unpublished writer websites

Unpublished Writers and Websites: Should You Have One and What Should It Say?

If you plan to pursue writing as a professional, long-term career, I recommend starting and maintaining an author website even if you’re unpublished.
author platform building

Building a Platform to Land a Book Deal: Why It Often Fails

If you're preparing to pitch your nonfiction work to agents or publishers, you may have heard about the necessity of platform. What if you don't have one?
checklists for publishing

Marketing and Publishing Checklists for Writers

When embarking on a process that is new or unfamiliar, often you don't know what you don't know. A checklist helps you recognize what you don't know, so that many months later, you're not beating yourself up for complete ignorance. Without further ado, here are some of my most favored checklists, from sources I trust.
get 10000 visits

How to Get 10,000 Visits to Your Blog in One Day with No Platform

Getting traction for your online presence—especially a new blog—can feel like an impossible task when you're an unknown writer. But it can be done.
Nov/Dec 2016 Writer's Digest

How to Make Money from Your Website or Blog

I'm proud to have a feature in Writer's Digest magazine on how to monetize your website and blog. I detail eight methods.
literary publishing

A Round-Up of My Columns for Publishers Weekly

Last year, I began regularly contributing to Publishers Weekly on the topic of independent authorship and publishing. Here's a list of all my columns so far:
call-to-action

What Writers Too Often Overlook: Having a Call to Action

Just about every writer would love to have more readers—more readers of their books, their blog, their articles, or whatever creative work they’re producing. But few writers have given much thought to having a call to action that's associated with their work.
email autoresponders

My Pop-Up Strategy, Part 2: The Autoresponder Series

How do you treat subscribers after they sign up for your email newsletter? An autoresponder can usefully and effectively welcome people to the community.
pop-ups

Why I Started Using Pop-Ups on My Website

Pop-ups have long been despited by the Internet world, but the difficulty is: They work. Here's how to implement them in a way that won't annoy visitors.
blogging mistakes

5 Common Mistakes That Even Longtime Bloggers Make

Wondering why you don't have more blog traffic—or if it's worthwhile to continue your blogging effort? Here are the mistakes that commonly afflict authors.
Wordpress websites

Building an Author Website on WordPress: How to Start Smart

If you’re considering WordPress as your platform of choice, here’s what you should know as you prepare to build on it.
A young girl wearing round glasses and writing in a large ledger with a quill pen

Building Your Professional Author Website: WordPress vs Squarespace

Web design expert Ron Bueker discusses the pros and cons of using WordPress and Squarespace to build your author website and brand.
Porter Anderson Digital Book World

4 Lessons for Authors on the Current State of Publishing

What authors need to know about current marketing practices and emerging business trends in the book publishing industry.
Gigi Rosenberg

How a Website Redesign Solved an Author’s Identity Dilemma

Author Gigi Rosenberg describes how she redesigned and relaunched her author website primarily on her own, only hiring assistance at the end.
How to choose the right Wordpress theme

How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme for You

Here are 10 questions to ask before you choose a Wordpress theme for your site.
5 Free Wordpress Themes for Writers

5 Free WordPress Themes for Writers

If you have a Wordpress-based site, then you know that one of the first choices you have to make (and
What Should Authors Blog About?

What Should Authors Blog About?

The chain of events goes something like this: An author's book nears its publication date (or perhaps the author is attempting
How to Customize a Template-Based Author Website

How to Customize a Template-Based Author Website

Note from Jane: Today’s guest post is by Simone Collins (@SimoneHCollins) at ArtCorgi. See her earlier post on The Advantages
Red Hot Internet Publicity by Penny Sansevieri

3 Ways to Improve Your Website Design

Today's guest post is adapted from Red Hot Internet Publicity by Penny Sansevieri. Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas there’s