We made it to the end of Season 1 of Building the Oracle! And everything went exactly according to plan ... well, not quite. 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. We reflect on world events over the last …

Jane Friedman is the author of The Business of Being a Writer, and one of the most trusted consultants and reporters in the publishing industry. We asked her for some advice on our own publishing plans, and she gave us the reality check we definitely needed. Jane also shared some of the wisdom she's learned through building her own business, pointe…

What's the best way for an author to keep track of a sprawling and evolving fictional universe? And how can we take of all these wonderful little worldbuilding details to help readers explore and discover our universe beyond the pages of a book? We discussed these questions, and much more, with Dave Robison, the founder of Archivos, a visual story-…

Worldbuilding! It's one of the defining elements of the science fiction and fantasy genres, in which the world itself, and how it differs from our own, is a central feature of the story. Readers should feel like they can escape into, and explore, and tell their own stories in the worlds we create for them, and so these worlds must be imbued with en…

Kameron Hurley is a Hugo Award-winning author and a trained historian. She was the guest of honor at this year's ConFusion, and she joined us on the pod to talk about the challenges of living a creative life, along with what it takes to support yourself as an author. We discuss the importance of perseverance and why it is crucial to develop multipl…

Michelle Kuo is an immigration lawyer, and currently teaches on issues of race, punishment, immigration and the law, at the American University of Paris. She is also the author of Reading With Patrick, a deeply moving memoir about the power of storytelling to connect with, and learn from, each other. We talked to Michelle about the importance for a…

Mike Underwood is a rare jewel in the publishing world - a successful author of several (very excellent) SFF novels who also happens to have invaluable sales and marketing expertise with some of the leading publishers in the world. He was also one of Jay's first and best friends within the professional SFF community, so when Jay attended ConFusion,…

Rick Morton is the host of San Diego's highest rated breakfast morning show, Hey Morton!, on radio Z90. But Rick's career path has been anything but smooth. He started at the very bottom of the radio food chain, doing everything he could to get his chance on air. From 3am radio slots to driving around in a giant boombox, rising through the ranks to…

r/fantasy is the internet's largest discussion forum for speculative fiction, and one of Reddit's most popular and inclusive communities. It has almost 800,000 members and has become the go-to location for SFF fans of all stripes, including the authors and publishers themselves. Its success is in no small part due to the efforts of its creator, Ste…

Asking for help and building a support team can be one of the most difficult but important things for a creative entrepreneur to do as their business grows. Jay was as surprised as anyone to discover that his youtube channel had grown too big for him to handle on his own. Over the last two years he brought in Kate, Richard and Zach to help him mana…

Lindsey is a Paris-based journalist writing for the New York Times and Fortune amongst many others. But she’s best known in our circles as @LostnCheeseland, the name of her fantastic Instagram account chronicling life in Paris. She wrote a fantastic book on the cultural shifts in our hometown, The New Paris, and hosts The New Paris Podcast, which i…

Jay attended ConFusion, a Science Fiction & Fantasy convention in Detroit, Michigan. While he was there he talked to some of our favorite SFF authors about why they attend conventions like ConFusion, and how professional conventions have helped them through their careers. Should authors go to conventions and what should they expect from them when t…

Natasha Ngan hit the New York Times bestseller list with her breakout YA novel, Girls of Paper and Fire. She joins us to talk about writing marginalized characters, connecting with readers, working with publishers, going on tour, and doing it all with a chronic illness. Book 2 in the Girls series, Girls of Storm and Shadow is out now. You can find …

Oliver Gee and John Clarke join us to share their own experience with podcasting, and to give us some friendly advice to help launch "Building the Oracle". You can find out more about both of our guests and give them a follow on their websites: Oliver Gee - The Earful Tower John Clarke - Private Practice Workshop HOW YOU CAN HELP Rate and Review Us…

Dropping on the 1st and 15th of every month in 2020 - Building the Oracle follows the process of building a publishing house and film studio from the ground up, all based around the universe of Jay Swanson's Sci-Fantasy "Oracle of the Dread Gods." Subscribe today at buildingtheoracle.com Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS ★ Support this podcast on Patr…