Member-only story
You Made a Big Effort and Got Disappointing Results
Let’s fix this.
This morning, I read another heartbreaking story from a creator who is clearly very talented.
The premise of her post was that —
Consistency doesn’t guarantee results.
She spent the last eight months writing daily on Substack.
Her goal was to get 1000 free subscribers.
She got 65.
In the end, she completed a full novel (which is awesome) but has almost no list to launch it to.
Now, she thinks making a living from her writing isn’t possible.
I disagree.
The Fatal Flaw in Her Logic
This creator falsely assumed that effort equals results.
It doesn’t.
I’ve made a lot more money being extremely LAZY than from hard work.
Don’t get me wrong — consistent effort can build skills and lead to progress over time…
IF and ONLY IF you are taking the RIGHT action.
However, taking the WRONG action won’t get you where you want to go, no matter how long you do it.
This creator wanted to grow her subscriber list to achieve the ultimate goal of a successful book launch.
However, she took the action of “writing her novel” on Substack (which, to my knowledge, does little to promote the creator’s work).
The math ain’t mathin’.
The appropriate outcome of working on a novel for 235 days is to have a completed manuscript, NOT to have an email list.
Y’all Hate Marketing
This is the conclusion I’ve come to after reading hundreds of stories like this.
I worked on this thing for 58 years — and made $0.
No, I didn’t do any marketing.
Let’s stop doing this!
If you want to succeed, you have to put your stuff in front of people.
