Writing is a steadily growing market and a mirage to many. How do you make money from words? What is a query or a pitch? Do you need a degree to become a writer? There’re tons of questions that float around a person’s mind when it comes to the mysteries of making writing work. As a writer, I get it. It’s sometimes absolute magic to me, too. In my years becoming a writer and even still now, I turn to podcasts in order to level up my craft and business.
If it wasn’t for Writing Excuses, I wouldn’t have understood how to craft a multifaceted story. Brown Ambition got me in the right headspace to become financially stable off my earnings. These podcasts and more have helped me along my journey. For people out there like me, here’s a list of podcasts to help your writing and business in 2021.
The Las Musas Podcast is the podcast branch of the Las Musas Latinx picture book, middle grade, and young adult debut author program. Their mission is to spotlight and uplift often forgotten about Latinx authors of young reader books as they move through their debut journey. The hosts shine a light on the traditional publishing process while offering tips, insight, and techniques to help out other writers. Fairly new to the podcasting world, Las Musas Podcast just started this year and already has 3 episodes covering a wide range of topics. Their recent episode “Ask a Musa” goes into representation in publishing, healthy writing habits, writing during the pandemic, and so much more. This episode is great for writers trying to understand the publishing process and working as a writer while being a parent or holding down other work. Also, for readers looking for new original stories by Latinx authors.
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The Writing Excuses Podcast is a podcast for writers that has been around for over a decade. The show itself features top names in the industry as guests and hosts like Nisi Shaw, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, and more. Together they dissect writing craft and business elements to help demystify the process and make better writers out of their listeners. Even though the show has been around for quite some time (15 years!), there are still some writers out there who haven’t heard of the show or listened to an episode. It is a must listen to for any writer, especially ones who work in the speculative fiction field. Learn how to build believable and complex characters, worldbuild like a pro, and understand complex or basic storytelling elements. Writing Excuses is a comprehensive show that covers the ins and outs of the publishing world and writing craft in bite sized episodes perfect for when you only have a moment to spare.
Read more: 7 Podcasts That Will Make You Sound Smart at the Next Cocktail Party
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The Dialogue Doctor is a great podcast for any writer no matter where they are in their journey. Hosted by writer and dialogue doctor himself Jeff Elkins, Dialogue Doctor blends tutorials with actual manuscript critiques. In some episodes, Elkins uses an author’s draft or published book to dissect what the author does wrong and right when it comes to dialogue. By doing this, writers and listeners get an inside look at how to craft original dialogue and better stories. Episode 25, “The Dialogue Daisy,” is one that I highly recommended. It gets into a system that helps writers craft distinct and unique character voices. Elkin takes listeners through the process he uses on his own books and clients’ to help craft knockout dialogue. Which if you’re a writer, you know that stuff is hard to do. Not with the dialogue daisy method.
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Joanna Penn and The Creative Penn are both well-known names in the instructional writing field. Penn hosts more than just podcasts, but offers courses, resources, and more for the beginning or experienced writer. When it comes to The Creative Penn Podcast, listeners can hear interviews with top professionals in the field, learn about emerging technologies and laws that are or will impact writers, and so much more. Whether you’re writing speculative fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid, The Creative Penn Podcast has episodes for the self-published, traditionally published, or hybrid writer. For The Creative Penn Podcast, there’s a lot of informative episodes to choose from, but “How to be a Healthy Writer in 2021” with Dr. Euan Lawson is what most writers, I believe, need to hear right now.
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People who don’t have the privilege or luxury to afford a writing coach will benefit greatly from the guided lessons and tutorials of Ann Kroeker. She breaks down sometimes complex or hard to understand writing techniques and publishing mysteries into digestible and understandable actionable steps. What I love about Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach is how short and quick the episodes are. Like Writing Excuses, these episodes are designed to be a straightforward approach to craft and publishing that gives the writers the tools they need before sending them off to do the dirty work of writing. I love that. Yeah, sure an hour long talk about the mechanics of storytelling in Beloved is great, but when podcasters are able to condense information into its most helpful and direct takeaways for the average writer, it is absolutely splendid and pure writing fuel.
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With over 50 episodes and more due out, Just Keep Writing is a writing podcast that offers interviews with well-known industry writers and editors to talk about the writing and publishing process. There’re episodes with writers like Maurice Broaddus and Suyi Davies Okungbowa. A unique part of their show is the challenges that the hosts give to listeners who are looking to push their writing further and do more. There is a three-part episode series featuring Fiyah’s reviews editor and speculative fiction writer Brent Lambert called “Mastering Plot Twists” that is so damn good and juicy and informative, I suggest writers archive it for future reference and use. Even if you’re not writing plot twists in your work, there are more techniques, tricks, and insights shared during this episode than just that.
Read more: How to Audio Drama: Writing Exposition
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Michael La Ronn is another familiar name in the writing world as he writes science fiction and fantasy as well as writing resources. His podcast The Writer’s Journey with Michael La Ronn is only a small part of his larger effort to help writers live their dream. He has a very popular creative writing YouTube channel Author Level Up. Self-published, La Ronn is an advocate for taking the indie journey into publishing and writing. For writers who dictate their novels, they’ll find a friend in La Ronn who dictates an impressive number of books, releasing over 10 a year. Through his personal candor and self-analysis, writers can learn how to become more productive, happier, and successful writers. There’s more than 100 episodes to choose from and a new one comes out every week!
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Unlike all of the other podcasts on this list, this one isn’t a writing or publishing podcast. Nope! You won’t learn how to write a plot twist or craft believable dialogue. What you will learn from Brown Ambition is how to budget, save, and manage your money so that you can create a sustainable business model or work toward quitting your day job to become a career writer. The reason Brown Ambition stands out among all the other money and personal finance podcasts out there is because they have over 200 episodes to get writer’s in the right money mindset to handle their finances and turn their earnings into more. Also, they focus on helping BIPOC writers and highlight issues related to racism, investing as a person of color, and debt.
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Like Brown Ambition, How Do You Write? centers author finance on its yearly financial round up. However, unlike Brown Ambition, How Do You Write? Is a podcast by and for authors. Rachel Herron is a successful hybrid author with more than two dozen books. Like many authors on this list, Herron works to inspire, promote, and help beginner writers get a grasp on the publishing business and craft. On her podcast, she interviews editors, authors, and poets to talk about everything from how they write to their road to publishing. I love that she talks about her own life and gives listeners a deeper look at how a successful writer lives, loves, and fights. I recommend the 2020 edition of “Show Me the Money” where Herron goes into her earning breakdown.
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Since Creative Class, a Podcast for Freelancers was created by and for freelancers, there’s more info related to managing clients, finding work, and handling the day-to-day life of a working professional writer. When I first started out freelancing, Creative Class was exponentially helpful at helping me figure out how to work and live as a writer. While not focused on improving writers’ craft, what writers will learn is how to actually make writing into a career that helps support them and their community. I recommend the episode “What happens to our freelance business if we get really sick?” because it explains how full-time writers schedule and handle their pay and sick time. This isn’t something that’s really talked about in MFA programs, creative writing classes, and most other craft conversations, yet, it’s something that all writers working full-time have to face.
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2021 can be a year for a lot of things. It can be the year for change, for improvement. It can be the year you make your writing dreams and goals come true. These podcasts can be the fuel, inspiration, and guidance you need to launch your book, start writing again, or land your next gig.
Becoming a better writer doesn’t take thousands of dollars and a paper diploma. It takes committing to the study and practice of writing. Take your writing and career into your own hands by utilizing the free available resources at your disposal.
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