Email can be an author’s best friend by helping an author reach people around the world and make contacts, ranging from finding an agent or publisher, to a publicist, or by sending out newsletters to readers. But authors carefully need to word their messages to make sure they are really communicating so they are not…
Author Archives:
Creating and Maintaining Your Online Author Image
Once authors publish their books, they become public people. They are subject to having people do online searches about them and their books. Authors need to be proactive, therefore, about creating and sustaining a positive online image. Once you become an author, you are, in the eyes of others if not your own, a celebrity….
How to Avoid Wordiness
The mark of a good writer is the ability to say what needs to be said in as few words as possible. Getting straight to the point, without trying to impress or confuse the reader, is the best way to communicate. Deleting unnecessary, wordy, implied, and repetitive phrases can lead to effective sentences. Every writer…
Media Kits – Online and Paper
Press or media kits are important to any author’s marketing plan. Whether mailed or available online, press kits should contain some basic materials with a little room for creativity. An effective press kit will make things easy for the media and can get an author valuable media attention. Most authors think of press or media…
Author Tips for Selling Books
Publishing and marketing a book requires a lot of stamina and a willingness to keep learning. Often the best advice you get is not from publishing publications but simple tips other authors give you. Here are ten of the best tips and secrets other authors have given me over the years. The learning curve for…
Selling Books by Blogging
Blogging is one of the most popular strategies for marketing books today. But blogs must engage your readers if they are to be effective. Here are some simple strategies to make your blog connect with readers so you can sell more books. I’ve heard many people in the publishing industry say, “Every author must have…
Semicolon Usage
Proper use of the semicolon is becoming rare; often, no semicolon usage is common. Many people don’t know how to use a semicolon, so they don’t use them at all, but the semicolon can create emphasis or further meaning in a sentence and show connections that a period or a conjunction cannot. When used well,…
What Do Your Readers Want? Find Out Online
Authors do not write only for themselves but for readers. A great way to find out what your readers are interested in, so you can write about those topics and attract more readers, is to analyze online search results and then capitalize on the information you find. Using search engine and keyword results, questionnaires, and…
About the Author: Writing Your Author Biography
Many readers are humanistic, meaning they are curious and they are people-persons who want to know something about the author before they read a book. People buy books from people they like—or at least think they would like—based on what they know about the author from his or her biography. Creating an effective “About the…
If You Want to Be an Editor
Good editing is integral to the success of a book. A good editor can do wonders even with the worst of manuscripts, and authors who find good editors are grateful and will spread the word about the editors’ skills. However, editing is not solely about fixing grammar errors or even suggesting places where a manuscript…