If you’re an author, you’ve probably heard that you should consider having a blog. Some authors swear by them. Others swear them off as a distraction and waste of time. But the marketing value of blogs is undeniable, and they can be effective promotional tools for both nonfiction and fiction authors. In a future post we’ll take … Read more
A commercial-writing coaching client of mine recently sent me this missive about the outcome of a quote she’d given a prospect for a freelance copywriting project. I quoted, then called/left a voicemail, then emailed (waiting a few days to a week between each). The company never wrote me back. It’s frustrating because it’s so rude … Read more
Getting potential readers to visit your author website isn’t enough. You need to convince them to stick around long enough to get a feel for you and your books, and hopefully convince them that they want more. Yet many author websites follow a very boring template. Let’s look at five ways your author website might … Read more
So, a few days ago, I had a morning self-publishing coaching call with a client, after which I was thinking of heading over to the pool at the gym to do my laps. Now, I’m a pretty disciplined guy when it comes to exercise, but I’m also human, so, if I start getting busy, and … Read more
Got this great guest post from writer, author and coach Daphne Gray-Grant, with an intriguing take on “To-Do” lists. I must confess, I never looked at it this way, but, when you stop to think about it, it makes all the sense in the world: if you don’t tackle the things that are important, but … Read more
I ran this piece below as a feature this month in the March edition of The Well-Fed E-PUB. But I wanted to also post it here, so I could get feedback from all of you (and partly because I’m on an extended trip away, and want to make my life easier…;) Would love to hear … Read more
There is a common misconception out there about author platforms. Many fiction authors seem to think that author platforms don’t apply to them. There is this notion that platforms are only relevant to nonfiction authors. But that’s far from the truth. While the fiction author’s platform might be different than their nonfiction counterpart’s, an author … Read more
I hear it all the time. Authors complain that they’re fed up with book promotion. They want to spend their time writing and not marketing their books. In many cases you can cut down on marketing time significantly. All you have to do is stop making some common book marketing mistakes, doing things to help … Read more
Have you considered taking part in a virtual book tour to promote your book or e-book? Have you put it off because you’re worried a virtual publicity tour might take too much time? It’s true. There are a lot of ways these promotional events can waste time. But the biggest waste of time is to … Read more
One of the things I love about this field of ours is that there are few backgrounds one can’t leverage into a freelance commercial writing career. Over the years, I’ve crossed paths with commercial writers who started out as doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, engineers, bankers, software salesman, PR people, undertakers, farmers, accountants, scientists, and many … Read more