Becca Syme’s book helped me know what I knew and to do it. For the last month I have studied Becca Syme’s seminal book Dear Writer, You Need to Quit. This book is now on my tight little shelf with the other essential works for writers I keep at my desk. Each chapter showed me–and in many cases confirmed for me–what I needed to quit in my writing life. This book is not about whether or not one should quit writing (though it opens the reader to that option). It is more of a list… Read Article →
Posts Tagged: business of writing
Yes! With a Slight Correction Pikes Peak Writers is an organization nearly thirty years old. Since its inception PPW has served writers through education, networking, and promotion. The organization posts a regular author promotional called Sweet Success, highlighting recent publications or events in the lives of member authors. I love PPW. It’s my author home. Well, the latest Sweet Success featured me and my quirky novella A Night to Remember, which came out in paperback last month and scored really high in several genre categories on Amazon.com. My thanks to you, my friends and readers…. Read Article →
Some writers have what it takes to design their own covers. I don’t. I don’t have the patience to get the details exactly right. I get impatient when the tools I want aren’t right there (or right where I think they should be). I’m not a cover artist. An author friend of mine designs her own covers. She designs great covers that totally work for her genre. Don’t believe me, check out Kameron Claire’s work right here. Be prepared for some great, steamy romance. You looked, right? They’re perfect covers for her genre. And she… Read Article →
Know that You Know Nothing To be a master, one must always be a student Today I finished my first read of this awesome little yellow nugget of motivational gold. Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work serves as something of a daily devotional for creatives. You can pick it up, flip to any page and garner wisdom to take on the day. I liken it to Jocko Willink’s Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual in that respect. Only, I don’t feel like shouting OO-RAH! after reading it. Or maybe I do. OO-RAH! One of the tips/lessons Austin… Read Article →
A writers conference holds layers of value. Beneath the shiny, tempting surface of workshops and query sessions lies the deeper, richer motherlode of networking. Conference veteran Bowen Gillings will lead you through how to work it so that, by Sunday lunch, key people know you and want to know you better. This interactive workshop will provide valuable, practical lessons in goal setting, socializing, and self-promotion. We’ll role play on how to push without being pushy, how to be focused while staying casual, and how to hold someone’s attention without seeming to monopolize the conversation. Learn… Read Article →
Go to any writers conference and there will be a set of workshops on the business side of writing. They’ll cover marketing and promotion, book deals and contracts. You’ll learn about newsletters and mailing lists and the infinite techniques used to build your readership. Because that’s what you want, right? You want readers. You want fans. I want readers. Every author who puts their babies out there, exposed to the world, wants them read (and reviewed, please!). Readers equal sales. They fuel the desire to produce and publish more. They keep the pressure on to… Read Article →