Every year, millions of readers turn to self-help and how-to guides seeking practical advice, personal development, and expert insights. Whether it’s mastering a new hobby, improving mental wellness, or enhancing professional skills, these books cater to a vast audience hungry for knowledge. For authors, this presents an exciting...
I’ve started this post multiple times of the years but decided to put everything together in one place, so you can get help fast. So real quick: Why choosing a keyword-rich book title is a necessary evil for self-published writers When you publish a book on Amazon or any other online ebook store marketplace, people
A common question I see on Facebook or in writing groups from newbie authors is, “How much can I expect to earn publishing my book?” This is a pretty easy question to answer, but it might discourage you. This is a long post, so let me quickly summarize some things: 1. most books don’t earn
I’ve had to push my preorder deadline multiple times; usually incurring a blanket account ban for 1 year. The first time or two, if you ask nicely, they might forgive you. But only if you can make a big fuss about it. But finally, they’ve allowed you to push your preorder back 30 days without
I don’t always post every time Amazon gets weird – because it happens a lot. Mostly, they will get their act together and fix the problem… but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes, small changes indicate big site-wide policy changes that can negatively affect indie authors. And it’s only the very big sellers, with...
This is the preface to my revised book marketing guide, download the free PDF. Book formatting is the bane of my existence. It’s tedious, and time-consuming, and there are always typos and mistakes, but it’s also a crucial part of the publishing process. That said, it’s possible to do a decent job yourself, if you learn how, and...
This is the preface to my revised book marketing guide, download the free PDF. Publish a book with recognizable value… When authors ask me about innovative ways to market their books, I usually tell them to focus on the basics: make sure their book is good, and it’s something people want to read. Make sure it’s
This is the preface to my revised book marketing guide, download the free PDF. If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you have or will soon have a book out on the market, and are exploring ways to turn it into a best-selling powerhouse that will slaughter the competition and pay for your retirement. The
Should you advertise your book? Probably not. I’ve never been a big supporter of running ads to my books because: A) It’s easy to spend lots of money without seeing results. B) I didn’t think it would work on stand-alone novels. Most of the people making serious money with ads have a completed series –
I feel like I’ve discussed this ad nauseum, but it was probably tucked into some broader concepts and it’s a HUGE issue. So I wanted to share a very relevant, crucial bit of advice that might make everything easier. What’s backstory? Backstory is usually the deeper, poignant scenes that reveal character motivations. A lot of...
As seen on Reddit, someone brought up this quote from an old Guardian article. I agree in spirit, but not practice, which is interesting enough to reflect on briefly. Here’s the quote: Those who insist that the job of the writer is simply, only, to write are deluding themselves. Editors whose advice is to get
People are sometimes confused about the phrase “writing to market”. On the one hand, it sounds like tropes and elements, that are unique to each genre. That’s half of it. Tropes should be sustained and elevated, same same but different: it’s about meeting reader expectations and requirements – this is what they wanted...
