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 lear

01.11: The business of being a writer in 2020 with Jane Friedman

Jun 1st, 2020 1h 2m

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 defi

01.10: Cataloguing a universe with Archivos founder David Robison

May 15th, 2020 1h 8m

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

01.09: Worldbuilding with Mike Underwood, Adam Rakunas & Patrick Tomlinson

May 1st, 2020 1h 10m

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 explor

01.08: Kameron Hurley on perseverance and building a resilient creative career

Apr 15th, 2020 1h 3m

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

01.07: Michelle Kuo and the power of reading and telling stories

Apr 1st, 2020 1h 5m

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

01.06: Michael R. Underwood and the modern art of selling books

Mar 15th, 2020 1h 4m

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

Bonus

BONUS POD: How Rick Morton lost it all before hitting #1

Mar 11th, 2020 1h 1m

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

01.05: Community building with r/fantasy creator Steve Drew

Mar 1st, 2020 1h 8m

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

01.04: Kate Weber & Zach Egan on building the Swanson Team in Paris

Feb 15th, 2020 1h

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 f

01.03: Lindsey Tramuta on Writing About a Changing Paris and Business When Living Abroad

Jan 31st, 2020 55m 54s

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 fant

Bonus

BONUS POD: Should authors bother attending conventions? Live from ConFusion

Jan 25th, 2020 48m 11s

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

01.02: Natasha Ngan on what it takes to write a bestseller & what it takes out of you

Jan 15th, 2020 1h 5m

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 a

01.01: Building a Podcast with Oliver Gee and John Clarke

Jan 1st, 2020 54m 2s

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:O

Trailer

Introducing Building the Oracle with Jay Swanson - TRAILER

Dec 28th, 2019 1m 58s

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 God

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