Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
Consider all the really great books that don’t sell. Consider some of the poorly written books that do. Although this is unfair, it is also a reality. Fortuitous timing aside, these two situations point out the fact that producing and selling books is part art and part business. I’ve been in business much of my […]
Some authors start writing their book, focus on it until completion, work to publish it, and then promote it. Then they start their next book—assuming they have an idea for one. They have one book in their book pipeline. Other authors are working on so many books that it’s hard to accomplish anything. I fall […]
I’ve never met an author who likes to write book proposals, yet if we hope to sign with a traditional publisher, we need a book proposal—a really good book proposal. Aside from being tedious and time-consuming, parts of a book proposal are challenging, such as researching competitive titles, selling ourselves as the ideal person to […]
When book readers consider our book, few will bother to look to see who published it. They won’t care if a major publisher, let alone any traditional publisher, produced it. When it comes to publishers, there is little brand loyalty, let alone much brand recognition. The imprint is of no consequence. How the printed book […]
A couple of years ago, I wrote about “Six Types of Books in My Library.” In summary, this is how I view my books on my bookshelves: Running out of space and wanting to downsize, I gave away all my books in the last three categories. Some of those books will be read, many will […]
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It’s a globally accepted standard for identifying books. Your book needs an ISBN if it is to be viable: most retailers require it, and it helps people find your book. Probably the only reason not to have an ISBN is if you aren’t going to sell your book […]
Last week I shared that the three parts of publishing a book we’re writing it, producing it, and marketing it. Each of these aspects has a creative element and a business element. Balance the pure artist and the pure entrepreneur in a respectable tension. The pure artist says, “Let me create without interference. I don’t […]
This blog focuses on writing and book publishing. There are three aspects of publishing a book. They are: 1. Write the Book First, we need content, not just good content, but really great content. We write the best we possibly can, and then we seek help from others to make it better: critique groups, beta […]
Things Writers Do That Irk Me Here are my editing pet peeves: I’m more than willing to overlook a few of these mistakes and be extra tolerant of new writers, but when these things occur too often, it’s often easier to just reject the submission. I hope this helps. Whew, I feel better having gotten […]
It’s Never a Sure Thing A couple of years ago I blogged about a young adult (YA) book from a published author that I really, really, really liked—and the author honored me by leaving a comment to my post. Since then we’ve shared a few online interactions, with her offering careful communication and me trying […]