When You Shouldn’t Hire and Pay For a Professional Editor
There are many good reasons to hire a professional editor, but also a number of compelling reasons to hold off and save your money.
Publishing Industry Status Report: Important Stories for Authors in 2017
Print sales for traditional publishers are increasing this year—up by 2.6% compared to the first half of 2016. Ebook sales are continuing their decline.
Social Media for Authors: The Toughest Topic to Advise On
I believe a successful social media strategy is driven by one’s personality and strengths, as well as the qualities of the work produced—leading to a unique approach for each writer. A
What’s More Important: Author Websites or Social Media?
Social media is widely considered necessary by authors and publishers for book marketing. But is it as important as an optimized author website?
Secrets to Developing the Best Title for Your Nonfiction Book
If you’re pitching your book to agents or editors, the perfect title for your book will define your subject and grab their positive attention. It should be a label they can confidently share with colleagues in editorial board meetings and use to convince the powers-that-be to release money to acquire your book.
Creation and Doubt Are Conjoined Twins
All writers have to find a way to deal with the internal negative voice that tells them their work is crap and not worth pursuing.
Writing Secondary Characters That Pop—And Sell More Books
Series have become extremely popular, and secondary characters are now in the spotlight. Readers enjoy trying to spot the next potential hero or heroine.
MailChimp Alternatives for Authors
Is MailChimp the best choice for your email newsletter? Here’s a breakdown of the pros & cons of the three biggest email service providers that authors use.
Emotional Etiquette for the Writer Seeking an Agent
Sometimes guidelines for writers discourage perfectly private, internal envy, anger, indignation, etc., directed toward other writers, or toward agents (or publishers) rejecting work. But that hardly seems realistic, nor is it fair to ask humans to stop being human.
The Challenges of First-Person POV
There’s no quicker way to intimacy with a lead character than first-person point of view (POV). But numerous challenges also come with this POV. One of these is the natural limitation of being stuck in one perspective throughout the story.
6 Common Sense Steps to Secure a WordPress Website
For a platform that powers a quarter of the websites in the world, Wordpress is surprisingly insecure. The default settings leave a site open to being hacked a half-dozen different ways.
Troubleshooting for Writers: 7 Questions to Ask When You Lose Desire to Finish Your Book
Ideally, we’d have all the creativity and energy and desire we need to write amazing stories. However, the truth is, sometimes we hit roadblocks while following through. Here are some of the most common roadblocks and how you might solve them.
How to Turn a Microsoft Word Document Into an Ebook (EPUB)
Word doesn’t export to EPUB, but you can still produce an editable file quickly, without buying software or using a “meatgrinder” conversion.
What Belongs on an Author Website Homepage? 4 Key Elements
Whether you’re an emerging author or one that is well-established, it can be challenging to figure out what belongs on your website’s homepage and what to say about yourself on the front door to your online presence.
Having Trouble With Plot? Look at Your Characters.
In a great story, character and plot are inextricable from one another. The seeds of the story conflict lie in the character.
How Time Zone Differences Affect Your Book Marketing
Do you know what time it is in Mumbai, India? Knowing time differences in the countries where you sell books is key to social media engagement, and ultimately sales.
Using Amazon Ads to Sell a YA Novel: A Detailed Analysis
While Amazon sponsored ads haven’t been a marketing miracle, I also haven’t lost that much money—and copies of my YA novel have sold at a steady pace.
Reader Analytics from Jellybooks: Crunching the Numbers to Improve Book Marketing and Sales
Reader analytics measures the strength of reader engagement with a book. This data helps publishers more effectively market and promote books to readers.
The WordPress Plugins I Can’t Live Without
Plugins are one of the most wonderful and useful things about Wordpress. Here are some of my favorites for writers.
Self-Publishing a Debut Literary Novel: The Actions, The Costs, The Results
A self-published author breaks down her expenses and resulting sales after promoting on social media and email, paying for reviews, advertising, and more.
5 On: Dario Ciriello
Author Dario Ciriello talks about breaking writing rules, what publishing other writers taught him about the business, and how little he as a writer cares about what other writers think.
The Marketing Rule You Can’t Forget
When I work on a project—with clients, but particularly with my own writing—I start by acknowledging a blunt but important truth: Nobody cares about what I have made.
So You’re an Author Without a Social Media Presence: Now What?
Social media is just one component of your author platform, and not necessarily the most important component. It works best as part of a holistic book marketing and promotion strategy.
How to Pitch Agents at a Writers Conference
Pitching agents at a writers conference can be a difficult task for the new writer. Here’s how to make it a little easier on yourself.
A Basic Guide to Getting Permissions + Sample Permissions Letter
If you need to request permissions from an author or publisher, here are general guidelines, plus a sample letter you can customize.
A Serial Publishing Platform That Earns Money for Indie Creators
Tapas, a new digital publishing platform, has led to meaningful earnings and readership for independent artists and writers in less than two months.
Screenwriting Techniques to Strengthen Your Novel: Q&A with Nina R. Sadowsky
Screenwriter and novelist Nina R. Sadowsky shares screenwriting techniques that have influenced her novel writing, and writers can learn from the screen.
How Do You Respond to Criticism of Your Work? 6 Patterns to Recognize
Are you getting the most from professional feedback, or are you inadvertently sabotaging your progress? Look for these patterns in your response.
Start Here: How to Self-Publish Your Book
This is an introductory guide to the major self-publishing options available to authors today, and how to choose the right service for you.
Near Charlottesville? Join Me for a Master Class in Author Platform
I’m offering a month-long master class in author platform in August 2017, in collaboration with Writer House in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Advice to Pursue Your Passion: What Does “Passion” Even Mean?
Here’s a word I have eliminated as fully as possible from my information and advice lexicon for writers: passion.
A Writer’s Guide to Permissions and Fair Use
Permissions is all about seeking permission to quote or excerpt other people’s copyrighted work within your own. Here’s when you need to seek permissions.
The Challenge Faced by High-Quality Literary Journals
Today, our problem is not finding more great things to read. It’s finding time to read the great many wonderful things that are published.
The Difference Between a Press Release and a Pitch (You Need Both)
The two biggest mistakes in book publicity pitches: they are too long in length, and not pointed or provocative enough.
If You’re Successful, Lots of People Ask for Your Help. Who Deserves It?
A “clueless ask” is when a well-meaning stranger asks for an investment of a successful person’s time and energy. What are such people owed, if anything?
How to Choose and Set Up a Pen Name
You should consider how secret you want to be about your true identity. Maintaining secrecy is difficult. The higher the level of secrecy, the more complicated the process
Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published
If you want to publish your book, here are the steps you should follow to assess your work’s potential, then research and pitch editors and agents.
How to Immediately Improve Your Query Letter’s Effectiveness
In my many years of critiquing queries, I see the same weaknesses again and again. Here are the biggest issues that afflict novel queries and how you can fix them.
When You Actually Should Dig Out Those Old Stories From the Dusty Drawer
If there’s something at the heart of the story that still interests you, that keeps pulling you back, that still haunts you years later, then that’s probably a sign that there’s something worth struggling for there.
The Perfect Cover Letter: Advice From a Lit Mag Editor
When submitting your short form literature to a magazine or journal, your cover letter is often the first impression an editor sees. It serves as an introduction to your thoughtfully crafted art. As such, it is significant, but it shouldn’t be intimidating or even take much of your time to write.
Why Your Memoir Won’t Sell
Everyone has a meaningful story to tell, but not everyone’s story (or writing) is going to deserve a commercial publishing deal. Here are the most common problems I encounter in memoir pitches and manuscripts.
Fan-Friendly Marketing and Kindle Worlds Licensing: Q&A with Aleatha Romig
Primarily an indie published author, Aleatha Romig participates in Kindle Worlds, which allows other authors to write about the characters in her work.
5 Research Steps Before You Write Your Book Proposal
Writing a nonfiction book proposal—a good one—requires not only sharp clarity about your idea, but also how that idea, in book form, is relevant and unique in today’s market. You’ll have a much easier time writing your proposal if you take time to conduct market research beforehand.
5 Steps to Kick Your Marketing FOMO to the Curb
Marketing FOMO is more debilitating than distracting—and if you suffer from marketing FOMO, your marketing tasks will never be done.
How Do Literary Agents Approach Diversity?
How do agents—generally considered the gatekeepers to publishing companies—approach the issue of diversity in the publishing industry?
Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal
Everything you need to know to start writing a book proposal for your nonfiction book.
The Pressure to Release More, More, More Titles
Whenever you produce titles fast, you’re making trade-offs.
Don’t Immediately Trust Mainstream Sites on Publishing Stories
Here are the latest stories that are causing confusion (and sometimes moral panic) where it’s not deserved.
How Much Should You Personalize a Query Letter?
Some agents and editors say that personalizing a query letter can backfire. Others say the opposite—that it’s mandatory. What should you do?
A Writer’s Worst Fear
Every writer’s pet fear stems from the mother of all fears: What other people think of what I write is more important than what I think of what I write.