Blog

[VIDEO] How to Make Videos to Promote Your Book

Launching a book will teach you a lot about yourself. About your capacity for great things, your ability to persevere, and your willingness to try new things. One of the new things I tried while launching The Book You Were Born to Write was starting a YouTube channel....

The #1 Key to Writing a Book That Sells

There are a thousand different reasons to write a book: You might be writing it for your heart—because you just have to. You might be writing it for your art—creative expression in action. You might be writing it for your clients—so you can hand them all your wisdom...

How to Know if You’ve Got a “Big” Book Idea

When I used to sit at editorial meetings, presenting possible books to the team, I always wanted to be able to say one thing. “This author has a big idea.” A big idea, in this environment, was gold. It’s one of the things agents and editors are always looking for,...

Do You Need a Book Doctor Or a Content Editor?

If you’ve been following my work for any amount of time, you probably understand that the question of whether you need an editor is a non-starter: You do! I do! We all do! But the question of what type of editor you need requires more thought. When it comes to taking...

Should You Pay Your Editor a Flat Fee or Hourly Rate?

If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, by now you know that editors aren’t just for the end of projects. A great editor can be your secret weapon at any stage of the writing game. Whether it’s working out what you should write about… Plotting the best...

How to Find Out If Your Book Is “Good Enough”

When I was 9 years old, Madonna released the album Like a Virgin. I had just discovered WZPL, the pop music radio station in my hometown, and I was a Madonna superfan immediately. Overlooking content that was thematically questionable for the under-10 crowd, my mom...

21 Micro-Commitments Every Aspiring Writer Should Make

Perhaps by now, you’ve discovered this truth: Writing a book is, basically, a commitment between two covers. And writers? We’re human beings like anybody else. Entirely prone to running the opposite direction when a commitment looms on the horizon. Just like...

[VIDEO] Are You Ready to Write Your Transformational Story?

I recently finished reading Tara Westover’s extraordinary memoir, Educated, about her fundamentalist, abusive upbringing in rural Idaho—and how getting an education saved her. What a gripping story, written beautifully. Just the kind of unflinching memoir I love. For...

[VIDEO] Why You Should Price Your eBook at $1.99

A couple months after my book published, I learned Hay House was putting the eBook on sale for the “low, low price” of $1.99. I was psyched. Why? Because as someone in the book biz, I know that making an eBook super cheap also makes it super easy for readers to say...

Categories