For the past few generations, we’ve been running our lives and our work according to the factory and assembly line model. This might have worked for the industrial revolution – and it might still work in factories, but how does it apply to creative and mental work? Last week, I…
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KDP Select vs. Publishing Wide: Which Distribution Strategy is Right for You?
When it comes to distributing ebooks, there’s a choice you’ll face many times during the course of your career: whether to distribute your books wide, or to join Amazon’s KDP Select. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, and you may change strategies multiple times as your needs and goals change. Here…
Organize Your Time for Success: The 80/20 Principle in Action
If you’ve ever read a business development book or listened to a business podcast (yes, I know many of you haven’t – that’s why I’m here), you may have heard them refer to something called the 80/20 principle or Pareto principle. Broadly speaking, the Pareto principle tells us that in…
Traditional vs. Independent Publishing: The Basics for New Authors
One of the first and most important things you’ll have to decide for your author career is whether to pursue traditional or independent publishing. This choice will affect the development and production process of your book, as well as how you get paid. There are pros and cons to both…
When Everything Falls Apart: How to Move Forward in the Face of Change, Part 2
Last week we talked about rest and giving yourself a break. Now let’s talk about moving forward. Let Go of Perfectionism I like to describe myself as a perfectionist in recovery. That might sound like a cheeky joke but I mean it seriously – the fear of imperfection alone can…
When Everything Falls Apart: How to Move Forward in the Face of Change, Part 1
It’s going to happen sooner or later: you’re hitting your stride, finally getting the hang of your author business… and life decides not to cooperate. It might be a pandemic or natural disaster, it might be a divorce or a major illness – or in my case right now, coping…
3 ways to get more reviews
If you’ve ever watched a Twitch stream or YouTube video, you may have noticed something: At the end of every stream or video, they ask their viewers to follow or subscribe to the channel. And guess what? People do it. In the business world this is a CTA, or Call…
The ONE Thing: How to accomplish more by doing less
If you could only do ONE thing for your author business this week, what would it be? In April of 2019, my business coach Britt Seva posted a podcast episode reviewing a book. Within a week, everyone in her community was talking about it. The book was The ONE Thing…
3 Things You Need to Know About Branding
Branding is a critical piece of your author business, and it’s one of the most poorly understood elements of small business building. A successful brand will draw in the readers who will love your books, but ineffective branding won’t attract anybody – and the wrong branding will bring in the…
Exercise: Find Your Focus for 2025
The new year is fast approaching, and many of us are thinking about our goals for 2025. If you’re a creative person, you might have a list of dozens of things that you’d like to do – but in reality, you can only focus on one thing at a time…