260: Lynne Golodner - Author of Woman of Valor

Our guest this week is Lynne Golodner (Woman of Valor, Scotia Road Books, September 2023). Once Lynne decided to stop writing fiction “on the side” and make it her focus, she leaped in with both feet, moving from a pure pantser to a more hybrid plotter, and solidifying her author brand as “creating compelling Jewish characters” which also drives her marketing focus. We discuss how this niche informed her decision to forego traditional publishing and opt instead to form her own publishing company, then delve into juggling her different income streams like teaching and consulting to allow time for her personal goal of writing one novel per year. We close out by exploring her “curious approach” to marketing and how she keeps it fun.

Lynne Golodner is the award-winning, bestselling author of ten books and hundreds of essays and articles as well as a marketing expert, writing coach and retreat leader. After working as a journalist in New York and Washington, D.C., and earning an MFA, Lynne returned to the Midwest, where she created Your People, a marketing company with a focus on storytelling. Between 1996 and 2013, Lynne wrote eight books—two poetry collections and six nonfiction titles. Around 2020, she started writing fiction with a goal of producing a book year. Her first novel, WOMAN OF VALOR, won an honorable mention in the Eric Hoffer Award for Spiritual Fiction and her second novel, CAVE OF SECRETS, hit #1 on Amazon in Jewish fiction, gay fiction and British and Irish literature.

She has degrees from the University of Michigan, Goddard College and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. She is the mother of four young adults and lives in Huntington Woods, Michigan.

To learn more about Lynne, click here.