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How to Write for a Living · Aug 2, 2026

415: Scrubs, self-publishing, and making the coolest thing possible (with Shea Serrano)

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David McIlroy, Shea Serrano · How to Write for a Living

🚨 Doors are officially open for my Velocity group coaching programme. Weekly live sessions, 1-to-1s with me, and a full 12 months of building alongside people who actually get what you're doing. If you're done figuring everything out alone, find out more and apply here.

Season 4, episode 15 is here!

Shea Serrano taught middle school in Houston for nine years before freelancing turned into New York Times bestsellers, TV shows, and a Substack pulling in serious numbers.

Along the way he built his own fake publishing company and figured out exactly where the money in books actually goes. This one covered a lot of ground (and a fair bit of Scrubs!).

What we covered:

  • How Shea went from freelancing for anyone who’d have him to the moment top-tier editors told him he could make a real career out of it.

  • The single most important lesson he took from working with Bill Simmons that still shapes everything he makes.

  • The royalty statement that made him realise something was very wrong with how book money gets split, and what he did about it.

  • Why he started selling essay collections directly through Gumroad and how that became a whole publishing operation.

  • His theory on why certain shows and albums imprint on us so deeply, and why nothing quite replaces them.

  • What he looks for in every movie, show, and book he consumes, and the horror film this year that delivered it perfectly.

  • His honest take on the new season of Scrubs, what it got right, and the one thing he wishes had been different.

You can find Shea at Good Movie on Substack.

I’m ready and waiting to support you in the next stages of your creator journey. Here’s a reminder of how I can help:

🤝 Work with me: I offer two ways to work together: Catalyst Club (my private community with regular group sessions, collaboration opportunities and 1-on-1 calls) and Velocity (my 12-month group coaching programme, complete with weekly live sessions and 3 one-to-ones with me, for creators ready to build something real). Find out more here.

📺 YouTube: Head to my YouTube channel for hundreds of unfiltered conversations on creativity, strategy, and building a life that doesn’t require permission. Watch and subscribe here.

Read the original on thedavidmcilroy.substack.com

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