December has been a month of speaking on finding your book’s audience and learning to speak to your book’s ideal reader to convert them into buyers. Once you’ve figured out your target audience, how do you reach them? Countless ways. Here are a few basics—4 MUST DO things on… Read More »The 4 MUST DO Things on Every Self-Published Author’s List for Success
As a rule, the more you market and promote your book, the more people will know about your book, and the more people will buy your book. In other words, the name of the game here is publicity. Pay attention here, because this part is important: I’ve worked with many authors over… Read More »12 Genius Ways to Market Your Book
If you’re an author who is planning on self-publishing your book, it is crucial that you have a marketing plan in place. Like I said last week in the blog post 12 Genius Ways to Market Your Book, the more you market your book, the more people will know about… Read More »Choosing a Marketing Company to Promote Your Book
A lot of my clients have asked about whether they should register their work with the US Copyright Office. Even if you haven’t copyrighted your manuscript yet, the moment you put anything on the paper (printed or electronically), it’s your intellectual property, and nobody can take your… Read More »Protect Yourself! How to Copyright Your Book
“Be sure to show—don’t tell—what’s going on in your story.” As a writer, you’ve probably heard these words of advice many times before (maybe even from me!). But what does it mean? What’s the difference between showing and telling? When you “tell” information, you’re informing your reader of something… Read More »3 Ways to Show, Not Tell
As a book editor, I’m constantly in tune with what’s going on in the publishing industry. And…drumroll please…BookBaby’s Self-Publishing Survey Results has some great information, some of which I’d like to pass along to you. Since Amazon released Kindle Direct Publishing in 2007, authors have more power… Read More »5 Proven Insights from the Most Successful Self-Publishing Authors
In my illustrious 9-year career as a book editor, I have come across a range of authors, some of whom have been serious about their writing career, and others who have been more laid-back and approach writing as a hobby. For the more serious authors,… Read More »How to Purchase an ISBN
When using song lyrics in your book, it’s important to do your homework. If you’re not careful about obtaining permissions where necessary, you can be sued for copyright infringement (yikes).To obtain permission on using song lyrics in your book, you must first determine who is… Read More »How to Use Song Lyrics in Your Book
Believe me when I say that being a book editor isn’t all that complex. Still, clients regularly approach me with questions, sometimes admitting they are mystified with the editing process. Let’s clear some things up! Here are 8 secrets of the book editing process. 1.… Read More »8 Secrets of the Book Editing Process
The essence of my role as a book editor is to improve authors’ manuscripts. When I take out my red pen, nothing is safe: I might make changes to your book’s big picture (such as pacing, plot and character development, story structure and loose ends), issues at… Read More »All About the Editor’s Report