Dreams chase us as writers.
We have vision to write words that will help others and the big dream that those words will actually be published one day. But when days turn to weeks, months and years, the insecurity and …
Social Networking
A Social Media Liturgy
Recently I wrote about slowing down, resting, and not getting so caught up in the machine of platform building. (I know: it’s a conundrum. We have to do it, but there are times that wholeheartedly pursuing it fractures our hearts). …
A Social Media Platform that REALLY Sells Books: TikTok
I need to start out by apologizing. I know writers are weary of being told to build their platforms, to promote their books on social media, to, well, work magic at something most don’t particularly enjoy. I’m one of those …
A Social Media Platform that REALLY Sells Books: TikTokRead More
What is your marketing slingshot?
Marketing your book is difficult, and it’s hard to discover your unique marketing pathway.
There’s a familiar Old Testament story about David and Saul that struck me. David is ready to face the giant Goliath, so he slips on the …
Flip Flop
At a staff meeting recently, we discussed how many things have changed in publishing. I’ve been a full-time agent for fifteen years and when I think back to what I taught or espoused back then and in the years since, …
Blogging with a Focused Approach
Blogger: Rachel Kent
A Books & Such client asked a great question on Facebook recently. She wanted to know what some experienced bloggers wished they had known before starting their blogs. The majority answered that they wished they had a …
Platform–A Snarky Commentary
By Wendy Lawton
Okay, confession time: Here at Books & Such I’m known as the platform denier. The skeptic. Card-carrying member of the Book Marketing Flat Earth Society. Yes, I know that an author’s platform can be a powerful thing, …
I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Platform
by Janet Kobobel Grant
“Badges? We don’t have no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you no stinkin’ badges!” is a portion of a bandito’s dialogue from the 1948 movie, “The Treasure of Sierra Madre.” …
Promo Shock
Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Writers who published their first books in the 1980s to 1990s–even the early 2000s–tend to flip out when someone utters the word platform. They’ve never recovered from the sticker shock of seeing a list of what …
Perspective and Your Writing Career
Blogger: Mary Keeley
It was inevitable that the word author would evolve to authorpreneur as your publishing responsibilities have doubled in this industry. You can view this development as either a cross to bear or an opportunity for added control …