May 31, 20261h 9mS4
<p>Season 4, episode 8 is here!</p><p>Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA started her Substack on January 6th, 2025. She had three kids in medical school, served in the Air Force, built and sold a telemedicine company, and spent 25...
education
How to Write for a Living
Hosted by David McIlroy · education · EN
About this Podcast:
Writers should get paid for doing what they love. Let's talk about how to make that happen. thedavidmcilroy.substack.com
Pitch Analysis
Required Pod Score for this podcast. PitchCentric checks your profile against host openness, topical fit, and audience signals before you generate a pitch.
Contact path
Public web form
Booking probability
32%
Guest openness
Selective
80/100
Required Score
Sign up to generate a grounded pitch for How to Write for a Living.
Signup to Generate a PitchQuestions about How to Write for a Living
Who hosts How to Write for a Living?
How to Write for a Living is hosted by David McIlroy. The show has published 88 episodes to date.
What has How to Write for a Living covered recently?
Recent episodes include "408: She drew cartoons through medical school - now she has over 90,000 Substack subscribers (with Laurie Marbas)" (31 May 2026, 69 minutes), "407: He wanted to be an author at eight - now he writes for Penguin (with Kern Carter)" (24 May 2026, 42 minutes), and "406: Becoming a world builder (with Nathan Baugh)" (17 May 2026, 46 minutes).
How often does How to Write for a Living publish?
How to Write for a Living publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 40 minutes across 88 episodes.
How hard is it to get booked on How to Write for a Living?
Booking probability for How to Write for a Living is 32%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. How to Write for a Living requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. How to Write for a Living's contact route on record: public web form.
Who should pitch How to Write for a Living?
The strongest fits for How to Write for a Living are Artists, Writers & Performers. How to Write for a Living has an education audience.
About the host
David McIlroy hosts How to Write for a Living, an education podcast with 88 episodes published.
Host email not verified for this podcastSign in to unlock →
Recent episodes
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
May 24, 202642 minS4<p>Season 4, episode 7 is here!</p><p>Kern Carter knew he wanted to be an author at eight years old. What followed was about as non-linear as it gets: self-published novellas, indie publishers, Penguin, Scholastic...
May 17, 202646 minS4<p>Season 4, episode 6 is here!</p><p>Nathan Baugh has wanted to write fantasy his whole life. He just needed a bank account crisis in Spain to finally make him do something about it. These days he has over 100k...
May 10, 202654 minS4<p>Season 4, episode 5 is here!</p><p>Seth Werkheiser has been on the internet for 25 years. He’s watched the whole thing evolve, from blogging about local bands in Pennsylvania to running email campaigns for record...
May 3, 202630 minS4<p>Season 4, episode 4 is here!</p><p>Not Exactly Ana didn’t know what Substack was when she joined. She wasn’t a seasoned writer or a marketing expert. She was a 26-year-old Bulgarian woman who had just walked away...
View More
Apr 26, 202639 minS4<p>Season 4, episode 3 is here!</p><p>Olivia Wickstrom didn’t set out to build a Substack. She set out to make affiliate income from a cottagecore blog. What happened instead was a slow, sometimes frustrating...
Apr 12, 202628 minS4<p>Season 4, episode 2 is here!</p><p>This one’s a bit different. No big interview, no deep dive into strategy, just a Saturday morning coffee chat, a new recurring segment, and some thoughts on who the Substack Growth...
Apr 5, 202616 minS4<p>Welcome to Season Four!</p><p>This is the first episode of season four, recorded live on Substack for the first time. I explained why I’m experimenting with live podcast episodes, asked for your feedback on what you...
Mar 29, 202640 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 25 is here!</p><p>Amelia O’Loughlin joined me to talk about her journey from dance to screenwriting, how a chance encounter on South Bank led to representation, and why she’s building Table, a live...
Episode #24
324: Why your early work will suck... and why that's actually perfect (with Angela Hollowell)
Mar 22, 202635 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 24 is here!</p><p>Angela Hollowell joined me to talk about her journey from photographer to filmmaker, why she publishes three times a week on her newsletter Please Hustle Responsibly, and what she...
Episode #23
323: Why waiting to monetise your Substack is actually costing you money (with Philip Hofmacher)
Mar 15, 202639 minS3<p>➡️ Learn the exact system used by Write • Build • Scale to build, launch, and automate your first mini-course so you can build your own passive income stream. Get it here.</p><p>Season 3, episode 23 is here!</p><p>My...
Episode #22
322: Your big writing questions answered
Feb 22, 202628 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 22 is here!</p><p>I threw together this episode to answer questions from my Substack chat thread, where writers shared what’s actually slowing them down right now.</p><p>As it turns out, the...
Feb 15, 202651 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 21 is here!</p><p>Dani Zacarias joined me to talk about her journey from criminology student to creator economy veteran, working at Wattpad, Skillshare, and now Sendowl.</p><p>She shared a harrowing...
Feb 1, 202645 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 20 is here!</p><p>Neera Mahajan joined me to talk about writing books fast, building authority, and turning a single book into a scalable business.</p><p>She shared why most writers never finish...
Jan 25, 202637 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 19 is here!</p><p>I was super excited to have Justin Moore join me to talk about something most writers think is out of reach: getting paid by brands to create content.</p><p>Justin shared the...
Jan 18, 202646 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 18 is here!</p><p>My friend Jari Roomer from Write Build Scale joined me for a conversation about the most powerful growth lever on Substack.</p><p>We talked about why collaboration matters more...
Jan 11, 202642 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 17 is here!</p><p>In this episode, I sit down with my old school friend Stuart Thompson, who now runs a long-standing gym here in Northern Ireland.</p><p>We talk about what it really takes to build...
Jan 4, 202646 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 16 is here!</p><p>In this week’s episode, Parker Worth and I chat about his journey from being a high school dropout to becoming a successful creator living in Brazil.</p><p>Parker discusses the...
Dec 21, 202537 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 15 is here!</p><p>In this solo episode, I share my thoughts on the critical importance of incorporating video and audio content into a creator’s strategy for 2026 and beyond.</p><p>I walk you...
Dec 14, 202527 minS3<p>Season 3, episode 14 is here!</p><p>In this solo episode, I walk through exactly how to build a creator presence from absolute scratch with no fancy equipment, no complex strategy, just clarity and...
Recent guests
Recent guests on How to Write for a Living. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
Best industries to pitch How to Write for a Living for
PitchCentric classifies How to Write for a Living under these industries. Guests from them are the closest fit, and each links to the best podcasts in that industry.
Similar Podcasts
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.
Podcasts like How to Write for a Living
Is this podcast yours and you'd like to remove or correct details? Request removal or email privacy@pitchcentric.com.
Questions about the free trial? See the pricing FAQ