Maximize the Phases of your Author Business

Better-Faster Author Success #3

by Becca Syme

Genres: Nonfiction

222 pages, ebook

First published May 9, 2026

About the author

Becca Syme holds a master’s degree in transformational leadership and has been a success coach (primarily utilizing the Gallup Strengthsfinder®) for almost fifteen years. She’s coached 4,700+ individual authors and creatives through her Write Better-Faster and Strengths for Writers classes & coaching cohorts: six- and seven-figure authors, major award winners, midlisters, and new authors alike. Becca is the host of the YouTube QuitCast channel and a mystery author. She lives in the mountains of Montana.

Reviews

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the Becca Syme books I've read, this is by far my favourite! There's a handy guide (almost like a test) that helps you figure out which business phase you're in, which made my analytical brain very happy. The advice is good and pretty hands-on compared to her other books.

The second half is about the different Enneagram types in the various business phases. I'd recommend not only reading your type but also other types you tested high for/resonate with. I found some good advice there too. There's a lot of talk about "fear," and in one place Becca actually says it doesn't always feel like fear, and that's when it finally clicked for me. I think calling it "fear" is quite off-putting to some people, especially men, so it's better to think of it as a drive pushing you away from something, like a repellent.

Would recommend, especially for authors without a business background who haven't yet built an intuition for decision making in business.

[MLP · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was fine with some great information. Figuring out what author stage I was at was helpful. But I wanted more information on what to do at that stage versus just being told “find demand.” Ok but how? Especially if you’re saying don’t get caught up in marketing - isn’t that how you find demand? And then there was mentions of perfecting craft & writing better books but no real actionable ways to do that (where other places she gave info, for example learning more about enneagrams). Honestly most of this information I already knew/had deduced BUT maybe that’s bc I have a business background.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, wonderful knowledge from Becca Syme! I would’ve appreciated more insight into HOW exactly to find those pockets of demand while in R&D, but maybe that can be delved into in a podcast episode… 😉