Hello Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🎥 The video replay of our April Book Club meeting (including the “How I Made $1 Million” discussion - more details below)
🤓 May Invitation + Book Club Discussion Questions: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
“Read Like a Writer” Book Club is for our community members who want to dive even deeper into how great books work. Come nerd out with us! 🤓
🎥 The video replay of our April Book Club meeting
If you missed our book club meeting, you can watch the replay now.
We had such a fantastic discussion of One Two Three by Laurie Frankel.
During the book discussion (40-ish minutes), we talked about:
YA vs Adult: what makes a book with a teen protagonist a novel for adults rather than Young Adult fiction?
The different voice and perspective of each sister
Character development vis-a-vis the other characters in a story
What do we learn about the other triplets from each sister’s POV?
Worldbuilding
Creation of a polluted town that is real enough it could exist in our world today
Use of characters (both the locals and the outsider family who owns the chemical plant) to portray not only complex people, but also to contribute to the “worldbuilding”
During the “behind the scenes of writing” portion (90-ish minutes):
I don’t like to talk about my income publicly for many reasons (but a lot of it is because money and art are a very complicated relationship).
However, our “Read Like a Writer” Book Club is designed to be a private space where we can have transparent and nuanced conversations, and I think it’s important for writers to understand the career they are getting themselves into, so I decided to share this personal information about my career with openness and realism (and kindness, always kindness!)
(note: We did not talk about Enneagrams and Characters as previously planned, so we’ll do that next month).
This is very, very possibly the only time I will ever talk about the monetary side of my career.
Here’s what we covered:
The breakdown of how I made over $1 million through writing books
How much I make, on average, each year
How does an author make a full-time living as a novelist (in Big 5 traditional publishing)
A detailed timeline of writing/publishing one book per year
What are zero and first drafts, and how long do I spend writing them?
How long do I wait for my editor’s feedback on my first draft?
My timeline and process for a second draft
What kind of feedback does my editor give on a second draft?
My timelines and process for a third draft
What does income flow look like for a full-time novelist?
Payment milestones in book deal contracts
Mapping out when you will be paid
The realities of going full-time in a creative field
Pressure on your creativity
Realities of payment (advances) in Big 5 publishing
Should you quit your job to pursue writing books?
If so, when?
I hope this talk is insightful and helpful to you! 🥰
(Comments are off on this post and I will not be responding to email queries on this topic, since it’s not in my nature (or upbringing) to talk about money. So please accept this video/self-contained discussion as my gift to you, and now I’m going to run away and plug my ears la-la-la and never talk about money again. 😂)
If you’re a “hustle bro” looking for a quick buck, this community is probably not right for you.
But if you’re serious about a sustainable, long-term writing career and you appreciate nuance, thoughtfulness, and gentle-but-firm reality, this video and this community are for you.
At CREATIVE. INSPIRED. HAPPY, we believe in taking the time to do things beautifully, to be savvy about the market but to put art first, and always, always, to be kind and supportive of each other. Thank you for being here! 💛
» For a detailed written explanation of author payment/book deal structure with traditional publishers, check out this post:
🤓 May Invitation + Book Club Discussion Questions
Who is invited?
Writers who love reading and want to examine stories more closely, and
Readers who are curious about why they feel the way they do about a book.
When is the next meeting?
Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT
🥰 Introverts, you are welcome to keep your cameras off.
What is our next Book Pick?
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
During the book discussion:
This book has sold over a million copies!
We’ll take a look at the way this is structured (psychology and philosophy) to see if we can figure out why this book has been a mega-bestseller for so many years.
The Creative Ego Trap
Holiday says that we must “resist the impulse towards ego in our creative pursuits” because “believing in your greatness kills creativity.”
Put another way, if you believe that you’re extraordinary from the get-go, you might not put in the work to acquire the skills that would actually make you extraordinary.
Does this resonate with you?
Does Holiday believe in no self-confidence at all? Or is there a balance between self-confidence and ego that makes it possible for writers and other creatives to pursue their dreams, which are not guaranteed to come true?
Humility as Creative Strength
How does this relate to giving and receiving feedback?
The dangers of early success
During the “behind the scenes of writing” portion, we will talk about:
Breakdown of Book Sales: Hardcover vs Paperback vs E-Book vs Audiobook
During our April Book Club meeting, Diana W. asked whether books sell more copies in hardcover, paperback, or other formats. I promised to take a look at my royalty statements and report back with my personal breakdown of book sales across formats, to see if we can discern any general trends or patterns.
Enneagrams Types
Which Enneagram are you?
How can enneagrams help you understand characters?
Writers: Craft the kind of characters that readers fall in love with
Readers: Can you predict what will happen to a character if you know their enneagram type?
Our favorite characters in books, movies, and TV shows (and guess their enneagrams)
I think this is going to be a wonderful conversation!
May RSVP link is below!
To prevent Zoom-bombing from not-nice people, the RSVP (and Zoom link) is below the paywall.
This also allows us to keep our members’ book discussions private from the general internet; it’s nice to have a cozy, totally private space for just us!
If you’d like to join us in the Book Club, you can upgrade to a paid membership here:
or:
Get a complimentary paid subscription when your friends subscribe:
1 referral = one-month paid subscription, comped
2 referrals = three-month paid subscription, comped
3 referrals = one-year paid subscription, comped
💛 💛 💛 💛 💛
Use this link to RSVP. This invite also has the ZOOM link already in it, if you want to add it to your calendar.
