I made this infographic to help authors figure out their author websites. If you like it, share it on Pinterest/Twitter/Facebook/Everywhere!

    You can do anything. There is no limit to your glorious creative potential.   However, making things that other people like and that benefit other people are much more likely to bring esteem, financial security, comfort and happiness. Most creative people passionately buy into the idea that “True Art” is never made to please others – but you …

2018 UPDATES: Amazon has been doing “purges” of reviews and a lot of authors have seen hundreds of reviews deleted. Read this to keep Amazon from deleting your reviews. Also for a while Amazon was displaying the review with the most comments on top, instead of those voted most helpful… but that didn’t seem to stick, so the rest of this …

If you’re any kind of writer, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “show don’t tell.” It basically means, don’t tell readers what happened, or why it matters, or how the characters feel about it. You need to demonstrate those things with good writing, and by letting the scene and action and characters show readers what’s happening directly, without you getting in the …

I’ve been running this blog, and several other websites, without ever focusing on earning money. That’s a mistake for two reasons. 1. It means I’m more focused on myself than on finding out what readers want and giving it to them. 2. It means I didn’t pay attention to conversion rates. Conversion rates = getting accidental blog traffic to stick …

Update – I’m almost done with my first month living in a castle for Nanowrimo. I’ll post a wrap-up soon with what I’ve learned… and I set up a giveaway to get started for next year. >>Sign up here.<<   By 2016 I’ll be a full-time author, which means I can finally do Nanowrimo properly, with zero distractions and 100% …

I can always tell when I’m speaking to a life coach. They ask a lot of questions. They are very focused on what I’m actually saying, and what’s behind what I’m saying. They are looking for negative thought patterns, unrealistic expectations, too much energy or worry being focused on the wrong projects… so that they can offer suggestions. Life coaches …

The first website I made was for my art. It was awful. But I learned. When I was doing my MA in literature, I started an editing company. I saw those websites that fixed student papers and tried to copy the style, then build traffic. I was so excited when I got my first $300 from a total stranger. But …

I just read a blog post from a self-styled “international marketing expert” that rubbed me the wrong way. It was basically a rant against helping other people for free, when she had courses for that, and they should pay her, dammit! I understand that people want to be protective of their content… but I often tell artists and authors that …

Most creativity experts today agree that creativity is not something you’re born with; it’s something you do. Anybody can be creative. This is a pleasant, inspiring, modern and democratic view – but it flies in the face of nearly 3000 years of scholarly study of creativity, psychology and human nature. In this post I’m going to share some research that …