Today I got to chat with Sasha O’hara, author of the “irreverant” adult coloring books “Calm the F*ck Down” (which is #23 in the entire Amazon store) and sequel “Chill the F*ck Out.” Basically, these are books that take the stress-relieving craze of adult coloring books and make them fun by adding swear...
I talk a lot about writing to market – AKA writing books for popular genres to maximize profit – but since it seems sketchy and abhorrent to authors who consider themselves “real authors” writing “real books” I thought I’d share my process. It’s true there are a lot of other online marketers...
I wrote an article a year ago about what I see most self-publishing authors doing wrong. They’re still doing it. So I made a new post… with a big infographic. If you want to help indie authors and self-publishers succeed (and gently nudge them away from being annoying and spammy) please share – you can The 3 secrets to book...
I see a lot of indie authors begging for reviews (and feeling stupid for it). I hate begging for stuff. I hate asking friends and families for reviews, giving out ARC copies, and then knowing specifically who should be but isn’t reviewing my books. Trust me, I’ve been there. But I stopped that nonsense years The 3 secrets...
When I talk about what authors or artists need to do to sell their work and earn more money, a common response is “It’s not about the money for me. I’m in it for the joy of creating.” This is what I hear: “I don’t care if anyone likes my work.” A lot of creative The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a...
Most authors (and lots of small business owners) spam. They kind of know they shouldn’t, but they do it anyway because they’re desperate for sales, and they might convince themselves that they’re NOT spamming, so here’s a short guide. If someone asks for your opinion or advice, or they put out a general call for The 3...
This week a bunch of projects came together quickly, including this one, which I started last November. I had the story, courtesy of Suzanne Gochenouer and the art is by Donovan Scherer It took a few hours to format, then design the book covers, and then upload to Amazon. 24 hours later it’s published. I really think this The 3 secrets...
About a month ago I became obsessed with making some adult coloring books. The first few are nearly done (will be one Amazon in a few days), so I can start talking about them. This one is a memorial coloring book for the 2016 presidential election. I’m still thinking of putting it on The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a...
This week I wrote and published 3 adult coloring books, with several more in the works. This is one of my favorites. It’s a very different kind of adult coloring book. There are no lines. It’s more like a guided set of self-actualization exercises, which asks you to imagine and draw specific scenarios. I’m giving 5 The 3...
Now available on Amazon! (Free in the US store, or you can download a PDF below). Since I started writing fiction, I learned my design skills and art background make me really good at visualizing scenes. I even developed some mental tricks for creating powerful, resonant scenes that stick in people’s minds. I started thinking The 3...
I got a negative review today. It’s not bad; actually it’s pretty good for a negative review… because it’s complaining about how I’m choosing to publish, while admitting the writing is good and she’ll probably buy the next book. Negative reviews like that are probably better than positive reviews. People...
Yesterday I sent out an email about how I published 4 books in 3 months. I didn’t write them all in 3 months, they were all half written already and I finished them. Still, I got some skeptical comments, for example about how I skipped the editing process (oh the horror!). But I also got The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a haunted...
