Readers Crave Stories with a Twist: Tips for Writing Great Plot Twists

When it comes to stories, everyone LOVES a good twist. Whether this is in a movie, short story, or a novel audiences LOVE to be fooled. Twists and misdirection can not only cultivate passionate fans, but they’re crucial elements that keep any story from the dreaded label…”formulaic.” Who wants to spend precious time with a …

Continue reading

Targeting Readers: Audiences Have Evolved & So Should Marketing

How many times have we been told we should be targeting our readers, audience, and customers? Am I the only one disturbed by this advice? Targeting seems like it should involve a Predator Drone…or at least a trebuchet. For the record, I imagine many authors would view sales (and targeting) with far more enthusiasm if …

Continue reading

Author Newsletters: The Good, the Bad & the PLEASE JUST STOP!

Today we’re tackling author newsletters. Do we need one? Do they sell books? Does a human sacrifice help? Oops. Last time I posted at length about sales, namely what it is, what it isn’t, and why we shouldn’t be afraid of it. Science proves that, the better writers are at sales, the more books they sell. Sort …

Continue reading

The Evolution & Devolution of Sales: Why Your Books Aren’t Selling

Sales can be one of the most terrifying words in the English language. If one happens to be a creative professional, let’s just multiply that fear level by ten…or a thousand. In fact, many writers long to sign with legacy publishers for the sole reason they believe a major publisher will tend to all that …

Continue reading

Learning to FEEL: Put Down the iPhone & Embrace the iFeel

Last time, we talked about Impostor Syndrome, how many of us struggle with feeling like a fraud. This often dovetails into a nasty cycle of over-achieving as a coping mechanism to shield us from feelings, failure, pain, etc. But, like many coping mechanisms, they can be great for the short-term but a living hell if …

Continue reading