Happy Sunday!

It's been a wild start to the year. Book press, trade shows, unchecked fascism, oh my!

I got to spend this past week with my CNET team at CES, a global consumer tech trade show in Las Vegas. And tomorrow, I hop on a plane for book commitments in two cities, Boise and San Francisco, to continue promoting Money Proud, my first book. If you're reading it, tagged posts and reviews are helpful! And if you haven't picked it up yet, ​you can grab a copy here.​

First, I want to address some other news that happened this week -- and why our work is so important.

After an ICE officer ​shot and killed a woman​ in Minneapolis on Wednesday, right-wing broadcast media wasted no time ​characterizing her queer identity as a threat.​ Fox News' Jesse Watters sneered at her sharing of her pronouns in bio and referred to her wife as her lesbian partner, a subtle dig at the validity of same-sex marriage. One day prior, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ​referred​ to her as a domestic terrorist, despite no evidence.

Many say they're shocked. But queer people are not shocked. The trope of "queer people are a threat / mentally ill / mentally deficient / lesser than in society" has been used against us throughout modern history, and continues to be used against us daily in many countries across the world.

If you are outside the U.S., I encourage you to read up on this incident. And if you are here, I encourage you to not shy away from news, but rather consume it, absorb it, reflect on it, and determine any actions you want to take. Quality information sources matter right now.

I choose to envision a future in which queer people being othered, dismissed, and oppressed is no longer our default way of thinking and being. This means calling out dogwhistles and helping others hear them, too. When we take back control of our hearts, minds, and wallets, we progress toward the future we want in the time we have on this Earth.

Newsletter's late today because I wanted to say something about this; thanks for reading.

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—Nick

Commentary

Field notes, Jan 11

A few friends have asked me what it feels like to launch a book. It’s been great— and busy!

Today is day 13, and one of my goals is to deliver a strong earned media footprint this first month, so I’m keeping other content and commentaries to a minimum.

A few field notes I had for us:

Think about what you want people to know first. I made a new “about me” video social media post and a book graphic post at the beginning of the year, then pinned them. I tailored the captions to users new to me, who I am, and what I do. Those posts are getting embedded in various press pickups, without me doing anything.

• ​Here's a roundup in Queerty​, an LGBTQ+ digital media publication, in which the media in my listicle is the pinned book graphic from my Instagram profile.

Make it easy for outside sources to amplify you and reach you. I use a separate email alias for Contact Me comms. This is in my Instagram link in bio tool, as well as the ​media page​ of my website. My media page exists to give outside sources the assets they need, and helps with brand and image consistency.

Try new things. My most-distributed post on Instagram wasn’t a video; it was ​an image meme​. I don't know if this is an effective distribution formula, and I certainly won't be making a half-baked online course on "the one triple-secret method to go viral on Instagram they don't want you to know". But many say video is the only thing that works on social anymore, and that has not been true for me.

Maybe we should all just time travel back to 2010 when cringe was acceptable and people were just trying stuff online for the sake of learning.

If it takes two minutes or less, do it now. Hate this tip... and am sad to report it works. A lot of my highest-value tasks right now are getting back to people, outreach, and comms. This is different from my usual routine of writing and thinking. My focus right now is on staying agile.

Tell people what you want them to do. All help is welcome! And... the kind of help that produces meaningful, tangible support right now is (1) buying Money Proud, (2) posting about it and tagging me, (3) leaving reviews on ​Amazon​ or ​Goodreads​. If you feel so inclined, help out!

Big output means big rest. Especially with this gahdamned flu making the rounds. I am being super diligent with health and energy. I’m saying no to people, setting really firm boundaries, and ruffling some feathers along the way.

• I also don't want to be this "optimized" 24/7/365 in the way the creator economy often preaches. It's a bit antisocial for me.

Deep, thoughtful IP lasts for miles and miles.Money Proud is built around one framework. Framework development takes a lot of time and deep thought, but I have so much to springboard off of now.

• Keep working on that deep, hard project—you’ll thank yourself later.
  

Hot Links

What happened this week

Disclosure: I work at Ziff Davis, the parent company of CNET, Mashable, PCMag, Lifehacker, and ZDNET, and equalpride, the parent company of Out magazine and The Advocate.

AI and future tech

​Official Best of CES 2026 Awards: 22 Winners and Best Overall, Awarded by CNET Group.​ I left CNET's editorial division in 2024, but got to see this process unfold; it was pretty epic. Also see the shit-ton of stories that were published ​here.​

​AI Deepfakes Are Impersonating Pastors to Try to Scam Their Congregations.​Logical, but sad. (Kat Tenbarge | WIRED)

​The nudes being generated on Grok are far more violent than what's actually on X, per a WIRED investigation.​ (Matt Burgess, Maddy Varner | WIRED)

​How to Vibe Code: 5 Simple Tips for Using AI to Become a Programmer.​ (Emily Forlini | PCMag)

LGBTQ

​Everything We Know About the ICE Killing of Renée Nicole Good.​ (Samantha Riedel | them)

​Hudson Williams says closeted athletes have reached out to him.​ (Moises Mendez II | Out)

​Viral gay couple 'got a lot of hate' for NYE kiss. They'd do it again.​ (Moises Mendez II | Out)

​GLAAD announced their nominees for the annual GLAAD media awards.​ Go here if you want to read some absolutely outstanding storytelling and journalism from the past year. (GLAAD)

​A primer on LGBTQ+ rights in Venezuela​. (Ryan Adamczeski | Out)

Social media and pop culture

​Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang experienced swift backlash​ for comments about Texas politician Jasmine Crockett in a recent episode of their entertainment podcast Las Culturistas. (Daniel Reynolds | Out)

​The New Food Pyramid, Brought to You by Big Meat.​ (Matt Prescott | The New York Times Opinion) (gift link)