David Morris
@davidrmorris.bsky.social
publisher LakeDriveBooks.com | literary agent Hyponymous.com | author Lost Faith and Wandering Souls | GenXer | PhD | Michigan
On this episode, Mick and I get into our own faith journeys. Between who we are as publishing people and our authors and their books, we are each influencing the other, and not pretending there’s neutrality.
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/where-were...
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/where-were...
Where We’re Coming From: Our Faith Disruptions
A conversation about deconstruction, publishing, and finding new paths forward
publishingdisrupted.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:51 PM
On this episode, Mick and I get into our own faith journeys. Between who we are as publishing people and our authors and their books, we are each influencing the other, and not pretending there’s neutrality.
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/where-were...
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/where-were...
So glad to have Jeff Elkins on Publishing Disrupted!
We're joined by novelist, writing coach, and Dialogue Doctor founder @jeffelkins.bsky.social for an honest conversation about vocation, disruption, and creative reinvention.
Listen wherever you get podcasts or publishingdisrupted.substack.com.
We're joined by novelist, writing coach, and Dialogue Doctor founder @jeffelkins.bsky.social for an honest conversation about vocation, disruption, and creative reinvention.
Listen wherever you get podcasts or publishingdisrupted.substack.com.
Publishing Disrupted | Substack
Editor Mick Silva and publisher and agent David Morris explore the ways in which book publishing is changing, and how writers can best meet the challenge. Click to read Publishing Disrupted, a Substac...
publishingdisrupted.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:57 PM
So glad to have Jeff Elkins on Publishing Disrupted!
We're joined by novelist, writing coach, and Dialogue Doctor founder @jeffelkins.bsky.social for an honest conversation about vocation, disruption, and creative reinvention.
Listen wherever you get podcasts or publishingdisrupted.substack.com.
We're joined by novelist, writing coach, and Dialogue Doctor founder @jeffelkins.bsky.social for an honest conversation about vocation, disruption, and creative reinvention.
Listen wherever you get podcasts or publishingdisrupted.substack.com.
Reposted by David Morris
Catch this @religiondispatches.org interview of LDB author Nia Chiaramonte by the intrepid Chrissy Stroop, @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social.
Such a good conversation. Lessons for us all.
You’ll definitely want to check out her book “I Hardly Knew Me”.
religiondispatches.org/the-trees-do...
Such a good conversation. Lessons for us all.
You’ll definitely want to check out her book “I Hardly Knew Me”.
religiondispatches.org/the-trees-do...
'The Trees Don’t Care Who You Are' — From Evangelical to a Transgender Awakening
A week before Christmas—as so many had already begun to tune out the news and focus on holiday plans—the House passed two draconian anti-trans bills fueled by Christian nationalist hatred. So much for...
religiondispatches.org
January 9, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Catch this @religiondispatches.org interview of LDB author Nia Chiaramonte by the intrepid Chrissy Stroop, @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social.
Such a good conversation. Lessons for us all.
You’ll definitely want to check out her book “I Hardly Knew Me”.
religiondispatches.org/the-trees-do...
Such a good conversation. Lessons for us all.
You’ll definitely want to check out her book “I Hardly Knew Me”.
religiondispatches.org/the-trees-do...
Authors, publishing & exvangelical friends: we covered a lot in this recent Publishing Disrupted podcast with author
@marlataviano.bsky.social.
You can get the summary and video on our Substack post but listen wherever you get podcasts.
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
@marlataviano.bsky.social.
You can get the summary and video on our Substack post but listen wherever you get podcasts.
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
Author Marla Taviano on How to Build a Career on Frog and Toad Art, Five Years of Daily Posts, and the Spirit of Abundance
And what do you do when the system spits you out?
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Authors, publishing & exvangelical friends: we covered a lot in this recent Publishing Disrupted podcast with author
@marlataviano.bsky.social.
You can get the summary and video on our Substack post but listen wherever you get podcasts.
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
@marlataviano.bsky.social.
You can get the summary and video on our Substack post but listen wherever you get podcasts.
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
I took a strong stance on this podcast about how, if authors want to start advocating for themselves, they should take a stronger stance on the issue of royalty percentages and focus less on advances. The argument for it is there. 1/ open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
A Better Publishing Model? Why Higher Royalties Matter More Than Advances
Publishing has been disrupted. There’s now a better way for the vast majority of authors.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:19 PM
I took a strong stance on this podcast about how, if authors want to start advocating for themselves, they should take a stronger stance on the issue of royalty percentages and focus less on advances. The argument for it is there. 1/ open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
Reposted by David Morris
“You can have self-worth WITHOUT relying on anyone else to give it to you?!”
New on the Lake Drive Substack: a powerful guest post from Nia Chiaramonte, author of "I Hardly Knew Me: Following Love, Faith, and Skittles to a Transgender Awakening."
lakedrivebooks.substack.com/p/reclaiming...
New on the Lake Drive Substack: a powerful guest post from Nia Chiaramonte, author of "I Hardly Knew Me: Following Love, Faith, and Skittles to a Transgender Awakening."
lakedrivebooks.substack.com/p/reclaiming...
Reclaiming My Body After Religion: How I Found Self-Worth Beyond the Church
Guest Post from Nia Chiaramonte
lakedrivebooks.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:52 PM
“You can have self-worth WITHOUT relying on anyone else to give it to you?!”
New on the Lake Drive Substack: a powerful guest post from Nia Chiaramonte, author of "I Hardly Knew Me: Following Love, Faith, and Skittles to a Transgender Awakening."
lakedrivebooks.substack.com/p/reclaiming...
New on the Lake Drive Substack: a powerful guest post from Nia Chiaramonte, author of "I Hardly Knew Me: Following Love, Faith, and Skittles to a Transgender Awakening."
lakedrivebooks.substack.com/p/reclaiming...
I don’t often write about my day job, but this week on Substack I did.
It's about the amazing new people who joined together at
@hyponymousliterary: Audrey Farley, Ivy Zeller, and lenny duncan.
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
It's about the amazing new people who joined together at
@hyponymousliterary: Audrey Farley, Ivy Zeller, and lenny duncan.
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
A Moment About the People at My Day Job (and Why I Started Hyponymous Literary)
Asking the deeper questions about who we are and how we live.
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:21 PM
I don’t often write about my day job, but this week on Substack I did.
It's about the amazing new people who joined together at
@hyponymousliterary: Audrey Farley, Ivy Zeller, and lenny duncan.
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
It's about the amazing new people who joined together at
@hyponymousliterary: Audrey Farley, Ivy Zeller, and lenny duncan.
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
Don't be one of those people who stick their fingers in their ears and go "na na na na na na na . . . "
"According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 40% of women ages 18-29 are religiously unaffiliated — a percentage that for the first time outpaces the unaffiliated rate for young men, which has remained at about 35%."
religionnews.com/2025/10/28/e...
religionnews.com/2025/10/28/e...
‘Exvangelical’ women are leaving their churches. But is it decline or renewal?
(RNS) — Dissenting former evangelical Christian women are forging a path different from those who have left the church in the decades-long decline in institutional faith.
religionnews.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Don't be one of those people who stick their fingers in their ears and go "na na na na na na na . . . "
Our latest on the Publishing Disrupted podcast. It’s the Christians vs. the Coastal Elites!
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
Highbrow and Lowbrow
Why the book categories don't always serve avid readers
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Our latest on the Publishing Disrupted podcast. It’s the Christians vs. the Coastal Elites!
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
"With liberalism, with so much historical mixing of cultures, with the way one religion in particular was and is used as a cudgel for supremacy, it’s not hard to agree that we lack robust, colorful, textured, rich-tasting traditions in the US."
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
Freedom Without Belonging: The American Spiritual Predicament
Spiritually speaking, in the United States, we are screwed.
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
"With liberalism, with so much historical mixing of cultures, with the way one religion in particular was and is used as a cudgel for supremacy, it’s not hard to agree that we lack robust, colorful, textured, rich-tasting traditions in the US."
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
open.substack.com/pub/dvdmorri...
The podcast in which I talk about how if you didn't go to church in the 1600s colonies, you would get fined 50 pounds of tobacco. (from reading Everyday Life in Early America by David Hawke). @brchastain.social @rsokamoto.bsky.social @micksilva.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/70UE...
open.spotify.com/episode/70UE...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
The podcast in which I talk about how if you didn't go to church in the 1600s colonies, you would get fined 50 pounds of tobacco. (from reading Everyday Life in Early America by David Hawke). @brchastain.social @rsokamoto.bsky.social @micksilva.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/70UE...
open.spotify.com/episode/70UE...
What happens when publishing becomes less about chasing platforms and more about building genuine communities?
That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode of Publishing Disrupted, with our guest, Rohadi Nagassar.
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/ink-root-a...
@rohadi.com
That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode of Publishing Disrupted, with our guest, Rohadi Nagassar.
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/ink-root-a...
@rohadi.com
Ink, Root, and Liberation: Rohadi Nagassar on the Power of Collective Creativity
Another Episode of disrupting on the Publishing Disrupted podcast
publishingdisrupted.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:12 PM
What happens when publishing becomes less about chasing platforms and more about building genuine communities?
That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode of Publishing Disrupted, with our guest, Rohadi Nagassar.
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/ink-root-a...
@rohadi.com
That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode of Publishing Disrupted, with our guest, Rohadi Nagassar.
publishingdisrupted.substack.com/p/ink-root-a...
@rohadi.com
“'It was the joy of watching people discovering books,' David said. No algorithms. No targeted ads. No social media campaigns. Just the simple, powerful attraction a reader feels to encountering something unique or offbeat that speaks to them."
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Joy of Discovery
Podcast Episode · Publishing Disrupted · 09/03/2025 · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
September 4, 2025 at 12:18 PM
“'It was the joy of watching people discovering books,' David said. No algorithms. No targeted ads. No social media campaigns. Just the simple, powerful attraction a reader feels to encountering something unique or offbeat that speaks to them."
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Reposted by David Morris
We’re only one week into our Holy Disobedience Kickstarter and we're already one third funded!
Join us! Your participation counts. See link in bio. Or head over to:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lak...
@theglorywhole.bsky.social
@davidrmorris.bsky.social
Join us! Your participation counts. See link in bio. Or head over to:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lak...
@theglorywhole.bsky.social
@davidrmorris.bsky.social
August 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
We’re only one week into our Holy Disobedience Kickstarter and we're already one third funded!
Join us! Your participation counts. See link in bio. Or head over to:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lak...
@theglorywhole.bsky.social
@davidrmorris.bsky.social
Join us! Your participation counts. See link in bio. Or head over to:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lak...
@theglorywhole.bsky.social
@davidrmorris.bsky.social
Watch this on YouTube and the link is in the notes. This is a blow your socks off story and so well expressed. It shows that faith deconstruction is like going through an exorcism. With the big release on the other side. But then what.
August 20, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Watch this on YouTube and the link is in the notes. This is a blow your socks off story and so well expressed. It shows that faith deconstruction is like going through an exorcism. With the big release on the other side. But then what.
Please consider joining. You have no idea how much your help tips the scales. Our publishing model breaks molds in more ways than just the financial model. But that counts very much so.
Holy Disobedience by Melissa Duge Spiers launches on Kickstarter today! A powerful story of overcoming and stepping into one’s own voice. Be among the first to back it: www.kickstarter.com/projects/lak...
Holy Disobedience by Melissa Duge Spiers
Sex, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows
www.kickstarter.com
August 20, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Please consider joining. You have no idea how much your help tips the scales. Our publishing model breaks molds in more ways than just the financial model. But that counts very much so.
"We read a lot, maybe too much. And that probably makes us both very sexy and terrible judges of this old publishing trope that men don’t read books."
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
August 11, 2025 at 7:17 PM
"We read a lot, maybe too much. And that probably makes us both very sexy and terrible judges of this old publishing trope that men don’t read books."
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
This is it exactly. Prioritizing “the great commission” makes Christianity and especially its American evangelical form supremacist. We must deal with this. If we do, then that’s good spirituality, however defined. There’s so much to this.
What you’re calling essential is inherently supremacist. I don’t make the rules
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Christians must abolish supremacist ideology (Christofascism, colonialism, Xtian nationalism, etc.) and must evangelize consensually & noncoercively. 100%.
But the belief that every human needs Jesus is *elemental* to Christianity. To abolish the Great Commission is to abolish Christianity itself.
But the belief that every human needs Jesus is *elemental* to Christianity. To abolish the Great Commission is to abolish Christianity itself.
July 31, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This is it exactly. Prioritizing “the great commission” makes Christianity and especially its American evangelical form supremacist. We must deal with this. If we do, then that’s good spirituality, however defined. There’s so much to this.
“The Department of Homeland Security isn’t writing a new chapter in the White supremacist playbook but highlighting the familiar practice of White-washing our history.” -Sara Moslener
religiondispatches.org/dhss-homelan...
@religiondispatches.org
religiondispatches.org/dhss-homelan...
@religiondispatches.org
DHS's 'Homeland Heritage' Campaign Highlights Danger of Innocence Myths of a White Christian America
As a habit I don’t follow the social media of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It’s a scroll of nationalistic propaganda and exaggerated warnings about criminal aliens, a set of lies that at...
religiondispatches.org
July 31, 2025 at 10:19 AM
“The Department of Homeland Security isn’t writing a new chapter in the White supremacist playbook but highlighting the familiar practice of White-washing our history.” -Sara Moslener
religiondispatches.org/dhss-homelan...
@religiondispatches.org
religiondispatches.org/dhss-homelan...
@religiondispatches.org
Reposted by David Morris
Here’s part two of my essay on healthy and unhealthy approaches to spirituality, with Marianne Williamson serving as a prime illustration of the latter
www.bugbeardispatch.com/p/what-const...
www.bugbeardispatch.com/p/what-const...
What Constitutes Healthy Exploration of Spirituality?
Part II: Avoiding Authoritarianism and Embracing Autonomy
www.bugbeardispatch.com
July 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Here’s part two of my essay on healthy and unhealthy approaches to spirituality, with Marianne Williamson serving as a prime illustration of the latter
www.bugbeardispatch.com/p/what-const...
www.bugbeardispatch.com/p/what-const...
The latest from our publishing podcast. This is one of my favorite podcast titles ever.
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
The Mainstream is Dead. Long Live Unique Tribes!
Why finding your “1000 true fans” is a disruption to embrace—in all the ways that feel right to you.
open.substack.com
July 24, 2025 at 12:34 PM
The latest from our publishing podcast. This is one of my favorite podcast titles ever.
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
open.substack.com/pub/publishi...
"Perhaps it was the Puritans who helped us develop a deeply ingrained, sacred narrative and all its expressions and built-in associations. They formed the American mindset of religious fanaticism and separatism into our very cultural DNA."
dvdmorris.substack.com/p/deconstruc...
dvdmorris.substack.com/p/deconstruc...
Deconstructing the Unconscious Faith of a Nation
Or, How Many Implicit Associations Does It Take to Become an Evangelical?
dvdmorris.substack.com
July 3, 2025 at 2:39 PM
"Perhaps it was the Puritans who helped us develop a deeply ingrained, sacred narrative and all its expressions and built-in associations. They formed the American mindset of religious fanaticism and separatism into our very cultural DNA."
dvdmorris.substack.com/p/deconstruc...
dvdmorris.substack.com/p/deconstruc...
Senseless gridlock and soulless orthodoxy just appeared in my mind at the same time.
This is what I’m dealing with.
This is what I’m dealing with.
June 26, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Senseless gridlock and soulless orthodoxy just appeared in my mind at the same time.
This is what I’m dealing with.
This is what I’m dealing with.
Just two publishing friends trying to work it all out. Join in, and if you do, would you please offer an honest rating? So grateful.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
June 25, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Just two publishing friends trying to work it all out. Join in, and if you do, would you please offer an honest rating? So grateful.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
A little work update that I'm super stoked about!
We’re delighted to welcome Audrey Clare Farley to Hyponymous Literary as a literary agent!
Audrey is a writer, editor, scholar, and the author of the critically acclaimed books The Unfit Heiress and Girls and Their Monsters.
We’re delighted to welcome Audrey Clare Farley to Hyponymous Literary as a literary agent!
Audrey is a writer, editor, scholar, and the author of the critically acclaimed books The Unfit Heiress and Girls and Their Monsters.
June 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
A little work update that I'm super stoked about!
We’re delighted to welcome Audrey Clare Farley to Hyponymous Literary as a literary agent!
Audrey is a writer, editor, scholar, and the author of the critically acclaimed books The Unfit Heiress and Girls and Their Monsters.
We’re delighted to welcome Audrey Clare Farley to Hyponymous Literary as a literary agent!
Audrey is a writer, editor, scholar, and the author of the critically acclaimed books The Unfit Heiress and Girls and Their Monsters.