Previous Post
We believe in what we call the HAPI Compass, a simple system to keep yourself in balance and headed in the right direction. Point it at your work and your direction comse into view:
- (H)eart: the projects and inspiration that give you goosebumps and will resonate deeply with your customers.
(H)eart HAPI Compass related articles and resources
We believe in what we call the HAPI Compass to building a successful career, which revolves around four points. Point it at your work and your direction comse into view:
Russell Nohelty
- (A)udience: the people orbiting those ideas, ready to championing them, amplify your reach, and fall deeply in love with what you create.
(A)udience HAPI Compass related articles and resources
We believe in what we call the HAPI Compass to building a successful career, which revolves around four points. Point it at your work and your direction comse into view:
Russell Nohelty
- (P)rioritization: Deep focus on one high-leverage move at a time, letting it pay off, then reinvesting the space and cash it creates to widen your runway and buy yourself time for what matters.
(P)rioritization HAPI Compass related articles and resources
We believe in what we call the HAPI Compass to building a successful career, which revolves around four points. Point it at your work and your direction comse into view:
Russell Nohelty
- (I)ncome: Generating the money that sustains your ideal life while fueling the creative work that lights you up.
(I)ncome HAPI Compass related articles and resources
We believe in what we call the HAPI Compass to building a successful career, which revolves around four points. Point it at your work and your direction comse into view:
Russell Nohelty
Plot those four points, and you have more than a framework. You have a living compass. When you start to drift in one of the four points, you can use the others to center yourself again.
What’s a 🦄Hapitalist🦄?
Welcome to Hapitalist, where we’re all about helping you find the balance between the work that feeds your soul and money that pays your bills. The question we are constantly asking is “What if all this business stuff was fun and rewarding?”
Russell Nohelty
(I)ncome
Income is all about making the money you need to lead the life you want without compromising your values along the way. These articles can help you attract money to you without feeling gross about it.
Resources to help you
While we have an extensive archive of articles about building a writing career, we also offer several other resources to help aentrepreneurs build better businesses. Some of these are available for free. Others are available only to paid members. Articles are listed below these resources.
Making more money
- ​​The Kickstarter Launchpad
- ​Direct Sales Launchpad​
- Secrets of Substack Bestsellers masterclass​
- ​How to Have a Successful Book Event masterclass​
- The Six-Figure Author Stack
- ​How to Thrive as a Writer in a Capitalist Dystopia​
- ​Publishing is Broken, But It Doesn’t Have to Break Us​
- ​How to Build Your Creative Career​
- ​How to Become a Successful Author​
- ​Advanced Growth Tactics for Authors​
- ​Create Profitable Facebook Ads course​
- ​Fund Your Book with Kickstarter course​
- ​How to set up and run an awesome anthology course​
- ​Income reports since 2018​
- ​The Complete Creative podcast archive​
- ​The Hapitalist podcast​
- ​Complete Creative data archive
Developing a stronger mindset/strategy
- 🎴Hapitalist Business Tarot
- ​How to Thrive as a Writer in a Capitalist Dystopia​
- ​Publishing is Broken, But It Doesn’t Have to Break Us​
- ​How to Build Your Creative Career​
- ​How to Become a Successful Author​
- ​Advanced Growth Tactics for Authors​
- ​10x your productivity course​
- ​Write a Great Novel course​
- ​Hapitalist podcast​
- ​The Complete Creative podcast archive​
- ​Complete Creative data archive
Articles
Recalibrating your HAPI Compass
Hi, In this webinar, I walked through how to use the HAPI Compass as a diagnostic tool to identify your actual constraint right now.
Russell Nohelty
Constructing your value ladder
Hi, What do we actually sell to people who enter our ecosystem? That’s where a value ladder becomes an essential component of your environment.
Russell Nohelty
Problem-market fit
Hi, Lining up the right problems with the right solutions is something that everyone deals with all the time. Since this is where I live the vast majority of my existence, I thought I would share with you the three questions I ask all the time, and have been the most helpful reframes inside my community.
Russell Nohelty
Conventions, conferences, and pop-up events for every Ecosystem
Hi, Before you read this, it’s would be very helpful to learn about your SCALE path and your base Ecosystem.
Russell Nohelty
Crowdfunding for every Ecosystem
Hi, Before you read this, it’s would be very helpful to learn about your SCALE path and your base Ecosystem.
Russell Nohelty
Subscriptions for each Ecosystem
Hi, Before you read this, it’s would be very helpful to learn about your SCALE path and your base Ecosystem.
Russell Nohelty
Website sales for every Ecosystem
Hi, Before you read this, it’s would be very helpful to learn about your SCALE path and your base Ecosystem.
Russell Nohelty
How each Ecosystem goes-to-market
Hi, Before you read this, it’s would be very helpful to learn about your SCALE path and your base Ecosystem.
Russell Nohelty
How to build a sales funnel and flywheel using SCALE paths
Hi, The heart of any business is the sales and marketing engine. Companies run on money, after all. It’s what they burn to keep going, and so creating an engine that at least breaks even every year is how we ensure that we keep going for the long haul.
Russell Nohelty
Creating lifelong customers by embedding psychological buying triggers deep into your brand
Hi, At their heart, successful brands create deep connections through layers of meaning and emotional resonance. Just as a garden grows through careful cultivation rather than mechanical planting, brands flourish when each element is thoughtfully developed to engage customers on multiple levels.
Russell Nohelty
The Margin of Safety: Why most books flop and how to survive anyway
Russell Nohelty
You have nothing to lose. So why are you playing it safe?
Listen on the app of your choice
Russell Nohelty
Hapitalist 7-day Frictionless Growth Challenge email sequence
Hi, Going through my notes, it seems like I first had the idea for Hapitalist in December 2024.
Russell Nohelty
How to succeed at live events
Russell Nohelty
The exact email sequence for our October 🦄Hapitalist🦄 launch
Hi, This is the second launch for Hapitalist. If you want to check out the first sequence, you can do so here.
Russell Nohelty
The Secret No One Tells You About Success
Hi, Have you ever met a human you had such an instant connection with that you wondered how your life ever existed before meeting them? It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s magic, and that’s exactly what happened when I met Heather Hildenbrand
Russell Nohelty
11 steps to supercharging your writing career with our Author Stack framework
Hi, I’ve written a lot about author growth in my career. So much that it often paralyzes people from taking action. While we have loads of books and frameworks, I’ve been trying to collect my most powerful concepts together into one place to help you stack processes on top of each other to generate outmoded success.
Russell Nohelty
2025 Kickstarter postmortem
Hi, All year long I’ve been watching people say, “Kickstarter is down 25%.” Now that I’ve finished my sixth and (at least planned) final campaign of the year, I finally have enough data to see if they are right.
Russell Nohelty
I have the receipts…
Hi, I've been trying for months to get a proper accounting of my publishing journey between 2020-2025.
Russell Nohelty
Wannabe Press Income Report - Q4 - 2025
Build an author business that finally excites you
Russell Nohelty
Beyond Print-on-Demand: Why indie authors need both POD and long-run printing in their sales strategy
Hi, I get a little giddy when people start talking about printing methods. Not book design or cover art, though those are cool, too. I’m talking ink-on-paper, plate-and-press printing. The kind of thing that makes most people’s eyes glaze over but gets me practically vibrating with joy.
Russell Nohelty
The Math of Making Money from Weird Shit
Hi, Real talk. In order to succeed making money doing weird stuff, you probably need to talk to 2-10x more people than somebody making basic ass shit.
Russell Nohelty
Building a Kickstarter Master plan with Tyler James from Comixlaunch
Listen/subscribe on Apple
Russell Nohelty
Building Sustainable $10K Months with Newsletter Strategies
Listen/subscribe on Apple
Russell Nohelty
How 10K Secrets Came Together—And Why Anthologies Built My Career
Listen/subscribe on Apple
Russell Nohelty
2024 advertising analysis
Hi, Get the rest of this story here.
Russell Nohelty
Wannabe Press year one operating budget
It’s been 10 years since Wannabe Press started, and I just unearthed our first budget. If you’d like to see what our first year budget was, here you go. This doesn’t include two projects which we had finished before starting the company. Now, our budget is about $120k a year to give you some context.
Russell Nohelty
How to find more readers for your books and get stacked with subs on Substack
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
How to figure out what Substack actually paid you in Stripe
One of the most maddening parts of Substack is how opaque they are with how much their creators make. I have never, ever, ever in my life worked with a company that was harder to find what you made at any given time.
Russell Nohelty
Advertising and unsubscribe rate update - mid January 2024
I have been scaling up ads from Facebook and Refind since December and have been seeing decent growth since then. However, I started to notice that my total subscribers weren’t increasing as much as I would expect given how many new subs I was getting from the Substack Network.
Russell Nohelty
How to print books for fun and profit
Russell Nohelty
What it really means to get that pretty orange checkmark
Russell Nohelty
The 5 biggest mistakes writers make when turning their books into comics
Russell Nohelty
How to get noticed on Substack
Russell Nohelty
How to use Substack sections to strengthen your backlist and give subscribers even more value
Russell Nohelty
Secrets of Substack Bestsellers
Russell Nohelty and Claire Venus share insights on navigating Substack, focusing on the balance between growth and monetization. They discuss the importance of understanding your goals—whether to run a low or high touchpoint publication—and tailoring strategies for sustainable success. Here’s what we learned.
Russell Nohelty
How to supercharge your growth by putting together a world-class virtual conference... and have fun doing it
Hi, I talk a lot about building a devoted audience that cares about your work. There are several strategies that can help fuel your growth, but one I don’t talk about much is running a virtual conference…even though it’s one of the single best and most cost-effective ways to cement your authority in a space quickly while providing an epic amount of value to your ideal customers.
Russell Nohelty
The growth-to-monetization parallel
Hi, As business owners, we are always trying to grow and monetize at the same time. We think it’s the only logical choice for a business, but more often than not we end up standing still. Why is that?
Russell Nohelty
How to create a world-class Substack publication
Russell Nohelty
Are you running a low touchpoint or high touchpoint subscription?
Hi, There are two questions we don’t talk about much when it comes to creating a subscription.
Russell Nohelty
Will that new social media platform fundamentally improve your existence at all?
Russell Nohelty
The Obsidian Spindle Saga: Complete portal fantasy series Kickstarter breakdown
I do wrapups of all my campaigns, and usually they are positive, but the last one kind of cratered. We still raised over $10k and more than broke even, but it's hard to say raising 72% of the previous campaign from 78% of the backers to a final campaign in a series is anything but a big failure.
Russell Nohelty
How to increase new subscribers by refreshing your publication
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
How to get over your sales phobia
Hi, Even though it’s critical to a business’s success, most people hate the idea of selling their products. They fear people will hate them, find them annoying, and turn away from them. More importantly, they believe selling is “gross”.
Russell Nohelty
How I used Kickstarter to right the ship after a disastrous book launch
2019 was a nightmare.
Russell Nohelty
The great Medium vs. Substack debate
Hi, If you are reading this via email, Substack only sent out a partial version and the article will eventually stop without notice. If you want to read the whole 4,000-word article, then go to this website. or download the app.
Russell Nohelty
Ad reports from growth agency
Hi! If you haven’t yet, I give context to these reports in these posts.
Russell Nohelty
WTF happened in the last two weeks...
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
The NSFW Framework to Help You Market Your Book Better
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
How to comp subscribers from your previous newsletter to your Substack publication
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
I have things to say about how creators talk about NSFW books
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
Substack Milestone posts
Russell Nohelty
Why I'm Kickstarting my new book
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know how vocal I’ve been lately about becoming what I beret-wearingly call an “artisan author.”
Johnny B. Truant
Beyond Bestsellers: Yes, People Still Buy Books
Earlier this week, Elle Griffin released this article about the “state of publishing”, analyzing a lot of the data from when Penguin Random House wanted to buy Simon & Schuster that got released into a book called The Trial.
Leslye Penelope
How to Build a Book Marketing Stack Without Hiring Consultants (or Losing Your Mind)
Hi, I met with Florin a few weeks ago to talk about a tool he’s building, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
Russell Nohelty
Setting up your direct sales environment
This article discusses the different pieces of your direct sales environment. Before you can start really scaling, you need to understand the base-level concepts discussed in this article. Many of these concepts are quite new so even if you’re rocking and rolling, you will probably find something new in this article.
Russell Nohelty
Growth, or something like it...
Russell Nohelty
Newsletter growth stages
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
How to form strong strategic partnerships in publishing
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
Your first sale probably won't (and shouldn't) be your membership
This article originally appeared on How to Write for a Living.
Russell Nohelty
The five time-tested adoption decisions
Hi, Whether you’re publishing on social media, building a newsletter audience, or growing your influence, understanding how people decide to buy something is hugely important. Recently, I dove deep into the five essential adoption principles—Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Simplicity, Observability,
Russell Nohelty
What's new on Kickstarter since Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter came out
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
7 Reasons Why All Authors Should Use Universal Book Links
Russell Nohelty
How to compile your blog into a book
Hi, I’ve released multiple solo nonfiction books up to this point in my career and most of them were compiled almost exclusively or primarily through repurposing blog articles and Facebook posts. From those books, I developed a system for bringing my blog content into a book format that might be a good template for you to follow.
Russell Nohelty
How to supercharge your writing career with Kickstarter
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
How to build an email sequence for a book launch
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
“If I needed $1,000, I could always…”
Hi, It starts with the gut punch of an unexpected bill.
Russell Nohelty
Obscurity is a bigger threat than devaluing your work
Hi, Writers, especially ones at the beginning of their career, obsess over the perceived threat of "cheapening" their work. They stress out about pricing too low, giving away books for free, or making their work too accessible. They fear that if they don’t maintain a certain level of exclusivity, they’ll erode the value of their art.
Russell Nohelty
Is churn quietly killing your Author Business?
I pulled up my membership numbers the other day and realized something pretty depressing. I have fewer paid members today than I did at the start of the year.
Russell Nohelty
Book catalog as investment portfolio?
Hi, Before we get started, a quick poll. As you might know, we’ve been designing a tarot deck, and are just about ready to print the initial run. We’re trying to figure out if we should print regular-sized cards or a pocket deck.
Russell Nohelty
Breaching the trust thermocline
Hi, I think about trust a lot; probably too much. I think about trust with my wife, my collaborators, and my customers all the time.
Russell Nohelty
Money as means or money as ends?
Hi, Most advice about “growth” comes from people who see money as the ultimate goal. They are usually agnostic about what they sell or how they sell it. To them, the process, whether it is crafting something new, building a platform, or designing a marketing plan, is just a means to an end. Their focus is on the outcome: the accumulation of wealth.
Russell Nohelty
How to bend reality and become a bad4$$ timespace mage
Hi, They say some people have a "reality-distortion field" around them. I think that's because they have a very specific win condition, and are willing to sacrifice everything else for it.
Russell Nohelty
2025 income report
Hi, It’s 2026, which means it’s time for another yearly wrapup.
Russell Nohelty
How (and why) to build a personal brand to keep your books selling
Hi friends,
Russell Nohelty
How Beth Spencer used a sneaky kitty to grow to over $10,000 in gross annualized revenue
Russell Nohelty
Gentle Monetisation
“Focus on the work for its own sake. Sometimes the money follows that, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s the only way.” - Summer Brennan
Satya Robyn
Six steps to building a sustainable author business
Most authors are stuck on the power-law treadmill: chasing retailer algorithms, Kindle Unlimited page reads, or high-volume releases in systems designed for a tiny percentage of winners. In this session, I broke down why that model works for some, why it quietly works against most, and how to build an integrated ecosystem instead.
Russell Nohelty
How to launch an $80,000 Kickstarter for a single issue comic
I’ve been friends with Kat & Phil for a long time and been a fan of their work for just as long or longer. I love their Slice of Life Webtoon, and read their newsletter. Still, somehow the fact that one of their books raised $80,000+ on a single issue slipped by me. I’m steeped in comics Kickstarter, so I have no idea how I missed this one.
Russell Nohelty
The Hapitalist launch sequence
Hi, So in the second half of July 2025, I started a launch email sequence to announce my Hapitalist founding member program. It’s something I was working on for about a year, tweaking the language and such.
Russell Nohelty
You can always make more money
Hi, My wife thinks I’m nuts when I say this, but I truly believe you can always make more money.
Russell Nohelty
Spinning a great idea into book marketing gold
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
How to go paid on Substack without selling your soul
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
How one hour of work can make you $100,000 a year
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
The secret to making a living as a self-published author
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
31 Kickstarter tips to help crush your campaign goals
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
Kindle Unlimited vs. Wide Book Launch Strategies
The Author Stack sits at the intersection of craft and commerce, helping writers build more sustainable businesses that allow them to thrive while creating work that lights them up inside. We strive to give authors agency in a world that too often seems intent on stripping it away from them.
Russell Nohelty
How to build a network
Hi, I have been able to gather a rather large group of creators who want to work with me, talk about my projects, and generally have positive things to say about me.
Russell Nohelty
Did you find what you are looking for? If not, you can use the below to try another section.
Or, you can have yourself a reset by going to our resources page.
Available resources
While we have an extensive archive of articles about building a successful business, we also offer several other resources to help authors build better businesses. Some of these are available for free. Others are available only to paid members.
Russell Nohelty
If you’re ready to dive deeper, we have an extensive list of resources to help help you get your HAPI COMPASS back in alignment.
