How To Use Personal Story To Sell Your Mission, Ideas, Products, or Services

The story you’re afraid to tell might be the one that books your next client.

What are the steps in publishing a book?

Your manuscript is done. Your book isn’t. Here’s every step between the two.

Six weeks from now, you’re going to quit. Here’s how you’ll justify it.

It’s not a question of IF you’ll discover these loopholes, it’s a matter of WHEN.

Getting laid, getting paid, looking fab

Writing a book should serve one of three goals.

How to save $27 and lose $200k

I spent 12 hours saving $50. Here’s what it taught me about writing your book.

My therapist said Candace was a gift. I asked for Prozac.

Jealousy is there to show us which part of our lives need work.

The Real Reason You Can’t Finish Your Non-fiction Book

It’s not because of writer’s block, a busy schedule, or perfectionism.

Three Questions That Tell You If Your Book Is Actually Stuck

Here’s how you can tell the real reason you haven’t finished your book.

This fly-by-night actor who knows bupkiss

This fly-by-night actor who knows bupkiss

I once had a conversation with an actor who wanted to write a book about public speaking. I'll call her Gloria, even though that's not her name. Gloria had figured out, thanks to years of professional training and experience, how to be comfortable on stage while...

The girl in the puffy red coat

The girl in the puffy red coat

You know how, at the start of a big endeavor, you worry that you’ll never drive it to completion? That you're about to bite off more than you can chew and delude yourself in general? How embarrassing the very thought of failing to finish what you started feels?...

This is the kind of argument you want

A lot of manuscripts slide across my desk each week, which shouldn't surprise anyone seeing as I run a publishing house. After all these years in the business, I can identify why a particular book draws me in and where another immediately goes off the rails. I mean, I...

Mean literary agents

I've been having the same conversation a lot lately. It goes something like this: A nice professional has gone to the trouble of crafting a book proposal, honing a query letter, even landing a call with an agent or two, only to be told one thing. "Your book will never...

It’s not about the advance

I speak at seminars about getting non-fiction books published. I'm often asked about the average advances authors get from major publishing houses and the average time it takes to write a polished book....the kind that interests said houses. And invariably, folks...

Discrimination?

I got an email the other day in response to my post on author platforms. Anything out there on how to build a platform?  email lists, followings? I have no idea of how to get them or how to measure them. We have to be doing something for these to happen. So what...

A CRUEL SOCIOPATH OUT TO DESTROY YOUR SOUL

A CRUEL SOCIOPATH OUT TO DESTROY YOUR SOUL

If you've ever received editorial feedback before, then you know it can be "challenging". I mean, it's not easy to accept that what you've got down on the page isn't letter perfect, especially when you're pretty good at what you do. All that red ink on your document...