Our team at The Author Conservatory talks to hundreds of students every year, writers who are passionate about their craft and dream of becoming published. It’s a goal and dream shared by many, a goal and dream that we have made our aim to turn into a reality. That’s why we launched our program over five years ago, offering hands-on experience tailored to aspiring authors who want to learn how to build a sustainable career.

However, we’ve found that many people focus on writing craft alone, when there are other components to consider.

Everyone asks us how to write a successful book that people will pick up. But what they often don’t realize is that there is another key skill that separates hobbyist authors from the truly successful: business skills.  

Why Writing Talent Alone Isn’t Always Enough

Mastering the fundamentals of writing is the entire focus of year one in The Conservatory. Our students learn the “rules” of excellent craft, guided by professionals in the field.

We do this by first teaching our students how to lay excellent groundwork for a bestselling story: mastering how to craft a story premise. Our students learn how to craft a gripping novel with sympathetic characters, a believable world, compelling stakes, and a riveting twist. 

By the end of their three years in the program, our students will have mastered the fundamentals of storytelling, received professional feedback from an editor, and perfected a short story to be published in our student showcase anthologies.

It’s safe to say that we have the writing craft bases covered. But what if we told you that writing a good story isn’t always enough to become a bestseller?

The other essential piece to becoming a successful author is understanding how to actually sell the book that you’ve written.

That’s why business coaching for authors is one of the core pieces of what we teach at The Author Conservatory. 

The Shift from “Author” to “Authorprenuer”

A term we use a lot at The Author Conservatory is “authorpreneur.”

If you enroll as a student, it’s a guarantee that you’ll hear this word coined at least one—or five—times. 

We love this phrase because it combines two of our favorite words: “Author” with “Entrepreneur.” 

And it sums up exactly what we do at the Conservatory: we raise up authors with business skills they need to successfully navigate the market. 

So today, start by adopting an “authorpreneur” mindset!

What Happens When Authors Think like CEOs

The techniques we teach our author business coaching students are not newfangled; in fact, they’re the same business techniques that hundreds of people have used to launch successful businesses. It’s just that we have made these techniques applicable for the writing field. Our business track aims to help students understand how to think like a CEO and how to actually put these techniques into practice. 

Josiah DeGraaf, the Conservatory’s Marketing & Admissions Director, is a fantastic example of applying a CEO-mindset to becoming an author.

Josiah is launching his debut novel, A Study of Shattered Spells, as a Kickstarter campaign. He spent hours perfecting his novel, but he didn’t neglect mastering business skills such as building an email list, creating a launch plan, and understanding a sales funnel.

This enabled him to:

• Gather 3,500+ email subscribers of eager readers as an unpublished novelist
• Raise $25,000+ on Kickstarter and other platforms for his debut novel
• Commission a dozen interior illustrations
• Hit 900+ pre-orders for A Study of Shattered Spells just through the Kickstarter campaign

It’s our goal that every single one of our students graduates has the same marketing tools Josiah used so they can achieve success in their own writing journeys. 

How Business Coaching for Authors Works at The Author Conservatory

The Author Conservatory offers business coaching for authors as part of our business track, a three year curriculum that leaves students with a full financial strategy to support themselves as they write.

We do this not through a textbook or lectures alone but with actual hands-on experience.

By the end of the first year of the program, each student will have gone through a rigorous entrepreneurship process and will have actually launched their very own business—and started generating income!

As they progress, our author business coaching students learn how to identify their target audience, achieve a high hourly rate of at least $20-30/hour, hire employees, file taxes, and learn how to scale.

The final year of the program combines these entrepreneurship techniques with writing craft: students launch a short story anthology with a polished piece of writing. That way our students are able to “practice” actually being an Authorprenuer; however, it’s more than just practice! Every student that as participated in an anthology has learned how to form a launch team, do a cover reveal, build a platform, and host a book launch. Some of our students have even gotten their books in local bookstores!

We like to say that we’re raising up the next generation of authors… but in reality, we’re raising up the next generation of Authorprenuers! 

For a detailed breakdown of our business and writing curriculum, click here: https://authorconservatory.com/fiction-writing-program/

Learn More About The Author Conservatory Today

If you’ve dreamed of becoming a published author and recognize that your writing talent also requires author business coaching, fill out an application or email us: [email protected] 

We believe that it’s possible to thrive with a creative writing career, and we’d love to show you how to make that dream a reality!