What has been the most helpful thing for me in my author journey? Taking online courses on Author Media and the Christian Writers Institute, of course!
Writing is a craft, whether you’re writing fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. And like any craft or any talent, you must persist in patiently practicing and persevering.
These websites were recommended to me by a friend who is also author. She was also the author who suggested that I republish my first Kennedy Ryan book. And I cannot brag enough about how excellent and informative these courses have been.
Author Media is run by Thomas Umstattd, Jr. The purpose of this website is to train new authors who are trying to build their platforms, sell their books, and break into the book-publishing industry. Author Media has many great features besides courses, such as a blog and a podcast. The Christian Writers Institute, founded by Robert Walker in 1945, is an online writing school that hosts numerous courses on the craft of writing and the publishing industry. The CWI also hosts the Write-to-Publish conference annually in June, a conference that I have had the pleasure of attending three times. Many of Thomas Umstattd’s own courses are featured on the CWI.
Courses I have taken (and currently take) include “How to Make Your Author Website Amazing” (Author Media), “The 10 Ks of a Good Book” (CWI), and “The 5-Year Plan To Become A Bestselling Author” (Author Media). These are only a few of the courses that I have taken. The 5-Year Plan course is my personal favorite: it is a literal five-year course (I know, a very long time for one course!) that is divided into four quarters per year. Each quarter has its own assignments, such as reading books on the craft of writing, listening to the Writing Excuses Podcast or other podcasts on writing, such as the Christian Publishing Show which is also hosted on Author Media, writing short stories (you even enter one into a short story contest) and novels, and participating in NaNoWriMo in November, at least when it still existed. Participating in NaNoWriMo was one of the best assignments, but NaNoWriMo has been disbanded, so recently, I had to find other options similar to NaNoWriMo, such as RealmieWriMo on the Realm Makers website. RealmiWriMo is similar to NaNoWriMo, but instead of just writing 50,000 words in one month once a year, RealmieWriMo offers quarterly writing challenges, and you get to choose what your writing challenge is! You can write a novel in a month, or you can outline your novel, like I what I am currently doing for the October 2026 RealmiWriMo right now.
What I especially love about Author Media and the CWI is their focus on the Christian writing market. As a Christian author who wishes to glorify God with her writings, it’s so wonderful to find my beginnings not only with courses that explain the publishing industry really well, but with a solid foundation in God’s Word and writing for His glory. It is also wonderful to be able to connect with other Christian writers, editors, agents, etc.
I owe a lot to these courses and podcasts; without them I am certain that I would still be way behind in building my author career!
