Becca Puglisi is an international speaker and bestselling author who has sold over one million copies of her Thesaurus series, with The Emotion Thesaurus being her flagship book. Starting as critique partners on Critique Circle, Becca and co-author Angela Ackerman discovered they both struggled with showing character emotions—Becca's characters were always shrugging and shuffling their feet. This led them to create lists of emotional cues that eventually became blog posts on Writers Helping Writers, then transformed into The Emotion Thesaurus when readers demanded a book version. A former first-grade teacher, Becca brings educational expertise to her workshops and tools, now available through One Stop for Writers, a subscription-based service with character-building tools based on the Thesaurus series content.

In this episode:

• How The Emotion Thesaurus solved the "shrugging and shuffling" problem
• Why every character responds to emotions differently based on personality
• Mining movies, books, and real-life observations for authentic emotions
• Stephen King's skill at creating compelling, realistic antagonists
• The importance of wounding events from backstory shaping current behavior
• Reserved vs demonstrative: the emotional spectrum for your character
• Physical cues, internal thoughts, and visceral sensations in showing emotion
• Hidden emotions: what characters show others vs what readers see
• Emotion escalation and de-escalation to avoid jarring jumps
• Melodrama vs not enough emotion: finding the right balance
• The Emotional Wound Thesaurus for character change arcs
• The Conflict Thesaurus for plotting and creating choice opportunities
• Building characters as mixed bags of positive and negative traits
• The Fear Thesaurus (Spring 2025): how fear drives character behavior and arc
• One Stop for Writers: subscription tools based on Thesaurus content

Resources mentioned:

• Writers Helping Writers blog: writershelpingwriters.org
• One Stop for Writers (subscription service): onestopforwriters.com
• Critique Circle
• The Emotion Thesaurus by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1475004958?&linkCode=ll1&tag=pubperf-20&linkId=400c65572fa1761b41f901ed6233057c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
• The Negative Trait Thesaurus
• The Positive Trait Thesaurus
• The Emotional Wound Thesaurus
• The Setting Thesaurus (multiple books)
• The Conflict Thesaurus (two books)
• The Fear Thesaurus (coming Spring 2025)

Connect with Becca Puglisi:

• Writers Helping Writers blog: writershelpingwriters.org
• One Stop for Writers: onestopforwriters.com

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/

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Michael Drew is the founder of PromoteABook.com (established 25 years ago) and BookRetreat.com, with a track record of helping 132 consecutive books hit major bestseller lists including The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Success Magazine. Starting his career at age 18 as the #3 salesperson at Executive Excellence (a division of Covey Leadership Center), Michael impressed industry leaders and landed at Bard Press by age 19, where he was tasked with understanding how bestseller lists actually work. His first campaign launched "Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads" by Roy H. Williams to #3 on The New York Times and #1 on Wall Street Journal. Today, 85% of his work focuses on building thought leadership platforms, with 110 clients permanently increasing their gross revenue by $1 million+ per year, 10 clients increasing revenue by $50 million+ per year, and 7 clients increasing revenue by $100 million+ per year through strategic book campaigns.

In this episode:

• Bestseller lists as sophisticated polls, not real sales rankings
• Only 7 of 132 bestselling clients made money from book sales
• 110 clients permanently increased revenue by $1M+ per year using their book strategically
• Brick-and-mortar stores represent 75% of book sales
• The three major lists: New York Times, USA Today, Success Magazine
• Self-publishers cannot hit major bestseller lists (distribution requirements)
• IngramSpark distribution won't work for bestseller campaigns
• Co-op fees: $1-5 per unit for retail shelf placement
• New York Times requirements: 20K print, 10K ebook, 10K through Amazon
• Online media: 350 blogs, 90 podcasts, 90 vlogs, 50K+ social engagement per platform
• Traditional media: 100 TV markets, 100 radio markets, 100 print markets
• Amazon bestseller lists have no real value
• The uncovering: two-day meeting defining outcome, measurement, strategy, tactics
• Book Retreat in Guatemala: write your book in 30 days using 64 blog posts method
• Content repurposing system: blog posts become videos, podcasts, social media, and book

Resources mentioned:

• Promote A Book: https://promoteabook.com/
• Book Retreat in Guatemala: https://bookretreat.com/
• "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T. Harv Eker
• "Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads" by Roy H. Williams (Michael's first campaign)
• "Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future" (co-authored with Roy Williams)
• "Nuts: Southwest Airlines Crazy Recipe for Success" published by Bard Press
• KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)
• IngramSpark

Connect with Michael Drew:

• Email: michael@promotabook.com

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://

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

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Discover More with Our Curated Starter Packs: https://teddyagsmith.com/starter-packs/

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/

Support the show

Discover More with Our Curated Starter Packs: https://teddyagsmith.com/starter-packs/