If my scale path is spotlighter (I think it might be), then I'm a level 3 for my author-centric business, and a 2 for my reader-centric (fiction) business.
Awesome. You can also do a Collaboration/Launcher combo. I often work with people on a big launch, and that combines two areas of my growth journey together.
Collaboration/Launcher was a great combo for me this past year, in one instance, and a disappointment in another instance... I wonder whether there's such a thing as a Spotlight Collaboration (I'm sure there is) or an Evangelist Collaboration (that seems more like a contradiction)
My Scale Path is Evangelist. (I think, maybe I'm wrong lol)
I'm in Stage 2/3- Conventions really work for me and I've met most of my superfans through face to face interaction (helps immensely by the warm hug that is John at the booth to sand off my nervous edges) I feel like my next steps to employ with the Evangelist path would be reach out to influencers and reviews/awards, which at least for reviews and influencers I've tried but as of yet no avail. I'm girding my loins for awards and getting my ducks in a row for reviews ahead of kickstarting a collectors edition omnibus of Warhead which I will subsequently submit for awards (scary but necessary). I'll also be ramping up my Patreon next year with draw ins for issues of DiscoCats and more behind the scenes content (I already share bts quite regularly but I don't promote my Patreon online much but I'll ramp that up next year)
If you want to embrace your Evangelist, then I would ask who already in your audience can advocate for you?
It's probable you already have reviewers, influencers, etc, in either your creator network or your fandom that can make that easier for you. Then, when you get those, you can leverage them to get bigger people, who would then be in your audience, and it naturally spins up from there.
It's not that you shouldn't do the outreach, but for an Evangelist it all starts with people in their audience that can advocate for them to make it easier.
You'd think I have reviewers/influencers, but I don't. It's only been through outreach to a reviewer on my part that I even have an in with one reviewer that hasn't read my work yet but I'm on good terms with. Another reviewer is only mutuals with me because of an anthology I partook of where myself and the lead on the project did an interview. As for influencers, not really. I had a friend mention an influencer he's friends with and suggest I reach out but beyond that I never got replies.
I have fellow creatives who can advocate on my behalf when it comes times for kickstarters or launches, but that's mostly who's in my corner at the moment.
I also have this problem. I have people who write me direct emails / DMs or seek me out in person to tell me what they loved, but when I ask for them to leave a review on Amazon, I get crickets. Similarly, I'm also an event person, and I have people who will call my name out as an author they recommend at panels or help sell my stuff at a table, but outside of events, I haven't found the same reaction.
I can't speak for those people who reach out to you personally with praise but who won't share it in a review, but as for me, I really need—and appreciate—a little nagging.
When we talk and you say "wow, that's great, can you decant all that into an Amazon review?" I think to myself "Yeah, sure!" but then life happens and I forget. Then I remember, but it feels "too late," I am frustrated with myself, so I change the mental topic...
But if YOU, the object of my praise and delight, were to remind me a couple of times, I would post that review.
This is not hypothetical. David Hankins reminded me twice before I finally posted reviews for Death and the Taxman and Death and the Dragon (hey David, we're all waiting with bated breath for Death and the Immortal!!) I know there were at least three other examples of being gently, cheerfully prodded by creatives to leave a review. It can be done graciously, and it works 100% of the time on me!
;-)
I present myself as a sample size of 1, but as weird as I am, I think it could work on other humans too...
My SCALE path is evangelist. I’m in Stage 3 because I have a group of people who love to connect with me and I have found a type of social media content that I do enjoy making that makes money. Also possibly stage 1 because I know what social media wants changes and I'm afraid of what do I do when it change again. My next step is working on completing the things that aren't giving as good of a return. Getting my systems for these better set up and letting them work for me.
I'm surprised to hear this after reading your comments about negative growth yesterday when you share things, but not doing things doesn't make you a Stage 1. In fact, if you're in stage 3, like you mentioned, you should be doing less things better. I think not doing things on social media is in line with that. I would say that since you know that things are going to change, and you don't really want to change with it, how can you set up your business to succeed in a way that you don't need social media at all by reinvesting the excess into better systems.
lol I was second guessing the evangelist stuff and stages as I was trying to figure it out. I was like should I wait until Russel comments and see what he thinks first because I know how viewing from the outside in can see things more clearly sometimes because you don't have the blocks. I think that's been my biggest struggle right now. I have stuff in the works for the projects that I see the demand coming for, but I honestly wonder if I am kind of so in the thick of finishing up stuff that just isn't serving me so I can walk away from it that I'm not thinking about the upcoming soon. Maybe I should be viewing the social media that I am enjoying making but know will change at some point as sort of my bridge between those.
Use it while I enjoy making it, while it feels easy and fun to do, and while it still works for bringing in money. But use it while I finish these things up and prepare for the things I see coming. I definitely see some marketing stuff that I want to do, but have no spoons to do until things are wrapped up.
I've always been very worried about how much you rely on social media to grow your business. I don't know how you're bringing them to your ecosystem, but I know that eventually the algorithm will change, and either you'll have successfully migrated your audience, or not. So, I think that's a great attitude. Right now you're having fun juicing the algorithm and doing these things, so maybe you should ride it, but never forget that algorithms will always change, and the things you love now, will probably fall out of fashion soon. You caught an upswing. Most people never get that kind of alignment. Treat it like a gift, though, not a birthright.
My SCALE path is Evangelist. I’m in Stage 2 because I’m getting some sales, sending emails, building my list bit by bit mostly through free group promotions and back-of-book links. This year I got my first repeat customers who weren’t family! And 2 fans wrote me email notes!
My next step is write the next books (I’m at 14 novels, with assorted novellas).
Cool! So, if you're an evangelist, then how are you going to double down on your readers to build your growth? The thing about Evangelists is that they have a deep bench of people who love their work enough to share it, and that sharing leads to more people coming into their community.
If that's not happening, you might not be an Evangelist, as the SCALE paths are about growth, and if you are that thing, you would grow when you perform that action.
Maybe you are, but since you're at level 2, I would seriously consider trying out other SCALE paths.
I think it's very likely you are a base Ecosystem forest though, which is a related but different thing that we'll talk about tomorrow.
My SCALE path is Collaborator. I’m in Stage 2 because I've tried newsletter swaps, group promos, giveaways, and sending promo boxes to influencers. These have somewhat worked to grow my list, but have not resulted in the number of sales I need to build my business. My next step is to be more purposeful in the types of collaborations I seek out and to be more active in building relationships. I need to find a way to increase my reach and get more visibility with both readers and potential partners.
Ah, but none of those are Collaborator strengths. Everything you mentioned is a spotlighter strength because you aren't creating something new. You're borrowing an audience that already exists.
You might be a collaborator who isn't actually doing collaborator things, and that's why you're in Stage 2, or you might be a Spotlighter who thinks they are a collaborator, and muddying up your growth because you are crossing the streams.
If you're a Collaborator, then I think you should focus on something you can build and who to build it with. It might be an anthology, or a virtual summit, or there are TONS of options, and probably you should build something where a lot of people co-create it with you, depending on your niche.
I have oh so many resources on that in hapitalist.
Ok. Yes. That sounds completely right. I’ve been doing the wrong things, and that’s why I’m not enjoying doing them, which is why they aren’t working…I used to work in theater (backstage and scenic design), and I miss creating things with other people, but I have no idea how to translate that into something that serves my author business.
Oh, well I started in film, so there are ENDLESS resources in Hapitalist that can help you there. If you run a random author business and were a Theater kid, that's like almost all the people in Hapitalist.
It's the founding membership option. So if you're already a subscriber, you can click Manage Your Pledge and it should be the one with the weird unicorns. https://www.theauthorstack.com/subscribe
Oh my god, manage your pledge is a Kickstarter thing. Sorry, manage your subscription is what I meant, and this link. \https://www.theauthorstack.com/account
My SCALE path is Spotlight. I’m in Stage 2 because while I've done things in Notes that drew in readers, I wasn't attracting people who want to read a novel. I'm sending out the wrong message. My next step is to evaluate the type of message I have been sending and tweak it to attract the type of readers I want.
Awesome! Yes, a stage 2 is about testing and throwing things to see what sticks. You seem to have some success on notes, so maybe you tweak the message or tweak the audience. Can you get with The Library, or Fictionistas, or Substack Library, or FicStack and start to hang around those people, for instance, if you're writing fiction. If not, go to the explore and follow people. This is from my World Class Substack book.
A good rule is that if you can’t immediately tell what a publication is going for or who they are targeting, then you probably don’t want to use them as an example.
Once you go through the publications you already read, it’s time to expand out into other publications. There are a couple of ways to do this for maximum impact.
See if that publication is recommending any other publications. It’s a good bet that a publication is recommending other Substacks they think their audience would grok.
Go to the publication owner’s page and see what they are reading. For the same reason as the above, it’s a good bet at least some of those publications are ones that you should be checking out.
On the same page, look at the notes they are sharing and check out those publications. Additionally, see who is commenting on those notes and check out those publications as well.
My SCALE path is collaboration. I’m in Stage 2-3 because some things work. My next step is to get a larger % working and weed out the dross. I haven't really tried influencers yet, or going to a professional con.
Awesome. If things are working, you're definitely in stage 3. One of the ways to get more things working is to cut the things that aren't, and doubling down on the things that do. If you have 10 things, and 2 work, then you have 20% working. If you only have 3 things, but 2 work, then you have 66% working. We can only grow my adding for so long before the only growth comes from substraction.
That's a very cool insight! Especially atm, I'm doing German translations. I now have a 50-book backlist, first 4 books into German (one's a reader magnet, free). Do I want to try opening up these new-format versions? Hell, yeah. But I truly do need to find room on my plate, because when it's overcrowded, cranberries get into everything. :)
Like my confusion with reimplementing my website - instead of writing another book. Think is, I used to be a web programmer. Now I'm not - I'm an author. Adding a little distance helps perceive that I don't want a new website so much as I'm embarrassed my website isn't cutting-edge. Yeah, well, what good would a cutting-edge website do me? Versus the lifetime earnings of something to sell.
My SCALE path is Spotlighter. I’m in Stage 3 because I'm seeing gradual success now, but I've still found myself getting distracted by activities that I now know belong to the other SCALE paths (Should I do tiktok even though I don't like social media or video? Should I do big launches? Should I branch out into more popular genres? and so on). My next step is paring down all of these ideas to work to my strengths, and try to find other authors with similar audiences I can borrow through the ideas I mentioned in my Day 2 comment: swaps, group promotions, anthologies and that reader hub website I've been planning to build for my niche.
I think I'm at Stage 2, because it isn't entirely clear to me which path is mine. My writing made me money when I was a spotlighter, but circumstances have changed and I have stepped 'adjacent' to my previous niche, partially to facilitate growth in fiction and partially because my previous niche didn't work with the person I became after 13 years of operating within it.
This suggests this can work for me again if I focus on growing as a spotlighter again. But I have been wasting time trying to do social media things on X and Instagram that don't work. My next step is to streamline and focus on the platforms that work for me.
Yeah, the Spotlighter ethos is all about borrowing other people's audiences, which is true in fiction and non-fiction. I would also say that you likely have A LOT of relevant experience you can harness to make yourself interesting to people in this new community who know nothing about what you did before. If some of that stuff seeped into your fiction, even better for being newsworthy and worth booking.
I'm aware you replied to me on all three days of the challenge almost at once (aware it is now day 4) which given your volume of replies is fairly herculean. I salute the effort on behalf of your readers.
Let's get specific- I used to be a professional hunting advocate, but I became deeply cynical about the cause and now I'm a more mainstream environmentalist and fiction author. I probably need to surface some of my old stuff and put it in this new context and show readers the journey. But my old fans probably won't like it.
Yeah, but your new fans will, and I bet many people in your old audience will appreciate the nuance, and might have come to a similar conclusion.
Yes, you will get the hate, but you will also get love.
And the people in your old audience are probably the most convinceable because they already trust you.
By not talking about your past, you invite people finding it and feeling betrayed. If you embrace it as essential to your growth, then suddenly it becomes an asset.
My SCALE path is Evangelist @ Stage 4 because I already have a thriving NL model and am ruthlessly shedding distractions. My next step is to shift my energy, time, content, and focus into a single place: Substack, where those move from free to paid. I have had great people growth in the past two years. Now it's time to monetize them in 2026. I intend to do so through paid Substack subscriptions while only focusing on ebook sales via D2D and my own webshop (not until Q3). Therefore, today I am building 2026 framework and scheduling Q1 SS content.
Amazing! I love it. And Hapitalist has tons of resources for somebody like you, at the top of your game, and people who can help you strategize.
If you're a Stage 4, evangelist, then it would be time to think about adding another SCALE path. Spotlighters are natural fits for Substack. Have you thought about what's next on your integration path?
I've gone back and forth on figuring out my scale path, but my gut tells me I'm a Spotlighter. I tend to be happiest and most successful when doing those things.
I think I reached stage 4, maybe even 5, in the past in my career, but I've retreated back to stage 2 as the industry and the Internet changed around me, and then the pandemic and some life changes cut out the SF/F convention circuit for me for a while. I need to regroup and find new venues. I've been pondering starting a YouTube channel to discuss story through analyzing various media properties, then using that as social proof to get speaking engagements, podcast guest spots, etc. I have a degree in broadcast news, so I have the technical skills. I just need to get over that perfection paralysis and over-researching/under launching (I felt personally attacked there).
My SCALE path is Collaboration. I’m in Stage 3 because I have already unwittingly started collaborating through anthologies and group promos, because they seemed fun and "easeful." Now, l can see those are the paths that have worked so far. I'm going to lean into it.
My next step is to try and un-clench my fist and drop all the "hard" strategies that make my body and mind ache and search for more collaboration opportunities.
I know people who do this well, but don't have a similar audience. I think I'll start by just asking how they're doing it, while scoping out people whose work is similar enough to mine that I can offer a valuable contribution.
Also . . . someone mentioned the Licensing Expo to me in years past. I thought I needed to be bigger to benefit from it. But maybe it could help me in my growth phase.
My scale path is collaborator. I'm in stage 2 because I am trying to do everything all at once. My next step is to focus on creating one thing at a time for tasks that are finite while still keeping up with the ongoing work I have
Amazing! What are you thinking about for your co-collaboration? Do you have anyone you are targeting to work with? I find anthologies great, especially on Kickstarter, to help you gather lots of small audience. I even have a full course on that topic in Hapitalist.
I often have guests on my podcast Folkloring and I cohost my other podcast Darklore. I am currently working closely with my publisher on the launch of my first book, Mind Over Magick and coauthoring a book about folklore. I am also trying to decide if I should build a community in Skool, but I am stuck on the idea that perhaps there is no real need.
I guess the way I was looking at it is that I wouldn't be doing all those things if it wasn't for the collaboration. For my podcast, it is very, very easy to create episodes when I have a guest and very difficult when I do not. For the shared podcast, I definitely would not be doing it without the cohost. I suppose the real collaboration part of my book was working with the editors and artists. I am doing the launch of the book because I have to, not because I love it. I am not clear on how creating a community is spotlighting and not collaboration. Sure, I would be creating it, but the community will build with all the members jointly creating it. If it is just me pumping out content, then it is just like any other social media posts pursuing audiences (which I can see as spotlighting). Wouldn't it be building a collective?
A community is not a growth lever unless you are GROWING through it. SCALE paths are about GROWTH, not how you operate your business. Unless you are GROWING your business through community, which only happens through evangelism, then community has nothing to do with SCALE paths.
You are talking about Ecosystems, which is about how you OPERATE your business.
My SCALE path is Evangelist. I’m in Stage 2 because I do several things, and some of them work better than others, but I wouldn't say I've definitely found one that really works. My next step is to be a bit more intentional about doing things that are aligned with my Evangelist SCALE path, because before I was trying to do a lot of Spotlight things and getting stalled. I will also be more intentional about tracking what works and what doesn't, so that I have clearer information to make decisions and can feel confident that I will notice exactly which efforts are working.
I am going to be more intentional about asking people to connect me with specific opportunities (like podcast guesting), and making specific, tangible opportunities for them to share my work with others (like instead of just asking people to share, specifically having a "thing" like maybe a challenge or activity that they could invite a friend to participate in with them.)
I am struggling with this a bit. I’m a Forest but I’m still figuring out what that means and how to lean into it. Because of that, it feels like Evangelist is the right scale path but Collaborator was definitely the most easeful growth. I know AE and SCALE are different but I’m not sure what makes the most sense for me right now. Thanks for any advice!
So reading through other comments it looks as though I’m a Forest but my scale path is Collaborator. I think I’m stage 2-3 because I have done things that work well and am figuring out what to shed. My next step is to focus on what works and do more of it without second guessing myself.
Thank you! All of this helps. I think part of my struggle is misaligned collaborations turned me away from that path so I doubted it. But this gives me a new perspective to be more careful with what I choose. I don’t know what is next but I’ll be looking at that as I go into HB90!
Definitely collaborator if that’s your most easeful growth. Think of Ecosystems like the operating system of your computer. You might use Windows, Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, etc. Whichever you choose goes far to determine how you interface with your computer, including what programs you can run, and how they run.
It doesn’t really influence what you create, though, how you share it, or who you meet through it. That’s where SCALE paths come into the picture.
If my scale path is spotlighter (I think it might be), then I'm a level 3 for my author-centric business, and a 2 for my reader-centric (fiction) business.
Awesome. I mean, not awesome, but also awesome. That's WAY MORE direction than you had a couple days ago, right?
one hundred percent. I spent like 4 hours doing deep writing on this yesterday.
My SCALE path is Collaborator.
I'm in stage 2 because I've been trying out being a Launcher and an Evangelist as well.
My next step is to pull back/wrap up L and E tasks in Q4 and focus on collaboration Q1.
Awesome. You can also do a Collaboration/Launcher combo. I often work with people on a big launch, and that combines two areas of my growth journey together.
Makes sense! And I’ve always had better launches when it’s with a group.
Collaboration/Launcher was a great combo for me this past year, in one instance, and a disappointment in another instance... I wonder whether there's such a thing as a Spotlight Collaboration (I'm sure there is) or an Evangelist Collaboration (that seems more like a contradiction)
Collabs should have complementary but different ecosystems. A grassland collaboration with with a forest would be very powerful, reach and connection.
My Scale Path is Evangelist. (I think, maybe I'm wrong lol)
I'm in Stage 2/3- Conventions really work for me and I've met most of my superfans through face to face interaction (helps immensely by the warm hug that is John at the booth to sand off my nervous edges) I feel like my next steps to employ with the Evangelist path would be reach out to influencers and reviews/awards, which at least for reviews and influencers I've tried but as of yet no avail. I'm girding my loins for awards and getting my ducks in a row for reviews ahead of kickstarting a collectors edition omnibus of Warhead which I will subsequently submit for awards (scary but necessary). I'll also be ramping up my Patreon next year with draw ins for issues of DiscoCats and more behind the scenes content (I already share bts quite regularly but I don't promote my Patreon online much but I'll ramp that up next year)
If you want to embrace your Evangelist, then I would ask who already in your audience can advocate for you?
It's probable you already have reviewers, influencers, etc, in either your creator network or your fandom that can make that easier for you. Then, when you get those, you can leverage them to get bigger people, who would then be in your audience, and it naturally spins up from there.
It's not that you shouldn't do the outreach, but for an Evangelist it all starts with people in their audience that can advocate for them to make it easier.
You'd think I have reviewers/influencers, but I don't. It's only been through outreach to a reviewer on my part that I even have an in with one reviewer that hasn't read my work yet but I'm on good terms with. Another reviewer is only mutuals with me because of an anthology I partook of where myself and the lead on the project did an interview. As for influencers, not really. I had a friend mention an influencer he's friends with and suggest I reach out but beyond that I never got replies.
I have fellow creatives who can advocate on my behalf when it comes times for kickstarters or launches, but that's mostly who's in my corner at the moment.
I also have this problem. I have people who write me direct emails / DMs or seek me out in person to tell me what they loved, but when I ask for them to leave a review on Amazon, I get crickets. Similarly, I'm also an event person, and I have people who will call my name out as an author they recommend at panels or help sell my stuff at a table, but outside of events, I haven't found the same reaction.
Me, too!
I can't speak for those people who reach out to you personally with praise but who won't share it in a review, but as for me, I really need—and appreciate—a little nagging.
When we talk and you say "wow, that's great, can you decant all that into an Amazon review?" I think to myself "Yeah, sure!" but then life happens and I forget. Then I remember, but it feels "too late," I am frustrated with myself, so I change the mental topic...
But if YOU, the object of my praise and delight, were to remind me a couple of times, I would post that review.
This is not hypothetical. David Hankins reminded me twice before I finally posted reviews for Death and the Taxman and Death and the Dragon (hey David, we're all waiting with bated breath for Death and the Immortal!!) I know there were at least three other examples of being gently, cheerfully prodded by creatives to leave a review. It can be done graciously, and it works 100% of the time on me!
;-)
I present myself as a sample size of 1, but as weird as I am, I think it could work on other humans too...
My SCALE path is evangelist. I’m in Stage 3 because I have a group of people who love to connect with me and I have found a type of social media content that I do enjoy making that makes money. Also possibly stage 1 because I know what social media wants changes and I'm afraid of what do I do when it change again. My next step is working on completing the things that aren't giving as good of a return. Getting my systems for these better set up and letting them work for me.
I'm surprised to hear this after reading your comments about negative growth yesterday when you share things, but not doing things doesn't make you a Stage 1. In fact, if you're in stage 3, like you mentioned, you should be doing less things better. I think not doing things on social media is in line with that. I would say that since you know that things are going to change, and you don't really want to change with it, how can you set up your business to succeed in a way that you don't need social media at all by reinvesting the excess into better systems.
lol I was second guessing the evangelist stuff and stages as I was trying to figure it out. I was like should I wait until Russel comments and see what he thinks first because I know how viewing from the outside in can see things more clearly sometimes because you don't have the blocks. I think that's been my biggest struggle right now. I have stuff in the works for the projects that I see the demand coming for, but I honestly wonder if I am kind of so in the thick of finishing up stuff that just isn't serving me so I can walk away from it that I'm not thinking about the upcoming soon. Maybe I should be viewing the social media that I am enjoying making but know will change at some point as sort of my bridge between those.
Use it while I enjoy making it, while it feels easy and fun to do, and while it still works for bringing in money. But use it while I finish these things up and prepare for the things I see coming. I definitely see some marketing stuff that I want to do, but have no spoons to do until things are wrapped up.
I've always been very worried about how much you rely on social media to grow your business. I don't know how you're bringing them to your ecosystem, but I know that eventually the algorithm will change, and either you'll have successfully migrated your audience, or not. So, I think that's a great attitude. Right now you're having fun juicing the algorithm and doing these things, so maybe you should ride it, but never forget that algorithms will always change, and the things you love now, will probably fall out of fashion soon. You caught an upswing. Most people never get that kind of alignment. Treat it like a gift, though, not a birthright.
My SCALE path is Evangelist. I’m in Stage 2 because I’m getting some sales, sending emails, building my list bit by bit mostly through free group promotions and back-of-book links. This year I got my first repeat customers who weren’t family! And 2 fans wrote me email notes!
My next step is write the next books (I’m at 14 novels, with assorted novellas).
Cool! So, if you're an evangelist, then how are you going to double down on your readers to build your growth? The thing about Evangelists is that they have a deep bench of people who love their work enough to share it, and that sharing leads to more people coming into their community.
If that's not happening, you might not be an Evangelist, as the SCALE paths are about growth, and if you are that thing, you would grow when you perform that action.
Maybe you are, but since you're at level 2, I would seriously consider trying out other SCALE paths.
I think it's very likely you are a base Ecosystem forest though, which is a related but different thing that we'll talk about tomorrow.
My SCALE path is Collaborator. I’m in Stage 2 because I've tried newsletter swaps, group promos, giveaways, and sending promo boxes to influencers. These have somewhat worked to grow my list, but have not resulted in the number of sales I need to build my business. My next step is to be more purposeful in the types of collaborations I seek out and to be more active in building relationships. I need to find a way to increase my reach and get more visibility with both readers and potential partners.
Ah, but none of those are Collaborator strengths. Everything you mentioned is a spotlighter strength because you aren't creating something new. You're borrowing an audience that already exists.
You might be a collaborator who isn't actually doing collaborator things, and that's why you're in Stage 2, or you might be a Spotlighter who thinks they are a collaborator, and muddying up your growth because you are crossing the streams.
If you're a Collaborator, then I think you should focus on something you can build and who to build it with. It might be an anthology, or a virtual summit, or there are TONS of options, and probably you should build something where a lot of people co-create it with you, depending on your niche.
I have oh so many resources on that in hapitalist.
Ok. Yes. That sounds completely right. I’ve been doing the wrong things, and that’s why I’m not enjoying doing them, which is why they aren’t working…I used to work in theater (backstage and scenic design), and I miss creating things with other people, but I have no idea how to translate that into something that serves my author business.
Oh, well I started in film, so there are ENDLESS resources in Hapitalist that can help you there. If you run a random author business and were a Theater kid, that's like almost all the people in Hapitalist.
Is Hapitalist a subset of the Author Stack subscription, or is it something else entirely?
It's the founding membership option. So if you're already a subscriber, you can click Manage Your Pledge and it should be the one with the weird unicorns. https://www.theauthorstack.com/subscribe
Oh my god, manage your pledge is a Kickstarter thing. Sorry, manage your subscription is what I meant, and this link. \https://www.theauthorstack.com/account
My SCALE path is Spotlight. I’m in Stage 2 because while I've done things in Notes that drew in readers, I wasn't attracting people who want to read a novel. I'm sending out the wrong message. My next step is to evaluate the type of message I have been sending and tweak it to attract the type of readers I want.
Awesome! Yes, a stage 2 is about testing and throwing things to see what sticks. You seem to have some success on notes, so maybe you tweak the message or tweak the audience. Can you get with The Library, or Fictionistas, or Substack Library, or FicStack and start to hang around those people, for instance, if you're writing fiction. If not, go to the explore and follow people. This is from my World Class Substack book.
A good rule is that if you can’t immediately tell what a publication is going for or who they are targeting, then you probably don’t want to use them as an example.
Once you go through the publications you already read, it’s time to expand out into other publications. There are a couple of ways to do this for maximum impact.
See if that publication is recommending any other publications. It’s a good bet that a publication is recommending other Substacks they think their audience would grok.
Go to the publication owner’s page and see what they are reading. For the same reason as the above, it’s a good bet at least some of those publications are ones that you should be checking out.
On the same page, look at the notes they are sharing and check out those publications. Additionally, see who is commenting on those notes and check out those publications as well.
My SCALE path is collaboration. I’m in Stage 2-3 because some things work. My next step is to get a larger % working and weed out the dross. I haven't really tried influencers yet, or going to a professional con.
Awesome. If things are working, you're definitely in stage 3. One of the ways to get more things working is to cut the things that aren't, and doubling down on the things that do. If you have 10 things, and 2 work, then you have 20% working. If you only have 3 things, but 2 work, then you have 66% working. We can only grow my adding for so long before the only growth comes from substraction.
That's a very cool insight! Especially atm, I'm doing German translations. I now have a 50-book backlist, first 4 books into German (one's a reader magnet, free). Do I want to try opening up these new-format versions? Hell, yeah. But I truly do need to find room on my plate, because when it's overcrowded, cranberries get into everything. :)
Have you done an eisenhower matrix recently? Might help.
https://www.frictionlessgrowth.com/p/prioritizing-your-business-using
I did it! And commented on the matrix article.
I'm surprised. That really does make some things jump out at me. You can tell by the number of times I said, "well duh" in my comment there. XD
Yay!! Things that seem obvious in retrospect are never so cut and dry taking time linearly :)
Exactly!
Like my confusion with reimplementing my website - instead of writing another book. Think is, I used to be a web programmer. Now I'm not - I'm an author. Adding a little distance helps perceive that I don't want a new website so much as I'm embarrassed my website isn't cutting-edge. Yeah, well, what good would a cutting-edge website do me? Versus the lifetime earnings of something to sell.
My SCALE path is Spotlighter. I’m in Stage 3 because I'm seeing gradual success now, but I've still found myself getting distracted by activities that I now know belong to the other SCALE paths (Should I do tiktok even though I don't like social media or video? Should I do big launches? Should I branch out into more popular genres? and so on). My next step is paring down all of these ideas to work to my strengths, and try to find other authors with similar audiences I can borrow through the ideas I mentioned in my Day 2 comment: swaps, group promotions, anthologies and that reader hub website I've been planning to build for my niche.
Love it!
I think I'm at Stage 2, because it isn't entirely clear to me which path is mine. My writing made me money when I was a spotlighter, but circumstances have changed and I have stepped 'adjacent' to my previous niche, partially to facilitate growth in fiction and partially because my previous niche didn't work with the person I became after 13 years of operating within it.
This suggests this can work for me again if I focus on growing as a spotlighter again. But I have been wasting time trying to do social media things on X and Instagram that don't work. My next step is to streamline and focus on the platforms that work for me.
Yeah, the Spotlighter ethos is all about borrowing other people's audiences, which is true in fiction and non-fiction. I would also say that you likely have A LOT of relevant experience you can harness to make yourself interesting to people in this new community who know nothing about what you did before. If some of that stuff seeped into your fiction, even better for being newsworthy and worth booking.
I'm aware you replied to me on all three days of the challenge almost at once (aware it is now day 4) which given your volume of replies is fairly herculean. I salute the effort on behalf of your readers.
Let's get specific- I used to be a professional hunting advocate, but I became deeply cynical about the cause and now I'm a more mainstream environmentalist and fiction author. I probably need to surface some of my old stuff and put it in this new context and show readers the journey. But my old fans probably won't like it.
Yeah, but your new fans will, and I bet many people in your old audience will appreciate the nuance, and might have come to a similar conclusion.
Yes, you will get the hate, but you will also get love.
And the people in your old audience are probably the most convinceable because they already trust you.
By not talking about your past, you invite people finding it and feeling betrayed. If you embrace it as essential to your growth, then suddenly it becomes an asset.
Love that. Thank you
My SCALE path is Evangelist @ Stage 4 because I already have a thriving NL model and am ruthlessly shedding distractions. My next step is to shift my energy, time, content, and focus into a single place: Substack, where those move from free to paid. I have had great people growth in the past two years. Now it's time to monetize them in 2026. I intend to do so through paid Substack subscriptions while only focusing on ebook sales via D2D and my own webshop (not until Q3). Therefore, today I am building 2026 framework and scheduling Q1 SS content.
Amazing! I love it. And Hapitalist has tons of resources for somebody like you, at the top of your game, and people who can help you strategize.
If you're a Stage 4, evangelist, then it would be time to think about adding another SCALE path. Spotlighters are natural fits for Substack. Have you thought about what's next on your integration path?
Toward the bottom of this article I talk about the track for each SCALE path. https://www.frictionlessgrowth.com/p/the-evolution-track-of-each-scale
I've gone back and forth on figuring out my scale path, but my gut tells me I'm a Spotlighter. I tend to be happiest and most successful when doing those things.
I think I reached stage 4, maybe even 5, in the past in my career, but I've retreated back to stage 2 as the industry and the Internet changed around me, and then the pandemic and some life changes cut out the SF/F convention circuit for me for a while. I need to regroup and find new venues. I've been pondering starting a YouTube channel to discuss story through analyzing various media properties, then using that as social proof to get speaking engagements, podcast guest spots, etc. I have a degree in broadcast news, so I have the technical skills. I just need to get over that perfection paralysis and over-researching/under launching (I felt personally attacked there).
If you’re a spotlighter. I suggest using that channel to invite people in the community on and then trying to get yourself on those channels.
My SCALE path is Collaboration. I’m in Stage 3 because I have already unwittingly started collaborating through anthologies and group promos, because they seemed fun and "easeful." Now, l can see those are the paths that have worked so far. I'm going to lean into it.
My next step is to try and un-clench my fist and drop all the "hard" strategies that make my body and mind ache and search for more collaboration opportunities.
I know people who do this well, but don't have a similar audience. I think I'll start by just asking how they're doing it, while scoping out people whose work is similar enough to mine that I can offer a valuable contribution.
Also . . . someone mentioned the Licensing Expo to me in years past. I thought I needed to be bigger to benefit from it. But maybe it could help me in my growth phase.
I recommend considering doing an anthology. Then you can accumulate lots of small creators together. I have a course in it.
https://www.theauthorstack.com/s/how-to-set-up-and-run-an-awesome
Virtual summit is good too. Something were you can accumulate several small audience into your audience.
Do you mean running a virtual summit? Or is there a convention called Virtual Summit that you are recommending?
And Thanks for the link!
My scale path is collaborator. I'm in stage 2 because I am trying to do everything all at once. My next step is to focus on creating one thing at a time for tasks that are finite while still keeping up with the ongoing work I have
Amazing! What are you thinking about for your co-collaboration? Do you have anyone you are targeting to work with? I find anthologies great, especially on Kickstarter, to help you gather lots of small audience. I even have a full course on that topic in Hapitalist.
I often have guests on my podcast Folkloring and I cohost my other podcast Darklore. I am currently working closely with my publisher on the launch of my first book, Mind Over Magick and coauthoring a book about folklore. I am also trying to decide if I should build a community in Skool, but I am stuck on the idea that perhaps there is no real need.
Those are all spotlighter strategies though. Except for the coauthoring.
I guess the way I was looking at it is that I wouldn't be doing all those things if it wasn't for the collaboration. For my podcast, it is very, very easy to create episodes when I have a guest and very difficult when I do not. For the shared podcast, I definitely would not be doing it without the cohost. I suppose the real collaboration part of my book was working with the editors and artists. I am doing the launch of the book because I have to, not because I love it. I am not clear on how creating a community is spotlighting and not collaboration. Sure, I would be creating it, but the community will build with all the members jointly creating it. If it is just me pumping out content, then it is just like any other social media posts pursuing audiences (which I can see as spotlighting). Wouldn't it be building a collective?
A community is not a growth lever unless you are GROWING through it. SCALE paths are about GROWTH, not how you operate your business. Unless you are GROWING your business through community, which only happens through evangelism, then community has nothing to do with SCALE paths.
You are talking about Ecosystems, which is about how you OPERATE your business.
Have you read the articles about each of them? I feel like either you haven't, or I've done a really bad job writing them.
My SCALE path is Evangelist. I’m in Stage 2 because I do several things, and some of them work better than others, but I wouldn't say I've definitely found one that really works. My next step is to be a bit more intentional about doing things that are aligned with my Evangelist SCALE path, because before I was trying to do a lot of Spotlight things and getting stalled. I will also be more intentional about tracking what works and what doesn't, so that I have clearer information to make decisions and can feel confident that I will notice exactly which efforts are working.
What kind of things do you plan to try here? How are you going to build your army of evangelists?
I am going to be more intentional about asking people to connect me with specific opportunities (like podcast guesting), and making specific, tangible opportunities for them to share my work with others (like instead of just asking people to share, specifically having a "thing" like maybe a challenge or activity that they could invite a friend to participate in with them.)
Amazing!
I am struggling with this a bit. I’m a Forest but I’m still figuring out what that means and how to lean into it. Because of that, it feels like Evangelist is the right scale path but Collaborator was definitely the most easeful growth. I know AE and SCALE are different but I’m not sure what makes the most sense for me right now. Thanks for any advice!
So reading through other comments it looks as though I’m a Forest but my scale path is Collaborator. I think I’m stage 2-3 because I have done things that work well and am figuring out what to shed. My next step is to focus on what works and do more of it without second guessing myself.
That makes sense to me. I just sent an email clarifying the two things a bit more. Eyeing any collaborations in particular?
Thank you! All of this helps. I think part of my struggle is misaligned collaborations turned me away from that path so I doubted it. But this gives me a new perspective to be more careful with what I choose. I don’t know what is next but I’ll be looking at that as I go into HB90!
Amazing! Tell Sarra I love her and miss her.
Definitely collaborator if that’s your most easeful growth. Think of Ecosystems like the operating system of your computer. You might use Windows, Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, etc. Whichever you choose goes far to determine how you interface with your computer, including what programs you can run, and how they run.
It doesn’t really influence what you create, though, how you share it, or who you meet through it. That’s where SCALE paths come into the picture.
here’s more. https://www.frictionlessgrowth.com/p/scale-path-ecosystems