What do you think?
Rate this book
Reclaim Your Author Career: Using the Enneagram to build your strategy, unlock deeper purpose, and celebrate your career
Overwhelmed by all the ways to write and market your books? Discover a simple framework to align your business and reclaim your author career.Are you an indie author who’s struggling to stay in the game? Are you ready to supercharge your career while staying true to your values? Do you crave greater fulfillment and success on a daily basis? Claire Taylor has made a name for herself as a bestselling author of both off-beat and on-market fiction and as a story consultant and career strategist for some of the biggest names in the biz. And now you can learn her tried and true system for authors to discover their gifts, avoid all-too-common pitfalls, and build the career of their dreams.
Breaking an author business down into four main components, Reclaim Your Author Career uses the Enneagram framework to help writers rediscover their core motivation and align their work with what fuels them. By examining creative values, persona, themes, and protagonists, Claire guides you deep through an exploration of yourself that will leave you wiser, refreshed, and excited to make the tough decisions that lead to lasting success.
In Reclaim Your Author Career, you’ll
Which creative values make or break your happinessHow to identify the distractions and stressors that lead you off courseWhy you’re failing to attract the right readers for your books and ways to adjustHow to leverage theme to build your fandomWhy picking the right protagonist can make or break your brand, and much, much more!Reclaim Your Author Career is the insightful guide you’ve been looking for to build a writing life that fits like a glove, brings you the satisfaction you’ve dreamed of, and empowers you to create a life worth celebrating.
If you like individualized advice, fresh storytelling strategies, and deeper self-knowledge, then you’ll love Claire Taylor’s revolutionary approach to unlocking the creative life you deserve.
Buy Reclaim Your Author Career to prioritize creative fulfillment in your life today!
Breaking an author business down into four main components, Reclaim Your Author Career uses the Enneagram framework to help writers rediscover their core motivation and align their work with what fuels them. By examining creative values, persona, themes, and protagonists, Claire guides you deep through an exploration of yourself that will leave you wiser, refreshed, and excited to make the tough decisions that lead to lasting success.
In Reclaim Your Author Career, you’ll
Which creative values make or break your happinessHow to identify the distractions and stressors that lead you off courseWhy you’re failing to attract the right readers for your books and ways to adjustHow to leverage theme to build your fandomWhy picking the right protagonist can make or break your brand, and much, much more!Reclaim Your Author Career is the insightful guide you’ve been looking for to build a writing life that fits like a glove, brings you the satisfaction you’ve dreamed of, and empowers you to create a life worth celebrating.
If you like individualized advice, fresh storytelling strategies, and deeper self-knowledge, then you’ll love Claire Taylor’s revolutionary approach to unlocking the creative life you deserve.
Buy Reclaim Your Author Career to prioritize creative fulfillment in your life today!
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 8, 2022
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 23, 2023
If you're familiar with Claire from the Sell More Books Show podcast, you'll know she has terrific insights into how to build a sustainable author career. If you've taken any of her courses or had an alignment call with her, much of the information in this book will already be familiar to you--but trust me when I say she goes deeper and explores these topics even more in this book. There is plenty of new information here, even if you're already well-aware of your Enneagram type and what that means for you. I recommend this book to any author who wants to have a long-term career instead of short-term but unsustainable success. Take what Claire teaches here and apply it to your own situation, and you won't be sorry.
January 25, 2023
I've recently become fascinated with the idea of assessing your individual strengths and personality quirks, and using the knowledge of those to your advantage, so this book caught my interest.
Reclaim Your Author Career is a unique take on focusing on your personality (specifically your core motivations and fears, as determined by the Enneagram). But rather than only focusing on you as an author, the book also looks at how you can apply the same concepts to your characters and story development.
While I'm definitely curious to reexamine how I approach my author business after reading this book (and I plan to go back and answer the homework questions now that I've read it), I think my favorite part about this was the suggestions for character development and theme based on the Enneagram. I want to take what I've learned from that to examine a couple of my stories that I've been stuck on, to see if there are problems with character motivations/fears not adding up, or if the theme is muddled.
Overall, I recommend this if you're looking for a new approach to both your author career and to writing.
Reclaim Your Author Career is a unique take on focusing on your personality (specifically your core motivations and fears, as determined by the Enneagram). But rather than only focusing on you as an author, the book also looks at how you can apply the same concepts to your characters and story development.
While I'm definitely curious to reexamine how I approach my author business after reading this book (and I plan to go back and answer the homework questions now that I've read it), I think my favorite part about this was the suggestions for character development and theme based on the Enneagram. I want to take what I've learned from that to examine a couple of my stories that I've been stuck on, to see if there are problems with character motivations/fears not adding up, or if the theme is muddled.
Overall, I recommend this if you're looking for a new approach to both your author career and to writing.
November 25, 2022
I’ve followed Claire for a while now because I find her enneagram approach to writing characters to be really helpful (I’ve had alignment sessions with her before as well); it focuses on the core desires and fears of a character and feels a bit more intuitive than deciding what a character’s MBTI is (or however you build characters). So when I found out she was doing a Kickstarter for a non-fiction book, I knew I had to support it.
Reclaim Your Author Career is a part author-alignment, part craft book on how to nail your story. Using the enneagram as a base, book takes you through:
1. Identifying your creative values
2. Identifying/building your author persona
3. Identifying story and series theme
4. Writing your protagonist
The idea behind this book is that all of us are motivated differently. Some of us prioritise our individuality, some of us prioritise control/empowerment, others prioritise peacemaking. And of course, even if the goal is to make money, the way we see and use money differs from person to person as well. And so, if we’re not aligned or unaware of our deeper motivations for writing, we’re likely to follow a strategy that doesn’t suit us and leads to burnout or unhappiness. Conversely, if we know why we write and what we want money to do for us, we can pick and choose what to write and how to sell to make it benefit ourselves.
While I’m already somewhat familiar with the enneagram method for writing, I still found it helpful for everything to be written in a structured manner. The chapter on theme was probably the most enlightening one; I’ve never thought too deeply about whether my books have a theme but it seems like “relationships” is something that I like to explore. For example:
- One-sided relationships/when you do whatever it takes to turn reality into your dream (Nutcracker)
- Mother-daughter relationships (Beauty)
- Parasocial relationships (my WIP on zombies and influencers that may never be finished at the rate I’m going).
If I can ever finish my dark fairytale series, I’ll be coming back to this chapter to make sure things are satisfying.
The book also helped me clarify why I have very little motivation to return to writing/selling my fiction; what I like is the total control over writing and the ability to try what I want to try. I’ve tried it, so now my energy is focused on other projects I want to try more. Knowing this, it’s easier to not feel guilty about my lack of productivity but to just continue with life and trust that eventually, I’ll come back to writing again.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
Reclaim Your Author Career is a part author-alignment, part craft book on how to nail your story. Using the enneagram as a base, book takes you through:
1. Identifying your creative values
2. Identifying/building your author persona
3. Identifying story and series theme
4. Writing your protagonist
The idea behind this book is that all of us are motivated differently. Some of us prioritise our individuality, some of us prioritise control/empowerment, others prioritise peacemaking. And of course, even if the goal is to make money, the way we see and use money differs from person to person as well. And so, if we’re not aligned or unaware of our deeper motivations for writing, we’re likely to follow a strategy that doesn’t suit us and leads to burnout or unhappiness. Conversely, if we know why we write and what we want money to do for us, we can pick and choose what to write and how to sell to make it benefit ourselves.
While I’m already somewhat familiar with the enneagram method for writing, I still found it helpful for everything to be written in a structured manner. The chapter on theme was probably the most enlightening one; I’ve never thought too deeply about whether my books have a theme but it seems like “relationships” is something that I like to explore. For example:
- One-sided relationships/when you do whatever it takes to turn reality into your dream (Nutcracker)
- Mother-daughter relationships (Beauty)
- Parasocial relationships (my WIP on zombies and influencers that may never be finished at the rate I’m going).
If I can ever finish my dark fairytale series, I’ll be coming back to this chapter to make sure things are satisfying.
The book also helped me clarify why I have very little motivation to return to writing/selling my fiction; what I like is the total control over writing and the ability to try what I want to try. I’ve tried it, so now my energy is focused on other projects I want to try more. Knowing this, it’s easier to not feel guilty about my lack of productivity but to just continue with life and trust that eventually, I’ll come back to writing again.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
November 30, 2023
This book wasn’t what I expected, but I loved it all the same. I thought it would be another salesy / choose how to run ads based on your Enneagram, but it wasn’t. Instead, Claire uses the Enneagram to show how we can create an author alignment of persona-story-reader can happen with a focus on less burnout and a healthy career. With a few chapters of writerly advice thrown in, this book is a great addition to any author’s business book shelf.
June 26, 2024
I read this on the recommendation of a friend who had also read it and wanted to know how closely my reactions matched hers (or not). I had only the vaguest notion of what the Enneagram was, and after taking more than one test (the first one was one of those total jerk moves where they don't tell you they're going to charge you for it until you've already given them twenty minutes of your life) and discovering I am a 3w2, I was intrigued. The Enneagram itself had some good points to make that fit what I know about my personality, so I thought I would give this book a try.
And it was valuable information, to a point. For one thing, I disagree with her point about what Type 3 people fear--she says it's being worthless, I say it's being unimportant, which is a subtle but key difference. And while I learned important things about why I have trouble interacting with readers online, her solution was "be authentic." But my problem is that I am being authentic, but I feel fake, and she had no advice for that. Since this is a book and not a personal therapy session, I don't fault her for that, but that doesn't change how it wasn't as helpful.
I found what Taylor writes about concentric circles of meaning and using the Enneagram to find themes or characters or plots that resonate with you interesting in an abstract way...like, I don't think I'm ever going to figure out my main characters' Enneagram numbers, but that's no different than doing their horoscope or reading tarot for them.
I don't know. The more I think about it, the more my reactions are qualified. I did my best not to say "but that doesn't apply to ME because because because..." but the truth is I have a great understanding of my psyche and mental condition thanks to living with bipolar disorder for more than twenty years, and a lot of this book is about breaking down barriers and learning more about yourself. So, yay! I'm self-actualized, I guess?
Bottom line, I found it worth reading even though I only got value out of some of it. And it did lead to some great discussions with my friend. In fact, I'd say sharing this with your writing group could be extremely valuable, if only to give yourselves a common vocabulary for discussion.
And it was valuable information, to a point. For one thing, I disagree with her point about what Type 3 people fear--she says it's being worthless, I say it's being unimportant, which is a subtle but key difference. And while I learned important things about why I have trouble interacting with readers online, her solution was "be authentic." But my problem is that I am being authentic, but I feel fake, and she had no advice for that. Since this is a book and not a personal therapy session, I don't fault her for that, but that doesn't change how it wasn't as helpful.
I found what Taylor writes about concentric circles of meaning and using the Enneagram to find themes or characters or plots that resonate with you interesting in an abstract way...like, I don't think I'm ever going to figure out my main characters' Enneagram numbers, but that's no different than doing their horoscope or reading tarot for them.
I don't know. The more I think about it, the more my reactions are qualified. I did my best not to say "but that doesn't apply to ME because because because..." but the truth is I have a great understanding of my psyche and mental condition thanks to living with bipolar disorder for more than twenty years, and a lot of this book is about breaking down barriers and learning more about yourself. So, yay! I'm self-actualized, I guess?
Bottom line, I found it worth reading even though I only got value out of some of it. And it did lead to some great discussions with my friend. In fact, I'd say sharing this with your writing group could be extremely valuable, if only to give yourselves a common vocabulary for discussion.
Read
July 21, 2024This one was interesting and thought-provoking. I’d heard about the Enneagram for a while but hadn’t spent a lot of time investigating it. But then Becca Syme hosted Claire Taylor on her YouTube channel and Claire’s book was on discount, so I decided to pick it up and see what all the fuss is about.
Let me start off by saying that the Enneagram doesn’t speak to me the way Clifton Strengths do. I don’t think you can reduce all of humanity into only 9 types, especially when you start generalizing out from the centre of the theory (core fears / core motivations) – which I think it does quite well – out to larger generalizations about the types. Like, I certainly resonate with the core fear / motivation of Type 9, The Peacemaker (fear of loss and separation, desire for stability and harmony). That’s all well and good, as far as it goes. But when the Enneagram Institute starts talking about general traits of Type 9s, they lose me. (I read one website that said that Type 9s typically have slow, languid movements and are soft-spoken, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m essentially the opposite of that.)
Still, I thought the descriptions of the types were interesting, and I liked the idea of how to use your type to get into alignment with your career, your author brand, and your protagonists. (For example, as a Type 9, I’m more likely to want to build a harmonious community around my books and go at my own pace, without conflict, as opposed to pushing really hard for monetary success.) I wasn’t super-sold on the idea to write primarily protagonists that share your type, but I did appreciate the warning to triple-check that if your protagonist is not the same type as you, that you should ensure their actions are consistent with their own type, not yours. (So, for example, ensure that my protagonists aren’t necessarily avoiding conflict just because that’s what I would do in the same situation, if it doesn’t fit their character.)
I’m still not “all in” on the Enneagram, but I found this book thought-provoking and I’ll probably use at least some of its ideas as I move forward.
Let me start off by saying that the Enneagram doesn’t speak to me the way Clifton Strengths do. I don’t think you can reduce all of humanity into only 9 types, especially when you start generalizing out from the centre of the theory (core fears / core motivations) – which I think it does quite well – out to larger generalizations about the types. Like, I certainly resonate with the core fear / motivation of Type 9, The Peacemaker (fear of loss and separation, desire for stability and harmony). That’s all well and good, as far as it goes. But when the Enneagram Institute starts talking about general traits of Type 9s, they lose me. (I read one website that said that Type 9s typically have slow, languid movements and are soft-spoken, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m essentially the opposite of that.)
Still, I thought the descriptions of the types were interesting, and I liked the idea of how to use your type to get into alignment with your career, your author brand, and your protagonists. (For example, as a Type 9, I’m more likely to want to build a harmonious community around my books and go at my own pace, without conflict, as opposed to pushing really hard for monetary success.) I wasn’t super-sold on the idea to write primarily protagonists that share your type, but I did appreciate the warning to triple-check that if your protagonist is not the same type as you, that you should ensure their actions are consistent with their own type, not yours. (So, for example, ensure that my protagonists aren’t necessarily avoiding conflict just because that’s what I would do in the same situation, if it doesn’t fit their character.)
I’m still not “all in” on the Enneagram, but I found this book thought-provoking and I’ll probably use at least some of its ideas as I move forward.
September 25, 2024
Reclaim Your Author Career: Using the Enneagram to build your strategy, unlock deeper purpose, and celebrate your career by Claire Taylor is a must-read for any author, and especially any indie author.
This book offers an exquisite balance of looking at creative values, an authorial persona, theme, and protagonists in both standalone and series fiction writing, from a standpoint of helping authors achieve creative and career alignment. For anyone who loves personality tests, wants to pivot their author career to feel more aligned creatively and/or professionally, and likes a good dose of humor, Taylor’s book will feel like coming home and then getting the proverbial kick in the pants to get out there and start “reclaiming” one’s author career.
Taylor effectively delivers enough information on the Enneagram to suit those who are new to the framework, while also providing guidance on where to learn more. By emphasizing the importance of typing oneself in the Enneagram, Taylor crafts this book to be as much about self-discovery as it is about aligning one’s author career with the motivations (and fears) which drive us.
Readers may find themselves laughing, leaking surprising tears of truth, sparking their creativity, and redoing how they approach every strategy and tactic — right down to re-establishing the tone of their growing newsletter. Authors who come to this book looking for nitty gritty tactics may be disappointed, but that’s a disconnect of expectations. Taylor does a brilliant job steering readers back to thinking strategically first, which can prevent the sort of mad dash tactic grab one might expect to see on a board of Hungry Hungry Hippos, if tactics were marbles.
And, while the discussion in the book is centered around the indie author community, this is a book that can help authors of any publishing path, from traditional to hybrid to indie and anything else.
Five stars to Claire Taylor, and a heap of gratitude for putting this book out into the world from this author.
This book offers an exquisite balance of looking at creative values, an authorial persona, theme, and protagonists in both standalone and series fiction writing, from a standpoint of helping authors achieve creative and career alignment. For anyone who loves personality tests, wants to pivot their author career to feel more aligned creatively and/or professionally, and likes a good dose of humor, Taylor’s book will feel like coming home and then getting the proverbial kick in the pants to get out there and start “reclaiming” one’s author career.
Taylor effectively delivers enough information on the Enneagram to suit those who are new to the framework, while also providing guidance on where to learn more. By emphasizing the importance of typing oneself in the Enneagram, Taylor crafts this book to be as much about self-discovery as it is about aligning one’s author career with the motivations (and fears) which drive us.
Readers may find themselves laughing, leaking surprising tears of truth, sparking their creativity, and redoing how they approach every strategy and tactic — right down to re-establishing the tone of their growing newsletter. Authors who come to this book looking for nitty gritty tactics may be disappointed, but that’s a disconnect of expectations. Taylor does a brilliant job steering readers back to thinking strategically first, which can prevent the sort of mad dash tactic grab one might expect to see on a board of Hungry Hungry Hippos, if tactics were marbles.
And, while the discussion in the book is centered around the indie author community, this is a book that can help authors of any publishing path, from traditional to hybrid to indie and anything else.
Five stars to Claire Taylor, and a heap of gratitude for putting this book out into the world from this author.
October 27, 2023
ETA: This author reported the negative review I left on Amazon for their book and had it removed. Nothing says "unprofessional" like protesting a negative review. They have no business advising other authors.
***
Started out fairly interesting, if preachy. As the preachiness increased, the utility decreased. It just got tiresome and boring. The author clearly does not understand what theme is (if you're reducing it to a single word, you're missing a ton of nuance) and their puritanical virtue signaling was offputting, not to mention insulting and, at times, offensive.
Take their assertion that they write in simple language to be "inclusive." What they're really saying is that they don't believe minorities can understand more complex language. Does the author not understand how insulting that is to the intelligence of minorities? Do they not understand how demeaning that is, and how racist?
And then they try to set themselves up as a "victim" of prejudice for one of their "humor" series. So I went and looked at the series. It's an interesting, if poorly executed, concept and it suffers from exactly the same problem as this book: it's boring. Humor depends on 1) great timing and 2) surprise. Neither is present in that oft-mentioned series; her pacing is too slow and her characterization is really horrible (it's based on shallow, poorly rendered stereotypes). Yet the author insists that the reason people don't like that series is because they're prejudiced, racist, pro-Christian, etc.; in their mind, there couldn't possibly be another reason.
This attitude reminds me strongly of the director of the 2018 movie version of A Wrinkle in Time, where the producer/director (whoever it was) insisted that critics were simply racist. No. It's a crappy movie. Period, the end. The producer/director's skin color has nothing to do with that. She did a bad job. But could she accept that? No. Her own ego wouldn't allow it.
Same with this author. It's not the concept people object to, but the fact that the author isn't a great writer. Oh, sure, they do fine with the mechanics (putting together a readable sentence, for example). With the story craft? Not so much. Which just proves that a fancy degree does not make one a writer.
This book would've been far better without that kind of nonsense. I went to this resource looking for desperately needed help. What I got was preached at.
DNF'd somewhere in the middle of the author's bloviated tirade on theme.
***
Started out fairly interesting, if preachy. As the preachiness increased, the utility decreased. It just got tiresome and boring. The author clearly does not understand what theme is (if you're reducing it to a single word, you're missing a ton of nuance) and their puritanical virtue signaling was offputting, not to mention insulting and, at times, offensive.
Take their assertion that they write in simple language to be "inclusive." What they're really saying is that they don't believe minorities can understand more complex language. Does the author not understand how insulting that is to the intelligence of minorities? Do they not understand how demeaning that is, and how racist?
And then they try to set themselves up as a "victim" of prejudice for one of their "humor" series. So I went and looked at the series. It's an interesting, if poorly executed, concept and it suffers from exactly the same problem as this book: it's boring. Humor depends on 1) great timing and 2) surprise. Neither is present in that oft-mentioned series; her pacing is too slow and her characterization is really horrible (it's based on shallow, poorly rendered stereotypes). Yet the author insists that the reason people don't like that series is because they're prejudiced, racist, pro-Christian, etc.; in their mind, there couldn't possibly be another reason.
This attitude reminds me strongly of the director of the 2018 movie version of A Wrinkle in Time, where the producer/director (whoever it was) insisted that critics were simply racist. No. It's a crappy movie. Period, the end. The producer/director's skin color has nothing to do with that. She did a bad job. But could she accept that? No. Her own ego wouldn't allow it.
Same with this author. It's not the concept people object to, but the fact that the author isn't a great writer. Oh, sure, they do fine with the mechanics (putting together a readable sentence, for example). With the story craft? Not so much. Which just proves that a fancy degree does not make one a writer.
This book would've been far better without that kind of nonsense. I went to this resource looking for desperately needed help. What I got was preached at.
DNF'd somewhere in the middle of the author's bloviated tirade on theme.
April 17, 2023
I thought this was going to be a book on how to get to know myself better as a writer, but it turned out to be another book on plotting. She gives you a brief intro to the enneagram, which I found interesting, but then tells you to go on your own and do your own research because she's not going to dive deep into that. EXCUSE ME? I though that was the premise of the book? It says it right on the title : "Use the enneagram to advance your author career", and you won't dive deep into the very topic that your book is about?
Only chapter 1 and 2 are worth reading, the rest is just basic plotting advice on how to create theme, character archs, obstacles, etc. You don't need the enneagram for that, and this book does nothing new on the plotting department. That's such an American way to view the world... trhu plotting everything to the last detail before comitting words to paper. I'm done reading craft books from american indie authors who can't even make a living out of their own writing, and have to keep cranking out "craft books" to sell their courses and consultations.
Only chapter 1 and 2 are worth reading, the rest is just basic plotting advice on how to create theme, character archs, obstacles, etc. You don't need the enneagram for that, and this book does nothing new on the plotting department. That's such an American way to view the world... trhu plotting everything to the last detail before comitting words to paper. I'm done reading craft books from american indie authors who can't even make a living out of their own writing, and have to keep cranking out "craft books" to sell their courses and consultations.
March 28, 2024
This Type 5 Enneagram gives this book 5 stars!
I first heard of Claire Taylor when she was on a few podcasts that I listen to. I decided to listen to the audiobook because I wanted to learn more about enneagrams.
Claire gives a brief overview of the different types, which made me want to learn more. So if you're unsure of your type, definitely check out the resources she mentions. I learned I was a type 5, which explains so much about me!
Type 5 Investigators love to learn stuff, so I'll definitely be researching more about the different types now. I like how Claire gives insight into what the different motivations and fears are for each type and how you can use this knowledge to not only improve yourself, but to help develop the characters you write.
I'm looking forward to diagnosing each of my characters' types. I bet a lot of mine are 5s also, hahaha!
I first heard of Claire Taylor when she was on a few podcasts that I listen to. I decided to listen to the audiobook because I wanted to learn more about enneagrams.
Claire gives a brief overview of the different types, which made me want to learn more. So if you're unsure of your type, definitely check out the resources she mentions. I learned I was a type 5, which explains so much about me!
Type 5 Investigators love to learn stuff, so I'll definitely be researching more about the different types now. I like how Claire gives insight into what the different motivations and fears are for each type and how you can use this knowledge to not only improve yourself, but to help develop the characters you write.
I'm looking forward to diagnosing each of my characters' types. I bet a lot of mine are 5s also, hahaha!
November 8, 2022
I've been following H. Claire Taylor for a while on the Sell More Books Show. She is the queen of Enneagrams and how to best use them for developing characters in stories. Now she's published this great guide for using your own Enneagram for your writing career, utilizing your strengths and weakness to build a roadmap to guide you. Whether you're a beginner or seasoned writer, if who wants writing and creating to be your career, this book is for you. Save yourself a lot of time and frustration going down the wrong path. Nail down your own personality type and steer your career to more satisfaction and profitability.
February 20, 2023
I'm really into the CliftonStrengths via Becca Syme's Better Faster stuff, so when they started talking about Claire and her Enneagram stuff, I was intrigued. This is an interesting perspective, and a very helpful mindset. I think pinning down your type is a bit of a difficult thing. Claire does a fairly good job with keeping things general enough to not over-classify any type, but does her best to provide guideposts. I still wanted more, but that's kind of the nature of the Enneagram. A great read for authors who want to build a sustainable career, and want to feel aligned in purpose.
May 9, 2023
I absolutely got a lot of tips and value out of this book about aligning your author career with the Enneagram and your personality style. It provided me with ideas about how to focus on themes in your writing; how to view your personality as a way to market your books; how to explore core fears and desires in our protagonists and in yourself; and so much more.
It has given me a new and fresh way to look at my writing and to find your readers who align with you and your personality. So well worth the read.
It has given me a new and fresh way to look at my writing and to find your readers who align with you and your personality. So well worth the read.
December 22, 2023
Becca Syme recommended this #NotaCult -
Even though she is talking about the enneagram, there is a lot of fairly sensible advice.
I am a Type 5, the Investigator
Desire: to be competent, capable | Fear: being incompetent, incapable
Things that push you over the edge: Intellectual incompetence in positions of power Willful ignorance Being told your facts are wrong or “just your opinion”(pp. 41-42).
pfft - everyone is like that, right?
4 stars
Even though she is talking about the enneagram, there is a lot of fairly sensible advice.
I am a Type 5, the Investigator
Desire: to be competent, capable | Fear: being incompetent, incapable
Things that push you over the edge: Intellectual incompetence in positions of power Willful ignorance Being told your facts are wrong or “just your opinion”(pp. 41-42).
pfft - everyone is like that, right?
4 stars
November 8, 2022
Highly recommended for authors at all stages of their writing journey! Claire has wide and deep savvy about the Enneagram and how to apply it to writing and author business strategy. She’s a genius! This is a fun, easy read and the integrated exercises are all worth doing. Can’t say enough good things about this book!
Read
March 28, 2024I consider myself an enneagram dabbler and also a bit of a skeptic, but I enjoy reading and thinking about the framework. This was a pretty interesting and practical application of that framework for writers. Most useful: how your enneagram type may play into how you manage the business and marketing aspects of a writing career and social media persona.
April 21, 2024
I couldn’t finish this, but I got about 3/4th f the way through for the sake of the book club I was a part of reading it. It was too much information, without good flow. I was overwhelmed by it. Also her definitions were the opposite of what I’ve learned about writing (I.E. she seems to conflate topic with theme). It seemed like it was written hastily, and/or edited hastily.
January 28, 2023
Excellent book! Ms. Taylor enlightens published authors (or soon to be authors) in using the Enneagram to align their careers with their writing. A must-read for anyone struggling with their writing career.
August 22, 2023
Such a great book! I was feeling very discouraged in my writing and path as an author and now I'm super pumped to start using all that I've learned. It honestly had the very best explanation of theme and how to use it in my writing that I've ever seen! Highly recommend to everyone!
September 7, 2023
I'm not an indie author but am an Enneagram believer. This book has a lot to offer in terms of characters, how we relate to them, and how to best tell their stories. The advice is presented in a way that might make you wonder why you haven't heard it explained that way before. Well? Nicely done.
April 6, 2024
I found this gave me a lot to think about, and I'm still processing. This is a book I will return to a few times in order to really incorporate it into my writing career, but that's what it's meant to be. Do the work and this book will help you.
January 13, 2023
Interesting book and concept. It provides a fresh way to look at yourself as an author, and a way to create authentic sounding characters.
January 14, 2023
I didn't even resonate with the Enneagram until I read this book, but it's unlocked so much clarity for me. A must-read for any writer who wants to make it a career.
February 21, 2023
Loved this book. I found it incredibly helpful and also a quick read.
August 18, 2023
Fascinating stuff.
February 8, 2024
Excellent exploration of what an aligned author career can look like. Gave me so much to think about and ponder. So grateful Claire shared her hard earned wisdom to help us!
July 18, 2024
Great insight into how to align my author career with my enneagram type (I'm a 9). Love all the examples and action plans. About aligning protagonists, theme, author persona, and our creative values.
June 13, 2024
Fabulous book. There’s so much here—gonna need to revisit this one a few times!
August 17, 2024
Stuck? Read this. Whether you've never heard of the Enneagram or you're a long time Ennea-geek like me, this book will help your writing and your life. It's as much a primer on Enneagram as it is a writing manual. The author uses writing and the indie author life context to explain the Enneagram, but the way she explains Enneagram applies to anyone whether they want to write or not. And I love her humor! It makes the tough life lessons she points to easier to learn.
June 26, 2024
Great book, offering authors hope and a roadmap on how to be authors for life.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews