Amy Suto is a seven-figure freelance writer, memoir ghostwriter, bestselling author, and founder of the top Substack newsletter Make Writing Your Job. Starting as a Hollywood TV writer working for minimum wage as an assistant, Amy discovered that freelancing could outpace traditional entertainment industry earnings. She's flown to countries like Austria to work with clients on their memoirs, ghostwritten for Olympians and NBA players, and built a thriving writing business with three income pillars: self-publishing, paid newsletters, and freelance writing. Her upcoming book Write for Money and Power (launching January 12, 2026) provides the mindset operating system writers need to build six and seven-figure writing careers.
In this episode:
- Rejecting the starving artist myth and rewriting limited beliefs about writer income
- The three-pillar system: self-publishing, paid newsletters, and freelancing
- Why freelancing with multiple clients is more secure than one full-time job
- Escaping 10 cents per word work by pricing for outcomes instead of effort
- How copywriting jobs paying $8,000/month are dominating Make Writing Your Job
- Why memoir ghostwriting is the highest-paying freelance niche
- Getting flown to Austria to interview clients and capture their life stories
- The mindset shift that lets you quote rates without fear
- Negotiating triple client budgets by educating them on writing value
- Why Anthropic hiring writers proves AI can't replace storytelling
- Using ChatGPT for research, text-to-speech dictation, and routine work
- Google Notebook LM for querying your own novel content
- Substack's unique organic traffic and onboarding flow advantages
- Putting up paywalls early to trigger Substack's promotional algorithm
- Emailing only free subscribers with upgrade sequences and discounts
- How all three pillars dovetail: Substack becomes portfolio and book content
- The 12-month roadmap to earning seven figures with three writing pillars
- Systems that let you take six weeks off while your business runs
- Pre-order benefits including founding memberships and Notion templates
Resources mentioned:
- Make Writing Your Job Substack: https://www.makewritingyourjob.com/
- Amy Suto's personal Substack: https://www.sutoscience.com/
- Write for Money and Power by Amy Suto (pre-order at amysuto.com/power)
- ChatGPT
- Google Notebook LM
- Upwork for early freelancing
- Substack Notes (Twitter-like feature)
Book Recommendations:
- Write for Money and Power by Amy Suto (releasing January 12, 2026)
Connect with Amy Suto:
- Website: https://www.amysuto.com/
- Make Writing Your Job Substack: https://www.makewritingyourjob.com/
- Personal Substack: https://www.sutoscience.com/
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sutoscience
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sutoscience
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sutoscience
- Pre-order book with benefits: amysuto.com/power
Connect with Teddy Smith:
- @teddyagsmith
- Website: https://publishingperformance.com/?ref=ywm3mtc
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/publishingperformance/
- Pinterest - https://nz.pinterest.com/publishingperformance/
- Instagram - https://instagram.com/publishingperformanceinsta
- Youtube -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHV6ltaUB4SULkU6JEMhFSw
- Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/publishing-performance/
Discover More with Our Curated Starter Packs: https://teddyagsmith.com/starter-packs/
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