The Business of Being a Bestselling Author — with J.D. Barker

A WORDSLINGER PODCAST What does it actually take to build a bestselling author career—and turn writing into a sustainable business? In this episode of the Wordslinger Podcast, I sit down with New York Times bestselling author J.D. Barker to talk about the business behind the books. J.D. has worked with James Patterson, built a career spanning traditional and independent publishing, developed an unusual partnership with Simon & Schuster, co-authored numerous books, and had multiple projects optioned for film and television. We get into the realities of traditional versus indie publishing, why J.D. believes writers need to think like business owners, what James Patterson has taught him about building a scalable author career, how Hollywood book options really work, and why branding matters far more than many authors realize. J.D. also shares his strategy for producing as many as 10–12 books per year through co-authoring, how he has streamlined his publishing operation to support that output, and the quality he believes matters most if you want to build a long-term writing career: tenacity. If you're a writer, author, creator, or creative entrepreneur trying to build a career around your work instead of simply publishing one book at a time, there's a lot to learn from this conversation. J.D.'s newest novel, The First Scarlet Door, releases September 22. Subscribe to the channel for practical, experience-driven guidance on writing, publishing, marketing, creativity, and building a career as an author. If you're serious about your writing and publishing journey, this is the place to be. TIMECODES: 00:00 Welcome to the Wordslinger Podcast 03:51 J.D. Barker joins the show 06:02 Sylvester Stallone and The Fourth Monkey 08:33 How Hollywood book options actually work 11:34 Can authors make money from options alone? 14:09 The First Scarlet Door 15:55 J.D.'s journey from indie to traditional publishing 18:38 Building a new publishing model with Simon & Schuster 20:35 Is traditional publishing changing? 22:14 Should new writers pursue traditional publishing first? 23:43 The danger of publishing a book before it's ready 24:39 Why authors must treat writing like a business 26:22 Building an author career over time 28:14 What publishing can learn from other industries 29:12 Why author branding matters 32:03 J.D.'s co-authoring strategy 33:14 Scaling to 10–12 books per year 35:44 What James Patterson taught J.D. Barker 36:55 The real secret to J.D.'s success Visit the Knovelton Bookshop at knoveltonbooks.com GET 15% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER AT CHECKOUT WITH CODE STORYCUTS FIND KEVIN: Find Kevin and his books: https://kevintumlinson.com Join Kevin on Substack: https://kevintumlinson.substack.com Wordslinger Podcast home page: https://wordslingerpodcast.com SERVICES FOR AUTHORS: Polish your writing and make it ready for publishing with ProWriting Aid: https://tidd.ly/3NCdlk5 Publish your book to every major retailer online, get your book into print and ebook, and get support the whole way at Draft2Digital: https://draft2digital.com/wordslinger Find a virtual assistant to help you market your books (and more!) at AuthorAnchor: https://authoranchor.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.