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Selling Your Story

Queries, synopses, blurbs, and packaging tips and advice. Sample topics: writing pitches and back cover copy, book covers, writing a successful synopsis, creating reader expectations, book tours, etc.

Formatting for eBooks: Tips and Pitfalls — Guest: Angela Quarles

Graffiti scribbles on a wall with text: How Can We Avoid a Formatting Mess?

We’ve probably all heard stories about ebook formatting problems, but we can be at a loss for how to tell a good formatter from a bad one. What issues should we watch out for? What questions should we ask? Even if we traditionally publish, we might want to judge whether our publisher knows what they’re doing for ebook publishing.

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October 15, 2015

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6 Tips for Finding a Cover Artist

Paint tubes squeezed onto a palette with text: 6 Steps to Finding a Cover Artist

Back when I started thinking of self-publishing, one of the first things I researched was cover artists. In my usual over-thinking/over-analyzing way, I uber-researched the cover artist landscape to track down cover artists and design trends. And I figured some of what I learned might be helpful to others.

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October 6, 2015

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The Risks of Offering a Freebie

Sale tag with text: Should We Offer a Freebie?

A common suggestion for how to attract readers is “offer a freebie.” However, there are risks to that strategy that we should be aware of before we can make an informed decision.

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September 29, 2015

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What’s Your Author Self-Esteem?

Man staring at the ground with text: How to Improve Your Author Self-Esteem

I think it’s safe to say that we often doubt ourselves as authors. If we’re not careful, that self-doubt can affect our business decisions. Sometimes we even reject ourselves to prevent rejection from others.

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August 20, 2015

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What Makes Your Story Unique?

Neon sign of "Same Same But Different" with text: Is Your Story the "Same Same But Different"?

Ever heard “write the same but different”? Usually agents want something similar enough to other stories that they know they can sell the book but different enough to not feel like a retread. Whether we’re writing queries for traditional publishing or back-cover blurbs for self-publishing, if we can identify how our story is unique, we can better sell our story.

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August 18, 2015

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Audiobooks: Getting Started with ACX — Guest: Amy Patrick

Microphone on a counter with text: Audiobooks: Finding the Right Narrator

One way slow writers can succeed is to create more income streams for each book, such as releasing an audio version. But we might not have experience with audio publishing. Luckily, today’s post is by a narrator for Amazon’s ACX service who will tell us how to get started with ACX, especially how to audition and work with a narrator.

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July 9, 2015

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