If you like running a publishing business, then being a genre author could make some money. I like to tell authors who self publish it’s probably not going to deliver as much money as you want, for a while. You shorten the time to significant profits if you have money to invest, plus the nerve […]

What are distribution and wholesaling anyway? If you believe you only need to write your book to publish it, you're going to be disappointed at the sales once it's in the world. D&W are different in a significant way. Distributors do more selling on your behalf. Wholesalers take orders. In the broadest sense, Amazon is […]

Authors ask me if their memoir is long enough. Actually, they usually ask if it's the right length. How long should your memoir be? There's a wide range of answers, and one of them is the right answer for you. The skill you will need from an editor of your memoir is knowing which length […]

So you've finished your book! Good news, if you've already invested in editing and purchased a pro cover. Now is the time to shoulder the wheel of marketing and distribution. Self-publishing is not real publishing until it includes self book marketing. My concise list gives you tasks to accomplish. You need to write sales copy. […]

I often see manuscripts and drafts that are relentless about using a comma whenever the word "And" or "But" starts a sentence. English teachers must have drilled this into us. Comma use right after but or and start a sentence is simply incorrect. From The Editor's Blog, these examples are incorrect usage. X But, not because […]

Ah proofreading, the finish carpentry of editing. Many authors who create their own books think they can skip it, leaving the proofreading work to a copy editor. Pro publishers do not do it this way. These are the kinds of things I never thought I'd care about while I was traffic director at Graphics Express […]

I took a deep class this month on attracting a literary agent. Offered by the Writers' League of Texas, it was provided good intelligence on getting books considered for representation. It might have been the single best $52 I’ve spent as an author and coach. For example, I learned that some agent businesses are a […]

Amazon throws its weight around. They have books to sell that are exclusive. They also sell other ebooks like everybody else does: book distribution can happen simultaneously with other retailers and reading services. Kindle books can be sold only at Amazon when authors use Kindle's KDP Select. It's an exclusive sales channel. Amazon calls it […]

I used to be an ardent fan of self publishing. I thought that the extra money you’d get out of making your own business choices, along with bigger royalties, would offset the extra work of publishing yourself. You could be rewarded with sales because no one cares as often about your book (every day) or […]

Debut authors have many choices to make, from selecting an agent if needed, to choosing self publishing versus small press or hybrid publishers. That last category can differ quite a bit between providers. One marker to watch is distribution: the channel that gets sales for a book. Many hybrid publishers—who by definition require authors to […]