The Smarter Artist Show

Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant, and David W. Wright—the trio behind the legendary Self-Publishing Podcast—are back. But the world of storytelling has changed, and so have they.

It's the same three voices you know, talking about the craft and commerce of storytelling — from the work we're creating to the TV and movies we can't stop thinking about. Shop talk for artists playing the long game in a creative world that never slows down.

If you've been here since the early days, welcome back.

If you're new, pull up a chair.

You're listening to The Smarter Artist Show.

Reader comments and questions (The Smarter Artist Show-38 ) 10/16/2026

Reader comments and questions (The Smarter Artist Show-38 ) In this episode, Dave digs into the YouTube comments and listener emails. The guys tackle everything from direct-to-reader store migrations and messy Amazon backlists to controversial AI thumbnails. Plus, a deep dive into world-building advice for aspiring writers, looking at cause, effect, and internal consistency. TIMESTAMPS 00:01 – Intro  03:44 – Something Cool:  Dave: Introducing his son to favorite horror films and the breakout star-making turn in Obsession (Indy Navaret).   Johnny: Finally reading Pierce Brown’s sci-fi/dystopian Red Rising series.   Sean: Celebrating the continued early momentum of the new direct-to-reader library. StoryKeepers Plus.   11:25 – Q&A: Why Isn't the Store on Sterling & Stone? Answering author Mark Oceans on why the new direct store lives on SeanPlatt.net instead of the main publisher site—cleaning up 15 years of digital detritus, shifting to a personal brand, and optimizing for relationship over volume.   17:48 – Whether generous backmatter costs readers or hurts the reading experience.   19:51 – Addressing listener critique: "The AI thumbnails are killing me. Sean agrees, while Dave laughs at how bad AI makes Sean look.   23:35 – Serialized Content vs. Limited Series: Breaking down critique of modern TV series serialization, greed-driven diluting of the middle, and why limited series (like *12* and *Pretty Killer*) are the ultimate storytelling sweet spot.   28:49 – The MCU of Podcast Lore: Sean’s inside jokes are the next target.   31:56 – Discussing RAM producer lawsuits, the cost of high-end generation, and a look at the phenomenal new human-guided, AI-assisted *Yesterday’s Gone* trailer built by friend and filmmaker Trevor.   38:39 – Why Dave loves Phantom of the Opera but refuses to watch La La Land.   41:01 – Answering a listener starting out with post-apocalyptic fanfic. Johnny, Sean, and Dave break down the pillars of world-building: big concepts, everyday survival, and why logical consistency and consequences (like in Dead City and The Beam) matter more than anything else.   Mentions From This Episode: Get Dave’s weekly essay/newsletter:   Check out the fiction library & StoryKeepers Plus:   Check out Johnny’s books at: Pierce Brown – Red Rising /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/43320209

Smarter Artist Show: 37 -- Selling Direct to Readers 10/08/2026

Smarter Artist Show: 37 -- Selling Direct to Readers Are you struggling to sell books at the big online stores? Perhaps it’s time to start selling directly to your readers. Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant talk about their experiences doing just that—the pros and the cons. They compare the tradeoffs between Amazon, KU, and direct stores, then discuss what it takes to build a storefront that feels more like a living catalog than a marketplace listing. Sean Platt shares why he is shifting toward direct sales, including better economics, stronger audience connection, and the ability to bundle, experiment, and control the customer experience. And why he’s modeling his website off of TV streamers, not other author sites. Johnny B. Truant explains that direct selling to readers takes work, but can feel more transparent and rewarding than relying on Amazon. LINKS: Sean’s site: Check out Story Keepers (all Sean’s books at one price) Johnny’s site: Hugh Howey’s free writing software Neo: BOOKS AND PODCASTS MENTIONED East of Eden by John Steinbeck Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters by John Steinbeck Scriptnotes: East of Eden with Zoe Kazan Timestamps 00:00 — Welcome and the episode topic: selling directly to readers SOMETHING COOLS 01:35 — Dave talks about the excellent Neo, Hugh Howey’s free writing software for writers. 04:42 — Safari, Riverside, and Johnny’s browser frustration 06:01 — Sean’s pick: Netflix’s *East of Eden* and why it matters to writers and how it shaped him as a writer. TOPIC OF THE SHOW: Direct Selling to Readers 11:17 — Why KU and Amazon have not fit Sean’s catalog 13:45 — Launching a direct store after years of false starts 14:58 — Johnny on not caring about Amazon and talking about what direct selling really requires 17:37 — Johnny raising print prices on Amazon and discovering what readers will actually pay 19:44 — The huge amount of prep behind a direct storefront 21:02 — Sean’s excitement about hearing from customers again 22:45 — Why Sean sees himself as a producer, not just an author 24:25 — A reader buys the whole library and validates the model 25:47 — Why having a home base matters before expanding outward 27:27 — Bundles, site-first releases, and how exclusives can work 29:49 — Feeling reconnected to art, commerce, and audience 32:12 — Why direct sales are not a universal answer 33:07 — KU still makes money, but not for Sean’s preferred writing style 34:23 — Stop hunting for one magic bullet 35:38 — Amazon’s customer experience versus the flexibility of a direct store 36:51 — Building the site like a streamer instead of a standard author page 37:17 — Barry Gordy, Motown, and the idea of art as a system 39:02 — Using chatbots and guided discovery to help readers navigate a huge catalog 40:11 — Backstory episodes, interviews, and added content around releases 41:41 — Experiments like a simple game and a 3D-built yacht as reader extras 42:36 — Where to find the direct stores and what comes next /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/43220683

The Smarter Artist Show-36 Mastering TV pilots with Spencer Robinson 10/02/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-35: What Makes a Great TV Pilot? 09/25/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-34: Alternate Endings "The Endless" 09/18/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-33: Alternate Endings--Ratatouille 09/11/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-32: Dave Screws Up the Show 09/04/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-31: Printer Has “Issue” With Johnny’s Book 08/28/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-30 (Alternate Endings: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) 08/21/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-29: What Should I Write? 08/14/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 28 - Alternate Endings: Train to Busan 07/31/2026

The Smarter Artist Show 27: Alternate Endings - Gone Girl 07/24/2026

The Smarter Artist Show-26: The Future of Story 07/17/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 25 - Alternate Endings - Tenet (Bonus Podcast) 07/10/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 24 - The Books We'd Build Different Now 07/03/2026

The Smarter Artist Show 23: Hypotheticals 2: Electric Boogaloo 06/26/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 22 - 20,000 Covers, One Lesson. 06/19/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 21 - The $800 Movie 06/12/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 20 - The Thing We Haven't Written Yet 06/05/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 20 - The Thing We Haven't Written Yet 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: Dave shows the journals. 03:30 — Something Cool (Sean): *The Next RenAIssance* by Zack Cass, recommended by Joanna Penn. AI in education and medicine, the case for augmentation, and why Sean thinks school would have worked for him in a different era. 11:36 — Sean publicly praises Dave's screenplay draft as the best rough draft he's ever turned in. 14:30 — What the screenplay feedback was actually about: showing vs. telling, and why a narcissist villain should never be too honest too fast. 16:40 — Something Cool (Dave): *Office Space* (1999), rewatched with his son. Beavis and Butt-Head, the Beavis reboot, and how Winger got cancelled by a cartoon. 25:55 — The actual topic: what is the thing you haven't written yet? Dave's project: a fantasy novel five years in journals, mythology without a single borrowed framework, an ensemble cast, and a central story element he won't reveal on air. 40:15 — Sean's project: the first book he ever wrote, started in 2007 during rest time at the preschool. A 600-page novel that tried to be a fictional *A Short History of Nearly Everything*. Books and Resources Mentioned The Next RenAIssance by Zack Cass (Joanna Penn recommendation) A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman The Dark Tower series by Stephen King The Smarter Artist Method by Sean Platt (leave a review on Amazon) Sign-Off CTA If this conversation gave you something to think about, you won't want to live without the Dispatch. Head to . Sign up and you'll get a copy of *The Smarter Artist Method* and the workbook. We'll see you in your inbox. /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/41546245

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 19 - Your Characters Are Assets. Are You Treating Them That Way? 05/29/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 19 - Your Characters Are Assets. Are You Treating Them That Way? 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 much more in this episode of The Smarter Artist Show. Timestamps 01:37 Episode intro: Your characters are assets. Are you treating them that way? 04:20 — Something Cool: Dave on Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (new Apple TV show, Tatiana Maslany) 09:04 — Sean's Something Cool: building custom apps with Claude, and why off-the-shelf task management never quite works for him. 10:00 — Johnny’s Something Cool - he’s doing an appearance at Comicapalooza in Houston. 21:34 — Sean on the Sterling & Stone AI hallucination problem (Forbes quoted something wrong; now the AI believes it) 24:00 — The actual topic: characters that become bigger than the story they inhabit 25:40 — Better Call Saul as the case study. Dave's original take: it'll never work 29:20 — Sean talks about Boricio Wolfe. Why it was their best example, and why it couldn't have been engineered? 34:00 — Sean on characters that take over shows they weren't written for. 40:00 — Johnny: what happens when the audience loves a character you don't? “Assholes are fun to write.” 41:00 — The likability question. Succession, Meyer Dempsey, and why some audiences reject complicated characters. 47:50 — Dave on what makes an unlikable character work for him, when the reader can understand or identify why they’re the way they are. 51:55 — Ending, theme song If this conversation gave you something to think about, you won't want to live without the Dispatch. Head to Sign up and you'll get two things right away: a copy of The Smarter Artist Method, and the workbook to help you get smarter, faster. We'll see you in your inbox. /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/41462390

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 18 - Write to Impress Your Collaborator 05/22/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 18 - Write to Impress Your Collaborator SUMMARY Sean, Dave, and Johnny open with Something Cool, including Sean's announcement that he's finished his first album and wants early listeners before it drops publicly next month. Then they get into the real subject: collaboration. How it starts, how it breaks, how it makes you better when it works, and what happens when you write with someone who can see your blind spots before you can. By the end of the episode, three collaborations are on the table. Sean and Dave on Yesterday's Gone. Sean and Johnny on The Beam, Unicorn Western, and Future of Sex. And the specific mechanics of how each partnership works differently, from character-by-character chapters to skeletal reference beats to the value of a calling out Sean’s old bobblehead ticks in the writing. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Cold open, Piss Daddy, the email, and why YouTube apparently wants them to lean into it 14:04 Something Cool: Johnny's early read of How Music Works by David Byrne 6:00 Dave's Something Cool: the TV show Something Bad Is Going to Happen, and the soulmate vs. soul match debate 14:31 Sean's Something Cool: Ethan's graduation, and the announcement that Sean's first album is done 20:01 How to get early access to Sean's album before it drops (reply to the Dispatch with one sentence) 25:21 The Piss Story, origins of Piss Daddy, and what it revealed about how well Sean actually reads Dave's work 28:14 How Dave and Sean's collaboration started, and what Dave's instincts gave Sean early on 29:57 The Ira Glass gap, pattern recognition, and the bobblehead note that cured Sean of a writing tick forever 33:06 How Sean and Johnny's collaboration process works, and how it's changed over 10+ years 35:18 Unicorn Western: the reference Western method and why they didn't hide the homage 36:05 The Beam's world-building and how Johnny invented Shift by interrogating the premise 43:06 Yesterday's Gone: how Dave and Sean each took characters independently, the serial killer collision, and the Boricio revelation. What a great collaboration actually demands: writing to impress your partner, not just your reader 48:45 The Future of Sex cliffhanger that cut off all possible escape routes, and why neither of them worried about it 50:54 Pattern Black, overbuilding, and when a collaboration spools out too much rope 52:11 Knowing your strengths and weaknesses as collaborators, and the new script Dave is nearly done with 56:35 Outro, Smarter Artist song LINKS MENTIONED How Music Works by David Byrne (book/audiobook): https://www.amazon.com/How-Music-Works-David-Byrne/dp/1938073533 Sean's album (early access): Reply to this week's Dispatch email with one sentence about why you want to hear it. Public release next month. Comic Palooza Houston (Johnny's appearance): https://comicpalooza.com FREE BOOK + DISPATCH If this conversation gave you something to think about, head to Sign up and you'll get a copy of The Smarter Artist Method and the workbook right away. Also: if you've read , a review on Amazon goes a long way. /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/41392745

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 17 — How to Write Fast (With or Without Robots) 05/15/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 17 — How to Write Fast (With or Without Robots) Dave spent twelve years writing bits and pieces of stories at a gas station. He never finished one. Sean spent three years nagging him to publish his first book. Now they've written more than 60 novels together. In this episode, Dave and Sean dig into the real reasons writers stall, why AI won't save you if your process is broken, and the one habit Sean says matters more than any tool or technique. WHAT THEY GET INTO The vomit pass. Sean breaks down the system he's used since his blogging days: brain drain first, clarify second, polish third. Never try to write something you're proud of on the first pass. That's what slows you down. AI as brainstorming partner, not ghostwriter. Sean makes the case that using AI to brainstorm, pressure-test outlines, or generate naming options isn't cheating. Dave disagrees. Loudly. The argument is one of the better ones they've had, and Sean eventually lands on the real point: you're cheating yourself when you make obstacles out of things that aren't your superpower. Dave's fantasy novel. He's been world-building in journals for five or six years. He still hasn't named the continents. Sean has opinions about this, especially after Dave rejected the solution in front of him. The consistency principle. Sean writes every single day, not because he loves every session, but because stopping means starting over. Twenty minutes a day beats two hours once a week, every time. The million-word year that wasn't. Sean challenged Dave to write a million words in a year. They wrote 30k. The book: How to Write Fast (With or Without Robots)* is available now at The Dispatch: Weekly newsletter with a story, a pattern, a reframe, and a shift, every Friday. Free at . Subscribers get a copy of The Smarter Artist Method at signup. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Into SOMETHING COOL 2:00 — Sean talks “Beef” and Dave talks about his love for Grimace. 8:00 — Dave talks about Apple TV’s “Widow Bay” 12:40 — The topic of the show — writing fast, and updating the book “How to Write Fast” with advice on using AI in the planning process. 20:00 — Dave talks about his fantasy series he’s been planning for 5-6 years. Dave and Sean then argue over whether it’s okay to use AI to name towns and cities in his book. Dave would like to, but feels like it’s cheating. Sean has a different opinion. This argument goes on for some time! 37:00 — Sean talks about how he came up as a writer and how he got so fast. He talks about some of the methods that have helped him write millions of words. /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/41305505

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 16 - Your Back Matter Is Costing You Readers (And You Don't Even Know It) 05/08/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 16 - Your Back Matter Is Costing You Readers (And You Don't Even Know It) Sean, 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. Get your weekly Dispatch here: 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+) /episode/index/show/selfpublishingpodcast/id/41213850

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 15 - The Smarter Artist Method 05/01/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 14 - Writing Tomorrow When Tomorrow Is Already Here 04/24/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 13 - Claude Interviews Us 04/17/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 12 - Maturing as Storytellers 04/10/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 11 - Making Habits as a Writer 04/03/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 10 - Editing a Movie Script 03/27/2026

The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 9 - Reclaiming Your 1,000 True Fans 03/20/2026

The Smarter Artist Show

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