A few years ago I put out a package of DIY book cover templates in Microsoft Word and revolutionized publishing with a how-to guide to designing amazing book covers in an easy to use program you’re already familiar with. But it took me a while longer to figure out how to customize your front cover
You need to share interesting, valuable content on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media sites. Pictures get liked, shared and retweeted more than any other content. But where can you find awesome pictures that are relevant to authors that you can share to gain more followers? Right here! I’m going through my book, Write...
I’ve never really gotten into Pinterest. I’ve started a few times, but I just didn’t “get it.” But today on Facebook I saw a post by John Kremer about how one of his graphics had been repinned by 1,416,972 people and brings over 7,000 people to his website every month. That’s pretty damn amazing for
If you’ve read any of my articles on book cover design, you already know I don’t agree with the standard rules most indie authors keep reciting. They say stuff like: use bright, bold colors use big, clear fonts that can be read even as a thumbnail don’t use white covers because they disappear on Amazon
A while ago I shared one of these on Twitter and recommending printing it out and putting it near the desk; somebody asked “do you have a high-res version we can print?” I’m not sure who made the original, so I had it remade… You can share these smaller ones online or click the links
I’m working with Laurie Berry Clifford to prepare for her book launch, and we’ve been discussing author websites. I think our conversation is worth sharing. I’ve tried to research this myself but I can’t seem to find a straight answer. It’s about blogging. I’m going to start a blog called Buddha Frog Life. I...
This is a short post: I hear a lot of indie authors complaining about how everybody is against them. Reviewers won’t touch their book. They can’t get into bookstores. Everywhere they try to promote their book they hear things like “we don’t work with self-publishing authors.” That can seem like prejudice. It can...
I’ve used PayPal for about a decade, and since all my businesses are online, I figure I’ve paid about $20,000 in PayPal fees. Recently I opened a new account for my wife, linked to her bank account in Taiwan. It worked fine for a little while, then Taiwan decided it couldn’t let PayPal accounts be
Looking for a book cover maker? So was I! But I’ve built some recent solutions to book cover design, scroll down to see the latest stuff! So here’s an interesting problem: self-publishing is exploding globally. People want to publish quickly and cheaply. Formatting can be automated to some extent. But getting a high quality book
This past month I’ve been thinking big and buying up online platforms related to publishing and book design. My little blog gets some traffic, and my book cover design business is doing fine – I just want to be a bigger player. A couple weeks ago I found a little blog network for indie authors
I was listening to a session of the Non-Fiction Writers Conference today and the question came up: “How do people find your website?” The answer involved using Google keywords to find out what people are searching for, and then rewrite your content to use more of those search terms. For example, if my book is
Psychologist Angela Duckworth is making news by claiming “Grit” is as important to success as background, education or IQ. The funny thing about Grit is that it’s a personality trait, and not likely to be something you just picked up along the way. Grit is something you’re born with. If you need to take a
