3 Things Your Traditional Publisher Is Unlikely to Do
The No. 1 disappointment of published authors is the lack of marketing support from their publisher. Here’s how to prepare for what will—and won’t—happen.
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Building a Believable Chain of Events in Your Novel
Every action in your novel should be justified by the intersection of setting, context, pursuit, and characterization. They all need to make sense. They all need to fit. If you have to explain why something just happened, you’re telling the story backward.
How to Network Effectively (Even If You Hate Networking): Start Close to Home
If you want to sell books and have people read them, you have to meet other people and tell them about it. Learn the best networking strategies for people who hate networking.
How to Use Reddit to Market Your Books (Carefully)
Reddit is an online community where you can get your book in front of hundreds of thousands of readers for free. That is, if you have the right strategy.
How to Run Short-Term Social Media Campaigns
A short-term marketing campaign is a series of strategies designed to reach a goal in a defined period of time, and include projects such as book launches. A short-term campaign has four definite phases: planning, pre-launch, launch, and follow-through.
9 Tips to Building the Book Cover Design You Always Wanted
Book cover designer Joshua Jadon offers nine tips for creating a visually intriguing book cover.
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.
Thinking of Running a Facebook Ad? Proceed with Caution
Author Martha Conway discusses optimizing Facebook ad settings to ensure a realistic click-through rate, and her overall results with Facebook ads.
When Should You Write for Exposure? 5 Questions to Ask
When deciding whether to write for free—or for exposure—here are 5 questions writers should ask.
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:
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.
Are You a Push Marketer or a Pull Marketer?
If you want to be successful at selling today, you need to quit pushing your needs (please buy my book) and messages at potential readers and concentrate on figuring out how to pull them in by putting their needs above yours. Give them something valuable.
When the Writing Life Isn’t About Talent, Discipline, or Stubbornness
Author Melissa Yancy shines a new light on what failure brings to the writing life—and it isn’t the usual reflection on rejection.
5 On: Caroline Leavitt
Author Caroline Leavitt reveals the fears behind her middle-of-the-night writer anxieties, the contents of her colored book tour folders, her reaction to the praise her latest novel is receiving, and more in this 5 On interview.
The Publishing Industry in 2016: A Status Update
Traditional publishers are experiencing a slump, and the decline of Barnes & Noble isn’t helping. A look at news and trends in book publishing in 2016.
Getting Ready to Launch a Book? Start with These 5 Questions
Social media and marketing expert Andrea Dunlop lists five questions you should ask yourself when starting to plan your book launch.
How to Leverage the Power of Someone Else’s Platform (Without Being Smarmy)
Kirsten Oliphant explains how to reach out to others who can help you build your author platform and how to generate a great pitch for collaboration.
The Power of Pods: Ask Your Friends to Lead a Mini-Brigade on Your Behalf
Author Robert Wilder explains the concept of pods (spheres of influence) and how to use them to help promote your book.
Not Sure How to Approach Social Media? CARE about Your Readers
Author and social media expert Frances Caballo discusses the CARE acronym and how to use it to guide your interactions with readers on social media.
Using Twitter to Make Powerful Connections as a Creative Professional
Author Daniel Parsons offers five tips for improving your Twitter interactions as a creative professional.
Making Peace with Your Ghosts
When writers talk about where their ideas come from, the answers are as varied as wildflowers
What It Means to Be Fierce on the Page
The way we write can define (and transform) the way we live. Author Sage Cohen believes ferocity is our best compass for finding our true way forward.
A Simple Tip to Feel More Empowered in the Business of Writing
You can find depths of meaning in the shared language and goals you’ve developed with the writers around you.
How to Be Active on Social Media without Losing Your Mind
Author and social media expert Kirsten Oliphant explains how to manage your platform-building activities on social media sites.
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.
6 Ways to Vet Freelance Editors
Author and freelance editor Maya Rock offers six pointers for vetting a freelance editor.
How to Get More Speaking Gigs (Even If You Don’t Have a Lot of Speaking Experience)
Author and speaker Dorit Sasson offers tips on how to build author platform through local speaking engagements.
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.
Literary Agents and the Hybrid Author: A Conversation with Bob Mecoy and Kristin Nelson
Sangeeta Mehta interviews agents Bob Mecoy and Kristin Nelson about how agents can assist the hybrid author.
How to Find and Reach Influencers to Help Promote Your Book
Writing coach Angela Ackerman discusses how influencers can help you market your book, how to identify potential influencers, and how to reach them.
How Much of Themselves Do Authors Put in Their Fiction?
Why are we so curious about authors’ own lives in relation to their books, and the ways that they do (or don’t) bring their own stories into their work? Why do we wonder what’s “true”?
2 Keys to Unlock Your Momentum
Before you can take someone else’s advice, you have to develop a realistic picture of who you are, what your tendencies are, and what you’re willing and able to change.
5 Ways to Keep Writing When Life Intervenes
Author and editor Jessica Strawser offers guidance on how to write through illness, grief, and other major life events.
A Definition of Author Platform
Author platform is one of the most difficult concepts to explain, partly because everyone defines it a little differently. Here’s what agents and editors mean by platform, plus a clear definition of what platform is NOT.
How to Grow Your Email List
Kirsten Oliphant discusses various ways to grow your email subscriber list.
3 Myths About the MFA in Creative Writing
Most writers want an MFA for one of three reasons: They want to teach writing, they want to get published, or they want to make room in their life for writing. It turns out these reasons for doing an MFA are actually based on myths.
5 Ways to Develop Your Writer’s Voice
Author Jennifer Louden offers five tips for developing and strengthening your writer’s voice.
Learn an Overlooked Writing Skill: Free Training on July 27
Join me for a live training to learn to write sales copy that’s as impressive as your story; you’ll improve book descriptions, ad copy and reader emails.
Internal Dialogue: The Greatest Tool for Gaining Reader Confidence
The greatest tool for gaining reader confidence is internal dialogue—because when a character reveals his thoughts, he’s confiding in the audience.
If You Just Keep Writing, Will You Get Better?
Author and writing expert Barbara Baig discusses the lessons about deliberate practice that writers might take away from Anders Ericsson’s book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.
5 Steps to a Killer Book Talk
Every author dreams of having a successful book reading in a roomful of admiring fans. Yet too few actually spend enough time planning what they will say.
5 Pieces of Writing Advice You Should Ignore
Novelist James Scott Bell identifies 5 common “rules” that writers would do best to ignore—such as “Don’t start your story talking about the weather.”
Do You Lock Your Best Ideas in a Vault?
Writers can be like misers with their money when it comes to ideas—and ultimately that behavior can prevent you from producing great work.
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.
Before You Start a Podcast: 4 Tips for Authors
Podcast producer Devon Fredericksen offers four tips for authors creating podcasts.
5 On: Rosalie Morales Kearns
Author, editor, and publisher Rosalie Morales Kearns discusses why she started a feminist press (and what it takes to run it), favorite writing exercises, the deeply held interests that fuel her own writing, and more.
What Should You Put in Your Email Newsletter?
Learn about the various types of email newsletter that are sent by authors—with pros and cons of each—plus how to choose which type YOU should send.
Book Cover Redesign as Marketing Tool
Cover designer Alexander von Ness explains the value of a book cover redesign and walks through several cover redesigns and their goals.
When Less Is More on Social Media
Social media expert Chris Syme explains why less is more in social media, and how to make the most use of primary and secondary social media channels.
Should You Self-Publish or Traditionally Publish?
Should you self-publish? There is no single right answer to this question—it’s always situational. It depends on you, your book, and your career goals. This post outlines the key questions you should ask.