Saturday Morning Coffee ☕ #64

Tingles.

Apr 19, 2025

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Hey friend!

Real quick: If the thought of promoting your writing gives you the heebie-jeebies, make sure to download my free 3-page guide, Sharing Without The Cringe.

⬇️ In case you missed it:

Do I count as a real writer if I don’t write every day?

David McIlroy

Apr 17

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👀 Something you might like:

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💡 Your questions, my answers:

I received some questions in this week’s Q&A Chat thread - here’s my stab at answering them:

1. I’m writing a self help book on diabetes for the average person diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. How can I get this book published?

There’re a few pathways to publication. You could try getting an agent, finding a publisher (big or small), and following what might be classed as the “traditional” route. All definitely possible.

But I’m increasingly of the opinion that the best way forward right now is to simply do it yourself. Put your book together, learn how to publish it on your own terms, and invest heavily in learning how to market it. Most publishing houses will do very little to help new authors promote a book, and even if they do, you’d still end up doing most of the promo yourself in future.

Learning how to market a book is the best thing authors can do for themselves in 2025 and beyond.

2. I'd love to know if other writers have a 'DMO' or a checklist of non-negotiables that they do each day to keep the ball rolling. I'm in the trenches with a 5 year old kiddo and a job as a teaching assistant whilst trying to write my first novel.

My non-negotiables are: write every morning (though this week has been a bit haphazard in all honesty), show up in my community (usually Substack via Notes and Chat) and try something new (or continue on with a recent new thing).

Coffee is what really gets the ball rolling though. It’s part of my writing ritual. Good coffee, a comfortable chair in a quiet room, and more often than not, a Golden Retriever snoozing nearby.

Keep going with your novel, even if you only manage a little bit each day. Maintaining the rhythm is more important than how much you get on the page.

3. If you love writing but are not interested in marketing, what are the best professions to pursue?

I think writing and marketing are increasingly two sides of the same coin. It’s so difficult to get your work the attention it deserves without a good deal of thoughtful promotion behind it.

That being said, ghostwriting could be a good option if you want to write but don’t want to do marketing as well. You’d just need to get really comfortable with the business side of things, especially client outreach.

It’s very hard to write professionally these days without another facet attached, unless you have the money to pay someone else to do the nitty gritty extras.

Any thoughts on these questions/answers? Do you have any of your own?

Drop them in the comments! 👇

🙂 Can you support me?

Paid subscriptions make up the bulk of my revenue as a writer. The more paying subscribers I have, the more time and effort I can invest in Substack. That’s more time spent writing articles, recording podcasts and videos, running webinars, and creating digital resources designed to help you succeed.

On the flip side, if I don’t get enough financial support, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain my presence here. I’m a one-man band, after all.

So if you enjoy my work and can afford to support me as a paid sub (and want to keep me on Substack for the long-haul), do consider upgrading to my paid tier. The sheer amount of content, insight and ongoing support you’ll receive will pay for your subscription many times over, especially if you become an annual subscriber.

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📖 This week’s juicy reading material:

📖 Contributions from our Paid Members

A Day in the Life of a Governess in Regency London by
Sara Adrien

📺 A good video:

🗒️ A good Note:

☑️ Go deeper:

Have a brilliant weekend, gang! ⌛

PS. Don’t forget to grab my free 3-page guide, Sharing Without The Cringe, before you go.

🤷‍♂️ What’s next?

I’m ready and waiting to support you in the next stages of your creator journey. Here’s how I can help:

Start Your Podcast on Substack: A complete course guiding you from concept to launch, based on everything I’ve learned so far during my own podcasting journey. Learn to plan, brand, record, edit, publish, and promote your podcast while building an audience. Perfect for creators eager to share their voice with the world.
Sustainable Scalable Social Strategy: This 6-part, online, self-driven course will guide you through the same process I used to develop a strategy for my social media management. When you finish, you’ll have a sustainable social strategy in place that will help you scale your business properly.
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Promote to 18,000+ readers: Get yourself in front of a highly-engaged online audience via email, podcast and social media.

Table of Contents [Start Here]

David McIlroy

April 12, 2024

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How to Write for a Living

Do I count as a real writer if I don’t write every day?

Table of Contents [Start Here]

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