I added two nights to my NYC trip last week to see some friends and take some meetings.
One of those meetings was at the HarperCollins office, near Wall Street in the Financial District. Now that the book manuscript is finalized and pre-orders have begun, the focus shifts to marketing and publicity for the rest of the year before our official drop date (TELL EVERYONE) on December 30th.

A strategy I took with my book manuscript was to write about money and entrepreneurship in ways that absolutely could not be replicated or impersonated by AI (or anyone else).

For me, that meant zany anecdotes, comedic timing, and explaining dozens of financial concepts in a crisp, clear way. The goal was to make a money book relatable and fun.

You will love the text, and you will love the interior design even more. I just saw the final samples this week--this book is fucking gorgeous.

Money Proud is campy, informative, and full of heart, and during this process I thought a lot about how our writing voices might soon be one of the only ways to showcase our personality and passion online.

Shameless plug, here's a pre-order link

I got to meet the team that will be working on my book, we threw around some initial marketing and publicity ideas, and I have lots of important groundwork to lay these next few months.

My marketing hunch was to lean back into Medium, my newsletter, and my Out magazine column, focusing on quality over numbers. Last Friday, that gut was reaffirmed when ​this freaky Fast Company piece​ about bot farms came out. I shared it last week, but I still can't get it out of my head.

Bot farms, supercharged by artificial intelligence, now game social media algorithms more than ever before by developing hundreds or even thousands of personas, each with distinct political and demographic slants. These bot armies then go out and mass-comment on social media posts.

Since most of social media is designed such that engagement determines distribution, people not using bot farms or strategic relationships will be increasingly drowned out. 🫠

I think bot culture will continue to devalue social media. I also think this will make people crave authenticity, deep thought, context, and craft even more because our endless feeds will keep getting weirder.

*

Something else I did while in NYC was catch Oh, Mary! on Broadway. The show's premise — a comedy exploring how Abraham Lincoln’s wife might behave if she were a petty raging alcoholic with an unfulfilled desire to perform cabaret — is so out there you can’t help but lean in.

A recurring observation amongst critics was that Cole Escola has always been this good in their YouTube videos and character acting, but that the director and other team members in this show ratcheted up the creativity to Charizard-level awesomeness. Not surprised Oh, Mary! received five Tony nominations this week.

I feel a similar way right now knowing that HarperCollins has my back. And I don't think that fully landed for me until I went to the NYC headquarters and really experienced the institution -- and people -- in person. "This is where books are made!" I thought to myself. It was a different kind of inspiration, deeper and more visceral.

In this book, my writing voice evolved, dramatically, into something new. I worked through how to share stories from my life in ways that didn’t feel pretentious or trauma-farmed. I also clarified my place in the wide world of online finance discourse. (It's "your grizzled entrepreneur-ish finance editor/gay friend who spends Friday nights on the couch with an edible and an issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek," for reference.)

This was important, because most personal finance authors and influencers are rich, whereas I am not, so the impostor syndrome of all this was quite real at the outset.

When I look up creators talking about money, it's a lot of “I made a million in six months this” and “Grab my triple-secret money-printing formula” that. Yes, I know these are often topline revenue numbers only and are bullshit, but I still felt rattled, particularly when you see these massive audience numbers (which will probably increasingly be bots).

Thanks to surrounding myself with the right people, I feel more confident in how to play to my strengths and own my lane. This is good, because it lets me 100 percent myself 100 percent of the time, which will be key for marketing myself sustainably and not getting too in my head.

*

My NYC trip ended with a phone call.

"You got the place."

It was my real estate agent back here in LA. Ya boy's a first-time homeowner!

Nothing fancy, just a lil' condo near the beach. Entering my full California dreamer era. Interesting to put in an offer on a home and then have the President announce psychotic tariffs the next day. More on that later.

The call made me a little forlorn about NYC. I considered moving there this year. It's just one of those cities, ya know? It beckons to you, but I know visiting is very different from living there.

One of the things I talk about in Money Proud is budgeting for a life that fills you up and gives you queer joy. Given my current bookish energy, I think part of that for me will be traveling to the Big Apple more often to keep my fire burning bright. ⬥

Pre-order Money Proud:​Amazon​​Barnes & Noble​​Bookshop

Out Magazine column

4 Recession Tips for Gen Z, From a Gay Millennial

I've noticed a lot of personal finance creators have been publishing "recession survival guide" content this past month. Some of the suggestions are full-prepper, which I think is overkill.

But it did get me thinking about how Gen Z, the eldest of whom turn 30 next year, might be freaking out. (COVID was an outlier imo because it had all those apocalypse vibes.)

It was fun to reflect back on who I was back when I was 23 and how I thought about money and work during the great recession.

I feel like that's when I developed the scrappiness that has helped me later on in my entrepreneurship, writing, and career. Perhaps you feel that way, too. While tough, that time period was galvanizing for a lot of people.

Here's the column.

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To be clear, we’re not in a recession yet. But recession indicators are popping up left and right, and I’m not just talking about ​Lady Gaga​ singing gobbledy-gook in her choruses again (​Porta ooo Gaga!​). A Wednesday press release ​confirmed​ the U.S. gross domestic product went down in Q1, the first time in three years to do so, and a CNN/SSRS ​poll​ published earlier this week found that two in three adults are fearful about the economy.

For young queer people, the one-two punch of dramatic recession headlines and anti-LGBTQ+ political vitriol can feel scary. It’s already tough out there in the job market; is it really going to get tougher? Maybe. Gen Z is stressed, and with ​one in five of them​ identifying as queer, they make up a hefty chunk of our community. Millennials and older generations should do what we can to share our experiences with young people and help them feel empowered when “Recession Bayonetta” (terrifying) is on the horizon.

Here are four recession prep tips that still let you live a life you love.

1. Budget like a boss

Take the encyclopedic knowledge you have about the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race or Below Deck and bring that same enthusiasm to your budget. Get a grip on how much money comes in and goes out every month. Actually look at your money on a regular basis (gay gasp). Consider a free budgeting app that connects to all of your accounts so you can see everything in one place. When I started monitoring where all my money went each month, I stopped trying to keep up with the Joneses and focused on what lights me up in life, which has made my queer joy much more sustainable.

Also be mindful about using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). It can be tempting to spread out your bill over four payments, but it’s also easy to lose track of what you owe to whom and when if your budget tracking isn’t airtight. A recent ​survey​ from LendingTree found that 41 percent of BNPL users had at least one late payment in the last year, up from 34 percent the year prior.

...

🔗 ​Continue reading at Out

Hot Links

What happened this week

Disclosure: I work at Ziff Davis, the parent company of CNET, Mashable, PCMag, Lifehacker, and ZDNET.

Economy, money, entrepreneurship

​Trading platform Robinhood's earnings per share beat analyst estimates this week.​ Over 25 percent of the platform's revenue came from crypto trading, which was up 100% YOY. (Helene Braun / CoinDesk)

​Temu said it has stopped shipping products from China directly to U.S. shoppers as it confronts higher tariffs and the end of the de minimis provision.​ The de minimis provision waived tariffs on shipments under $800. (Annie Palmer / CNBC)

​The return-to-office trend has probably already passed, as companies weigh cost-cutting measures in the face of a looming recession​. (Katie Chambers / From Day One)

​The U.S. and Ukraine appear ready to sign a minerals deal.​ Ukraine's minerals are believed to be worth trillions, but mining them would be expensive. The analysis is that it's an important optics win for Ukraine. (Siobhán O'Grady, Jeff Stein / Washington Post) (friend link)

​Apple willfully violated and ignored a 2021 decision that came out of the Epic Games case, a federal judge found.​ The original directive was for Apple to allow developers to collect in-app payments on their websites, rather than through Apple, which famously charges a 30% fee. (Kif Leswing / CNBC)

• ​Apple complied yesterday. ​(Chance Miller / 9to5Mac)

​41 Percent of Users Using Buy Now, Pay Layer Had at Least One Late Payment Last Year​. Up from 34 percent in 2024. (Mat Schulz / LendingTree)

​How to save for short-term goals while keeping long-term ones in mind.​ (Margaret Giles / Morningstar via AP)

AI and future tech

​AI Offers Digital Immortality for Deceased Loved Ones—But Should It? ​An interview with a researcher studying “griefbots”, which are basically the same as the "Be Right Back" episode from season 1 of Black Mirror. (Rachel Feltman / Scientific American)

​In the age of AI, we must protect human creativity as a natural resource. ​Op-ed. (Benj Edwards / Ars Technica)

​Visa announced their vision for "automated shopping", in which AI-enhanced credit cards find and order products for you. ​What could go wrong? (Sabrina Ortiz / ZDNET)

​The Best AI Video Generators (and How They Compare to Each Other)​. (David Nield / Lifehacker)

LGBTQ

​President Trump used his commencement speech at the University of Alabama to complain about trans women​, and impersonated a struggling female weightlifter. He also said Biden stole the election from him and claimed egg prices have gone down 87 percent since he took office. (Trudy Ring / The Advocate)

​The Trump administration escalated its assault on transgender youth Thursday with the release of a controversial new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led by RFK Jr.​ The report promotes conversion therapy, now rebranded as "exploratory therapy", and discredits gender-affirming care. (Christopher Wiggins / The Advocate)

​Democrats reintroduced the Equality Act. ​This is posturing imo, since Republicans hold both the House and Senate, but a gesture that might restart important conversations. (Brooke Migdon / The Hill)

​The executive director of LGBTQ Catholic group DignityUSA will travel to Rome for conclave.​ (Michael K. Lavers / Washington Blade)

​15 LGBTQ-friendly all-inclusive resorts.​ (Brittny Drye / Out)

Media, tech literacy, craft

​Ireland Fined TikTok $600 Million Over China Surveillance Risks.​ (Sam Schechner / The Wall Street Journal)

​6 Ways to Make Your iPhone Less Annoying.​ (Jill Duffy, Ruben Circelli / PCMag)

​Shortcuts, Hotkeys, Macros, Oh My: How to Remap Your Keyboard.​ (Whitson Gordon, Jason Cohen / PCMag)

​Social Media Feeds Full of Junk? How to Reset Your Algorithms.​ (Eric Griffith / PCMag)

​Inside ‘Snitch City’: How Boston Globe reporters turned a magazine story into a podcast.​ (Lindsay Shachnow / Nieman)

​Texas Monthly will debut a limited series of Texas storytelling with PBS. ​The series will do four episodes starting this Sunday, then a full 13-episode run in the fall. (Texas Monthly)

Social media and pop culture

​Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson’s relationship is everyone’s business now. ​After his 24-year-old girlfriend interrupted the 73-year-old coach’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview, an obsession of tabloids and sports media goes mainstream. (Emily Yahr / Washington Post) (friend link)

​10 Unchanging Ideas for Navigating an Ever-Changing World.​ An interview from a couple years ago with Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money. (Art of Manliness blog)

​Why the lettering on Pope Francis' tomb is so bad.​ (Mark Wilson / Fast Company)

​One in five Gen Alpha influencers are being offered brand deals.​ Gen Alpha is anyone born after 2010. (Emma Burleigh / Fortune)

BONUS QUIZ: Overall inflation is up 48% over the last 15 years. But for one common industry, prices are down 4% in that same timeframe. ​Click here to find out what it is.