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Most authors I speak to don't need more answers.

They need better questions.

Think about it. You probably already know what's not working in your author business.

You know your blurb could be stronger. You know you've been putting off starting or building that email list. You know you're spreading yourself too thin across three ad platforms when you haven't yet cracked one.

You know these things.

But there's a difference between knowing something and being honest with yourself about why you haven't done anything about it.

That gap between knowing and doing? That's where most authors stay stuck. Not because they lack information (we all know there's an abundance of information out there at our fingertips), but because they've never stopped long enough to ask themselves a genuinely uncomfortable question.

Here's what I want you to try.

Every morning, or at least once a week, ask yourself one tough question about your author business.

Not a tactical question like "which keywords should I target?"

A real one.

The kind that makes you pause before answering. The kind that requires thinking time.

Here are four questions to get you started:

→ What am I avoiding in my business because I'm afraid of the answer?

→ What would I do differently if I trusted that this could actually work?

→ Am I making decisions based on where I want to go and who I want to become, or based on my current fear of wasting money?

→ If someone looked at how I spend my time each week, would they say I'm building a business or just staying busy?

If you run out of questions (or you want something that really catches you off guard), open up Claude or ChatGPT and try this prompt:

"I'm a self-published author building a business around my books. Please give me one deep, thought-provoking question I've probably never considered that will help me understand what's really holding me back."

You'll be surprised how good the questions are. And the beauty of using AI for this is that it has no agenda. It doesn't know your excuses. It doesn't know your comfort zone. It just asks.

But here's the important part.

Don't rush to an answer.

Set a timer for 10 minutes. Put your phone in another room. No music, no podcast, no notifications. Just you and the quiet, and a pen and paper.

Then sit with the question.

And as you're sitting with the question, thoughts will come to you. Don't analyze them, don't judge them, just write them down.

Don't overthink this.

We're so used to constant stimulation (social media, emails, YouTube, Netflix, etc.) that we never give ourselves the room to actually think clearly about what truly matters.

Your best ideas don't come when you're scrolling through Facebook groups or watching your fifteenth video on your Tuesday night YouTube-binge.

They come in the quiet moments. In the shower. On a walk. When there's nothing else competing for your attention.

10 minutes of silence gives your brain permission to surface the stuff it's been trying to tell you for weeks, maybe even months or years.

One honest answer to one honest question can save you months of heading in the wrong direction.

It's not glamorous. It won't go viral on BookTok.

But it might just be the most beneficial 10 minutes of your day.

I encourage you to try it. Today, tomorrow, the day after, whenever you have the time. 

Pick one question from the list above, or ask AI to surprise you, and see what surfaces.

That's it for this week. Enjoy your weekend. See you next Saturday.

To Your Success
– Matt