by Women in Publishing Summit | Sep 3, 2020
ed. note: Thank you to Autumn Birt for this guest post! We are so excited about her new program for fantasy writers. Keep reading to learn more about this value-packed program that is a MUST for every fantasy writer,
Back when I first started writing fantasy and decided to give e-publishing a try, back in the early days of eBooks that I fondly refer to the Wild West, there wasn’t much information out to help authors. Now there seems to be too much and most of it contradicts itself!
I’m Autumn Birt, a bestselling and award-winning fantasy author (and past Women in Publishing Summit speaker!). I just released my thirteenth fantasy novel which completes my third series. I’m now a full-time writer traveling around the US with my husband and our Cairn Terrier, Ayashe, living the life of adventure that I love to write about in my epic fantasy stories. Well, minus the magic and dragons … but I’m looking for them!
Over the years as I learned how to successful write amazing stories, reach more readers, and market, I’ve written hundreds of blog posts offering free writing tips. But secretly, I wanted more.
What I want is to really, REALLY, help other authors. Not just with an occasional tip here and there amid random writing posts that I think, hope, will help you. No. I want to KNOW I impacted not only your writing but your writing career.
I dream big. I know. 😉
I’ve been gathering up all the things that have helped me create the awesome author business I have now, all those essential pieces of advice I wish someone had told and given me when I first started out as an indie author. And I’ve packaged them into one sweet little bundle that is so full of awesomeness that it makes me as excited as I was the first time I uploaded a book to Amazon (don’t tell Born of Water I said that. EVER.).
I know, really, how can anything besides writing be that good?
What if I told you what I’ve got coming is 12 seriously AWESOME modules that will teach you to write, edit, and publish your novel to raving fans? These step-by-step modules will help you take the spark of an idea and develop it into an amazing book with in-depth writing lessons that will teach you the pertinent details of just what you need to know to write an amazing book (and none of the extra crap that will only slow you down). AND, if that wasn’t sweet enough, it will show you the steps to build a fan base as you write, how to overcome, and totally defeat, writer’s block, plus the techniques to edit like a pro.
[bctt tweet=”take the spark of an idea & develop it into an amazing #fantasy #book What you need to know to #write an amazing book! #amwriting #ultimatefantasywritersguide #amwritingfantasy” username=”womeninpublish1″]
After that, it REALLY gets good.
That is when you jump into the module on the 5 essential parts of a cover AND how to format both an ebook and a paperback book using the templates the course provides. Did I just say ebook and paperback templates? Yup. They work great too. I just used them on my newest fantasy release (uploaded 2 days ago!). This course even provides an over-my-shoulder screencast video of how to use the templates and upload!
And that isn’t the end, oh no! There are still jam-packed lessons on how to launch a book to fans and reviews, including super-secret swipe files on how to build a launch team. And after all the excitement has worn off, as well as Amazon’s new release sales bump, how to continue to grow your author brand and expand into long-term marketing strategies.
Like I said, EVERYTHING you need to build your totally awesome author career. Swipe files to build your mailing list and launch team, awesome downloads, checklists, and cheat sheets to keep you organized, those over-my-shoulder videos to the exact steps you need to take, and then all that fantastic information packed into one single course. And there is even more! There are 3 amazing bonuses.
I’ve been dreaming of creating this for nearly two years.
Well more than dreaming. Because, like writing a book, things don’t happen, especially BIG and amazing things, if you don’t work hard to make them happen.
I CAN. NOT. WAIT. to help you with all those amazing lessons, downloads, swipe files, templates and MORE that are locked inside this amazing Guide, those awesome bonuses… Well, that is why it is called the Ultimate Fantasy Writer’s Guide!
Autumn is a bestselling author in fantasy, epic fantasy, and war! She is the author of the fast-paced epic fantasy, including the adventure trilogy on elemental magic, the Rise of the Fifth Order. Her newest series is Games of Fire, an epic continuation of the world and characters begun in the Rise of the Fifth Order. Learn more at http://autumnbirt.com
by Women in Publishing Summit | Oct 25, 2019
Want to create a course from your book? Thinkific makes it simple.
Miranda Lievers of Thinkific discusses the best way to get started, using expertise you already have.
Miranda Lievers is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur devoted to the intersection of small business and technology. As co-founder and COO of Thinkific, she's helped 36,000 business owners earn 100 million dollars with online courses over the last year, while educating millions of students around the globe.
Thinkific is an online course creation platform.
We enable people to create, market, and sell their own courses online under their own brands, feeling confident they've got the easiest technology and the best support in the industry.
HOW DO AUTHORS USE THINKIFIC?
We’re excited to see authors using our platform. And our team is putting together a lot of content specifically designed for authors right now, as the features WRITERS look for can be different than other entrepreneurs. I’ll tell you about 3 ways we see authors using Thinkific to benefit their businesses:
- Authors are creating FREE courses to start to build their Email Lists.
By developing a Mini Course, you can easily get readers (and potential readers) to share their email address with you—in exchange for your knowledge and content. - Authors are creating COMMUNITY and two-way conversations.
Your readers may follow you and read all your stuff, but you’re not hearing a lot back from them. Sometimes, it can feel like you’re just speaking to a dark room. We see authors using online courses to start a dialogue with existing or future readers. Online courses can help you create community and encourage the two-way conversation that ultimately makes us all better writers. - Authors are creating new REVENUE streams with online courses.
By developing “next-level” content that comes with a bit of a price, you can monetize an additional income stream for your writing business. We often see authors using courses to build Membership Sites as they get more well-known and start to build a bigger audience.
HOW CAN I BEST “GET STARTED” WITH ONLINE COURSES?
I’ll tell you most authors I speak with immediately think they have to develop their big, giant, epic Signature Course. We don’t recommend that.
It’s actually the LAST thing we should be thinking about. I liken that approach to the cook who wants to begin entertaining. You don’t generally START with a huge dinner party for 80 guests. It’s better to ease into it, get your feet wet, and maybe start with tapas and a movie.
For authors, we recommend starting with a FREE MINI-COURSE as a “lead magnet.” It’s a short course that offers material you are going to exchange for your reader’s coveted email address, which we all want to capture. By getting their address up front, you’ll have a way to contact them as you’re writing your book, as you’re publishing your next piece of work, and as you’re looking to market your writings.
CREATING A MINI-COURSE IS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE.
Thinkific is a great way to begin offering simple online courses and to then build on your success. It’s a natural fit with someone who is writing (or aiming to write) for a living, because it creates a way to deliver content on an ongoing basis. Follow these steps to get started:
- Use our FREE PLAN to build your Mini Course. At the very beginning, there’s not even a cash outlay required. Thinkific’s plan scales based on the features you add. Begin with a free account on Thinkific and literally just click and use the Mini Course template to get started.
- Solve a very simple problem for your readers. It’s really just about figuring out the few tidbits of information that you can provide to solve a problem for your readers. Be sure to make the problem/solution compelling enough that someone will want to trade their email address for it.
- Promote your class in your online content. If you are publishing regularly, and especially if you are publishing online, we suggest linking people directly to your Mini Course from your blogs, ads, or emails. It’s effective to come up with a “signature line” that wraps up your article and calls them to act, like “Want more tips like this? Check out my free course online!”
I sometimes refer to Mini Courses as the “Rip off the Band-Aid” course. It’s your opportunity to get your knowledge online, figure out what works and what doesn't, and determine what you enjoy about content creation. You’ll quickly see how the whole thing strings together; and then you can easily go and grow from there. To keep it easy on yourself, leverage information you already have, perhaps from a blog entry or a podcast or interview to get started. And remember, the biggest mistake that new course creators make is to think they need to provide a behemoth course. For now, think SMALL and focus on providing readers simple information that helps them solve a real problem. That way, they won’t hesitate to give YOU what you want: their email address.
For MORE about interacting with readers via Thinkific:
Check out our other Women in Publishing blog post: How Authors Can Make Money with Courses; an interview with Miranda Lievers
