How to Follow Your Gut when writing and publishing books?

Interview with Claire Venus and Russell Nohelty

Welcome to Follow Your Gut, a newsletter about the artist life and business from a mother of two. After soon a decade as an independent artist and writer, the question is not only how to do it, but how to continue to follow your gut in a world that tries its best to stuff it with fluff.

Hi there!

Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend.

I have a confession to make.

I’m currently going through a lot of changes in my business (one of which will be a rebrand of my embroidery art academy “Charles and Elin Academy” to Petronella Art Academy… more on that another time).

To make changes is scary and overwhelming, but necessary. Especially if you’re a creative and run an independent business, change is inevitable.

Or maybe I should call it evolvement.

Evolvement feels more positively enticing and enriching, which in truth is exactly the way we should view these transitions more than anything else!

After years of being in the game, I recognise these “transitional phases” as golden opportunities to sprinkle in unplanned projects too.

Why add wood to the fire you may wonder? Well, that’s exactly the point.

When we’re in the midst of change, we’re more receptive to experimentation and attuned to our gut-feelings. If an idea flops that’s ok, we don’t lose anything by trying. Our resilience muscles are warmed up to the changing environment anyway, so we might as well…. Right?

Here’s an example of something my gut is making me do right now…

Ever since I more or less stopped Instagram in 2020, I’ve been on the hunt for a way to reuse the enormous work I put into growing it for the four years prior. 1000+ posts with embroidered and illustrated art projects silently sitting there waiting for me to come and get them again.

Thanks to the encouragement and inspiration from

Russell Nohelty

and

Claire Venus

‘s latest kickstarter book project, I now know what to do:

—> I will launch a kickstarter for an upcoming pocket size art book where you’ll get to Travel The World Through The Eye Of A Needle 🪡 .

It will be curated from the Petronella.Art Instagram feed and brought together on a project-to-project basis with interwoven stories about the places and artistic processes they represent.

STAY TUNED!

An example of a thread-sketching I did at site while visiting Biarritz some years ago… LOADS of exciting things to say about this

Publish ON and OFF Substack as an artist

In honour of Claire and Russell’s new book “How To Build A World Class Substack”, they’ve pulled together a FREE Summit that will be hosted on the 16th of August right here on Substack.

Coming soon

I’ll be there chatting with you!

They asked me to make a presentation of my experience having published both on and off Substack, as well as both self-published and traditionally published. What A JOY!

As nervous as I am about the presentation, I think it’s a good one. The goal is to share the endless possibilities available to you when you embody a creatively confident process and dare to just go for it.

As mentioned above, it’s in that spirit that I’ll jump head first into my upcoming Kickstarter project… It’s also in that spirit that I want to share today’s gut-lead interview with no other than

Russell Nohelty

and

Claire Venus

!

Ps. Don’t miss to check out their kickstarter project which is in full bloom right here.

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1. How do you know or feel that a project deserves to be pursued? Is it an intuitive process, a more rational one, or a combination of both?

Claire:

For me, it’s mostly an intuitive process with a sprinkle of rational thinking. When I first get an idea, there’s this spark—an excitement that I just can’t ignore. That’s usually my gut telling me I’m onto something. Then, I balance it out with some practical considerations like market research and how the project fits into my long-term goals.

It’s a bit like baking—intuition is the flour, and rationality is the baking powder that helps the idea rise! I have a goal to write 10 books in 10 years. The goal isn’t driven by being a best seller, more leaning into the creative process for joy and giving myself space to learn. This is year four and this is the first non-fiction book. The others were book/ journal hybrids.

Russell:

Generally, I don’t want to take on projects. I try very hard not to take on projects, so that there is always time in my life to do so if something great comes up. Unless something is full-throated yes from me, I won’t do it. Often things start with a meh and then work themselves into a yes with time.

One way I choose to do projects is if somebody comes to me with a collaboration that really excites me. That’s probably my favorite one, only second to me finding somebody and pitching them a collaboration.

After doing this work for so long, I find that it’s hard for me to say something original unless I have a really good collaborator who helps meld that message with their message to amplify it. Sometimes, it works out really well. Other times it fizzles. It is rarely not worth my time, though, even if I make no money.

That said, sometimes a solo project will annoy me enough that I have no choice but to take it on, or something finally clicks, and I get excited about exploring something new. I pretty much don’t do those unless I have no choice, but I do take them on, whether it’s writing a book or something else, but first I try to fold it into something I’m doing.

Having a continuous project like a Substack means most of my stuff can be adapted to work as a series on my publication, or in some other way that lets me get two bites of the apple; one through my blog and another once the project is done incubating and ready to be cobbled together in its final form.

Often, I write about it until it’s a book, but sometimes that means translating it to another medium. The nice thing about having done a lot of work is that I’m very clear on what is a project that will resonate with me, what won’t, and what I need a collaborator to make work. It’s almost always blatantly obvious which is which, and even who to work with to make it work.

2. How to know what to pack into a non-fiction book and what to keep out (potentially for a separate book)? Is there a “gut-feeling” process involved?

Claire:

Absolutely! When Russell and I were writing How to Build a World Class Substack, we constantly asked ourselves if each chapter served the book’s main purpose. If something felt essential but too off-track, we’d save it for another project. It’s like packing for a trip—you want to bring what’s necessary and leave out what doesn’t fit. Our content has been tested too; lot’s of it is adapted from our Substack publications. We already had input from our audience and that combined with our gut instinct guided us on what to keep in and what to save for later.

Towards the end of the process, Russell told me; “a book is never finished only abandoned” and something clicked for me then. I don’t think I would have been able to stop tinkering and editing but those words were loud and clear so I emailed and said “it’s done.”

Russell:

Every book, no matter how banal, has a narrative thread that ties it together, and my job is to find the narrative thread of a book, or a series, and make sure everything builds to a satisfying conclusion. Most non-fiction authors fail to center the reader in the story, but every good non-fiction book makes the reader the hero of the story. The only difference is that in non-fiction a real-life human is usually the protagonist, whether that is you or the subject(s) of your book.

The most important thing a non-fiction author can do is make the reader the protagonist of the story. Non-fiction, even memoir, is not about you. It is in showing the audience how to have a transformation through your work. They will not engage deeply with your work unless you can find a way to center them in your journey.

In our Substack book, I take you through the exact process I use to make these books, but it generally starts with me dumping everything out and separating them into buckets, then eliminating anything that repeats or doesn’t hold up to the scrutiny of time. Maybe it worked at the moment, but now it’s irrelevant, and it won’t have lasting power. I try to contain my work to things that I think will be evergreen.

Once I have the general structure, I bring in an editor to tell me what I’m missing or what I doubled up on, or I give it to my collaborator to do a pass. No matter the project, I think somebody has to be the leader. Sometimes, I lead (okay usually I lead) the roadmap, but sometimes I am just the passenger, but I think it helps when one person is guiding the experience. When you have a business partner then you are usually leading and following on different projects at the same time.

3. Many writers are lone wolves (me included…), so the aspect of choosing a partner to write with can feel overwhelming. How do you follow your gut when choosing to have (or not have) a writing partner, as well as who that may be?

Claire:

Choosing a writing partner can be daunting, but following your gut is key. When Russell asked me to co-write How to Build a World Class Substack, it just felt 100% right.

We have a natural chemistry and our strengths complement each other.

It’s crucial to trust your instincts about whether the collaboration feels easy and respectful from the start. Also, having open conversations about your goals and expectations can make a huge difference. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s important to listen to that feeling. I know my creative process really well, but I’ve actually let Russell lead with his because although we set the timeline together, he knows Kickstarter and has funded tens of successful book projects there. I am in TRUST and surrender with this.

At the time of writing, we are at almost USD $11k on the Kickstarter with over 400 people pledging to buy (and hopefully read) the book. That feels exciting with 30 days to go. I have also felt waves of nerves for the time when all the books land at once.

Russell:

Usually, I have followed or talked to a collaborator at least for a while before I reach out to them. I like to work with people that keep circling around my life in different ways and who I’ve seen complete projects. For this book, I hired Claire to consult on my publication and we got on well. We started talking in DMs, she wrote a piece for me, and amplified each other.

Really, it’s only worth collaborating with somebody who is going to be an amplifier, whatever that means to you. Sometimes, that means I’m old and have several chronic conditions that prevent me from doing all the things, so I like to work with somebody who is younger and has that energy who can be a good conduit to another generation.

Usually, I want to work with somebody that has a complementary audience, but a whole different style and can bring in a lot of people to my work while I can introduce my audience to somebody new. I do a lot of curation work and my audience appreciates that I act as a filter for who to follow and what to focus on, and that shows up most when I choose a collaborator for a long-term project.

Also, I only want to work with people if they are a good hang. Most of my collaborators are good friends of mine, or have become good friends, so I don’t really care about lone wolfing it because I’d want to hang out with them anyway. Even when that hasn’t happened, I’ve learned so much from them it was well worth it. I don’t want to collaborate with somebody unless they will make me stronger once the collaboration is done.

4. Not necessarily a direct link to following your gut, but I HAVE to end with a question about the experience of launching a book project to a Substack audience on Kickstarter. I’ve been following along from the start and my gut tells me I got to go play with it too…

Claire:

I’m thrilled honestly! My gut told me it was the perfect way to connect directly with our readers and build a supportive community around the book. The main audience I have is on Substack. Over 9000 readers now and they buy from me often so I didn’t need to warm up to ‘selling’ to them. It just felt seamless to talk about the book and I know it will genuinely help them even if they are paid or diamond members. There have been lovely offers of interviews like this one and we’ve sent 3 copies to the co-founders of Substack. It’s felt like anything’s possible.

I’ve got my eye on a plane ticket to LA to sign books with Russell because I think it would be a super fun thing to do and I could meet some of my members based there for lunch!

I love breaking the fourth wall of the internet and reminding people I’m a human – so much magic lives in that place.

The immediate feedback and enthusiasm from the audience were incredibly validating. If your gut is nudging you to try it, I’d say go for it!? Like with all things Substack we have the opportunity to blend the personal with the professional, to draw back the curtain and share behind the scenes, to take our readers with us.

I’d say just be ready to engage consistently and deliver value to your supporters, watch out for the odd barbed comment.

It’s a fantastic way to bring a project to life with the backing of your most passionate readers and creates a tonne of positive PR for your work.

Russell:

I think this is going to be wholly dependent on your audience, but both Substack and Kickstarter are direct sales platforms where you interact with your audience without intermediaries. In general, I have found that if somebody subscribes to you on Substack than their willingness to use new platforms is pretty high. We have had a bunch of people who were confused on how to create an account and Claire is probably helping each one because that’s the kind of person she is, but I have had a great time.

That said, it’s a lot of education, and if you’re not willing to do that education work, you probably won’t have a good time. I talk a lot about building a case for your book during a launch, but when you bring in a platform like Kickstarter you have to build in a case for why they should buy on Kickstarter, too.

Luckily, the Substack audience is really supportive of creativity and creators, so if you can make that case, I have seen them be very eager to back you. That’s where things like stretch goals, weekly goals, exclusives and things like that come in, so that you can show them they will be rewarded for their (slight) inconvenience.

Mostly, I think Kickstarter should be like a party you are throwing that feels fun and light. It is not always fun and light, but neither is a party. Most of the time the host is the person having the least fun, but that’s all happening in the background. You don’t let that get out to the attendees. They just get to have a good time.

Finally, people are much more likely to pay for a thing once than to keep paying every month for it. So, you often have the best of both worlds, where people who have never become a member will buy and your members will buy because they want the thing to hold. Since they are two very different experience, your fans can hold space for both.

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Thank you so much for coming along and I can’t wait to share both the presentation over in the Sparkle Summit, as well as my own Kickstarter…

In the meantime, here are direct links to check out some more stuff:

• Direct link to the Sparkle Summit (Free to watch, your ticket is a free subscription to the Sparkle Summit Publication)

• Direct link to learn more about Claire Venus

• Direct link to learn more about Russell Nohelty