For all parents who have been through that final stage of pregnancy and the birth of a child, you know that sometimes it’s a matter of things not always going to plan. Then finally, jubilation at the arrival of that new life, and the pain and anguish of the delivery...

The Importance of Amazon Best-Seller Status. Over the weekend, I got busy with a colleague’s book and we worked out a strategy for her to rise up from number 1-gazillienth to Number 1 Best Seller status on Amazon.

Up until only a dozen or so years ago, in terms of author marketing it was OK to focus on going wide… who’s the general target market

Another reason to write reviews is that it provides you an opportunity to improve your copywriting skills. Copywriting skills you might ask? Yes! Regardless of how they are published, authors are responsible for a huge portion of their own promotion.

If you’re into various author and writing forums you’ll be aware of this looming thing tht happens every year now called NaNoWriMo…  which basically stands for National Novel Writing Month. Its a global call to action for writers to pen a novel of  50,000 words within...

“There are two kinds of people in this world… ” Well actually I think it’s more than that.  Let’s go deeper – there are two kinds of AUTHORs in this world – perfectionists, and every one else! Authors who are perfectionists by nature, are always going to struggle with...

“Aaaahhhhhh!  No, I dont’ want to do video.  I would not like it here or there… with green eggs and ham… or anywhere else… Sam i Am!”  That’s the phrase that typically runs through my head when anyone says – You have to start doing video.   I have avoided it like the...

WHO IS ON YOUR TEAM? Writing a book is not a ‘one-man’ job, and if anyone tries to tell you differently, they are wrong.  In fact, the ‘writing’ part is only a part of the process  and even that is team effort.  Now for anyone reading this so far and thinking, ‘Hold...

One of the things I keep going on about, and am often asked to explain further is the concept of having a great pre-launch team, or Beta Readers. WHO ARE THEY? Maybe friends, family, colleagues, or other writers.  Maybe perfect strangers.  But often the best people to...

One thing that I’ve learned through nearly a decade of working in the book business, is that you can never have too much help to market your work.   So I’m going to share with you some of my favorite author tools – and some of these are recently discovered....

I was asked this week to comment on the following email by the wife of a client, and so I’ve tried to simplify the response as best I can while ensuring the gist of the information is as clear as possible. You see there really is a formula for growing your database,...

I love that old saying – how do you eat an elephant… one bite at a time!  But sometimes it just feels endless doesn’t it?  I mean, the very nature of this industry – writing for a living – is one that takes time to develop.  It doesn’t matter how much you think you’ve...

Here’s Why you can’t rely on having a job anymore! This is the age of freelancers and consultants and investing in becoming one might be your only option for a healthy retirement. I have two sons. One works for a very large corporate industry and it’s hard to imagine...