The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 16 - Your Back Matter Is Costing You Readers (And You Don't Even Know It)
Release Date: 05/08/2026
The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 28 - Alternate Endings: Train to Busan
The Smarter Artist Show
This week we bring you the third episode of Alternate Endings, the show between the Smarter Artist episodes, where we force each other to watch a show or movie and then talk about it. These episodes were recorded in 2021, then promptly hidden in a vault for reasons unknown, never before aired. This week we talk about my pick, the zombie thriller Train to Busan. Additionally, we argue about Stephen Kind and Quentin Tarantino.
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The Smarter Artist Show 27: Alternate Endings - Gone Girl
The Smarter Artist Show
Sean’s out of town this week, so time to dig into the archives of unreleased episodes of Alternate Endings. This week we talk Gone Girl, what we liked, what we didn’t like, and then compare it to another author who attempted to write their own screenplay with wildly different results. Want more Smarter Artist delivered every week to your inbox? Sign up free at and never miss an episode.
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The Smarter Artist Show-26: The Future of Story
The Smarter Artist Show
There’s never been a better (or more difficult) time to be a creator it seems. With existential threats of AI, a population that isn’t reading as much, and cost cutting at the studios, what does the future of story look like? In today’s episode we look at the landscape of books, film, and video games, and give our guesses as to what’s next, what we’re worried about, and what we look forward to. TIMESTAMPS 6:00 — Johnny gets annoyed 6:30 — Johnny’s talks about his upcoming thriller, Terminal, and the Kickstarter he’s doing for it. 11:40 — Dave talks about...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 25 - Alternate Endings - Tenet (Bonus Podcast)
The Smarter Artist Show
Remember when Brandon Sanderson revealed a bunch of books he’d written? Well, this is our version of that. We’re revealing a podcast we recorded in 2021 or 2022 called Alternate Endings. A show that we recorded a year’s worth of episodes! It’s a show where Sean, Johnny, and I (Dave) force each other to watch a different show or movie each week and then get together and talk, argue, and discuss. Up first, the super easy to understand Tenet. If you like this episode, let us know. We’ll release more bonus shows like this every so often when we’re in a pinch. Or...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 24 - The Books We'd Build Different Now
The Smarter Artist Show
In this episode Sean, Johnny, and Dave go back through four of their own series (Available Darkness, Karma Police, Cursed, and Robot Proletariat) and ask what they’d do differently now. Not with the stories themselves, but the surrounding architecture, to ensure that each series had a better shot at success. SOMETHING COOL 9:00 — Johnny finally created an Instagram account (@johnnybtruant) 14:40 — Sean talks about when Quentin Tarantino appeared in a Muppets movie. 18:00 — Topic of the show — Dave talks about he and Sean’s first book together, Available Darkness, and what...
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The Smarter Artist Show 23: Hypotheticals 2: Electric Boogaloo
The Smarter Artist Show
In this week’s episode of The Smarter Artist Show, Sean, Dave, and Johnny take turns answering Dave’s latest batch of hypothetical questions. Dave also talks about how one of the questions inspired a script idea. Join the guys for an assortment of amusing, weird, and intriguing hypothetical questions which you can play along at home! Note: In efforts to get to the nonsense sooner, we shortened the intro. The outro full song is still there for your listening enjoyment. 0:00 — Intro 14:00 — Question 1: You have a difficult neighbor. How do you deal with it? 24:25...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 22 - 20,000 Covers, One Lesson.
The Smarter Artist Show
In this episode, Sean, Dave, Johnny, and guest Matt Stone of 100 Covers talk about the number one thing successful books have in common. Spoiler: it has to do with the cover! Stay tuned to the end, or just go to the show notes, for a limited time offer from 100 Covers. **Special Promotion:** Special 50% offer at using the coupon code ASS from Friday June 19, 2026 to 11:59 PM EST Monday June 22, 2026. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to the episode and guest Matt Stone 00:26 - The importance of showing your work and applying experience to your brand 02:30 - Something Cools: Johnny...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 21 - The $800 Movie
The Smarter Artist Show
This week Sean, Dave, and Johnny dig into the indie horror moment happening right now in Hollywood, two breakout films, Obsession and Backrooms, both made by filmmakers who came up on YouTube with almost no budget. They trace the path from Curry Barker's $800 film to a theatrical release that's earned around $250 million (at press time), and talk about why horror rewards resourcefulness in a way most genres don't. Sean talks for the first time on air about the horror script he and Dave have been developing, and the conversation he had with a friend that talked him out of a $5 million budget...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 20 - The Thing We Haven't Written Yet
The Smarter Artist Show
Dave opens by holding up five completely filled journals to the camera, all devoted to a fantasy novel he's been building in his head for at least five years. That kicks off an hour-long conversation about the creative project you haven't written yet: the idea that's too big, too personal, or too risky to touch until you're ready. Sean's version is the very first book he ever wrote in 2007, a 600-page narrative nightmare with, in the words of Cindy's professor friend, "long passages of staggering genius." Both projects are alive, neither is finished… yet. Timestamps 00:00 — Cold open:...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 19 - Your Characters Are Assets. Are You Treating Them That Way?
The Smarter Artist Show
Saul Goodman was supposed to appear in four episodes of Breaking Bad. He was comic relief. Vince Gilligan read the room, changed his mind, and eventually built a six-season prequel around him. Sean, Dave, and Johnny use that as the on-ramp for a longer conversation about what separates a character that can carry IP from one that can't, and whether a creator can engineer that kind of popularity or whether it only exists because an audience decided it does. The guys then talk about characters taking over shows not meant for them, why some asshole characters work and others don’t, and...
info_outlineSean, Dave, and Johnny dig into one of the most neglected pieces of real estate in any author's catalog: back matter. The highest-leverage moment you have with a reader is the thirty seconds after they finish your book, and most creators waste it with a generic thank-you and a mailing list link that goes nowhere.
This episode is a post-mortem on real mistakes from the Sterling & Stone catalog, including a back matter page that thanked readers for a book they didn't read!
The practical takeaway is simple: every book you publish should know where to send the reader next. Not a list of everything you've written. One book, same emotional register, direct buy link.
Sean, Dave, and Johnny walk through why standalones are the hardest to monetize, why Johnny thinks we systematically misread buyer psychology, and what Colleen Hoover's publisher is doing right that authors ought to emulate.
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Timestamps
00:00 Something Cool: Sean's castle in Ireland where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien used to meet (and yes, 666 acres of Celtic forest)
10:21 Something Cool: Dave's son discovers Seth Rogen, Martin Scorsese, and then Goodfellas via a Zane Lowe interview
12:09 Chris Stuckman's micro-budget horror film Shelby Oaks and what it means to take your shot 17:35 The main topic: what is back matter, and why does it matter more than anything else in your book
19:15 The Sterling & Stone back matter fail: the Crash/Threshold story
21:09 Back matter as catalog architecture: how books should know each other
25:00 Brandon Sanderson's back matter and why you're not him yet
27:04 What makes a standalone profitable vs. a reader dead-end
29:31 The leaking bathtub debate (Johnny officially retires the metaphor)
31:32 Don't make readers click twice: direct buy links, specific CTAs, order matters
36:10 Aging series and the dead link problem: Dave's website domain story
40:24 How often to audit your back matter (at least once a year)
41:29 What Colleen Hoover's publisher is doing that you should steal
43:03 Johnny on convention buyers vs. online buyers: why you keep assuming wrong things about your readers
51:33 One thing you can do right now: open your last book and read your own back matter like a stranger 53:11 Sean's final take: look at the actual page shipping under your name, then fix it
Resources Mentioned
The Smarter Artist Method by Sean Platt, free with Dispatch sign-up Back Matter Checklist, exclusive to Dispatch subscribers
Crash by David Wright
Threshold by Sean Platt
Pretty Killer by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant
Yesterday's Gone by Sean Platt and David Wright
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Shelby Oaks (film, dir. Chris Stuckman, produced with Mike Flanagan)
The Studio (Apple TV+) *
Platonic (Apple TV+)