The Profitable Writer

Nearly three years ago, in October 2022, the book The Faith of Elvis was published. I had the honor of writing it for Billy Stanley, Elvis’s stepbrother and the author of the book. Billy grew up with Elvis and spent 17 years by his side, working for Elvis, sharing his life, and being a core part of his entourage. Very few people knew Elvis as well as Billy and his brothers. We had an absolutely fantastic time putting the book together. In honor of the book’s two-year anniversary last Fall, I hosted a Q&A session with Billy where he answered lots of burning questions about Elvis from people who read the book or loved Elvis. A few of the questions Billy answers include: - Did Elvis do his own Bible study on Sundays since it was hard for him to attend church like a regular person? - Was Elvis a Republican or Democrat? - How did Elvis handle the appearance of ghosts at Graceland? - Was there a movie he made he didn’t like? … and many more! If you haven’t read the book, I highly encourage to check it out. It’s heartfelt, inspiring, funny, and will make you want to learn more about the one-of-a-kind human and amazing musical talent who was Elvis Presley. Hope you enjoy this Q&A session!

There’s one topic I am asked about far more than any other. As you can imagine, that topic is ghostwriting. The questions come from all perspectives. Writers who want to build a business ask me about how I got started and what it takes to build a successful ghostwriting business. Business leaders and others who want to write a book, but don’t have the time or skills to do it themselves, ask me how the process works. And many other people who are simply curious about ghostwriting ask me what a ghostwriter is and what I actually do all day! No matter which perspective you come from, you will be interested in this conversation with my former client, Adam Boggs. We worked together on his book, The Business Artist: A Human Approach to Sales, Storytelling, and Creativity in a Data-Driven World. Adam describes himself as a self-proclaimed social theorist who loves diving into the intricate workings of our world. He has a deep-seated passion for blending the beauty of artistic principles with technology, business, and society, unlocking fascinating new viewpoints along the way. Adam is also the CEO of Meahana, an intelligent platform to design, guide, and enhance every step of the meeting process. With over thirteen years of experience in co-creating workshops and designing facilitated experiences for leading technology giants like Google, SAP, and Cisco, he has a deep understanding of what it takes to lead memorable meetings. In this conversation, Adam and I pull back the curtain on what it’s really like to work with a ghostwriter. We talk about the role he wanted the book to play in his business, why he wanted to self-publish instead of using a publisher, how we worked together through initial ideas, drafts, and revisions, his advice for people thinking about hiring a ghostwriter, and his advice for people considering ghostwriting as a career. You can find out much more about Adam and his book, The Business Artist, by going to his website, https://adamboggs.io, and I encourage you to check out his company, Meahana, by visiting https://meahana.io.

It goes without saying that there are two main words in the title of this podcast: Profitable and Writer. Chances are pretty high that, like me, you became a writer because you wanted to express yourself or tell stories. Or perhaps you were drawn to other elements of writing like publishing, editing, or research. But we do ourselves a huge disservice when we neglect the other component, which is the Profitable part. Profit isn’t just about making more money. It’s also about keeping more of the money we make. That’s why I’m thrilled to share this conversation with Danielle Hayden from Kickstart Accounting. Danielle is a genius when it comes to accounting and entrepreneurship—so much so that I entrust Kickstart Accounting with my own bookkeeping. Let me tell you a bit about her. Danielle is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kickstart Accounting, Inc. a bookkeeping and accounting firm that is on a mission to coach six figure (+ beyond) entrepreneurs so they can better understand their numbers through bookkeeping, financial analysis, and support in order to grow profitable, sustainable and enjoyable businesses. With over 15 years of experience in the world of finance, Danielle has worked her way from accounting firm intern to the Co-Founder of Kickstart Accounting. She understands how complex business finances can be, and she knows that entrepreneurs need more than just a bookkeeper; they need real financial analysis and support in order to get the confidence required to create the sustainable wealth they deserve.  She is also the host of the Business By the Books podcast. When Danielle isn't in her money mindset work, you can find her hiking or spending time with her family. In this conversation, Danielle and I focus on topics related to healthy business spending, what to pay yourself as a business owner, and other accounting and business essentials. Before we dive into this conversation, let me be direct: I know a lot of writers who ignore accounting and business basics because they don’t understand it, or they’re not sure what to do next. I can tell you from firsthand experience that when you engage with a great bookkeeping firm like I’ve found with Kickstart, it makes your life so much easier. I’ve been extremely happy with their services the last few years, and I encourage you to check them out. You can find out more about Danielle and Kickstart Accounting by visiting their site, https://kickstartaccountinginc.com.

If you talk to any career writer, especially those who have been at it for a while, you’ll discover that the vast majority of them do several different things. In my experience, most full-time writers do a mix of client work in addition to their own projects. Regardless of the specific kinds of client work they do, or the particular projects they create for themselves, the common element is that they have multiple streams of income. Their careers are like diamonds that sparkle from several angles. Each of those angles represents a different line of products or services. That’s certainly true of my guest today, John David Mann. John is the author, ghostwriter, or co-author of dozens of books in multiple genres, including personal development, business parables, military memoir, and thriller. His many, many titles include The Go-Giver (with Bob Burg) and The Finn Thriller series (with Brandon Webb), which is currently in development for a streaming series. Many of his books have been NY Times bestsellers. In this conversation, which was a guest expert session from my Profitable Writer membership, John shares how he has developed a multi-faceted writing career that includes collaborations, courses, client work, and more. I was really inspired by this conversation, and I know will be, too! You can find out more about John’s writing and work at https://johndavidmann.com.

As human beings, we are wired to crave stories. I’ll bet a day doesn’t go by when you don’t dive into stories in some fashion, whether it’s movies, TV shows, novels, audiobooks, or talking to your family about the crazy things that happened to you that day. We crave stories so much that even at night, when we’re asleep, our brains continue to concoct stories for us! Many writers give life and breath to their storytelling dreams by writing fiction. Whether you are a fiction veteran and have published your own books, or whether you have always wanted to write fiction but weren’t sure where to begin, you’ll love my conversation today with Jim Woods. Jim is a great friend who has been a creative inspiration to me for many years. I don’t remember how we first met, but it was well over ten years ago when we connected in some online writing circles. Jim has been a constant encourager to both me and lots of other writers. He is also one of the most superb writers and storytellers I know. Jim is a writing and story coach, and the author of many books, including his new western series, which includes Standoff at Sundown, Red Rock Justice, and Red Rock Vengeance, which just came out a few days ago. In this conversation, Jim and I talk at length about how to get started writing fiction. The topics range from his process of writing a novel, daily writing goals, his thoughts on story templates like the Hero’s Journey and Save the Cat, the purpose of scenes, first steps in writing fiction, and more. You can connect with Jim at his site: https://jimwoodswrites.com.

In the last couple of decades, audiobooks have exploded in popularity. In fact, audiobooks are the fastest-growing segment of digital publishing, with Audible distributing well over half of all audiobooks. And what’s not love? You can listen to audiobooks anywhere, you can listen while you’re doing other things, and most people can listen to a book faster than they can read them. If you’ve ever considered creating audiobooks as a companion to your print books or ebooks, you’ll love this episode. I’m joined by Trenton Bennett and Lynn Smargis for a conversation about options and processes for producing and narrating audiobooks. Trenton is an audiobook narrator who has nearly ten years of voiceover training, coaching, and work. He is also skilled in related areas such as podcasting and professional audio production. He has narrated dozens of books in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mysteries & Thrillers, Religion & Spirituality, Military Adventure, and more. You can find out more about Trenton at https://www.trentonbennett.com/. Lynn Smargis helps leaders, executives, and consultants transform their expertise into published works. Her books include Sensible Senior Solutions: Long Term Care Choices and Funding Options for Seniors and 9 Stumbling Blocks Preventing Creatives From Tapping Into Free Grant Funds, co-authored with Danielle Corbett and Leo York, which reveals the hidden pathways to creative funding. Lynn is also the host and producer of Publishing for Professionals, a podcast that sprinkles publishing wisdom across all major platforms and YouTube. You can find out more about Lynn at https://www.writeforyou.me/. In this conversation, we talk about why authors should produce audiobooks, options for production, how to actually get it done, and whether you should narrate your books yourself or use a narrator. No matter where you are on your author journey, this episode will help you make some critical decisions about where audiobooks fit into your business.

When I started podcasting over ten years ago, one of my major motivations was getting to have interesting conversations with interesting people who were doing interesting things. That sentence sounds a little convoluted on purpose but it still rings true: I love getting to sit down with people who are doing meaningful work and talk about the themes and threads running through it—and what you and I can learn. That’s certainly true of today’s conversation with Catherine Bramkamp. Catharine is the author of Out Loud: A Writing Adventure for Women. Even though it’s specifically a book for women, I found a lot of value in it as a writer. Catharine has written nearly 30 books in total, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is a world traveler in addition to being a writing coach and workshop facilitator. She lives in Nevada City, CA, and to the great relief of her children, she is not currently writing a memoir. On today’s episode, Catharine and I talk about a few themes from her book, Out Loud, including how the Muse keeps appointments, the value of journaling, and how to function as a writer when you’re socially challenged. You can find out more about Catharine and her books by visiting her site, https://catharine-bramkamp.com.

Imagine if you were taking a trip across the country, from New York to L.A. You probably wouldn’t just hop in the car and start driving. Instead, you’d plot out your journey via Google Maps, Apple Maps, if you’re a bit old-fashioned, maybe even a good old paper map. Yet failing to plan out the journey is exactly what many authors do when it comes to their books. That’s why putting together a book proposal is so important. We usually think of book proposals as a document that is only used when authors are pitching an agent or a traditional publisher. However, every time I write a book for myself or a client, I always put together a detailed document that contains elements of a book proposal. Regardless of your publishing pathway, a proposal is a powerful tool to help you determine whether you’re truly ready to write and publish. My guest today is here to share some valuable tips on improving your next nonfiction book proposal. Margot Starbuck is a graduate of Westmont College and Princeton Seminary, is a New York Times bestselling writer, and has written over forty­ books. She has touched over 200 major publishing projects as an author, writer, coach, or editor. As a collaborator serving publishers and communicators, Margot treasures the privilege of writing alongside athletes, entertainers, and overcomers. She counts it a privilege to journey with individuals as they share their most compelling and intimate stories with readers. As a speaker at writing conferences around the country, Margot equips writers who want to be published. She reviews book proposals and manuscripts, showing writers what’s working well and what can be improved, as well as offering practical strategies to execute those changes. She’s particularly passionate about working to elevate the voices of communicators of color within Christian publishing. Margot lives in a neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina, that’s built around friends with disabilities. You can find all of Margot’s books, resources, and grab her free Nonfiction Book Readiness Quiz at https://margotstarbuck.com

One of the realities that binds us all together as human beings is that we experience pain. It doesn’t matter what culture you’re from, how old you are, or what your life experience is … you deal with suffering on a daily basis. My guest today is here to help us understand that our pain and suffering can be a useful tool for writing. In fact, if we are willing to face our pain in life and use it as a pathway to sharing our story, it’s a powerful way to serve others. Jim Barnard is a pastor, author, speaker, and the founder of Tiller Coaching. He offers coaching to those who are suffering the reality of the expectation gap, where disappointment, dissatisfaction, and distress can cause real damage. Jim is the author of The Suffering Guy, a book that details his wife’s rare chronic illness that set in three months after their marriage and has led them on a challenging journey ever since. Told from Jim's point of view, the book details the real struggle to find hope amid suffering. This is a very raw and real conversation, somewhat different than the usual topics on this podcast. I hope you find comfort and guidance as Jim shares his story and we explore how our pain can be a pathway to writing that changes people’s lives. You can find out more Jim, his book, and his work by visiting https://tillercoaching.org and https://thesufferingguy.com.

If you’ve listened to this show any length of time, you have heard me talk about the value of building multiple streams of income. Almost every successful writer I know has followed this path of building their business. No matter what the specific income streams are, the common element of almost all successful career writers is that they have a variety of outlets for their writing. That’s certainly the case for my guest today. Savannah Carlisle is the pen name of Kristi Dosh, who has spent more than a decade as a sports business reporter for outlets such as ESPN and Forbes. She is also the author of two books on college sports. The first is Saturday Millionaires: How Winning Football Builds Winning Colleges, and the most recent one is The Athlete's NIL Playbook: The Complete Guide to Owning and Profiting from Your Name, Image, and Likeness. However, Kristi also wanted to write romance novels, so she created the pen name Savannah Carlisle for that side of her writing and business. My debut novel, The Library of Second Chances, was released last year, and her second novel, The Summer of Starting Over, was just released a few months ago. On this episode, you’ll hear me refer to her as Savannah since that’s how I was introduced to her—and also since we are focusing more on that side of her writing in this conversation. Savannah and I discuss how she built her career, offer her advice for building a multifaceted business, share her writing process for fiction, and much more. Check out her books and writing at https://savannahcarlisle.com and https://businessofcollegesports.com.

What label would you use to describe what you do? Would it be writer, editor, designer, author, creative, artist, ghostwriter, publisher, entrepreneur, or maybe something else? Most of us would gravitate toward one or more of those terms. But I’ve never heard anyone in the writing and publishing world use the term “sales professional” or perhaps “salesperson” to describe what they do. Which is a bit funny if you think about it, since if you have a business, you are definitely in sales! That’s why I’m excited to feature this conversation with Phil Whitebloom, who is here to help us handle objections better and close more sales—no matter how you make your living as a writer. Phil has been a sales professional for more than 40 years. His employers and customers have included Sony, the White House, the Department of Defense, NASA, professional sports teams, universities, Fortune 500 companies, communication giants, small and medium-sized businesses, and startups. Phil is also the co-host of the “Been There, Sold That” podcast with Brianna Hendley. I have gotten to know Phil over the last couple of years since we have both been members of Honorée Corder’s Empire Builders Mastermind. During that time, I’ve come to know Phil as not only a great conversationalist and consummate expert in sales, but a genuinely kind and thoughtful human being as well. In this conversation, we dive into some themes from Phil’s excellent book, Handling Objections: Clues for Closing the Sale. You’ll learn how to start embracing idea of selling by shifting your mindset, how to address some common objections to pricing, lots of practical tips on sales, and much more. You’ll want to grab a pen and paper to take plenty of notes because Phil is such a wealth of knowledge! You can find out more about Phil’s book, Handling Objections, his podcast, and services by visiting his website, https://beentherecs.com.

I’ve never done a poll on this, but I’d venture to say that most of my listeners have books, blog posts, social media, and newsletters as their main writing outlets. That includes me as well! But as I’m sure you know, there is a whole wide world of opportunities out there for writers. That’s why I’m excited to bring you this interview with Tim Carter. He is not only a novelist, but has also done extensive writing for feature films, video games, and other mediums. Tim always wanted to tell stories since he was a kid. After years in corporate writing and magazines, he jumped into film and TV in 2004, selling his first television pilot to CBS. He produced the groundbreaking digital series MORTAL KOMBAT: LEGACY for Warner Brothers and later wrote and produced the DEAD RISING movies for Legendary Pictures and Sony. As a lifelong gamer, he started writing for Computer Gaming World in 1991. Soon after breaking into film, he began to do double duty writing games. To date, he has written or consulted for more than a dozen games of all sizes. He is best known for writing the award-winning AAA game SLEEPING DOGS. Tim is also the author of Majordomo: A Novella as well as the novel, Jester, which was released this past Spring. In this conversation, I get to ask Tim all my nerdy questions about what it’s like to write for films and games, how to get started in that career, how stories are developed, and more. Make sure to check out Tim’s books and projects at https://timbcarter.com.

If you’re like me, you probably have a shelf full of books on the craft of writing and storytelling. Yes, I admit it, I’m a junkie for books that dissect and analyze how to tell better stories. Whether you write blog posts, books, material for clients, and of course, novels, you can always learn to become a better storyteller. Today we’re going all the way back to one of the most important sources for learning how to tell stories better: the original teacher of story, Aristotle himself. My guest is Doug Vigliotti, author of Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story. He the author of three additional books, including Tom Collins: A ‘Slightly Crooked’ Novel, which is available to listen to on, Slightly Crooked: Good Stories, Told Well, a podcast that also features his raw and unorthodox poem collection mini heartbreaks (or, little poems about life). Doug is also the host of Books for Men, a weekly podcast to inspire more men to read. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut. Aristotle for Novelists is, of course, based on Aristotle’s classic work, Poetics, which lays out the timeless rules of drama. Doug has done every writer a huge favor by distilling these principles down into an easy-to-understand format for every storyteller. In our conversation, we talk about how these principles apply to nonfiction writers, the six components of story, the three big questions a writer must answer in order to write their story, and much more. This was a fun conversation filled with creative tips for every kind of writer. Make sure to check out Doug’s books, podcasts, and more at https://douglasvigliotti.com/. Doug has generously agreed to give away a copy of Aristotle for Novelists. You can enter the drawing by visiting https://douglasvigliotti.com/kent.

If there is one word I keep hearing over and over again in conversations right now, it’s the word “stuck.” I’m not sure if it’s just a function of my age (I’m 50, by the way) and the fact that most of the people I talk to are in the middle-age range, or maybe it’s something going on in the culture at large. Who knows, maybe it’s just writers! We are a bit of a crazy group, after all! Whatever way you slice it, the fact remains that a lot of people right now seem to be spinning their wheels, paralyzed by all the options before them in life. That’s certainly true of writers. Today, we have more options for how to build a business than ever before. We have all had those moments when we have to stop and assess our situation, take a breath, and then figure out the pathway forward. That’s why I’m honored to feature this conversation with Carol Enneking. She is the author of the book The Rebalancing Act: Wisdom from Working Women for Success That Matters. Carol’s journey to “have it all” led her to interview over seventy men and women of all ages, uncovering common challenges that hold back working women from true fulfillment. Her book blends these insights with her personal experiences to provide practical strategies for restoring balance in our busy lives. Even though she wrote this book for women, I have often found that books written for a niche audience often have great insights for people outside that niche—that’s certainly the case with Carol’s book. In addition to being an author, Carol Enneking brings years of deep experience as a senior executive specializing in talent management, coaching, and leadership to her clients. Carol’s career has spanned major corporations, entrepreneurial ventures as a business owner, and collaborations with over 100 companies. Her passion is helping businesses leverage talent, learning, and culture to deliver excellent results through their people. Carol’s greatest joy is her family: her husband Eric, children Bradley, Bethany, her bonus daughter, Alyssa, and the world’s best dog, a Great Pyrenees named Molly. Some of her favorite things include live music, chocolate, G70s and 80s song lyrics, ice cream, traveling, trivia, faith, and history. What a great list! In this conversation, Carol and I talk about how writers can frequently get stuck, and how to start moving forward by addressing the seven archetypes, the traps that hold us back. The reality is that all of us have to face decision points in our complicated, fast-paced world today. I know you’ll enjoy Carol’s insights just as much as I did. Be sure to check out Carol’s book, The Rebalancing Act, and her website, https://carolenneking.com/. Here’s our conversation.

I don’t know about you, but many times I’ve had this experience when listening to interviews on podcasts: I love what the guest is talking about, and it’s cool to hear about all their wins and successes. But then I relate what they are saying to my own experiences, which by comparison don’t seem so successful. There’s a clear reason we feel this way sometimes when listening to interviews. It’s because in public settings, people generally only share their wins, their successes, the things that make them look good. Everybody has good AND challenging times in their business. But we don’t often hear about the challenging times. That’s why we’re turning the tables a bit today. My good friend and fellow ghostwriter, Alice Sullivan, actually suggested the topic of this episode. We had talked before about how we handled it when client work goes wrong for various reasons. She thought it would be fun to make an episode about it, and I completely agreed. So in that spirit, what you’re about to hear is two ghostwriters sharing crazy stories about what happens when things go off the rails with clients, and how we have handled it. These situations include clients who take a long time to pay (or don’t pay at all), getting fired from jobs, dealing with a client’s personal crisis, clients who hate what you’ve written, how to deal with tricky situations with publishers, and much more. Just to be clear, in my experience these kinds of crazy situations have been pretty rare. Most the clients I’ve worked with have been amazing and delightful, and it was a pleasure to work on their books. But just like in real life, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. I hope this episode will not only be a fun listen, but will also give you some strategies for handling future tricky situations with clients. Before we get into the conversation, let me tell you a bit about Alice Sullivan. She is a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling ghostwriter, New York Times bestselling editor (11 times over), collaborator, and speaker. A natural-born storyteller, she has written nearly 70 books and edited over 1,300 titles since 2001. In addition to her NYT and WSJ bestsellers, other books have achieved Amazon bestseller status and won several awards, such as Readers’ Favorite, Living Now Book Award, and Nashville’s Best Local Children’s Book Award. Alice has written for Forbes, Hay House, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Abingdon Press, Made for Grace Publishing, and many more publishers and outlets. Alice specializes in memoir, self-help, personal growth, and leadership because she loves personal stories and practical advice. Her favorite projects challenge her point of view, expand her knowledge, and add meaning to her life. Alice is not just a consummate storyteller and writer. She's also one of the most kind and down-to-earth people I know. Make sure to connect with her at https://alicesullivan.com.