Good News About Reading: Here’s the Data
Check out the Reading Data While coronavirus has caused challenges from bookstore and library closings to manufacturing lags, there’s plenty of good news about books, readers and publishing. Specifically, reading books remains popular, across all ages. And, in case you were wondering, readers still prefer print books over ebooks. Krystal McKenna of Best By The Numbers reached out to me to share a new infographic which compares data on the reading habits of the 5 generations: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. Key Takeaways About Reader Demographics Let’s dig into some of the data on… Read more
Writing Deeper in Creative Flow
An interesting phenomenon came up in the Get Your Writing Done Program last week, when people found themselves writing deeper in creative flow. After we did our breathing and movement warm ups, everyone began writing. It was inspiring to witness the concentration and focus revealed on each face as people wrote. After 40 minutes of writing, I asked whether the group wanted more time. A resounding, “YES!” Four More Minutes of Flow What struck me was Laurie Hunt‘s comment afterwards: “I’m amazed at what I got done in four minutes! It’s a lesson around ‘every little bit makes a difference.’… Read more
How to Stay Focused—and WRITE!
Do you struggle with how to stay focused on your writing? You’re not alone. Just a few tweaks can help you break through the challenge and write in a state of inspired flow. Her Breakthrough in Focus On a call with a Bring Your Book to Life® participant, she shared her recent breakthrough: As a busy freelancer she had trouble making time for her writing. When she sat down to write she often became distracted by pressing business activities on her to do list. What finally freed her was turning off her phone. “I lost track of time. Two and… Read more
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing Day 4: Dr. Tiffany A. Love
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, Day 5 If you’re wondering where to find Day 4 of the series, we hope to reschedule the interview with Literary Agent Regina Brooks for later in the year. About today’s Amplify Black Voices interviewee: I met Dr. Tiffany Love serving on the faculty together of Harvard Medical School’s CME course, Career Advancement and Leadership Skills for Women in Healthcare and we also serve together on the CME course Writing, Publishing, and Social Media for Healthcare Professionals. As a hospital COO–and relatively new to her job–Dr. Love has done an extraordinary job making connections within… Read more
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, Day 3: Ali Raja, MD
For Day 3 in Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, I interview Ali Raja, MD. I was introduced to Dr. Ali Raja by Dr. Tiffany Love on Twitter. I told her that I’d realized my list of interviewees for this series was all women so far. We needed some gender diversity! She said, “How about Dr. Ali Raja? He’s very active on twitter in the #WhiteCoats4BlackLives movement/conversation.” His thought-provoking responses to my questions follow. A note about links to buy books Note: Rather link to books on Amazon, here is a link to a recent list of Black-owned bookstores that ship… Read more
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing Day 2: Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew
Welcome to Day 2 of Amplify Black Voices in Publishing! When I sent out the invitation to subscribe to the “Amplify Black Voices in Publishing” series, I was short one interviewee. When a reader of my newsletter responded, our back and forth emails led me to realize, she would be a wonderful person to interview for the series. Before this, I had not known her or known she was on my email list, nor did I know about her groundbreaking work. The author of three books, a TEDx presenter and educator. Dr Booker-Drew has deep insights into this issue of… Read more
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, Day 1: Gael-Sylvia Pullen
We start Day 1 of Amplifying Black Voices in Publishing with author, speaker, philanthropist and educator Gael-Sylvia Pullen. I had the pleasure of working with Gael-Sylvia on her wonderful book, The Good Around Us: Living and Leading from a Place of Joy, Even in the Joyless Moments. And I also made a guest appearance in one of her international classes for the nonprofit organization Girls Fly! Gael-Sylvia has been an inspiration and I’ve also been witness in a small way to some of her pain around racism. She was generous to take much time discussing the issues for this interview…. Read more
Writing for Social Change: Meet Your Readers Where They Are
I’m currently working with a woman who is writing for social change and who has built a strong activist community. She has a big vision–a horizon far beyond what her community can currently envision. She wants to encourage them to the next level of activism in her book—and to expand how most of them currently view the social change issues she writes about. How do you do that? How to get people from point A to point C, when most of them are not making the A to C connection? Can you make your reader grow beyond their current vision?… Read more
A Surprising Lesson in Book Marketing
Today, I got a surprising lesson in book marketing. It began with a LinkedIn Message from a contact I didn’t remember connecting with. He must have written a nice message for me to say yes, though! His current message irked me at first: My Ungenerous First Response The focus of this book marketing message was definitely, “I need a favor. Help me, please.” I suppose I just wasn’t feeling generous. I’d bought a lot of books lately, wanting to support both my reading habit and authors during the challenging past few months. Who was Benjamin Hardy, PhD? Hmmm. A first… Read more
How to Choose Sample Chapters for a Book Proposal
This is an updated version of my earlier post on how to choose your book proposal sample chapters. I’ve updated it to share some excellent new questions that came in from a book proposal client today. How Many Sample Chapters? If you’re interested in being published by a traditional publisher, you probably know you need a book proposal to interest literary agents and publishers in your book. That includes enclosing 1-2 sample chapters. How do you choose and how many? Many agents are happy with one chapter to start but they often request the second (or more) before you actually… Read more
How to Share Your Writing
Does a part of you yearn to share your writing? When you hear someone else share their writing by reading aloud, or a writer shares by posting an excerpt, does it both inspire you and make you break out in hives? Do you wonder what you’re missing by not sharing your writing? The Power of Sharing Your Writing We had our first “Get Your Writing Done” Program workshop today. When one participant shared some of what he wrote from one of the writing prompts, it moved me deeply, and I could see how it moved the other participants as well…. Read more
“Write From Your Magic”
I shared a post a few months ago about embodying your book, after my inner Muse had told me to, “Be your book,” and “Write from your magic.” Here are some more musings about embodying the book, a rough excerpt from the book I am writing for you! Your Book Breathes See your book as alive, as a breathing being, radiant with life. Ask it questions, preferences. Ask for support and advice from your book. Trust it. Love it. Feed it. Let your book answer this: If my book were alive, which it is, it would say ____________________________. Whether you… Read more
The Future of Publishing: How to Proceed and Succeed
It seems that every day I get questions about the future of publishing. Is there a future in nonfiction publishing, at least in the traditional model? Is it bleak or promising? What can one do to increase one’s probability of success? More specifically: “Are acquisitions boards meeting virtually and are publishers still buying books right now?” “How can I improve my chances of getting a book deal? Should I orient my health [or self-help] book concept more towards the pandemic or COVID 19 or keep it more general?” “I’m a public speaker and all my upcoming gigs are canceled…. Read more
How to Write an Award-Winning Nonfiction Book: And Congrats to Our Three Nautilus Book Award Winners!
How to Write an Award-Winning Nonfiction Book There’s the question of how to write a nonfiction book and then there’s how to write the kind of book that wins prestigious awards, gets recommended by avid fans and changes people’s lives. I’m fortunate to work with many, many authors who accomplish the latter. At “Write Your Book” (the DBA I used when I formed my business) we often celebrate a couple of Nautilus Award Winners each year, along with some Stevie Awards for business books and many other national and international awards—independent author awards, international book awards and even the Frank… Read more
A Creativity Summit for Healthcare Professionals, Healers and Anyone Looking to Reduce Burnout or Stress and Enjoy Life
It’s always exciting to hear from writers I’ve worked with in the past. This week, Hisla Bates, MD wrote to let me know about her creativity summit: Healer Heal Yourself! Reduce Burnout, Discover Your Creativity While You Heal Others. As Dr. Bates wrote me, “It is a summit that will inspire you to infuse creativity into your work and your day. Art and Creativity are healing modalities that can bring more joy and happiness to your life.” Summits are a great way for aspiring and emerging authors/writers to grow their community, develop an email list of engaged subscribers and connect… Read more
Teaching Book Writing Under Novel Conditions
Teaching Book Writing Under Novel Conditions I’ve been resting my shoulder and arm due to what I finally discovered is a rotator cuff injury. I’ve been afraid to see any doctors given the risk of being in a medical-related facility. So I put off calling my doctor for three weeks. I know, a bit crazy, but also somehow careful, right? I still hadn’t discovered Google Docs voice, so I typed the occasional email one handed and did little other work besides supporting the emerging authors in my book writing program, which has been an education in itself. Many of the… Read more
