Your Story Matters
So You Want To Write A Book: Creativity and Fear
A few weeks ago, my whole body was shaking as my right index finger was poised to press SEND. The email on my laptop screen was a request for a “blurb,” aka a testimonial, for Graveyard...
Choose A Working Title
Choosing a working title is a clarifying exercise that helps you define your book idea before you’ve even written a single word of your manuscript.
Some quick dos...
Draft Your Jacket Copy
What is Jacket Copy?
Jacket copy is exactly what it sounds like—it’s the copy you find on the inside flaps of jacket of a hardback book. On a...
Nail Your Elevator Pitch
The Elevator Pitch is an important step in building the foundation for your nonfiction book. Your Elevator pitch—or your logline (what they call it in the movie biz) is the 1-2...
Why It Makes Sense to Plan Your Book First
There's value in building your book’s foundation first, even if your preferred style is to just “get the words out on the page.” Planning doesn't have to squelch...
From Idea to Publication: Key Decision Points Along the Way
Sometimes the book-writing journey can feel like a long winding road.
While every journey is different, there are common steps and common decision points in every journey:
Every book...
5 Steps to Building Your Author Platform
Author Platform is a scary and mysterious term for many writers. Let’s unpack it.
Michael Hyatt, author of Platform, says platform "is the stage you use to connect with readers. It’s...
Let's Talk Money!
The universe is divided into two kinds of writers
#1: Writers who don’t care about making money with their books.
#2: And writers who do care.
The writers who don’t...
Newsflash: People Are Still Reading Books!
Great news for authors! People are still reading books!
Here’s the big picture based on data from 2019:
- Printed books continue to dominate the industry
- Audiobooks are the...
So You Want to Write a Book? Join the Club!
An astonishing number of Americans say they want to write a book someday. The most often quoted statistic comes from writer Joseph Epstein who said that “81 percent of Americans feel...
