💡 sunday tea: anti-reading hysteria + stuff for people who read :)
plus: come to the 10x your freelancing summit and other resources for writers and readers!
There’s a piece that’s going around — The End of Reading is Here in The Atlantic — and it reminds me of the clickbait-y Buzzfeed headlines of years past.
It’s a piece that’s been widely spread and commented on, but in it the writer argues that America is becoming “postliterate.”
The core claim isn’t that people can’t decode words, but that sustained, deep reading — and with it the capacity for comprehension, synthesis, and critical thinking — is collapsing.
And yes some of the stats look bad (fewer than half of adults read any book in 2022 and daily reading-for-pleasure fell from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023) — fiction sales have actually surged in recent years, and there’s more fervor around book clubs and the art of reading than ever before (see: Dua Lipa’s partnership with the famed Portuguese bookstore Livraria Lello for her banned library selections.)
It’s also ironic that The End of Reading is Here is an 8,500-word article lamenting that no one reads long things.
People love to say “it’s the end of the world as we know it” but you know what? I feel fine.
💡 TODAY: Pilot to Page: Writing Your Romance Novel Using TV Storytelling Techniques
I learned so much about story structure from my time in Hollywood — and I’m bringing this class to you as well here on Substack Live!
✍️ Join me for my upcoming class, From Pilot to Page: Writing Your Romance Novel Using TV Storytelling Techniques today
This is the class I taught at the Love Potion Library bookstore here in SF, and I draw from my experience as a TV writer and share the story and structure tips that help me write my romance novels!
✨ This class is on Substack Live today, July 19th at 1:30pm PT for paid subscribers of my Substack Sutoscience only. The replay will only be available for Founding Members so be sure to RSVP below if you want to tune in live!
See you in class 👋
💡 also — come to the 10x Your Freelancing virtual summit hosted by solidgigs on August 25-27!
I’m speaking at the virtual 10x Your Freelancing Summit about how to AI-proof your freelancing career! You can RSVP to hear me and other amazing speakers talk on August 25-27.
Solidgigs, Preston Lee, and the whole team over there are awesome, and I know this is going to be an epic few days of talks and virtual Q&As and evenets.
Lots of cool stuff, check out the full listing of events below:
✍️ watch the replay: Breaking the Starving Artist Myth: What Shakespeare Knew About Business [Free Class]
I gave this lecture live as part of an in-person lecture series here in the Bay Area, and it was sold out with over 80+ tickets purchased.
Why? It’s because we’re all curious why “starving artist” has become such a cultural norm — especially because the great artists remembered by history were often not starving!
But the starving artist myth has been perpetuated by gatekeepers and institutions that want to keep us from reaching our potential — and often profit from the disenfranchisement of writers and creatives.
This is the basis of my bestselling book Write for Money and Power, which has sold thousands of copies and helped writers take control of their destinies and focus on the creative work they’re excited to do.
If you missed attending this class live, you can watch the replay below:
🍵 let’s catch up over tea: making your reader worry in fiction
I heard a great piece of fiction writing advice the other day:
great fiction makes the reader worry.
Emotional attachment in fiction is challenging to pull off, but I’ve seen that when I’m worried about my favorite characters in a book, I know my sleep schedule is about to be wrecked.
I think this is better fiction writing advice compared to just “make it hard for your characters!” because it speaks to the reader’s emotional involvement — which is hard to do because making readers care means you’ve crafted characters they love.
💌 I’m reading…
It’s so vulnerable to talk about money as a writer, and I’m impressed by Amy Chan’s breakdown of how she spent $44,000+ on her book launch. Book launches are expensive (even for those authors who are traditionally published!) and most people just don’t talk about this! She also shared a cool resource for getting ARC readers/readers who leave Amazon reviews through Hidden Gems.
Jessy Easton’s incredible memoir, THE ONE WHO LEAVES, which she serialized on Substack. She depicts what it was like to grow up in a Mojave desert in a meth lab, and her writing is propulsive and so visual. I’m honored to be interviewing Jessy on Substack Live this Tuesday at 1pm PT to talk about how to serialize memoir on Substack — RSVP with this link to be notified when we go live!
Stephanie Reed wrote a great piece on how to Petsit Your Way Around the World. When I was a digital nomad, I met lots of women who used petsitting as a way to get free accommodation while traveling, and Stephanie’s guide is really actionable on how to do this. Highly recommend checking it out if you’re curious about traveling for free!
