Much of what we do as writers is focused on the here and now. There’s that blog post to write, that client chapter, those emails to answer, that marketing plan to think about, that cover design to approve. All good things, to be sure! It’s easy to lose sight of the forest because we’re so focused on the tree, isn’t it? On today’s episode, I had the honor of sitting down (on Zoom, of course) with two good friends, Ariel Curry and Liz Morrow, to reflect on the long-term journey of building our careers as authors. Ariel Curry is a writer, editor, & book coach at Ariel Curry Editorial with over 10 years of experience in traditional publishing. She lives in Chattanooga, TN, with her husband, foster children, two rescue dogs, a kitten, and a beehive. You can connect with her at https://www.arielcurry.com. Liz Morrow is a traditionally-published ghostwriter for entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and business experts. She specializes in personal and professional development and memoir. When she’s not writing, you can find Liz listening to long-form podcasts, rewatching “The Office” and drinking margaritas with friends. She lives in Greenville, SC with her husband, two children, and goldendoodle. You can connect with her at https://www.wellwrittenco.com. Ariel and Liz have teamed up to create the Hungry Authors brand, which includes an excellent podcast by the same name as well as their upcoming book, Hungry Authors: The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book. You can find out more visiting https://hungryauthors.com, and I encourage you to pre-order the Hungry Authors book via the link above, which goes to Bookshop.org. By doing so, you’ll help support indie bookstores. Ariel, Liz, and I wanted to explore the long-term journey of building an author career in this conversation. Some of the topics include: What kinds of things each of us is working on now. Our long-term career goals. How we got started as writers. Some of our challenges right now. How we balance client work vs. our own author brands. How to balance a writing career with parenthood. We actually used this episode on both of our podcasts, so if you’re a listener of Hungry Authors, this conversation might sound familiar! * * * Today’s episode is sponsored by Karen Hunsanger, an incredible editor known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit.

As a writer, your primary job is to communicate. Most of us feel very comfortable communicating our ideas, stories, and other content in a variety of forms. If you write for clients, you probably feel right at home when you write in their style or voice. For some reason, though, many writers struggle when it comes to communicating about themselves! It’s critical that we feel confident and assertive when it comes to talking about our work, our services, our value, and how we can help and serve others with our writing. That’s why I’m excited to bring you this conversation with Lindsey Hughes. Known as the Pitchmaster, Lindsey loves helping people discover their superpower, create compelling content, and feel excited about pitching and networking. She teaches how to pitch like a boss, network like a VIP, and write like an Oscar winner.  In her wide-ranging career as a Hollywood development executive, Lindsey has worked in everything from feature films, television movies, and TV series, to animation and live action. She began her career reading scripts for Robert Zemeckis and Kathryn Bigelow, worked under Michael Eisner at Walt Disney Feature Animation, and developed projects for John H. Williams, producer of the billion-dollar Shrek franchise.  You can connect with Lindsey at her site, https://thepitchmaster.com, where you can also subscribe to her weekly newsletter for actionable creativity and career tips. In this conversation, Lindsey and I talk about ways we can improve our author bio, our branding, and various other means we use to communicate to people how we can serve them. This episode is going to be super valuable to every writer who wants to create more value for their ideas and services—that includes you as well! Lindsey is full of energy and insights, and you’ll come away with lots of great ideas to boost your business profile.  * * * Today’s episode is sponsored by Karen Hunsanger, an incredible editor known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit.  

Dan Miller, founder of 48 Days, discusses building income streams from writing. Topics include career transitions, transforming lives through purposeful work, transitioning to an entrepreneur, leveraging public domain content, the power of podcasting, and building business through community connections.

You can have all the talent in the world as a writer, but if you don’t have good systems to operate and grow your business, it will be tough to be successful over the long haul. That’s why I’m excited to bring you this conversation with Mike Abramowitz. He is a speaker, author, and transformational coach who helps turn your greatest insecurities into your superpowers. Mike Abramowitz has twenty years of direct sales experience training 5000+ sales reps for $17M sold, has nine books in the self-help space (including G.R.A.B. TOMORROW: Your Best Year Ever), and founded PB&J for Tampa Bay (which has provided over 80,000 meals to the homeless). He has scaled his several six-figure businesses and nonprofits to be run without him so he can experience time freedom that he desires. Mike is a busy father and husband who helps other busy entrepreneurs implement systems in their businesses by leveraging automation and delegation to help business operators become business owners and truly experience the financial and time freedom that drew them to entrepreneurship in the first place. He is also the co-host of the Better Than Rich podcast, and he leads a community called Automate, Delegate, Systemize. You can check out his site at https://mikeabramowitz.com. In this conversation, Mike helps us sort out issues we all face as writers who are also business owners and entrepreneurs. We talk about: The benefit of using systems and automation, and how to use them well for social media, podcasting, and other business elements What kinds of things you should delegate Knowing what your time is worth Thoughts on using AI to stay competitive How to hire a VA You can visit https://va.betterthanrich.com and click “schedule free consultation.” When you do, you’ll receive a free 25-page workbook. * * * Today’s episode is sponsored by Karen Hunsanger, an incredible editor known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit.  

As the host of this podcast, I have the privilege of talking to lots of extraordinary writers, business leaders, and creative minds. Today I’m honored to bring you this conversation with a truly legendary writer, for one of best episodes ever! Let me tell you a bit about him. Dave Pelzer is a man who represents overcoming adversity, and he has dedicated his life to helping others so they can help themselves. As a former Air Force Combat Air Crew Member, Dave’s job entailed midair refueling of the once highly secretive SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Stealth Fighter. While on active duty, Dave was selected as California Volunteer of the Year. Dave has received personal commendations from four U. S. Presidents. He was honored as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans, and later, was the only American to be honored as The Outstanding Young Person of the World. Dave is also the recipient of the National Jefferson Award which is considered the Pulitzer Prize for public service. Other recipients include Sandra Day O’Connor and Colin Powell. Dave is the author of nine inspirational books. His books have been on bestseller lists for well over thirteen years combined. His most famous book, A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive has been on the New York Times bestseller list for well over six years. In fact, Dave is the first author to have four #1 International bestsellers and to have four books simultaneously on the New York Times Bestseller List. For nearly the last ten years, Dave has served as a California Fire Captain in two separate districts. During that time, he’s been deployed to the state’s most horrendous fires. You can find out more about Dave at https://davepelzer.com. In this conversation, Dave shares how he came to write A Child Called “It” and how that led to an extraordinary writing career. We discuss: How he first got into writing. What it’s like being on the NYT bestseller list for so long. His marketing strategies. His thoughts on building a long-term successful writing career. His new book, Return to the River: Reflections on Life Choices During a Pandemic. The most important things an author can do to build their business. I’ve never interviewed anyone quite like Dave! I know you’ll enjoy this conversation just as much as I did. * * * Today’s episode is sponsored by Karen Hunsanger, an incredible editor known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit.

If you’re a podcaster who has dreamed of having your own book, you’ll love today’s episode! Last Fall, my good friend Jody Maberry and I co-led a webinar called “Podcast to Published.” The goal of the webinar was to test-drive some material we may later use to help podcasters use their podcast material as the basis for a book. I’ve been podcasting since 2013, and I’m a huge fan of repurposing your podcast content into books. Let me tell you a bit about Jody. He’s a former Park Ranger who is now a sought-after podcast producer, speaker, and consultant. He’s been featured in Inc., Entrepreneur, The Business Journals, at Podcast Movement, and many other places. Jody works closely with business leaders such as David Hancock, Lee Cockerell, Dan Cockerell, and others to bring their podcasts to life. In addition, he hosts three of his own podcasts: The Jody Maberry Show, The Park Leaders Show (for Park Rangers), and In the Front Row, a show he created for his son. Jody is not only one of the most brilliant minds in podcasting, but a kind and generous human being as well. I encourage you to check out Jody’s site at https://jodymaberry.com to find out more. In this webinar, you’ll learn all about the benefits of turning your podcast into a book, including what kind of book you should write based on your podcast, how to outline a great nonfiction book, and the steps to move from podcast to published book. * * * Today’s episode is sponsored by Karen Hunsanger, an incredible editor known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit.

We live in an incredible time! As an author, you have a variety of options for publishing and funding your books. If you’re doing self-publishing, one of the most interesting ways to fund the book is by crowdsourcing it through Kickstarter. If you’ve ever wondered how to use Kickstarter to fund your book launch, today’s your lucky day! Lestie May Zachary is a Southwest USA native who loves to write about her family roots. She is a veteran homeschool teacher of sixteen years. When Lestie isn’t writing or doting on family, she and her husband enjoy the cabin life on Crown Lake in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas. I wanted to have Lestie as a guest today to talk about her new When Old School Meets New School, which is an exciting new guidebook from LMZ Publishing, perfect for children ages 11-14. When Old School Meets New School is full of fun and engaging activities that mix old-fashioned games and activities with modern technology, giving children the opportunity to learn and have fun in equal measure. With puzzles, activities and stories, this book helps children bridge the gap between the traditional and the contemporary. She funded the book through an impressive Kickstarter campaign last Fall, and I was thrilled to be one of her backers. I was even more impressed that this was Lestie’s first time using Kickstarter. The campaign was a lot of fun, and the book itself is even more impressive. You can really tell she put her heart and soul into it! In this interview, we discuss: Her book production process Various assets she created for the book launch Why she used Kickstarter, and the process for using it Details about the number of backers, her expenses, and other numbers The biggest challenges and benefits of using Kickstarter Her recommendations for authors considering using Kickstarter If you’ve never considered this unique way to fund a book, this conversation will give you insights you’ve probably not heard before. You can connect with Lestie through her website, https://www.lestiemayzachary.com. * * * Today’s episode is sponsored by Karen Hunsanger, an incredible editor known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit.

As a writer, you long to make a difference in the world. You want to use your creative gifts. You might even want to build a part-time or full-time business with your writing. We know that a writing habit is the bridge to everything we want as writers. Of course, marketing, relationships, handling your money wisely … all those things are vital, but none of it matters if you’re not producing the work. As creatives, we naturally resist routines and habits. But writing is a blue-collar job, like carpentry, plumbing, or anything else requiring regular, sustained labor. Without a writing habit, you will never get that blog built, you will never finish that book you’ve been thinking about all these years, and you will certainly never build a successful writing business. A great writing habit is the pathway to everything you have dreamed about as a writer. On this episode, we dive into the four "wheels" that keep it moving. *** Thanks to today's sponsor! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. 

If there’s one thing we all want to do in 2024, it’s to write and publish more books. I’m excited to have a guest today who can help us learn the secrets of writers who get the work done and watch their success keep rising. Brock Swinson hosts the Creative Principles podcast, where he speaks with writers, actors, directors, musicians, and more. He has interviewed figures such as Aaron Sorkin, Ethan Hawke, Jim Gaffigan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylor Sheridan, Judd Apatow, and hundreds more for his show. Recently, Brock has packed all of this knowledge into the book Ink by the Barrel: Secrets From Prolific Writers, which you can get completely for free by visiting https://www.brockswinson.com/ink. The book is divided into three parts: Time, Voice, and Process. It contains advice on every single page to help novice writers become prolific. Brock has also been a copywriter for the last decade, working with entrepreneurs like Russell Brunson, Grant Cardone, and Tony Robbins. In this conversation, Brock and I discuss how he got into screenwriting, using your time well, why you need to take action now, how podcasting has helped his career, and much more. ***  A big thank you to our sponsors: There is No Such Thing as Writer’s Block is the brand-new book from Honorée Corder. You’ll learn what’s really blocking you, the value of building your writer tribe, how to become the writer you’ve always dreamed of, and much more. Grab your copy today! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Need a great book cover? Kristi Griffith from Thumbprint Creative has created the cover design and interior layout for many of my own books, and books of my ghostwriting clients and friends. She works closely with you to create a design that perfectly captures the theme, message, and genre of your book.  

One of the most important habits you can ever develop is reflection. The pace of life today is pretty fast and it’s easy to just keep going, going, going all the time.  (Turns out Ferris Bueller was right!) When you stop and think about where you’ve been, it’s much easier to figure out where you’re going. In the spirit of reflection, I’m excited to share 10 lessons I’ve learned about life, writing, and business I’ve learned over the last twelve months.  *** Today’s podcast is sponsored by editor Karen Hunsanger, also known as “The Word Wizard.” I’ve worked with Karen many times, and she is your secret weapon for crafting the highest-quality book possible. Visit the link above for a free sample edit. Today’s podcast is also sponsored by Plottr, the #1 visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way you think. Plottr helps fiction and nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anyone creating content to organize their material and story points. Visit the link above to start your free 14-day trial.