12 Comments
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Molly Wilcox's avatar

The best combo of a kick in the pants + compassionate understanding.

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Ariel Curry's avatar

Oh boy! It's rough but I try to help 😘

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Mara Eller's avatar

I like that asking for help idea 😉 great suggestions! Time to think about what my year-long challenge/project could be… 🤔

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Ariel Curry's avatar

Somebody should take it and make it happen! lol

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Deborah Rutherford's avatar

Thanks for sharing this.

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Ariel Curry's avatar

Thanks for reading!

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Christine Vaughan Davies's avatar

Awesome advice here! I'm working in the platform building stage before pitching. My whole reason behind joining substack was to grow my platform as well as test my content. I've done lots of podcasts too. I haven't noticed the actual numbers from my socials ticking upwards too much yet, but trying to build things up a little bit.

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Ariel Curry's avatar

That’s awesome! It sounds like you’re setting yourself up for success AND spending lots of time pressure-testing your ideas. Love it!

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Jeannie Ewing's avatar

Great tips, Ariel. I'm thinking of Ann Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts" with the experiment memoir. Never thought of that, but I appreciate your clarification!

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Ariel Curry's avatar

Yes, that's a great example!!

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Stephanie Miller's avatar

Thank you for this! I just got a "I'm passing, but you're doing everything right" response from an agent who had requested my proposal.. so perhaps my idea needs a little reworking!

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Ariel Curry's avatar

Oof those are the worst! As an editor, I try to be honest in my rejections so that authors know more clearly what they could be doing to make it a "yes" but it is really hard sometimes.

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