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Why is it that some self-published books sell quite well and others don’t? Marketing experts have studied this question for years, and many of them say the same thing: the professional quality of your book makes a difference, one that definitely affects sales. In other words, if you want your book to sell well, you must put together a quality product. Not only the story and the writing itself, but the package it’s wrapped in and the words used to market it. Yes, you’re going to have to spend money to make money. (Here’s advice from Hope.) I’m going through the process of self-publishing now, and I’ve also worked as an editor for the past three decades. Traditional publishers have been in this business for a much longer time than most self-published authors have. They know well the tricks of the trade, so it makes sense to follow in their footsteps. Here are five things traditional publishers do that you can too. 1)    Hire professional editors. A developmental editor is like a beta reader times ten. Don’t get me wrong, you need beta readers to help you through the first part of the revision process, but don’t stop there. Why? More

There’s a lady here in South Carolina who is a fan of my books. She’s bought and read them all. She’s attended book clubs to hear me and even sponsored one at a restaurant. She is a beautiful person, and she not long ago suddenly lost her husband. After a length of time, she started coming back to life and sent me a sweet message, asking how she could start writing. She was re-analyzing her life, and she felt a certain creative spirit rearing its head in the process. While she craved to write, she wasn’t sure how or what to write. This is very common in today’s world. We yearn for a creative outlet. Some of us use our hands and paint, create jewelry, sew, or build. Others prefer storytelling. Why not, since storytelling is an ancient human desire? I asked if she meant creative fiction, commercial nonfiction, or something else entirely. She wanted to blog, she thought. If you desire to release creativity through the energy of writing, I strongly suggest you find a platform like Medium.com. Not only can you find any sort of writing you wish to read (and maybe emulate), but you can find peers. You can read More

Prove to me in 650 words that you are a memorable human being, worthy of acceptance. That’s pretty much the prompt students face when attempting the Personal Statement on college applications. It’s also the Everest I help them climb with Success Story, my business I built this past year. For students, this high-stakes writing task is so stressful and complex, many require support. Now every day I get to blend the art of writing with the art of coaching. Here’s my business success story. I’ve always loved being a team player. With 30 years in schools and nonprofits, I thought I’d collaborate forever while writing young adult literature. But right as the world was waking up to a virus, I woke up to a realization it was time to go solo. As everyone retreated home, I took a leap of faith. I left my job and expanded occasional tutoring into an LLC. All my prior work as teacher, curriculum designer, and author led to creating this business. First I wrote several drafts of my mission. “Authentic” and “storytelling” are two key aspects of my brand that made it through revisions. I knew I wanted students to tell compelling, honest tales and More

Recently read an incredible piece on balancing work and life. We all know about it, and we all realize balance is necessary for a happy life. But I don’t think anyone really understands what that means. How much leisure do you need compared to work hours, and what defines work? What defines leisure? Work is effort poured into tasks. We can be pleased with work when we feel we are functioning well in the role, realizing our potential. We love feeling satisfied and proud of completing a difficult task. Happiness, often associated with leisure, is a matter of finding a positive place, void of sadness and anger. We are healthier when we are happy, and we see leisure as an avenue to that happiness. However, too much of one is not good. We crave being productive, making too much leisure a bad thing. But we crave being happy, which we interpret as taking time off from work, and we see too much work as a physical detriment. Some people adjust by choosing leisure activities that require a lot of mental and physical investment (i.e., tasks), like mountain hiking, intense cross-fitness, or even writing books. In other words, their leisure has to More

Crave a change-of-pace that pays you and helps your fellow authors produce high-quality narratives? As a member of a marginalized community, consider sensitivity reading for that marginalization. A sensitivity reader “reviews unpublished manuscripts to spot cultural inaccuracy, representation issues, bias, stereotypes, or problematic language.” (Reedsy) The ranks of sensitivity readers include beta readers, writers, and editors, and their clients may be authors or publishers. Several professional sensitivity readers recently offered us some advice via electronic interview. Crystal Shelley of Rabbit with a Red Pen Editorial Services helps authors depict Chinese culture and Asian American experiences. Effective sensitivity reading goes beyond your cultural view of the book. “It can require much more in-depth work and reflection. We must know the limitations of what perspectives we can offer, as well as what we are or are not willing to read.” Jenna Fischtrom Beacom assists with portrayal of deaf characters and culture. “It can be hard to be as honest as necessary, but my job is to give writers and editors the information they need to make their representation as authentic as possible.” Importance of Sensitivity Reading The sensitivity reader’s help can be as simple as ensuring non-English words are used correctly, as Crystal has done, to more complicated issues. “Deaf characters More

I’m not a big audiobook listener. As a fast reader, I can race through print so much faster. However, with a few credits on Audible, I decided to give Stephen King’s On Writing a reread, so to speak. I’d forgotten how good that book was. King gives you permission to be a writer without instilling false hope or the make-believe fantasy that you will be a million-book seller. What he teaches instead is to love the effort, energy, and creativity of writing without the constant nagging of how to publish and make a buck. Because without wanting to create the art first and foremost, and be legitimate in its purity, it won’t get far. He teaches you how to prioritize how you become a writer. We should write daily, he says (hah, I’ve said that since I first put pen to paper). Consider 1,000 words a day (my current habit). We should learn grammar. We should read, and read a lot. We should not write unless we attempt to be well-read. I felt like I’d come home to an old favorite teacher who I trusted to tell me what I needed to hear, giving me hope while keeping my feet grounded in More

Ebooks have radically transformed the publishing world—by taking it back in time. After World War II, as the economy boomed and wartime restrictions on paper ended, publishers discovered a hungry market for inexpensive books. The mass market paperback was born. They were available everywhere—not just in bookstores but on spinner racks in drugstores, supermarkets, even laundromats. Books of all genres and subgenres satisfied seemingly endless varieties of taste. Ebooks have produced a similar phenomenon with countless titles, specialized genres, and easy availability. They’ve also replicated one of the mainstays of the paperback boom—the ghostwriter. Most people think of ghostwriters as the writing talent behind the “autobiography” of some famous athlete or musician. People generally expect these to be ghostwritten. Few know that many novels are also written by ghostwriters. They either use a pen name given to them by the publisher, or a group of ghostwriters operates under a house name, each coming up with individual books for that name. Carolyn Keene, author of the Nancy Drew series, is a household name. Same with Franklin W. Dixon of the Hardy Boys. Neither writer existed. Both series were written by various authors of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Tabor Evans, of the successful Longarm series of Westerns that More

I just finished reading an issue of The Hot Sheet, founded by writing and publishing industry guru Jane Friedman. I’m no dummy, and I like to keep up with at least some of the advances in my profession. The Hot Sheet is the most energetic, thorough, and comprehensive of any publication in the business, and I highly recommend it. The most recent issue covered Substack, Discord, BookTok, and Bookshop. Have you heard of them? Maybe not. I have heard of all four, but can only talk about, and talk lightly, two of them. Jane does a wonderful job of explaining them in layman’s terms as well as giving her personal opinion on how useful these tools can be in your efforts to be a published author. She also covered the blurring of some genre lines, like urban fantasy romance, and how that sells. How to sell to US Book Buyers of Color, and an intriguing new publishing business model called Zibby Books. And for those of you interested in textbooks, there’s a big dust-up between Pearson and Chegg. Okay. At this point, you’re either excited about these new opportunities, all this new news . . . or you are feeling overwhelmed. Or maybe More

Any writer who hasn’t yet heard of the Help a Reporter Out (HARO) platform may be missing out on important opportunities. The site connects writers with sources, and it’s used by journalists, freelancers, and book authors alike. Public relations professionals use the platform to find outlets where they can potentially gain visibility for clients by contributing insights on relevant topics. For writers, after creating a free journalist profile, you’ll be able to post requests for interviews with or quotes from sources to fit any topic. For example, if you’re writing about cybersecurity, you can post a request for experts who can respond to a list of questions or who would be interested in being interviewed for a longer story. You can also request product samples to try if you’re writing a piece, such as “10 Items Every Backpacker Should Carry with Them on a Trip.” There are a few other ways writers can use HARO, and these involve registering as a source. 1. Gain visibility by responding to requests for quotes. Being quoted in articles or books can give you a boost of name recognition as a writer. One recent request was from a journalist who asked freelancers what skills they think More

Writers love to write. Some want to tell stories. Some want to tell THEIR stories. Some want to reach out and spread their stories around the world. Some want either to make money or not write. Some write whether the stories sell or not. There are so many types of writers, with so many nuances of those types, that one can almost say no two writers are alike. “Find out who you are. And do it on purpose.” – Dolly Parton There’s writing. Then there’s writing with direction. Neither is wrong. However, there is something exciting about pointing your writing in a direction with a goal to reach whatever is on the horizon. In other words, a writer does have the option of taking charge of their writing instead of letting the writing do the driving. Having a map for your writing can be quite exciting. There is nothing so empowering as to be in charge. There is also nothing so scary as to be in charge. Decision-making is scary, and it takes research, drive, and willpower to direct that energy. That decision-making can mean defining who you are as a writer, what you write, and where you want to be More