Last year we visited the Charles Dickens house in London, which is when we found out there was a movie about the author’s life called The Man Who Invented Christmas. I only watched it recently – it’s available on Amazon Prime – and then I watched it again and took notes. These are tips based on
Indie publishers are slowly coming to realize the importance of an amazing book cover. Since many self-publishing authors are starting out on a very small budget however, homemade, DIY book covers are still a popular choice. But be forewarned: although book cover designs come in a wide variety, publishers consistently use reliable, time-tested...
BRILLIANT! Positively BRILLIANT. Most comprehensive outline I’ve ever seen anywhere. Thank you Derek! A few years ago I made the Plot Dot (now free on Amazon!) – my simple 8-point novel writing template, with the major dramatic twists most stories need to hit. I always wanted a more in-depth book outline and plotting cheatsheet, but...
I started this blog in 2011 and did nothing for a year except read all the books on creativity. It was research for a manifesto, but the more I read, the more fascinated I became with the subject. After another 5 years of freelancing, building digital products and working as a creative professional (my income
I started this post years ago, but the topic came up again recently at a business conference in Saigon. The speaker, John Logan of Consulting Unleashed, said something like this: Why would you want to grind or hustle? Don’t force it if it’s not working. There was a lot of confusion in the room,
If you have a good idea for a business that provides value (by making something people want, need, like or enjoy), it’s easy to get sidetracked by details that don’t matter, and waste months playing around with websites and logos (by which time, you’ve probably had a totally new and better idea!) You need to
Six years ago I wrote a personal post about the challenges of being a full-time digital nomad, “Starting over with nothing at 32.” Over the years it’s gotten more traction than I expected so I thought it was time for a reprieve. I recently turned 38 (during the winter solstice) and I still have just
Using the right fonts on your book cover helps tell the reader what genre your book fits into and elicits an emotional response. You want it to look great, but also be appropriate, fit in well with the cover design, and (probably) be just a little more interesting than a standard font. So I’ve put
We’ve been in Burg Rappottenstein for a few days and we love it. It’s an enormous 12th century fortress; it’s comfortable and we’re all getting a lot of writing done. We’ll make a video soon and will share it with the #nanowrimo community, but for now here are some pictures and an introduction to my
First, let me catch you up to speed. I’ve been doing online business for about 10 years. I get pretty good, very specific traffic (people who want to publish a book) and get about 100 optins a day with no ads or promotion. The problem is, I’ve had trouble turning that traffic into real revenue.
The early bird gets the worm (allegedly) but let’s be real: who wants worms when there’s leftover pizza in the fridge from a productive midnight session? People often tout the magic of sunrise, the calm before the daily chaos, and the stillness of an untouched day. I, too, marvel at these – usually while coming
I just spoke to Kevin T Johns about writing fiction that sells and asked him for some tips on actually finishing a book – plenty of authors never finish and need more help – he delivered with this epic post! Writing a novel, especially a first novel, is a massive and complex project. The sheer amount
