A few years ago I wrote about how to craft a blurb that converts… but today I need to make a confession: I still suck at blurbs. Sometimes I think I get them right. Sometimes other people think my blurbs are awesome (and I’ve seen authors copy what I’m doing). But other times, competitors destroy The 3 secrets to book...
A few years ago I made this epic list of 300+ fonts to use for every genre. But the truth is, I rarely use those anymore, and some are even cringeworthy. So recently I spent a lot of time going through my collection and choosing NEW fantasy fonts I love. Keep in mind: most of The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a haunted castle tour...
Recently I got featured on a couple lists of “best self-publishing sites (The Write Life & Feedspot). I thought I’d pay it forward by making my own list of self-publishing companies. When most authors start thinking of self-publishing their book (usually after years of failed querying, or with dollar signs in their eyes from...
Last year we visited the Charles Dickens house in London, which is when we found out there was a movie about the author’s life called The Man Who Invented Christmas. I only watched it recently – it’s available on Amazon Prime – and then I watched it again and took notes. These are tips based on The 3 secrets to...
Indie publishers are slowly coming to realize the importance of an amazing book cover. Since many self-publishing authors are starting out on a very small budget however, homemade, DIY book covers are still a popular choice. But be forewarned: although book cover designs come in a wide variety, publishers consistently use reliable, time-tested...
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 & Noble (or any “real” bookstore) feels more significant, like a milestone or bucket...
Using the right fonts on your book cover helps tell the reader what genre your book fits into and elicits an emotional response. You want it to look great, but also be appropriate, fit in well with the cover design, and (probably) be just a little more interesting than a standard font. So I’ve put The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a...
What’s Pronoun and what does it matter? Today was supposed to be the day I share testimonials from students and start wrapping up my course launch – but instead it’s important to comment on what’s going on with Pronoun. If you haven’t heard of Pronoun yet, it’s an ebook distribution platform like...
“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 The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a haunted...
Recently I realized my whole process for publishing bestselling books is completely backwards. At a party in Medellin recently, a guy said “wow, you’ve hacked publishing!” I don’t like being called a hack because there’s an assumption that it means I’m putting out poor quality books to trick or fool...
This is a free mini-series I put out at the beginning of 2017. Now that my YouTube Channel has almost 500,000 3 million views, I’m going to start organizing it and producing better quality videos. If you want more, you should follow me there (I have more recent videos on book marketing of course, but The 3 secrets to book marketing...
This is an interview with indie author Chris Fox, a fantasy novelist and YouTuber who has been killing it for years and is a self-publishing legend. It’s part of an online Q&A we did on Facebook, and I’ve reposted the answers here so they can help more indie authors. There’s a lot of valuable content The 3 secrets to...
