Author: Dan Blank

I was watching a video from author John Green earlier this week, and he ended it with the lines of a poem by Philip Larkin from 1979. “The Mower” ends with these words:

…we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.

As I considered this, it began to feel like an ethos for how one can approach sharing what they write, and engaging with readers in the process. To do it with intention. To be mindful of those around you. To infuse each interaction with kindness. And to never lose site of the fact that this time we have is precious and finite.

John was sharing the poem after describing his recent struggles with mental health. He shares: “I’ve had a rough couple months. My OCD and anxiety have been really high. I’ve also had this lengthy bout of depression… it was just this terrible indescribable fear.”

John has always been inspiring in how honestly he shares about his journey with mental health.

His brother Hank, also an author, recently went through cancer treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He had successful treatment, and shared his journey via a series of videos. He says, “This week my doctor told me I am in complete remission from my cancer… Now this has gone pretty much as good as possible for me.” But then he talks about the long-term implications, even if the cancer never returns: pain on his left side, increased chances of heart disease, lung disease, leukemia, and of getting other kinds of cancer.

Hank continues: “All that comes with another side effect: permanent anxiety.” He shared a metaphor about rolling dice in a game to assess risk, said, “I get to roll the die every day for the rest of my life.”

These are two brothers who have created extraordinary things with their writing and various other projects. I mean, the Wikipedia pages of both John Green and Hank Green are filled with incredible accomplishments.

They are sharing with intention. They are creating with kindness. They are being honest about their personal journeys in ways that truly help others.

Sometimes it feels that the world runs at this incredible speed, and it is only getting faster. That can make being intentional and kind seem more difficult. One thing I have been considering is this: how we slow down to focus on the craft of creating and connecting with others in meaningful ways. Even though I primarily work with writers, I look to other creative fields for inspiration.

Recently, I picked up my film camera again, and it feels like a meditation in intention. The camera weighs more than 6 pounds. Here it is:

It’s a medium format camera, which means the film negatives are really big and filled with detail. Evidently: “Medium format has an image resolution equivalent to an unfathomable 400 megapixels.” Most digital cameras today hover around 20 to 60 megapixels.

Brand new film is still manufactured, and each roll consists of a total of 10 shots. It takes several steps just to load the film:

Here is a photo of me from this roll of film:

The process of taking photos on film is three things:

1. Time consuming. I have to order film. Then load the film. Then take the photos, being careful not to waste a single shot on the roll of 10 images. Then send the film to be developed, wait for development, and for them to mail back negatives or prints. The time from putting the film in the mail, to seeing the developed images is 10 days.
2. Expensive. Each roll of film cost me $9.40, plus $23.40 to develop the film and scan the negatives. So that comes out to $3.28 per photo.
3. Uncertain. For this specific roll of film, two photos didn’t come out at all, and two were blurry. So that was $13.12 in wasted shots, and I didn’t know they didn’t come out until weeks after taking them. On the plus side: this is motivation for me to become a better photographer!

I know that many writers bemoan of the myriad of options they have in how they write, how they publish, and how they share. But what I try to consider is that we get to do these things, not that we have to do these things.

For instance, you don’t have to create a video as an author and share it online. For instance, I see many authors do this when they receive the first printed copies of their books — these are often emotional videos that readers love. But if you do create a video like this, it is amazing to me that you can do it quickly on your phone, and distribute it to the entire world in under a minute. Not long ago, that was unthinkable.

A few years back, my wife was in a thrift store and saw this old 8mm movie camera and bought it for me:

You can only shoot 4 minutes of footage before you have to change the film. And it doesn’t record sound, so you would need an entirely other device for that. Then another editing device to sync sound to the movie footage.

Again, imagine having to do all of that work, and all of the skills you would have to become proficient in to do so. Today, we simply pull out our phone and record in an instant, and then post it to social media in seconds.

The craft of how we write, create, and share takes time. I have been preparing the next two workshops that I will teach in December and January, focusing on the nuances of how to create with more intention and forge with meaningful connections with your ideal readers.

These are skills that you develop. Like any craft, that is something to be honored, not eradicated. I understand if sometimes a writer hopes for a magic button, one that makes it easier to write, easier to publish, easier to share and reach their ideal readers. But I believe in developing the skills of how to communicate what you create and why, and how to share that with your audience in a way that develops trust. This is important work.

There is this YouTube channel I have watched for years, where art conservator Julian Baumgartner shares his process of restoring old paintings. He has more than 1.5 million subscribers. In a recent video, he showed the arduous process of removing glue from the back of a painting. First he puts this solvent on a small square on the back of the painting:

Then he slowly scrapes off the old glue:

Next he reapplies the solvent to the same area a second time, and scrapes with a different motion:

Then he applies water to that same little square, and using a stiff bristle brush, rubs that area for a third time:

Done! Right? Nope. He now moves onto the next small square of the back of the canvas, repeating this process a total of 15 times.

It should be noted, this is all for the back of the painting! We aren’t yet seeing the copious amount of work he has to do to the front of the painting, the part that people actually see.

In a 2022 interview with Katie White at Artnet, he describes this process in terms of the emotional toll it takes: “Cleaning is a reductive process: you have to be very, very careful and be very, very focused. If you remove something, you can’t put it back. It takes a lot of intellectual and emotional energy.”

What is the most indispensable tool in his studio? Julian’s answer:

“The greatest tool I have is my brain, right? It gives me the ability to synthesize information and be creative. Then, on a more practical level, my hands, because though I may theorize or research an interesting approach, I still have to execute it.”

I love how he describes his work:

“Conservation is not magic; it’s really just a dedicated craftsperson working with their hands, employing materials and techniques with patience and care. If I in my studio with a scalpel and some brushes can save this magical piece of artwork, then you at home—with whatever tools you have, whatever capacity you have—can effect a positive change somewhere in your life.”

How we create is a craft. So is how we share. And it can be our choice to do it with intention, being mindful of others, and infusing it all with kindness.

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

When you consider how you share what you create, how do you avoid a feeling of overwhelm? This is a constant concern that writers and creators tell me about. Last week I presented the latest version of my Substack workshop, helping writers embrace the platform, grow their subscribers on it, and earn money in the process. (You can purchase access to the full recording here.) I had way more people than I expected sign up, and the feedback has been incredible.

One concern kept coming up again and again from writers: fear of doing one more thing to share what they create. Having to learn — YET ANOTHER — new platform from scratch. The fear of both jumping on a trend, and also being too late to benefit from that trend because they waited too long.

In recent weeks, I have also run private sessions about Substack for Jennie Nash and Author Accelerator, Brooke Warner and She Writes Press, and Jane Friedman and her amazing community. (If you want me to speak with your community about Substack, let me know!) There too, writers asked great questions about what it means to manage the process of creating and sharing, without feeling overwhelmed.

Today I want to share my recommendations for how to do three things:

• Making writing and creating central to your life.
• Feeling great about sharing your work.
• Not feeling overwhelmed in the process.

Let’s dig in…

Do Less

Yep. Just… do less. I talk to writers about this all the time. Instead of doing 1,000 things around a book launch, what if you just did three things really well? How could that not only increase effectiveness, but also just feel better?

I wrote about this recently in terms of social media, how doing less can be a powerful way to find greater fulfillment and connection in social media.

Too often, we seek to add new things to our life with the hopes they are the missing ingredient. But I try to flip my thinking on this: what if we did less. How could that help me create and share more?

I remember people asking a fitness expert on a podcast once, “What vitamins and supplements do you take?” The hope was that the expert would tell them what supplements to buy, and to add to their health routine. But the expert said something unexpected: “I take as few supplements as possible, and those I do take, are totally customized to my personal health needs.”

The message was this: do less. Instead of adding supplements, just try to eat food that is rich in vitamins and things you need. If you do that, then you may not need to “supplement” your food with added pills and expense and management of them. Less is indeed more.

Now, I’m not a fitness expert, but my entire life has been spent in the creative process and surrounded by those who write and create. If you are a writer looking to prepare for a book launch a year ahead of time, and a goal is to get 40 book reviews within the first month of publication… what if instead of trying to get 10,000 faceless followers on social media, you instead developed an email list of 100 dedicated fans. And over the year, you encouraged and prepared them to post book reviews when your book came out. Even if only 1/2 did it, you still exceeded your goal. 100 people vs 10,000 can have the same result. In other words: Do less, have it be more effective, and feel better about it.

Pursue Human-Centered Marketing

I’ve used this phrase for years to try to describe how to think about sharing your work: this is marketing focused on a meaningful connection between two people. That’s it. It’s not about how many followers you have, how many likes you get, gaming an algorithm, or trying to find secret buttons in social media that makes everything easy. While those things may be a part of tactics you use, they are not the goal.

This is about connecting with people in a meaningful manner. It is about communicating effectively, and building trust with others. It is about empathy and evoking a feeling of possibility.

We often focus too much on the technology. I was considering one example this week. Recently Apple presented one of their keynote presentations where they unveiled new products. After the video was released, they gave a big reveal: the entire presentation was shot exclusively using an iPhone.

So the big message is meant to be: “Look what an iPhone can do!” But then, Apple released a short behind the scenes video of how their presentation was shot. And what you see is this: the iPhone is the absolute tiniest part of the entire production. So here is the rig that encapsulated the iPhone:

But then you see in the video is so much else, specifically: People, people, people! The video is filled with so many people behind the scenes — each an expert with years of experience in their craft. There are 12-20 people behind the equipment during this one shot:

Yes, there is a lot of technology being used: the expensive lights, the huge rigs, the many external hard drives, the spaghetti of complicated cabling, the 15 monitors, the many editing programs. But each of these items requires experts who know what to use, why, and how.

What you don’t see is important too: all of the scriptwriting, the voice/presentation coaches, set designers and wardrobe experts, the storyboarding, and so much else that is essential for effective communication. My favorite image from the behind-the-scenes video is this guy running as he pushes the camera to get a shot, with a crescent wrench hanging out of his back pocket. No matter how fancy the tech gets, you always need that guy running and pushing with a crescent wrench in his pocket!

This is not about the technology, even though it is a part of the process. Technology will change, but your ability to communicate effectively with others around what you create, and developing a sense of trust in the process is a skill that will never change.

I recently watched the newest Mission: Impossible movie, and of course my favorite scene was the one where the government was converting all of their digital intelligence back to paper, using a warehouse full of typewriters! They are going analog when an AI begins modifying digital files:

I mean, I am ready for this kind of catastrophe! Here I am with part of my typewriter collection:

I keep vintage technology around to remind me: the tools change, but they are always in the service of connecting stories and ideas to people who will be inspired by them.

Hone Your Creative Process

Want to feel less overwhelmed when sharing? Focus on developing the skills of communication, coordination, and collaboration. This, as opposed to: the tech, the buttons, or the trends. I wrote a long essay about this recently: Believe in your unique creative voice.

Too many people are afraid to create. I want to challenge you to create more. To make your creative process a part of your everyday life. I see this all the time at home.

My wife is an amazing artist, and art is central to her life. She has carved out dedicated spaces for her art in our house, including an art table that is constantly changing to reflect her latest project. It is a lens into her creative vision. Just this week it was cleared off, and a specific array of the following items were carefully laid out:

• 10 tubes of paint
• 2 kinds of erasers
• 6 kinds of pencils
• A roll of tape
• A bottle for water to clean her brushes
• A stack of 10 pastels
• A jar of ink
• 3 watercolors
• A notebook
• Blotter paper
• A few other objects I’m not sure what they are
• A small wooden box that I’m not sure what is in it

All of these supplies were selected for a very specific painting. A few days ago, her desk looked completely different, with completely different supplies on it for a different project.

Clearing her workspace and setting it up for a single project is another way to not feel overwhelmed in knowing what to create and preparing to do so. To have total clarity when you show up to create, because there is only one obvious thing in front of you, and all of your needed tools are right there. (You can follow my wife on Instagram!) Here is a sampling of some of her projects:

As a writer, I have done this by:

• Assigning a specific time and place for writing. For example: I would plan to write while at Starbucks at a certain time.
• I would clear my laptop desktop of all files, then add back in just one: the writing I wanted to work on.
• I would turn off internet when I started so that I couldn’t be distracted by email, social media, or an excuse to “do research” instead of actually write.
• I would bring headphones and have a specific playlist ready so that the music became another encouragement to focus.

When it comes to how you share your work and connect with others, a similar ethos applies. What if, instead of scrolling endlessly on social media, you opened it with an intention to create one meaningful interaction with someone you follow? What if you only followed those who inspired you, whittling down those you subscribe to or follow?

So often, people treat their social media the same way they treat their email inbox: it becomes their news source, their shopping source, their to-do list, how they stay connected with anyone they ever met, where they conduct business, where they find entertainment, and so much more.

For whatever channels you show up in to share your writing and creative work, what if you made them have a specific purpose? Where you only wanted to connect with those who inspire you, and where you can engage with readers.

Honor your boundaries

Okay, I saved the most important one for last: honor your boundaries. So this is a three step process:

1. Have boundaries.
2. Uphold your boundaries.
3. Recognize and celebrate when you do so.

Boundaries are critical for a sense of personal safety, and for supporting mental health. But they can also help you decide a sense of overwhelm in how you create and share.

There are a million variations of this, but here are a couple just to illustrate the point for how you can connect with others through what you share:

• Celebrate one person each day on social media, and explain why they inspire you. Then close social media.
• Send one gratitude email each day. Email is such a powerful way to connect with others, especially one-on-one.
• Take people inside your creative process each day, and encourage them to share their own. There was a period where I wrote first thing each day, and took a photo of myself showing up to write and shared it on social media. I received so much feedback from others that this helped inspire them to create. This created more accountability for my own creative process, and gave me more opportunity to talk about what I write and why.

Are there ways that you have managed your process to feel less overwhelmed as you create and share? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

 

My updated workshop, Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter on Substack, is now available. I’ve added so much new content, including:

• Updated ideas on how to get engagement and grow your subscribers.
• Loads of new advice on how to launch and grow your paid subscriptions.
• Bonus: All who register will also receive an additional 40-minute video where I walk you through how to create a Substack account from scratch. You will look over my shoulder as I show you how I do this for myself and clients.

Of course, the workshop includes a full Q&A.

The testimonials from people who have taken earlier versions of this workshop have been off the charts:

“Dan Blank is the bomb! Okay, more than that. Basically, the workshop was clear, validating, and encouraging. Dan has a way of making all of it feel entirely manageable. What’s more: he made Substack feel like the community I’ve been waiting for as a writer — like we’re all in this together.”
– Maria Hanley

“The workshop is an A to Z overview of Substack for beginners to those already using it. Dan shared so many aspects of Substack that I wasn’t aware of.”
– Monica Cardoza

“This workshop was full of incredible content, and Dan was generous in his presentation. This couldn’t be more valuable — highly recommended to anyone who wants to start or grow their Substack newsletter.”
– Judith Fetterley

You can read full details about the workshop and register here.

Why an Author Platform?

Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is this: what does it meant to truly build an author platform that works for you? Now, that may be unique for your personal needs/goals, but it may include:

Developing an audience for your writing.
Convincing agents, editors, and publishers that you can reach readers when marketing your book.
Feeling as though you can share with a sense of authenticity.
Creating a truly meaningful connection between you and readers, instead of focusing on faceless “followers.”
As I wrote about recently, social media has changed — pretty radically — in just the last year alone. So many of you may feel as though you have tried blogging, and podcasting, and social media, and so much else that just… fell flat.

If you have read my work for a while, you know that I have been excited about Substack, and today I want to explain why. At the heart of it is this:

Substack feels old-fashioned.

What works about it goes back to very traditional ways that we as human beings connect. You may know that I have this phrase I use, “Human-Centered Marketing,” to describe how I help you learn to share your writing in ways that are effective, and also feel truly meaningful and authentic to who you are.

I started blogging back around 2006. For years, the comments section of my blog was thriving, but then social media took over. The comments on my blog completely died because people preferred to share and talk about my ideas on their own social media feeds. This, by itself, is not good or bad, but as a writer it felt like a big shift in my ability to engage with readers.

But once I moved to Substack, I noticed something: the comments section was thriving again, with dozens of comments on some of my posts. People were sharing my writing with their own audiences, and other publications on Substack were recommending my work. I see this with the writers who I work with as well. For the first time in years, they feel a close connection to their readers, and are seeing their readers act as a supportive community, not just as a vague number next to the word “followers.”

More and more, I am seeing people leaving social media in order to focus on a smaller audience in a more engaged community such as their Substack subscribers. I am seeing influencers with tens of thousands of followers on Instagram now turn most of their attention to their Substack that has a small fraction of their audience. Why? Because this smaller group is the group that will truly support their writing, help ensure they earn money from their writing, and who will make the entire experience feel more meaningful.

One writer who took my Substack workshop, Maria Hanley, recently shared this:

---

I have 95 subscribers. But guess what happened to me yesterday after I posted [my most recent Substack essay]:

• A friend texted to tell me she enjoyed my post. And she thinks I’m talented!
• A new reader I’ve never met told me that she can “relate” to my work, she was “cheering” me on, and I am a “beautiful writer.”
• I had the most comments I’ve had on any post, resulting in several genuine, meaningful interactions about my work.

---

Isn’t this what we all dream about when we consider sharing our writing?

Now, maybe you are a pragmatist reading this and saying, “Actually Dan, I could care less about a ‘community.’ I want book sales, plain and simple.” I’m from New Jersey, so I love jaded pragmatists! The thing is, I have been finding with my clients that Substack helps deliver that too. Here is a quote from my client Melinda Wenner Moyer:

She just announced her second book and is already involving her Substack audience of 20,000 subscribers in that process. If you are thinking, “Dan, that’s wonderful for her, but I have nowhere near that many followers,” then it’s worth noting: she had less than half this many subscribers at the start of the year.

To be honest, I have worked professionally in online media and social media for more than 20 years, and I have never seen anything like the growth for writers that I have been seeing with Substack. But more than that, I keep hearing from writer after writer that for the first time in a long time, they feel good about sharing online. And it’s all because of Substack.

Does that mean you “have to” use Substack? Of course not. Is Substack the correct path for absolutely every writer? Nope. But I can say that all day, every day I work with writers, talk with writers, and study what is working for writers. What Substack is providing is an ecosystem that is delivering on so many areas that writers hope for when they consider developing an author platform.

This all aligns with what I love: connecting readers with writing that moves them, and with writers who inspire them. As so many other social media platforms have moved to short-form video content, where they encourage you to entertain others, Substack is squarely focused on writing, writers, and readers.

In my workshop, I dive deep into:

• How to Get Started with Substack
• Defining Your Substack Publication
• Creating Substack Content
• Getting Subscribers
• Growing a Paid Newsletter

I’ve added so many new strategies, tactics, and examples to this workshop, especially around growing your subscribers and launching a paid newsletter. Even if you can’t make the live call today, or missed it, I will keep registration open through end of day Monday so you can receive the recording.

And if you want direct advice from me, personalized to your specific goals and challenges, I’m also offering two ways that you can engage directly with me.

Read full details and register for Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter on Substack today.

Thanks!
-Dan

Today I want to share a behind-the-scenes look at how I have run a creative business for the past 13 years, and three actions I am taking to share in a manner that feels authentic to who I am, and connect with my ideal readers in a meaningful way.

Below is a photo of me when I first started my business back in 2010. It perfectly illustrates a moment of transition. In front of me are the papers I am signing that formalize the ending of my employment, the publisher I worked for had closed down. To the right are the stacks of thank you cards from my wife’s baby shower for our first child. Here I am at the precipice of endings and beginnings, and a big vision for the work I hoped to create. I was excited and terrified:

Since that time, I have worked with thousands of writers, helping them to share their work in ways that truly connects with readers. I have written a book and hundreds of essays, and have had countless moments with writers and creators that inspired me.

When I talk to writers about their concerns, they often tell me different versions of this: that it exists in a space that is delicate. Those around them don’t fully understand or embrace what they create. They struggle to find the time to create, let alone share. They worry that if they put their work out there for others, it will be met with silence.

Maybe this resonates with some of your experience. Yet, you create. That creative vision inside of you can’t be ignored.

So today I want to talk about three ways I am doubling down on my creative voice, and how you can too.

Before we begin, if there is anyone you know who would benefit from my November 10th workshop, Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter on Substack, please consider sharing it with them Substack is completely changing how writers can connect with readers in a meaningful way, and even earn an income in the process. This workshop is updated with new strategies and examples that I have been using with my clients. Full info and registration here. Okay, onto today’s message….

Getting Clarity on Your Mission and Message is Difficult. Lean Into That Uncomfortableness.

One of the first things I do with writers I work with is help them define their Key Messages. This is the exact language that you would use in a normal conversation to talk about what you create and why, all in a manner that connects to a conversation with a real human being.

That is often different from an ‘elevator pitch.’ Why? Because an elevator pitch can exist in a unique social circumstance. The entire framing is that you are pitching your work to a potentially interested party in a short period of time.

But with Key Messages, these are conversations that fill our daily lives: seeing a neighbor on line at Starbucks; bumping into a colleague in the break room at work; talking to a friend while waiting to pick up your kids from some activity; chatting with a friend of a friend at a barbecue; messaging to your cousin via text.

I will say it: it is difficult to describe what you create and why. This is because so often it reflects on two things we have difficult relationships with:

1. Our own identity and how we feel that frames the value of what we create, our credentials, and how others see us.
2. Social dynamics and social fear. We don’t like putting ourselves out there seeking judgement because that can be uncomfortable. And when you talk to others about new things (such as your writing), or talk to new people, it can trigger those deep social fears.

Too often writers avoid talking about, apologize for, and dismiss their own work. They hide from opportunities to talk about it. And when they do, they are often vague. They miss opportunities to connect what they create in a way that truly resonates with the person they are speaking with.

Getting clarity is difficult. If you want some help, I suggest you work through my Clarity Cards exercise. It’s a free PDF that you can download here.

I’ve taken thousands of people through this exercise. The results are a simple pyramid of cards, but they can be life-changing:

I’ve been reviewing and adjusting my Clarity Cards and Key Messages, it is a process I go through again and again. As you work through the Clarity Card process, see where your writing and creative work fits into your pyramid. Then ask: do those around me know this about me?

Forget About Balance: Double Down on the Experiences You Want to Create

I feel like I always read encouragement to find “balance” between our creative work and other responsibilities. I have to be honest, I don’t believe in that for myself.

Instead, I am obsessed with creating the moments and experiences with those who matter most to me. That means showing up for my own creative vision, creating experiences with my family, as connecting with writers and creators. All of my energy goes to these places.

This makes decision making very easy, because if something doesn’t attend to my biggest priorities, it is an easy “no.” That isn’t meant to be negative, it is instead to use my very finite resources of time, energy, and attention to create experiences that truly speak to the experiences I want to create in my life. I want to show up for my writing and creative work. I want to show up for my family. I want to show up for the writers and creators who deeply inspire me.

My days are spent in a private studio:

Now, this suits me really well because I am a major introvert. I talk to writers and creators via phone, Zoom, and online. I teach, I write, and I create.

I’m serious about developing my support system for mental health, because that replenishes those finite resources that I need in order to create meaningful experiences with my family and writers. This includes a daily nap, a daily walk, hiring others to guide me (such as my personal trainer and guide instructor), and managing my calendar so there are huge blocks of time with family.

As you consider the experiences you want to create in your life around your creative work, I encourage you to identify one small daily habit that would be meaningful to you. This could be to help you create more, such as writing for 15 minutes ever day. Or it could be in how you share your work and connect with others, such as sending one email each day to a writer or creator whose work has moved you.

Not every experience attending to your creative vision needs to be big and dramatic. One small habit of creating or connecting can have a powerful impact.

Your Voice is Unique. Sharing it is a Risk. Take That Risk.

In the past few years, my younger son watched all 895 episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, twice. I’ve heard Fred Rogers’ wisdom again and again:

“There is only one like you in the whole world. There’s never been anyone exactly like you before, and there will never be again… I like you just the way you are.”

These words ring in my head all the time, and I have his photo hanging on the wall of my studio.

What I have been considering is how can I create and share with more intention, more frequently, and in the process, help writers even more. How can I honor and raise my own voice in the service of creating those meaningful moments I talked about earlier?

In doing this work full-time for 13 years, I have realized: while my mission hasn’t changed, how I execute on that mission is in constantly evolution. I imagine this may resonate with your own creative vision. In some ways, it may feel like a consistent and unchanging part of you. Yet, your craft grows, your work moves in new directions, your process changes as you evolve.

I will be sharing more writing, more videos, and more workshops. I will be experimenting with more collaborations, and more conversations with writers and creators. That is truly what inspires me.

I’m curious: why do you create your writing or art? What is your creative vision that drives you? Tell me in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

P.S. Just a reminder to check out my November 10th workshop: Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter on Substack. Thanks.

Wouldn’t it be nice of books just sold themselves? Sometimes they do, but more often it is work. I want to share a case study of how this happens for one author, and one book. I’m going to zoom into a single TV appearance, and dissect the 10 minutes, moment by moment, to identify all the ways the book is being promoted.

This is how my brain works — I see people talking about books, and I think, “What exactly is happening here to effectively share what a book is and why someone would like it?” And I slow it down in my mind, rewind it, play it at half speed, rewind it again, play it over and over and over. My work is about helping writers express what they create, find ideal readers, and share their work in a meaningful way. So I tend to analyze things at this frame by frame level. Every word, every phrase, every expression.

Which brings us to Matthew McConaughey appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his new picture book, Just Because. I shared recently that I had worked with the illustrator of that book, Renée Kurilla.

Just Because debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for children’s picture books, and at the time of writing this, has been there for five consecutive weeks. Everything I share below happened after the book became a bestseller. So the marketing tactics I analyze show how the author is working to keep the book a bestseller. Matthew’s previous book has been on the bestseller list for 100 weeks. I imagine that is the goal with Just Because.

Which is to say, your book launch doesn’t end after launch week. It is work to ensure it keeps reaching readers.

What I want to illustrate in today’s case study is this:

Look at how hard these two people are working to promote this book, and how hard this entire entity of the TV show, their staff, the network, and the author’s team, is working. This is not an accident. There is a lot to learn in considering the nuances below.

I want to showcase the work involved in promoting a book, by two people who you would think, “Oh, they don’t have to work at promoting something. They are rich and famous and have these huge platforms. A book simply has to be published with Matthew’s name on it, and it’s an instant bestseller.”

Yet… look at how hard they are working in these 10 minutes to sell this book. Here is what unfolded:

Part 1: The Preview

Before the episode came out, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon posted a preview teaser on YouTube Shorts. It starts with Questlove coming in to tell Jimmy that it’s so great to be back after a break, and Jimmy sharing that they don’t have a lead guest for that night’s show:

The lighting gets darker and Jimmy is suddenly holding a candle, explaining that “Legend has it, if you say his catchphrase three times, he will appear…” He then, in a very Matthew McConaughey voice, looks in the mirror and says ‘Alright, alright, alright…”

A horror movie song plays as the camera whip pans around to see if Matthew appeared in the doorway:

Now Questlove joins in as they both say “Alright, alright, alright,” in the mirror a second time, and the camera whips around again to an empty doorway. But when they turn back to the mirror, Matthew is there and says, “Boo!”

Jimmy asks why he appeared after only saying his catchphrase 2 times, instead of 3, and Matthew holds up his book, Just Because, and points to the title:

This promo is a taste of what is to come, where every element is focused on the book. I can envision an entire staff of writers, publicists, and others around a table brainstorming how to make the book the punchline to a promo, and everything that follows.

Part 2: The Interview

Sixteen seconds into the discussion, Jimmy holds up Matthew’s previous bestselling book, establishing him as a wildly successful author (in case people didn’t know):

Then, Jimmy begins explaining how much he enjoyed the book. I really appreciate a point he makes that by reading the physical book, Greenlights, then listening to the audiobook, “I probably spent 24 hours of my life with you, and you didn’t know about it.” So often, writers focus on the price as being the biggest hurdle to get past when convincing someone to buy a book. But I think the investment of time and energy is as — or even more — important.

Look at Jimmy’s face here and arms in the image below. Isn’t this how every author wants to feel when a reader talks to them about their book?

Jimmy continues by saying, “I think it was #1 for 98 weeks or something.” When you see him do it, he’s telling the person who knows this already — the author — looking him right in the eye. But really, he is telling the audience: “You may know Matthew as a movie star, but he is an incredible author. I want to reorient your way of looking at him to be as a successful author.” There is a lot of psychological framing going on here:

Now, Matthew is very charming. He positions the success of the book in terms of the conversations he’s had with readers. That they see themselves in his stories, and he expresses humbleness in that relationship. Here he motions to the audience to make it about the reader. Look at how open his facial expressions are:

Jimmy continues to share how honest and “real” the stories in the book are. So much of the work here is establishing success and authenticity, as if he is saying, “Hey, this is a successful writer, but he’s not grandstanding, he’s just like you, and he’s so authentic. Maybe you and he can have a beer after the show.”

Now that they have anchored Matthew as a great writer, a successful author, and someone relatable, you can physically see the transition to the next book as Jimmy begins raising Just Because, as he puts down Greenlights, saying:

“You can see the seeds of Just Because in Greenlights.” This again is a framing device, to transfer the perception of success from the first book to the second book.

From here Matthew dives into a specific story right away, which is a smart way to connect readers to the book. To engage through story, not description. He tells of his childhood treehouse, which is illustrated on the cover. Again, he speaks directly to the audience:

A lot of writers undercut their own story and what they create. They rush through it, diminish it, they tell the least dramatic version of what they write and why. Why? They worry about seeming self-involved. They worry that talking about what they create somehow turns a pure creative act into a hollow cry for attention. But Matthew tells this story with a sense of awe in his voice, as if he has never shared this before. Here he describes how big his treehouse was:

Only then does he pivot to a larger theme in the book, hoping to make it relatable to the viewer: “A treehouse I think is a symbol for all of us. It is the first place for me that I got to go and have my own private thoughts, write down my private things, have my things, where it is like no one else can see that if I don’t want them to. The only people in my treehouse are the people I invite to my treehouse.”

Then Jimmy pivots back to the process of creativity, “So you write this, I’ll give it a shot, I’ll release this as a children’s book. Did you ever think you would write a children’s book?”

Matthew’s response focuses on the purity of the creative act, and (again) how relatable it is: “This came to me in a little ditty of a dream one night. I woke up at 2:30 with this little hook…” And he starts singing the words from the book. He continues: “So I write about 200 couplets, 30 of which made it into this version.” He then talks about how the themes are things his kids are going through, and their friends are going through, that he hears other parents talking about — again focusing on this idea of universal themes that the audience can relate to. “That’s what’s in the book.”

Then, in case all this work isn’t clear, Jimmy overtly says: “I dig it, man. I love it. This is so much up my alley. Even if I didn’t have kids, I would have this.” As he is saying this, I feel like I can see Jimmy recognize that he’s not holding up the book! So he grabs it to hold up the cover yet again:

Matthew points to the audience, recognizing that illustrator Renée Kurilla is there today.

Then Jimmy chimes in: “FANTASTIC illustrations! Great job!” The audience literally begins cheering. Jimmy realizes he hasn’t shown the back cover yet:

As if they haven’t explored every nuance of this book, Jimmy finds another: “I like the dedication at the end of the book, would you mind reading it?” Even the their physical position of this is part of the marketing — where each of them are holding half of the book. It’s as if Jimmy is saying: “if you like me, you should like this book. Here I am holding it, arm in arm, with successful author Matthew MacConaughey.”

A loud cheer follows, with Matthew proclaiming, “Isn’t that true?!” Jimmy looks on with reverence, and Matthew holds up his hands as if to say, “Your welcome.”

Then… they quickly move into a small bit. The line from the dedication is “We are all as young as we are ever going to be.” Matthew notes, “We are as young as we are ever going to be right now. Whoop! We just got older.” And he looks at Jimmy. Now I’m not sure if this is planned or not, but they move into the bit:

In unison: “Whoop, we just got older!”
”Whoop, we just got older!”

I mean, look at the expression in each of their eyes below — total shock and wonder. Where else do you see expressions like this? On the day grandparents sees their grandkid for the first time. Or when two people have been stranded on a desert island, and they are about to die of starvation, but they suddenly discover a Krispy Kreme donut shop on the island that they hadn’t noticed before, and it’s also free donut day. They could not be more joyful:

Jimmy then moves on to a story about how they lit up the Empire State Building with green lights when Matthew visited, to honor his book, Greenlights. But not before holding up the cover of Just Because again! Why? Because the goal here is clearly not to promote Greenlights or anything else, it is to keep the viewer ensconced in Just Because.

Thirty seconds later, Jimmy holds up both books again as they prepare to cut to a commercial break. He starts by saying, “Congrats on both books.”

But then quickly hides the older book to encourage people to buy Just Because. Where did Greenlights go? It doesn’t exist! Only Just Because exists!

Part 3: People Remember Songs

For seven minutes, Matthew and Jimmy have covered every way to promote this book, right? Wrong. Let’s consider: how else can we get people to feel engaged with this book? To remember the title? To remember what it is about?

The answer: song. Why? Well, here are some quotes from Kelly Jakubowski, Associate Professor in Music Psychology, Durham University on the power of music to aid in memory and connection:

“The science behind rhyme, rhythm and repetition… The features of music often serve as a predictable “scaffold” for helping us to remember associated lyrics. For instance, the rhythm and beat of the music give clues as to how long the next word in a sequence will be. This helps to limit the possible word choices to be recalled, for instance, by signalling that a three-syllable word fits with a particular rhythm within the song.”

Okay, back to our analysis…

After the commercial break, what is Jimmy doing? STILL HOLDING UP THE BOOK! And I want to point out, they could have put the book on a little stand, but I think it is an important detail to see the host of the show physically holding up the book, making the connection, “Jimmy likes this book. You like Jimmy, so you should like this book.”

Then the setup for the next segment begins… by Jimmy opening the book: “Matthew, I was reading the book earlier, and I just have to say, I love it, and I do recommend it…” I mean, the gushing doesn’t end!

But he continues, “It has a rhythm to it…” and he begins singing lines from it:

Jimmy continues: “What I was thinking we could do, is to add a little music to it…” He motions to the band:

And we see Captain Kirk Douglas play a riff:

The rest of the band joins in, to an obviously prepared song, and Jimmy begins singing, with he and Matthew trading off lines:

Jimmy then pulls out two handheld microphones that are already on, and the two of them begin to move center stage, in front of the band:

So here they are leaning into one of Jimmy’s talents, as a singer and performer, and we are experiencing the book in an entirely new way:

Now we see the full band, The Roots, in frame, all going along. Lead by Questlove, the current members include (according to Wikipedia): Black Thought, Kamal Gray, Captain Kirk Douglas, Damon “Tuba Gooding Jr.” Bryson, Ray Angry, James Poyser, Mark Kelley, Stro Elliot, Jeremy Ellis, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, and Dave Guy. I mean, look at the immense talent of so many people in this one image, all using visual and audio cues to engage you with this book:

And of course, as the performance ends, two books magically appear in each of their hands. I slowed this down frame by frame to analyze it – it all happens in 3 seconds, as if by magic. Here we are at minute 2:47 — what is missing here? There are no books!

Now a second later at 2:48, Jimmy’s hand glides gently out of frame, as if he is about to pull a rabbit out of a hat:

Suddenly a book appears! Notice Matthew’s hand reaching to his left:

Look at the image below, do you see the flaw here, the glaring flaw that may have cost someone their job? The hand that appears just to the right of the screen, giving Matthew the book, thus breaking the illusion of magic. Why am I focused on that tiny glimpse of a hand? Because it breaks this narrative of two chums just sitting around chatting about what they love. It is a reminder: this is all setup and pre-planned to the millisecond:

And here we go, ending with the book in frame, both people smiling:

Do you have to do all of this when promoting your writing? No! But I want to highlight that this is work. I want to recognize the nuances of this work. These things didn’t just happen, it took planning and effort. It’s possible to look at the bestseller list and think that it is easy for everyone else to find success, and there is no room for you.

I like analyzing how books are shared because when I do, I see the nuances of the work involved. That there was likely weeks of planning that went into every detail of this 10 minute TV appearance. There were probably dozens of ideas that were developed, but later rejected. The result? Connecting readers to stories, ideas, and information that moves them.

If you share what you create, I encourage you to not feel ashamed of that effort. So many people shy away from talking about what they create. I want to encourage you to feel permission to talk about your creative vision, and to feel good about it.

Jimmy and Matthew couldn’t possibly be more famous than they are, yet what I’m illustrating here is this: promoting a book can be work, and to sustain a book, that work continues. A team of people came up with a ton of ideas that Jimmy and Matthew and The Roots executed on here. And this is just one marketing tactic out of many that Matthew will be using for weeks and months to come.

You may be thinking to yourself, “Dan, if this is what is required of me, I want no part of it. I would rather never write another word than to have to constantly sell my book in such an overt fashion.” So I want to share my actionable takeaways from this case study that you can remix as you like:

1. Consistency and repetition help people learn about what you write and why. A couple weeks ago, I shared a different book launch case study that made a similar point, landing that novelist on the bestseller list as well.
2. Use different emotional and psychological framing to engage people with what you create. Simply because you mentioned your book once, a few weeks ago, don’t assume people remember, or that it struck a deep emotional or psychological chord with them. Consider different ways people can find a connection to your writing. In this example, we focused on personal stories, aligning to success, song, social proof, likeability, and so much else.
3. Having others advocate for your work is a powerful way to engage new readers. How can you bring your creative work to other communities? Consider the difference between the author pitching their book, and in this case, Jimmy saying, “I would own this book even if I didn’t have kids.” How can you create conversations with others around the themes you write about?

You can find the Just Because book here. And if you want to watch all of this unfold yourself, you can see the videos here: the teaser, the interview, and the song.

Thanks!

-Dan