Chad S. White is the author of 5 nonfiction books, including Email Marketing Rules (4th edition), as well as nearly 4,000 blog posts and articles about digital marketing, AI, and other topics. A former journalist, he’s appeared in more than 100 publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and AdAge.
Inspired by Rubik’s Cube art we saw at our local Red Robin, my youngest son Dexter and I created this massive Charizard that weighs in at more than 100 lbs. Dexter contributed the cubing skills, doing all the difficult cube configurations, while I did the easy ones and all the construction. Limited by the six cube colors, we had to adapt the colors of the Charizard sprite a bit, in essence creating our own shiny variant.
To receive future posts or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication, subscribe on Substack →
📕 Draft complete! ✍️ 100,000 words, 27 chapters ▶️ Out with beta readers 📤
Book 3
📘 WIP … ✍️ 30,000 words, 9 chapters ▶️ Goal to finish draft by end of year 🥂
To receive future posts or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication, subscribe on Substack →
Honestly, I didn’t give much thought to trying to get my nonfiction books traditionally published. Here’s why I self-published:
I’d worked at two book publishers, Texas A&M University Press and Marlowe & Co., so I was familiar with the publishing process.
I knew platform size is the primary determinant of nonfiction book success and that I already had a solid platform.
As a former managing editor at a magazine, I was confident in my page layout skills.
I knew Amazon had 70% of the book market, so being present in that one store would give me exposure to the majority of book buyers. (That made publishing through KDP a no-brainer.)
I knew self-publishing would be much faster.
I also knew I’d have much more control and already had a clear vision for the book.
Thankfully, all of those things turned out to be true. In less than a year, I was able to write the 214-page first edition of Email Marketing Rules, have it edited by some of my trusted industry friends, get it professionally copyedited, and publish it.
But there were additional benefits of self-publishing I didn’t realize until later. For example, a traditional publisher would have never allowed me to publish a 322-page second edition 18 months after the first edition. And they definitely wouldn’t have allowed me to publish a 677-page two-volume fourth edition.
Did all of those decisions maximize profitability? I’m sure they didn’t. But I don’t regret any of them, because those decisions capitalized on my excitement and allowed me to create books I’ve always been proud to put my name on.
Self-publishing gives you lots of control. Make sure you’re using it to maximize your vision.
To receive future posts or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication, subscribe on Substack →
David Brooks’ New York Times article When Novels Mattered (link to gift article) is the latest salvo against the declining relevance of fiction, and in particular literary fiction. He blames this decline on the popularity of genre fiction, the rise of the internet, M.F.A. programs, and ultimately (and predictably) on liberal politics. My two cents is that only one of those events had a significant impact on shaping the current literary marketplace.
The internet-driven collapse of the monoculture
In the mid- to late 20th century that Brooks idealizes, media was tightly controlled by a relatively small number of institutional players. And then came the internet. Web 1.0 shook the monoculture, but Web 2.0 destroyed it.
Streaming completely undid TV, which also competes with YouTube and TikTok. What remains of radio competes with streaming services and podcasts. News organizations compete with individuals and corporations and social media at large—a transition I have witnessed and experienced first hand as a journalist, then blogger, and then brand journalist and content marketer. And, of course, traditional book publishers now compete with self-publishing—another anti-establishment trend I have happily participated in. Because of their tremendous costs, movies are the last bastion of monoculture (which is why we’re seeing yet another Superman).
The consequence of all this new competition is that there are far fewer mega-hits in every medium, not just in books. At the same time, our culture is much richer and much more representative than it was 40 years ago. The democratization of media has been a wonderful thing. The pie is not only bigger, but way more people have gotten a slice of it. That’s good for creators and even better for consumers.
To receive future posts or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication, subscribe on Substack →
A shoutout to Jane Friedman. Her bookThe Business of Being a Writer gave me the final nudge I needed to start building my author platform for my upcoming debut novel, even though it’s probably a couple of years away from being published. In addition to joining Substack this weekend, I also joined Instagram and launched my website, chadswhite.com.
It sort of feels like when I had my second son—yes, it’s starting over and, yes, I know it will be hard, but I’ve done it before, so I’m confident I can do it again. In this case, my first son is my nonfiction book,Email Marketing Rules. For that book, which is in its fourth edition, I built a well-rounded website with a blog and newsletter, and grew my LinkedIn audience to more than 11,000 and my X/Twitter following to more than 17,000.
But building a platform for my novel means joining new communities and engaging in new ways. As of today, I have zero Substack subscribers and 3 Instagram followers, which means there’s lots of upside potential. Time to start making some new connections. I’m ready to learn. I’m ready to do this!
To receive future posts or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication, subscribe on Substack →
Hello, everyone! I’m an aspiring novelist looking to connect with avid readers and other writers, especially in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. On this blog, I’ll discuss writing and publishing, and share the ups and downs of my writer’s journey to get my first novel published.
A little about my debut in-progress novel: I’ve made things extra hard on myself by making my first effort a 3-book dystopian sci-fi series set in a war-torn near future. My two heroes are new adults (18 and 19 years old) and the story revolves around them finding their places in a world where the two global superpowers are in an uneasy peace. The story also revolves around our two heroes finding each other and coming to terms with their broken families.
A little about me: I’m a tech industry veteran and former journalist who’s written five non-fiction books about digital marketing. As part of my day job, I’ve also written nearly 4,000 blog posts and articles about marketing, AI, and other topics. I’ll occasionally talk about my non-fiction book writing experiences, as those have given me the confidence to take on novel writing.
To receive future posts or to become a Patron and support my dystopian sci-fi novel and get special thank-you goodies upon its publication, subscribe on Substack →
