Building the Oracle - with Jay Swanson

In our final episode of Season 1, we look back on our initial hopes and dreams for the podcast, and discuss what we learned, which goals we achieved, and those that we failed to reach.

Jane Friedman, author of The Business of Being a Writer, and one of the most trusted consultants in the publishing industry, gives us the reality check we definitely needed.

What's the best way to keep track of a sprawling fictional universe? We talk with Dave Robison, the founder of Archivos, our worldbuilding software of choice.

Veteran SFF authors, Mike Underwood, Adam Rakunas, and Patrick Tomlinson talk to Jay and Richard about their research and worldbuilding processes.

Hugo Award-winning author, Kameron Hurley, talks about the challenges of living a creative life, and what it takes to support yourself as an author.

Author, teacher and lawyer, Michelle Kuo, joins us to talk about the power of storytelling, and the importance of listening to, and lifting up, diverse voices and viewpoints.

Michael R. Underwood talked to Jay and Richard about the best ways to help your book stand out in the modern book marketplace.

Radio host, Rick Morton, joined Jay and his sister, Kaarin Howard, in San Diego to talk about the ups and downs of pursuing an "on air" career, and how losing it all can be the best thing to ever happen to you.

"Please be kind!" Steve Drew shares his experience creating the Fantasy subreddit, as well as his business development expertise, to give us some great advice on how to build healthy online communities and a successful long-term business.

Asking for help and building a support team can be one of the most difficult but important things for a creative entrepreneur to do. We brought the whole Paris team together to talk about what we do and where we want to go as a company.

Lindsey Tramuta, author of The New Paris and the voice behind @lostncheeseland, talks about collaboration, publishing, and freelancing in Paris as an expat.

Jay was recently at ConFusion and he took the opportunity to talk to other authors about the value of SFF conventions, why they attend, and how to get the most out of them for your writing career.

Every author dreams of hitting the bestseller list and many publishers count on it to succeed. So we talked to an author who already made it to see what was involved.

Welcome to Episode 1 of "Building the Oracle", in which we take our first step towards building a publishing house by ... learning about podcasting.

Introducing a podcast about an author and an editor building a publishing and film studio from the ground up. Every episode we'll interview authors, publishers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, and other creatives to see what it takes to successfully bring an entire fantasy universe to life in book and film. Jay Swanson and Richard Bilkey are on the mic for this quick trailer to whet your appetites.