Mark Manson

The advice that sells is the advice that doesn't work

Manson argues that across diet, fitness, and self-help, the sexy '3-step model that works every time' sells millions but is counterproductive. The advice that actually works is boring: doing the simple thing consistently over a long time.

“There's a weird thing that happens in a lot of these industries, which is the concepts and frameworks that sell well are often counterproductive. Right. And you see this in diet, nutrition. You see this in exercise for sure. You see this in social skills, personal development, self-help.”

Write 100 blog posts, then come ask me again

Manson's standard answer to anyone asking how to grow a blog (and MrBeast's near-verbatim answer on videos): go produce 100 posts trying to make each better, then return. It builds reps and filters out the unserious.

“My answer was always the same, which is like, write 100 blog posts, come ask me again. Right.”

Steal thisBefore seeking advice on a creative craft, ship 100 reps trying to improve each one; most questions answer themselves.

Be the Bill Simmons of your niche: one epic post, not 20 scraps

Against the blog-era meta of posting 20 short items a day for SEO and blogroll links, Manson modeled himself on Bill Simmons' Page 2 column: one epic 10-page post readers schedule their week around. It hurt short-term reach but built loyalty and later became the meta.

“So like the, the standard advice was always, you know, don't write one big blog post a day, write 20, 20 single paragraphs and post those as individual blog posts each day. It just, that's what's going to make you grow. And I always hated that. That always felt very shitty and uninspiring. And so, and I loved Bill Simmons and I was like, man, I want to be the Bill Simmons of my industry, right? Like, I want to have these like epic 10-page posts that, that guys just get lost in”

Steal thisBet on a few epic, beloved pieces over high-volume scraps; depth builds a loyal audience that schedules their week around you.

The '10-year overnight success' of The Subtle Art

When The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck topped bestseller lists, the publishing industry called Manson an overnight success and debut author. He'd actually been grinding on a blog for 10 years first.

“like when Subtle Art came out and it blew up and it was like at the top of all the bestseller lists and stuff, like everybody in the publishing industry were like, oh, you're like the new phenom, debut author, overnight success. And I was like, overnight success? I've been fucking grinding on a blog for 10 years. Like, what do you mean overnight success?”

'No, you don't': the stepmom who refused to believe he made $100k

Around 2013-14 with a few hundred thousand readers, Manson's stepmom pushed him to get a 'real job' as a web designer making maybe $100k. When he said he already made $100k as a blogger, she flatly replied 'No, you don't.'

“And she's like, oh, you could probably make $100,000 a year. I was like, I already make $100,000 a year. And she just looked at me and she goes, no, you don't.”

MrBeast for self-help: pay people $10k to fix their own lives on camera

Manson's YouTube format pays a struggling person a cash reward to go do the hard behavioral work they've always avoided. Financial incentive is the most effective lever for behavior change, and filming it both solves the coaching incentive problem and makes transformative content.

“Or you could say, I'll give you $1,000 if you go do it and fix your own shit. Right? Like, what does that look like? Right? Like, what is like the most effective lever for behavior change is financial incentive. And so what if you actually create financial incentive for people to actually go deal with their shit and like do the things that they've always known that they need to do and they've just never had the guts to do it. And so that's when I was like, holy shit.”

Steal thisTurn a coaching/transformation niche into a MrBeast-style challenge series: pay subjects to do the hard thing on camera; the content funds the payout.

No therapy modality has more than a 50% hit rate

Manson says the research on therapy is startling: no form of therapy produces positive outcomes more than 50% of the time, despite therapy being the go-to, 200-year-old default for mental health.

“There's no form of therapy that is successful, like produces positive outcomes more than 50% of the time, which is crazy because it's like therapy is like the most tried and true. Like we've had it for 200 years.”

Why a YouTube channel beats a movie: better economics and ownership

After his movie press tour, Manson's takeaway was to make a YouTube channel instead of another film. The creator economy has fundamentally better economics, far better distribution, complete ownership, and full creative freedom.

“The economics of the creator economy are fundamentally better. The distribution is miles better. You have like complete ownership. There's complete creative freedom. Like I, I just don't see how this doesn't end up ahead in 10 years.”

Creators will drive culture over Hollywood within the decade

Manson predicts video/audio media will hit the same inflection newspapers hit versus Twitter and Substack: legacy outlets stay prestigious but creators come to drive culture. He says for under-25s it has already happened.

“But like culture is going to be driven by like it probably within this decade, creators, they're going to grow up for one. Uh, and two, the production value is going to get better. The storytelling is going to get better and it's going to, it's going to hit an inflection point where it starts driving culture and not the traditional media.”

How 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck' title was born

Manson kept a running list of article ideas and had discovered that putting 'fuck' in a title made posts travel further. The phrasing came from a Lamb of God song, 'The Subtle Art of Murder and Persuasion,' which he adapted into his most famous title.

“there was a heavy metal song, uh, from a band called Lamb of God. They had a, they had a song called The Subtle Art of Murder and Persuasion. And, um, and at that time I had just done, I think, two different articles with fuck in the title. Like, I, I had just kind of discovered that if you put fuck in the title, it would go further.”

'The Most Important X' headline always works

Manson's reusable headline pattern: framing a piece as 'The Most Important Question/X of Your Life' reliably pulls readers because they have to check what you think they're missing.

“Yeah, the most important X, uh, like it's, it's, it's always going to work.”

Steal thisUse the 'The Most Important [X] of Your Life' headline frame to trigger curiosity readers can't ignore.

Manson's blog peaked at ~2.5M visitors a month

Describing the early-2010s blogging era when a blog could break past its niche into a mainstream audience, Manson says his blog peaked at roughly 2 to 2.5 million visitors a month.

“Whereas 10 years ago, I mean, I think at my peak I was getting like 2, 2.5 million visitors a month.”

Will Smith's 'delusionally positive' psychological immune system

From co-writing Will Smith's book, Manson describes him as exactly like the Fresh Prince and extreme on charisma. Smith's negativity-deflecting positivity, built as a survival mechanism in an abusive childhood, fuels relentlessness but also leaves him untethered when problems genuinely need facing.

“His mind is, is very almost delusionally positive. Like he kind of has this like, you know, we all have a little bit of a, the psychologist Dan Gilbert calls it a psychological immune system, which is like when bad things happen, we kind of like rationalize or explain them in a way that, you know, makes us feel better or helps us. His psychological immune system, like it's just negativity just bounces right off him.”

'Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck' sold ~14M copies

Shaan estimates Mark Manson's book has sold around 14 million copies, with the author earning roughly $2-$3 per copy, implying $30M+ in author earnings. The point: a great book on top of a huge audience can be wildly lucrative.

“but The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck has sold something like 14 million copies, and Mark probably makes $2 or $3 a copy.”