Other Stuff

I’ve written before on the cult of failure; but in case you’re new here, let me lay it out: The “follow your passion” paradigm leads some entrepreneurs to success, but most artists and authors to failure. Passion may be a necessarily ingredient IF you have a strong business idea and a product. But if all you have is passion, and …

You’re writing a book. You want to make sure you do the marketing part right so people know about it, buy it and read it (so that they can rave and tell their friends about it). You know having a “Social Media Strategy” is important, so you might be thinking about setting up a special Facebook page for your book …

A lot of indie publishing gurus talk about being an Authorpreneur or Entreprenauthor – basically referring to the importance of treating your writing and publishing as a business. But something real entrepreneurs are very familiar with is the guy going through the motions of business without actually doing anything. Trying to act like a ‘real business’ and getting everything done …

I put out “Book Marketing is Dead” almost 2 months ago and haven’t thought much about it. It’s doing pretty well and earning positive reviews. Then I showed it to some indie author friends in Puerto Galera, Philippines this week and they both commented on the title: After the main title, the subtitle was all lowercase. That’s also the way …

Most people have goals. They want to write more. Produce more. Start a business. Do the chores. And if you really want to do something, and you enjoy doing it, you may not face too much of a motivation challenge. Except that the things worth doing probably involve some stuff that’s not too much fun. Like editing your book or …

A couple nights ago I met up with Hugh Howey Fan Fic writer Wes Davies over pizza and beer in Tainan, Taiwan; as indie authors we discussed marketing and pricing strategies. The best plan (I continue to affirm) is cheap or free – especially at the beginning, and especially as a lead-in to a series. Lower prices = more downloads, …

I recently had an “Aha!” moment reading Sebastian Marshall’s Ikagai. I’ve written earlier about how “chasing your passion” is bad business advice, but I still essentially cling to the idea that happiness is a worthwhile goal. We have absolute freedom, so – given the option – why not be happy? Surprisingly, there are many reasons. But the biggest one is …

It’s tough to decide what to charge for things. High prices can signify value and authority. Low prices may mean more sales but less satisfied customers. Giving stuff away for free build trusts and brand appreciation. There’s definitely a science to it all. Right now I’ve been working on a project that has a lot of value, but I’m not …

This is a guest post from Bridget at Now Novel – she’s going to get the conversation started and I’ll finish up with my own thoughts. You’ve taken the leap into actually putting words on paper and getting started on that novel you’ve always wanted to write, but how do make sure that you keep going? You need one key …

I’ve seen a lot of time travel movies over the years, but none have made me seriously consider the issue of time travel until I started watching “About Time.” I think the charm of the movie is watching the disaster unfold as socially awkward, disarmingly frank but also very creepy and strange “Tim” (Domhnall Gleeson) uses this miraculous, super hero …