UPDATE: Amazon got rid of Createspace altogether, so KDP print is your only option now. Sometimes it will flag things for issues, several times, but if you keep uploading it, the document might get approved (still buggy, as of 2019). Also, the cover generator rounds to the nearest 10th page I think, so it’s not as
Last night I searched for how to fix a boring book, because I was stuck and frustrated. I’ve been procrastinating for weeks and just couldn’t get into the flow… which is totally normal when you’re in the middle of the book and realize you don’t have enough story to get to the end. I was
I asked illustrator Jessica Warrick to help me out testing print quality between Lightning Source and Createspace for her new book, 50 Happy Things. Previously, I’ve always heard that LS has slightly better print quality, but I haven’t recommended it because it’s a pain to work with and the assumed benefits aren’t really...
I’ve been doing more research for one of my books that isn’t selling well. I used K-lytics to get the data for the teen and young adult category. http://k-lytics.com/teen-young-adult/ They list all the bestsellers of the genre, keywords, categories, etc – you could do the research yourself but I like the easy format they...
I talk a lot about writing books that sell, but I don’t always take my own advice. Out of the 5 novels I’ve published, most do pretty well with no promotion – but I’ve been having trouble keeping the rank up on one. There are reasons – mostly it’s a less popular mix of genres,
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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.
Last year I shared a castle with some writer friends for Nanowrimo and got featured in CNN. We’ve decided we like living in castles and want to do more of it. Specifically, I love how effective I can be with someone when I’m actually in the same room, and can really dig deep and focus
A few years ago I started collecting quotes and book marketing tips from publishing experts – I put them up online and divided them into topics for easy navigating, but forget to tell anyone about it. Someday I’ll organize the content into a book or course, but for now it’s all free. If any
It’s really hard to describe how to make a great author website, so I made a video critiquing 15 real-life examples. These aren’t *perfect* author websites, but they are representative of the type of websites most authors have. If you watch the whole video, you’ll learn a lot about setting up a website for authors.
“Can you really make a living as a writer?” Last year I decided to put my PhD in Literature to good use and write some novels; specifically, I wanted to see whether I could actually make a living as a writer. The short answer is YES. I made about 35K in six months publishing fiction
Last year I rented a chateau in France for Nanowrimo. We got some great press coverage and had an amazing time. All in all, I think we did pretty well. I love the idea of running writing retreats in castles, so I’m doing it again this year. Last year I built a big sales page
