Writing and Publishing News

It’s the last day of another year. Personally, I’ve experienced 69 of these milestones. Younger people might ask, “Do they get easier? More difficult?” Not really. They are what they are and what you make them. Isn’t that true of any day of the year? Your birthday is simply another day. But if you approach [...]

Check out my article this month in Fran Silverman’s Book Promotion Newsletter. It’s called “Book Promotion Ideas That Your Publisher Didn’t Tell You About.” In fact, I wonder if publishers provide their authors with ideas and resources for promoting their books. Pay-to-publish companies offer their authors promotional help for additional fees, such as press release [...]

(Today I am demonstrating a tip sheet. Create your own and send them to appropriate magazines, newsletters and also newspapers nationwide. Editors love informative, useful filler pieces. They use them to fill small spaces left over once the meaty articles and ads are set.) 1: Study the publishing industry so you understand your options, the [...]

You probably think you know all there is about your book. You wrote it, after all. You edited it numerous times and then you worked with an editor to fine tune it. You’ve heard/read me say that you (the author) are the best one to promote your book because you care more about it than [...]

Yesterday, we talked about our emotions upon holding our completed book in our hands for the first time and the letdown that sometimes follows. Today, I’d like to discuss what comes next. That’s promotion, of course. But where does one start the process of promoting his/her brand new book? Here’s what I suggest: • Set [...]

Christmas is over. Unless you look forward all year to the after-Christmas sales, you may be feeling a bit of a letdown today. It’s the same letdown feeling you have once your book is finally completed and you’re holding it in your hands. You work for months or years researching for and writing your book. [...]

This is the 3rd in a series of articles about maintaining a column or a blog. Read the entries dated December 23 and 24. How does one actually come up with ideas for an ongoing column or blog? Here are some of my recommendations: Write About What You Know What skills do you have? What [...]

We started out this little three-day series of posts by comparing column-writing to blogging. As a columnist or a blogger you must fulfill your obligation to your audience by writing at a regular pace. Your newspaper, newsletter or magazine editor might require that you submit your column daily, weekly or monthly. I believe that you [...]

Yesterday, we talked about how blogging is like being a columnist. Today, I’d like to discuss how to become a newspaper or magazine columnist. I told you that it was once my desire to be a columnist. I became a columnist for a while and truly enjoyed it. In fact, I believe that this experience [...]

As a writer of nonfiction, I have always been interested in newspaper and magazine columns. I thought it would be cool to be a columnist like Heloise, Erma Bombeck, Abbey, Ann Landers, Dr. Gott… I wondered, what’s it like to be responsible for writing a daily or weekly column? And how in the heck do [...]