
Crafting a Career: How to Become a Professional Author with Angela Hunt
06/11/24 • 42 min
Some authors just want to get their book "out there." They don't plan on writing additional books or becoming professionals. But others want to make writing a career and maybe pay the bills with income earned from their writing.
If you want to have a career as a professional writer, you have to do at least two things.
First, you must become an amazing writer. Second, you need to start acting like a business owner. Regardless of whether you're independently or traditionally published, you'll need to keep track of finances, payments, taxes, marketing, and a lot more.
You must be willing to wear their business hats to be considered professionals.
If that sounds overwhelming, this week's episode will provide some relief and direction. In my interview with Angela Hunt, you'll learn:
- What upfront and ongoing costs an author should plan for
- A bare-bones method for tracking your business income and expenses
- A Thomas-approved method for getting free feedback
- And much more
If you want to make a career out of your writing and pay bills with the income you earn, listen in or check out the blog post version of this episode to learn how.
Some authors just want to get their book "out there." They don't plan on writing additional books or becoming professionals. But others want to make writing a career and maybe pay the bills with income earned from their writing.
If you want to have a career as a professional writer, you have to do at least two things.
First, you must become an amazing writer. Second, you need to start acting like a business owner. Regardless of whether you're independently or traditionally published, you'll need to keep track of finances, payments, taxes, marketing, and a lot more.
You must be willing to wear their business hats to be considered professionals.
If that sounds overwhelming, this week's episode will provide some relief and direction. In my interview with Angela Hunt, you'll learn:
- What upfront and ongoing costs an author should plan for
- A bare-bones method for tracking your business income and expenses
- A Thomas-approved method for getting free feedback
- And much more
If you want to make a career out of your writing and pay bills with the income you earn, listen in or check out the blog post version of this episode to learn how.
Previous Episode

How to write dialogue
If you've ever transcribed a conversation between two people, you know the resulting text is a bunch of incomprehensible, run-on sentences and fragments. Natural conversation does not translate well onto the written page.
When we write novels, we need to realize that good, written dialogue does not imitate the way real people talk. We also don't want our written dialogue to sound contrived and awkward.
How do you write good dialogue?
In this episode, Angela Hunt teaches us
- How to handle dialects or accents
- How to use dialogue to reveal character
- How to imply what's being said without saying it
Listen in or check out the blog post to find out how to write good dialogue that keeps readers turning pages and learn what dialogue mistakes to avoid.
Next Episode

Faith and Love: Tips for Writing Authentic Christian Romance
Discover what makes a romance novel appeal to a Christian readership and how you can write Christian romance books your readers will love.
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