What does it mean when you get feedback on your writing or advice to “show don’t tell”? I get this question a lot but didn’t have a clear answer until now. It’s hard to teach without showing exactly how to do it with writing examples… but I actually came up with three great tricks recently The 3 secrets to...
For years authors have been hoping for something that makes book formatting easier. Vellum is a great solution for Mac users but there’s never been anything comparable to it for PC users, who have to rely on buggy formatting with MS Word, a steeper learning curve with InDesign, or some functional but limited online book The 3 secrets...
Twists make readers react. Sometimes, a great plot twist makes your jaw hit the floor, or make you want to turn back to page one and start the book all over again, this time with a whole new perspective. Learning how to write twists will help you entertain your readers and sell your stories, especially The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a...
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...
When I decided I wanted to be a writer, I got my hands on everything I could about plotting, prose, story and character development and the art of creative writing. Here’s what I learned: the majority of books from famous writers are self-reflecting memoirs with a handful of good life lessons. Inspirational, but not useful. Although...
A couple summers ago I decided to make a video series for teens who wanted to write novels. It was a free program and we had over a thousand students. But I realized, actually, it’s probably my best summary of all my writing advice and ideas, because I *tried* to keep things simple and organized. The 3 secrets to book marketing...
You’d think writing a book about your life would be easy. You’re just sharing the stories of your personal experiences, after all. This isn’t an epic fantasy novel where you’re inventing whole new worlds to write about. Writing a memoir is just about remembering what happened, and then writing it down. Easy, right? Wrong. As The 3 secrets to...
This is a long article on author marketing, but if you just want a quick PR boost or author marketing service, scroll to the bottom and click “Launch My Book!”…A common question I get in my private facebook group goes like this: “my book is published but I have zero sales and no visibility, and I The 3 secrets to book...
Two things: First, I’m involved in an anthology called “write and grow rich.” I accepted because: A) I wanted to practice a story-based approach to sharing knowledge, so I shared a story I’ve never told before and focused on making it gripping. B) Think and Grow Rich is hugely influential, but few people appreciate the...
I’m editing a non-fiction book today and making notes on what went wrong. Unfortunately, some of the things missing are things I also don’t do in my own non-fiction books, so here’s a short list. #1 – Make it a community effort The easy way to publish a bestseller is to include stories by other The 3 secrets to book...
This week I’m launching my new program, Guerrilla Publishing – which I’ve built over the last year while travelling full-time. I made a free “Bookselling Bootcamp” challenge while staying at the 5 star Regent Hotel Montenegro (I wanted to be comfortable going into Nanowrimo, and I also did a 2-week sugar...
UPDATE: Amazon got rid of Createspace altogether, so KDP print is your only option now. Sometimes it will flag things for issues, several times, but if you keep uploading it, the document might get approved (still buggy, as of 2019). Also, the cover generator rounds to the nearest 10th page I think, so it’s not as The 3 secrets to book...
