This is a question I get asked quite a lot. Is it worth to invest in my book? As usual, the infuriating answer to this will be: it depends. It depends both on your situation and your publishing history. I’ll be answering this question for the situation that this is…
This needs to be said every now and then: If someone calls themselves a publisher, you DO NOT PAY them. Ever. End. Of. A publisher takes risks on your behalf. They invest in the presentation and advertising of your book. They make money from selling that book, not from selling…
As I’ve said before, once you become a self-published author, there are some who will view you as a walking wallet to be divested of as much money as possible. There are a good number of reputable sources of advertising. Some will give you spectacular results, some are decent, some…
Let’s repeat that: there are no shortcuts to writing success. You will often see people recommending that when you want to sell well, you have to copy what the bestsellers do. Yes, you do, but there is a genuine way and a misguided way to go about it. Misguided? Well……
As I prepared to go to the gym this morning, I scrolled through my marketing podcasts to see which one to listen to. It struck me that they were all one of two varieties. Type 1: How to write a novel in 5 days How to write 24 novels a…
With apologies to David Gaughran. A year or two ago, an ex-colleague of my husband’s (he works as contractor in IT, changes jobs a LOT, so there is nothing dramatic about the ex bit) mentioned that he was writing a book. The book was historical fiction and he wanted to…
A while ago, I wrote a post Why Don’t My Books Sell. It was originally written on this blog, but before I did the crash & burn to fix weird problems with this blog, I moved it to the “Self-publishing” section on my author site. That post is all (well,…
I’m going to be bold and I’m going to call myself a successful writer. No, I haven’t made a million in three months and I’m not dripping in money. But I’m consistently making more than goes out, I’m consistently increasing my readership and I’ve got the means to invest in…
If you poke around the internet, you will find posts by various wise writers exhorting you to spend x amount or proportion of your time marketing and the rest writing. Often it comes down to 80% writing and 20% marketing. I think these sorts of enforced schedules miss a really…
In conversation. GH = Grasshopper VA = Veteran Author GH: Soooooo, I hear Bookbub is all the rage, but is that site even open to us indies, because I submitted my book once, and they didn’t want it. VA: *loud belly laugh* You submitted ONCE? Mwahahahahahahaha!!! GH: But they didn’t…
