7 Simple Steps to Building the Structure of Your Nonfiction Book
Imagine driving around an unknown city for a while when suddenly your phone and all its GPS abilities goes dead. You smack it a few times. You look to the heavens. You yell “C’mon!” Nada. It’s a goner. What would you do next? Many writers find themselves in this situation. Here’s the kind of question […]
9 Books That Changed Everything for Me
What are the books that have made you . . . you? Recently my friend Bob Evenhouse asked me how I got started blogging, coaching, speaking, etc. I immediately started rattling off the books that influenced me. I owe so much to these books and their authors. I thought others might be interested in these nine books (as […]
How to Get Publishers to Beg for Your Book
I’ve been reviewing book proposals for well over a decade, and I’ve noticed that for the most part proposals fall into one of two categories. Either publishers fight each other to publish your book, or they don’t give it much attention at all. That’s an oversimplification, but not as much as you might think. For […]
Answer This One Question and You Will Live a Better Story
Why do we go to movies?” he asked the audience. “Escape!” someone shouted. “An experience!” “Yes,” the speaker said, “we go for those reasons, but we also go for clarity.” I’m here in Chicago for Donald Miller’s Storyline conference as I write this, and I think Don nails it in the above exchange. We go to […]
16 Proven, Powerful Methods to Grow Your Email List
I’ve got a platform,” writers sometimes tell me. “I’m on Twitter and Facebook. I’ve got a blog.” But here’s the litmus test for whether you have a platform: If a publisher sent a pallet of books to your garage, how many of them could you move on the strength of your own connections? This question puts […]
What if the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Writing Has Nothing to Do with Your Writing?
We write who we are. Or at the very least, we write from who we are. In the same way that beautiful gardens and happy productive children don’t just happen, neither does good writing. All of these are products of an environment. How’s Your Writing Ecosystem? So what if you took an ecosystems approach to […]
Give Me 79 Seconds — And I’ll Help You Stay Motivated on Your Passion Project
Wait, what? We need to stay motivated on our passion projects? Yes! No matter how much we love what we’re doing, we get tired. Or we get distracted. Or both! In this 79-second video I share an essential tool for creatives…
Why Even New Bloggers Should Make Building a Team a Priority
[guestpost]This is a guest post by blogging expert and entrepreneur Rebecca Livermore. Rebecca is the owner of Professional Content Creation and the author of Blogger’s Quick Guide to Working with a Team.[/guestpost] If you’re fairly new to blogging, the thought of building a team may never have even crossed your mind. After all, blogging is […]
How to Get a Book Deal When You Don’t Have a Platform
When my wife read my blog post about the importance of platform and Google search ranking for writers, she replied, “It makes me sad. I wish platform/Google weren’t so paramount.” She spoke for legions of writers, I expect. “Why can’t I just write a good book?” “I’m a writer, not a marketer. Why do I have to be both?” […]
5 Ways to Impress a Book Publisher in Half a Second
I just noticed something I have been doing habitually for well over ten years. Whenever I review a book proposal, one of the first things I do is Google the author’s name. I do this because a book deal is a business partnership. When we sign an author, we’re excited about the author’s voice and […]