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Welcome to the Author Stack. This publication sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive.
Welcome to the Author Stack. This publication sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
We believe the “secret to success” isn’t one big revelation. It’s dozens of small insights pieced together from lots of different source. We’re all taught “stacks” that industry leaders claim works for everything, but they usually don’t work for anyone.
These experts might claim to have the whole answer, but they’re usually only working with a small fragment of the full picture. We believe every part of the industry holds no more than 5% of the answer to what makes a successful writing career.
The magic comes from bringing them together in unique and individualized ways that work for you instead of for everyone.
That’s why we don’t follow one system, one guru, or one set of rules. Instead, we gather fragments from everywhere: tech startups, content creators, traditional publishing, indie authors, and unconventional businesses. We collect the best ideas, the proven strategies, and the unique perspectives, to help you craft an individualized “author stack” that works for you.
This isn’t about forcing your business into a pre-made mold. It’s about creating your own path, built from strategies that align with your stories and your goals. Your work deserves a strategy as unique as the worlds you create that serves your vision, not the other way around.
Love crowdfunding? We can help you supercharge your next launch. Excited about subscriptions? We can help you become a bestseller. Ready to build an audience that loves your work? We’re here for that, too. Whatever’s got you excited right now, we probably have some strategies to integrate them into your business in a way that lights you up.
If you’re ready to break free from the cookie-cutter approach and embrace the freedom to build your career on your own terms, welcome to The Author Stack. Together, we’ll gather the pieces, build your stack, and create something extraordinary.
I’m USA Today bestselling author Russell Nohelty. People generally know me as a fantasy author, comic book creator, and professional speaker, but I’m also a serial creative entrepreneur. Throughout my career, I have owned a movie production company, a photography studio, a Verizon dealership, and more.
Currently, I own Wannabe Press, a publisher that makes weird books for weird people.
In a previous life I co-founded Writer MBA with my business partner Monica Leonelle. Together, we also co-founded the Future of Publishing Mastermind and co-created the Author Ecosystems.
With such wide-ranging interests and skills, I tend to think about building an author career differently than most writers, integrating lessons from every industry I’ve worked in to help you build a more robust and sustainable business.
I’ve written over 40 novels, yes, but I also write non-fiction, comics, and children’s books. I have written for magazines and newspapers across the country, along with working on licensed content for many companies. I’ve created over a dozen courses and built countless websites.
I have worked with hundreds of photography clients and traveled around the world to work on movies. I’ve directed television and written web series. I was an executive producer in the early days of internet tv, producing shows and commercials, along with acquiring hundreds of hours of content.
I have produced audio dramas, narrated audiobooks, and hosted podcasts. I’ve spoken at conferences, educational institutions, and private companies around the world, and sat on advisory boards across multiple creative industries. I have licensed books to board game companies and coffee distributors.
I’ve had my work optioned by studios and pitched to companies like Nickelodeon and Disney. I have been repped by literary agents and managers and worked with A-list showrunners to package projects for Hollywood. I’ve sold my books into translation and done book signings on multiple continents. I have edited and contributed to dozens of anthologies., along with leading editorial teams. I’ve raised millions on my own creative projects throughout my career and helped hundreds of creatives build successful careers for themselves. I’ve created conferences, both digital and physical ones, and masterminds.
I’ve sold hundreds of thousands in sponsorships and advertising, and overseen $50k+ ad spends. I’ve built a portfolio career and lead a completely creative life, doing what I want, when I want 60-80% of the time, which is about all anyone can ask. I was even the editor-in-chief of my high school’s yearbook.
I believe creators are magic. You aren't supposed to be able to get emotionally attached to the random hallucinations from somebody else's head transferred into letters and words. You aren't supposed to be able to take pictures at 1/24th of a second across weeks and combine it into a projection that not only makes sense but perfectly reflects the human condition. You aren't supposed to make a pile of mud into something functional and elegant. You aren't supposed to press brittle stone onto paper and turn it into something that makes people cry.
The magic trick is that it works, at all, but like all magic it is unpredictable and chaotic without skill. In the hands of a skilled magician, magic is life-changing. Wizards can make anything happen, and the same is true with creativity. When harnessed with intention, you hold the universe in the palm of your hands.
That is where The Author Stack can help. I’ve touched almost every facet of authorship and creativity and been blessed to be pretty successful with most of them. Even the ones that flamed out have taught me a lot about how to build a path for other people.
Through my work, I’ve come to understand the ever-changing landscape of publishing in a way I never have before.
Most people are pessimistic about the future of publishing, but I can’t tell you how excited I am about everything that is coming in the next few years. It’s a great time to be an author.
Today, more than at any time in history, I believe there is a way forward for every author to have the career of their dreams.
If you want to find clarity in your author business, stop kicking against the current while barely getting anywhere, and are ready to jump into the future with a business that can sustain you for years, then you are in the right place.
Below, you’ll find a guide to this publication and what we offer. If you find something helpful here, I highly recommend at least becoming a free subscriber, if not a paid member. Members can access our complete archives, plus over a dozen novels and all my solo non-fiction books with their membership.
The HAPI Compass
We believe in what we call the HAPI Compass to building a successful author career, which revolves around four points. Point it at your work and your direction comse into view:
H – Heart: the projects and inspiration that give you goosebumps and will resonate deeply with your readers.
A – Audience: the people orbiting those ideas, ready to championing them, amplify your reach, and fall deeply in love with what you create.
P – Prioritization: Deep focus on one high-leverage move at a time, letting it pay off, then reinvesting the space and cash it creates to widen your runway and buy yourself time for what matters.
I – Income: Generating the money that sustains your ideal life while fueling the creative work that lights you up.
Plot those four points, and you have more than a framework. You have a living compass. When you start to drift in one of the four points, you can use the others to center yourself again.
Heart dimming? Your Audience’s enthusiasm reignites it. Audience growth stalling? Prioritization zeroes in on the next high-leverage move. Nail that move and Income expands, buying the runway to chase the next goose-bump idea. Each point powers the others in a continual loop, keeping you aligned and sharpening your clarity quarter after quarter.
Mainly this work is done through our highly pointed resources.
Writer resources available on The Author Stack
While we have an extensive archive of articles about building a writing career, we also offer several other resources to help authors build better businesses. Some of these are available for free. Others are available only to paid members, as are a bunch of novels and comics I’ve written throughout my career.
However, we also have hundreds of articles about various topics related to the HAPI Compass.
The vast majority of people who subscribe are here to learn about growing an audience without selling your soul, especially on Substack. So, we wrote a book with Substack legend Claire Venus all about how to build a great publication.
In fact, most of our best articles eventually make their way into one of our books.
If you’re looking for our most comprehensive author growth strategy framework, you can find it all here in this 16,000 word article. Once you do these exercises, you’ll be able to pick and choose anything else you need.
Our Hapitalist members also have access to our transformational workbooks and digital brain to help synthesize all this into and actionable and individualized plan personalized to you so you can get back on track and/or move forward even faster.
(H) eart:
Heart is is all about making projects that deeply resonate, both with yourself and your audience. These are some of our most popular articles to help you get in the right mindset for your journey.
(A)udience:
Audience is all about finding the people who resonate with your work and are eager to pay for it, or at leaset tell people about it. These articles can help you on your way:
(P)rioritization:
Prioritization is all about setting priorities and gaining leverage over your career, so you can do more of what you love and spend less doing the things you don’t. These articles can help:
(I)ncome
Income is all about making the money you need to lead the life you want without compromising your values along the way. These articles can help you attract money to you without feeling gross about it.
One of the things we’ve started doing in 2024 for paid members is providing quarterly income reports for Wannabe Press’s revenue. I also uploaded all past income reports dating back to 2017 as well.
We also do debrief of most of our major online events.
Plus, we bring in world-class experts to help guide you through the worlds of authorship and writing.
If you want to go deeper, I’ve also got a dozen fiction novels and a ton of additional writing resources available to paid members as well. You can find a complete rundown of all or free and paid resources below.
If you’re still on the fence about joining us behind the paywall, here is what other authors are saying about The Author Stack.
So what do you think? Are you ready to join us behind the paywall and get over 600 paid posts, including exclusive interviews, articles, courses, and more?
If you want to upgrade but have a hardship that prevents you from doing so, or know somebody who does, you can just reach out to help at theauthorstack dot com and I’ll try to hook you up.
Finally, if you want to update your preferences, unsubscribe from some or all of our sections, or simply change how you interact, you can find more information on how to do that here.
Updating your email preferences so you stop getting so many emails from me
Sometimes, I get emails about managing email preferences that seem to generally boil down to the fact that some people are receiving emails from The Author Stack, Writer MBA, and/or Wannabe Press at the same time. Since these are three different platforms/companies with different delivery times, sometimes subscribers are getting daily (or more) emails.
Thanks for stopping by.
I like this - helping people over their blocks. After years of teaching, I’ve found that’s the biggest hurdle most students in the creative arts face. It’s the same thing I’ve been trying to voice in my site, and it’s very much my jive. Really like to see someone like you bringing up this topic.
Please add PAYPAL Pay In 4, which would dramatically increase subscriber base. Thanks, Russell.