In college, I took a class on entrepreneurship, where our big project was to write a business plan. That same semester, I was also working on a book proposal, and I realized that book proposals are business plans.
Fundamentally, they serve the same purpose. A business plan helps you convince investors to invest in your business, and a book proposal helps you convince publishing companies to invest in your book.
To be traditionally published, you need to think like an entrepreneur and to be independently published, you need to be an entrepreneur.
In this week's episode, we'll hear from Kara Swanson. She's a successful fantasy author, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of The Author Conservatory, an online college alternative for aspiring writers.
You'll learn how to
· Build a financially sustainable writing career
· Build your skillset for marketing your book
· Build a schedule that balances creativity and business
Listen in or check out the blog and learn how to become an author entrepreneur by leveraging transferrable business skills to build a sustainable writing career.

Support the show

I'm excited to announce that tickets are now for sale for the 2025 Novel Marketing Conference. The conference will be held in Austin, Texas, on January 17th and 18th. This event is not a typical writer's conference where you learn how to write and publish a book. Our conference is focused on book marketing, and our goal is to help you make 2025 the best year of your author career so far!
In this episode, you'll find out
· Three special ingredients that make the Novel Marketing Conference unique
· How this year's conference will differ from last year's
· Why we've made certain deliberate choices for this year's conference
Listen in or check out the blog version of this episode to get details about the 2025 Novel Marketing Conference.

Support the show

You've likely heard the advice that writers should show instead of tell. Sometimes, it's good advice and can make your scenes better and your story more compelling. But it can also be terrible advice that will make your book unbelievably long and hard to get through.
If you show every single thing in the room or on the journey where your story takes place, then the plot, characters, and even the dialogue get crowded out.
But how do you know when you should and shouldn't show?
In this month's episode, Angela Hunt lays out some guidelines on when showing improves your story and when it doesn't. You'll learn:

• When showing has the most impact
• When telling is actually useful
• Where writers are often tempted to tell when they should show

Listen in or check out the blog version of this episode to find out when you can break the rule of "Show, don't tell."

Support the show