Good morning. Young adults everywhere have been accused of the “Gen Z stare,” a blank, uninviting look that many young service industry workers use as an answer to inane questions from older patrons.

Between Hannah's millennial pause and Syd's Gen Z stare, the Publish Press offices have been eerily quiet lately.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

After four years of making content full-time, tech creator Jed Caluag aka “JedCal” took a full-time job at Disney as a software engineer and sold his dorm review startup, RateMyDorm.

Record scratch: Most creators start making content as a side hustle then leave their day jobs to pursue it full-time. Why is JedCal doing the opposite? 1) More creative freedom and 2) more privacy.

“Because I have a job now I’ve been saying no to more brand deals, which was the biggest creative block before—I wasn’t posting because I wanted to,” JedCal told us. 

As for selling RateMyDorm? “The last three years I hardly coded anything and I’d passively talk about [RateMyDorm on YouTube], but the motivation wasn’t really there for me,” JedCal said. “So if someone wanted to buy that and put its traffic to good use, that’d be great.”

Zoom out: Like many lifestyle creators, JedCal built a channel that relies on life milestones as content. This sale is a step forward in finding his next story arc—one he may or may not share online. 

“The older I get the less I want to be perceived online and share all my business, so these days I just post once a month. But I’m never going to stop making videos,” JedCal said.

Role-playing creator group Critical Role just inked a deal with indie game developers AdHoc Studio for several gaming projects.

Start game:

“Taking on an interactive project is such a large endeavor,” Critical Role CEO Travis Willingham told Variety about the group’s first video game. He wants it to be big enough to be successful, but less costly and time consuming than large studio games. “It has to be a Goldilocks zone for us.”

Big picture: Critical Role has invested (with both breadth and depth) in taking their content world beyond small screens. Before this AdHoc deal, Critical Role landed a partnership with Fathom Entertainment to bring screenings of their live shows to 800 theaters worldwide. Plus? Their animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina, is currently in development for a fourth season, and their livestream fundraiser for LA wildfire relief raised over $370K.

Sponsored by CTB

Stepping away at the peak of any career isn’t easy. But that’s exactly what Lewis Capaldi did when he took a two-year break from music.

When he was ready to talk, Theo Von landed one of Capaldi’s first interviews. The Scottish singer opened up about burnout and how he’s rediscovered joy in making music.

The result? A deeply personal episode of This Past Weekend that’s reached close to 600K views on YouTube.

To make it happen, Theo turned to Central Talent Booking. With 25+ years of experience, CTB connects creators with guests who drive real reach and connection.

Want conversations with guests that move your audience? Partner with CTB today.

$1 million: How much podcaster Joe Budden reports making per month from his 70K subscribers on Patreon. He told The New York Times that his independent Joe Budden Podcast is on track to earn $20 million in 2025.

Over $500K: The amount of money VTuber agency VShojo allegedly owes to charity. After leaving the agency, VTuber Ironmouse is taking legal action against her former agency, claiming that VShojo has withheld funds from both her and charity organizations.

$8.7 million and counting: How much Ryan Trahan has raised for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of his 50 States in 50 Days series. 44 days in, Trahan is averaging $197K in donations per day—with major companies like T-Mobile, Kia, and Airbnb on the leaderboard. Top donor Staple Games is donating $1 for every mobile app downloaded before the series ends on Tuesday.