Okay, I need to talk to my fellow author service providers for a minute, because I've been sitting on something and I think it might actually help some of you.
So a little while ago, I had this idea. My calendar has a habit of filling up, and there's nothing worse than having an author come to me excited and ready to work, only for me to have to say “I'm so sorry, I'm booked.” I hate that. These are people who saved up, who finally worked up the nerve to invest in their dream, and the last thing I want is to send them away with nowhere to go.
So I thought, what if I built a little network? A group of people I trust, who do beautiful work, who I could confidently hand a client to when I'm slammed. And when someone comes to them needing a website or branding or an app, they send that person my way. We'd basically be catching each other's overflow and lifting the whole community while we're at it. Win, win, win.
I put out the call. And y'all. The response melted me. Dozens of people applied. So many talented, kind, excited humans who clearly love this space as much as I do. I sat there reading every single one grinning like a fool.
Then I followed up. And this is where my heart sank a little.
I didn't ask for much. I promise you I didn't. I just needed a little graphic in their branding and a link so I could feature them and literally send people straight to their inbox. A badge and a click-through. We're talking ten minutes of work, maybe less if you already have a Canva template sitting around.
A handful wrote back. Not a single person finished it.
And listen, I want to be so clear here, because I know how the internet loves to twist things: this is not a callout. I'm not subtweeting anyone. This is genuinely me pulling a chair up next to you and saying, friend, you are leaving money on the table and I don't think you even realize it.
Because this is what's real. I have authors right now, today, asking me for services I either can't fit in or don't offer. Warm clients. Ready to pay. And I have almost no one to send them to, because the follow-through just wasn't there to catch them. That's income that was ready to walk right into someone's business, and it evaporated over a graphic that never got made.
I've thought a lot about why this happens, and I don't think it's laziness. I really don't. I think it's that the exciting part of running a service business, the design, the strategy, the creative magic, feels like the “real” work. And the small administrative stuff, the follow-up email, the little graphic, the sending of the link, feels skippable. Like you'll get to it later. And then later never comes, because there's always a fire that feels more urgent.
But this is what I've learned running my own business: that small, boring, easy-to-skip stuff? That IS the business. The creative work is why people find you. The follow-through is why they can actually pay you.
The difference between a hobby and a business was never talent. This community is overflowing with talent. It's follow-through. It's the person who answers the email the same day. Who sends the thing they said they'd send. Who does the unglamorous ten-minute task because they understand it's the bridge between “I'd love to work together!” and an actual invoice.
And I'll be honest with you, when I'm deciding who to trust with a client I can't personally take, that follow-through is the entire deciding factor. If you can't get me a graphic in a week, I can't in good conscience hand you someone's book baby. It's not personal. It's just the bar.
So if you applied and you're reading this, please hear me: the door is still wide open. I'm not holding anything against anyone. Send me your branded graphic and your link and you are in the rotation, that simple. I would genuinely love to send clients your way.
And if you take nothing else from this, take this: when someone hands you an easy, free way to make money, take it. Do the small thing. Send the thing. The people who follow through are the ones still standing a year from now.