Writing and Publishing News

I meet authors occasionally who want help promoting their books. One of the first things I do is check to see what sort of presence they have on the Internet. What happens when you Google your name? How many legitimate results come up? If you are promoting a book, you and your book title should [...]

I read survey results yesterday indicating what I’ve been telling you for a while—personality sells books. Authors claim they sell more books through personal appearances than any other way. This might include the following: • Public speaking. • Workshops and presentations at appropriate conferences. • Setting up your own workshops. • Teaching adult education classes [...]

I’ve been asked to do a webinar on platform-building, so decided to talk to you this morning about the importance of building a platform in this highly competitive publishing field. Hopeful authors come whining to me from time to time, saying that they can’t get a publisher because they don’t have a platform. So what [...]

I hear from some of you from time to time and it seems that most of you are in the process of writing books. Are you also building on your platform? Do you know the steps to take toward establishing and adding to your author’s platform? Do you even know the reasons you need a [...]

This is excerpted from my book in progress, Talk Up Your Book: You’ve probably heard the word platform. It is commonly used within publishing circles to indicate an author’s following (who would buy a book by this author?), connections (who can he count on to help him reach his audience?) and way of attracting readers [...]

So you have published your SECOND book—congratulations. Since you’ve already had experience bringing a book into the marketplace, promoting this one should be a slam dunk, right? Not necessarily. If the book is different, most likely the promotional activities around it will need to be readjusted. Let’s say that your first book is a how-to [...]