Shows / How to Write for a Living
How to Write for a Living
Writers should get paid for doing what they love. Let's talk about how to make that happen.
thedavidmcilroy.substack.com
Episodes
How to Write for a Living504: Start small, share honestly, keep going (with Ashley Evans)
Season 5, episode 4 is here! Ashley Evans spent years devouring every book on creative resistance she could find, and still couldn’t bring herself to share her…
How to Write for a Living503: How to build relationships that grow your Substack (with Rob Riker)
Rob Riker has been on my radar for almost a year, popping up in comment sections all over Substack. This live was the first time we’d ever properly spoken…
How to Write for a Living502: He sent me a 30-Second video. No pitch. No catch (with Drew English)
➡️ NEW FREE TRAINING: Are you failing, or are you just early? New free 38-minute training on the six signals that show you the difference. Comes with a…
How to Write for a Living501: He thought his first online payment was spam (with Virgil Brewster)
➡️ NEW FREE TRAINING: Are you failing, or are you just early? New free 38-minute training on the six signals that show you the difference. Comes with a…
How to Write for a LivingYou're not bad at it - you just haven’t done enough of it yet.
➡️ NEW FREE TRAINING: Are you failing, or are you just early? New free 38-minute training on the six signals that show you the difference. Comes with a…
How to Write for a Living421: A troll told her to quit - her reply brought in 190 subscribers (with Yuvika Iyer)
➡️ NEW FREE TRAINING: Are you failing, or are you just early? New free 38-minute training on the six signals that show you the difference. Comes with a…
How to Write for a Living420: The ladder was against the wrong building (with Ryan Maxwell)
➡️ Are you failing, or are you just early? New free 38-minute training on the six signals that show you the difference. Comes with a downloadable scorecard so…
How to Write for a Living419: She built a 32,000-subscriber Substack in under four months (with Dr. Taylor Francois)
Season 4, episode 19 is here! Dr. Taylor Francois trained as a lawyer, passed the California Bar, and then spent years building companies and teaching people…
How to Write for a Living418: She deleted a 6,000-member community on purpose - here's why (with Suzanne Taylor-King)
Season 4, episode 18 is here! Suzanne Taylor-King Suzanne Taylor-King has started six companies, had two exits, and racked up many years of hard-won lessons…
How to Write for a Living417: Running a seven-figure agency with an army of one (with Anjeanette Carter)
Season 4, episode 17 is here! Anjeanette Carter is a seven-figure copywriter and agency owner who now spends her time helping other writers land real…
How to Write for a Living416: An honest look at what literary agents actually want (with Louise Buckley)
Season 4, episode 16 is here! Louise Buckley Literary Agent has worked just about every side of books, from the shop floor at Waterstones to commercial fiction…
How to Write for a Living415: Scrubs, self-publishing, and making the coolest thing possible (with Shea Serrano)
Season 4, episode 15 is here! Shea Serrano taught middle school in Houston for nine years before freelancing turned into New York Times bestsellers, TV shows…
How to Write for a Living414: How to pitch your novel in 2026 (with Karin Gillespie)
Season 4, episode 14 is here! Karin Gillespie got her first book published by Simon & Schuster in 2004, and has spent the two decades since working across…
How to Write for a Living413: He built a movie site to 15 million visitors a month. Then he sold it and started over (with Vic Holtreman)
Season 4, episode 13 is here! Vic Holtreman started Screen Rant in the early 2000s as a hobby because he liked complaining about Hollywood. Twelve years later…
How to Write for a Living412: Story discovery as the pathway to success (with Michelle Ray)
Season 4, episode 12 is here! michelle ray spent 15 years teaching abroad in Ecuador, Bahrain, and Dubai before coming back to the States, having a kid, and…
How to Write for a Living411: What happens when you finally stop settling (with Bobby Umar)
Season 4, episode 11 is here! Bobby Umar has done a thousand keynotes across four continents, spoken at TEDx five times, and built half a million followers on…
How to Write for a Living410: Building a bookstore for the little guys (with Fleur Hull)
Season 4, episode 10 is here! Fleur Hull has spent years working with authors on the hardest part of writing a book (which is everything that happens after you…
How to Write for a Living409: "I've been blessed by Madonna!" (with Karen Salmansohn)
Season 4, episode 9 is here! Karen Salmansohn has sold two million books, been blessed by Madonna, and built a career entirely on the principle of doing…
How to Write for a Living408: She drew cartoons through medical school - now she has over 90,000 Substack subscribers (with Laurie Marbas)
Season 4, episode 8 is here! Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA started her Substack on January 6th, 2025. She had three kids in medical school, served in the Air Force…
How to Write for a Living407: He wanted to be an author at eight - now he writes for Penguin (with Kern Carter)
Season 4, episode 7 is here! Kern Carter knew he wanted to be an author at eight years old. What followed was about as non-linear as it gets: self-published…
How to Write for a Living406: Becoming a world builder (with Nathan Baugh)
Season 4, episode 6 is here! Nathan Baugh has wanted to write fantasy his whole life. He just needed a bank account crisis in Spain to finally make him do…
How to Write for a Living405: He deleted every social media account and built a thriving community anyway (with Seth Werkheiser)
Season 4, episode 5 is here! Seth Werkheiser has been on the internet for 25 years. He’s watched the whole thing evolve, from blogging about local bands in…
How to Write for a Living404: Telling stories about the things no-one wants to talk about (with Not Exactly Ana)
Season 4, episode 4 is here! Not Exactly Ana didn’t know what Substack was when she joined. She wasn’t a seasoned writer or a marketing expert. She was a…
How to Write for a Living403: How to access your main character energy (with Olivia Wickstrom)
Season 4, episode 3 is here! Olivia Wickstrom didn’t set out to build a Substack. She set out to make affiliate income from a cottagecore blog. What happened…
How to Write for a Living402: Things that passed me by (and why you shouldn't let my next event pass YOU by)
Season 4, episode 2 is here! This one’s a bit different. No big interview, no deep dive into strategy, just a Saturday morning coffee chat, a new recurring…
How to Write for a Living401: Welcome to Season Four (let's build it together)!
Welcome to Season Four! This is the first episode of season four, recorded live on Substack for the first time. I explained why I’m experimenting with live…
How to Write for a Living325: The one story every writer needs to stop avoiding (with Amelia O'Loughlin)
Season 3, episode 25 is here! Amelia O’Loughlin joined me to talk about her journey from dance to screenwriting, how a chance encounter on South Bank led to…
How to Write for a Living324: Why your early work will suck... and why that's actually perfect (with Angela Hollowell)
Season 3, episode 24 is here! Angela Hollowell joined me to talk about her journey from photographer to filmmaker, why she publishes three times a week on her…
How to Write for a Living323: Why waiting to monetise your Substack is actually costing you money (with Philip Hofmacher)
➡️ Learn the exact system used by Write • Build • Scale to build, launch, and automate your first mini-course so you can build your own passive income stream…
How to Write for a Living322: Your big writing questions answered
Season 3, episode 22 is here! I threw together this episode to answer questions from my Substack chat thread, where writers shared what’s actually slowing them…
How to Write for a Living321: Why doing things the hard way matters more than ever (with Dani Zacarias)
Season 3, episode 21 is here! Dani Zacarias joined me to talk about her journey from criminology student to creator economy veteran, working at Wattpad…
How to Write for a Living320: Write that damn book! (with Neera Mahajan)
Season 3, episode 20 is here! Neera Mahajan joined me to talk about writing books fast, building authority, and turning a single book into a scalable business…
How to Write for a Living319: The $5 Million Question: How writers actually get paid by brands without a massive following (with Justin Moore)
Season 3, episode 19 is here! I was super excited to have Justin Moore join me to talk about something most writers think is out of reach: getting paid by…
How to Write for a Living318: Why collaboration beats algorithm gaming every time (with Jari Roomer)
Season 3, episode 18 is here! My friend Jari Roomer from Write Build Scale joined me for a conversation about the most powerful growth lever on Substack. We…
How to Write for a Living317: How to build a successful solo business as an introvert (with Stuart Thompson)
Season 3, episode 17 is here! In this episode, I sit down with my old school friend Stuart Thompson, who now runs a long-standing gym here in Northern Ireland…
How to Write for a Living316: The art of storytelling in content creation (with Parker Worth)
Season 3, episode 16 is here! In this week’s episode, Parker Worth and I chat about his journey from being a high school dropout to becoming a successful…
How to Write for a Living315: Why going Live can be rocket fuel for your creator career
Season 3, episode 15 is here! In this solo episode, I share my thoughts on the critical importance of incorporating video and audio content into a creator’s…
How to Write for a Living314: How to build your online creator presence from absolute scratch
Season 3, episode 14 is here! In this solo episode, I walk through exactly how to build a creator presence from absolute scratch with no fancy equipment, no…
How to Write for a Living313: The ghostwriter who ate lemons for dinner (with Taylin Simmonds)
Season 3, episode 13 is here! I recently went live with Taylin John Simmonds to talk about the honest reality of making money as a writer, and afterwards I…
How to Write for a Living312: Looking back, planning forward (3 Substack levers to pull in 2026)
Season 3, episode 12 is here! This solo episode is a relaxed, open conversation about reviewing your 2025 creative work and getting intentional about 2026…
How to Write for a Living311: How to research, build and sell digital courses in 2026 (with Jari Roomer)
Season 3, episode 11 is here! In this episode, Jari Roomer and I explore how to meaningfully grow a creator business by developing and selling digital courses…
How to Write for a Living310: How going the extra mile for clients can build a life-changing solo business (with Christine McIlroy)
Season 3, episode 10 is here! In this extra-special chat with my wife, Christine McIlroy, we peel back how our life together has intertwined with our creative…
How to Write for a Living309: How to turn content into clients without changing who you are (with Taylin Simmonds)
Season 3, episode 9 is here! In this episode, Taylin John Simmonds and I talk about what it really takes to build a creative business from scratch without…
How to Write for a Living308: How to keep the magic alive in your writing (with Walter Rhein)
Season 3, episode 8 is here! In this episode, Walter Rhein and I dive deep into the world of fantasy writing - where stories begin, how they evolve, and why…
How to Write for a Living307: Why most Substack writers lose readers before they’ve even hit publish
Season 3, episode 7 is here! In this solo episode, I talk about one of the biggest mistakes writers make on Substack - losing readers before they’ve even hit…
How to Write for a Living306: Why learning to speak in public might be the smartest move you make this year (with Veronica Llorca-Smith)
Season 3, episode 6 is here! In this conversation, Veronica Llorca-Smith and I caught up one year after our very first podcast together to talk about what’s…
How to Write for a Living305: How writing can build a life you actually want (with Peter Murphy)
Season 3, episode 5 is here! In this conversation, Peter William Murphy shares his winding path from growing up in Kerry to teaching abroad, then diving…
How to Write for a Living304: The future of the creator economy and how to stand out in it (with Write Build Scale)
Season 3, episode 4 is here! In this episode, I sat down with my friends in the Write • Build • Scale team - Jari, Sinem, and Philip - for a big-picture chat…
How to Write for a Living303: How to build a solopreneur business that offers real freedom (with Anfernee)
Season 3, episode 3 is here! In this conversation, Anfernee shares his journey from corporate work into solopreneurship, why he started The Solopreneur Code…
How to Write for a Living302: The honest truth about publishing, branding, and maintaining momentum (with Shelby Leigh)
Season 3, episode 2 is here! In this conversation, poet and marketer Shelby Leigh shares her path from self-publishing to traditional publishing, the lessons…
How to Write for a Living301: Why every writer needs a brand in 2025 (and how to start building yours)
Season 3 is here! In this solo kickoff to season three, I dive into one of the topics I care about most right now: writer branding. I unpack why it matters…
How to Write for a Living224: What literary agents really look for (with Kate McKean)
The Season 2 finale is here! In this conversation, literary agent Kate McKean offers an inside look at how publishing really works, from the first query letter…
How to Write for a Living223: Building an authentic business that lasts (with George Kao)
Season 2, episode 23 is here! In this episode, George Kao shares his journey from Silicon Valley to Mexico, why he calls himself an “authentic business coach,”…
How to Write for a Living222: How to build a million-dollar writing business without selling your soul (with Kieran Drew)
Season 2, episode 22 is here! In this episode, Kieran Drew tells me what it was like to leave dentistry to build a thriving online writing business. He shares…
How to Write for a Living221: Kickstarter, loyal readers, and the business of telling great stories (with Russell Nohelty)
Season 2, episode 21 is here! In this conversation, Russell Nohelty unpacks the realities of making a living as a writer, from the hidden math of capitalism to…
How to Write for a Living220: How to grow a newsletter, build a paid community, and stay human online (with Chenell Basilio)
Season 2, episode 20 is here! In this conversation, Chenell Basilio shares how she went from a solo deep-dive experiment to building a newsletter followed by…
How to Write for a Living219: How to build a high-trust creator business (with Jay Clouse)
Season 2, episode 19 is here! In this conversation, Jay Clouse opens up about the business behind his creative work, the systems that keep his community…
How to Write for a Living218: What no one tells you about going solo as a writer (with Erica Schneider)
Season 2, episode 18 is here! In this episode, Erica Schneider shares what it really takes to go from full-time agency work to running your own solopreneur…
How to Write for a Living217: Creating courses people actually finish - and pay for (with Rodney Daut)
Season 2, episode 17 is here! In this episode, Rodney Daut breaks down what creators often get wrong about building and selling courses, and how to rethink…
How to Write for a Living216: How to become a bestselling author and build a business around your book (featuring Dina Marais)
Season 2, episode 16 is here! In this episode, I chat to Dina Marais, a coach and publisher who helps aspiring authors turn their stories into bestsellers. Our…