Let me start by asking you this quesion.

Are you a writer or an author?

The common understanding is that if you have published a book you are an author.

Not exactly.

A writer is someone who enjoys the act of writing, often in solitude.

An author is someone who enjoys everything that comes along with being published. The marketing, the networking, the speaking engagements, being in the public eye, self-promotion.

You can be published, but if you don’t like the marketing and self-promotional side of the business, then you are more of a writer than an author.

Now lets come to the question of whether you are an author or an authorpreneur.

Who is an authorpreneur. It depends upon who you ask. Some say:

An authorpreneur is someone who builds a business around writing books.

But it is not all-encompassing.

Yes, you can build a decent income by writing books alone. Many successful authors are making a good monthly income publishing ebooks alone.

But according to Shanda Trofe the author of Aurthorpreneur, How to Build an Empire and Build the Authority in Your Business:

A real Authorpreneur is someone who builds a lucrative empire using a variety of products that strategically funnel into one another and progressively build upon each other. An Authorpreneur will have published a book as a product for his business, yes, but he won’t stop there. An Authorpereneur will think outside the box and see the bigger picture. An Authorpreneur, simply stated, is someone who creates a business based on the core concepts of a book, repurposing the information into companion products and programs, resulting in a suitable business while creating wealth.

Some authorpreneurs travel extensively, speak at conferences to spread their message, do book signing tours and workshops where they sell their books and other products. They are well-known on social media and YouTube and have a huge mailing list for their email marketing.

Others use writing to promote their work. They manage to find a happy medium by promoting their work through writing. They reach out to the masses by building their list, networking on social media, blogging, crafting newsletters, and writing emails. They run webinars, online courses, do group coaching on Facebook, and run their own forums. They might start with one-on-one clients, doing face-to-face training and personal and group retreats.

To create your author empire you have to take three steps:

• Begin — You must start somewhere. Whether it is content writing or books or fiction. Begin. To quote Wolfgang von Goethe, Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. 
  
• Build — There are many roads to success. Choose one. The others will meet you on the way.
  
• Believe — When you have a message within you can build a roadmap to get there. Without a message, no road will take you there. Believe in yourself and implement. So many before you have done it and left clues making your task much easier.
  

My aim with Autorpreneurs publication is to bring forth the stories of other so that you can learn them.

Here is one right now.

An Authorpreneur case study

Sunny Dawn Johnston wanted to find a niche for herself. Aside from being President and CEO of Transcendent Publishing, her passion was (and still is) working with writers, specifically aspiring authors. She found that she was starting to build a nice reputation for herself by coaching aspiring authors through the book writing process. But there were many coaches out there doing the same. She had to find a way to set herself apart from the rest.

As the founder of Spiritual Writers Network, she was attracting spiritual writers into her circle. Many of her clients had an important message to share, yet most didn’t know how to find the courage to open old wounds and delve deep within to let their story unfold.

She was working with clients who were experiencing fear about the writing process and who needed a little extra coaching in order to write their book and tell their story authentically.

One encouragement she found myself repeating over and over to her clients was to write from the heart. She truly believed if they could get out of ego-based thinking and allowed their creativity to emerge, that’s when their most Heartfelt writing comes forward.

She taught structure and writing systems that must be set in place, but she was also using a variety of spiritual-based techniques to urge them to unlock their creativity.

Before long, she had found a niche in the writing industry. She no longer was just a writing coach, she was a heart-based writing coach who worked primarily, at the time, with aspiring spiritual authors.

In August of 2013 she attended a networking conference for women in business. She came from there with a clear message and plan of action.

She needed to brand herself as the Write from the Heart Writing Coach.

That was just the beginning.

She wrote and published a bookWrite from the Heart: A Step-by-Step Writing Guide to Get Your Message from Idea to Publication to act as a product for her business and an extension of her brand.

She strategically launched Write from the Heart and the book went on to sell thousands of copies.

Book was just the tip of the iceberg. From there she saw the potential to turn the concepts she wrote about in her book into an online course. From there Write from the Heart: 8-Week Book Writing Intensive was born. This became her most popular product and service. It was easy to create since she already had much of the content from my book.

But she didn’t stop there. She started her own radio show where she interviewed a different author each week and discussed topics such as writing and publishing.

She created a companion journal to publish as a second product based upon her book and created a CD of affirmations for writers with a mediation to unlock creativity and expand productivity.

She also created an affirmation card deck to sell at events alongside her book, CD, and Journal. She hosted writing retreats and various workshops — all based on theories of her book.

Her business went from working with writers (a generic niche) to narrowing down her area of expertise, finding her ideal clients, and then creating products to reach them specifically.

She repurposed the content and created a autor empire around her brand.

When people heard Write from Heart, they thought of Sunny Dawn Johnston, and she had her book, products, and brand to thank for that.

[ Case Study Source: Sunny Dawn Johnston’s Foreword in Aurthorpreneur, How to Build an Empire and Build the Authority in Your Business]

Photo by Dan Farrell on Unsplash