Last week we talked about how to maximize the value of a critique, with the goal of carefully considering each person’s opinion. This, however, does not apply to critics and reviews. Critics usually do not have the author’s best interest in mind, but instead their own. They write to call attention to themselves, their writing, […]
We’ve been talking about making your website the center of your book-selling, platform-building tool and not to depend on social media, which could change at any moment and thereby destroy your efforts. That doesn’t mean social media isn’t important, because it is. The point is not to make social media the star but instead, a […]
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The Ideal Follow-up Strategy
Strive to Help Each Prospect By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Once I researched some software that promised to streamline my publishing business and integrate operations, as well as provide me with new tools. Given all this, I suspected it would be pricey. But why not dream a little? It wouldn’t hurt to get prices. I […]
When I speak at writers’ conferences, I sometimes offer a free critique to the people who attend my sessions. It’s an offer I don’t make casually and one I take most seriously. Unlike a critique group, where a piece is read once and members share their initial thoughts, I spend an hour or more considering […]
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Capture Email Addresses
A key to using your website as a book-selling, platform-building tool is to capture email addresses. You will use these email addresses to regularly communicate with your followers, such as through a monthly newsletter. Keep them up-to-date on your writing and share interesting or helpful content. Then, when your book is ready, let them know. […]
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Editing is Writing, Too
Since the new year, I’ve written early in the morning, every day, usually for an hour or two. Aside from my blog posts (which I write on the weekends) and work articles (which I write during the day), my total writing output for the year stands at far less than 1,000 words. What have I […]
In using your website as the foundation of your book-selling, platform-building initiative, there are several key points to follow. The first three are to make it mobile responsive, remove clutter, and delete slow plugins. That is, to pursue a minimalist design; less is more. Here are three more website tips: That’s it for now. Next […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Although there are exceptions, most TAS owners want to grow their business. (Even those who want to keep the operation at its present size need to add new accounts to make up for cancellations.) To grow your TAS, there are but two ways: through sales and marketing or through acquisition. […]
To approach an agent or publisher with our book, we start with a query letter and are ready to follow it with a proposal. For me, writing my first proposal was harder than writing the book. Seriously. To learn about creating proposals, I read blog posts, listened to podcasts, attended webinars, went to lectures, and […]
In my post The First Step in Building Your Platform I laid out a number of recommendations for a website, as the foundation for a book-promoting platform. The first three were to make our sites responsive to mobile devices, remove the clutter, and delete slow plugins. In short, embrace the concept that less is more. […]