🎧The Dangers of the Six-Figure Book Deal

What goal setting should really be about

🎧 Listen to the podcast version:

Dear Writers at Work,

I love that

Substack

,

Substack Writers

,

Substack Reads

has us thinking about our goals on the platform—and I have a cautionary tale for you. This post offers a healthier way to think about goal-setting, plus, at the end, a very clear way for you to do it alongside other writers on Substack.

If you’re a writer, you likely have a success fantasy—the writerly dream that signals “making it.” (Go ahead. Think of yours.) It typically involves words like bestseller, Pulitzer, national book tour, Today Show appearance, Oprah book club pick, and, of course, powerhouse agent and six- (or seven-) figure book deal.

(Pick yours if you haven’t already.)

In my twenties and thirties, mine was getting a powerhouse agent and a six-figure book deal. I lived in New York—Williamsburg, pre-pre-pre-gentrification—in a basement apartment that leaked every time it rained. My job was as a writer-in-residence in the New York City public schools teaching students with severe physical and mental di…