While it can be crippling to focus too much on our mistakes or disappointments, if we ignore them entirely we can miss the chance to learn and grow. Here are some of the mistakes I made during my first year of writing and what I'd do differently if I knew now what I did going into my publishing journey.

It's time for another productivity hack for successful Christian writers everywhere. Find out why brewing a cup of coffee (or having another similar routine) before you start your writing time can be a great way to trigger your mind that it's time for work. Tune in now.

Diving into ads can be scary. It takes time, money, and mental energy to learn a whole new platform. If you're on the fence about whether or not you should start running ads, today's epsiode is for you! Tune into the Successful Christian Writer Podcast to hear the questions you should be asking yourself to know if now is the best time for you to start running ads.

If you write in a series, one of the most important metrics you can measure is your readthrough rate. This will tell you not only how many readers you're gaining each time you sell a copy of book 1. It will also tell you the actual amount of profit you make series-wide for one sale of book 1. We'll make the calculations nice and simple so even if you're not a fan of math and formulas you can easily measure the health and value of your own series. Tune in now!

When you think of all the "should-do's" a writer has on a daily basis, it can be very overwhelming. Batching your tasks is a way to make sure you've got uninterrupted time for the jobs that matter most. In addition to increasing your creative output, time batching can go a long way in keeping you sane! Tune into the Successful Christian Writer Podcast for more time management tips today.

The Bible tells us to take a day of rest every week, but for some of us that's hard to do, and not even Christians agree on exactly what that day off should look like. In addition to its precedent in Scripture, planned time off can actually be a tremendous benefit for our creative lives as well. Tune into the Successful Christian Writer Podcast for a riveting discussion (as well as practical tips) for taking time off.

Most of us know that writing can be a pretty expensive job. Here's how the profit first method (both its practical applications and the mindset shift behind it) can help make sure that you're taking care of your very best employee ... (namely, yourself!).

Tune in now for an encouraging (and practical) discussion of how to keep an eye on profit even when expenses add up.

Today at the Successful Christian Writer we're discussing reasons why you might (or might not!) decide to enter a writing contest. As a reminder for Christian fiction authors, the Christy award nomination period ends on March 31!

Are your Amazon ads suffering from any of these 3 problems? Here's a crash course in troubleshooting your Amazon ads with 3 quick fixes for each!

Join Alana and Amazon ads guru Brian Meeks for 3 helpful ways you can optimize your Amazon book descriptions to increase sales!