Word magic.
A new reader asked for ways to build her self-publishing business quickly. She’s going on maternity leave and wants to develop an alternative to returning to her day job. She said: “I’ve published four books so far. A friend suggested I could focus my writing business and make it viable, but how? Any tips?” The greatest challenge in any business … Read more
When a novelist’s struggling, I suggest writing a couple of short stories. They clear your mind. You’ll often return to a current project with a fresh perspective. You can publish stories quickly. A story may give you the boost of confidence you need. They can ignite your self-publishing program too, especially if you’re writing in different genres—it can be hard … Read more
If you write fiction, or want to try fiction, short stories are valuable. They’re fast to write, and you can use them in many ways to get readers and make sales. For example, you might use a story to revive readers’ interest in one of your novels. Just as importantly, you might write short fiction to revive your interest. When … Read more
Concerned about nonfiction sales? A new author, who’s revising her first book, asked for tips to help her to sell. My suggestion: think about your audience. How will your book improve their lives—or entertain them? We looked at the ASK process. ASK is an acronym for: A: the angle. An opinion, a slant, a point of view. S: the story. … Read more
This year, I’ve had many chats with ghostwriters. They talk about clients expecting to pay peanuts for ghosting nonfiction and fiction books. There’s a fundamental misconception here. Please take this to heart: YOU set your rates, no one else. Look at it this way. If I want to hire someone to take a scythe my overgrown garden, kill weeds, remove … Read more