We are living in the best time ever to become an authorpreneur.

Computers have made it easier to write, and the internet has made it possible to research, publish and sell to a global audience.

If you love to create as I do, and if you are ready to learn different skills and adapt to the changing environment as I do, then we can build a business around our writing.

But first, a disclaimer — I am not a millionairess from writing, nor am I in the publishing business. I am a new writer who is learning from those who have already made it.

I developed a passion for writing in my forties. For twenty years, I was scribbling in journals and doing occasional courses. It is only two years ago that I quit my job to devote all my energies to writing.

I was encouraged by many writers who have successfully build businesses with their writing. I made it my mission to learn from them and to share my learning with others.

The Millennials and Gen Z are born with technology on their finger-tips. They are also entrepreneurs by nature, while we, the Baby Boomers and Gen-X, have to follow a steep learning curve.

But we are a determined generation, having achieved so much in our lives. I am certain we can achieve whatever we set our hearts upon.

I have started my authorpreneur journey with this belief that with my tenacity, passion, and consistency I will be able to achieve what I have out to regardless of my age.

Besides age is just a number, isn’t it?

Let’s get on with it.

In the past few years, I have been studying the trajectory of many writers. Writers such as J.A. Konrath, Adam Croft, David Gaughran, Joanna Penn, Mark Dawson, Michael L Ronn, Jeff Goings, James Clear, Orna Ross, Austin Kleon, just to name a few. They all have proved that it is possible to build a business out of your passion.

But you need to be ready to put in the work and stick it out.

But as a new writer, it was an enigma to me where to start and where to put my effort. There is a lot of guidance, but other writers as well were ‘so-called’ academies but none of them were clear.

When you start in any profession, usually there is a clear pathway. Even entrepreneurship has certain steps that need to be taken to ensure your venture is going to succeed. Then why authorpreneurship should be any different?

I set upon finding the path.

I discovered there are five areas you need to work on to strengthen the foundation of your author’s business.

I call them pillars.

Whether you are a fiction writer, a non-fiction writer, or a content writer, the pillars are still the same.

And they are:

1. Mindset
2. Time
3. Skills
4. Stamina
5. Strategy

Mindset

You cannot build any business without the mindset of an entrepreneur.

What is an entrepreneur? According to the Oxford Dictionary, “An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of a profit.”

This definition has two keywords— risk and profit.

In any business, you need to take risks.

Without risks, there are no gains.

And you need to prepare yourself to accept the gains. That is a profit mindset.

Many writers are not prepared to see their work as worthy of compensation.

They are happy to write for free or accept meager advance for several years of work they have put in a single book.

They dream of being a bestselling author and money to appear on their doorstep, but they are reluctant to conduct their business in such a way the profits are inevitable.

The core of any business is marketing.

We are responsible for our own success.

If we are building a business, we will not leave the most crucial part of our business to our employees.

Would we?

Marketing is the most crucial part of the author’s business. Yet most writers hate marketing and would love someone else to handle it.

But it is like letting the supermarkets make a profit from your produce. No wonder farmers are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet while supermarkets are becoming giants by buying cheap and charging more.

Marketing is a lot easier and more fun if we start by changing our mindset.

Marketing is sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it. It is not telling people to “buy my book” or accosting innocent readers in bookstores. It is about connecting with people around the topic we’re passionate about and providing useful information while being entertaining and inspirational along the way.

Marketing is a form of creativity. If you consider marketing an inherent part of the process rather than something separate, you’ll enjoy it more. For example, write about the journey of the book you are writing. The places you have visited while researching, issues you have faced while plotting, the challenges you overcame while editing. All of this gives the readers an insight into your world and gets them excited about your book.

Marketing is a learnable skill. We don’t need a degree in marketing to sell books, but we do need to learn new things, try them out and practice over time. True, we can hire other people to help us, but if we upskill ourselves, it is much cheaper, more effective, and more authentic since no one knows our book, as well as we do. And who knows, we might even enjoy the process.

Marketing is more than a book launch. Especially if we want to make a consistent living with our writing, we can continue to sell books, products, and services for years to come if we integrate marketing within our creative and production process.

You can choose marketing based on your personality type. If you are an introvert you might prefer content marketing compared to an extrovert who would prefer book signing, speaking engagements, and networking events.

Strengthen your mindset pillar by thinking like a business owner. Open yourself to market your book much before you even write it.

Still, having doubts?

Tim Ferris wrote a 100-page marketing plan even before putting pen to paper to write his first book For Hour Work Week.

Tomorrow, the second pillar — Time.

Photo by Trish H-C on Unsplash

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

Unlike most people, I have been avoiding social media. This year I realized I can’t keep ignoring the power of social media.

In the first week of January, I started a 100-day project — to write a social media post every day on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

As soon as I started posting regularly, I began getting messages from people who wanted to either sell me something or to read their stuff. Some sent me links to their article, others wanted me to review their website. But this one guy sent me a page-long email asking me to spread the word about his novel. He even wrote the synopsis and included the links where I could buy it.

That tipped the scale for me.

I am new to social media but even I could sense that he had gone too far.

You can’t expect someone who hardly knows you to start recommending your books to others.

He didn’t even try to ascertain whether I read historical fiction or not (His was a historical novel).

That got me thinking, there should be some social media etiquette.

When I started looking for them I couldn’t find any. So I built a list of mine.

1. Don’t bombard people with your products. If someone knocks on your door and straightway starts selling you a product, would you buy it? How do you feel when someone cold calls you to sell something? I feel exactly that. Cold. No one warms up to a cold caller. The same is true on social media. Social media enable us to reach targeted readers and attract those who might enjoy what we write. But they need to get to know you first. Build the trust. Let your audience warm up to you. Give them some snippets from your life. Once they get to know you, they might get interested in reading your work and later on down the track might want to buy your book.
   
2. Be Genuine. People can discern whether you are being honest or not. They can detect whether you are being authentic or putting on a persona. One would think social media is a place for conmen, but surprising people need to be more authentic and congruent with their values on social media than they are even in their real life. Why? Because you get caught out pretty soon. The best way to use any of the social media sites is to be authentic and real. You have a better chance of attracting people and build a long-term relationship that way. Don’t broadcast spammy sales messages. Just be yourself and interact.
   
3. Be useful, interesting, or entertaining. Social means social. Social media means a place to interact with other like-minded people. Just as we were taught not to go to anyone’s home with bearing a gift, you shouldn’t appear on social media without bearing a gift. Remember the phrase ‘what’s in it for me.’ Everyone wants to know things that will help them, or interest them, or make them laugh. If you are not offering something that they want you won’t get their attention. You don’t need to do weird things, be nasty or abusive to get attention, you just need to bear a gift whenever you appear on social media.
   
4. Develop the relationship first. Building relationships takes time. You will need to invest time and effort. If you are not willing to do that, and just want to flaunt your product at every new contact, people will be put off quickly. People can discern whether you are in it for the long term or are just after a promotional opportunity. People are not stupid. Social media is a long term strategy that you should only follow if you consider someone to be a contact worth pursuing.
   
5. Pitch them, but only when it is appropriate. Once they have noticed you in some way, you can ask to share your work. You can make them your beta readers or you can send them announcements whenever you launch a product. Don’t do it all the time and certainly don’t do it before they get to know you.

Toxicity on Social Media

So many people come off social media because of the toxicity that goes on there.

Recently Tim Denning wrote about the dark side of LinkedIn where he told the story of a woman who had experienced bullying (called womanizing) on LinkedIn. Predators would develop a community around their content, using a group chat like WhatsApp, and then use it to exploit unsuspecting women.

They would pretend to make women feel good and leave nice comments on their LinkedIn posts to get their attention. Then they would try and do anything to meet up with them in person so they could, hopefully, get them in bed.

Many other women reported witnessing the same kind of experience. I too have been contacted by men wanting to talk because they were feeling lonely and asking me personal questions.

Bullying is universal by womanizing is new to the cyberworld. As a woman, we need to be more vigilant on the internet.

Can we ignore social media altogether?

Social media is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it provides community and friends who might never have met in real life, people who ‘get you’ even if they live on the other side of the world.

On the other hand, it makes us the target for bullies, womanizers, and vendors who want to push their products to us.

You can ignore social media and many people do.

But if you need to build a platform it can be a very effective way to reach your audience.

As an author, it has several benefits.

• You can build your community. Particularly if you are a self-published author who is selling directly to your readers. Authors need to stay in contact with their readers to sell their books
• Talk to other authors. Writing is a lonely profession. But if you know other writers, the process of writing becomes more bearable plus you discover opportunities to collaborate and to learn from each other. Social Media is a great place to connect with other writers.
• Advertise to potential readers. You need the means to announce your books. There is no better way than social media.

It is also a brilliant form of marking for introverts and most writers are introverts. You can choose when you interact and you can also be at home in silence and yet still be ‘out there’ connecting with people.

In many ways, social media is still about hand-selling to individuals but on a global scale.

But the real power of social media is about making connections and building relationships.

It is a brilliant way to market organically. This is how the marketing principle AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Actions) works for social media.

Attention

Attention is hard to get in this speedy online world. There are books, TV, podcasts, and streaming. Yet people spend a lot of time on social media and the best thing about it is that it is the only medium where there can be two-way interaction. Pieces of content are breadcrumbs leading to your door. You can share bits of your story, your hobbies, your successes, and even your failure as long as it is interesting, entertaining, or inspirational and you are bound to build a following.

Interest

Social networking is pointless on its own as a marketing mechanism. The aim is to get people to notice you and be interested enough to follow you or click through to your website.

Make sure you have all your social networking links on every page or the sidebar of your site so that you are easy to contact.

Also, make sure to capture people’s interest with a sign-up so that you can develop this fledging relationship further. Social network rise and fall. You don’t own that real estate, you only borrow it for a little while.

Desire

Sometimes people will buy your book, as soon as they hear about you but generally, it takes time for people to make a buying decision.

Once people have found you and are interested in what you’re doing, they might follow your blog, may listen to your interview, or simply continue to follow you on social networks. They may also receive your email newsletters, by producing other pieces of content you will expand the impact you can have over time.

Social Networking is about people knowing you, liking you, and trusting you enough to let you have a slice of their time and attention.

Authenticity over the long term is therefore important so that you can sustain this. Marketing like writing is a long term activity. You might share snippets, and pictures from your writing life while you’re writing your books on social media. And in this way, those who follow you will be ready to buy when you launch.

Action.

Once people know you like you and trust you, they are far more likely to try your books or recommend you to others.

There is no hard sell necessary.

This method is about attracting people who might be interested in what you have to say.

Once you have their attention you have built up a desire to see what you are doing. As you can now ask to take action and buy your book.

Socialising is about having fun.

Social networking doesn’t work if you don’t enjoy it, or if you are unrelentingly negative. Networks are collective energy expressed in one place. If you exude negativity or hype or spam, then that’s what you will experience in return.

Joining a conversation, learning from people, sharing something interesting, and making connections could be fun.

Just like socializing is fun.

So how can you be social on social media?

Social media is about being social. You got to follow all the rules you would follow when you are socializing with people in person. Keep these simple rules in mind.

• Make friends rather than push products. Friendship will bring you much more rewards than the little financial gain you will have from selling a book or a course.
• Build trust. Share bits about your life, your interests, and your work so that people get to know you before they decide to buy something from you.
• Be honest and be yourself.
• Think long term.

Photo by Elevate on Unsplash

Last week I checked Quora seriously for the first time. Those of you who don’t know, Quora is a knowledge-sharing site where you can ask any question and let people provide advice and expert tips.

I had dismissed the platform, thinking it is for the gossipers and bored people who had nothing better to do. Imagine my surprise when I dug in and read a few responses on the topic I was researching at the moment.

Quora has come a long way since its inception in June 2010. Three hundred million unique people visit Quora each month. They ask questions; provide answers to the ones they could, and follow either the people or the topics they are interested in. They also help edit answers either factually or in the form of opinions making the experience more like a lively and exciting discussion between like-minded people.

Why should new writers consider Quora?

Unlike the specialised sites where experts write articles on topics they select, Quora is driven by seekers who want their queries answered. The responses are direct and mostly by those who have some knowledge and experience in the field.

Take, for example, the question: How do I make my fantasy novel less clunky? Click on the link, and you will find 29 responses: some short, some very detailed. The response by Jennifer Quail has received 750 upvotes. Upvotes are the way the readers rank the quality of the answer earning the writer a reputation.

Benefits of writing on Quora

Although you will not get paid to write, Quora could be an excellent platform for new writers. Here are five ways new writers can benefit from Quora.

1. To practice as a new writer

If you are new to writing and don’t know where to start, Quora is an easy platform. Even before you blogging or begin writing articles on online magazines, you should start writing on Quora and build your writing muscle. You can do shorter pieces to start with, and can eventually launch into long-form articles.

Just start with anything. When you write regularly, your grammar and spellings will begin to improve. If you ask specifically, many people will edit your piece and even help you with your grammar. 

2. To be a part of a big writing community

I believe the most significant benefit of Quora is to be able to make acquaintance with other writers which ultimately might lead to a lasting friendship.

Unlike other places where writers hang out, such as Medium, Goodreads, Facebook communities, etc., Quora allows you to connect with other writers and learn from them directly. You can ask direct questions and get specific solutions to the particular issue you are facing, whether it is bringing traffic to your blog or how to make the antagonist of your novel a three-dimensional character.

3. To stay up-to-date with the writing industry

There is so much going on with the writing industry at the moment that it is hard to keep up-to-date. What is happening with traditional publishing since the COVID crisis? Should or should you not consider publishing on Kindle? What are your options for self-publishing? How to market your book yourself? Any questions you want to be answered, rather than searching on Google, try asking at Quora, and chances are you will find genuine people with first-hand experience responding to your query. You not only save time searching the answer on the internet but also get to know how other writers like you are doing.

4. To build a reputation and personal brand

If you are writing, chances are you want to be known as a writer. Quora is the best place for new writers to build a name for themselves. You can do so by responding to the questions people are asking. It will take much less time to respond to a problem than writing a blog post or a whole article. Write good, helpful, and well-thought answers from your own experiences, and you will get noticed. Over time you will build up a following as well as a name for yourself on a platform that is much informal and easy to use.

5. To drive traffic to your website or blog

Once you’ve built up your reputation, you can use your answers to direct traffic straight to your website. Quora allows you to link your website when you are answering a question. If your answers get noticed, you will mark a rapid change in your traffic.

Quora is an excellent platform for all off-page SEOs (search engine optimisation). When you will create links to your website you will drive organic traffic to it. This is one of the most popular features which most of the experienced Quora users use.

Initially, read everything you are interested in Quora. Once you get the hang of the platform, start asking questions. If you find an item you can answer, respond to it. It doesn’t matter your responses initially are bit awkward or short. You will get good eventually. You will find that you can write an article-length response to some questions, which will not only help the person who asked the question but many others who will read it.

But eventually the person who will benefit most from your article length response is you, yourself.

Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash