I started this post in summer 2018 with the line: “I don’t feel ready to write this post, but I’m going to anyway.” But I didn’t publish it. Now at the end of 2018 I’m trying again, to see if I’ve...
Last year we visited the Charles Dickens house in London, which is when we found out there was a 2017 movie about the author’s life called The Man Who Invented Christmas. I only watched it recently – it’s available on Amazon...
We’re having a discussion in one of my Facebook groups, after someone asked how much they should pay to hire a freelance writer to do some ghostwriting for them. I suggested $500 for 50K. That’s not a lot of money, at all. Some people...
Let’s say you make cake, but you don’t want to conform to a type of cake. You create an epic masterpiece, but it’s not quite chocolate, or carrot, or red velvet… it’s a mashup of everything, with layers and structure and everything...
Almost always, if an author isn’t selling, it’s because their page isn’t converting. You need 3 things to succeed, a great blurb, cover, and enough reviews to offset skepticism. I can help you fix those things; I can also help craft your pitch or...
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...
Recently I’ve been going through an identity crisis. I know what I want to do, and what I’m good at, and what I enjoy. But increasingly I’m becoming less relevant to my audience (“Great Derek, you want to write...
This is a guest post by author Miantae Metcalf McConnell – I was so impressed she got her book featured in Oprah magazine, and I asked her to share what that process looked like. Every month O, The Oprah Magazine publishes a...
Note from Derek: I usually tell authors not to bother with in-person stuff like book signings because it’s too much work, and to focus on online stuff instead… but book signings can be FUN – and doing a signing in Barnes...
I screwed up. Months ago I agreed to be part of a multi-author box set. I usually say no to these, but I have personal relationship with Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (I even featured it in my PhD Thesis) so I submitted my...
I haven’t published a *new* book for over a year. Possibly, Amazon took the wind out of my sails when I overextended myself and failed to meet preorder deadlines (thus losing my preorder privileges for 12 months). I have gone back and fixed...
I wrote a guide to publishing children’s books earlier, and wanted to make something about marketing children’s books as well – so I’m sharing this short guide and a video I made for a friend who writes children’s...
Derek Murphy © 2021. All Rights Reserved
