Today we're responding to a series of articles that have gone viral over the last couple of weeks. They're all about the publishing industry, and whether or not it's dying out. Included: how big is the market for books? Is it growing or shrinking? Are publishers profitable? Is it even worth writing books anymore? What about indie books, self-publishing, e-books, and audio? What do publishers get right and what do they get wrong. James says the C word twice and apologises to all the Americans for...
May 06, 2024•41 min•Ep. 155
Failure is non negotiable. So how can learn and grow from our failures? We share some of our failures, what they taught us, how we dealt with them at the time, and what we think of them now. Included: dealing with rejection from gatekeepers, why failure should excite us, letting ourselves be upset, and more! There are still tickets to both of our US workshops !...
Apr 29, 2024•33 min
Another spice one provoked by some online discourse. Is it wrong to make money from our art? Does making art with the intention to sell it sully it? It's a strong no from us. Listen to learn why! Don't forget we have two workshops in California coming up. LA on the 25th of May San Francisco on the 1st of June Both are going to be 5 hours long (including a lunch break), with teaching, QandA, journaling, and a chance to mingle with other artists. Cheapest tickets start at $50....
Apr 23, 2024•25 min•Ep. 153
Back to our favourite punching bag: Perfectionism. We talk about how perfectionism leads to stagnancy, stunts your growth as a creative, and ultimately leads to worse art. LA and San Francisco artists (or anyone who wants to travel there!), we are coming to your city! LA workshop: 25th of March San Fran workshop: 1st of June Pricing is on a sliding scale to accomodate different budgets. Learn more here...
Apr 15, 2024•29 min•Ep. 152
Join us on a walk and talk as we play a little game of Would You Rather, artist edition! We would love for you to check out Amie's fiction. Her witchy tudor novel, Regrettably, I Am About to Cause Trouble , and her Sexy medieval romp, The Rules Upheld by No One are available in audio, e-book, and print on most major platforms.
Apr 03, 2024•28 min
This is one of our favourite ever conversations! Emma Couette, six novels in the last five years. All while holding down a full time job. We talk about how she juggles a 9-5 job with this sort of release schedule, doing her own promo, fighting for her novels, finding good people to give feedback, making difficult choices about how to allocate resources to creative projects, and much more! We learned so much about the Indie publishing space and came away with heaps of things we want to action. We...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 150
Welcome Amie's sister Kirsty to the show! At 29 years old, Kirsty is the founder and director of Made Home , a Sydney based home transition company, with fifteen employees and dozens of customers! We spend a lot of time trying to get to the bottom of why Amie and Kirsty both became Entrepreneurs and what exactly it was about their childhood that made them bounce off traditional work. We also discuss the challenges of more traditional businesses versus creative businesseses, how motherhood has ch...
Mar 13, 2024•40 min
First off, friends, audio continues to betray us at every turn. We had multiple glitches again this week so, if James suddenly starts talking about the Patriarchy seemingly mid-sentence, we apologise for the non sequitur. I think things mostly make sense though? Let us know. So, what's the episode about? Amie has an arch nemesis, and that arch nemesis is a man called Hubs who goes by the social media handle @Hubs.life (not normalise the 9-5 as we mistakenly say in the ep). Hubs doe not know Amie...
Mar 04, 2024•35 min
REAL PODCAST STARTS AT ABOUT 07:00, everything before that is bullshit chat. We talk you through how we like to plan out projects (or don't). Sit with us in a sort of ASMR, fly on the wall type way as we plan what we want to work on for the rest of the year. We try to give our chaotic lives a loose structure. Which doesn't always work. Expect: pros and cons of planning, what we think of ultra long term planning, how we choose projects to work on, finding our rhythm, and more rambles! Guess what!...
Feb 26, 2024•52 min
Today we have Creative, Performance Coach, Mentor and good friend Sion Cousins on the podcast. An incredibly important episode for Creatives who have big dreams. In this episode we talk about what gets in the way between us and our goals. James gets his own mini coaching session, we talk about when I first started instagram, and lots lots more. Our Rhode mics did not work (name dropping because I am pissed) so please bare with the audio! Sions information: You can work one on one with Sion, just...
Feb 14, 2024•52 min•Ep. 146
It's time to reclaim our creative power, and Augustine leads the way. An incredible conversation around putting up boundaries with gatekeepers and creative institutions, how to embrace your multi-disciplinary magic, and how to bring about all your creative dreams Website: nfinitethreat.com Creative Mentorship page: nfinitethreat.com/creative-coaching Charlie and the Cloud Kingdom: https://www.amazon.com/Charlies-Adventures-Cloud-Kingdom-Adeventures/dp/B0BQ3WBD5Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MY3Q7HW4A9UE&...
Jan 22, 2024•47 min
Today Amie and James detail the journey of getting a publishing deal! Who approached who? How did it feel? How long did it take? And much more.
Jan 17, 2024•37 min•Ep. 146
Thank you for all your questions! Today we have the first Q&A ep in a while. We talk about Amie's experience losing 30,000 followers, our work spaces, how we balance being business partners and romantic partners, why James hasn't self-published his writing yet, and much more! Apologies but I accidentally cut out the beginning of a question: "Why did you lose 30,000 followers." We stumbled a little bit over the first 10 seconds and I wanted to fix it up... but as you know, I have next to no e...
Jan 10, 2024•35 min•Ep. 143
This topic is back after a break in 2022 for some reason... We talk about all the "things" that brought us delight in 2023. TV shows, tech, books, and free things too! If you like those rambly episodes where we overshare about our persona life, you'll enjoy this one. Don't forget, you can get a free copy of Amie's Journaling Compendium when you sign up to our newsletter (where we also share random things we've been enjoying each week)....
Dec 11, 2023•49 min•Ep. 142
Today we're talking about the myth that artists need to be unhappy in order to create great art. Amie made a post on Instagram the other day which saw some hot debates in the comments! Join us as we unpack it. Please check out Amie's latest video on Youtube: Impatient for creative success? Watch this video.
Dec 04, 2023•30 min•Ep. 141
Amie's writing the description today because James burnt his hand on the oven. Today, we talk about being a creative on social media. We discuss the boundaries I have around it, how I try to keep a healthy relationship with being online, how I built my platform, and much more. We'll probably do more episodes on this, as it's a big topic and we have lots more to say. You can find a sample of Amie's audiobooks on her website along with links to spotify.
Nov 27, 2023•41 min•Ep. 140
We made lists! Join us as we discus our hastily thrown together lists of top 5 tips we would give to other creatives. We also have a short section at the beginning where we discuss the state of podcasting and talk about how we see our own podcast, and specifically, what we think about ads on podcasts. If you aren't interested in that, you can skip to about 8 minute mark! You can email James with you thoughts at support@amiemcnee.com We have a Black Friday sale on our website! 40% off everything ...
Nov 25, 2023•34 min•Ep. 139
How much of success is predictable? Are there actions we can take to guarantee it? The answers? Not much and probably no. Creative fields are usually complex and involve too many variables to put any success down to definitive factors. That being said, there are some things we can to do better prepare for the randomness of life and our careers. Join us as we try to talk through the complicated topic of randomness and what it means for creatives. Topics discusses: black swans, the survivorship bi...
Nov 06, 2023•34 min•Ep. 138
We have the fantastic Seth Haddon back for the first ever repeat interview of the podcast! Seth has come a long way since we spoke a year ago. He's been through the trenches of traditional publishing and is ready to share his insiders view with you! This one is interesting even for non-writers who want to understand what it's like to be a working artist who still isn't quite full-time but is on the way! We discuss: the pressure of following up work that exceeded expectations, what it's like to b...
Oct 30, 2023•54 min•Ep. 137
First of all, please enjoy the full, extended version of our new intro by the very talented Matilda Eyre. We talk a little bit about it at the end of the episode. Suffice to say, we love what Matilda has come up with and feel like it really captures the spirit of the show. Would love to hear what you think! Today we're talking about how to get more creative stuff done without feeling really tired! This is something we've both struggled with for a long time but have found some success with lately...
Oct 25, 2023•33 min•Ep. 136
In another solo episode, Amie takes you through her notes app. What bizarre things has Amie jotted down in the past few months? We look at what she's working on in therapy, self regulation, stagnation as a creative, notes for her books, feeling shy and much much weirder stuff.
Sep 13, 2023•22 min•Ep. 135
Today is an unusual episode! James is on a sabbatical and Amie takes the wheel - will the mic quality be good? Who knows? Amie can't pay attention to those things, especially with one of her great creative idols, Seth Godin, on the pod. Amie came to this conversation with one question: Seth what would you say to creatives who feel like their art is frivolous and unneeded in a world full of pain? Seth, of course, has an answer that rings with so much truth and poignancy.
Sep 06, 2023•20 min•Ep. 134
This is one of those episodes where we'll be working through an issue in real time. Join us as we try to understand how artists progress their skills, how long it might take to get better as an artist, plateaus, and why you're often progressing faster than you think. Credit to James Clear for the concept of non-linear improvement (I can't remember if we actually name dropped him in the episode). We highly recommend his book, Atomic Habits. Our Write Your F***ing Book course is on sale now! Don't...
Aug 21, 2023•27 min
We are so excited to have recorded our first IN PERSON guest recording ever for today's episode. I want to give a little warning too about the sound. Since we only have two mics, we had to share! The audio might be a little choppy in places but I think it holds up. We were so pleased to have father-daughter bakers, Kitty and Al Tait from the ORANGE BAKERY, around our kitchen table. Kitty and Al are the authors of the award winning cookbook and memoir, Breadsong , where they not only share their ...
Aug 14, 2023•44 min
If you've ever wanted to hear Amie and James have an argument in podcast form, we have a treat for you! This podcast was inspired by a few podcasts and interviews with celebrities lately where they just seem to never be able to enjoy their success. We ask whether it's even possible for humans to enjoy their wins, or if we're doomed to always be chasing the next thing. Our new course, Write Your F*cking Book is out on August 9th! You can check out the sales page now for more info ....
Jul 31, 2023•38 min•Ep. 131
This is the non-fiction partner to our favourite fiction books episode! We talk about reading to develop lateral thinking; changing your underlying assumptions about things; choosing books that will help you see the world in new ways; why we don't get much out of traditional "business" books; why we've been reading more fiction than non-fiction lately; and more!
Jul 27, 2023•38 min•Ep. 130
We're interviewing writer, Instagram sensation, and famous "scammer" Caroline Calloway today on the pod. If you don't know who Caroline is, there are barely enough words in a 5000 word article in the Cut to even begin to explain it to you. Amie will give you a little intro to her for the first few minutes of the pod (before the interview begins), so if you're already a Caroline Calloway scholar, feel free to skip to the 4 minute mark. Regardless of your opinion on Caroline, there is so much to g...
Jul 18, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 129
We have the joy of interviewing, author, Youtuber, absolute legend, and receptacle of pure creative wisdom, Campbell Walker. Topics include: how we self-sabotage when we get too close to success; how being a parent has made Cam a better creative; perfectionism; youtube; his experience writing a book and working with publishers (and the pressure of following up a successful book); his writing process; and much more! Something I loved about this interview was Cam's curiosity about my and Amie's cr...
Jul 10, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 128
Today we're talking about authors we've enjoyed reading lately! This is not a ranked list or even an all time favourite author list. It's just a few people we've been liked recently! We go into why we like these authors, whether it matters if someone is a "good" writer (whatever that means), the joy of a great plot, how much we love a book with a strong "voice" and much more!
Jun 30, 2023•35 min•Ep. 127
Today we're discussing Amie's decision to relaunch her second novel 6 months after its initial release. Sub-topics include: how the concept of a single launch is driven by legacy institutions and gatekeepers; whether a "launch week" is important; strategies we're using to launch something a second time; the timelessness of your art; the benefits you might get from doing several launches rather than one (or how your ability to sell can improve with each launch of the same product); and more! I wa...
Jun 15, 2023•28 min
