When fellow authors have asked me for advice on how to market books, I ask one question: Have you done any events? The typical response is, yes, book signings either at Barnes & Noble or some local mom and pop shop. Nope, that won’t cut…
Although I am grateful that SFA Press, an independent university press, has published my debut novel, “The Heart to Kill”, and continues to distribute it, I quickly discovered that if I want to sell the book, I’m the one who has to get…
Today marks the start of NaNoWriMo, a month in which aspiring and established writers everywhere embark on a daily writing marathon to complete the first draft of a novel — 50,000 words — in just 30 days. My oldest daughter is…
I was honored to take part (okay I was the head cat-wrangler) for an event in Chicago this weekend that can serve as a template of sorts for other Hometown Reads cities. We had some fun, learned a lot, and made some mistakes. I post this only so…
Creating a Live Book Event Together. Authors sometimes position the writing of a book as a big, painful deal. You alone wore the heavy cloak of creativity as you crafted your manuscript word by word, dragooning the…
Whenever I get the clever idea to try something new I ask—with a nonchalant shrug—“How hard can it be?” If you ever hear me say this, please smack me, because it is always harder than I thought. Having once taken a video production class, I…
Been to the movies lately? If you’re like me, in order to secure a decent seat, I try to get there a few minutes early. But it doesn’t really matter, even if I’m running late. I never miss a thing. Why? Because I’m going to be exposed, like…
When my friend Jeff recommends a book, I usually run right out and buy it. So when he mentioned Gift-ology, I placed my Amazon order. Gift-ology, by John Ruhlin is about the art and science of using gifts to cut through the noise, increase…
Back in January, I decided to have my middle-grade fairy tale, Petrella, the Gillian Princess, which launched in November of 2016, created into an audiobook. Most publishing experts will tell you that when you’re ready to publish a book, try to…
You feel like an imposter. You hear your inner voice whispering, “What makes you think you’re a writer? What makes you think you’re any good?” “Why would someone want to read anything I write?” How do you combat these voices and be the…
