Ed C
How to Publish: Use Amazon’s Reviews for Market Research
Every book proposal requires research into your field. I’m currently researching a nonfiction book proposal on volunteers, and I have found Amazon.com extremely helpful. A few key word searches have provided a broad array of books in my field. Once I have a list of potential competitors for the market, the hard work of reviewing [...]
One Step Back
Have you ever been completely stumped by a piece of technology? I’m not talking about being held up for a minute, but rather a deep despair that reaches into your gut—a wall that separates you from any hope of successfully completing your task. You feel inadequate and incapable, wondering how this could have happened to [...]
How to Publish: Know the Writing and Publishing Industry
Writing is a business and like any other business there are seasons of plenty and seasons of famine. Of course life goes on whether the market is a boom or a bust, so there will always be writers selling their work to publishers. However, when times are slow a writer will need to do more [...]
Web Sites People! Authors Need Web Sites!
I had a nice little idea. Contact some local authors. Put together a little promotional package. Everyone wins.
I never realized how hard it would be to simply drop an author an e-mail. It’s darn near impossible.
When you have a book, you need to make it easy for people to learn about it and [...]
How to Publish: Research Your Options
Research is unfulfilling drudgery for many people. If you’re interested in writing, then you probably want to write, not search through hefty books or web sites telling you what you should and should not submit. It’s rather boring reading.
However, research doesn’t have to be a drag. Here are some simple ways you can begin [...]
Books on Amazon.com
All 3 of my theology books are now listed with Amazon.com. However, take care to note that Coffeehouse is spelled “Coffehouse” on two of the pages. Oh well, it’s not like the book’s going to be released tomorrow.
How to Publish: Counting the Cost
If you’re thinking of publishing a book, keep in mind that very few writers become rich off writing. Most writers who end up working full time either publish a series of best sellers, write for businesses, combine writing with public speaking, or combine writing with editing, marketing or some other element of the book industry. [...]
How to Publish: Build Your Portfolio
If you’re already blogging and working on a newsletter to send out, you’re also going to need a collection of published material to show potential publishers. There are a few investments you can make to speed yourself along with this.
Knowing the Magazine Market
First of all you should consult a recent version of the Writer’s [...]
How to Publish: Build Your Platform
While you’re working on building up some credentials and gathering information in order to improve your chances of publishing, you should also work on building up your platform of potential reviewers, supporters, and customers. This doesn’t mean you’ll need to establish some kind of fan club, but it does mean you need to start networking [...]
The Elusive Vermont Accent
It’s got something to do with the “a’s” and “r’s.” At least that’s what I think.
I overslept one morning, and so, unable to make my own coffee, I ran into the general store on my way into work. Next to the assortment of Green Mountain Coffee is a large round table where the [...]
Playing in the Dirt
It’s raining today, but I’m not as bummed out as usual. I can’t explain how it happened, but I’ve experienced a budding interest in plants, flowers, and, to be frank, dirt in general. I have somehow learned to love plants, growing things that are either edible or nice to look at, and enriching my soil—of [...]
How to Publish: Build Your Expertise
If you’re already committed to a particular topic for your future book and you’re reading as much as you can in your area of interest, the next step is to build your expertise.
For example, would a degree in your area of interest help? Perhaps you’re locked into a job you find dull or draining [...]
How to Publish: Knowing Your Field
If you are planning on publishing, you’ll want to narrow some of your interests to some particular areas of expertise. Perhaps it’s parenting, religion, recipes, gardening, or a particular kind of fiction. And if you’re looking to publish fiction, you’ll need to decide if you want to write high-end literary novels, say Ian McEwan or [...]
The Road to Publishing
I have added a new category simply called publishing. Within this category I’ll be listing the various steps involved in getting a book published, but more importantly, what you can do to get your work published.
While my focus will be on getting a major publisher to pick up your book, these strategies and ideas [...]
When You’re Really Done Editing
There were at least five occasions when I declared to friends and family that I was officially "done" with my book Coffeehouse Theology and the two respective study guides. On the first occasion, I had just finished my first drafts and sent them off to my development editor in the fall. I knew that a [...]
Choosing the Easier Road
Slipping all over the wet, packed, uneven snow, I rolled to a stop at the pond loop. The sticky snow had been rubbed off my skis during the descent and now I faced the prospect of either a relatively short ski to the Flatlanders trail that lead back to my car or a longer loop [...]
From Blog to Book: Finding A Friendlier Tone
The more I reread my own writing during the editing process of my book, the more I’ve noticed just how combative and preachy I can sound. In fact, the more I read blogs in general I notice that many are written with a sharper tone: preaching, ranting, provoking. That’s kind of the blog style I [...]
Balancing Projects
Writing revolves around meeting deadlines. This means that work sometimes piles up and one project in particular can demand all of your attention for a brief period of time. When a deadline for a major project looms, all lesser works are often forgotten, if perhaps worked on sparingly.
Pacing and planning are the keys here. [...]
Your Writing Spot
I have read in a number of books that it’s very important to create a space for writing that is wholly your own and free from distractions. I confess that I didn’t quite buy it at first.
I am used to writing in a variety of cafes, at the dinner table, at the small desk [...]
The Southshire Pepper-Pot Mentioned in Boston Globe
You can read up on the brief nod the Southshire Pepper-Pot received from the Boston Globe. Every little mention helps!
