The book cover gets the first look.

On mobile, where most of your readers actually are, it takes up almost the whole top of the screen. There is nothing else to see. Two seconds decide whether the reader keeps looking or moves on. If the cover does not earn the scroll, no line of your blurb ever gets read. That is a whole separate conversation.

But let's say your cover does its job. The reader scrolls. Their thumb slows. Their eye settles on the first line of your blurb.

That is where the sale is won or lost.

July 11th, 2026   •   5 minute read   •   Issue #162

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We live in an instant gratification world.

Same-day delivery. Same-hour answers. Dashboards that never sleep. Everything about modern life has trained us to expect the payoff to show up on the same afternoon as the effort.

Nothing about building an author business is going to feel like that.

July 4th, 2026   •   5 minute read   •   Issue #161

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"Matt, my ads aren't working." It's one of the most common messages I get from authors. Sometimes it's a polite question. Sometimes a quiet frustration. 

June 27th, 2026   •   4 minute read   •   Issue #160

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