Episode 33 - Cracking the Amazon Code: Beyond Ads with Janet Margot

* Listen on Spotify * Listen on Apple * Listen on Youtube * Listen on Pocketcasts * Book Launch checklist: https://BookHip.com/BDSWRRT * Millionaire Author Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind/ * http://hapitalist.com/ What if the thing keeping your creative career stuck isn’t a lack of talent, strategy, or opportunity, but the belief that you’re no longer allowed to change? In this episode of Six Figure Author Experiment, Lee and Russell look backward at the strange, messy paths that led them into full-time creative careers and forward at what happens when the career you’ve built no longer fits the person you’ve become. Russell shares the decade he spent trying to break into filmmaking, directing, comics, and publishing while making almost no money, accumulating debt, and repeatedly watching projects stall. Eventually, Kickstarter, conventions, direct sales, and years of experimentation helped him build a completely different path than the one he’d originally imagined. Pasted text Lee traces her own creative life back even further, exploring how childhood reading became both an escape and the foundation for her writing, and how family expectations, religious upbringing, money, sexuality, and ideas about what constituted a “real” career shaped what she believed she was allowed to become. It wasn’t until she finally decided to call herself an author that everything began moving. Pasted text Their stories lead to a larger question: How much of the life you want have you talked yourself out of because it doesn’t fit the path you were taught to follow? They discuss how schools, workplaces, families, and social expectations train people toward predictable paths, while creative entrepreneurship requires almost the opposite behavior: standing out, asking for attention, selling your work, taking risks, and tolerating uncertainty. Sometimes the first step isn’t developing a better strategy. It’s simply allowing yourself to want something different. Pasted text But permission also means permission to quit. Russell explains why he recently dismantled huge portions of a business he’d spent years building after realizing the existing system was producing results he no longer wanted. Instead of endlessly optimizing what wasn’t working, he rebuilt his offers, products, coaching, apps, and business model around where his energy and audience were actually pulling him. Pasted text That experiment revealed something surprising. After years of moving between comics, fiction, nonfiction, education, coaching, apps, and other projects, a substantial portion of Russell’s audience stayed with him through multiple reinventions. Even more strikingly, customers who consumed both his fiction and nonfiction had dramatically greater lifetime value than customers who stayed within either category alone. Pasted text Maybe audiences aren’t always following a series, genre, format, or product. Maybe they’re following you. The episode closes with a powerful reframing of what creators actually sell. People may discover you through a novel, course, app, coaching program, podcast, or newsletter, but the container isn’t necessarily the thing they’re buying. They’re seeking an emotion, transformation, identity, or experience, and your creative work is simply the vehicle that gets them there. Pasted text Sometimes growing a creative career means building something new. Sometimes it means finally starting the thing you’ve wanted for years. And sometimes it means looking at everything you’ve built, realizing it belongs to an older version of you, and giving yourself permission to burn it down and begin again. Topics Covered: * Reinventing a creative business when the old version feels stale * Russell’s early career in filmmaking and broadcast journalism * Choosing University of Maryland over NYU and avoiding massive student debt * Financing early filmmaking equipment with credit cards * Directing films, pilots, and web s

* Listen on Spotify * Listen on Apple * Listen on Youtube * Listen on Pocketcasts * Book Launch checklist: https://BookHip.com/BDSWRRT * Millionaire Author Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind/ * http://hapitalist.com/ * Marketing Boot Camp: https://www.skool.com/bookmarketingbootcamp * Marketing Course: https://geni.us/millionaireauthor This episode begins with a simple catch-up between Lee and Russell, but quickly turns into one of their biggest conversations yet about the future of creative work. Lee shares how she’s experimenting with live writing sprints on TikTok after pursuing an ADHD diagnosis, introducing the concept of body doubling and why simply working alongside other people can dramatically improve focus and consistency for many creative minds. From there, the conversation pivots into artificial intelligence, but not in the way most people expect. Instead of debating whether AI is good or bad, Russell argues that creators are asking the wrong question. Rather than asking how AI can help produce more books faster, he explores how AI can unlock entirely new ways for audiences to experience stories through interactive apps, games, codices, workbooks, and other formats that previously required large development teams. That leads into a larger discussion about permission. Neither traditional publishing nor modern technology determines what creators are “allowed” to make anymore. The only real limitations are imagination, willingness to experiment, and understanding the business realities behind each creative decision. The episode also explores one of the most important concepts for building a sustainable creative career: Every creative goal is built from dozens of smaller skills. Whether someone wants to become a podcaster, novelist, filmmaker, or entrepreneur, success isn’t about mastering one discipline. It’s about gradually stacking complementary skills until seemingly unrelated experiences suddenly converge years later into a career that feels inevitable in hindsight. Throughout the conversation, Lee explains how she coaches authors by breaking seemingly impossible goals into measurable component skills, while Russell emphasizes that many creators fail simply because they confuse different goals, like “finishing a book” versus “writing the perfect book.” The discussion continues into branding, genre, audience expectations, marketing strategy, commercial fiction versus literary fiction, and why understanding your actual goals matters far more than copying someone else’s career. By the end, the conversation becomes less about books and more about designing an entire creative life around what genuinely energizes you instead of chasing someone else’s definition of success. Topics Covered: * ADHD, body doubling, and productivity through co-working * Live TikTok writing sprints * Building creative momentum through accountability * Why the AI debate has become less interesting than AI’s unexplored possibilities * Using AI to create interactive fiction experiences * Games, apps, codices, and alternative storytelling formats * Moving beyond simply writing more books * Escaping the “book-a-month” mindset * Delivering a consistent brand promise * Lessons from Colleen Hoover and her readership * Brand consistency versus creative freedom * Why audiences buy feelings, not formats * Permissionless creativity in the modern publishing world * Teaching yourself instead of waiting for gatekeepers * Everything changes, but nothing is wasted creatively * How unrelated skills compound over time * Why every creative pursuit strengthens future work * The hidden skill tree behind creative careers * Breaking large goals into measurable subskills * Diagnosing bottlenecks in an author’s business * Identifying obvious versus non-obvious constraints * Marketing, branding, writing, and sales as separate skills * Goal clarity versus perfectionism * Finishing a book versus endlessly rewriting it *

* Listen on Spotify * Listen on Apple * Listen on Youtube * Listen on Pocketcasts * Book Launch checklist: https://BookHip.com/BDSWRRT * Millionaire Author Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind/ * http://hapitalist.com/

* Listen on Spotify * Listen on Apple * Listen on Youtube * Listen on Pocketcasts * Book Launch checklist: https://BookHip.com/BDSWRRT * Millionaire Author Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind/ * http://hapitalist.com/ In this episode of The Six Figure Author Experiment, Russell and Lee sit down with romance author Celeste Barclay (also writing as Sabine Barclay), and things immediately go off the rails—in the best way possible. It opens with a now-legendary story: Celeste dictating an entire spicy scene… in a grocery store. Produce section? Fine. Dairy aisle? Escalating. By checkout, we’ve hit violence, catharsis, and 3,000 words. It’s chaotic, hilarious, and quietly profound. Because underneath the absurdity is a powerful truth: there are no rules when it comes to getting the words out. But the real engine of this episode isn’t just process. It’s understanding why readers buy—and why they come back. Celeste brings a rare combination of expertise: economics, teaching, and political marketing. She breaks down how authors can think like behavioral scientists, not just storytellers. The conversation moves from demographics to psychographics, from tropes to emotional triggers, from “what is this book about?” to “what does this book do to someone?” And then, like a quiet reveal in the middle of a magic act, Russell introduces the idea of the “magic trick”. Every author has one.The thing they do again and again that makes readers feel something specific. Once you see it, everything changes. Your writing sharpens. Your marketing simplifies. Your brand locks into place like a key turning in a door. The episode weaves between craft and business like a double helix: Emotion drives story. Emotion drives marketing. And consistency of emotion builds a career. By the end, what starts as a conversation about dictation turns into something much bigger: a framework for building a body of work that readers trust, return to, and recommend without hesitation. Topics Covered: * The infamous “grocery store dictation” story and writing without constraints * Using dictation to dramatically increase output (3,000 words in an hour) * Writing linearly vs. “pantser” discovery writing * Why removing friction in your process matters more than perfection * Celeste’s background: economics, teaching, and political marketing * Understanding consumer behavior in publishing * Macro vs. micro psychology of buyers and readers * The difference between demographics and psychographics * How to identify what readers actually want (not just what they say they want) * The importance of emotional outcomes in genre fiction * Asking the key question: What emotions are readers craving? * “Heartbeat moments” and emotional payoff in romance * Why readers return for emotional catharsis, not just plot * How to translate emotional expectations into marketing copy and visuals * Tropes as shopping signals and silent calls to action * Why trope cards outperform generic marketing graphics * Marketing as nonfiction writing (clear, factual, persuasive) * The challenge of writing marketing copy before the book exists * Loglines, positioning, and communicating value quickly * The concept of the author “magic trick” * Examples of magic tricks across authors and genres * How your magic trick becomes your brand promise * Why consistency matters more than novelty for long-term success * When breaking your brand promise causes reader backlash * Pen names and when to separate your brand * Emotional memory as the core driver of repeat readership * Branding vs. marketing: why branding reduces long-term effort * Building a signature series as a marketing engine * How each new book sells the previous ones * Simple vs. easy: why success frameworks are deceptively hard * Distilling your brand into a single guiding sentence * Using reader reviews to identify your brand promise * The “potato theory” of creativity (one core idea, many outputs) * Why c

* Listen on Spotify * Listen on Apple * Listen on Youtube * Listen on Pocketcasts * Book Launch checklist: https://BookHip.com/BDSWRRT * Millionaire Author Mastermind Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind/ * http://hapitalist.com/ * https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leesavino/sold-to-the-berserkers * In this episode of The Six Figure Author Experiment, Russell and Lee dive deep into the art and business of adapting a novel into a comic, using Lee’s Sold to the Berserkers as a case study. What starts as a conversation about a spicy, emotionally charged romance quickly evolves into a masterclass on translation between mediums, visual storytelling, and creative strategy. Russell breaks down one of the most important concepts in comics: the “gutter”. The space between panels where the reader’s brain fills in the action, effectively turning still images into a movie. This becomes the central lens for the entire discussion. Adapting a book is not about copying scenes. It’s about choosing the keyframes that allow the audience to imagine everything else. Lee reflects on the emotional core of her original work, particularly how romance functions as emotional catharsis and psychological processing, especially for readers navigating fear, vulnerability, and desire. The conversation expands into why romance is often misunderstood, despite being one of the most emotionally impactful genres. On the business side, the episode offers a surprisingly tactical breakdown of how authors can approach comics as a multi-format asset strategy. From Kickstarter campaigns to special edition illustrated books, art prints, and multiple cover variants, Russell outlines how one creative project can be leveraged across multiple products to maximize return on investment. The result is both philosophical and practical: a reminder that adapting your work isn’t about preservation. It’s about reinvention, understanding what each medium does best, and building a creative ecosystem where your story can thrive in multiple forms. Topics Covered: * The origin of Sold to the Berserkers and its rapid, emotionally driven creation * Why romance readers crave catharsis: transforming fear into emotionally satisfying outcomes * The role of “non-con reluctance fantasy” and why it resonates with certain audiences * Adapting older work for modern audiences and shifting cultural contexts * The challenge of translating internal, emotional prose into visual storytelling * Why some scenes work in books but fail visually in comics * The importance of tone adjustment and softening elements for new mediums * Understanding audience differences between romance readers and comic fans * The concept of the “gutter” in comics and why it’s the key to storytelling * How comics rely on readers to mentally fill in action between panels * Keyframes vs. exposition: choosing the right moments to depict visually * Why comics are about triggering imagination, not showing everything * Common mistakes authors make when adapting books into comics * Why comics and novels require fundamentally different storytelling approaches * The limitations of comics: less space for interiority and deep philosophical dialogue * The strengths of comics: action, visuals, symbolism, and emotional immediacy * Why adaptation should be treated as a new creative work, not a direct translation * Examples of adapting comics back into novels and expanding interiority * The importance of understanding what each medium does best * Recommendation: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud as a foundational resource * Emotional storytelling vs. informational storytelling and why emotion drives engagement * Romance as “emotional labor processing” and its cultural undervaluation * How stories help process fear, anger, and emotional complexity * Why readers must “slow down” when reading comics compared to prose * The interplay between words and images in effective comic storytelling * Practical s