Hungry Authors

What sets Malcolm Gladwell, Ryan Holiday, Dani Shapiro, and other incredible nonfiction writers apart? They know how to find great material.

One of the hidden arts of the writing process is mining for content – that is, looking at your life, your clients’ problems, stories you hear on podcasts or TV, or random articles you find online, and suddenly seeing the connection to an idea you’ve been thinking about. Everything is material, if you can find the right lesson or idea to apply to it.

So in this episode, Ariel & Liz talk about where to find interesting stories and examples to include in your book. When you start looking for them, you may be surprised to find that they are everywhere!

Learn more about us at hungryauthors.com or follow us on Instagram at @hungryauthors.

If you’ve ever struggled to get your writing done, you are not alone! One of the most common requests we get is for “accountability.” We hear things like, “I need you to hold my feet to the fire” and “I need you to set deadlines for me.” In this episode, Ariel & Liz talk all about when accountability works and when it doesn’t – including our experiences when we tried and failed to hold others accountable. We share our favorite tips for getting work done and using external motivators (like writing coaches, writing groups, retreats, etc.) to help you get work done and meet your writing goals.

Ultimately, though, NO ONE can hold you accountable except you.

The good news with accountability is that it’s a skill you can learn. You can always get better at keeping promises to yourself, and it helps to start early and start small.

Listen to the episode for all of our tips for strengthening your accountability muscles!

Learn more about us at hungryauthors.com or follow us on Instagram @hungryauthors.

This week, a little life update and some practical advice on setting writing goals for those of you who need numbers and a schedule to get motivated! You didn’t think we’d be doing math on this podcast, did you?

We talk average word count ranges for the top three nonfiction genres: prescriptive, memoir, and narrative nonfiction. We’ll also share our thoughts on how long it should take you to write a book and how to figure out an ideal daily, weekly, or chapter word count goal – or take a different approach and set a time goal instead.

In this episode, we mentioned Otter.ai and Rev.com for dictations and transcribing recordings to make your life even easier and help you get started.

Follow us on Instagram @hungryauthors or visit our website hungryauthors.com for more insights and advice!

This week Ariel & Liz talk about why it’s so hard to sell memoirs to traditional publishers – including a little debate between the two of us around whether your memoir needs to have something extraordinary in order to be a good fit for traditional publishers. Plus, we give a little update on the Hungry Authors manuscript and where we’re at getting feedback from our beta readers!

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/hungryauthors/

Sign up for Hungry Authors updates at https://hungryauthors.com/.

This week Ariel & Liz talk about why it's so hard to sell memoirs to traditional publishers - including a little debate between the two of us around whether your memoir needs to have something extraordinary in order to be a good fit for traditional publishers. Plus, we give a little update on the Hungry Authors manuscript and where we're at getting feedback from our beta readers!

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/hungryauthors/

Sign up for Hungry Authors updates at https://hungryauthors.com/.

This week we share wisdom from an incredibly prolific author and someone who helps others realize their dreams of being published: Honorée Corder! Honorée shares her Bestselling Book Formula, how to use your book as part of your business, how she comes up with ideas, and why writers’ block is like the Loch Ness monster – that is, it doesn’t exist! Honorée Corder is the author of more than 50 books, including her newest, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WRITER’S BLOCK, a publishing consultant, TEDx speaker, host of the Empire Builders Mastermind, and Founder of Indie Author University. Honorée passionately turns aspiring non-fiction authors into bestselling and best earning authors (and so much more)! She does all sorts of other magical things, and her badassery is legendary. You can find out more at HonoreeCorder.com.

This week we share wisdom from an incredibly prolific author and someone who helps others realize their dreams of being published: Honorée Corder! Honorée shares her Bestselling Book Formula, how to use your book as part of your business, how she comes up with ideas, and why writers' block is like the Loch Ness monster - that is, it doesn't exist! Honorée Corder is the author of more than 50 books, including her newest, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WRITER'S BLOCK, a publishing consultant, TEDx speaker, host of the Empire Builders Mastermind, and Founder of Indie Author University. Honorée passionately turns aspiring non-fiction authors into bestselling and best earning authors (and so much more)! She does all sorts of other magical things, and her badassery is legendary. You can find out more at HonoreeCorder.com.

Navigating the publishing industry can be daunting for many new authors (and experienced ones!). This week, we chat with Johnny Chinnici from the Authors Guild to make sure you’re aware of all of the support (both free and paid) that exists for authors. This isn’t a sponsored episode; we just love all of the advocacy work that the Authors Guild does and want to make sure more authors are aware of the benefits and resources that are out there! In this episode, we talk about BookTok, publishing scams, and how you can work with the Authors Guild to protect your rights.Johnny Chinnici is marketing and communications coordinator at the Authors Guild, which is a fancy way of saying he runs educational webinars and helps authors in a variety of ways. He holds an MFA in poetry from the New School, and his work has appeared in various journals and on The Best American Poetry blog. He grew up in Texas and lives in Queens.Follow Johnny on TikTok: @johnnychinnici

Have you ever dreamed about getting media coverage for your book? And we don’t just mean social media – we mean TV, podcasts, radio, news! Author and media expert Paula Rizzo has so many ideas for authors to help them find and pitch the right media outlets for their books. Believe it or not, this process starts from the very beginning – with having a strong idea and something important to say. In this episode, Paula will teach you:

Plus, Paula has some great advice for authors (like us!) who might be putting a little too much emphasis on the importance of the pub date!Learn more about Paula’s Media Ready Author course!Download Paula’s free resource: 10 Questions Every Author Needs to Answer

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the personality typing system called The Enneagram. This week, Liz and Ariel are joined by Enneagram in Marriage coach and counselor Christa Hardin to talk about her new book, The Enneagram in Marriage! We talk about how Christa found her unique angle in a saturated market, how being a 7 impacted her writing process, and the particular vulnerability of expertise. Knowing the Enneagram isn’t just helpful for marriage; it can help you as a writer and creator, too!Christa Hardin (MA, Wheaton College) has counseled and coached couples all over the globe for two decades. Founder of Reflections Counseling Center, LLC, Christa hosts the popular Enneagram + Marriage podcast, which has over 1 million downloads and has helped thousands of couples find refreshment, joy, balance, and connection together. Christa uses the Enneagram and other research-based marriage tools to give couples deeper insight into their strengths and shadows, and to help them determine how they can shine brightest in the world together. She lives with her husband and three children in Florida.Order The Enneagram in Marriage here: https://www.enneagraminyourmarriage.com/.Follow Christa on Instagram @enneagramandmarriage