Note: As I send this, I’m waiting on my second perfect grandbebe to make his appearance. Today, actually. Happy early birthday to me on Friday! That only means that if you reply to this note that I won’t reply until next week—with a smile on my face and a burp cloth over my shoulder. —Chelle (Elowyn and Kieran’s Mimi)
Remember that notebook you kept for about three weeks where you’d scribble down recipes, phone numbers, and the occasional existential crisis? That’s what this newsletter was for me. A digital notebook where I documented my automation experiments, tracked what broke (spoiler: lots), and kept notes on systems that actually worked.
I never meant to build a thing. I was just trying to keep my own business from falling apart.
Here’s what happened: I started sharing those notes publicly. Not because I had all the answers, but because writing things down in public meant I had to explain them clearly enough that Future Me wouldn’t want to throw Past Me out a window. The accountability of an audience — even a small one — forced me to be precise about my workflows, honest about my failures, and specific about what actually moved the needle. And somewhere between the experiments and the explanations, I developed a reputation for making automation actually make sense.
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Then you all showed up. And started using the stuff. And asking questions. Smart questions that made me think harder about the systems I was building.
The Problem with Scattered Pieces Over the last year, this little documentation project morphed into something else entirely. I found myself on stages at conferences, running webinars from my home office (yes, the one where I can reach my superautomatic espresso machine without standing up), and leading in-person trainings where people actually took notes. Real notes. With pens and everything. Three months overseas this summer alone, talking automation with authors from London to Edinburgh to Porto to Amsterdam.
Each event created more content. Each webinar spawned new workflows. Each training session revealed gaps in what authors needed versus what the tech world was offering. And all of this knowledge, all these resources, all these carefully crafted automations lived… everywhere. And nowhere.
The webinar replays lived on one platform. The workflow files on another. The prompts in various Google Docs (labeled with my excellent naming convention of “Final_FINAL_v3_ACTUALLY_FINAL”). The community discussions happened in email threads, DMs, and the occasional conference hallway. It was like trying to run a library where half the books were in your car, a quarter were at your friend’s house, and the rest were scattered across three different coffee shops.
Substack has been a faithful companion in this journey. It gets words from my brain to your inbox with minimal friction. But here’s the thing about Substack (and they’d probably agree with this): it’s newsletter software wearing a fancy outfit. It’s brilliant at what it does — delivering content to subscribers. But it’s not a home. It’s not a headquarters. It’s not a place where you can walk in, grab what you need, ask a question, and know exactly where everything lives.
The Thing I Swore I’d Never Build I’ve been in tech long enough to develop a healthy skepticism about “hubs” and “platforms” and “all-in-one solutions.” They usually translate to “mediocre at everything, excellent at nothing.” But after the fifteenth email asking where to find that one workflow from that one webinar three months ago (you know the one), I realized we needed something different.
Not another course platform. Not another community forum. Not another resource library. We needed a proper headquarters where automation-curious authors could find what they need without having to remember which platform, which login, which folder, which version.
So I built it. The Author Automations Hub . (Yes, the name is straightforward. No, I’m not apologizing for the alliteration.)
What Actually Lives in This Hub The Hub isn’t trying to be everything. It’s trying to be the specific things you’ve told me you need over hundreds of conversations, troubleshooting sessions, and “quick questions” that turned into hour-long strategy discussions.
Workflows That Actually Work
Every Zapier automation, Make.com scenario, and n8n workflow I’ve built will live here. Not as PDFs you have to squint at. Not as screenshots that miss the crucial step. These are importable files you can grab, upload to your account, and modify for your business. Each one comes with documentation written in actual English (novel concept, I know) explaining what it does, why you’d want it, and how to customize it without breaking everything. If they change, it’s updated automatically.
The workflows aren’t theoretical. They’re the ones running in my business right now. The email sequences that handle my newsletter. The social media automations that keep my presence consistent even when I’m deep in a project. The email management systems that answer my emails. The faceless video creation. The dictation sequence that loops in editors and documents Notion.
Prompts Without the Fluff
Everyone’s selling prompt packs these days. Fifty thousand prompts for every possible scenario including “write like Shakespeare having a bad day.” The Hub has the prompts I actually use. The ones that generate newsletter content that sounds like me (or you, once you tweak them). The ones that help create marketing copy that converts without sounding like a used car salesman. The ones that turn transcripts into usable content without losing your voice in the process.
Each prompt comes with examples of input and output, plus notes on how to modify them for different genres, audiences, and purposes. Because a romance author’s newsletter voice is wildly different from a thriller writer’s social media presence, and pretending otherwise is how we end up with robots talking to robots.
Tutorials That Assume You Have a Life
Video tutorials in the Hub respect your time. They show you exactly what to click, in what order, without fifteen-minute introductions about why automation matters. You already know it matters. That’s why you’re here.
I’m moving all the webinar replays, tech tool overviews, and training videos here. It’ll take a minute, so if you don’t see it yet, be patient.
Events Without the FOMO
Register for webinars, workshops, and intensives in the Hub. You’ll get an email confirmation, reminders 24 and 1 hour before, and a note with its replay, its resources, and its follow-up materials. No more scrolling through emails trying to find that one link. No more wondering if you missed the replay window. No more FOMO because you were actually writing (imagine that) during the live session.
Upcoming events are listed with clear descriptions of what we’ll cover, who it’s for, and what you’ll be able to do afterward. Because “learn about automation” is not a helpful event description. “Build an automated review request system that doesn’t annoy your readers” tells you exactly what you’re getting.
The Social Scheduler That Doesn’t Judge
At authorautomations.social (yes, we have our own social media domain because why not), you’ll find a scheduling tool that posts to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Bluesky. All from one place. Without logging into eight different platforms. Without remembering eight different optimal posting times.
This is actually a separate SaaS product — a full social media scheduling platform that happens to play beautifully with automations. Hub subscribers get it included (because of course you do). But here’s the thing: even if you don’t care about workflows or automations, even if the word “Zapier” makes you nervous, you can grab just the social scheduler for $39/month and call it a day.
The automation angle makes it particularly powerful. Connect it to your blog’s RSS feed and watch your new posts automatically queue up for sharing. Set up templates for different content types — cover reveals, review quotes, newsletter reminders — and reuse them with two clicks instead of twenty. Build a library of evergreen content that cycles through automatically, keeping your feeds active even when you’re deep in deadline cave.
The scheduler alone might be worth the price of admission. Getting it bundled with all the Hub resources just means you’re either very smart or very lucky. Probably both.
A Community That Gets It
The Hub’s community space isn’t another Facebook group where your questions get buried under seventeen “QOTD: What’s your favorite writing snack?” posts. It’s organized by topic, searchable by problem, and populated by people who understand that “just hire a VA” isn’t helpful advice for everyone.
You can post your workflow and ask why it’s not triggering. You can share the automation that changed your business. You can search for solutions others have already figured out. And yes, you can celebrate when you finally get that complex scenario working (we all know that specific joy).
The Boring but Important Details Let’s talk money and logistics because transparency beats surprise charges every time.
On October 1, the monthly subscription for new members jumps from $7 to $39. That’s not a typo. It’s a recognition of what this has become versus what it started as. The Hub isn’t a newsletter anymore. It’s a full platform with tools, resources, and support that actually run significant parts of your author business.
Current paid subscribers keep their existing price as long as they keep their current subscription active. No grandfather clause that expires in six months. No “promotional period” that secretly ends. You supported this when it was just my public notebook, and I’m not about to penalize you for being early. Keep your subscription current, keep your rate.
Everyone currently on this list — paid or free — gets imported into the Hub automatically. You don’t need to create a new account, remember another password, or jump through any hoops. Same email, same access, just more capabilities.
Free subscribers stay free. You’ll still get the weekly newsletter, still be part of the conversation, still have access to the free resources. The upgrade option remains available, but after October 1 it’ll be at the $39 rate. Lock in the $7 monthly rate now if you want full Hub access. No pressure, just math.
Beta Mode: Where We Are Right Now The Hub is in beta as I write this. That’s tech speak for “it works but I’m still fixing the squeaky parts.” October 1 is when everything goes fully live, fully functional, fully ready for you to use without wondering if that button actually does anything.
Beta also means I’m currently loading all the workflows, prompts, and tutorials from their previous homes. Think of it like moving into a new house — the structure’s solid, but I’m still carrying boxes from the truck and figuring out whether the lamp looks better next to the bed or on the dresser. Hang in there while I get everything arranged in its logical spot.
Why This Matters More Than Another Platform Launch Automation today is the dumbest it will ever be. Think about that for a second. The tools available right now, as powerful as they seem, are the Model T version of what’s coming. AI is evolving at a pace that makes monthly updates feel like geological ages. The platforms are adding features faster than their own documentation can keep up.
You could wait for things to stabilize. You could wait for the “perfect” tool. You could wait for automation to become so simple that it requires no learning curve at all. But while you’re waiting, your competitors (yes, other authors are competitors for reader attention) are building systems that free them up to write more, market better, and serve their readers consistently.
The Hub isn’t about keeping up with every new shiny tool. It’s about mastering the fundamentals that remain true regardless of which platform is trending. It’s about building systems that work whether AI can summarize your blog posts or write your entire marketing plan. It’s about creating workflows that scale with your career, not ones you have to rebuild every time you level up.
The Part Where I Pretend This Was All Part of a Master Plan Truth is, I never intended to build a platform. I was perfectly happy with my public notebook approach, sharing what worked and what didn’t, helping where I could. But you all had different ideas. You pushed this project into something bigger through your questions, your challenges, and your willingness to try things that seemed a little crazy.
Every author who sent me their broken workflow taught me something about how to teach better. Every question about “but what if my situation is different because…” helped me build more flexible systems. Every success story showed me what was possible when writers stopped treating technology as the enemy and started treating it as the assistant they couldn’t afford to hire.
The Author Automations Hub exists because of those conversations. It’s built on the real problems you’ve shared, not the theoretical ones I imagined authors might have. It’s designed for the workflows you actually need, not the ones that look impressive in demos but fall apart in daily use.
Your Next Move If you’re a current paid subscriber, do nothing. Your access continues, your price stays the same, and the Hub features will simply appear in your account. Keep being awesome.
If you’re a free subscriber enjoying the current content, you have options. Stay free and keep getting the newsletter — it’s not going anywhere. Or lock in the $7 monthly rate before October 1 for full Hub access. After that, it’s $39 monthly. Your choice, your timeline.
If you’re a free subscriber who’s been meaning to upgrade, now’s the time. Lock in the current rate before October 1. Get immediate access to everything in beta. Start building workflows that actually work. https://authorautomations.com/subscribe
If you’re reading this because someone forwarded it to you (hi, thanks to your smart friend), subscribe free first, explore what we’re about, then decide if the full Hub makes sense for your business.
The Real Bottom Line This project started as a notebook and became something I never expected: a legitimate resource that helps authors run their businesses better. The Hub is my commitment to keeping it organized, accessible, and actually useful. Not perfect. Not revolutionary. Just useful.
We’re building something that recognizes the reality of author life. You’re not just a writer. You’re a business owner, a marketer, a project manager, and about seventeen other job titles you never signed up for. The Hub exists to make those other jobs easier so you can focus on the one job that matters most: writing stories that matter.
October 1, everything changes. But also, nothing changes. You’ll still get the same straight talk, practical workflows, and occasional sass. You’ll just get it in a place built specifically for what you need, how you need it, when you need it.
Welcome to the Author Automations Hub. Let’s build something that actually works.
— Chelle
P.S. Seriously, current paid subscribers, your price is locked as long as you keep your subscription active. No action needed. No secret price increases. No “oops, we meant to tell you” emails. You backed this when it was just an idea, and I don’t forget that.
P.P.S. The social scheduler at authorautomations.social is in final stages (waiting on Meta’s approval, which should clear by October 1). I’ll keep you posted if there are any delays. Once it’s live, scheduling a month of content in twenty minutes will make manual posting feel like churning butter by hand.
Author Automations is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.