With the growth spurt of small independent publishing houses and self-publishing options, there has been much debate over recent years on what a real author looks like. Is it getting one traditional book deal, or are you “real” only after you receive your first positive book review? Is it the negative review that seals you in as an “author to watch,” or the big advance check that allows authors to go from unreal to real?
The truth is that anyone who publishes a book, no matter the method or the quality, is an author. The only distinction to be seen to date is whether or not an author has chosen to make writing their lifestyle and their business. Being an author requires a significant investment, from the time spent researching unique novel perspectives and perfecting one’s writing abilities, to launching events and promotions. As writers take the plunge into authorship, the reminder of what is truly necessary to be successful is a critical part of their development into entrepreneurs.
According to Sharon Jenkins, REAL authorpreneurs are RELEVANT, ENTREPRENEURIAL, ACTION-ORIENTED, and LITERARY FOCUSED. She presents the stories of the following authorpreneurs in her latest release, Will the REAL Authorpreneur Please Stand Up? to motivate and inspire authors- showing them that one size doesn’t fit all.
Introducing the Contributors
Joel Friedlander is an award-winning book designer, blogger, and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish and The Self-Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide. He’s been launching the careers of self-publishers since 1994 and writes TheBookDesigner.com, a popular blog on book design, book marketing, and the future of the book.
Joel is also the founder of the online training course “The Self-Publishing Roadmap” and a former president of the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association.
Contact him on Twitter @JFBookman
Writing Alchemy: How to Write Fast and Deep, four anthologies of award-winning stories entitled Seasons of Our Lives: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and the collective memoir Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story all draw on Matilda Butler’s fifty years of research training and work experiences. In addition to being an award-winning and bestselling Kindle author, she is a social psychologist, authorpreneur, conference presenter, and memoir coach with a passion for helping others tell their stories in powerful and engaging ways.
Matilda taught and conducted research at Stanford University, published a hundred-plus articles and book chapters about women in work and education, created the nationwide Women’s Educational Equity Communication Network, and cofounded Knowledge Access International, a software company specializing in CD-ROM information products. After selling the company, she returned to research and writing, which resulted in Rosie’s Daughters, the story of the generation of women born during WWII shaped by the ‘60s who didn’t take “no” for an answer. Her experiences with Rosie’s Daughters led to teaching memoir writing, founding WomensMemoirs.com, and developing her student-tested, award-winning system called Writing Alchemy.
Matilda moved to Oregon in 2010 and currently splits her writing time between Corvallis and Waikoloa Beach.
Contact her at WomensMemoirs.com or on Twitter @rosiesbandana
Brian W. Smith is the award-winning, bestselling author of fourteen novels, including HOARDER, DEADBEAT, Nina’s Got a Secret, If These Trees Could Talk, and The Audubon Park Murder. His novels have earned spots on the Dallas Morning News, Amazon, and Black Expressions Bestsellers lists. He has been awarded the Male Author of the Year by several literary organizations (AALBC and OOSA Reviewers, to name a few), and he’s cohost of The Bookends radio show.
Brian’s educational background includes Bachelor’s Degrees in Business Administration and Criminal Justice, and a Master of Business Administration. When Brian is not writing novels, traveling to literary events, and meeting with book clubs nationwide, he serves as an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at a community college in the Dallas, Texas, area.
Brian is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and currently resides in McKinney, Texas.
Contact him at AuthorBrianWSmith.com or bws@authorbrianwsmith.com
“Live significantly!” is the inspiring message of Sharon Norris Elliott, award-winning author, speaker, and astute Bible teacher, who always encourages everyone who will listen to live a life that matters. Her three latest published books are Why I Get Into Trouble; Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children; and Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame.
Sharon is a dedicated teacher, and, in addition to her writing ministry, she’s a licensed minister, popular conference and retreat speaker, and editor-in-chief of Gospel Roads magazine (GospelRoads.com). Sharon also instructs Christian authors, encouraging them toward excellence in the business. To that end, she teaches at major Christian writers’ conferences nationwide, and is CEO of AuthorizeMe®, through which she conducts hands-on seminars, personally assisting attendees toward their publishing goals. Sharon is adding to her thirty-year career as a high school English teacher at Orange Lutheran High School in Southern California.
Sharon and her husband, James, are enjoying each other and their empty nest, left so by their blended family of five grown children, three of whom have given them their four grandchildren.
Discover more at her ministry website, LifeThatMatters.net, and devotional blog, SaneWriter.wordpress.com
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and literary agent, he has also written more than sixty nonfiction books including his newest, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham.
To help writers (fiction and nonfiction), he has created a twelve-lesson online course called “Write A Book Proposal.” Check out his free e-book, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. Contact him at TerryWhalin.com and on Twitter @TerryWhalin, at Facebook.com/TerryWhalin, and at LinkedIn.com/in/TerryWhalin.
Tyora Moody is the author of “soul-searching suspense” novels in the Serena Manchester Series, Victory Gospel Series, and the Eugeena Patterson Mysteries. As a literary-focused entrepreneur, she has assisted countless authors with developing an online presence via her design and marketing company, Tywebbin Creations, LLC; popular services include virtual event planning, social media management, book trailers, and book covers.
She is also the author of the nonfiction series The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the host of The Literary Entrepreneur Podcast.
For more information about her literary endeavors, visit her online at TyoraMoody.com.
Rochelle Carter is the Publisher at Ellechor Media LLC, an award-winning publishing company with three imprints and an online bookstore. She provides premium self-publishing services, training, and coaching for authors, and manages the acquisition and production process for her traditional imprint.
Carter has received national recognition for her leadership and professional achievements, including the 2014 Stiletto Woman in Business Award for Entrepreneur of the Year and as a runner-up for the 2015 Portland Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list.
As the multi-award winning and international bestselling author of The 7-Step Guide to Authorpreneurship, Becoming An Author, Write Success, and Christian Authorpreneurship: Mastering the Business of Publishing, Rochelle Carter is dedicated to creating “Independent, Innovative, and Iconic twenty-first century authors.”
Contact her at www.ellechormedia.com, on Twitter @RochelleDCarter, and at http://Facebook/Ellechor
Nina Amir, the bestselling author of How to Blog a Book and The Author Training Manual, is a speaker, a blogger, and an author, book, and blog-to-book coach. Known as the “Inspiration to Creation Coach,” she helps creative people combine their passion and purpose so they move from idea to inspired action and positively and meaningfully impact the world as writers, bloggers, authorpreneurs, and blogpreneurs.
Some of Nina’s clients have sold 300,000-plus copies of their books, landed deals with major publishing houses, and created thriving businesses around their books. She is the founder of National Nonfiction Writing Month, aka the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge, and the Nonfiction Writers’ University. As a hybrid author, she has published fifteen books and had as many as four books on the Amazon Top 100 list at the same time.
Contact her on her website at NinaAmir.com.
Tom Blubaugh was raised in a small town in southeast Kansas. He began writing poetry at age fourteen, but has written nonfiction most of his adult life. He self-published his first book, Behind the Scenes of the Bus Ministry, in 1974, and wrote articles for denominational and business magazines from 1975 through 1995. He co-wrote The Great Adventure for Barbour Publishing Co. in 2009. Bound by Faith Publishers published his first novel, Night of the Cossack, in April, 2011, when he was 69.
Tom has been a public speaker for over forty years, and is currently a Literary Strategist working one-on-one with authors and writers in all aspects of the publishing arena, social media, brand building, and book marketing. Tom has been a self-employed entrepreneur since 1973, and is married to Barbara; they have six children and fourteen grandchildren.
Find out more at TomBlubaugh.net.
Kachelle Kelly is founder of Kachelle Kelly International, Inc., a small business and empowerment coaching firm. Kachelle utilizes her creativity and candor as she coaches career driven women and men to not only activate their hustle but also their faith by providing them with innovative ideas, strategies, resources, and empowerment to achieve authentic success, profitability, peace, and happiness in their business and life.
Her coaching clients rave about her ability to not only understand them and their struggles but also their businesses—knowing exactly how to be “real” in sharing a step-by-step plan to grow their businesses online and offline. Kachelle empowers others to “activate your hustle,” encouraging them to actively go after their dreams and visions by eliminating distractions and adopting best business practices to be successful.
She is the author of Boss Women & Boss Men Pray: 31 Prayers to Increase Your Success & Spirit, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Counseling from the College of Biblical Studies and a Certification in Christian Counseling. She resides in Pearland, Texas.
Learn more at her website, KachelleKelly.com.
Carla R. Cannon, also known as “The Trailblazer” and Transformational Coach, is dedicated to empowering, equipping, and strengthening women on how to operate in their divine calling authentically and in a spirit of excellence from the pulpit to the marketplace. She is also a national bestselling author and high level book coach. Through her company Inspiring Hearts Coaching Institute, she develops aspiring authors into published authors by teaching them how to write, publish, and market their book by sharing their story from a place of power rather than pain or pity.
Carla is a woman who is all about connectivity and building a community where Christ is at the center and women of every culture can come together in unity to build, expand, and further one another.
Contact her at CarlaCannon.com and on all major social media outlets @CarlaRCannon.
Roxana Heredia has been a language professional for ten years, having worked as a Spanish bilingual teacher for several years and as a translator. A native Spanish speaker, Roxana earned a BA in Spanish from the University of Houston, and obtained her Master’s Degree in Public Relations from George Washington University.
After working for many years as a Spanish bilingual teacher, Roxana used her teaching and language skills to found LISTO Translating Services & More, LLC. In her role at LISTO, Roxana manages a large network of translators, interpreters, editors, and proofreaders, as well as the overall translation workflow methodology and interpretation assignment planning. She ensures that the right people, processes, and resources are applied to each project. Her goal is to help people to break down any language barriers they may come across in order to enhance their personal and professional lives.
Roxana was recently appointed by Houston’s mayor, Annise Parker, to serve on the mayor’s Hispanic Advisory Board because of her service to both the English-speaking and Hispanic communities.
Shelley R. Roth is the president of Springboard Social Media, an entrepreneur and social media trainer, speaker, consultant, and author who is dedicated to helping individuals, organizations, and teams improve marketing effectiveness and sales results via social media. Springboard’s methodologies and services are based on over twenty-five years of successful business development, sales, and educational leadership of individuals, early stage companies, small businesses, and Fortune 500 corporations.
Shelley’s ability to inspire and empower students, partners, affiliates, and clients is recognized by all those that she works with. Shelley has a BS in Education and holds MEds in Educational Psychology and Educational Administration.
Her books are available on Amazon and her website at ShelleyRoth.com
Melanie Bragg is the author of Crosstown Park, a social legal thriller with a spiritual twist. She has long enjoyed a reputation as one of Houston’s fiercest attorneys in her representation of children, the elderly, and mentally disadvantaged people. Her firm, Bragg Law PC, is a general civil firm in Houston, Texas. She also writes and produces legal education programs through Legal Insight, Inc. Her writing credits include HIPAA for the General Practitioner, published by the American Bar Association, as well as the upcoming book Defining Moments: Insights into the Lawyers Soul, to be published by the American Bar Association Flagship Division. She was the Author 101 University Success Story featured speaker in 2012 and is a frequent speaker and teacher to groups of lawyers, writers, and business professionals.
When she’s not writing, Melanie devotes her time to her work as Chair of the Book Publications Board of the Solo, Small Firm & General Practice Division, and sharing ideas with fellow authors.
She is a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association and serves on the NSA-Houston Board of Directors as Secretary. On Friday afternoons you can see her at the local movie theatre catching a new movie. If you look real hard, you will see a big smile on her face. She can be reached at Melanie@melaniebragg.com or her website, MelanieBragg.com
This fascinating read compiled by The Master Communicator™ and bestselling author Sharon Jenkins takes us behind the scenes of authors who have embraced their entrepreneurial personas to enhance their appeal to readers. They have enhanced the literary landscape not only with their publications but with their wisdom and their commitment to remaining literary-focused and business-minded.
Grab your copy today, and as you read these accounts of real authorpreneurship, ask yourself, Are you ready to stand up and stand out?