50% of authors suffer from burnout—here's why

On building an author ecosystem with Russell Nohelty

I’ll be 100% honest with you: I wasn’t expecting much from the Author Ecosystem quiz.

Here’s what I anticipated: a clever way to gain access to my email inbox for a sales-laden drip sequence about a product or service guaranteed to change my life. What I didn’t see coming is how the results explained my highs and lows as an in-house marketer and business owner. Even its co-creator, USA Today bestselling authorRussell Nohelty is stunned at its efficacy; after putting his students through every other personality assessment before designing the Author Ecosystem with his business partner, Monica Leonelle.

I invited Russell onto The Write-Life Balance to dig deep into the five different author archetypes, using our own results (Tundra and Grassland, respectively) as examples of what tactics to do and not do if you’re an author looking to create a thriving writing business. We also cover:

• Why students kept failing his courses (and how studying the trends evolved into the Author Ecosystem).

• Just-released findings on how each marketing archetype aligns with the steps in a traditional sales funnel.

• How to utilize writers in different ecosystems to strengthen your author brand.

On Building an Author Ecosystem with Russell Nohelty

WRITE 👨🏼‍💻(8:46)

Russell is the author of over 40 novels, and is best known for his comics, Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter and Katrina Hates the Dead. After receiving degrees in broadcast journalism and sociology, he worked for six months as a camera operator on Capitol Hill in Washington before transitioning into film, TV, and photography work.

When a car accident prevented him from working full-time, Russell doubled down on writing and moved to Los Angeles, landing an agent who asked if he was interested in writing comics—which eventually led to novels, conventions, Kickstarter campaigns, courses, and book marketing.

Every year I do different stuff. Some years I’m heavy on book marketing clients, some on teaching or comics or novels…all cobbled together, they
make a [six-figure] career.

LIFE 🐾 (6:26)

Russell is an Enneagram Type Eight with a Seven wing, and an ENFJ on Myers-Briggs (but used to be an INFP.) He is also a husband, dog father, avid reader (we’re talking 200 books a year), and movie buff—we talk at length about his love for Clerks. (Note: My husband and I reference this scene at least once a week.)

BALANCE ⚖️ (7:05)

Russell is also chronically ill, so the last few years have been focused on cutting things off instead of adding on new projects.

[Lately, my life] has been a lot of, “What can I still do?” and
have it not take away from me energetically?

For more on how Russell copes with chronic illness, check out his interview with Rae Katz on Lady’s Illness Library.

No amount of success made me feel any better about myself

PARTING ADVICE 💭 (49:11)

Russell points out that you never think of your own ecosystem as marketing; you only think of the other four as marketing tasks. He suggests playing to the strengths of your ecosystem before incorporating others into your business strategy.

[Once you understand your ecosystem], you can say,
“I’m not bad at marketing, I’m doing the wrong marketing.”

READING 📚

The Caraval series by Stephanie Garber (the final book is out this week)

STREAMING ⏯

Revisionist History, one of Russell’s favorite podcasts

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To learn more about Russell’s work on author archetypes, you can:

• Subscribe to The Author Stack.

• Visit Russell’s website.

• Take the Author Ecosystem quiz. (If you end up doing so, make sure to leave me a comment with your result!

Hope you enjoyed this episode,

Sophia :)

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P.S. Loving the parallels between writing and working in the film and TV industry! In case you missed it, here’s last month’s interview with actress Lynn Chen.