Tracking and Managing the Costs of Publication

How much did you spend on your last book release? Many authors don’t know, and that’s true regardless of the author’s publishing path. In my experience, author-publishers (sometimes also called “self-published authors”) often (but not always) have a better grasp of expenditures than traditionally published authors do.  Regardless of your publishing path, you should know how much you spend on each book release, & in what category expenditures fall.  Tracking expenditures properly is the first step toward evaluating whether your expenditures are effective, and whether or not you should repeat them with subsequent books. Create and maintain an expense and expenditure spreadsheet (or notebook) for

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Creating a Sleuth Your Readers Will Love

Sherlock Holmes. Jane Marple. Jack Reacher. Three famous names with something important in common … aside from the fact that each solves crimes in mystery or thriller novels. What is this common element? Readers love them. The key to writing successful mysteries and thrillers doesn’t lie in careful plotting, clever crimes, or sneaky suspects. The heart of these stories beats in the chest of the sleuth. Everyone enjoys a puzzle, and a tightly-woven plot is important, but readers return to a mystery (or thriller) series because they want to spend more time with a favorite hero(ine). Solving the puzzle is much

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My Journey to Becoming a Writer – a Guest Post from Gina Venturini

Please welcome talented poet and author (and my friend), Gina Venturini, author of Calling Love Home (2015) and the newly-released The Color of My Heart is You. Gina grew up in Nebraska, where she studied opera. After college Gina moved to the hotbed of Minneapolis and ended up singing backup vocals for an Elvis / Neil Diamond Impersonator. Wanting more she left with a suit case and took a train to Memphis, where she connected with a Marriott circuit band that toured all over the east coast and Wisconsin. Then, she was drawn to California for personal reasons and continued to pursue music. In

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Tips for Publishing Success

Many authors believe that the key to becoming a successful author is “writing a book” or “getting lucky enough to find an agent/publisher/contract offer.” Although there are undeniably elements of luck involved in publishing–perhaps more accurately explained as “being in the right place, with the right manuscript, at the proper time”–there are also some important things authors can do to increase their chances of being on the spot when the lightning strikes. First and foremost: KNOW THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY. Publishing is an art, but it’s also a business, and savvy business people learn about the way the industry works–regardless of whether they’re

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Writing a Business Plan For Your Book: The Competitive Analysis

Today, we continue the ongoing series: How to Write a Business Plan for Your Book. (If you missed any previous installments, you can find links at the bottom of the post.) Last week we finished off the marketing section by looking at how to plan your post-release marketing (spoiler: “write another book”). This week we leave marketing behind and move to the fourth section of the business plan: the Competitive Analysis. Writing a competitive analysis requires analyzing your work in comparison to other books in the marketplace, looking for strengths and weaknesses, and brainstorming ways to enhance your strong points and minimize the reasons a buyer would bypass your

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The Voice We Must Not Listen To*

I have many voices in my head.  (Most writers do.) Most of them I created, in one form or another, and for the most part I consider them friends.  They populate my manuscripts, existing and prospective.  Their voices are known and welcome. But there is another voice in my head, and yours, and the head of every person I’ve ever known or spoken to.  Some of us hear it more loudly than others, but if you stop and think, you’ll recognize it’s there. I call it the voice I do not listen to, but that’s really a misnomer because sometimes I listen anyway. 

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The Only Statistic You Need to Worry About

I often talk with authors who want to pursue publication but worry about the sometimes-overwhelming odds involved in finding an agent and a traditional publishing house. Some of them turn to self-publishing, not because they want to self-publish, but purely because they’re overwhelmed by the odds. In the immortal words of Han Solo, “Never tell me the odds.” And don’t let them be the reason you change your publishing path. Self-publishing is a fantastic option for people who want to self-publish. People whose talents (and time) are a match for the process, and who want to become an author-publisher. Self-publishing isn’t a good decision for

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Finding Your “Writing Conscience”

Many times, authors think of critique and writing support in terms of groups–either a writer’s group with regular meetings or, in some cases, an online group, where writers share and critique one another’s work in a virtual setting. Writers’ groups are useful, and important, tools in the writer’s arsenal. Today, however, I’d like to talk about another writer’s tool: one I like to call a “writing conscience.” In the Disney film Pinocchio, Pinocchio describes Jiminy Cricket as “my conscience. He tells me what’s right and wrong.” Although the external conscience feature didn’t always work out as intended, Jiminy Cricket did his best

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How to Write a Business Plan for Your Book (Part 2: the Overview)

Today, we start our in-depth look at the sections of a “book business plan” and how to write them, with a look at the “Overview” section. If you missed last week’s overview, you can find it here. Authors should prepare a business plan for every book. The plan doesn’t have to be written (though it tends to be more valuable as a road map and a reference if it is). Business plans are helpful for authors, regardless of publishing path, and sometimes, writing the plan can help the author decide between traditional and self-publishing. Analyzing where the book fits in the marketplace, as well as

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How to Write a Business Plan for Your Book

All authors should have a business plan for every book they write, regardless of whether the author plans to self-publish or pursue traditional publication. In many cases, the business plan can even help to clarify the choice. It’s also possible to write an overarching business plan for the author’s career–and authors should do this also–but a book-by-book plan keeps you focused on each release. A “hard copy” business plan is best, but even thinking through the issues, and making a mental plan, can help the release succeed. Today, we’re taking an overview look at author business plans and how to write them. In the weeks to

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