Year of the Book

03/12/2013

Hey bloggers, Want to step up your game?

Tomorrow is the last day to get Inward Facing Girl's ebook, BLOG WITH PURPOSE, for $9.99.

ON SALE FOR $9.99 UNTIL WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13TH! Are you interested in blogging professionally? Would you like to use your blog to promote your art, photography, or other creative work? Are you a small business owner or a marketing manager that wants to learn the best ways to integrate blogging i...

03/08/2013

A reader asks: How should I deal with writing backseat drivers?

See my response and join the conversation!

This comes from an author who has published several books with major publishers. In other words, she knows what she’s doing.

02/15/2013

Best advice I gave to an author this week: Do not wear the leather pants onstage.

01/30/2013

This one is a keeper: Blogging rules from a magazine pro.

On struggling with voice:
"You know how when you travel to another country then after a few days start thinking in that country’s language? That’s what happens to me when I am immersed in good fiction. The trick is not to steal other writer’s voices, but to let them loosen your own. Like pasta water with sticky pappardelle."

with Dinner: A Love Story

I hear from a lot of you that what you like the most about our site is that you never know what you’re going to find from one post to the next. I love getting this note — because it confirms that a) you guys are paying attention, and b) because it allows me to write inside-baseball posts like this o...

01/28/2013

Feeling like your work is being copied?

Here's a quote from my brilliant husband: "Every best practice was somebody else's innovation."

Keep innovating.

01/24/2013

Ever wonder if your site copy sounds eerily similar to your competitors?

Here's a fun (mildly painful) exercise to find out for sure.

And stay tuned for part 2, where we'll discuss what to do about your findings.

Tonight I have the honor of speaking to the ladies over at Mamacoach Circle on the subject of “Tapping into your inner author.” One of the questions they sent over before our call is this:

01/22/2013

Huge congrats to author Hiranandani, whose beautiful book THE WHOLE STORY OF HALF A GIRL was selected as a Notable Book of Jewish Content by the Sydney Taylor Award Committee.

Here's the Q&A I did with Veera a while back about her publishing journey.

So happy for you, Veera!

How it took 4 years of writing, 2 years of editing, and one big heartbreak to publish her novel

01/08/2013

Having lots of funny, inappropriate, and insightful bater in the office about this today.

I am 45 and have been living like I’m 25 since I was 15. It’s precisely why I succeeded so fast so young. Except: Now what?

01/07/2013

A client just compared me to Adderall. I'll take that!

01/04/2013

Super excited to be the guest speaker in this upcoming Virtual Class, where we'll talk about tapping into your inner author and moving past fear.

Join us on 1/24/13, 8:30pm ET.

Date: Thursday January 24, 2013, Time: 8:30pm ET, Location: Wherever you are!

01/03/2013

Google Drive is like Walmart. It's not pretty, it's not perfect, but its cheap and convenient.

11/15/2012

4 reasons you haven't landed a literary agent
(Hint: it may have nothing to do with your query)

I’ve written about this before, but the #1 reason queries landed in the trash when I was an agent was because we simply didn’t represent the type of book the author was proposing. Do you research.