Got content? If you regularly provide tips, advice, case studies or the like in a free newsletter or ezine or on your blog, you may be able to repackage these articles into a free-standing product that readers would happily pay for. Whether your audience is parakeet owners, paralegals or paranoid landlords, if your information can hang together usefully for that group, and … [Read more...]
5 Rules Every New Author Should Follow
How to Avoid Common Mistakes and What to Do Instead This article is a follow-up to 5 Mistakes New Authors Often Make. If you are a new author, the whole process of taking your book from planning to promotion may feel like an obstacle course. But it needn’t be, if you follow five basic rules (plus one “bonus” rule to make everything even easier). Rule #1: You must be able … [Read more...]
5 Mistakes New Authors Often Make
How to Avoid Common Mistakes and What to Do Instead If you are a first-time author, you may feel like a stranger in a strange land. Welcome to the world of book publishing. If you don’t know your way around, you may make wrong turns and unnecessary blunders, but you can also avoid these mistakes if you know in advance what they are. Mistake #1: You mention to people that … [Read more...]
The Book That’s Inside You
My friend John Eggen has four keys to publishing success and his keys can apply to virtually anything: #1 - Find Time-Tested Systems #2 - Get Training #3 - Get A Team #4 - Get Coaching If you want to be a better business person, coach, consultant or speaker, you'll follow those four keys. If you want to get better at marketing and selling your services, you'll … [Read more...]
Authors: Turn to Kickstarter to Launch Your Book
In Renaissance times and during other eras it was common for artists, sculptors and other creative people to recruit patrons and sponsors to fund their works so they could create masterpieces without worrying about such trivial matters as making a living. Today it also is important for creative people, such as writers, to recruit sponsors and patrons – not to help make a … [Read more...]
The 7 Deadly Sins Authors Make…And How To Avoid Them
The most recent data I've seen says that 99% of authors make less than $50,000. Sad but true. Want to find out how to end up in the 1% who make more? Keep reading and avoid these "deadly" sins that most authors make. 1. Going with a Traditional Publisher. Unless you are a fiction writer, you'll make more money publishing a book yourself. My friend and client, Bob Bly has had … [Read more...]
What is Short Run Book Printing?
In today’s world of e-books and self-publishing, writers should know a thing or two about the short run printing process prior to finishing their most recent project. Understanding a few things about processes like short run book printing, book printing in general, and other print run types can help make the process easier, more profitable, and overall, more enjoyable. … [Read more...]
What Happens Inside a Publisher, After I Sign the Contract?
Question: What happens inside the publishing house after I receive my contract and sign it? Answer: I've been asked this question many times--and unless you have personally worked inside a publishing house, it's very difficult to answer it satisfactorily. The short answer is that a lot of activity is happening inside the publishing house after your contract is signed. … [Read more...]
The Facts of Publishing Life
Every year I see a flood of emails and calls from authors and would-be publishers. 2013 is off to a rollicking start. For the first time, I got a call from a guy who said he had a manuscript written in longhand. In pencil. And it wasn't finished. And he didn't know what it was (he couldn't even tell me if it was fiction or non-). So the prize for strangest phone call is already … [Read more...]
Top Ten Signs You’re a Lazy Author
If you want to be a successful author, you will be a busy one. Books do not sell themselves, and being lazy, whether it’s while writing the book or when promoting it, is going to end up with poor results. Here are some things not to do if you want to be successful as an author. When it comes to being an author, the old saying, “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing … [Read more...]