Table of Contents
A complete directory of every post in How to Write for a Living.
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Table of Contents
Key:
➡️ = Written by David McIlroy
🌟 = Guest Post
🎤 = Interview
Resources
✅ Recommended Digital Resources
Roundups
☕ Read every Saturday Morning Coffee post here.
Podcasts
🎧 Listen to every podcast episode here.
Online Writing
🌟 How To Fall Back in Love With Your Own Writing
➡️ How Much I Earned From a Viral (Non-Boosted) Story on Medium
➡️ 15 Absolutely Vital Lessons I've Learned as a Working Writer
➡️ Is your creative tank in the red?
🌟 5 Ways New Writers Can Make Money (How I Made $4420 In My 1st Year)
🌟 The Amazing Growth of Bloggers and Influencers (And How to Become One)
🌟 How to Grow on Medium in 2024, Even If You're Starting From Zero
➡️ 10 Things I'd Do Differently If I Started Over
🌟 Building a Personal Platform Online Has Been a Rough Ride
🌟 3 More Ways To Monetise Your Writing (that Will Also Make You A Better Solopreneur)
➡️ Why I'm more interested in writing online than querying these days
➡️ Why Is Community So Crucial For Writers?
➡️ The 1 Thing That Could Absolutely Make or Break Your Writing Career
🌟 How I Simply Became a 5-Figure Woman Writer Online
🌟 Tips For Building a Sustainable Writing Ecosystem Between Substack & Medium
➡️ How to Use Other People’s Newsletters to Become an Expert in Your Niche
➡️ Your Next Post Might Bomb Without These 4 Headline Components
➡️ Outdated Advice On The Internet Could Derail Your Growth Journey as a Writer
➡️ Use The ‘3 What, 3 How’ Framework for Writing Advice Posts on Any Platform
🌟 How Sinem Günel Became a Full-Time Writer
➡️ The Truth About Those Big Milestone Moments in Writing
🌟 10 Surprising Tips That Make Your Online Writing Ten Times More Memorable
➡️ How to Help Readers Discover Your Writing Online
➡️ Nine headlines that are too good to ignore (and why)
🌟 6 things I’ve learned in 6 years of freelance writing
🌟 I Tripled My Part-Time Writing Earnings With This Substack-Medium Hybrid
🌟 Anyone Can Make Money Writing (How To Stop Being A Penniless Writer)
➡️ How To ‘Unstick’ Your Writing
➡️ The simple $173 tech stack powering my entire solo writing business
➡️ The 30-minute daily routine that can transform your Substack in 30 Days
➡️ How I use (and don’t use) AI in my writing process
➡️ If you’re stuck on your next post, just use this simple framework
➡️ Want to make money from your writing? Understand people first.
🌟 Before you build a big course, read this.
Books
🌟 5 Creative Ways for Authors to Keep Promoting
➡️ I Finally Told Mum I'm Getting Published
➡️ Here Are The Free Ways I Plan to Promote My Debut Novel This Year
🌟 Changing Pathways to Publication (with Veronica Llorca-Smith)
➡️ How many book queries does it take to land a literary agent?
➡️ If you want to finish your novel, you need a non-negotiable writing space
➡️ Why Character Development is Crucial For The Success of Your Novel
➡️ What’s The Big Idea For Your Novel?
➡️ Why Your Novel Should (And Shouldn’t) Fit A Particular Genre
➡️ How To Prepare Before Writing Your Novel (And Avoid Future Failure)
➡️ I Asked ChatGPT to Write a Novel. Here’s What Happened.
➡️ The Novelist’s 6-Stage Pathway To Publication
➡️ How To ‘Unstick’ Your Writing
➡️ How To Set Realistic Goals for Your Novel (5 Steps To The Finish Line)
🌟 A New Book Launch Every Week
🌟 The Power of Minimalist Books in Today’s Self-Publishing World
🌟 Turning Professional as a Writer
➡️ Nobody knows your book exists (yet)
➡️ The Pre-Pre-Launch Playbook
➡️ How to create a book launch plan you’ll actually use
➡️ The simple 5-day book launch plan you’ll want to follow
➡️ Your book isn’t just a book - it’s a hook
➡️ Talk about your book without sounding like a marketer
➡️ Writer... your secret weapon is right under your nose
➡️ The only 5 emails you’ll need to launch your book
➡️ Not all promo is created equal
➡️ What to post (and where) when your book goes live
➡️ You don’t need to be an expert marketer to sell your book
➡️ What to say (and how to say it) when your book is finally out
➡️ What to do after your book launch (and why it still matters)
➡️ How to keep selling your book long after launch week’s over
Marketing
➡️ The Simplest (and Most Effective) Way to Develop Your Personal Brand as a Writer
🌟 How to Systemize & Monetize Your Personality
➡️ How to Grow Within The Online Community That Grows Your Online Audience
➡️ Every Writer Needs a Platform. Start Building Yours Like This.
➡️ 720 Hours On TikTok For 150 Book Sales. Is This Really The Way?
➡️ How (And Why) To Grow Your Following On Twitter
➡️ Should You Still Pay For Social Media Ads?
➡️ Use The Barnacle Approach to Grow Your Audience
➡️ The Simplest Way to Grow Your Instagram Audience
🌟 9 Things I’ve Learned About Growth & Self-Promotion (From Someone Who Would Rather Just Write)
Mindset
➡️ How to Fortify Your Mind Against Rejection as a Writer
➡️ I Lost an Internal Organ and Gained a Lifelong Purpose
➡️ No-one’s Immune to Rejection
➡️ Thinking About Quitting? You Should Do This First.
🌟 6 Great Ways for Writers to Deal With The Comparison Trap
🌟 The productivity paradox: How writing less leads to better writing
🌟 3 mental shifts to help you achieve online authenticity
➡️ Do you count as a real writer if you don’t write every day?
➡️ No-one’s reading your work - should you keep going?
➡️ The #1 habit that changed my entire writing career
➡️ Your best work probably needs 5 years (and that’s a good thing)
Interviews
🎤 A Quick Cuppa with Claire Venus
🎤 Interview with a Publisher: Richard Mayers (Burton Mayers Books)
🎤 Author Interview: Melanie Reynard
🎤 Author Interview: Jess Wilkinson
🎤 Author Interview: Eve Koguce
🎤 Author Interview: Anthony Di Angelo
🎤 Author Interview: AK Cooper-Elliot
🎤 Author Interview: Nicolette Fuller
🎤 Author Interview: Gareth L. Powell
🎤 Author Interview: Travis Smith
🎤 Author Interview: Adam Shardlow
🎤 Behind The Scenes With TV Writer and Showrunner Michael Jamin
Deep Dives
➡️ This Writer Made $100,000 Last Year in Her Spare Time
➡️ This Self-Published Writer Sold 10 Million Books in the Last 10 Years
Substack
➡️ How I Grew My Substack Audience by Over 1,400 Subscribers in Under 2 Months
➡️ Why the heck have I changed the name of my publication?
➡️ 6 Ways to Become Notable on Substack by Boosting Your Visibility
➡️ My First 12 Months on Substack
🌟 After 60 Days on Substack, I Think I've Found the Best Platform for Writers
🌟 4 Proven Strategies to Become a Substack Bestseller in 2024
🌟 No Following? No Problem (How I Went From 0 to 1.2k Subscribers in 3 months)
➡️ 5 Key Lessons From My 10,000-Subscriber Growth Journey on Substack
🌟 Your first sale probably won't (and shouldn't) be your membership
➡️ I ran a 42-day audience growth experiment on Notes. Here's what I did, and everything I learned.
➡️ Here's why you should start your own podcast as a writer
➡️ How to Make $500 a Month on Substack
➡️ Magnetic Notes: 10 examples of Notes that grow your audience (with stats)
➡️ 5 smart ways to start earning money on Substack (even with a small audience)
📺 Why is everyone coming to Substack right now?
➡️ How to grow your Substack audience on autopilot (and it’s not through Notes)
➡️ How I grew from 48 to 20,000+ Substack subscribers in 646 days
➡️ Why a paid Substack tier often isn’t enough (and what to add next)
➡️ Why your posts aren’t converting (and how to fix them fast)
➡️ 3 paywall formats that grow your income without eroding reader trust
➡️ How to turn what you’ve already written into a paid product (without starting from scratch)
➡️ How to promote your paid offer without feeling like a pushy salesperson (5 steps)
➡️ What should a Founding Member tier actually include? Here’s how to set yours up effectively
➡️ Newsletter ads don’t have to suck: how to add sponsors that feel natural (and pay well)
➡️ How to turn your knowledge into a paid service using Substack
➡️ Deepen trust by adding video or audio to your Substack (step-by-step breakdown)
➡️ How to grow your Substack without working non-stop
📺 How to use Substack Notes to grow faster than you thought possible
📺 What’s working on Substack right now?
Writer Branding
➡️ What is a writer brand (and why every writer already has one)?
➡️ Why clarity is the foundation of every successful writer brand
➡️ The Hobnob Factor: how to turn casual readers into loyal fans
➡️ How a clear brand turns readers into paying supporters
➡️ The biggest mistakes writers make with branding (and what to do instead)
➡️ How to build a long-term writer brand that grows with you
What’s next?
I’m ready and waiting to support you in the next stages of your creator journey. Here’s a reminder of 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.
The 1K Daily Writing Challenge: Build a consistent habit by writing 1,000 words daily for 30 days. Along the way, you’ll get encouraging video prompts, accountability support, and plenty of inspiration to ignite your creative spark. Nail your rhythm. Find your flow. Transform your writing journey forever.
Substack Basics: A video guide showing you exactly how to: set up your first publications; create polished posts from scratch; share, structure, and schedule effectively; and master Notes, CTAs, and growth levers (bonus section: Going Live on Substack).
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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