Award-winning author Cori Wamsley, CEO of Aurora Corialis Publishing, works with leaders who have a transformational story to share. She helps them quickly and easily write and publish a book for their brand that helps them create a legacy and be seen as an expert while building a relationship with the reader. She also hosted the livestream podcast Page-Turner’s Studio with Cori.
Cori has 20 years’ experience as a professional writer and editor, including 10 years with the Departments of Energy and Justice and four years as the executive editor of Inspiring Lives Magazine.
Cori Wamsley writes the Soul Sisterhood series, best friend stories with a side of sweet romance. Her books are enchanting and witty women’s fiction, woven with the magic of self-discovery, history, adventure, and falling in love. She has written eleven books, including her latest, Good in Theory (2025), the third in the Soul Sisterhood series, which won a The BookFest Award for excellence in fiction in 2025. Her books Braving the Shore and The Treasures We Seek were lauded with The Author Zone Awards for excellence in fiction in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Connect with her at www.auroracorialispublishing.com or on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. For her author work, connect with Cori at www.coriwamsley.com or on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
Company: Aurora Corialis Publishing
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Cori Wamsley: I’m an award-winning author who helps coaches and speakers write and publish their legacy books. I coach authors through writing their books, and my publishing house helps authors at any stage of the process with publishing. I’ve written eleven books, mostly fiction, including three in my Soul Sisterhood series. My latest book was released in March of 2025, and it won a The BookFest Award for excellence in women’s fiction. Outside of work, I love being creative in any way that I can, and I am also a mother of two daughters, as well as a wife and book junkie.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffett, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Cori Wamsley: Not many publishing houses (if any) are run by an author of fiction who wants to help speakers and coaches lean into their personal stories and write in a way that will help them connects with their readers. Many business owners are encouraged to write a book because they should, instead of being encouraged to share about their journey. Humans have always been storytellers, and we naturally gravitate toward learning through story. Most people would rather read about an experience that someone had that we may also go through so we know how to navigate murky waters than read a dry list of instructions that reads like a text book. That’s where I come in!
We help authors write unique books that they can be proud of that feature the stories that important to them while educating the audience. I believe that everyone is capable of sharing their story and impacting others, and I’m thrilled that I get to help people do just that!
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, is an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Cori Wamsley: I work solely with contractors, so this isn’t something I personally deal with; however, from my experience in toxic work environments, I know that employees can be happy with just a few basic things.
1) They need to be able to trust the people they work with, especially their bosses. If you can’t openly communicate with coworkers and bosses about an issue at work and work together to come to a viable solution, your company culture might be toxic. No employee should be afraid to bring up an issue or work toward solutions together.
2) This goes with the first one: A workplace should be a safe place to make mistakes. I don’t mean constantly screw up. I mean try new things to see if they will work better. Be creative. Ebb and flow together. If you’re afraid to bring up a potential solution or something new to try because it will be shot down or you aren’t respected, then guess what, the workplace stays stagnant. The company doesn’t adapt to trends. And employees leave.
3) No one should have work piled on them till they snap. Something I’ve heard others experience is that employees leave or retire, and all the work gets dumped on the remaining employees. Your workers aren’t your buckets to help you cut costs. If you act like you don’t care about them by dumping so much work on them that they can’t do it well or can’t get through all the work, they will stop caring and leave, or the company will fail. A little basic respect, kindness, and actually distributing the workload properly goes a long way.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Cori Wamsley: I don’t think anything will change for my industry. People have been buying books online for over a decade, and that will continue. I’ve been meeting with clients all over the world via video conference, and that won’t change either. I’m thankful that I can work from home and make use of online resources so my business can stay flexible for my clients and my family.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Cori Wamsley: Books are usually a “nice to have” for speakers and coaches. Many realize that they need one to write a book to get the more coveted speaker spots, but they may choose to cut corners to lower their costs for production due to the chaos in the economy right now. I’m sure other industries are experiencing the same thing. What we as business owners need to do is help people understand the actual value in what we do. For me, it’s not just “here’s a final product” but rather, your book is a connection tool when it’s well-written. Your book can help you get clients and speaking engagements. I think the key is to focus on what’s bigger than the obvious outcome of our work.
As an author of fiction, we have to look more at the long game. Yes, still write our books, but make sure that there is a connection between them as well. How can we get people to become loyal readers, rather than one-off purchasers. It’s the same business tactic from a different angle. We need to keep people interested in the brand as a whole.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Cori Wamsley: I had no idea how much of my time would be spent thinking about marketing. It’s constant. Just marketing my latest book, Good in Theory, required months of preparation, getting the right people in place, paying for campaigns, reaching out to podcasters, etc. It was nine times harder than just writing the book. For the publishing house as a whole, I have to write pieces for social media, do interviews, etc., and only spend a fraction of my time serving the clients I work with. Down the road, I may pass off the marketing piece, but for now, it’s just one of the hats that I wear.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Cori Wamsley: Fame, hands down. Getting people to know you and what you do is by far the toughest hill to climb. If I already had a wide reach with my work, then finding the right clients and selling books would be a breeze. Even after years of marketing, PR, and networking, I am still not well known as a publisher or author. On occasion, someone will approach my table at a book event and say that they heard of me and wanted to check out my books, but it’s rare. Being well known would help immensely!
