The August issue of Book Business had an interesting piece about the textbook industry. The article, “Combating the Higher-Ed Used Book Market,” said that of the $8 billion higher-ed textbook industry, roughly two-thirds of the dollars spent is for used books. That’s bad news for the publishers and authors, as neither makes any money when […]
Category: Writing and Publishing
Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
As writers, we write alone. Even if we compose our words with people around us—such as at a coffee shop or the kitchen table—writing is a solitary effort. Often we must isolate ourselves for progress to occur; we say “no” to social activities in order to move our work forward or meet a deadline. Our […]
Last weekend I was at the Breathe Christian Writers Conference. It was my fifth year attending and my third as a speaker. (I shared tips on getting started as a writer and how to use WordPress.) Breathe is simply the finest writers conference I’ve ever attended. And this year it was the biggest one yet […]
We wrap up this series of posts about beta readers by answering the essential question of where to find a beta reader. I’ve used the first three items and am open to the fourth while finding a beta reader on Goodreads is the most intriguing idea.
As writers, we’re encouraged to blog. Our blog should be a platform-building, audience-enhancing tool. The rub is the time we spend blogging is a time not spent on our book. Is there a way to do both at once? Can We Blog Our Book? Assume we’ve written our book. We have a publishing deal and […]
In this series on beta readers, let’s shift our focus from beta readers to ourselves. Quite simply, are we ready for beta reader feedback? Here are some underlying questions to ask ourselves before we seek beta readers: Once we honestly answer these questions and have our book in the best possible shape, then we’re ready […]
Each week I write five blog posts. Each month I write one magazine article, three newsletter articles, two more blog posts, and usually one press release. That’s a lot of writing, requiring a lot of ideas. Yet I never have writer’s block. Why is that? Because I’ve cultivated a method to discover and develop content […]
We’ve talked about the importance of beta readers and what to look for in a beta reader, now let’s consider what we should expect from beta readers. Discussing these items ahead of time will avoid frustration later. Addressing these items ahead of time is essential in order to have a positive experience with beta readers. […]
The word literally means that something actually happened. However, too often, people use literally as an intensifier, effectively meaning figuratively—quite opposite of the original meaning. Consider, “He literally turned blue.” We don’t interpret this as a man becoming Smurf-like or joining The Blue Man Group, but more likely that he was having great difficulty breathing […]
One way to improve our writing is to write every day. Another method is to receive feedback from qualified sources. A third technique is to pick one new skill to study and master each week. If we learn and then practice one new skill for seven days, it will become ingrained and begin to form […]