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How to Start an Author Business
Writing a book and running an author business are two different skills, and only one of them gets taught. Plenty of excellent books earn almost nothing because the author treated publication as the finish line rather than the opening of a business.
An author business is straightforward once you see the shape of it: a website you control, a reader list you own, something to sell beyond the book, and follow-up that keeps working while you write. This guide covers what to decide first, the tools you need, how to set it all up on Phanz, and how to find readers.
Before You Start an Author Business, Get Clear on the Model
Writing the book is the part you already care about. The reason so many good books earn so little is that the author never decided what the business around the book was, so the book launched into a vacuum and quietly stopped selling in week three.
Decide whether the book is the product or the door
For some authors the book is the product and volume is the goal. For others the book is the door into speaking, coaching, courses or consulting, and it can happily break even because of what it leads to. These two paths need different pricing, different landing pages and different follow-up, so choose before you build anything.
Know who the reader is and where they already gather
Readers of a specific book are a specific group of people who already congregate somewhere: a subreddit, a podcast audience, a professional association, a genre newsletter. Naming that group is more useful than any marketing tactic, because it tells you exactly where to show up.
Own your reader list rather than renting an audience
Social followers and retail rankings are borrowed. An email list is the only reader relationship you actually own, and it is the difference between launching a second book to an audience and launching it into silence. Start collecting emails before the book is finished.
Plan a second thing to sell
A single book at retail royalty rates is a hard business. A book plus a workshop, a course, a signed edition, a companion workbook or a speaking offer is a real one. Decide what that second thing is early, because it shapes what you ask readers for at the end of the book.
The Tools You Need to Start an Author Business
The writing tools are the ones authors research endlessly. The business tools are the ones that determine whether book two launches to five thousand readers or to nobody, so here is the honest list.
An author website you control
Your books with buy links, an email signup, a short about page, and a way to contact you. Four pages, done properly, beats an elaborate site nobody finishes building. It also means a journalist or event organiser can find what they need in ten seconds.
An email list and a reader magnet
People do not join lists because you asked nicely. They join for a free chapter, a bonus scene, a companion checklist or a short guide. You need somewhere to host that and something to deliver it automatically.
Landing pages for each book and offer
One page per book and one per offer, each with a single action. Sending readers to a general home page and hoping they find the right thing is how launches lose momentum.
A CRM to hold readers, contacts and opportunities
Readers, podcast hosts, event organisers, bookshop contacts, review requests and interview leads all need to live somewhere with a history attached. Your inbox is not that place, as anyone who has lost a speaking enquiry under a pile of newsletters will tell you.
Email automation for launches and evergreen sequences
A welcome sequence that turns a new subscriber into a reader, a launch sequence for each book, and an evergreen sequence that keeps selling the backlist. This is where the actual money in an author business gets made.
A way to sell direct and take payment
Direct sales of ebooks, signed copies, bundles, workshops and courses pay you many times what a retail royalty does. You need a checkout, and ideally a place to host course content and paid workshops.
A booking page for speaking, podcasts and interviews
Once a book is out, people want time from you. A booking link with your real availability turns those requests into calendar entries instead of an email thread you eventually abandon.
How to Set Up Your Author Business on Phanz
The whole author business setup fits in one login and one afternoon. Here is the order to build it in on a DIY plan.
Step 1: Set up your profile and connect your domain
Add your author name, contact email and time zone, then point your domain at your account so your site, book pages and booking links all run on your own web address. Time zone matters here more than you would think, because a lot of author interviews happen across continents.
Step 2: Build your author website
Start from a template and write the words before you touch the design. Build a home page, a books page with buy links, an about page and a contact page. Add the speaking page once you have something to say about speaking.
Step 3: Create your reader magnet landing page and form
Build one landing page offering the free chapter, bonus scene or companion resource, with a single email form on it. Every link you place anywhere, in the back of your book, in your podcast bio, in your social profile, points here. One page with one action outperforms a home page with seven.
Step 4: Build your welcome sequence
Set up an automation that delivers the reader magnet immediately, then sends three or four emails over the following fortnight introducing you, your book and your other work. Most authors collect emails and then never send anything, which is a slow way to build a list of strangers.
Step 5: Set up your books and offers with payments
Connect your payment processor, then create your direct offers as products: ebooks, signed editions, bundles, a workshop, a course. Direct sales keep vastly more of the money than retail, and this is where an author business stops depending on royalty statements.
Step 6: Add a booking calendar for interviews and speaking
Create a calendar for podcast interviews and speaking enquiries, set the hours you are willing to give, and turn on reminders. Then put the link on your contact page so requests arrive as booked slots instead of email threads.
Step 7: Build your launch and evergreen sequences
Build a launch sequence you can reuse for every book, and an evergreen sequence that offers your backlist to new subscribers a few weeks after they join. That second one quietly earns money for years while you write the next thing.
- Domain connected with a four page author site live
- Reader magnet landing page with a single email form
- Welcome sequence delivering the magnet automatically
- Direct offers set up with payments connected
- Booking calendar live for interviews and speaking
- Reusable launch sequence and an evergreen backlist sequence
Best Strategies to Generate Readers and Leads as an Author
An author business grows on reader acquisition, and readers behave differently from most buyers. For the faster version of this list, read how to get leads today for authors.
Put the reader magnet in the back of the book
The last page of your book is the highest-converting advertisement you will ever own, because the person reading it just finished something you wrote. Offer them the bonus resource and send them to your landing page.
Go on podcasts your readers already listen to
Podcast interviews are the most efficient reader acquisition available to most authors. Pitch a specific topic rather than your book, and send listeners to a dedicated landing page so you know which shows actually produce readers.
Ask for reviews properly and early
Reviews drive retail visibility and reader confidence. Ask your list directly at launch, and put a polite request at the end of the book. Most readers who liked it simply never thought to.
Email your list more than feels polite
Authors habitually under-email, then wonder why launch day is quiet. If your emails are genuinely worth reading, a monthly minimum keeps the relationship alive and makes book two an event rather than an announcement.
Speak wherever your readers gather
Associations, conferences, libraries, bookshops, corporate events and online workshops all put you in front of people who buy books. Speaking also happens to be where a lot of authors quietly make most of their income.
What to Expect in Your First Year as an Author Business
Expect the list to grow slowly at first and then jump every time you appear somewhere new. That pattern is normal, and it is why steady appearances beat one big launch push.
Track subscribers and direct sales rather than rankings. Rankings move on their own schedule and tell you very little about whether the business is working, while a growing list you own tells you exactly what book two will launch into.
The second book is where an author business usually becomes real, because everything you built for the first one still works and you are no longer starting from nothing.
Starting an Author Business: Common Questions
Do authors really need a business, or just a book?
If you want the book to earn money past its launch week, you need a business. That means an email list you own, a place to sell direct, and something to sell beyond the book itself. Authors who rely only on a retail page are entirely dependent on somebody else's algorithm.
What should an author website actually include?
Your books with buy links, an email signup with a genuine reason to join, a short about page, and a contact or speaking page. That is enough. Elaborate author sites rarely sell more books than clear ones.
How do authors make money besides book royalties?
Direct sales of signed copies and ebooks, courses and workshops, speaking, coaching or consulting, paid newsletters, and reader community memberships. For most working authors, royalties are the smallest slice of that list.
When should an author start building an email list?
Before the book is finished. A list of a thousand readers who asked to hear from you is worth more at launch than any amount of last-minute promotion, and it takes months to build rather than days.
Get started
Build the Business Around Your Book
If you're looking to start an author business with a website you control, a reader list you own, direct sales and automated follow-up all under one login, go ahead and grab the DIY plan to get started today! You can have your reader magnet page and welcome sequence live before you finish the next chapter.
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