Defining your audience is not the enemy of your art. It is the thing that lets you keep making it and keep supporting your dreams. I want to start by saying the people who got mad at me are not wrong to love story. Few months ago I wrote about marketing, audience, packaging, and positioning, and some authors were taken aback. (which of course, is part of the point of writing it) The main gest: Story should come first. Authors should not be thinking in terms of markets and audiences and read-through. Story, always, first. I have big thoughts about this. And I want to be careful here, because I am not about to tell you story does not matter. Story is the whole point. If the book is bad, none of the rest saves it. A great cover on a boring book just helps more people find out it is boring, faster. So let me say it plainly. Story first. Yes. Absolutely. However, if story matters the most, we also need to find Readers to read it. That part of the equation is equal to the story, if not greater. Read the rest: https://substack.com/home/post/p-205281063

When an ad isn't working, it's often not the ad's fault. It's a mismatch. Think of it like this: your reader magnet, your ad, your emails, your blurb, and your book should all feel like the same person is talking. If your ad is playful but your book opens dark, readers feel the bump even if they can't explain it. Everything matching means selling feels easy. Which part feels weakest for you right now: your ad, your emails, or your blurb? One word. Let's troubleshoot it together.

A soft midweek check-in. You only have so much energy in a day. And the internet will happily eat all of it with drama and doom-scrolling. Spend your energy where it actually moves your books forward. The calm author who quietly does the work goes further than the one who burns out. Protect your peace. What's draining your energy this week? Say it out loud here. Naming it is the first step to letting it go.

Cozy reminder for today: your older books are not past their prime. A launch is a sugar rush. Your backlist is the comfort meal that keeps feeding you. Some of the books that earn the most for authors are years old. They have reviews, they have history, and readers already trust them. That quiet older book of yours might just be your steadiest little earner. How old is the oldest book you've written? Drop it in the comments. Let's give those early books some love today.

I'm doing the cold reader magnet to get emails thing. It's a prequel novella about a couple that already is together when the series starts. I did 1 week of a FB ad from memory just to get the thing out there. I got 82 new subscribers. Then I had time to rewatch Mal's video and made a new ad (this time with my meta pixel done correctly, got it as a lead ad instead of website traffic, etc) and this week I've had 126 new subscribers and still another day to go for a true comparison. So anyway, yay, thanks! But my question is, how long should I run it? The 2nd book in the series releases next Thursday 5/21. I'm spending $5/day. Should I come up with a target number of emails and stop when I hit it? Or maybe a month now, then in a couple months, do it again? Thanks!