I’ve been writing down and pursuing goals for about five years and have seen some wonderful results, including: Running my first triathlon Losing 50 pounds Starting my own business and transitioning to fulltime self-employment Becoming someone who prays and meditates regularly The list goes on. But my list of goals achieved is, of course, not […]
Recently I sent out a survey to writers in our BookCamp community and asked them, “When it comes to the whole process of writing, building an audience, and getting published, what’s the biggest challenge, frustration, or obstacle you are struggling with?” The top response by far: building an audience. Here’s what I posted in our […]
I could simply give you a list of my favorite books on writing, but where’s the fun in that?! I thought it would be more fun to guide you to the one that is most likely to help you based on what you’re looking for. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to what is likely the first […]
Blog reader Ryan Atkins from Flat on My Back recently emailed this question about platform: “In a recent post of yours, you mentioned having at least 1,000 email subscribers before moving forward with publishing. This was surprising to me as I had assumed differently after hearing much higher numbers from query rejections last year. After […]
Writing a book proposal and landing a book deal is hard work, but it can be done. I recently sat down for a video call with writer, spiritual director, and speaker Brian Plachta about his journey from a small platform to a landing a book deal. We talked about: how Brian pushed through his fear […]
I won’t lie to you or sugarcoat things. Working for yourself can be a bear at times. Now that I’m a full-time blogger and coach, I have the pressure of generating enough revenue for my family to live on. That can be tough, especially considering how much my soon-to-be 13-year-old son eats! ? In all […]
Every once in a while a book captures a truth so well it changes everything. That book for me is The Alchemist by Brazilian-born author Paulo Coelho. Coelho wrote it in his native Portuguese, and the English version reads a little clunkily in my opinion. It’s a bit disjointed and herky-jerky. But the book still gets […]
The moment arrived. I had wanted to meet with this particular author for a long time. (I’ll keep the author anonymous to protect her privacy, but she’s well known in some circles.) The door opened, she greeted me, and I handed her two loaves of bread. “You never get a second chance to make a […]
He looks like a baby hippopotamus.” That’s what I overheard my fifth-grade teacher say when I tried out for hurdles before our one-day track-and-field competition. That I remember this comment some thirty-five years later says something about how much it stung. Fast-forward to about three weeks ago, when I’m training for my first triathlon. I’m […]
I make my living in part by helping writers craft compelling book proposals to increase their chances of landing a book deal with a traditional publisher. So it might seem strange for me to devote a blog post to a method of impressing agents and publishers that does not center on the book proposal. Book […]
