How to find out how many copies of a book have been sold— is it really possible? We’re currently living in an era where we can track almost everything. Strap on a sleek, nifty device on your wrist, and it can monitor your vitals like blood oxygen levels, sleep patterns, calories burned, and heart rate. …
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Can you prevent writer’s block before it happens? Well, it’s possible, but it won’t be easy. With that said, here are some of the telltale signs of writer’s block that you need to look out for. We’ve all been there. You’re supposed to be working on something. A book manuscript that should have been turned …
Telltale Signs of Writer’s Block You Shouldn’t Ignore Read More »
An author media kit is a must-have for any author who wants to make it. Why? Because no book is an island. Yes, that’s a version of the popular saying that we’ve completely made up. But the thought still stands. A book without an audience is just a diary. It has to reach people, some …
Fixing passive voice can be tricky, especially if you’re a go-with-the-flow kind of writer. Sometimes, you might not even realize that you’re using the passive voice at all. It is only when you stop and take a closer look at your work that you notice that your writing is filled with lazy passive constructions. “The …
Fixing Passive Voice For Authors: Tips and Tricks for Engaging Prose Read More »
Producing a DIY audiobook is achievable if you have the right tools. As a continuation from our blog post, “How To Make An Audiobook: A Comprehensive Guide,” we’ll show you how to produce an audiobook by yourself step by step. No professional-grade audio recording equipment required. The journey won’t be easy, especially if you’re not …
DIY Audiobook Guide – How To Make An Audiobook For Cheap! Read More »
Thank heavens for PR tools. As an author, whether self-published or not, you really can’t escape doing book publicity and PR. Authors have been doing it since time immemorial (just look at how Charles Dickens did it below). But thankfully we live in a technological age and there are tools out there that make the …
You’re probably rolling your eyes at it, but yes, the concept of a “writing computer” does exist. It’s a computer that is dedicated solely to… *insert drumroll here* …writing. Anticlimactic, we know. So take a normal computer, and then strip it down to its bare minimum. No games, no entertainment, no nonsense that can distract …
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Let’s talk about book royalties. Despite the regnal-sounding name, book royalties have absolutely nothing to do with kings, queens, or the aristocracy. You can think of royalties as the lifeblood of the publisher-author relationship. It’s there to nourish both parties, helping them to thrive and enabling them to create and distribute even more books to …
“Bad Writing Advice You Should Definitely Ignore” “Top Ten Writing Tips For Newbie Authors” “20 Pieces Of Terrible Writing Advice That’ll Ruin Your Day” “20 Writing Tips That’ll Make You A Better Writer” “Epic Writing Advice From Famous Authors” You’ve seen those blog posts before. There has been a lot written about good writing advice, …
Bad Writing Advice: Are These 7 Writing Tips Terrible? Read More »
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the most heartfelt and wittiest book acknowledgement examples that we’ve come across. We’ll also learn, of course, what book acknowledgements actually are and why they’re important to both readers and authors. A book’s acknowledgement page is more than a page for thank yous and …
Book Acknowledgement Examples: Crafting An Acknowledgement That People Will Read Read More »
Book positioning is what will get you to the top of bestseller lists. Not your writing skills, not your pedigree as a businessman or author, not even the number of followers you have on your social networks. Sounds crazy, right? Does that mean writing like a caveman can make you a top-selling author on Amazon? …
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Typesetting is harder than it looks. How do you prepare text for typesetting the right way and make your typesetter not hate you? It’s hard to believe that we’re still using the term “typesetting” in the 21st century. The term evokes images of medieval monks laboriously poring over manuscripts. There, they sit with quills in …
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Asking “how to write a book faster” is the same as asking “how can I climb Mt. Everest?” We can tell you a dozen different things that may help you write quickly in the short run, like… “Minimize distractions!”, “Use an outline!”, “Start a timer!”, … and they will all be valid and sane advice. …
How To Write A Book Faster: 14-Day Challenge To Boost Your Writing Speed Read More »
Turning a blog into a book- is it possible, or is it just a mere pipe dream? So you’ve been maintaining a moderately successful online blog for some time now. It’s not much, but you get a good number of page views out of it every month. The Google AdSense revenue isn’t something to write …
What is book formatting and why should you care about it? Congratulations, champ! You’ve finished writing your book and now you’re raring to let the rest of the world read it. Hours of sweat and tears have resulted in this achievement. You should be proud because writing a book is no small feat. But, hold …
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Here’s the thing about introductory sentences: on their own, they don’t make bestsellers. Shocking, right? What about those memorable first lines from the books that we all know and love? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” –Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities “Call me Ishmael.” –Herman Melville, Moby …
Literary agents have long been described as “gatekeepers.” Like they’re the stalwart guardsmen of the publishing world, bravely keeping out those they deem unfit to enter The Realm of Published Books. While a bit true in some aspects (i.e. literary agents aren’t likely to take on that Sherlock fanfiction you wrote in high school), the …
Do you find it difficult to write introductions for stories? The answer here is likely yes, as most writers do. Because as Jane Austen would say, it is a truth universally acknowledged… …that a writer who is in the business of writing stories, must be constantly in want of creative new ideas for introductions. (Note: …
Do you know how to write a foreword for a book? Foreword-writing is more than just doing an introduction to another author’s work. It’s a literary art form in itself. Take, for example, this snippet from Francois Mauriac’s foreword for Elie Wiesel’s Night: “It is, however, another aspect of this extraordinary book which has engaged …
Why is writing procrastination so hard to overcome? It’s 12 noon. You’re on your computer browsing through random videos on YouTube. Soon, you stumble upon a lady cooking an interesting spicy shrimp pasta dish. “Wow, that looks delicious,” you say to yourself. A few hours later and you look at the clock: it’s 4 p.m. …
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A book’s ending is just as essential as its beginning. Any writing teacher or editor will tell you that your book should be able to grab people’s attention from page one. The first few pages are crucial. A good opening is the key to selling your book to readers. Do they like the characters they …
Google the question “How many chapters should a book have?” and you’re sure to get a lot of wildly different answers. Some say five to 20 chapters is a good range to aim for. Others say that the ballpark should strictly fall between 10 and 15. Then there are those who say that going past …
