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Lisa Tener’s Writing and Publishing Blog

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Find articles on your most pressing writing & publishing questions. Plus, creative support for your inner muse!

Self-Publish or Traditionally Publish?

Beware: if you don’t answer this question when you begin writing your book, you may end up doing a good deal of extra work. That’s because authors who intend to self-publish can just write their book, but those who intend to traditionally publish need to write a book proposal first, particularly for a nonfiction book….

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Get Your Book Writing & Publishing Questions Answered

Join us on Blog Talk Radio’s Positive Living Network as host Patricia Raskin asks me all about how to write  a book, getting started, organizing your book, getting published, avoiding blocks, getting inspired, what publishers and agents are looking for, and anything else you might be wondering about: Wednesday June 3 Noon Eastern Time Blog…

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Dressing for Your TV Interview? Chris Fulkerson’s 12 Top Tips

My first time on TV, no one told me not to wear busy designs with lots of color. I wore my most stunning spring suit and it danced around the screen hypnotically (and distractingly) when I appeared on ABC World News with Peter Jennings. Of course, I should have asked…or researched. Sigh. I was never…

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Ask the Writing Coach: In a Book Proposal, Do You List Unrelated Books & Articles?

Kathleen Burns Kingsbury asked how much information about previous publications to include in a book proposal. Specifically, she traditionally published a book called Weight Wisdom. Should she include information on this book in her book proposal? How about articles? She asks, “When you are writing a book proposal is it best to just list the…

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A Bestselling Author’s Take on Writing a Book Now

One of my clients recently spoke to a friend, the wife of a long-time New York Times bestselling author who brought up a new kink in the book writing business. This woman, an author in her own right, said that she knows of several authors with major publishers who lost their editor due to lay-offs…

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Write Yourself Free

Last week, I opened my mail and received this beautiful gem of a book, Maureen Daigle-Weaver’s Write Yourself Free: Conscious living and Personal Peace through the Power of the Pen. Maureen wrote her first draft in my 60 day book writing teleseminar and I got to “test” the Write Yourself Free process and experience its…

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How to Copyright a Book

Someone recently e-mailed me asking how he could copyright a book before it’s published. Technically, even in draft form, your book is copyrighted. Having their book stolen is one thing many novice writers worry about and yet it’s a rare occurrence. One of the best things you can do is not create a great deal…

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Robin Kall, host of Reading with Robin Shares How Writing Transformed Her Life

In preparation for my presentation, Express Yourself in Writing and Transform Your Life, I’ve been asking some writer friends how writing has transformed their lives. Robin Kall has kept a journal since third grade.  She says that she first thought that if she didn’t write every day she should just give up on the whole…

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How Many Sample Pages for a Proposal…and Which Chapters?

A client recently asked me to help him with a book proposal with very short chapters. Hmmm. I hadn’t worked on one of those before. Would the usual 1-2 chapters be enough? It seemed to me that agents would want more of a sample. But how much? I asked literary agent Jeanne Fredericks for guidance….

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Is Your Book a RISK? More Gems from the Harvard Course

As promised, here’s another important insight from the Harvard Medical School CME publishing course. I’ll share something Regina Brooks, from Serendipity Literary Agency shared with me. Over dinner at Stephanie’s on Newbury Street, Rusty Shelton, Regina and I discovered just how much we had in common when we all ordered the same thing on the…

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More from Harvard Course: Giving a Great Media Interview

Rusty Shelton and the publicists at Phenix & Phenix take a whole day to train new authors for their media interviews and publicity opportunities at the start of every campaign they run. At Harvard, he squeezed much of that media training know-how into an hour, focusing on how to give a great media interview. Tips included…

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Writing Your Book: From Stress to Success

Today’s post is interview style: I’m here with Laura Gwen, an inspirational speaker and an authority on universal laws, including the law of attraction.  Laura is kicking off Aspire Media’s Inspiring Speaker Series with her talk April 15: Stress is Optional: Success is a Choice, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI. Of course,…

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Bulk Book Sales: Can it Strengthen Your Book Proposal?

It was great to see several blog readers at the Harvard Medical School Publishing Course, including Connor Moore, Jeannette Samanen and Dan Peterson. For those of you who couldn’t make the course, and I know a few of you expressed regret that it didn’t work for you, I’ll be sharing a few pearls of wisdom…

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Mini-Marketing Makeover Contest

I’ve been busy going through all the exciting info gleaned from my three days at Harvard Medical School’s publishing course. I’m planning several blog posts on my private conversations with literary agents and publishers on what they’re looking for, the state of publishing, what authors can do, etc. In the meantime, here’s  a quick post…

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If you have a book in you, contact Lisa.

“My heartfelt appreciation goes to my book editor/coach, Lisa Tener, whose insights and expertise enhanced my original manuscript. Thank you, Lisa, for being my mind/body/spirit cheerleader. If you have a book in you, contact Lisa.”

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Without Lisa, my writing skills would be marginal.

“Without Lisa, my writing skills would be marginal. I truly believed in what I wanted to say and thank Lisa for teaching me how to put it into words. And, I found Lisa fun to work with.”

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Few people are both good coaches/teachers and excellent in their writing craft. Lisa is both.

“I researched 50 writing coaches and editors, chose 10 to interview and picked Lisa. Few people are both good coaches/teachers and excellent in their writing craft. Lisa is both. “Lisa is particularly valuable as she understands the marketing rigor required for non-fiction promotion. This is on top of her extraordinary writing and editing skills. “Lisa…

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Signs with Top Publisher

“When I decided to write a book, I thought you can just have a great idea and a publisher will say, “Yes.” Was I ever wrong! Lisa demystified the process and helped me understand exactly what I needed to be successful. “If you’re serious, hire an expert and that expert is Lisa. She made sure…

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Prominent DC Therapist Signs with Prometheus

When I attended the Harvard Medical School publishing course, I had an idea that the work I was doing with favorite children had the potential for a groundbreaking psychology book. I also knew that the publishing world was entirely new to me and I wanted an expert on my team. I hired Lisa Tener to…

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Good Morning: My Take on Your Chances to Publish

It’s raining and cloudy this morning. I woke up a tad tired. I remember a time I would not have called it a good morning, especially since I planned to take a walk today. Oh, yeah, I can walk in the rain. I own boots, a rain jacket with a hood, even rain pants. What…

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