Amy Lee Lillard is the author of a new book of short stories, Dig Me Out, from Atelier26 Books. Her characters are “witchy, feral, ready to tear free,” Chanelle Benz writes. But where did Amy draw her inspiration? What drew her to the short story format? Amy’s fiction and nonfiction has been published in LitHub, Vox, Barrelhouse, Foglifter, Epiphany, Off Assignment, and Autostraddle (among others). She was shortlisted for the 2017 Berlin Writing Prize and named one of Epiphany’s Breakout 8 Writers in 2018. By day, Amy works as a copywriter and marketer (and has for over 20 years). Plus, she’s the co-creator and co-host of the funny and feminist podcast, Broads and Books. In this call, Amy walked us through her writing journey, from her experiences crafting unpublished novels to heading back to school for an MFA. She talked about the process of finding the right writing format, the right publisher, and how you, too, can make space for a little more fiction in your life.

​For the past two years, Shane Thomas has been writing a weekly newsletter called Upstream Ag Insights, with a tagline of “Essential News and Analysis for Agribusiness Leaders.” Shane has grown his newsletter to thousands of readers, collaborated with many experts in agribusiness, and established himself as a worldwide thought leader in the space. ​Shane, DJ, and Rhishi did a deep dive into: Research, writing, and editing process: How does Shane research and go deep on complex topics? How does Shane reliably produce high-quality, long-form content? How does he balance writing “Inside Baseball” style, vs. drawing in not-in-the-know readers? ​Picking what to write about: How does Shane decide what’s worth writing about? What role does curiosity play in deciding what to write about? Growth & content strategy: What would Shane do if she was just getting started today building his audience? How does Shane think about his overall distribution strategy? How does Shane approach collaboration with other writers and experts? The business model of writing online: How does Shane use his online presence to monetize, and drive other business opportunities?

Azeem Azhar is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is the creator of the Exponential View, Britain's leading platform for in-depth tech analysis. His weekly newsletter is read by 200,000 people from around the world, and his chart-topping podcast has featured guests including Yuval Noah Harari, Reid Hoffman, and Tony Blair. His latest book, Exponential, explains how exponential technology is transforming all of our lives. It sketches out how we can harness the power of tech to serve our real needs – fostering new ways of doing business, innovative forms of politics, and fresh approaches to national defence. On this live call, Azeem and Stew had a free-flowing conversation about the intersection of : The Exponential Age and how new technology will fundamentally change society The new platforms powering the Exponential Age Trends that matter for creators How Azeem built and grew Exponential View Azeem’s experience writing his first book And plenty more...

​Arnab Ray (Great Bong) is a prolific creator, who has been writing online since 2004. Arnab has written 5 novels (some of them are being made into a web-series), technical books, innumerable blogs, and newspaper articles, hosts his own podcast (Attention pliss), and is active on social media. Arnab is a huge fan of Bollywood movies, the game of cricket, and is a keen observer of cultural mores, especially among Indians and the Indian diaspora. Arnab is not afraid to speak (or write) his mind, and he does it with a dose of humor, sarcasm, and literary flourish. ​*Bong is a person from the state of West Bengal in India or is from Bangladesh and speaks the Bengali language. “Bong” also encompasses a personality style, and a particular type of philosophy. It has nothing to do with smoking artifacts (or does it?)

For the past 18 months, Janette Barnard has been writing a weekly newsletter called Prime Future for innovators in livestock, meat, and dairy. Janette is an entrepreneur, and currently a venture capitalist with Merck Animal Ventures. ​Her work has evolved alongside her curiosities, which range from innovation history, venture capital, to entrepreneurship in the field of animal agriculture. Janette, DJ, and Rhishi did a deep dive into: ​- Research, writing, and editing process - ​Picking what to write about ​- Growth & content strategy - The business model of writing online

Rajat was born in India but is currently based in San Francisco, California. For the past decade, Rajat has been devoted to addressing sexism in India. ​He co-founded a tech-ed company called Menstrupedia to help young Indian women learn about their periods in a healthy manner; produced an alphabet book of iconic Indian women to inspire young Indian girls called “She Can You Can”; and he’s currently writing a monthly newsletter called “Boyish”, meant to share positive stories of Indian men who defied male stereotypes by choosing their own life path. ​According to society, talking about sexism and “women’s issues” is usually not a position a man should hold. However, Raj has rejected those stereotypes and is writing powerful stories that demonstrate sexism can be hurtful to anyone despite their gender. ​In this zoom call, Rajat shared his motivations to discuss these topics, how to deal with the expectations others have from you, and how to write about what you find important.

​Will is the founder of Big Later, the internet’s most entertaining crash course on personal finance, investing, and employee equity. ​Before starting Big Later he spent 6 years at Salesforce in strategy, growth, enablement, and partnership roles. ​His free time goes towards practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and doing all the outdoor sh*t you can do in Bend, OR (which is where he calls home). ​Will and Art did a deep dive into: ​Text as a Medium for Education: Pros and cons of the written word for teaching Reasons not to create an EBC: Why you definitely should not create an EBC yourself Non-negotiables of an EBC: Basic building blocks of an email-based course Tricks of the Trade: Will’s learnings from writing 100,000+ words for email-based courses

​Abigail Koffler’s 6th grade diary waxes poetic about the terrible food she had on a school field trip. It was only the beginning of her foray into the land of culinary critiques. ​When Abigail founded This Needs Hot Sauce in 2017, the newsletter was her passion project while she worked for a nonprofit. Soon, she quit the nonprofit scene to pursue writing full time, and her weekly newsletter generated clips to bolster her pitches for other freelance gigs. ​Since 2017, Koffler has written for traditional media outlets, including food, travel, and culture writing for Food & Wine, Eater, and The Infatuation. Meanwhile, Abigail ships her Substack newsletter twice a week, teaches cooking classes, and explores New York City in search of the perfect meal. ​In this Zoom call, Abigail walked us through the lessons she’s learned after nearly four years of consistent newsletter publication, talk us through her keys to staying productive and creative, and fill us in on her journey to becoming a full-time freelance writer with her own registered corporation.

​The seed for Sarah’s passion for farming was planted on her family’s farm in Wyoming. As it grew, so did her need to find the answer to a critical question: is it possible to farm without exploiting farmers, farmworkers, the environment, or communities? Sarah's search for answers took her around the globe, working in and around agriculture for non-profits, government organizations, Silicon Valley companies, the national news media, and directly with farms. ​Sarah writes a weekly newsletter (Big Team Farms), occasionally posts provocative essays on Medium on topics related to agriculture and food systems, and engages in vigorous Twitter discussions. She has recently published a bestselling book called “Farm (and other F words).” The sequel is set for publication in late 2021.

​Ravynn K. Stringfield is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at William & Mary. Her dissertation project focuses on Black women and girls in fantasy new media narratives. Ravynn is also an essayist and fiction writer; her creative nonfiction work has appeared in Catapult, midnight & indigo, Shondaland and ZORA. Her novel-length fiction is represented by Leah Pierre of Ladderbird Literary Agency. Ravynn + Chinyere did a deep dive into: ​Translating scholarship: How does Ravynn transform her scholarship (or expertise) in digital humanities, comic & futuristic narratives, and creative non-fiction into digestible content for her audience? ​Expanding the conversation: How does one identify gaps in a niche & contribute new information? ​Pitching to publications: While discovering and staying true to one’s voice, what are the keys to finding publications best suited for you?

A model for Black girls who live on the road, Gabrielle Ione Hickmon works as a writer, strategist, and multidisciplinary artist. A cultural critic, Gabrielle's writing is concerned with the intersections and interactions of culture, travel, art, womanism, and Black life. ​Her essays have appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, The Baffler, Zora Magazine, Literary Hub, Complex, and Bitch Media with work forthcoming in The Pudding. In 2018, she self-published a poetry book, “sunny.” ​Gabrielle is currently based in Ypsilanti, MI but has lived all over the world, most recently in the Galicia region of Spain. When she's online, you can find her @gabbyhickmon on social media. ​In this call, Gabrielle shared her journey of self-discovery, being a multidisciplinary artist, and creating a career along the way.

Hiten Shah and Marie Prokopets are co-founders of Nira, a real-time access control system to help businesses protect company information from unauthorized access. ​Hiten is a startup veteran and has written about failing at startups, scaling startups, and everything else in between. Marie is an award-winning comedy writer and currently writes the Nira company blog. ​In their writing, they’ve tackled topics such as remote work, pivoting their company, and other topics in an open and transparent way. In this talk, we’ll dig into how they approach writing and what role writing plays in their company. ​Hiten, Marie, and Lyle did a deep dive into: ​Why do they choose to write and share it publicly? ​How to write for different audiences (e.g. a personal newsletter vs a company blog post)? ​How did Marie move from comedy writing to tech co-founder? ​How the online writing landscape has changed throughout Hiten’s career? ​What is the role of Twitter or a personal newsletter for co-founders of a B2B company?

Girish is currently deep into a memoir about his decade in journalism. His investigative and multimedia reporting from Venezuela, the Americas, and the Middle East has been published by everyone from Reuters to The New Yorker. He was based primarily in Venezuela for nearly a decade and freelanced for five years before joining Reuters as a Senior Correspondent. His background, though, is not that of a traditional journalist. He was born in Slough, a town scoffed at by anyone who knows England for being the setting for The Office. He then went on to study physics and has a background in programming. But, after university, he wanted to see the world. Girish left journalism three years ago and created a company looking to make economic data more accessible. However, he still cares deeply for the profession and for writing more generally.Girish lives with his wife in San Francisco. Girish and Lyle did a deep dive into: Freelance journalism Memoir writing

When Cyd Notter was writing a nutrition column for the local newspaper and working in ministry at her local church, she wasn’t planning to write a book. But an encounter with God in 2013 led to a five-year journey of distilling the principles of plant-based nutrition and Biblical Scripture to create a faith-based book that communicates the importance of healthy eating and bodily stewardship. ​But why five years? Like many aspiring authors, Cyd struggled with completing the manuscript. It wasn’t until the final six months that things really picked up in an unexpected way. ​Cyd is a graduate of the Center for Nutrition Studies, a certified instructor for several dietary courses (including Dr. McDougall’s Starch Solution), a past newspaper columnist, and a Book Excellence Award Winner for The “Plan A” Diet. Cyd and Sam did a deep dive into: ​The unusual inspiration for Cyd’s book: How Cyd went from having no book writing experience to a full manuscript? ​Learning how to be a published author: What people and resources helped Cyd navigate the complex road to publication? What advice would she give other aspiring authors with no publishing experience? ​How she overcame roadblocks and procrastination: What methods or advice helped Cyd go from spending 4 ½ years on the first half of her book to finishing the second half in less than 6 months? ​Securing a publisher for a niche subject: How did Cyd finally land on the right audience for her unique approach to diet and health? ​Promoting the book: What promotion methods worked best for Cyd? How would she recommend that newsletter writers, bloggers, and aspiring authors leverage similar methods to get the word out?

Eugene Wei is one of the best technology and media bloggers on the Internet. ​He started writing a personal blog called Remains of the Day in 2001 covering topics across technology, product development, the internet, movies and filmmaking, photography, writing, and sports. ​Most recently, Eugene was Head of Video at Oculus. Before that, he led product teams at Flipboard, Erly, Hulu, and Amazon. His work distills complicated consumer tech trends not just from a product design standpoint, but also from a user psychology perspective. His essays on Status as a Service (StaaS), Seeing Like an Algorithm, and TikTok creativity network effects serve as guiding mental models for the tech community. ​In this call, Eugene revealed the lessons he’s learned writing long-form essays while building an enthusiastic reader base willing to explore new topics and ideas with him.

Yanyi is a poet and critic. ​He is the author of Dream of the Divided Field (One World Random House, forthcoming 2022) and The Year of Blue Water (Yale University Press 2019), winner of the 2018 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize, finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Poetry, and named one of 2019’s Best Poetry Books by New York Public Library. ​His work has been featured in NPR’s All Things Considered, Tin House, Granta, and A Public Space, and he is the recipient of fellowships from Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Poets House. He has taught creative writing at New York University and Dartmouth College. Currently, he is poetry editor at Foundry. ​In this zoom call, Yanyi shared the structures that have aided his prose and creative practice of his newsletter The Reading.

Natalie is on the content team at On Deck and was previously the Writing Partner for the On Deck Writer Fellowship. She is a freelance journalist and contributes to New York Magazine’s The Strategist, Into The Gloss, Toast Magazine, Freunde Von Freunden, T Magazine, Gather, Allure, and other media outlets. She is a veteran of traditional print media and the fashion industry. ​Natalie holds a profound interest in culinary and olfactive culture, so much of her freelance writing is focused on experiences that indulge the senses and restore our connection with the natural world.She finds the connective tissue between her careers in writing, scent, and visual production to be immersive sensory storytelling. ​She was born and raised in New York City; a scent memory which she describes as sweltering asphalt under the hot summer sun, bodega roses in crisp cellophane, and sawdust co-mingling with smoked fish at the deli counter. ​She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn. Natalie and Lyle did a deep dive into: Freelance writing: How did she find her “beat” in scent writing? What tips does she have for navigating the traditional publishing world? ​Creative writing: How does Natalie harness creativity in her writing? What does her writing process look like from idea to finished product? What kind of exercises does she rely on to keep growing as a writer or counter writing resistance? ​Longform writing: How being a curious reader and ‘deconstructing great writing’ can improve your own editorial fitness and inform one’s own process writing longer pieces. Sensory writing: How can writers of all stripes use sensory writing techniques to punch up their writing?

With over half a million subscribers to his daily newsletter Axios Sports, Kendall Baker is a go-to source for sports information. He started writing a daily newsletter called Sports Internet in 2017, which Axios acquired in 2019. Before writing his daily newsletter, Kendall was a Columnist at Bleacher Report, worked in Production at ESPN, and was the Head of Content for The Hustle. In his time at these companies, he found that his passion for sports and creating could be turned into a successful business. In this call, Kendall did break down the skills needed to create a newsletter, what makes a newsletter stand out, and how to grow your audience.

Writer and host of both the Unthinkable and 3 Clips podcasts, Jay helps mission-driven brands, authors, and entrepreneurs make stuff that matters. His work with companies like Google and ESPN, combined with 15+ years of public performance and creative projects, has taught him what it takes to create things that resonate and make an impact. ​In this conversation with Stew, we learned about: Demystifying the creative process Cutting through conventional thinking Finding your voice to make work that matters Letting go of “best practices” to find the best approaches that work for you

Julie Trelstad has published over a hundred books and worked with countless authors, publishers, and agents. ​After a career in traditional publishing at Taunton Press and John Wiley & Sons, as well as the literary agency Writers House, Julie launched 82 Stories, a digital marketing agency for authors. ​In this call, Julie shared what she has learned by helping hundreds of writers successfully publish their ideas and stories.