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Best practices for blurbs
Advanced praise, aka blurbs, can be a key part of your publishing strategy. Blurbs offer early social proof from influential readers. Who should offer blurbs? Ideally your blurbers will be household names; i.e., known to your target reader. So, if you’re writing suspense or horror, a Stephen King blurb would be amazing. More likely,…
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🌳 How I marketed my book to become an instant bestseller 🌲
My first book, Tracking Giants, came out last Tuesday. It’s a travel memoir about looking for the biggest trees in BC. I work as an editor and publishing strategist, and here’s how I ensured my book would be a success. DEFINE SUCCESS: My book became a BC bestseller a week before on-sale, and a #1…
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Creating conditions for growth
True gardeners are nurturing yet ruthless. They nurture seedlings and sickly plants, but are also quick to prune branches or eradicate pests that threaten plants (see also: the bumper crop of tent caterpillars we’re having on the West Coast this year). For a long time I felt a pang every time I cut a flower…
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What’s the deal with preorders?
When an author has a book coming on sale, you’ll often see requests to preorder. These requests might come anywhere from 6 months to the day before on-sale. Why is it important to preorder, and not just wait until the book is on sale? This #friendlyfriday please do this first-time author a favour and preorder Tracking Giants…
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Publishing as relationship
Publishing is a relationship. It doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s. It’s not helpful to compare your relationship to your friends’ relationships or a rom-com ideal. Likewise, don’t let individual publishing plans plot your path. You don’t need to land a traditional publisher to reach your audience in the “right way.” You don’t need…
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Close and closer
One of my coaching clients came to me because he was stuck. He’d written about 100,000 words but didn’t know what he’d written and where to go next. The problem wasn’t one of minimal output or reluctance to do homework. This client needed guardrails. So we pulled way back and returned to the purpose of…
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Am I taking too long?
When writers are struggling through their proposals, outlines, and manuscripts, they often ask me, “Am I taking too long?” or “How long should this take?” I’ve learned to not give the pat response “it depends,” but it really does depend on a number of factors. Try plotting out how your book will fit into your…
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What will it feel like to finish your first draft?
In publishing, we often create work-back schedules. Based on the day we want the book to be in the world, we map out how many months we’ll need for writing, editing, designing, printing. The writer knows when their manuscript is due, and they’re writing toward that date. But what if you don’t have a set…
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Clear the path: reasons for writing
It’s easier to write your book when you identify your target reader and frame the book as a gift for them. That’s generous and all, but let’s be honest: you’re also doing it for yourself. One of my clients is writing about a trip he took over a decade ago, which he can’t get out…
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Feedback loops: Showing up as a writer informs your writing
Your writing informs your outline and vice versa. You can have a perfect plan for your writing, which makes sense on paper. This chapter follows that one, and this example will land perfectly here. You have a logical flow and, you hope, an emotional one too. But, as happens on the best road trip, the…
