Last week I opened a can of worms, to use a cliché—and one should never use clichés, because they’re old hat. I asked some of my favorite authors (and clients, as it happens) whether they motivate themselves as writers with “carrots” (i.e., some kind of reward) or “sticks” (an external discipline of some kind). The responses were so many and varied—and enlightening—that I decided to follow that …

Today we are going to talk about promotional tours for your book and which works better, a blog tour or a podcast tour. We’ll also talk about why podcast tours are replacing blog tours and what to do about it. What is a blog tour? A blog tour is when you (or your marketing/PR person) schedule a series of blog posts about you and your book.  These posts take a few forms: Author Interview – The …

Some writers motivate themselves with a “carrot” and others with a “stick.” That is, some use rewards for motivation (i.e., “a Snickers bar if I write 3,000 words today”) and others lean more on—for lack of a better term—punishments (“No soup for you!” Okay, that’s a Seinfeld reference, but I hope you get the gist). I asked some of my favorite authors and clients what works best for them. Here’s …

How can Christian authors sell their books through mainstream channels like Amazon and, even, to mainstream readers? With the close of Lifeway, more and more Christians are switching to mainstream retailers to buy Christian books.  Joining us today to talk about this is Rob Eagar.  Rob is a marketing consultant who has coached over 600 authors. He has helped both fiction and nonfiction books …

In 1931 S. R. Ranganathan proposed the Five Laws of Library Science. The theory behind the laws was to help define the principles of any library system. Today I would like to look at the first four of these laws and see how we can apply them to you as a writer. Books Are for Use I like to ask students if a book has any ministry value if it isn’t read. Of course, it doesn’t. And a book can’t be …