Sweet Beech Media

01/31/2026

Snow time! Time to write! When you get that next draft finished schedule a free consult with me for next steps in your writing journey 😁

11/15/2025

Now taking new clients! My schedule has openings from December on :-) You can book in and schedule a free consult at www.sweetbeechmedia dot com.

11/11/2025

07/29/2025

Father Nathan Monk is a writer, social advocate, and former Orthodox priest living in east TN. Please consider sponsoring newbie and wannabe writers for his come and learn about writing and publishing workshop!

I’m trying to hold it together, but I’ve spent most of the morning in tears.

Last week, I announced that I’m doing my final writing workshop of the year. It’s been a while since I’ve done one, so I figured that interest would be pretty high. I had dozens of messages from folks inquiring about it. At first, it was pretty basic stuff, inquiring about details.

However, as I continued to read, most of the messages were from folks telling their reasons why they’ve wanted to write a memoir or novel. One lady shared a very powerful story of surviving harrowing experiences as a child in a cult. Someone else shared their journey of leaving their spouse after a cancer diagnosis. Yet another person wanted to write a young adult series because, “nothing like this existed for me as a kid.”

Every single one of those folks shared those stories with me before asking if they could be added to the scholarship list. With everything going on economically, so many folks are struggling, and I’ve never had so many asks for assistance in my life.

My best guess is that there are well over a hundred emails, all similar requests, and I’ve currently got about twelve people sponsored.

I’m telling you this because I’m going out on a limb here. I want every single person who wants to attend to be able to attend. I’ve set the admission lower than I ever have, but I’m hoping you can meet me halfway and help sponsor more folks than we ever have.

With everything going on, so many folks have stories they want to tell, and I think it would be a really great feeling to give as many of them as possible the chance to take that first step.

Not to mention, I’ve been having a pretty rough go at it recently, and it would be a mega serotonin boost to make a lot of other folks really happy. Let’s see what happens!

07/05/2025

Happy Fourth of July weekend! We started last weekend having a drink at the Grove Park in Ashville and made a loop back to Knoxville for Fourth of July outing in Sevierville and dinner with the kids and grand dogs :-) Slotted work with two clients into the week and finishing up with a formatting project today. This work is always a joy!

06/01/2025

A client and I were just talking about shiny new novel ideas and where they fit into a writing schedule. He’s not on deadline so is thinking about shelving his current non-fiction project to write the new shiny idea that came to him.

Many writing instructors/coaches get very opinionated about this subject. I fall in the camp of every writer has to find their process. (Newbies: to find your process, you need to write a couple of things all the way through to the end before you start experimenting with how to handle shiny new ideas. :-))

For shiny new ideas, my own writing process is to keep working on my current project while making notes on my new idea, writing down the broad strokes for a few minutes everyday until the fever has calmed and it’s stuck in my hindbrain where it will season while I put it aside and finish the current thing (and for me, get in line behind the things that come after the current thing, lol).

For my client, though, it’s a different situation. He’s had a month away from his current project while on a book tour and is seeing that maybe he wants to think on it some more and do more research before he goes back to it. It’s non-fiction. It’s a bit of a legacy project for him.

To him, I advised he get the broad strokes of the new novel idea down while he’s away from his current non-fiction project. Then when he gets back to work, really look at what he’s accomplished so far and if the drive to finish it returns or he really thinks it needs more time and research. THEN decide which way to go for the next six months.

Either way, he will have a jump on the novel project when he starts it by having locked it into his brain by getting his initial shiny new idea thoughts down while they’re fresh and exciting.

You do you and ask for support, but don’t feel like there’s only one right way to accomplish your writing goals!

05/21/2025

Spoke to a writer this week about a contract
he received. It paid a large royalty (60%)…
on net profits. They were very clear that the writer could have an accountant check their books every year. No doubt to prove they make no/little net profit once expenses (which includes salaries) are paid. Royalties should always by paid on each retail sale. The royalty percentage looks a LOT smaller but the payout per book will be guaranteed and larger, too.
60% of 0 is $0, 6% of $15.99 is $0.96 :-)

04/10/2025

Congrats to kelleygriffinauthor on her new book, Mastering the Art of Selling Your Book at Festivals! She had it in hand at the Knoxville Book Festival and was doing a masterful job of selling it along with her romantic suspense novels. Kelley far outsells every other author I know at fairs, festivals, and signings. She’s a true expert at presentation. Sweet Beech Media worked with Kelley on the formatting for this book :-) You can find it Amazon!

04/02/2025

Congrats to client Roula Papathanasiou! Her book, Change—A Gift in Disguise is sitting at Amazon #1 in Transpersonal Psychology's Top 100. And at #1 in Psychology Education and Training and that category's #1 Hot New Release. Sweet Beech Media formatted for ebook and print and helped Roula with her KDP and Draft2Digital accounts, book set-up, book description, and category choice. This is a fantastic book for anyone in the midst of a life transition, or wanting to make changes in their life. Get the e-book on pre-order now for only .99! Release is April 15 and the price goes up after that! -publishing with KDP

03/21/2025

I'm thinking about cover design today after meetings with two new clients and a current client. I do some cover work, and I have a couple of designers. It's good to be thinking cover during the drafting process, but not to get too caught up in it, with a caveat I'll get to below.

Unless self-publishing authors have an artistic bent and have spent time learning design software, it's usually best and less expensive in the long run to invest in cover design. Testing several different mock covers before finalizing the design can also be worthwhile for marketing purposes.

Cover design falls into the timeline while the final manuscript draft is being copy-edited and proof-read. Don't worry too much about cover design until then—just write! Get that manuscript done and re-written and off to the editor.

While you're waiting to hear back, do some research on who you want to help you with the cover, reach out to them for what they need, what they charge, and what their timeline is so you can tentatively schedule in. Designers work on a fairly short timeline. Decide if you will cover test. Once the final manuscript draft is off to the copy-editor, it's on to the cover design in earnest!

Now, for the caveat—you’re a writer! You may daydream and wander the predesigned cover aisles. Some of the art work is gorgeous! I know several authors who love to do this for inspiration and story ideas. If you’re the type, do it! If you fall in love with one, just keep in mind your genre and the current style for that genre. Be willing to modify later if need be.

And if you want a hand in designing your cover, but not all the accompanying work of researching for your genre (you could be writing!)—reach out to me at sweetbeechmedia dot com and we'll get it done together :-)