You know what's wild?

There are people who hired a marketing agency six months ago, and I still haven’t seen a single post, a single website update, nothing.

I've seen authors hire friends to do a simple photoshoot last year, they are still waiting on those edits.

Afraid to ask because it may rub the friend the wrong way.

Listen, this is not a game; your work matters, and you need your deliverables yesterday.

Most authors are stuck waiting.

Waiting on freelancers who’ve never sold high-ticket offers. Never stood on a stage. Never built a real platform for thought leadership.

Yeah, technically, anyone can “do marketing.” But when your goals involve books, clients, and $8K speaking gigs, random deliverables from disconnected vendors won’t cut it.

Meanwhile, you’re out here exhausted, trying to do everything:

Be everywhere. Sound “on-brand.” Stay visible. Stay relevant. Stay consistent.

All while drowning in invisible pressure and asking ChatGPT the same questions every week:

“How do I build a platform that actually brings in clients?”
“What can I post that doesn’t feel cringey or salesy?”
“How do I talk about my book without sounding like I’m just promoting myself?”

Even when the answers are decent, let’s be real: It still feels like a solo mission.

You might take a few steps. But without clarity and momentum, everything stalls.

You second-guess. You pause. And eventually, you tell yourself it didn’t work.

Let me tell you something I had to learn the hard way.

Strategy is important.

But without accountability, focus, and clear next steps, strategy dies on your desktop.

That’s why having the right support system matters. Not just someone who knows marketing, but someone who gets your world, your audience, and what it takes to grow an author brand that converts.

Working with authors after launching my book and working at a hybrid publishing company made me realize that many don't have a go-to marketing team that supports them.

So many non-fiction authors don't get much support from a traditional publishing house, let alone one where you pay to play.

It's why I started Rising Authors two years ago. I knew this work was and continues to be more critical.

No Budget, No Sleep, No Guarantees (Just Fire)

"Hussein, the fastest way to where you want to go is slowly." - Dad

Two years ago, around this time, I was laid off from the publishing company where I really wanted to grow.

Things happen. It was a bit ugly, though. Many of my colleagues got on a call one afternoon and were told the bad news.

Luckily, I was already planning and doing side work with authors around marketing. I knew I wanted to do my own thing one day.

I didn't realize that one day would be right after that call.

I was upset, so I turned off the Zoom call before it ended. I scribbled "Rising Authors" on a piece of paper.

I knew exactly what to do next.

I made a video at that time. I wanted to document the moment, share, and launch Rising Authors. You can view that here

There were nights I sat up editing websites at 2 a.m. Building proposals and decks when we didn’t have enough clients to justify a team.

Burning through early mornings like fuel, just to keep momentum alive. Falling asleep at my desk. Waking up and hitting “record” anyway.

There was no back-up plan. Only a vision, a van, an author marketing gameplan and the belief that authors deserve better.

No agency model. No ads. No investor deck.

Just one man with a laptop, and a mission to help nonfiction authors build real brands, not just sell books.

And it worked. But not because of the hustle. Because of the heart.

I leaned into the pain.

The growing pains of scaling a service-based business.

The vulnerability of hiring people when you’re not sure the revenue is there yet.

The trust it takes to stop doing everything yourself.

The scary moment when you stop calling it a side hustle and admit:

“This is my life’s work now.”

I'm sharing this video below soon to do a full recap! Stay tuned.

This Week, I'm Celebrating in the Most Beautiful Way I Know How

Two years into building Rising Authors, I’m hitting a milestone that has nothing to do with revenue or reach.

I’m sitting beside my wife, Hannah, as we prepare for the biggest moment of our lives, welcoming our son into the world.

The bags are packed. The car is cleaned with a car seat. The bassinet is built.

And somehow, between late-night editing and brand strategy calls, it’s real now.

I’m about to become a father.

And this brand? It was the dry run. The warm-up set. The proof that I could build something that mattered, that lasted, that could support more than just a dream, but a family.

This week, I’m celebrating what we’ve already built. And how we built it.

With no shortcuts. With no paid ads. Just resilience, clarity, and relentless service.

The Team I Lean On (Now More Than Ever)

I used to think asking for help was a weakness. Now I know it’s the foundation of strength.

Because I couldn’t run Rising Authors today without the people holding it down behind the scenes. This is my team:

Anna – My admin and right hand, who keeps the whole machine moving while I try to do three things at once
Aldo + Rebecca – My design dream team who bring brand stories to life visually—clean, modern, magnetic
Abbas – My go-to for everything technical, from custom builds to digital wizardry that makes us look ten times bigger than we are
Julie – Our newest creative force, producing video content that brings emotion, movement, and power to every frame
Greg Giuliano – My mentor, my sounding board, and the person who keeps my leadership grounded in coaching, not ego

And of course, Hannah, my wife and first teammate.

She believed in me before I had the words to say, “I’m going all in.”

She believed in Rising Authors when it was just an idea scribbled in a journal. And when I wanted to sell the REA-Van, she refused. She knew this brand wasn’t just mine, it was something worth building.

The Process That Built the Platform

Rising Authors isn’t a side gig. It’s a living, breathing ecosystem that took everything I had to build. And it's finally standing tall.

My website is no longer just a landing page, it’s a full home for authors ready to grow.
My newsletter is where the unfiltered truth lives, strategy, storytelling, and soul.
My podcast brings raw conversations into the van and out into the world.
My YouTube channel is becoming the library of author marketing I wish existed when I started.
My content flywheel is finally working. We film, we clip, we post. We repurpose with purpose.

But don’t get it twisted, none of it came easy.

There were stacked journals filled with crossed-out goals and Hail Mary plans. Weekends sacrificed.

Late nights with coffee and the full Adobe suite crashing my laptop.

Early mornings, writing landing pages while the world slept.

Moments of doubt that tasted a lot like failure—but weren’t. They were compost. Fuel for the roots.

Now? We’ve got soil. We’ve got strategy. We’ve got systems.

We’ve got a real brand. And that means I can do something I never could before:

Take Fridays off. Be present. Record only the podcast episodes that light me up. Design my days around service and still get sleep.

Entrepreneurship used to feel like survival. Now, it feels like stewardship.

The Book That Changed Everything: Who, Not How

There’s one book I return to over and over again like scripture. Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

This book cracked something open in me.

It taught me:

Every time I asked, “How do I do this?” I was slowing down my growth.

When I finally leaned on who's, designers, editors, project managers, and video producers, the work got better. Cleaner. Sharper. More creative. More me, because I wasn’t burnt out trying to be everything at once.

Building Rising Authors wasn’t about adding more skills. It was about letting go of control and stepping into leadership.

That’s where freedom lives.

We can be your WHO for your author brand, which I'm proud of.

Building Infrastructure, Not Just Inspiration

This isn’t about vanity metrics. We don’t do viral content for the sake of dopamine. We build the bones of real author brands.

That means:

Clarity-first strategy
Messaging frameworks
Lead magnets that actually lead somewhere
Websites that convert
Content plans that don’t burn you out
Video production that tells your story with soul

We now offer content management, podcast building, and YouTube growth systems for authors who are done DIY-ing and ready to lead.

This is about turning your ideas into income and your story into infrastructure.

Behind the Mic with Kelly Mackin

In the newest episode of The Rising Author Experience, I sat down with my friend Kelly Mackin, founder of Motives Met and a real innovator in how we think about energy, team dynamics, and culture.

Kelly doesn’t separate business from humanity. She teaches leaders how to feel again, and build cultures where performance doesn’t come at the cost of well-being.

In our conversation, we covered:

The difference between burnout and misalignment
How authorpreneurs can manage their energy, not just their calendar
Why clarity in your inner work leads to better leadership in your brand
How to build a team that runs on purpose, not pressure

Listen to the full episode here.

To My Team, My Clients, and My Family, Thank You!

You’ve given me space to lead. To experiment. To mess up. To get better. To keep going.

To my clients, you trusted me with your message before I had a fully built machine. To my team, you showed up with creativity, consistency, and commitment. To my friends, you reminded me to rest. And to my wife, you never let me forget why I started.

When you're ready, I have three ways I can support your author brand:

Power Pack Pro Build a strong brand foundation with a strategic site, clear offer, and personalized coaching.

Power Pack Boost Expand your reach with full-funnel marketing, LinkedIn growth, and content systems.

Power Pack Ultra Launch your book and brand with a complete done-for-you growth strategy.

DM if you want to learn more.

-Hussein

How I Turned Rock Bottom Into a Brand That Changed My Life