or target audience.

2. Plan collaborative projects: Work together on anthologies, book bundles, or cross-promotions to reach new readers.

3. Leverage shared networks: Use your partner’s platform (and vice versa) to promote your joint venture, ensuring that both parties gain new followers and increased visibility.

In our Author Ecosystems framework, we call these Aquatics.

Aquatics are excited about everything and want to create an immersive experience for their readers. They know exactly what their fans want and this dictates both what they create and how the market and sell. If their fans won’t follow them to this or that platform, they don’t go there! If their fans want to see their bestselling novel as a comic book, they create it for them, even if they have no idea how to do a comic book. (They’ll learn!)

Because Aquatics build their business horizontally and have their hands in many different formats as well as merchandise, they must be competent at many skill sets, like building large stories and worlds, delegating, building a functional team that understands the bigger vision, maintaining a strong connection to fans, and expanding slowly and as time, energy, money, and other resources allow.

Healthy Aquatics survive by creating cool new things that both service their current audience and help them grow a larger audience. Unhealthy Aquatics create too many things with disparate audiences, spreading themselves too thin and losing momentum across everything.

Each of these paths offers a different route to success, and most authors will benefit from a combination of these strategies. Whether you’re focusing on writing to market for virality, building thought leadership through content marketing, or cultivating a loyal community through ambassador marketing, the key is to align your approach with your goals, audience, and assets. Understanding these paths helps you structure your career for sustainable growth and long-term success.

The questions you should ask here are

• What ecosystem/strategy feels the best to me right now?

• Where do my natural strengths lie?

9. Media channels 

Amplification strategies evolve as your career progresses. as you grow your owned, earned, paid, and borrowed media channels. I wrote about these a lot in this article, but here’s a little summary of all four channels.

Owned media

Owned media refers to the platforms and content that you have complete control over. These are the channels that you directly manage and where you can consistently communicate your message without relying on external parties. Owned media is essential for establishing your brand, building a loyal audience, and creating a hub where people can regularly engage with your work.

Examples of owned media channels:

• Website/Blog: Your personal website or blog is a central hub for your content, including articles, updates, resources, and other information about your work. It’s a primary space where you control the user experience and the messaging.

• Email newsletter: Newsletters allow you to communicate directly with your audience, providing regular updates, exclusive content, and personal insights. Since you own your email list, it’s a reliable way to reach your audience without depending on external algorithms.

• Social media profiles: While social media platforms themselves are not owned, the profiles and pages you maintain on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook are spaces where you control the content and how often you post.

• Podcasts and YouTube channels: If you create and manage your own podcast or YouTube channel, these serve as owned media where you have complete control over the topics, format, and audience interaction.

• Books and ebooks: Your published works, whether traditional or self-published, are forms of owned media that reflect your voice, brand, and expertise.

• Online courses or membership sites: Platforms where you host your own content, such as online courses or member communities, provide a controlled environment to deliver value and engage deeply with your audience.

Earned media

Earned media refers to the exposure you gain through organic, unpaid methods. Essentially, it's the recognition you "earn" rather than pay for. This includes any media coverage, word-of-mouth, social media mentions, shares, reviews, and any other form of promotion that comes from outside your direct control. It's often seen as one of the most credible forms of media because it's driven by others talking about your work rather than by your own marketing efforts.

Examples of earned media channels:

• Press coverage: Articles, interviews, or mentions in news outlets, blogs, or industry publications.

• Social media mentions: Shares, likes, comments, or posts by others on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

• Reviews and testimonials: Reviews on platforms like Goodreads, Amazon, or endorsements from readers and other authors.

• Word-of-mouth: Personal recommendations from readers, peers, or influencers.

• User-generated content: Content created by your audience, such as fan art, videos, or blogs related to your work.

Borrowed media

Borrowed media, sometimes referred to as "shared media," involves leveraging someone else's platform to reach their audience. This type of media includes guest appearances, collaborations, or content that is published on platforms or channels not owned by you but where you have permission to share your message. The key here is that you're using someone else's established audience to amplify your voice, often through partnerships or mutual agreements.

Examples of borrowed media channels:

• Guest blog posts: Writing for other websites, blogs, or newsletters that have a built-in audience interested in your niche.

• Podcast appearances: Being a guest on podcasts to share your insights, which helps reach new listeners.

• Social media takeovers: Temporarily taking over someone else's social media account to interact with their followers.

• Collaborative content: Joint webinars, articles, or videos where you work with other creators to reach both of your audiences.

• Influencer collaborations: Working with influencers who share your content or discuss your work on their platforms.

Paid media

Paid media involves any form of advertising or promotional content that you pay for to reach a broader audience. This includes ads on social media, search engines, display ads, paid influencers, sponsored posts, and more. Paid media is an effective way to quickly increase visibility, drive traffic, and boost engagement, especially when you're looking to reach specific demographics or expand beyond your existing audience.

Examples of paid media channels:

• Social media ads: Paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok allow you to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.

• Search engine advertising: Pay-per-click (PPC) ads on search engines like Google and Bing help you appear at the top of search results for relevant keywords, driving traffic to your website or landing pages.

• Display ads: Banner ads on websites, blogs, or apps that reach audiences as they browse other content online. These can be targeted based on user interests, site content, or retargeting past visitors.

• Influencer marketing: Paying influencers to promote your content, product, or service on their platforms, leveraging their audience to gain visibility and credibility.

• Sponsored content: Paying for articles, videos, or posts that appear on media outlets, blogs, or social platforms to promote your message in a way that blends with the editorial content.

As your career grows, you will have success in all of these, but which one are you going to focus on right now?

The questions to ask here are :

• Which media channel feels best for me right now?

• Where are you already having growth?

10. Catalog/Retailer sales vs. direct sales

For authors, understanding the distinction between catalog/retailer sales and direct sales is crucial, especially when considering how to write to market. Writing to market means aligning your work with popular trends, genre expectations, and what readers are currently buying. This strategy plays directly into the strengths of catalog sales, where fitting into what's popular can lead to greater visibility and success. However, balancing this with direct sales can give you the freedom to explore more niche or personal projects.

Catalog/Retailer sales: Writing to market for broad appeal

In the world of catalog or retailer sales, such as selling through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other major platforms, writing to market is key. Much like the classic JC Penney catalog, which was designed to offer products that were trending and widely appealing, these platforms thrive on mass-market demand. To succeed in catalog sales, authors must be aware of what genres, tropes, and themes are popular and align their books with those trends.

How writing to market works with catalog sales:

1. Fitting into popular categories: Retail platforms rely heavily on genre categorization and search algorithms. Writing to market ensures that your book fits neatly into one or more high-demand categories (e.g., romance, thrillers, or self-help), increasing its chances of being discovered by readers searching for specific types of books.

2. Tapping into reader expectations: Readers browsing large retailer platforms are often looking for books that meet certain genre conventions. For example, romance readers expect happily-ever-afters, while mystery readers look for suspense and plot twists. Writing to market means you’re delivering exactly what these readers are searching for, which increases your chances of making a sale.

3. Leveraging trends: Much like JC Penney would stock up on the season’s hottest clothing styles, successful catalog sales often depend on your ability to recognize and write within trending genres or themes. If thrillers with unreliable narrators or cozy mysteries are in demand, writing a book that fits that trend can help you stand out in crowded categories.

Challenges of writing to market for catalog sales:

• Competition: Writing to market means your book will likely compete with a large number of similarly themed books. To stand out, you need to offer something that’s not only aligned with current trends but also distinct enough to grab attention.

• Conformity: While writing to market can increase sales, it may also limit your creative expression. To succeed in retailer channels, your book often needs to fit into a pre-defined mold, which can stifle innovation or exploration of unique ideas.

Direct sales: Freedom to write outside the market

In contrast to catalog sales, direct sales allow authors more freedom to explore niche markets or pursue more creative or unconventional projects. When you sell directly to readers, whether through your website, a subscription model, or another direct platform, you have more control over your marketing and messaging. This freedom lets you connect deeply with a specific audience that may not be interested in what's popular but is passionate about your unique perspective.

Advantages of direct sales for niche or personal projects:

1. Freedom to experiment: Direct sales platforms allow you to write and market books that may not fit into mainstream trends. If you have a unique voice or want to explore cross-genre works, this is the space to do it. You’re not bound by the strict genre conventions that drive catalog sales.

2. Building a loyal audience: Direct sales enable you to cultivate a dedicated following of readers who appreciate your work, regardless of whether it fits current trends. These readers often value the personal connection they get through newsletters, exclusive content, and a direct line to the author.

3. Higher profit margins for unique projects: Since direct sales don’t involve third-party platforms taking a percentage, you can price your books in a way that reflects their true value. This is particularly useful for limited editions, special releases, or books that don’t conform to mass-market pricing expectations.

Writing to market vs. writing for your audience

When planning your author strategy, it’s important to understand when to write to market and when to follow your own creative instincts. Catalog sales heavily favor authors who can write to market, aligning their books with popular trends to capture the broadest possible audience. Direct sales, on the other hand, allow authors to focus on personal projects or niche genres, building a smaller but highly engaged readership.

Hybrid strategy: combining both approaches

1. Use catalog sales to gain broad exposure: Writing to market for retailer platforms can help you build an initial audience, gain visibility, and generate sales volume. This is where you align your writing with what's currently popular in the market, positioning your work to fit reader expectations.

2. Utilize direct sales to nurture long-term relationships: Once you’ve built a fan base, use direct sales to nurture deeper connections with your readers. Here, you have the freedom to write outside market trends, explore passion projects, or offer exclusive content. Your loyal readers will follow you for your voice, not just your ability to fit into genre trends.

3. Adapt to market shifts: Trends in catalog sales change rapidly, much like seasonal clothing lines in the JC Penney catalog. As an author, staying flexible and aware of these shifts allows you to adapt and write books that continue to align with market demand, while still using direct sales to showcase your broader creativity.

Writing to market is a powerful strategy for authors focused on catalog/retailer sales. Like the JC Penney catalog, which stocked what was trending, retailer platforms favor books that fit into popular categories and trends. However, direct sales offer an opportunity to write for niche audiences and experiment with ideas that may not conform to mass-market expectations. By balancing these two approaches, authors can expand their reach while maintaining creative control, maximizing both their visibility and their long-term connection with readers.

The questions to ask here are:

• Which channel do you feel the strongest at right now?

• Which do you want to pursue?

11. Set your win condition

A win condition is the ultimate goal that makes all your hard work worth it. It’s not necessarily about hitting specific revenue targets or achieving fame.

It’s about what makes you feel fulfilled in your work.

This is such a powerful exercise because it cuts through all the noise and settles on how winning feels to you. It probably has nothing to do with having a million followers, either. It’s probably about having the security to live your best life.

Nobody’s best life is lifestreaming their every thought to their followers, not even the Kardashians. Sometimes, you just wanna have a think and a poo in peace and quiet.

One major key to finding happiness in your business is to pick a win condition that’s aligned with what you truly want, not what the industry or society says success should look like. Many people make the mistake of setting a win condition based on external validation, like money or fame, when their real desire might be more personal, like more time with family or space to pursue their creativity.

Once you have your win condition, you can work backwards to the platform, audience, and assets that help you get there. Then, you can work forward to find the actions that can best help you get to your win condition without betraying your values.

If you haven’t ever thought about this before now, trust me you’re not alone. I talk to writers all the time who’ve planned and prioritized their whole adult life who have never set a win condition for their career.

My personal win condition looks a lot like my life now. I want to be able to take any weird idea in my head and find enough people excited to make it happen that it will make me money. I want to do very few things, and have my whole day free to dicker around with people that inspire me, without having to worry about the money piece of it all because there is always more than enough and its growing all the time.

I’ve slowly been able to expand doing that kind of thing 10% of the time a decade ago to 60% of the time these days, but it wouldn’t have been possible if I couldn’t visualize my win condition.

When your win condition doesn’t match your actions, you’re setting yourself up for burnout and frustration. You might feel like you’re constantly hustling but never getting closer to what you really want. Worse, if you don’t know your win condition, you could create a plan at odds with what you really want out of life, which is my nightmare situation.

At NINC this year, I met several authors who were successful by traditional standards, but were miserable because their win condition was different from their actual plans and they had no idea.

One author felt guilty for not writing as much this year because she’d spent most of her time getting three kids off to college. She was measuring her success by books written when, in reality, her personal win condition was more about her family life.

She had achieved something remarkable, but because her KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) didn’t align with that win condition, she felt like she’d failed.

Another author spent an hour each day gardening and felt guilty for not writing, but gardening was what got her in the right mindset to write. Her win condition was having the mental space to create, but she was tracking the wrong metric.

Realigning your actions with your win condition isn’t easy by any stretch. You may find that old habits die hard or that you’re tempted to revert back to traditional measures of success. The key is to stay focused on your true goal. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen overnight.

It’s kind of like meditation. We all know that it’s impossible to clear your mind for long, but the process is the point. It’s okay to take small steps toward realignment, and it’s normal for the process to take time.

Some authors may fear that shifting their KPIs could hurt their business in the short term. For example, if you stop obsessing over sales and start focusing on conversations with readers, you may initially see a dip in revenue. But over time, this realignment can create a more sustainable business model that’s rooted in the things you actually care about.

If you’re feeling burnt out or like your work isn’t moving you toward success, it’s time to reflect on your win condition. Here are some steps to help realign your actions with your true goals:

1. Reflect on your most rewarding experiences.
   Think back to moments in your life where you felt a deep sense of accomplishment or fulfillment. What were you doing? Why did it matter to you? These moments often reveal your real win condition. For example, if you felt most alive while traveling or mentoring others, your win condition might be more about freedom or impact than financial success.

2. List what you truly enjoy doing.
   Write down the activities that bring you joy, even during challenging times. These are the things that energize you, rather than drain you. If you consistently find joy in brainstorming with others, or spending time outdoors, those activities are likely more aligned with your win condition than, say, endless hours of marketing.

It’s easy to get caught up in what the industry says your KPIs should be, whether that’s book sales, social media followers, or revenue. ON top of that, it’s very easy for external pressure to push you further away from your win condition, especially if you don’t have one. The challenge is to resist these external markers of success and focus on the internal metrics that matter most to you. Your journey may not look like anyone else’s, and that’s okay. In fact, it should be different.

Bringing it all together with KPIs

Now that you’ve done all of this stuff, we can tie it all up by focusing on your most important metrics, or KPIs. Most people aren’t stagnating. They are just focusing on the wrong metrics. I talked to somebody today who didn’t write much in the past year…but they got triplet off to college.

That’s an epic year, but their KPIs are misaligned.

KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are measurable values that help authors assess the success of their activities in relation to specific goals, such as productivity, audience growth, and monetization.

While there are hundreds of performance indictator metrics, your KPIs are the 3-5 that you’re looking to improve at any one time, which should be reanalyzed every quarter.

By regularly monitoring these indicators, authors can make data-driven decisions to ensure consistent growth, adapt to changing market trends, and create a sustainable, thriving career.

To align your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) with the article's framework on author growth, productivity, monetization, and sustainable practices, follow these steps. The KPIs will be tied to the key themes discussed in each section of the article to help you measure progress in both creative and business aspects of your author career.

1. Productivity vs monetization KPI

KPI focus: Balance sustainable productivity with sustainable monetization.

KPIs to track:

• Number of books written vs. revenue generated: Compare the number of books you produce to the revenue from those books. This helps determine if fewer high-quality books generate more income.

• Burnout vs. revenue impact: Measure the impact of slowing down production on your revenue and burnout. Track mental health or energy levels with productivity rates.

• Revenue per book: Track how much each book generates in revenue to gauge the effectiveness of fewer, more impactful releases.

2. Money as means vs. ends KPI

KPI Focus: Understand how effectively you are using money as a means to sustain your creative work and career longevity.

KPIs to Track:

1. Revenue reinvestment percentage: Track the percentage of income reinvested into your writing career, such as for editing, marketing, or professional development. This shows how much of your earnings are fueling sustainable growth.

2. Revenue-to-impact ratio: Measure how effectively each dollar spent translates into meaningful outcomes, like audience growth, reader engagement, or book quality improvements.

3. Creative output vs. financial Input: Compare the creative projects completed (e.g., books, articles) against the money spent to support them. This ensures your financial investments align with your productivity.

4. Sustainability score: Develop a metric that factors in income stability, burnout levels, and work-life balance to evaluate whether your current financial strategy is sustainable long-term.

5. Audience expansion efficiency: Track how financial investments (e.g., in ads or outreach) result in tangible growth in your audience base, such as increased email subscribers or loyal readers.

3. Growth-to-monetization parallel KPI

KPI focus: Understand your positioning on the growth-to-monetization spectrum and manage expectations.

KPIs to track:

• Audience growth (Subscribers/Followers): Track your social media, newsletter, and platform follower growth to measure audience expansion during the growth phase.

• Revenue growth from monetization: Track income from book sales, services (coaching, Patreon), and product launches to see how monetization efforts contribute to the bottom line.

• Content giveaway vs. sales conversion rate: Measure how giving away free content (e.g., chapters, books) converts into sales and long-term audience growth.

4. Monetary goals KPI

KPI focus: Set financial goals and break them down quarterly.

KPIs to track:

• Quarterly revenue goals: Set a target revenue for each quarter and track progress.

• Recurring revenue: Track monthly or quarterly recurring income from sources like memberships or royalties.

• Launch revenue: Set goals for launches and compare actual income to the estimates.

• Shortfall adjustments: Track how new initiatives (Kickstarter, promotions, conventions) help cover any shortfall from your initial revenue goals.

5. Prioritization KPI (modified Eisenhower Matrix)

KPI focus: Identify high-impact, enjoyable tasks and eliminate low-priority ones.

KPIs to track:

• Task efficiency: Measure how much time is spent on tasks in the "NEED/LOVE" quadrant vs. the "DON’T NEED/DON’T LOVE" quadrant.

• Outsourcing success: Track the success and efficiency of tasks you outsource (from the "NEED but DON’T LOVE" quadrant).

• Time spent on core business activities: Measure time allocation on tasks that have the most impact (from the "NEED/LOVE" quadrant).

6. Transition points KPI

KPI focus: Identify life transitions when readers are most likely to buy.

KPIs to track:

• Purchase timing: Track the timing of book sales and correlate them with reader transitions (e.g., graduations, new jobs, breakups).

• Reader engagement during key life moments: Track interactions, such as email opens or social media engagement, during peak transition points.

• Content resonance: Monitor which content resonates with readers in different transition points by tracking feedback, reviews, and direct messages.

7. Platform, audience, and assets KPI

KPI focus: Align your platform, audience, and assets for long-term success.

KPIs to track:

• Platform optimization: Track platform-specific performance metrics, such as Amazon ranking, Patreon memberships, or social media engagement.

• Audience growth and engagement: Measure email list growth, open rates, and click-through rates.

• Asset Utilization: Track how effectively you are leveraging existing assets (books, backlists, email list) to generate consistent income.

8. Author success path KPI

KPI focus: Determine which author success path aligns with your strengths.

KPIs to track:

• Virality KPIs: Track the reach of your content through social media shares, reviews, and recommendations.

• Content marketing KPIs: Measure the growth of blog readers, podcast listeners, or newsletter subscribers.

• Launch cycle KPIs: Track the success of book launches in terms of pre-orders, launch day sales, and post-launch momentum.

• Community building KPIs: Track the number of active members in your fan groups, participation rates in exclusive events, and superfan engagement.

9. Media channel KPI

KPI Focus: Amplify your reach across different media channels.

KPIs to Track:

• Owned media growth: Track growth in your owned media, such as website traffic, email subscribers, or podcast downloads.

• Earned media mentions: Monitor the number of mentions, shares, and organic reviews you receive.

• Paid media ROI: Track the return on investment (ROI) from paid ads and sponsored posts.

10. Catalog vs. direct sales KPI

KPI focus: Balance writing to market for catalog sales and pursuing niche audiences through direct sales.

KPIs to track:

• Catalog sales revenue: Measure sales performance on platforms like Amazon, Kobo, or Apple Books, and track how writing to market improves visibility and sales.

• Direct sales growth: Track the growth of direct sales through your website or platforms like Gumroad and measure how personalized content resonates with readers.

• Catalog vs. direct sales ratio: Monitor the ratio between catalog sales and direct sales to ensure a healthy balance.

11. Win condition KPI

KPI focus: Define and align your actions with your personal win condition to ensure fulfillment in your work.

KPIs to track:

• Personal fulfillment vs. external success: Measure how aligned your actions and goals are with your personal values (e.g., time with family, creative freedom) rather than traditional success markers like sales or followers.

• Reflection on most rewarding experiences: Regularly reflect on and track the moments in your career or personal life that bring the most fulfillment. This helps clarify whether your win condition is still relevant and provides insight into your true priorities.

• Time spent on enjoyable activities: Track how much time you dedicate to activities that energize you (e.g., brainstorming, creative projects) versus activities driven by external expectations (e.g., social media marketing).

How to determine your KPIs using this framework

• Step 1: Identify your current position within each section (productivity vs. monetization, platform optimization, etc.).

• Step 2: Set clear, measurable goals for each section, making sure they are aligned with your long-term vision.

• Step 3: Break down your yearly financial and creative goals into quarterly or monthly KPIs.

• Step 4: Regularly track your progress through simple, actionable KPIs.

• Step 5: Adjust your strategies based on performance, ensuring that you maintain balance across all areas of your author career.

This approach ensures that you’re not only building toward short-term financial success but also establishing long-term creative and business sustainability.

Building a sustainable author career is a complex process that requires thoughtful sequencing, balancing productivity with monetization, and aligning your platform, audience, and assets.

As authors, we often get caught up in doing too much at once, losing momentum by skipping steps or focusing on the wrong areas. By following a clear, structured approach, whether that’s prioritizing growth over monetization, tapping into life transitions to drive sales, or leveraging owned and borrowed media channels, you can create a career path that amplifies itself over time.

Success isn’t achieved overnight, but through consistent effort, strategic decisions, and adaptability, you can position yourself for long-term growth. Remember, the key is to understand where you are, what your audience wants, and how to best utilize your assets to build a sustainable, thriving career in authorship.

So, what do you think?

• What’s your biggest challenge in balancing growth and monetization?

• How do you prioritize tasks to grow your author career?

• What strategies have helped you align platform, audience, and assets?

Let us know in the comments.

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