MY STORY

Hi, I'm Matt

In April 2020, my wife's first book earned $133 in royalties.

Today, her books have generated over $750,000 and sold more than 350,000 copies worldwide.

Here's how we got there—and why I now spend my days helping other authors do the same.

The Worst Timing Imaginable

When COVID hit the UK in March 2020, my video production business collapsed overnight. I couldn't film. I couldn't work. The income stopped.

The timing couldn't have been worse. My wife and I were expecting twin boys in two months.

We had no income and were about to become a family of four.

So I did what any desperate person would do: I looked for another way.

My wife had been writing fiction for years. She'd even signed a traditional publishing deal once, but it fell through six months in (long story). We'd dabbled in self-publishing before, but never committed to it properly.

Now we had no choice.

I dove headfirst into learning everything I could about self-publishing, marketing, and advertising books. My wife focused on finishing her first novel. We worked around the clock.

On April 19th, 2020, we launched her first book on Amazon.

First month's royalties: $133.

We spent $110 on Facebook Ads to get there.

Net profit: $23.

I remember staring at the dashboard wondering if we'd made a terrible mistake.

But We Kept Going

What I Do Now

These days, I focus on one thing: helping indie authors grow their royalties on their own terms — from their first consistent $1,000 a month all the way through scaling a serious author business.

I've spent years working with thousands of indie authors — through courses, coaching, mentorship, and a lot of late-night Zoom calls. I've watched some hit their first $1,000 month. I've watched others scale from $1K to $5K to $10K+ a month while keeping the writing life they actually want. And I've watched plenty of talented writers burn out chasing tactics, churning out books, or running ads on broken foundations.

The pattern is always the same: the authors who win run their writing like a business — foundations first, then one ad platform mastered, then scale. In that order. The ones who skip step one end up paying for it later.

That's the work I do. Helping indie authors get the order right.

I call this approach The Royalty Engine — and I've built a 12-month program around it: Author10. It covers everything from covers, blurbs, and categories through audience, ads, and the systems that compound — without the rapid-release treadmill or the burnout that usually comes with it.

No complicated theory. No chasing tactics. Just the systems that actually work — in the right order. 

Author10 is currently closed for enrollment. The next cohort opens September 2026.

A Business Built Around Life

I live in the British countryside with my wife, our three kids, one blind, lazy dog, and 17 horses across 8 acres (the horses are my wife's lifelong passion).

We built this business around our family, not the other way around. 

I work a few focused hours each day. I'm there for school pickups. I don't miss sports days. I take our boys to swimming lessons. We go on bike rides together. When we want to travel, we travel (though we're yet to tackle a plane ride with 5-year old twins and a 3-year old!)

That's the real goal, isn't it? Not just selling books, but building something that gives you freedom. Complete freedom.

If you're an author working toward your first $1,000 month in royalties, I'd love to help you get there.

The best place to start is The Author Letter: