Why am I here?

And why I am glad you're here - please stay

What’s in it for me?

1. Taking back control

For many years, I’ve been writing books and they do very well (thank you!) I’ve also written a crazy amount of free stuff on my website and blog. There’s too much there and it feels as though I’m not in control of it. Sometimes even I can’t find what I’m looking for!

I teach that our brains are in our hands. This is me showing that my words are in my hands.

2. Earning a living

You think I’m successful. I’m proud of that! Trouble is that, in the world of the creator, success does not always translate to actual money. Sadly. Books earn much less than you think (I’ll do a post about the details of that!) None of my work on my blog, where there are hundreds of thousands of words, receives any income at all. And the website costs me many £££ a year. I used to earn reasonably because I charged a lot for my speaking engagements. I now do fewer events because they are physically exhausting and they stop me doing what I most love: writing.

As I say, no violins, please: I’m a writer and I chose and still choose this life. I do have to behave in a businesslike way, though. Woman cannot live by praise alone.

So, I’m here to do my best work but to be paid something for it. And you choose how much!

3. Expanding my work life

Crucially, I have three areas of expertise and a blog + website don’t work so well for that. I’d really need three blogs/websites and that’s so not going to happen…

1. My teenage brain / adolescence / parenting / education stuff - the work I’ve been best known for as The Teenage Brain Woman for the last nearly 20 years.

2. My fiction - OK, some of you don’t know but I was an award-winning teenage novelist and I am venturing back into that world. (By the way, thank you for the amazing recent messages from readers and school librarians who are waiting for the sequel to Fleshmarket, published 20 years ago and still in print!)

3. Writing about writing - and advising writers on being published and staying published. I used to have a popular blog - Help! I Need a Publisher! - and published some books on this. My ebook, Write a Great Synopsis, still sells well.

What’s in it for you?

Here’s the plan - though life will sometimes get in the way. The best laid plans of mice and women etc.

1. If you pay nothing, I still want you to get great content:

   1. You’ll have access to 1-2 posts a month, including my Teenage Brain Woman On series, which I recently started on my blog and which I will from now only put here on Substack. And you’ll get some glimpses inside the mind and life of a writer. If you also follow my blog, expect nothing more of value there. It’s all going here and eventually I will archive that blog entirely and switch off comments.

   2. Please note that if you choose to pay nothing you won’t be able to access the growing archive and new free posts will only stay visible for a week at a time.

   3. But the posts I give you here will be the BEST ones - you just have to read them quickly! If you want to read at more leisure, to return to them and know that you’re getting everything, do consider paying the small sub. Thank you so much!

2. If you pay something, you’ll have access to my whole substack. (That isn’t much right now but it will grow quickly!):

   1. As well as those free posts, you’ll get more specific posts on any of the three topics above. So, posts on 1. Mental wellbeing, especially focusing on adolescents/families and things of interest to teenagers and the adults who live and work with them. 2. What’s happening with my attempts to regenerate the fiction-writing parts of my brain (and I can’t wait to tell you what happened yesterday!) And 3. helpful thoughts about the whole process and world of being a writer. I’ve had over 100 books published by mainstream publishers, have also self-published and used to run a writing advice consultancy - I know what I’m talking about.

   2. You will be able to comment and get involved in the chat which I hope will start to grow here. I love to know what you think!

   3. I will have at least three book giveaways in the first year and you will automatically be entered in those random draws. I can only post books in the UK so if you aren’t in the UK you would need to nominate a UK winner (could be a school). I will do the first one when I reach 100 paid subscribers!

   4. You will know that you’ve supported a very hard-working writer who has spent countless unpaid hours doing her best to make the world a better place for young people and families. And I will be very grateful indeed!

3. If you become a founding member, you get all the above PLUS:

   1. Once a year, you can request my one-to-one advice via email on any of my topics of expertise, including writing advice (but not including asking me to read your work). We will have a short email conversation about it and I will do my best to help. If it’s something I feel I can’t help with, I’ll say so and you’ll be able to ask about something else!

   2. OR we can do that by Zoom, in a chat of up to 30 minutes. (For either of these things I would typically charge £75 so you’re getting a bargain.)

   3. You will know that you have my undying gratitude for your support and that I will always be grateful, even if you only subscribe for one year.

Go easy on me and I’ll work hard for you!

I honestly don’t know how big (or small) this is going to be. And I don’t know what bus is round the corner in my life. But I will do my very best to fulfil my promises above for at least a year and then, I hope, far beyond. I really want this to work for me and, most importantly, for you and the people you care about and work with.

I am very excited indeed to be taking this step to take back control of my words. In this way I can make my work work better.

Please join me and let’s support each other!

Nicola Morgan’s Brain is a reader-supported publication. (Well, the substack is - my brain functions on chocolate). To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.