Welcome everyone to a new year full of new possibilities. At the start of the year, I always eagerly anticipate what God has in store. Inevitably, He does far more than I can even ask or imagine. 

My prayer is that this year you see God move in your life in the small things and big things. He is so amazing.

Our pastor once said God is super and we are natural. When we join up with God, we get supernatural. I love that because it is such a good visual and reminder that God is greater than we think He is.

Announcements:

In next week’s episode, Tiffanie, Jamie, and I share our 2024 reading list, which has a few surprises. We will also share a little about a new guest member joining our book club. It is going to be a fun year for our readers!

We have a giveaway next month and all you have to do to enter is sign-up for our newsletter. So, be sure to sign-up at www.literaryscape.com/newsletter and pass this along to your friends who enjoy winning some great historical Christian romance novels!

We also have a Coffee & Books event coming up on February 3rd from 9:00-10:00am EST. This is a chance to enjoy a live Q&A with some of our favorite historical Christian romance authors. For this event, you’ll have the opportunity to talk books with Misty M. Beller, Jodi Bayse, and Lynn Shannon, who is a contemporary Christian suspense romance writer. Details on how to sign-up for this free event will be in our newsletter.

Let’s jump into this week’s episode!

Podcast Notes:

As I have been sharing in my newsletter, today’s episode is for all of you aspiring authors of historical Christian romance. Let’s make 2024 the year you launch your author career!

I spent the last half of 2023 building an amazing community of historical Christian romance writers with my monthly membership group, HCRW. This group meets bi-weekly to critique, exchange ideas, and encourage one another in their writing. They also enjoy monthly trainings from experts in the field.

Today I am so excited to share with you the next step. I’ve been working hard to bring you this amazing program and I hope to work with you during this first round of enrollment.

Introducing the LiteraryScape Author Mentorship. Designed for the aspiring historical Christian romance author, it’s the only one of its kind. This mentorship offers step-by-step guidance and one-on-one coaching to launch your author career with success.

Inside The LiteraryScape Author Mentorship I’m going to lead you by the hand through the process of writing your novel, building your author platform, and publishing your book so you can build a sustainable income as a full-time author.

I understand how learning the rules of creative writing, building an author platform, and marketing your book can feel like trying to make your home in a foreign country where you don’t know the language. When you join the LiteraryScape Author Mentorship, I’ll guide you home and translate for you.

Let’s look at what’s inside the LiteraryScape Mentorship so you can see why this program is the next step for aspiring authors like you and how you can leverage what you learn to not only launch your author career but sustain and grow it!

The program is 18 months long and includes 3 phases each, 6 months long:

• Phase 1: The Writing Process

• Phase 2: Building Your Author Platform

• Phase 3: Launching and Marketing Your Book

Let’s take a closer look at each phase.

Phase 1: The Writing Process: The Mentorship provides training on how to develop characters readers love, a strong and believable plot, and a tight feedback loop. During Phase 1, you’ll write your novel and a magnet reader. I will provide you with a developmental edit before you send it off to an editor of your choice for the line editing, and proofreading. You will also begin to work with a cover designer to create the perfect cover for your amazing novel. 

Phase 2: Building Your Author Platform: A solid platform is key to launching a successful author career, however it has a lot of moving pieces. The Mentorship provides training for how to build each aspect of your platform, along with step-by-step guidance. I’ll also explore various revenue avenues you can pursue to set you up for financial success as a full-time author.

Phase 3: Launching and Marketing Your Book: In general, we, as authors, tend to avoid the whole marketing process, simply because it is out of our comfort zone. The Mentorship will help you build a solid marketing plan to not only launch your book but maintain continuous sales.

The best part of the mentorship is when you finish all 3 phases, you’ll have a step-by-step process you can repeat for every book you write and publish.

You might be thinking . . . sounds great, but can she really guarantee my author career will launch with success?

The truth . . . no, but it’s not because the program isn’t designed for it, but rather it takes hard work and perseverance on your part too. 

What I can guarantee is that you’ll walk away with your first book launched and your readers primed for the next one. You'll be equipped with the knowledge and skills to meet your readers' needs and grow your author career with clarity and confidence.

Let’s pump the brakes and address those questions I am sure are asking right now. I know you are questioning this program because I have been there myself. I almost missed out on an incredible mentorship that brought my online business to life simply because I had doubts and objections.

So, let’s dig into some of those questions now.

What’s the time commitment? 

My goal is to help you write a novel, build your author platform, and launch and market your book in 18 months. This is an accelerated program because I want you to get results fast—but not at a pace that kills you or generates sloppy results.

The first six months are spent developing your writing craft as you create your characters, plot, and draft your novel. During this time, you’ll have video courses on writing craft, handouts to guide your planning, and bi-weekly one-on-one calls with me for feedback.

That means for the first four to six weeks you’ll be in training and beginning to develop your characters and plot. I estimate you’ll put in 8-10 hours a week.

For the next eighteen to twenty weeks, you will draft and revise your novel, with bi-weekly one-on-one calls with me. This is the most intensive part of the writing process where you will put in 10-12 hours a week.

Phase 2: Building Your Author Platform kicks off the next six months in your journey. This phase will have several training videos as you explore options for your author platform and learn the how and why behind each piece that forms a solid platform to launch from.

During this time, you’ll continue to schedule bi-weekly one-on-one calls with me for feedback and assistance. There are many moving pieces to your author platform, so I estimate you will spend 8-10 hours a week working on building it.

Phase 3: Launching and Marketing is the most exciting part of your journey as you put all your hard work into action and watch it take off. However, this can also be the most intensive.

You’ll be creating swipe copy and images to share with your launch team, drafting and scheduling email campaigns and social media posts, scheduling podcast interviews, and creating ads. This part of the phase will take 12-14 hours a week to accomplish.

When you break the time down, you are looking at spending anywhere between 2-4 hours a day working on writing a novel, building your author platform, and launching and marketing your book. That’s sounds manageable to most of us, right? Especially when you look at the return on your time investment.

How do I justify the cost?

This was a big objection for me. Becky’s mentorship was the first ‘BIG’ investment I had made for my business training. It was hard for me to justify the cost when my business wasn’t making money. However, God provided a way, and I am so thankful because now LiteraryScape doesn't rely on our personal checking account for funding.

I want you to experience the same thing with your writing. Many times, it gets stuck in hobby land, and you soon realize this hobby is draining your personal funds.

What if you invested those funds not only into your writing skills, but in your knowledge and skills to make a profit from your writing?

Sounds like a pretty good return on your investment, right? That’s because it is. The LiteraryScape Author Mentorship doesn’t just help you craft a great novel, it gives you the knowledge and tools to make a profit from the sales of your book. Not only that, but you walk away with the ability to replicate this process for every book you write.

Will I make my money back?

This is a great question and one I want to answer honestly because I didn’t build this program with a profit mindset, but rather a servant’s mindset.

Yes, I want to make a profit from this program to pay the bills, but my number one focus is you and helping you reach success in your author career.

With that being said, I do not offer a money back guarantee. This is not because you won’t make the money back that you invested, but it takes time and hard work on your part.

I have no doubt that if you put in the hard work and continue to effectively utilize the knowledge and skills you gain from my mentorship, you will not only earn back what you’ve invested, but you’ll go beyond it.

Think of it as college. Many of us invested $40,000 or more in our careers when we attended college. Never did we expect to earn that money back as soon as we graduated.

The LiteraryScape Author Mentorship is a five-figure investment in your author career that will pay you back over time.

Please note that I do NOT suggest you go into debt with my mentorship program. I have the total cost broken into manageable monthly payments. This is something we can discuss during your discovery call.

What if I already have my novel written?

That’s wonderful! You’ll be able to start on Phase 2 right away.

I realize everyone is entering this program at a different starting point, and each person moves at their own pace. Therefore, you have access to all 3 phases from the start of your mentorship. This allows you to move to the section you are ready for.

I have also built in what I like to call check-up appointments every six months. This allows both you and I to evaluate how things are going so far and what the next best step is for you.

It really is a win-win for everyone!

Do you help authors who want to be independently published or traditionally published?

Both!

The mentorship is primarily designed for authors seeking to publish independently, but prepares those who want to be traditionally published as well.

You’ll finish the mentorship with the knowledge and skills to publish, market, and sell your books independently. You can use those same skill sets to develop a proposal, platform, and marketing plan that is irresistible to agents and publishers.

I love to support and encourage authors as they seek to publish the stories God has laid on their hearts. So, whether you want to publish independently or traditionally, I’m here to help!

So, what to do if you are even a smidgen interested?

Join me for a discovery call to see if the LiteraryScape Author Mentorship is the next step for you. There’s no commitment at this point. I’ll just walk you through the mentorship, answer any questions you have, and show you what it would look like to work together.

Then take time to talk to your spouse and pray to see if this is the next step God wants you to take in your author career.

Due to the mentorship's one-on-one service, there are a limited number of spots available. Book your call today by clicking the button below this blog post. Then, if after the call you decide this is the next step, you simply send me an email and we will start the process.

Be sure to sign-up for my newsletter to receive more details in your inbox. The last day to book your discovery call will be Friday, January 12th. We will begin the mentorship on February 12th.

I hope to work with you during the next chapter of your author career!

Until next time happy and blessed writing!