Part of the fun of working on the 223B Baker Street series is discovering connections among disparate people. Not a direct link, more like a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” situation. So this is today’s “Six Degrees of Sherlock Holmes,” in which we find a connection between Holmes, Charles Dickens, and Rudolph Valentino. It passes […]
When you turn your writing into a business, you need productivity hacks. That’s just what happens when your fluffy dreams get smacked by the damp trout of reality. When writing is still a hobby you indulge in when you feel like it, you imagine what it would be like to be granted the freedom to […]
A solar tube is an odd thing to see in the wild. A skylight is obvious: it’s a big, glass-dome-topped hole in your roof that lets the sun shine in without letting in the rest of the great outdoors. Skylights tend to be large; several square feet or more. All that glass means a whole […]
The end of the year is traditionally the time to make New Year’s resolutions. It’s also a time when book marketers encourage authors to invest a lot more of their time in advertising and selling. While I have nothing against this, the extreme focus on marketing over creating good works can be stress-inducing and even […]
The Danielle Steel writing desk is so unique that something should copy the idea and market it to other authors. It is an inalienable need for a writer to find a comfortable space to do the work. It has to be a space that works for that person alone, no matter what anyone else feels […]
This Christmas of 2017, you might find a gift in your inbox that did not come from Santa, but from Krampus. A number of writers on the forums I visit (including one on KBoards) have reported getting an unsolicited email from NY Literary Magazine in which “Jennifer” (no last name or position) tells the recipient […]
If you’re making cloth grocery bags to sell, you need to know your grocery bag competitors. Why should a customer fork over $10 for a cloth bag? You have to be able to make a case for your superior, reusable, locally made in the U.S., cloth, lead-free bags. At the head of the pack of […]
For those of you who still read the Parade newspaper supplement, last Sunday’s edition holds a lesson for authors in the guise of a feature story about Jack Black and the upcoming “Jumanji” sequel (which, by the way, I’m looking forward to. Loved the original movie, love the actors in the remake, and the trailer […]
This is the third and final post on how Peschel Press handles selling at art shows, craft fairs, and book festivals. The series starts here then moves on to this post. Be prepared to spend the entire day. It can be exhausting, so be ready for that too, with coffee, aspirin, throat lozenges, sunscreen, snackies, […]
Once upon a time, traditionally published successful writers never needed a book production schedule. They lived easy, carefree lives. They’d spend their mornings writing, and when they had achieved their word count, devote the rest of their day living their lives: maybe do a little research, submit to an interview about their latest book, or […]