One part of the writing process that always seems to trip writers up the most is writing that first draft. Editing can be sluggish too, but once you have your first draft done, any other part seems possible.

It’s that feeling of sitting in front of a blank page, knowing (or sometimes not knowing) where your characters need to go, but no idea how to get there. It’s writing meaningless scenes just to delete them. It’s saying “I’m writing a book” but making no real progress.

We’ve all been there.

In this article I’m going to give you some tips…

Publishing plans are an essential tool to a successful author journey. They are what keep the ball rolling and the books coming.

What is a publishing plan?

In short, a publishing plan is how you plan to publish your book.

Simple, right?

Unfortunately, not that simple. A lot of factors go into publishing a book. You have to decide if you’re going traditional or self publishing. If self, are you going wide or exclusive? Etc.

Writing a book is more than just writing. There’s writing, editing, betas, cover designers, professional editors, formatting, proofing, marketing, the list goes on. That’s why you create a publishing plan…

I am a firm believer that tracking your word count can greatly benefit your novel and drive it to completion.

Not only does word count tracking help you know that you’re getting closer to completing your novel, it’s also rewarding and motivational.

How?

Well, lets talk about different ways you can track your words.

Sure, you can keep glancing down at the word count feature on Word and try to remember what it said last time you looked, but how reliable is your brain at remembering how many words you really just wrote?

Two online word count trackers you could…

Whether you’re a published author or a writer just dipping your toes in the online writing world, you’re going to have profiles. These can be social medias, author websites, Amazon profiles, blog profiles, etc. No matter how many or how few, you will have to make a name for yourself on the internet. How else will people find out about your awesome writing?

This article will walk you through the things you should include in your profiles to attract the right followers.

Profile pictures

Most places where you will be sharing your name and your work will want a profile picture. Just…

Alpha readers, beta readers, critique partners, ARC readers…

What are all of these and do you need them?

Short and simple answer: yes.

These four types of early readers can help make your manuscript better and your published book sell more!

But the question now is when do you use them?

This article is going to focus on alpha readers. I have separate articles on beta readers and ARC readers.

First off, what are alpha readers?

Alpha readers are readers you find and ask to read your first (or close to first) draft of your manuscript. They do this for free and are meant to offer…

Having released three books so far, I’ve learned quite a few things about writing, editing, publishing, and marketing books.

Instead of overloading you with information, I’ll give you just three tips, or strategies, that I’ve found helpful.

Preorders and cover reveals

If you’re planning on releasing a book, two things you should consider are a cover reveal and a preorder. The first tip that I have for you is to set the same dates for these! When people see your book cover for the first time during your cover reveal, if they love it, give them something to do about it! …

Who doesn’t love Pinterest? It seems like no matter what you enjoy there’s something on Pinterest for everyone. I do the normal pins such as recipes, space saving ideas, and outfits, and I also have inspiration boards for my novels. Here’s the article about Pinterest for writers.

But did you know Pinterest can also help with your blogging?

Chances are, if you’re on my page, you know that I post writing tip articles. I promote these on Pinterest. However, whatever you blog about can find a home on the site as well. Pinterest is insanely vast. It’s more of a…

What is a reader magnet?

A reader magnet is something you have written that you offer for free to your readers in exchange for them signing up to your mailing list. This can be anywhere from a short story to a novel in length.

Why would you want a reader magnet?

Why wouldn’t you? Building your mailing list is vital to your author success, especially if the people on your list are actually interested in your writing and not just your friends doing you a favor. For me personally, when I release a new book, over half my mailing list buys a copy, or reviews an ARC for me.

Yes, you can…