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Finn Schubert's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by taking work I've already done and finding new ways to repackage it, share and promote it, and invite new people into my world.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing! Hapitalist is great for that. We have multiple courses to help you refine your message and grow.

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Jolie's avatar

I’m in a monetization era, so I’m focused on converting, premium offers, and deep value by using Substack to help me write my next series while growing paid subscriptions through serializing chapters for subscriber feedback and interaction. **gulp**

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Jen Peters/Jennifer Jensen's avatar

I think I"m going to use Patreon with a free tier only to start, just to get people over. I'll offer a weekly chapter of the first book in my first series for free. And while people get used to it, I'll be stockpiling extra character bonus stuff, devotionals, short stories, etc., that will be included on paid tiers. Which will undoubtedly not go up all at the same time!

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing! That’s how I built TAS. I brought in people free. I had a very cheap tier that was only for my back catalog, and then I only brought in Hapitalist when I had enough momentum to make it worth it.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

I love it!

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Roxie Clarke's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by growing my newsletter with swaps and promos and fb ad directed to my lead magnets. I'm also making sure all of my books are at least available in ebook and paperback, and starting to get audios done for the more popular books.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Nice!!

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Gabriel Chavez's avatar

I’m in a growth era, and I’m focusing on reducing friction by adding clarity to my work (developing a plan), documenting ideas I want to explore, and taking small but actionable steps to making those ideas happen.

As a small step, I’m piecing together a brief instagram reel to explain what I’ve been doing here in this challenge, and showcasing the direction I’m moving in with my work. I will edit/post it early next week when I get back from some travels this weekend.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Awesome!

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Jen Peters/Jennifer Jensen's avatar

I’m mostly in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by writing new book in my series, starting a shorter, slightly adjacent series, running some Amazon ads, and have taken a course and set up FB ads which I won't run until after the holidays. I will also be working on revising my NL format with more personal stuff, especially in my welcome automation, and probably fewer swaps with other authors. When that is done, I will do more to promote my free magnet.

I’m slightly in a monetization era, so I’m focused on converting, premium offers, and deep value by being in a few group sales promos, having set up a direct-sales store (altho not doing much with it now) and studying how to begin a Patreon service and what I would put behind a paywall.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Makes sense.

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Julia V. Ashley's avatar

I am curious. Why are you waiting until after the holidays to run your FB ads? I am taking a course on setting them up as well, and I was debating on starting them now or in the new year. So, I would love to hear your reasoning.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

This is the worst time to start ads because everyone is running like 80% of their ad budget through this time of year. January is the cheapest time to run ads, and the week after christmas is the #1 book buying week of the year.

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CC Robinson's avatar

I’d noticed my latest phase of A/B testing had gotten expensive. Good thing it’s over. I’ll pick back up after Christmas.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Oh yeah from mid November to January it’s nuts.

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Julia V. Ashley's avatar

Perfect! Thanks.

That gives me times to get my little tropey ducks in a row.

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Jen Peters/Jennifer Jensen's avatar

Oh, thanks! I hadn't thought about the week between Christmas and New Years. I'll set things up to start then!

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Jen Peters/Jennifer Jensen's avatar

Because I'd be doing a lot of testing (or at least I expect to) and the holidays are expensive. I'd rather be able to tell if something is profitable at a normal price, not the Christmas sales frenzy.

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Amanda Aaron 🇨🇦's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by sharing my expertise on others' platforms (posts or notes) in a authentic, vulnerable and relational way.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Yaaas!

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Judy Bishop's avatar

Day 3 HW: My scale path is Evangelist. I think I am in stage 3 because I've found 1 or 2 things that work but feel bogged down by so many other projects. I feel disorganized, frustrated, and unsure of what to do next. My next step is to identify where I'm putting too much of my time, and start focusing on what works.

Day 4 HW: I am a Grasslands because I am methodical and take my time with tasks and don't rush. I prefer to build a sustainable audience over time. I think this aligns with my Evangelist scale path because I've slowly grown my fan base over the years. I build relationships with my readers that last. I don't rush, although I think I should, which may be causing some of my chaos.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Awesome!

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Jen Peters/Jennifer Jensen's avatar

I think we match up, Judy!

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Beth Biss's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by focusing on creating email newsletters that convey better who I am as an author and invite people to be part of that group. I will also focus on one craft aspect to learn in 2026 to apply to my novels.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

lovely.

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Tiffany Chu's avatar

I just cleaned out my list, so now I'm back in a growth era. I'm focusing on reducing friction, showing, building resonance by focusing on free posts with one theme per quarter, sharing subscribers' work with each newsletter and highlighting one patron a month, and repurposing my posts for IG to reach new people.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing!!!!

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Tiffany Chu's avatar

Probably also do Bookfunnel group promos.

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Danica Favorite's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by creating emotional connection and resonance with my various forms of content and building my tribe. I really feel that hard right now, especially because with the book I just published, I did it as an experiment, with zero concern for the question of, "will this make me money?" I legit don't care. I just wanted to see what the results of the experiment would be. All of my activity right now theoretically has monetization attached, so if people want to pay me, fantastic. But that's not my greatest concern right now. I'm busy creating messaging and framework so that when I'm in a monetization phase, everything is in place.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Noice!

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Julia V. Ashley's avatar

I'm in a growth era. I have Book 1 out for 99¢, and I am about to use several short stories in the same story universe as rotating reader magnets to build my newsletter through Bookfunnel and Booksweep promos. I've been studying about FB ads and will use them to point to my first in series and the promos.

I'm also considering dropping Book 1 to free to reduce friction further. And I need to clarify my "Why this series is for you" message.

While I do this, I am planning my next more tropey series adjacent to the first, and scouting out more collaborative opportunities.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Love it.

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Alice Louise Meredith's avatar

I'm in a growth era, so I'm focused on reducing friction, showing up, and building resonance by showing more of myself and my personality in my newsletter and on social media. I am also researching conference opportunities to get my work in front of more people with a "seal of approval".

I find it super comforting that I can't increase my income and grow my audience at the same time. I don't have to stress about not having a super great monetization product yet but only in building a fan base. How long do people typically spend in one era over the other?

It is super interesting that everyone so far has said they were in a growth era. I guess it makes sense given this challenge that the people who are most likely to complete are feeling really stuck in their growth (like me).

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Most people are mostly in growth eras. Monetization events should generally be short since they take lots of focus.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Yas!!!

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Nicky Penttila's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by expanding and deepening the content I share in my newsletter and joining a platform where I can set up this content to share with new readers, too.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing!

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Stephanie A. Cain's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by pursuing a passion project and sharing that fiction for free on Substack. I'm reaching out to people I admire and like in the same genre (cozy paranormal mystery) to build partnerships and grow my audience.

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Yaaas!!!

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Michael Golvach's avatar

I’m in a growth era, so I’m focused on reducing friction, showing up, building resonance by writing more books, pricing them low and working on bringing attention to them by testing out new ways to reach buyers/readers and grow my fan base!

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing! Hapitalist has so many strategies for that.

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Laura VAB's avatar

I did a big campaign and launch recently, so now I'm in recovery :) and growth. I'm working on overhauling my onboarding and trying to be more efficient in communicating and reaching out, acquiring new subscribers/readers. I do want to sell to those readers, though. :)

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

Amazing

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