When I was young, I couldn’t hold a pencil “the right way.” It became a challenge every year for my new teachers, until I was 12 or so. They would try various discipline or mechanical measures (rewards, punishments, or little rubber grips that made it much more difficult and uncomfortable to hold a pencil the The 3 secrets...
So you want to be a writer and create content for a consumer niche in your field… writing blog articles with a reputable company. Great – should be easy right? I mean, you’re looking for an unpaid internship just to get your foot in the door; you’re willing to work for free for goodness sake. The 3 secrets to book...
I love occasionally reviewing movies when they talk about creative or artistic themes. Generally, they romanticize the art and increase the conflict, by repeating harmful stereotypes. People – and most wannabe authors – *love* this stuff because it feels inspiring and reinforces their preexisting convictions. But that’s why...
Recently I’ve been updating and bundling some of my book marketing resources, and I was sure I’d already posted this but can’t find it on my blog. So here it is: If you want to write an email autoresponder/”welcome series” newsletter and need a specific plan and timeline to follow, this should help. I recommend...
While I can only speak of my own experience, it’s not difficult to recognize that many famous creative people were up late “burning the midnight oil.” We can speculate this is because the peace and quiet allows them to fully drink from the solemn well of inspiration. Night is certainly more novel and less profane The 3...
Today I’m celebrating Chinese New Year’s at my inlaws, eating chicken soup and shrimp on the family farm, feeding wild birds. It’s the year of the tiger: a year for bold risks and action. So I was tickled to find this gem of an anecdote about Dostoevsky, one of my favorite authors: After he lost The 3 secrets to book...
A common question I see on Facebook or in writing groups from newbie authors is, “How much can I expect to earn publishing my book?” This is a pretty easy question to answer, but it might discourage you. Update1: in this video I talk about the #publishingpaidme hashtag on Twitter which has now received national The 3 secrets to...
“Blood came into question when strange tattoos appeared on his skin… and then there are these lips! Like nothing you’ve ever seen or felt before – until they’re pressed against yours in moonlight shadows by lovers’ fingertips eager for secrets never told.” -this sample was written by a robot…...
This summer I’m determined to double my daily wordcount and establish a writing habit. I’ll be experimenting with various productivity hacks to get more writing done, but today I took a big step forward by getting a bluetooth keyboard to pair with my iPhone and iPad. I’d already done online research and had an idea The 3...
A friend of mine just published a book on accounting for authors and my response was “I can barely make words go; I’m not ready to math.” But that’s partly why, it’s important to make your life easier, especially if you hate spreadsheets and numbers. I was actually pretty good at math in high school, The 3...
Years and years and years ago I started building an online book cover creator tool, which has never quite been finished and broke when they cancelled Flash… but I’m about to launch a revised version and am tweaking the final details. I love to solve simple problems, so I spent a day making some transparent The 3 secrets to book...
To start off, let me acknowledge I’m writing this about the first episode of season two – so some of these tips may be better for a sequel, rather than a first book in a series. It means, for one, that they can spend less time getting to know the characters and making them sympathetic. The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a...
