Everywhere I go speak aspiring authors–writers who have not yet managed to get published–as well as published authors complain to me about the fact that they must promote themselves and their books. They simply do not want to take on this task. Period. Usually I tell them them to wake up. Notice what century they live in. Notice the current…
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Not long ago I wrote a post about whether or not I thought nonfiction authors should use a pen name or pseudonym. Since then, several writer’s I’ve spoken with have asked me about his topic again. They are either writing nonfiction and fiction on very different topics, planning to blog books, or considering how to brand themselves. So, today I…
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Yesterday I was in Southern California teaching one of my favorite workshops: “How to Write a Short Book Fast.” As part of that class we discuss all the different ways you can become an author by writing short works rather than your magnum opus. Attendees leave with lots of ideas for tip books, booklets, short blogged books, or booked blogs…
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Most writers don’t think about the need for great head shots. In fact, if you look at their websites and social networking accounts, you’ll typically see some pretty mediocre pictures of them that have obviously been taken by an amateur photographer if you see a photo at all. This is not a great way to make a good impression on…
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Don't see the ghost? Look for the foot in the doorway. I get a lot of calls and questions from people who think they need a ghostwriter. Some of them are businessmen and women who want books to boost their businesses but who don’t consider themselves writers. Others are professional speakers, who feel more comfortable in front of a lectern…
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Most writer’s don’t like deadlines. In general, they don’t like reporting in to anyone about whether or not they have met their quota of pages or words written per day or per week and they don’t appreciate having to complete a writing project by a certain date—especially since they have a hard time ever feeling like their projects are finished….
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Now that I have introduced the concept of blogging, I’ve opened up Pandora’s overwhelm box for many writers. Why? Because most writers don’t feel they can get their “real” writing done if they also blog. Not only that, they lump blogging in with all that other social media “stuff,” like social networking, they need to do to promote themselves and…
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Discoverability. It’s the most important word for an aspiring author to know and to master. The Internet is where everyone and everything gets found today. If someone searching for you, your book or subjects related to your book can’t find you on the Internet, you will remain obscure. Unknown. That’s not what any aspiring author wants. That’s not what a…
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This week I am continuing my series of posts on writer’s overwhelm. I will publish three posts that discuss the three areas I heard writers complain about most often: feeling overwhelmed about their actual writing projects, feeling overwhelmed about the need to start blogging and feeling overwhelmed about the need to spend time on social networking. Today we start with…
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