Create If Writing

It's time for a new season in my creative journey. Which means a pause on the podcast. Find out why and what's next!

I've covered a lot recently on author platform this year, but I almost never talk about craft. It's time! If I wanted to rename this post, instead of How to Write a Bestseller it could be called Write Good Books to Sell More Books or Sell More Books with Your Craft. At least, a little. I literally have a master's degree in fiction, but craft isn't my favorite thing to teach. Mostly because it's subjective. I do sometimes work with authors one on one regarding craft, but I find the focus on selling easier for ME. WHY? Because authors are emotionally invested in their craft. So, discussing this is hard. We either think our books are amazing or terrible, and we have a lot of feelings on the subject. People don't always respond well when they ask why their books aren't selling and the answer is: your writing. OUCH! I know it hurts. I've sat silently through critiques in grad school while people shredded my work. Just ... destroyed. I got over it. Having a beer at the bar with everyone after helped. For today and this post though, we're going to try to look a bit more objectively at our own craft. Read the full show notes at http://createifwriting.com/204

I've talked recently on social media for authors, but wanted to highlight a specific platform that I've been using more and seeing results from and discuss Instagram for authors. I think that most social media platforms have potential to work for you if you understand how they work and make it your goal to connect with the correct audience. (As opposed to authors who accidentally gather an audience of other authors, rather than fiction readers, by posting author-y stuff.) This year, I dove into Instagram, a platform I've been on since 2014 and not really used well since that time. For the full show notes, head to http://createifwriting.com/203

The first month I published a book in 2018, I made $115. Which totally excited me! People were reading my book! I wrote and published a book! But the goal was always a CAREER. I joked (but not really) about building an Emma Empire. Three years later, I made $26k in February 2021 and am slated to make over $20k this March. Want some takeaways? I've got 'em! For the full show notes, head to http://createifwriting.com/202 

As a part of my series on what authors need to sell books, I've covered the overall author platform, email, social media, and blogging/content strategy. Which leads me into another piece of the puzzle: ads for authors. Let's first rewind a bit to talk about author platform. I defined it in my post as the way that authors connect with readers. And while ads aren't NORMALLY what someone might think of when it comes to platform, it absolutely is a way to connect with readers. It's simply ... not organic. Let's dive into what you need to know about ads for authors, when you should consider running ads, and how you can learn them without breaking the bank. For the full show notes, head to http://createifwriting.com/201

As a part of my author platform series, we've talked about overall platform, newsletters for authors, social media for authors, and now I want to talk about what authors should blot (and video and podcast) about: aka, content strategy for authors. Authors often aren't so familiar with that term... and I think it's because often we create content without the strategy. Let's start using the term more because we should be intentional with the content we create. Let's talk about what authors should blog (and podcast and video) about: content strategy for authors! For the full show notes, head to http://createifwriting.com/200

Social media is often a dreaded piece of the author platform. There are so many different places to be and to post ... not to mention WHAT to post. Then there's the matter of how to handle social media while also writing books. Never fear! Authors can handle social media. You don't have to be everywhere or post a million times a day. Megan Ericson, a social media strategist, joins me for a conversation on social media for authors. Get the full show notes here: http://createifwriting.com/199

I have long been a fan of email lists. I think I started mine in ... 2010? Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. That's how it feels, anyway. Mostly because I was growing a newsletter as a blogger.  Now? I'm growing one (or several, actually) as an AUTHOR.  Some principles are the same. Some are different. Let's dive in and take out some of the intimidating factor of what I still believe should be the cornerstone of your author platform.  CREATING AN AUTHOR NEWSLETTER  Why am I still harping on email all these years after starting Create If Writing? (Because, if you've been around the whole time, email has always been my recommendation.)  After growing email lists for nonfiction and for fiction, it is STILL king. It's still more effective to sell books than social media platforms. It also is the only real DIRECT connection with your readers. Any time, Instagram could yank you, or your Facebook account could get hacked and shut down. And then... you're done.  With email, you have that list of emails. You can hit up their inbox because they've given you permission, inviting you in. Sure, inboxes are crowded. But readers still get excited hearing from their favorite authors personally. And if they hit reply to an email you send out to everyone, it then becomes a one on one conversation.  Email is YOURS. It's a direct line. It's personal, and there's no algorithm to an inbox.  Get the full shownotes here: http://createifwriting.com/198

Let's get real-- what do you need for an author platform in 2021? After a few years of selling fiction, I can tell you that it's less than you might think. Let's dive in!  Author platform. Did you shudder when you read that? For some authors and creatives, the idea of building a platform to connect with an audience is daunting. Others might like it, but almost all would agree that it's easy to lose focus worrying about follower counts and other stats. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, HEAD TO HTTP://CREATEIFWRITING.COM/197 Join the free community! http://createifwriting.com/community 

Two book launches, one month apart. Both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene. Oh, enough Shakespeare. Let's dive into the nitty gritty of two different launches I had this fall.  Book launches don't just come in one size. That's something I've found in my own experience. AND in listening to other authors and watching launches. I'm always testing, always trying, and never think launches should go JUST one way. The takeaway from this post should NOT be: follow my launch plan that worked better. But I DO want to lay out the differences between these two launches a month apart and break down some things for you to consider when making your launch plan.  Links Mentioned in the Show: Ads Extravaganza (my new course on ads strategy)  The Free Facebook Group The Quick Fix-- My Weekly Email Find the full show notes at: http://createifwriting.com/196 

Facebook Facebook SEEMS to have emerged from its crazy banning ad accounts time period. But maybe not. If your ads or account got banned, you weren't alone! Try to get through to their chat or on the phone with someone to get this fixed.  They are finally shoving all people into the new Facebook look, which I hate, along with most other people. We'll forget old Facebook by next year. For now, we mourn.  Amazon's KDP Publishing Series pages can now be managed right from your KDP dashboard. This is great! You can reorder them, create a blurb that talks about the series as a whole, or add related content (which isn't showing up on the page yet).  You can now nominate your books for Kindle Deal or Prime Reading (I can't speak to whether those work well, but the monthly deals I got didn't do a thing for my sales). The place to do this is under the marketing tab. (It's in beta so you might not have it.)  You can no longer change the titles of your ebooks without republishing them. This stinks, because if you change the title and republish, someone might actually RE-BUY the book and get mad. (I've had this happen.) I'm hoping this change goes back. Author Center is now connected right in the marketing tab, and they've done some updating of their own. I almost never go into Author Central, but it's very shiny and new. You can also more easily handle the other countries with Author Central, right from the KDP dashboard.  Amazon Advertising Recently, Amazon advertising added a few metrics you can now track in your dashboard. First, the pages read (KENP read) and more importantly, the royalties for those pages read (KENP royalties). That's the difference between these two outcomes:  You can also now try Sponsored Brand posts if you're approved. These were formerly just for Amazon Ad Advantage members, which is hard for authors to get. It will show as an ad with up to three books. I haven't heard much about how these are working... yet.  A Few Others Draft2Digital is now ​allowing for authors to split royalties for co-authored works. Read more HERE.  I've talked before about the issues with Audible Returns and I think that some big things (aka: lawsuits) will be lining up soon. Read more on the whole thing HERE.   

This is a question I hear and get a lot: Why isn't my book selling? In this post, we'll dive into a simple checklist to help you look at why your book isn't selling and how you can get those sales moving. Maybe you've been there.  You put in the hard work and wrote a book. You carefully picked a cover and wrote a blurb and did all the things to push your baby book into the world.  And... crickets. Or, at least, not the sales you hoped for.  Let's look at some very simple reasons your book might not be selling by way of a checklist. Ready?  Get the full show notes here: http://createifwriting.com/194

When you're publishing your books, you have a big choice to make: Should you publish your book exclusively with Amazon or put your book up on all the retailers? We'll break down the options in this post to help you make the right choice for yourself.  Are you wide? Or exclusive?  Uh, I'm ... unsure?  These terms (wide and exclusive) are often thrown about in author groups, and I get asked about them a lot. Since I have books published that are exclusive to Amazon and ones that are available on wide retailers, I thought I could give an inside look at what these two choices mean, and why you might choose one over the other.  READ THE FULL POST AT http://createifwriting.com/193

I've talked before about book launches and share a simple book launch framework. But I wanted to focus here on the tale of two launches: the big, splashy book launch and the low-key, chill book launch. But wait, isn't there just one way to launch a book? Go big or go home? No. I'm not really into one-size-fits-all for most things, and book launching is one of them. I'm going to go over some reasons why you might choose one over the other and end with some encouragement no matter which launch plan you choose. Read more at http://createifwriting.com/192

We all have different ways of writing and planning. Learn to embrace what works for you! Pick up a free guide to help you plan: http://createifwriting.com/novelplanning

In a recent post, Nate Hoffelder shared four mistakes you might be making with your book covers. Because book covers are so important, I wanted to create a companion post on how to choose the right cover and give some recommendations.  Why do we need to are about book covers? We're writers! Right. But if you want people to READ your words, you need to get them in the door. The book is the MAIN way to get them in the door. The blurb, cover, ads, and other things factor in, BUT the cover is the very first thing.  Did you know that humans process visual information in thirteen milliseconds? That's less than a blink of an eye.  So, as we dive deeper into book covers, I want you to be thinking of your book cover in a blink.  Read the full episode: http://createifwriting.com/190

This post is going to dive into how to get the most out of free book promotions or 99-cent sales (which will include KDP countdown deals). You'll walk away with a better idea of the strategy behind these kinds of promotions. Two of the tools used frequently by authors are free book promotions or 99-cent sales. If you're exclusive to Kindle by being in their Kindle Select program, you'll have a free book promotion or a Kindle Countdown deal per each enrollment period. (The enrollment period is 90 days.) If you're NOT inside KDP Select, you can manually change prices or use a promotion tool from within your dashboard.  But just making a book free or running a sale is NOT ENOUGH. There are so many free books and books on sale in the various retailers that you really need to have a strategy behind making this choice and a promotional plan in place.  For the full episode's show notes, go to: http://createifwriting.com/189

In this post I'm going to talk about how to keep consistent book sales over time. You might also want to look at my post, Sustaining Your Book Sales... and Yourself, as well as my latest episode about getting a Bookbub ad, which will tie into this information.  So ... you've written a book. Congratulations! For real. It's a big undertaking, and you should be proud of yourself.  Then you launch the book--time for more celebration! (And if you need a simple launch plan, check out my post on a Simple Launch Framework.) Launching really is hard work. Definitely something to feel good about.  And then comes the sales slump.  Or maybe your launch didn't go BOOM. It just quietly happened ... with a handful of sales to show for it.  How in the world do you sell books and then keep sustaining those book sales over time? Because the reality is this: if you don't promote, your books will continue to fall in the rankings until they're just lost in the Amazon (or whatever retailer) store. Let's talk about how to combat that.  For the full episode show notes, visit: http://createifwriting.com/188 Join the free community! http://createifwriting.com/community

I recently secured my first BookBub Featured Deal! There are a few options with BookBub--ads, new release featured deals, preorder alerts, and featured deals. Featured deals must be applied for and are the most expensive and most effective--or at least, they have been in the past. Are they still effective? Let's take a look! Applying for a BookBub Featured Deal can feel sometimes like an exercise in futility. And frustration. Especially when you see some of the books that DO get chosen. Books that might have fewer reviews, weird or bad covers, or stinky blurbs. After feeling the frustration and mostly forgetting to apply, I applied for book 1 and book 2 of my beach series. I got one rejection (for book 1) and one acceptance (book 2)! I'm going to break down the expenses, what else I did, and how the numbers played out. For the full show notes, go to http://CreateIfWriting.com/187!

Formatting your book -- sounds boring, right? Turns out there are a lot of things to know when it comes to formatting your ebook and print book. This post will break down what you need to know! Formatting doesn't have to be scary, complicated, or expensive! So, let's find out what you need to know.  Formatting might sound boring. But it's super important and can be very simple. Let's dive into the whys and hows.  First of all, formatting is usually the last thing you're doing, after your book has been edited or proofread. If you're sending ARC copies to a team of reviewers, you might need to format before this stage in order to send to them in a format they can read on an ereader. (Read more on beta and ARC readers.) Formatting stresses us out, but it doesn't have to. So... what really matters? Ultimately, reader experience is king. Your main goal with formatting is to keep your readers centered in the story. The end. Readers want simple. Not distracting. Not fancy. Don't think it has to be more than simple. Our goal should be to keep our readers in the story. Weird formatting or mistakes can pull the readers out and distract them from being lost in the fictional dream. Or, in the case of nonfiction, it might pull them out and undermine your authority. Wherever you write your book (Word, Scrivener, Google Docs), you need to be able to export it into a mobi file for amazon and an epub file for the other retailers. There are lots of ways to get a finished product.  If you WANT to get fancy (for some genres, like epic fantasy, this might be more fitting), I'd recommend Bookly Style for custom images for chapter headings and more.  Read the whole show notes at http://createifwriting.com/186 

I wanted to do a quick post talking about the two big ads platforms most authors use: Facebook and Amazon ads. There are some major differences between them, and it takes some work to figure them out. This is by no means a big overview, but a few key differences as well as some things they have in common.  A lot of people will debate the merits between one and the other. Usually people don't champion both, but find one that works for them and then use that. For me, that's mostly Facebook ads, though I'm starting to see some traction with both. Key Differences Between Facebook Ads and Amazon Ads Facebook will spend your money. Amazon MIGHT.  If you give Facebook a budget of $100 a day, Facebook will spend that. If you give Amazon a budget of $100 a day, your ad may or may not get served at all.  On Facebook, when you say you want them to spend an amount per day, they believe you. Amazon ads are really different in how they're set up and what that budget means. If you're setting a higher cost per click on Amazon ads, you might spend that. I know people who set up ads and accidentally put a decimal in the wrong place, spending a LOT of money very quickly.  Be really careful when you're setting up BOTH kinds of ads, knowing that you could be really losing a lot of money if you're treating those daily budgets the same on both platforms.  Read the rest of the show notes here- http://createifwriting.com/185

Author collaborations can be fantastic ... except when they aren't. In this post, we'll look at how to avoid bad author collaborations and the questions you should answer before you dive in! It's no secret that I'm into collaborations. I wrote a whole book on working with others called Creative Collaborations. And yet ... I've had some bad ones. I still recommend working with others, but I've learned a lot and am way better at choosing good projects and good partners. I hope this helps you avoid those bad author collaborations! KINDS OF COLLABORATIONS First of all, if you haven't worked with other authors, you might be wondering about the kinds of collaborations you can have. Really, the sky is the limit as far as ways you could partner up and support other authors or work together. But here are some of the common ways authors work together all the time. newsletter swaps (sharing other authors' books in exchange for sharing yours) joint author box sets or anthologies series or shared, connected worlds co-writing a book group promotions through Bookfunnel, Story Origin, etc running a giveaway together joint Facebook groups co-hosting a podcast interviews (on blogs, Youtube, etc) and so many more! Authors work together in all kinds of ways and it can really benefit everyone involved to work together and expand reach or share readers. But ... you can also end up getting burned. You might lose time, money, or relationships. Or, you might just derail your forward trajectory and momentum when you make a group project your focus. Read the full post HERE!

Everyone's saying go audio: should you? The buzz is all about audiobooks. The audio boom. Audio is the future. But are audiobooks for everyone? Let's find out by diving deep into the reality of audiobooks in 2020.  SHOULD YOU AUDIO? THE SKINNY ON AUDIOBOOKS IN 2020.  Why is everyone talking about audiobooks? Simple. Audio is growing. People are consuming more things by audio, from podcasts to audiobooks.  Even if YOU DON'T, other people ARE.  I'm going to link to more articles with data, but suffice to say that the US market alone has been increasing in audiobook consumption 25% per year, with a 40% increase in 2018. It's alive, and it's growing. (Those numbers come from the first link below.)  Data on podcast and audiobook consumption.  Check out this report on audio from all of 2019, collected by Findaway Voices. It seems like a no-brainer answer to say that YES, you should be putting your books into audio form.  Not so fast. Let's look at the current landscape and some of the struggles for indie authors wanting to get their books into audio.  Get the full show notes: http://createifwriting.com/183

I've covered Facebook groups before to the point that I wasn't sure what else there was to say. But, right now, many of us are turning to the internet and online communities, so learning to foster that is more important than EVER.  The thing is? Fostering community can be HARD. It's tricky. And sometimes we miss the line we need to walk. I've covered much about Facebook groups before. If you haven't checked out these posts first, you might want to. Or, circle back after you finish this one.  How to Create a Facebook Group How to Not Be Smarmy in a Facebook Group Join my free Community! HOW TO FOSTER COMMUNITY IN FACEBOOK GROUPS SET THE TONE First, you have to realize that YOU set the tone. And you definitely WANT to set a tone. Your group shouldn't be for everyone. If you're doing this right, some people might join and then want to leave.  SHOW UP When you first start a group, it will feel like talking to yourself. It's hard, sometimes embarrassing work. Because you post and ... crickets. But that's when you NEED to press in and keep showing up. Don't give up when no one talks. Just keep posting. Post what, you might ask? Great question.  POST ENGAGING CONTENT Start easy. Post content that is easily engaged with. Viral memes related to your topic? Yes. Gifs? Yes. Questions that may not relate but will spark discussion? Yes. Especially when you start a group, you have to make things low-risk. People are more likely to answer "what show are you bingeing?" than a more serious question. Even better, give them a graphic like this one I made in canva. Easy. Once people start talking, the algorithm shows your group more in their feed. And it trains them to talk. They're more likely to start talking on ALL things, not just the easy, low-risk ones.  SET EXPECTATIONS Use the option in the settings to create questions. Maybe give people a heads-up about your group vibe. I also let people add their email address and tell them they CAN opt into my list, but don't have to. I have a short, one-email welcome email that they get when I manually add them. But this place is a great way to weed out people who change their mind about joining, or to make sure they see the expectations before they jump in.  CREATE BOUNDARIES Though my kids wouldn't say they like the rules in our house, they NEED them. Kids need healthy boundaries. So do your FB group members. State them in the rules section in the settings of FB. Pin them as an announcement. Put them in the header image. People will still break the rules. But set the guidelines and stick to them.  BUT DON'T CREATE SO MANY THAT IT'S STIFLING Some larger groups have to go WAYYYY overboard with the rules. I've found that the bigger my group gets, I still don't really have tons of icky spam or bad behavior. I think that's because the group overall has a sense of community and identity. When someone steps over, people report it. But if your rules make it so that no one can post EVER, it's hard.  Ex: only questions on one day of the week Ex: no links of any kind - so much easier in a reader group to have links  REMEMBER THAT YOU SET THE TONE If you don't set one, the members will. Consider how you want the group to function, then you keep showing up with content, questions, and comments that stay in that lane. Don't worry too much about growth. If you're super small, you can ask members to invite friends if they love it. I ask every week in my email for people to join, even though many are already there. Show up. Be clear. Have a voice, like a writing voice. You'll draw your ideal reader, and it's okay to send people away. 

I've already covered writing to market in episode 174 and this post, but this is a big topic! In this post, I want to look at the concept of writing to market backwards. This post will be all about how to position a book you've already written into the market for better sales. Reminder: What is writing to market? As I've talked about, writing to market is not a way of selling out just to make money. Writing to market simply means writing and marketing a book in a way that meets reader expectations for a particular genre. There are really two parts to writing to market: the writing and craft of the book itself and the marketing and sales piece. The second part is where we're going to focus. So, You've Written a Book. NOW WHAT? Ideally, you'll be thinking about the market before you write and as you write. But that's not always the case! If you find yourself in the position where you've written a book, you can still use the principles of writing to market to help sell your book better. It's all about positioning. READ THE FULL POST HERE!- http://createifwriting.com/181 Or join the community- http://createifwriting.com/community

Even--maybe especially--in times of chaos and crisis, people need your voice. Your story. Your message.  But you can't give if you're empty. Feed yourself, then feed others with your words and your creative work.    Join the community: http://createifwriting.com/community

Does launching a book sound stressful to you? You're not alone. Here's the thing: a book launch has a lot of moving parts, but it doesn't have to be INSANE! And it all starts with me telling you to stop wasting time on your book launches. Specifically? On things that DON'T SELL BOOKS. A HUGE CAVEAT ON DEFINING "WHAT WORKS" I need to give a big caveat before I dive into things that people waste time on with their book launches. Why? Because things an vary widely depending on genre. What might work for a nonfiction book doesn't necessarily work well for fiction. Or, even within fiction, what works for me with romance and what works for me with YA aren't always exactly the same. Also? Even within subgenres of romance, what works might be different. Also? Some people might have one experience and another person might have the complete opposite experience. I'm sure I'll get some comments saying, "But that worked really well for me!!" And I'm sure they're right. Get the full show notes here: http://createifwriting.com/179 Or join the FB community: http://createifwriting.com/community  

I have avoided this topic for ... as long as I've been writing and podcasting. I do not like teaching productivity. I do not think that I should be doing it. That said, I've consistently written at least one novel a month for the past two years, while also running this site and podcast (with some podcast breaks here and there), and being a full-time mom to kids who are ages three to eleven. So, fine. I'm productive. I guess I'll talk about it. But the reason I've been hesitant is that I feel like productivity is really relative and it's incredibly specific to individuals. What I'll cover is not a one-size-fits-all approach to productivity. Instead, I'm going to share tips for finding your OWN productivity, starting with another thing I hate talking about: mindset. ***FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, HEAD HERE: http://createifwriting.com/178

This post may be a review to some or completely new to others. But I wanted to get super basic on how to set up the very basic author platform. If you don't have much time, money, and experience, but want to do this for the long haul, here's the best foundation.   WHAT IS PLATFORM? Your platform is your people. It's not made up of numbers but actual people who follow you and will (to a greater or lesser degree) support you and your writing. Platform matters if you want to traditionally publish, because you'll be expected to bring something to the table. Namely, sales. In my talk with Maria Ribas in episode 40, you can learn more about this. If you're an indie author (self publishing independently), you'll need a platform to sell books and get reviews. HOW TO SET UP A BASIC AUTHOR PLATFORM Your platform will include other areas, that people often refer to as platforms: email, social media, blogging, and podcasting. Email is about direct communication with your readers. Social is like hanging out with them in a room with other people. Blogging, podcasting, YouTube and other platforms can be about connection, but involve a higher level of creating more content. If you're already writing books, you may not have as much time to devote to creating other content. PART ONE: SET UP YOUR EMAIL LIST Create a freebie that relates to what you plan to send AND your paid products. Set up a single form or landing page to give away that freebie. Create a name for the group or list or create a tag for the people who join by downloading your freebie. Set up a super simple automated welcome series of 1-3 emails. Promote your free thing through Bookfunnel, Story Origin, Book Cave, Prolific Works, or by sending paid traffic via Facebook ads. Show up consistently in people's inboxes.   PART TWO: PICK A SOCIAL MEDIA Choose a platform that you love, know, and where your readers hang out. Get your basic bio, images, and info up to date. Promote your social media to your email list and vice versa. Show up consistently with a mix of conversational and promotional content.   SHOULD AUTHORS BLOG, PODCAST, AND CREATE VIDEOS? Maybe. Those things require time that could be spend writing your books. Will they serve to help sell and promote your books or find new readers? If you understand SEO and how to create content, then yes. Blogging and podcasting and other content-heavy platforms might bring you new readers.  For non-fiction, this can be vital. You need to not only find readers, but build authority. You can also do this by guest posting on other blogs with authority or being a guest on relevant podcasts or other places. Just be sure it's RELEVANT. Does it help serve your ultimate goals? Is the audience YOUR audience?    Platform doesn't have to be complicated. It does take work and upkeep. But platform is really about connecting with your ideal readers and helping turn them into raving fans.  To join my free Facebook group, sign up HERE. 

When authors share success stories publicly, it can be incredibly encouraging and provide a great resource for other authors.  There is also a dark side to this.  Namely: backlash from posting, misinformation or missing information in posts, copycats, and comparisonitis.  Questions to ask before sharing your success and questions to ask before READING success stories. 

I'm getting a little bit real in this post about what it takes as an author to sustain your book sales and yourself.  Earlier in 2019 I wrote a post celebrating my success--going from making $30 a month to over $8000 in a month just from digital book sales. I'm still totally in awe of that! (Read this post if you want to know how I did that.) I don't tend to talk about income a lot, because that's just ... not something I want to do. But I also wanted to address what happened after my giant celebration. What I expected: passing the 5-figure mark that next month What happened: my sales continued to fall through the year and are still falling Yikes! One thing I've noticed in the online community is that people love to share the big numbers, but it's much harder to share the low ones. I mean, duh, right? Part of this stems from the fact that it's just plain embarrassing. (Even though I have to remind myself that it ISN'T. I'm still making solid 4-figures monthly from just book sales. Yay!) I had huge goals, and it was disappointing not to meet them. Admitting disappointment? Uh, no thanks. I don't even like admitting them to myself! I don't check my income as frequently because I kind of don't want to know. Which brings me to this place: I want to talk about sustainability for your sales and for yourSELF. Sustainable is a word that gets thrown around a lot. In this context, sustainable is what you can do and continue to do over longer periods of time.  SUSTAINING YOUR BOOK SALES Enough time has gone by that I'm examining why my sales dropped. A few key things happened. I joined a multi-author series and wrote a book that was NOT in my bestselling series. I stopped running ads on Facebook. I stopped putting books out as frequently. The hot trend I was writing in cooled off. I finished a series and started a new one in a less hot niche. These are all factors in my sales drop. I might dive deeper into each of these later, because these are BIG THINGS and I could say a lot about them. What I've realized as I've looked at these things is that overall, to sustain sales, you have a few choices as an author. YOU CAN: Rely on paid advertising (Facebook, Amazon, Reddit, etc) Work on smart marketing (updating old books, finding new places to promote, growing your list) Continue writing books quickly to boost your backlist Honestly? I'm not sure what else is in your control. If your book gets great word of mouth reviews and people start snapping it up, that's amazing! But you can't make that happen. Sometimes, all three of those things fail. Your books may simply not be connecting with readers or they may not be written in genres that are easily targeted or where there are a lot of sales. (This is where I see most people struggle--their book might be great, but it's not in a more profitable market or is harder to market.) The biggest thing, though, is that you cannot STOP. Which is a scary thought. Book sales won't happen very organically (in other words, without you ACTIVELY doing something). If you want to see your sales continue, you must continue writing and marketing. It can start to feel like a very terrifying and fast hamster wheel. Which brings me to the next point... SUSTAINING YOURSELF If you want to sustain book sales, you need to find ways to continue to get eyeballs on your books. Ads, newsletter swaps, paid email services, social media marketing, or a million other creative things. But as you're planning out how you're going to sustain those sales, consider how you'll sustain yourSELF. I'll be honest: I never thought I'd write a book a month. What I've found is that I could write several books a month. I love being fast at things, so I shouldn't be so surprised. My fastest-written book has over 100 reviews on Amazon. The average rating is 4.8 stars. I wrote it in just over two weeks, mostly while on an elliptical machine, typing with my thumbs into my phone. I NEVER WOULD HAVE PLANNED THAT. It just happened. Then when I started publishing monthly or every six weeks, I saw a bump in all my old books. This REALLY worked for me. The problem is this: I can write fast. But I also have to get things like covers done, edits done, emails sent, and MORE. There is all the marketing stuff. I don't mind marketing, which I know might make me a weirdo. But I love writing. If I could write and do nothing else, I might put out three books a month. I really might. My ideas file? Is HUGE. And I can't wait to write each book. I've written over a book a month this year and love love love the writing. Without marketing the books, though, they don't sell. I have to actively market. Even if you release a book a month, without marketing, you aren't going to make sales. It's not magic. Here's the conundrum authors face: You have to keep marketing to SELL books. But you have to keep yourself alive to WRITE books. That means you need a writing and marketing plan that's sustainable for YOU. What does this look like? I'M NOT SURE. I'm figuring this out for myself right now. But I can tell you that I don't want to lose the joy I have in writing. I also hate writing great books and seeing them languish on Amazon, dying a slow death because no one can find them. Because: no marketing. I want to challenge you to think about sustainability. What are sustainable goals? (Ex: My $10k a month goals are not, right now, sustainable.) What are sustainable writing habits? (Ex: Writing a book a month IS sustainable. I love it and can do it.)  What are sustainable marketing habits? (Ex: If I'm writing MORE than one book a month, it's hard for me to carve out marketing time.)  This looks different from everyone. It may look different for you year to year. But these are big questions. If you aren't thinking long-term about what you can maintain, you're likely to burn out or get frustrated. You might lose your joy or your income. Make sustainable goals. Set sustainable writing habits. Create sustainable marketing plans. Then adjust whenever necessary. And believe me, it WILL be necessary. To join the community, go to http://createifwriting.com/community To learn more about workshops, go to http://createifwriting.com/workshop 

I hear a lot of confusion about writing to market and writing to trend. In this post, I'm going to explain MY personal view and my experience with both writing to market and writing to trend: how they're different, how they're related, and help you figure out what's right for YOU.   WHAT WRITING TO MARKET IS Chris Fox coined the term "write to market" and talks about it in his book called ... (wait for it) ... Write to Market. In the Introduction, Fox states that the book will teach you "how to analyze the market, and to use that information to write a book that readers want." (Check out the book HERE.)  Often, writers start out by writing that story that's in their head. They have that one idea that they just can't shake, or the story they HAVE to tell. That's writing for love and it's author-centric. Writing to market shifts the focus from the author to the reader. What does the READER want? I mean, we all WANT them to want that story that's been on our heart to write, but that isn't always the case. (There are, of course, happy accidents where this happens, sometimes in a big way.) We learn what the readers want when we study the trends of what's selling on Amazon. Indie authors can do this better, because we don't need two years to publish a book once it's done. I've decided to write a book to market and had it published in six weeks. It's a little harder if you're hoping to secure an agent, because if you study what's hot NOW, realize that in a few years when your book has been through the whole process, it won't be hot anymore. So, we clear on the idea of writing to market? Study what readers are buying. Find a space that's selling and that you also love. Write that. More resources: Niche It Down a Notch How I Wrote and Launched a Book in a Month   WHAT WRITING TO MARKET ISN'T I want to be CLEAR about this before we continue. Writing to market is not selling out. Most people who write to market find a market selling well that they LIKE. But even if not, even if you're an author who needs to write in a market they don't LOVE because you have a mortgage to pay, THAT'S OKAY. Some people write for the love. Some for money. And some for both. I'm okay with all three of those choices. As long as you're okay with YOUR choices, then go on with your bad self.  But I want to be VERY clear that if you think "writing to market" is a dirty term, this probably isn't the space for you. Or, maybe you should reframe the conversation. Remember that writers are writing for themselves, but also for readers. Writing to market is serving readers what they want to read. If that's wrong, maybe I don't want to be right. WHAT WRITING TO TREND IS Writing to trend is something that I hear people talking around a lot, but it's not always called the same thing by different people. To me, writing to trend is taking the principles of writing to market, but applying them to a particular niche, genre, or trend that is HOT now ... and may or may not stay hot for long periods of time. As I'm writing this, there is a hot trend for bully romance. Essentially, that's just what it sounds like. A guy (or group of guys) bullies a girl and she falls in love with him/them anyway. Not my fave trend (kind of an extreme example of the enemies to lovers trope) but one that went WILD this year and has made some authors serious bank. Will this be around next year? Gosh, I hope not. But who knows. Another trend in romance (reverse harem-- one main girl with a bunch of male lovers) was thought to be a hot trend and is still going strong years later. There is a big tie between reverse harem and bully romance. You don't always know how long a trend will last or when it will fizzle out. But trends tend to show up more suddenly, become THE thing, and might gain ground or lose steam. For a little while, at least, their star burns brighter and hotter than the others. And they can make a LOT of money if you can hop on while they're hot. Other resources: Writing Gals Video on Finding Hot Markets AN EXAMPLE OF WRITING TO MARKET vs WRITING TO TREND When I launched my Emma St. Clair pen name, my goal was to write to market. I made some mistakes (notably in covers and some tropes early on) but quickly figured out that romance needs a happy ending (ha!) and that adult clean romance readers like faces on covers, while photos without faces tend to be either more women's fiction or YA fiction. My first few books eventually had the right covers, the right tropes, and met expectations in a market that was selling well. They did fine. I went from making $30 a month to $300 a month to over $1000 a month. While marketing and doing all this research, I kept seeing billionaire books. They were everywhere. I tend to NOT be a trendy person, so it made me eye-roll-y. I'm also not super swayed by dudes with lots of money. Despite my annoyance, one day I had an idea for a billionaire book. I wrote it fast. And when I launched it (COMPLETELY to market and according to the billionaire trend), in under a month, it outsold what my first two books made COMBINED over the previous three months total.   THAT is the power of writing to trend vs writing to market. Writing to market may have hungry readers, but writing to trend is hitting on a hot button trope, idea, theme, niche, or genre that has VERY voracious readers gobbling up that particular kind of book on a likely more limited time frame. Like Veruca Salt, they want it and they want it NOW. If you can serve up that golden goose, you've written to trend and may find some solid success. HOW YOU FIND HOT TRENDS Finding hot trends is not hard, but can be time consuming. It means spending a lot of time on Amazon, looking at categories you like (again, the goal is writing something you like that also sells) to see what readers are buying.  Narrow it down to a few categories you're interested in writing in, then spend some time watching what's selling in the top 20 of those categories.  You'll want to look at: covers titles publishers (it matters whether it's traditional or indie!) themes tropes niches settings conventions keywords pricing descriptions And that's just a start. What are the top twenty books in a category doing? What is the rank of the first book in the top twenty? What's the rank of the LAST book in the top twenty? I already linked to it above, but you can check out my post Niche It Down a Notch to see my slideshow presentation I did on studying categories. You can also check out K-Lytics (affiliate link!), which has paid and free resources based on Amazon data, broken down by specific niches and categories. I first started writing clean romance after studying keywords in a program called Publisher Rocket (affiliate link!), which showed me how many people were searching for Christmas Romances. You're trying to find a sweet spot: a market or trend that sells well, but not so well you can't break in. Any category where the top twenty is all traditionally published books (or super well-established indies) or all in the top 5000 will be a challenge. Any category where the number one book is 5000 or above is not going to make you a lot of money. If you're hanging out in other author groups by genre, you'll also see what kinds of books authors are talking about and promoting. Sometimes I'll spot the trends there first. More resources:  How to Find a Hungry Market (Chris Fox) Hot Markets and Trends in 2019   TIPS FOR WRITING TO MARKET AND WRITING TO TREND The thing about writing to market is that the demand for bigger niches is more long-lasting. I believe that clean romance overall will be around for a while. Billionaire books? They're still selling, but my sales have started to flag. Sometimes they get too crowded and readers get tired. Sometimes new trends come along and get so hot they push the others out. I'm currently writing paranormal academy books right now under the pen name Sullivan Gray. (Think boarding schools for magical creatures.) This is a hot trend right now. But are people ever really tired of vampire books? No. They trend hot, then die down, but they never really go away. (JUST LIKE ACTUAL VAMPIRES.) Indie author Bella Forrest may have started near the Twilight hot trend, but she's still making a killing with a 70-book vampire series. And the next time vampires trend HOT, those books can burn bright again too. All this to say: if you're chasing a hot trend, the books will have more longevity if they fit a broader market as well and can still SERVE those readers when the trend isn't hot. If there is ever a backlash against billionaire (in small groups, there totally is), I could rebrand and retitle my books and they would STILL fit well in the broader clean romance market with other tropes and conventions. There are more CLASSIC elements to the trendy books. If you want to write to market or go further and write to a hot trend, hang out on Amazon. Talk to other authors. Study. Be a little nerdy. READ books. Then see if you can find a sweet spot for books you love to write and books readers love to read. Make sure the elements of your books match the ones in the market AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Cover especially. Readers should glance at your book and KNOW where it fits or if they want to read it.

I'm tackling a question that I think more authors (blogger, creatives, and influencers) should ask before they establish their online platform. If they don't ask before, they for SURE should ask soon after. The question is: how close should authors be to their audience? You might be wondering what this question even means. Stick with me. I think you'll understand why I feel like this is so important. FROM THE IVORY TOWER TO INSTAGRAM We are living in a glorious digital age, where more than ever, authors and readers can connect. My 12-year-old self would have DIED to be able to tweet at or email or DM my favorite author online. I remember LOOKING in the backs of my paperbacks to see if there was an address so I could write fan mail. Usually? There wasn't. Authors were in ivory towers, out of reach, out of sight, and far from readers. Now? You might be able to find out what your favorite author ate for lunch, because they've posted it on Instagram. You could know their kids' names. What shoes they bought yesterday. What they're struggling with personally. The switch has completely flipped. Honestly, this all started with reality TV, as far as I'm concerned. We all got nosy (okay, humans have probably always been nosy) and enjoyed getting a front-row seat to all the inane (and dramatic) details of other people's lives. Then: enter the internet and social media. We have ACCESS now. You can choose not just to post your lunch, but to do a live video or create an Instagram story about your lunch. And your readers get INSTANT access to your life, lived up to the minute. This is, on the one hand, really amazing! I love this ... in some ways. And as with social media as a WHOLE for people, this access can also be very, very unhealthy. UNHEALTHY ACCESS TO AUTHORS Here are a few things I've seen recently (a few details changed to protect those involved): authors getting mad at their own Facebook group, make an offhand comment about killing a character to "show" readers, and a massive fallout off the hundreds and thousands of group members readers DEMANDING that authors finish their favorite series faster and sending angry emails or posting public rants when books in a series take more than a few weeks to release authors promising in their emails and Facebook groups that books are coming out, then readers getting angry because the author breaks those promises, then disappears from public view readers bullying authors and personal assistants to authors authors rallying their reader groups up to attack other authors or people on twitter or through low ratings on platforms like Amazon readers in an author group getting nasty and mean with each other and the author not stepping in to stop it or moderate authors receiving nasty personal emails about their families and personal lives because readers didn't like books readers giving up on authors (and announcing it publicly) because the authors didn't do what the readers wanted OR what the author told readers they would do authors apologizing profusely because they aren't doing exactly what the readers demand These are all pretty general examples. I don't want to get more specific and share someone else's story. You get the idea. All this access has allowed for some unhealthy relationships to form! It may sound GREAT to share pics of your new baby in a group ... until an angry reader makes a threat and names your child. (I know it's weird, but stuff like this happens, y'all.) HOW TO CREATE HEALTHY BOUNDARIES Look. There isn't one way to do this. It will be different for different authors. And you could do the best job ever, feel great about it, and still have someone lash out. (I've had readers freak out at me for things I 100% never did. Once I responded to an angry email and it turned out they sent it to the wrong person altogether! Still, though: yikes.) We won't all agree, but here are some things to consider and best practices for keeping and maintaining healthy relationships. Decide how many and what kinds of personal things you want to share. Reevaluate, as this may change. Will you share the actual names of your family members? Are you going to share pictures of yourself and your family and friends? How much of your real life will your readers see? Choose the platform that feels the best and healthiest for YOU. Where are you happy? What feels like a space that has a good vibe for YOU as a platform? If you choose too many places, you'll be stretched thin, and that may impact how you feel and interact with your readers. Consider establishing a space that can offer you control. If you find yourself on the receiving end of an attack, what can you do about it? (Ex: On Twitter, the gloves are off. In your personal, closed Facebook group, you can kick people out, report to Facebook, and block.) Set the tone in your spaces. Your online space? Is YOUR space. Or, it should be. Really, this won't be true on every space, which is why I suggested finding a place that offers control. This is one reason I love Facebook groups and would recommend spaces you can control. You can decide what stays and goes, what people post, and how people speak to one another. The culture of your group reflects YOU. So if you have a space that allows people to be nasty to each other, that can also turn on YOU. Don't make promises you can't keep. Breaking trust with your audience is something you may not be able to come back from. Keep this in mind when you share things like launch dates or make commitments. Trust is a HUGE currency and one that's hard to gain back once it's lost. Make sure your readers know that you're in charge. Serving your readership is great. Creating a connection can be wonderful. But if you let the readers think that they OWN you or that you are going to do everything as they want, when they want, it's not going to end well. They won't be happy. You certainly won't be. Find a balance between making the decisions YOU want and taking into account the readership you've built. Don't get so emotional, baby. It's so easy to get emotional online. We are emotionally tied to our work. Social media can incite our feelings. But posting in an emotional state rarely brings good things. Take some time before posting. Step back. Sharing your feelings on occasion can be a really good thing, but if you're posting a lot in the heat of the moment, it's going to come back to bite you. TAKE ADVANTAGE; DON'T BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF As a final point, let social media and all this connectivity serve YOU. Don't become its servant or let your readers demand things of you. If you started out and hadn't thought about this, THAT'S OKAY! Take some time to decide how you want to handle the relationship with your readers, where you'll interact, how you'll communicate, and what you won't tolerate. Have you ever given this thought? What is important to YOU in terms of establishing boundaries with your readers?    

It's a well-known fact that many authors hate marketing. But more and more, marketing is something authors must understand and take part in, EVEN if you're doing the traditional route. My goal? Is to help teach marketing for authors who hate marketing.  First of all, we need to reframe the conversation about marketing. What comes to mind when you think of marketing? A sleazy car salesman? That person who is constantly shouting BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! on Facebook and Twitter? Maybe the direct sales rep who keep sending you private messages? Put those ideas out of your mind. Let's shift how you see marketing. For authors, marketing is about connecting with the ideal readers for your books. You are serving up your books to readers who WANT them. The end. Sounds much better, right? Whenever you're feeling frustrated about marketing and promotion, take a moment to shift your mindset back to this. You are writing books for readers, then helping those readers find them.   FOUR PILLARS OF MARKETING While there are lots of ways to market, I'm going to break down four main ways that you can market your books: Direct: email Public: social media Paid: ads Networking: cross-promotion with other authors Again, there are many other things you can do to market. But this is a simple overview of the largest avenues for marketing right now. Let's break them down a little! EMAIL Email is my favorite thing. You know this if you've been around for a while. Why do I love email so much? Email is a classic. It doesn't go out of style, though for some, it goes out of favor. It hasn't changed much in twenty years. It has no algorithm. Email is the best way to connect with your readers directly. If you are just starting out or trying to build your sales, start with building an email list. Here are some other resources on that right here on the site: How to Grow Your Email List Email Resources SOCIAL MEDIA Social media is not the best sales tool. It's great for engagement and brand awareness, getting your book out there in front of people. ADS More than ever, ads matter. But ads also have a learning curve. (Check out my longer post on paid promotions for more.) The main ad platforms that authors use are Amazon ads (formerly AMS ads) and Facebook ads. NETWORKING Other than email, this is my favorite tool for promotion and can have massive impact. Oh, and it's free. When you work with other authors, you'll not only learn what's working for them and find support, but also discover great cross-promotional opportunities, whether through newsletter swaps, Facebook group takeovers, or other events. Look to connect with other authors of all kinds of genres. You won't share cross-promotion as much outside of your genre, but might learn what's working for other authors or get ideas there. Or just find moral support. BEFORE YOU THINK ABOUT MARKETING... If your book cover doesn't match your genre or look professional, you'll struggle with marketing. If your blurb isn't enticing, you'll struggle with marketing. Period. Writing to market isn't about selling out. It's about researching where your book fits, or even better, researching a market that feels like a good fit FOR YOU, then writing books that meet reader expectations.  

After sharing how my co-author and I wrote and launched a book in (almost) thirty days, I wanted to have a simpler episode geared toward YOU. Here are some ways to market your book while you write and where to stop wasting your time.  You want to write a book. You want to self-publish (or, as I like to say, publish independently) on Amazon and/or other retailers.  But marketing?  Ick. Overwhelm. No. Help!  If that is YOU, then I want to help make this a little more accessible. Ready for it? Here are some tips for marketing your book WHILE you write.  HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK WHILE YOU WRITE Many of you might think that you don't want to market while you write. You want to write a book and THEN figure out marketing.  That's not BAD...necessarily. But you want to talk about overwhelm? That is someone who has written a whole book and now thinks, "Oh, I guess I should consider marketing." Honestly, even if you aren't taking steps to think about marketing actively, you should at least consider marketing in terms of where your book FITS. What category does it go in? What are the reader expectations for that category? What do the covers look like? How long are the books?  Those are things to consider before or AS you write. I mean, if you want to sell books. If you are just writing a labor of love, then do what you want. But I'm assuming that I'm speaking to people wanting to SELL books. In that case, you should look at the market, even if you aren't marketing.  But here is my very big, very simple advice on marketing while you write:  Write everyday. Do one marketing task daily.  That's it. The end. Simple.  Too simple? Yep. So, let's dive into some things that you can do daily. DAILY MARKETING TASKS I'd honestly love to make a freebie for this. I probably will... soon. But not today.  For now, I'm going to refer you to the GIANT post on how to write and launch a book in a month. There are so many action items there.  Overall, I would say that you should focus on things that have lasting power, like building an email list. Create a freebie that relates to the series you're launching, or give away a teaser of a few chapters in exchange for an email address with a site like Bookfunnel, Story Origin, Book Cave, or Prolific Works.  Join author group promos and send paid traffic to that freebie to grow your readership WHILE YOU'RE WRITING. So huge. When you go to launch your book and you have even a few hundred subscribers, that's POWERFUL!  Also see:  A Simple Book Launch Framework How to Start Building Your Email List THINGS TO STOP DOING TO "MARKET" YOUR BOOK This is where (if you listen to the audio) I get a little rant-y. Now, hear me: there isn't always ONE way to do things. So, take this with a grain of salt. BUT GENERALLY SPEAKING, these things will not help you sell more books. Period.  Wasting Time on Social Media Realize that if you think that building your Facebook likes or Twitter followers is going to sell books, you're probably wrong. Email sells more books. Focus on email lists, not follower counts. Facebook is amazing for groups and collaborations and newsletter swaps with other authors, but many authors go into FB groups for a genre and then just drop links to their books. Any group that is filled with authors dropping links to books with no likes or comments is a WASTE OF TIME. Look for actual reader groups with actual readers and see what their rules are for self-promo. Or just listen and learn what readers in your genre like.  Designing Your Own Book Cover I once designed my own book cover. In the time it took me to create a cover (and I'm okay at stuff), I could have paid someone $15 on Fiverr to do it better and saved myself hours. Unless you're GREAT at book cover design (not just graphics) you'll waste time and money and lose sales because your book cover won't hold up against other books in your genre. Stop it.  Blogging Blogging isn't dead. But it's shifted. People don't read blogs like online diaries anymore. Authors didn't get this memo. They either write blogs that are diary-esque (which really only appeal to hardcore fans) or they write blog posts that are not to the right audience. An example of the second one is a fiction writer blogging about writing tips. That attracts other authors and writers, not the people who'll read your romance novels.  If you want to drive sales on your blog, you'll have to actually take the time to create a content strategy based around things your readers are already searching for. You'll use things like SEO (search engine optimization) and Pinterest to actually drive long-term traffic and then have your site set up for sales. This is a lot of work. Your efforts are likely better spent elsewhere. Making Bookmarks and Swag I'm biased because I hate bookmarks. But even beyond that, bookmarks don't sell books. They're fun. If you have time and money to put into swag, cool! But don't make this a priority. This isn't how most readers FIND a book. So, if you're focused on sales, then stop focusing on swag. Superfans like swag. But if you're working on your first book(s),  you don't have enough superfans to make this important.  Setting Up a Patreon There have been some successful Patreon campaigns for books. But FOR THE MOST PART, this adds one more thing to do and dilutes your effort. When you sell a book, the most important thing is driving traffic TO THE BOOK. When you add Patreon, that's one more thing to do (set up, giving out prizes, the bonus content, etc) and one more place you're sending people THAT ISN'T YOUR BOOK.  I see people setting these up trying to help pay for launch and I've looked at the breakdown of what they're paying. Usually? It's too much money on things they don't need to spend money on. My first book launch for Emma St. Clair probably cost under $300. I got a cover (that I still love) from an artist on FB having a sale. I paid $125 for editing. And I think I bought 2-3 paid promos. The end.  Creating a Patreon just takes away your time and effort and gives another place to send people that is not your book. Keep it simple. Bootstrap. Focus on sending people to your book to buy books, not to a site like Patreon to focus on bookmarks and bonuses. DO YOU HATE ME? Was that too mean? Too honest? Feels a little bit that way.  But here's the thing: I hate wasting time. And I hate the thought of you out there, wasting your time when you could be writing and doing marketing tasks that WILL SELL BOOKS. Want to disagree? Have ideas of what is or isn't important? Leave a comment or head over to the Facebook group where we can talk and you can call me a meanie. ;) 

When I wrote this post, I got overwhelmed. You might too! Fair warning. But in the moment, this was FUN. Not overwhelming. I'm going to share what I did with my co-author and then will have follow up posts that are more geared toward a practical-for-YOU way to launch. There will still be takeaways here for you in the details. Just pinky swear you won't read and then get overwhelmed and stop writing? Please? Okay. Great. Let's go! Over the past 18 months, I've written more books than I ever thought I could write in a year. I had no idea I was capable. Truly. I've written over ten books in the last year along with some shorter works.  So, let's just start with this fact: I write fast. Maybe or maybe not fast than you. But fast. I'll be sharing the timeline here for my most recent book, but that does NOT mean you need to ever attempt my timeline. Just focus on the launch and the actions. You can even move them around! You do you, friends. You'll get some good nuggets on how to launch a book, EVEN if you know in your heart of hearts you'll never launch that fast. You don't need to! It's not a race! I just like to go super speed. That's me. Whatever your speed, you'll find the steps you need to launch a book here! Future posts will go into more detail in a more accessible way. Prepare to be overwhelmed! But remember, this was 100% fun for me! I promise. ...READ THE FULL POST ON THE CREATE IF WRITING SITE!  

Have you ever wondered if should write under a pen name? Or why some authors choose to write using a pseudonym? In this post, you'll learn why you might want to write under a pen name (or not) and how to navigate having multiple pen names. A year ago, I tried an experiment. I found a genre that was selling well where I thought I could find success. I didn't really want to use my already-established email lists and social media, so I started almost completely from scratch. You can see how that worked out after one year in this post. (Spoiler alert: month to month it's up-and-down, but has been four figures--sometimes closer to five-figures--a month for over a year.)  So why write under a pen name? For me personally, it was more about marketing and testing the waters than anything else. In terms of marketing, I have a few nonfiction business books under my own name. These are NOT the same genre as the clean romance I wanted to write as Emma St. Clair. That can provide a muddy brand and reader confusion. A new name seemed like a good option. To test the waters, I wanted to know if I could use the knowledge I've gained over the past however-many years in this online space to find success self-publishing without using my already-established platform. I'm actually about to launch a second pen name (Sullivan Gray) who will do Young Adult paranormal and contemporary books. I'm planning the same strategy as I used to launch Emma and we'll see how it goes. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PEN NAMES Listen to Episode 169 - How and Why to Write Under a Pen Name   WHY DO AUTHORS WRITE UNDER A PEN NAME? Authors might choose a pen name if the subject that they're writing about might cause conflict with their actual life. I've seen this a lot when authors write steamy romance and don't necessarily want their mom reading it. Some steamy romance authors also write clean romance and don't want any crossover. In this case, authors will be very careful to keep their pen name completely apart and separate from everything else they write. It's a lot more hidden. Authors might choose a pen name if they write in multiple, unrelated genres. This is the main reason I chose a pen name. When we shop online, we don't realize how many quick snap decisions we make on things. Having a pen name can keep ultimate clarity in terms of branding. Are my sweet romance books that different from my Christmas devotionals or my book on email lists? No... but the readers aren't the same. The crossover is likely minimal at best. And when a reader glances at my author name and the books that customers also bought on the Amazon sales page, it presents a problem to see unrelated books. It would be confusing to see a romance book next to a book on business. Readers need quick and easy cues with clean author branding. Whenever you're as big as Stephen King or JK Rowling, you could write whatever and people will buy it. (Big authors still sometimes write under pen names!) But when you're starting out, it's much easier to have one author name PER GENRE for crystal clear marketing and branding. I've seen personally how well this has worked for me and I've also seen authors struggle trying to keep multiple unrelated genres under one name as they start out. It was HARD. Some people in the space (whom I really respect) say that you don't need to worry about a pen name. I disagree when it comes to branding and marketing, but if you want to see another side to this, check out a post by Anne R. Allen.  WHEN SHOULD YOU NOT USE A PEN NAME? Amazon will only let you have three pen names under one Author Central account. It isn't TERRIBLE to have multiple pen names (more on that below), but if you can keep things easy, DO. If you're writing books that are related or might have a larger crossover audience, then don't do a pen name. An example might be writing clean romance and clean romantic suspense. These are the same steam level in terms of sexual content (which matters to readers), though the audiences might not be a 100% match. That said, my Emma St. Clair clean romance books will have a similar steam level to my YA content, BUT the YA books will have more violence and intense action. Some have paranormal elements. The crossover might be there (I read both genres!) but it's going to be a way smaller number. Just look at what these different covers convey! You can see how these are likely not the same audiences, right? Everything from the color to the tone of these book covers sends signals to the readers, even subconsciously. Pen name = good plan. If you don't NEED a pen name and already have an established brand or public-facing name that you could use, don't create more work for yourself. If you don't care as much about branding and sales and just want to write for the love of it, put it all under your name. If you have a HUGE platform under your name and people will buy whatever you write, then don't worry about a pen name. If you know it would be easier to write under pen names but you can't handle the idea of juggling them all, you might want to consider not writing under pen names.   HOW DO YOU HANDLE MULTIPLE PEN NAMES TECHNICALLY SPEAKING? Speaking for Amazon, you can create up to three pen names under one author central account. That means that you'll be getting paid in the same place and don't need to worry about technicalities or weird legal stuff. Publicly, they are separate. Privately on the back end, they're all under your account. That said, some people want more separation even than THAT. This post talks about ways to find more separation. If you want to know how to set up a new pen name in an author central account, here's a brief video I made walking you through the process.   WHAT DO YOU NEED IN TERMS OF AUTHOR PLATFORM FOR A PEN NAME? Now we're getting into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to juggle multiple pen names. It's less than you think! This also may vary wildly depending on how you want to promote books. With my pen names, I'm not very actively blogging (if at all). I don't post much on a Facebook page or Twitter. My main focus was email list (which sells more books), a FB page for ads, and a FB reader group.  My basic suggestions for a pen name:  Set up an email list (this is my main focus)  Set up a web page with yourauthorname dot com or something similar  Set up a Facebook page (so you can run ads)  Set up ONE social media account that you'll use (this could just be the Facebook page)  Important note about Facebook: It's against Facebook's terms of service to have two personal profiles (where you add friends vs a business page where you get "likes"). Don't create a personal profile for your pen name! You could get completely booted from Facebook. A page may not see a lot of organic growth or reach, but if you want to create ads, you need a page. Plus you can use a small page with few likes to market to a broad audience.  That's really not that much to do. For one of my pen names, I own AuthorSullivanGray.com, but if you go there, you'll just get a landing page to sign up for my email list. I don't have a full web page set up.  I focused on growing my email list through Bookfunnel and other author promos and I send weekly content to subscribers. I barely post on my Facebook page, but do run ads. My social media focus is Facebook groups and I am working to build active reader groups where I share my books, teasers or bonus content, other people's books, and have discussions. HOW DO CHOOSE A PEN NAME? I think it's a good idea to check your genre. For some, gender (or perceived gender) may send a signal to consumers. (Joanna Penn talks about that in this post under #3.) I personally chose names I liked that fit more with the genres. Emma is like everyone's BFF. You can't hate Emma! So of course, she writes sweet romance.  Sullivan is a great name. (We almost used it for our fifth daughter!) It's tough, cool name that generally is a last name. Because it's not as common as a first name, I think it probably might speak to being a guy's name, but could be either. This felt like a great, edgy pen name for my more intense YA.  Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur has a great post on choosing a pen name.  DO YOU NEED TO CREATE A WHOLE PRETEND PERSON FOR YOUR PEN NAME? The answer to this goes back to whether or not you're trying to keep things separate for marketing purposes or SECRET. If you just want some separation, then it doesn't matter as much if you use the same photo or you have the same bio. If you're trying to keep it a secret, then you'll want to consider how to handle the personal info, bio, and images for that person.  I like to create a PERSONA for my pen names. Emma St. Clair is still me. It's just the part of me focused more on clean romance than the part of me that loves sarcasm and shows like Arrested Development. In my Emma emails, I don't talk about my love for horror movies, but focus on romantic comedies or Hallmark romances. Emma isn't untrue, but is more an edited bit of who I am. We all have a lot of facets to our personality, so for me, I let the pen names shine a light on a facet that relates to the genre.  Some people might be fine with creating a fake person, but it's hard to keep secrets in the digital age. Just be aware of that. I'd be fine for anyone to know that Kirsten is Emma is Sullivan.  If you'd like get a fun avatar made for your pen name, I've used this artist on Fiverr and been really happy with their work.    So... do you need a pen name?  Maybe. Maybe not.  I think there are strong reasons to create pen names for clear branding and marketing in different genres, especially if you are newer. I don't think you have to do a ton of work to create a pen name. Keep it streamlined and simple. Don't feel like you have to be all the places all the time. Do what sells books.  One day, my own personal brand might be a large enough umbrella to house everything, but for now, I'll keep my own name and the two pen names to write and publish books across multiple genres.  For more discussion on this and other topics, join the Create If Writing Facebook group! Want to get weekly news, tips and tools? Subscribe to the weekly Quick Fix email. 

If you're having trouble growing your list, it's like a matter of eyeballs (traffic) and hooks (creating relevant, attractive content). Learn more in this episode or check out resources at http://createifwriting.com/168

Which paid promos should you use when it comes to your FIRST book? For more links and details on paid promos, check out episode 142 and the show notes: http://createifwriting.com/142

This post comes after the news that Mailchimp is making some big changes in 2019. I'll break down what these changes mean for YOU and whether or not you should switch. Spoiler alert: YES. I'd recommend changing.  When I very first got started with email in 2013, I used Mailchimp. I heard a speaker talk about the importance of an email list and that's what she recommended. They had a free plan for up to 2000 emails and were a trustworthy company. I stayed with them until 2015, when my goals were different and Convertkit won me over with their fabulous features. I haven't looked back. I've still recommended Mailchimp to readers as an okay place to start, though they aren't my favorite. But coming on the heels of their announcement in May 2019, I'm changing my tune. Here's why and what YOU need to know. WHAT'S CHANGING IN MAILCHIMP Mailchimp has been providing a service: allowing businesses big and small to send emails to their customers. (LEGAL emails. Read more about being legal HERE.)  Now Mailchimp is moving to become a "marketing platform." They are adding features that allow them to be more of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool. That tells us a lot. The keyword being: CUSTOMERS.  In simplest terms, Mailchimp is moving its focus toward bigger businesses and business as a whole. Not mom-and-pop blogs or authors (as much as we really are running businesses). Most of the email services I've recommended handle that ONE thing: email. Other big companies like Infusionsoft call themselves a CRM rather than an email service provider. The difference is a different features and a heckuva lot more money. For most of us, Mailchimp is not focused on providing our needs. But they'll still provide email, right? Yeah. But I wanted to look at the big picture FIRST--they aren't here to serve YOU, the author or blogger or creative with a starting-out to average income and business. Now let's break down some of the specific changes. WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? If you are still using Mailchimp and don't have more than 2000 subscribers, you're probably thinking that you're find and can just stay. You CAN. But there are current and coming changes that will affect you.  What's changing: (as noted) the focus is now on bigger businesses as a CRM free subscriber count now includes unsubscribes as well as active users limited audiences for free plan members pricing/credits for month-to-month users changes to automation (looks like you can't add new ones now on the free plan) More things WILL change, but we simply don't know yet. My guess would be that they lower the free plan to 1000 or less. There is no need for them to keep people on who are just using them for the free plan. Plus, if you've been cleaning your list regularly to stay under 2000, those emails you cleaned will now still count. Under that, my old list wouldn't be a free plan anymore. If you've been on the legacy PAID plan, you're grandfathered into their pricing. If you are on the FREE plan, when you hit paying levels, you'll be getting the new pricing. And the month-to-month users' credits will stop being active. In short, you're getting less bang for your buck. SO, SHOULD YOU LEAVE MAILCHIMP? You don't HAVE to. I mean, if you have 200 subscribers, you're probably thinking, why waste my time moving? Here's the thing: before this, I was barely recommending Mailchimp. Their features are clunky and should be way better and easier to use for as long as they've been around. They are a powerhouse and should have had features where you could click a link in an email to add a tag or move you to a group. That kind of thing is so hard in Mailchimp that even after watching tutorials on merge tags, I didn't get it. They kind of try to hide this by calling some of their features automations and tagging, but where other companies have sophisticated features called the same things, Mailchimps features just don't do the job. The best thing about Mailchimp has been the giant free plan. That will likely change, and fundamentally does now that they are counting unsubscribes. With average features, they are trustworthy in terms of a reputable company, but their goal isn't to serve YOU. They don't even have customer service AT ALL for the free plan. If you have considered a move, I think this is the kick in the pants that you should use to just do it.  WHAT EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER SHOULD YOU USE? I've tried all the biggies. Well, almost. I haven't tried Send in Blue or Active Campaign or Infusionsoft. But I've tried Mailchimp, Mad Mimi, Tiny Letter, Aweber, ConvertKit, and Mailerlite. That's a lot. I've paid for plans to test things SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO. Here are my top two recommendations and who should try each one. I'm an affiliate for each and will share my link, which won't cost you extra. (And NO, I'm not promoting them because I'm an affiliate. I became an affiliate because I USE and LOVE them.) Cheapest and Simplest: Mailerlite This email provider gives you 1000 free emails. They also have features that Mailchimp doesn't. Their automations are much more powerful and do more. Much more. Once you start paying, it's not that much AND you have customer service on the free plan. I use Mailerlite for my Emma St. Clair list, where I essentially have an easy entryway onto my list and sell books. The end. TRY MAILERLITE!  Most Powerful and Amazing: ConvertKit I've long been an advocate of Convertkit and still am. Their features are fantastic and streamlined. Easy to use and powerful. If you are simply selling books, this is more than you'll need. But if you have other things going on like sales funnels and lots of lead magnets and things like that, Convertkit's features beat Mailerlite's. I use Convertkit for my Create If Writing List, where I've run webinars and hosted live summits and set up sales funnels. TRY CONVERTKIT! If you're still unsure, you can check out my post where I go more in depth on which email service provider you should use. READ IT HERE. You can also read more about Mailchimp: David Gaughran-  Big Changes at Mailchimp Written Word Media- Mailchimp Changes: Everything Authors Need to Know For now, you CAN stay with Mailchimp if you're way under the limit. But you might not want to. Eventually, you WILL want to move and it's much easier to move now than move later. Trust me.

  SHOULD YOU PROMOTE YOUR FIRST NONFICTION BOOK?  The answer here is a little bit (maybe a LOT) different. I feel like there is a vast difference in how promotion looks for fiction and nonfiction. I've found WAY more free options for promoting nonfiction books.  Why?  Well, nonfiction books (other than creative nonfiction, like memoirs) often contain information that can be parsed out and packaged into other content. For example: I have a book on email lists. I have written a TON of content on this blog on email. (Find that here.) Many of the posts allow me to link to the paid book. I can also write guest posts where I gain authority and promote the book on email. I've heard tons of people go on podcasts to talk about the topic they wrote about in their nonfiction book.  Nonfiction books also may have a different purpose. Rather than just sales and money for the book, many authors write nonfiction books to gain authority. Want to start a speaking career? Write a book on something you know. Want to sell coaching packages? Write a book related to what you'll be doing in your coaching packages.  You can also use your nonfiction books as a sales funnel. I could use my book on email lists to sell a course (which I used to do, but don't anymore). Or coaching packages (which I also don't currently do). Your $4.99 nonfiction book could help sell your bigger-ticket items.  All that being said, your nonfiction book may be serving other purposes than just making money in and of itself. That makes the promotional aspect a little different ballgame.  Readers also don't read nonfiction in the same way. They might read a how-to book on a topic they're interested in, but they aren't necessarily going to go buy ALL of that author's other how-to books. They'll buy if they're interested in that topic, whereas in fiction, if readers like that writer's story, they'll want more of that AUTHOR.  In case you missed it, YES YES YES YES YES promote your first nonfiction book. Yes. But before you dump in a bunch of money, realize also that you have a ton of other kinds of opportunities to promote that book for FREE by guest posting and going on podcasts. 

For the summer, I'm doing short episode answering community questions! This week's question:  Should you pay to promote your first book?  In short: yes. But also: it depends.  Listen to find out more! This week is fiction. The next episode will be nonfiction.  Join the community to ask questions: http://createifwriting.com/community

Social media is an ever-changing beast. We are over the hype of social media and maybe a little burned out. But it's still important. So how should you  handle social media in 2019?  I want to put a big caveat into this post. I'm writing it from a place of social media privilege. I have a solid following on several platforms. When I'm not locked out of my account, I have just shy of 10k followers on Twitter. I have something like that also on Pinterest, last I looked. (Note: I haven't looked in months.)  I don't remember how many Facebook page likes I have on my two pages. It's something in the thousands on one and a few hundred on another. My Facebook group is around 2500. Instagram (which I never use) is something over 1000.  To some of you, those numbers will look small. To others, big.  I bring it up because you need to know where I'm coming from. These numbers matter because they could make you discount my attitude about social media, which is: chill out and stop freaking out about your numbers. Sure, you might think. Easy for you to say with your 10,000 Twitter followers.  I get it. But to that, I say: Those 10,000 followers do NOTHING for me. Nothing. I sometimes talk to people on there. But it does not sell books. It does not drive traffic. It may make me look more legit and people might find me there. But it does NOT MATTER OVERALL TO ANYTHING WITH MY BUSINESS.  Actually, I've been locked out of my account daily on Twitter for much of the last year, due to some glitch on their end that tells them I'm suspicious.  So, as we get into this and I tell you not to worry about social media, I'm not resting on my laurels. I'm telling you this because I've got followers and for the most part, it does very little to help my bottom line and overall goals.  Wow. How's that for a caveat??  Let's get into how to handle social media in 2019.  HOW TO HANDLE SOCIAL MEDIA IN 2019 When it comes to handling social media in 2019 (or 2091 if it's still a thing), first you need to step back and look at your big goals. What is your big goal?  Even beyond your specific goal, take a moment to realize that your overarching, general goal is to grow an audience that will support whatever content you are creating. You want buyers and readers and supporters for your creative work.  The audience will look different based on your specific goals.  If I need someone to buy 99 cent books, it's different than needing people to buy a $1000 course. You may have some crossover, but generally, those are different audiences. That will impact where you hang out on social and what kind of content you create, but in general, we are all looking for an audience for our bigger work.  That means that social media is NOT the goal. It's not the finish line. It is a tool. Social media is a conduit. It's a means to an end. It is not the be-all, end-all, but a way to find your audience, to connect with them, and to allow that audience to support you. (The exception is if your goal is to be a social media influencer, which means you'll be getting sponsored posts and money based directly on the number of Instagram or other followers you have. Still, though, you'll want to have some other way of connecting and reaching your audience. Cough. Email. Cough.)  HOW TO BUILD A SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING We get caught up in the numbers, and it CAN be about that--whether it's Instagram followers or pageviews or podcast downloads. But more than the numbers, it's about cultivating the right audience to connect with the content you're creating. Yes, those numbers represent people. But we should think of them as people, not as followers or numbers or likes. That's where you start.  Here are my recommendations for building your social media profile:  Pick a platform you enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, this will all be harder. If you don't enjoy it at all, try to find one you can learn to enjoy. Or tolerate cheerfully. Don't be a grinch. It's not that bad!! For tips on how to use the platforms, look for people who are experts in the space. There are a LOT of them in every space. Find a few. Follow them to see whose advice rings true for you. Do what they're doing. Create interesting content related to your overall goals. Be consistent.  Oh, and above all this: Build your email list. When social media has burned and gone away, email will still be there. (You should really listen to the podcast to hear my analogy for this, by the way...) Email is more permanent and can be more powerful. It won't change the way social platforms do and is a direct line to them, whereas on social platforms, that platform "owns" your followers.  THE FINAL WORD In 2019 when it comes to social media, I think we're all over the hype. We're a little tired of chasing numbers and the hamster wheel of working to do that. Let's get back to basics. Find the platform that feels right to you. Find the one that allows you to connect with people. Follow experts on those platforms to see how best to use it and keep up with changes.  Overall: keep your eyes on the prize. And that prize is NOT your Twitter followers. 

This is a topic that comes up every week day in Facebook groups: What do you do when you get a one-star review? (Especially on Goodreads...) So, what's the answer? I'm not going to give you ONE, but a few options when you're dealing with low reviews on your books.   FIRST UP: EVERYONE GETS BAD REVIEWS We've all been there. And if you haven't yet, you WILL. Even great classics have one-star reviews. I promise. Just for funsies, here are some screenshots of actual reviews of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: Oookay, then. Feel better? That's a classic. (If you ever need a boost, just go read the one-star reviews on great classics. It's therapeutic.) Point made: we all get one-star reviews. The end.  But knowing that doesn't always take away the sting. You know you're in good company, but what should you DO about those pesky low reviews? WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET ONE-STAR REVIEWS There are basically two main options when it comes to reviews: Read them or don't read them. When authors talk about their bad reviews, the advice often comes hard and fast to avoid reviews at all costs. Especially on Goodreads. (The culture there just seems a little more harsh and reviews tend to be lower.) I want to give you some reaasons why avoiding your reviews can be healthy, but also why you might want to read your bad reviews.  Why you might want to avoid reading reviews There may be a time and a place to read bad reviews, but there is also a time and place to avoid all reviews. You might need some emotional space because you're having a bad day/week/year. You might be easily wounded and find yourself falling too quickly into despair over things like this.  If you feel like your reviews are having too much of a negative impact on your writing or your person, STEP AWAY. Give it a rest. Don't read the reviews. Pretend they aren't there.  Even if it's just for a short period of time, ignore them. Step away. Give yourself permission to have some space.  WHY YOU SHOULD READ YOUR REVIEWS--ESPECIALLY THE BAD ONES I think it can be very helpful to read through your bad reviews. Yes, it can also stink. It can be discouraging. But you might learn something about your writing OR your readers. Maybe both.  Read through your bad reviews with an open mind, doing your best NOT to get emotional about the content. (Yeah, I know that's not super possible. Just try.) Take a few minutes to let things sink in and then maybe give yourself a day or two (or a few hours or a week--just depends!) and let the critique sink in.  Come back when you're less emotional about it. Then think about the words and what the reviewer is saying. Ask yourself some questions and try to answer honestly.  Is there anything constructive in the review?  Does anything ring true to you?  Are there any repeated themes/words/critiques in the bad reviews?  Can you identify an expectation that readers had that you didn't fulfill?  Is there any room for you to grow as a writer from the reviews?  You may not find anything helpful in your low reviews. (Just scroll back up to the Jane Eyre ones!) Sometimes people just won't jive with your style or your characters.  BUT. If all the low reviews say the same thing, you should really take some time to think about the validity of what they're saying. You might have missed a genre expectation or you might have some editing issues that need attention or you may need to work on giving your characters more depth.  As an example, when I first started writing as Emma St. Clair, I wrote a Christmas short without having read in my genre. (Don't do that!) I then wrote a second short that was to connect with a full-length novel to release in the spring. I learned from my reviews that I made a few BIG mistakes. I might not have realized as quickly or been able to examine what I could do better if I hadn't read those reviews.  I'm not saying you should take every review and change your writing or book. But if the reviews have merit, you can change things going forward OR edit your current work to be a better and stronger work.  WHAT YOU SHOULD NEVER DO WITH YOUR ONE-STAR REVIEWS I rarely say never. I usually say that you should do what works for you. But in this case, there are a few important things that you should never do. I mean it! Do not engage. I repeat: do not engage.  As an author, you cannot spend your time going around responding to bad reviews, explaining yourself, or arguing with reviewers. You will not win. You will just look like a jerk and turn off readers. Resist that urge! Also, do not get your followers to engage with bad reviews.  We are living in a time where the mob mentality online is strong. Too often I've seen authors or influencers online enlist their followers to take an action that quickly gets out of hand. You do not want to ask all your followers to try to get bad reviews taken down or to otherwise attack or engage with people who don't like your writing.  Again, it makes you look bad. It also is like bullying. I don't like the mob mentality in general. It's damaging and can be dangerous. Be careful that you aren't abusing your influence.  PARTING THOUGHTS ON BAD REVIEWS I want to circle back and remind you that we will all have bad reviews. You might be able to learn something from them or you might need to ignore them. But you definitely shouldn't spend time getting emotionally invested in them or getting your readers to join in the ganging-up mob culture that happens sometimes online. If you can learn something, learn it. Then move on and keep writing.  What do YOU do with bad reviews? Read? Ignore? Something else? 

When you start creating content, whether that's writing a book, blog, podcast, or something else, you may not think about your reasons beforehand. But you should. Most importantly, you need to think about whether you are creating content for love or for money. Let's explore why that matters! I don't have one single reason why I do the things I do. My reasons why are many and sometimes my reasons switch in the middle. That's probably true for you as well. But it's hugely important to stop and think about whether you are creating content for love or for money. If not BEFORE you start, definitely DURING the process. It's also a question that you should return to over time, as your reasons may shift. Why does this matter so much? Knowing whether you are creating content for love or for money will help you make a ton of decisions along the way and likely keep you from suffering from decision fatigue and overwhelm. CREATING CONTENT FOR LOVE FOR FOR MONEY Creating Content for Love When you are creating content for love, that means you have an idea or passion that fuels your creative drive. You want to do something, so you are doing it. Your decisions are based on what you like and don't like and what you feel like doing. This is not a bad thing. (Please know that I am placing no judgment on whether it's best to do something for love or for money!) But, when you are following your dreams and creating your passion, you should realize that you may not find success. We hear a lot of the stories about people pursuing passions and becoming wealthy doing so or growing a huge Instagram following or email list or blog by accident. I sometimes see people who have done this trying to teach this to people or selling courses on this and I want to tell you to ignore that. If you find success following your passion, it is likely a happy accident. You might happen to tap into something that there is a need for and no one filling that need. You might accidentally have started something just as it became trendy. But when your primary reason is creating content for love, you are not TRYING to build a giant audience or make millions. Your passion was your reason. Any success you find is a happy by-product. Creating Content for Money Creating content for money gets a bad rap among creatives. It shouldn't. Being able to pay your bills from book sales or ads on your blog is just as valid as getting a paycheck as a teacher or doctor or mechanic. You work and you get paid. That work just happens to be creative. Sure, some people do sell out. But only the content creator can know for sure if they have done that. I can FEEL it when considering decisions that I don't want, but would pay well. We all have to decide where we stand on that and no one can say that for you. When your primary goal is to make money, passion takes a backseat. You aren't making decisions any longer based on what you WANT or what you LIKE, but on what your AUDIENCE likes and what other people will PAY for. You will need to do more research and look for trends and what's working now and find where you can fill a gap in customer need, whether that "customer" is a blog reader or a podcast listener or an avid fiction reader. Creating content for money means being more intentional. Sometimes it may mean choosing something practical over something you like. It could mean choosing a book cover that might sell better than the book cover you happened to personally LOVE. If you find success while creating content for money, it is an intentional result of your research and hard work. You may not find success, which is important to know. I've tried a lot of things and not had the success I wanted or needed, even with all my research and intention. Just doing it for the money doesn't ensure success. THE SWEET SPOT OF CREATING CONTENT FOR BOTH LOVE AND MONEY For creatives, the sweet spot is to find something that you can do that you love and also makes money. It won't happen for all of us and it may not always be sustainable. But if you can identify a passion and a way to monetize that, then you are in a place many would envy. Even still, there will always need to be one or the other--love or money--driving the boat. When you have to make a decision about something like blog design or a book cover, you may need to pick one or the other. It's important to think about which of those two things is your driving or primary factor at any given time. I've seen some authors write multiple series at a time--one series for love and one for money. You may not always find both in the same time. If you are creating content just for money, sometimes that can lead to burnout or selling out or just unhappiness. If you are creating content just for love, you may have to get a day job or you may not be able to bring in a sustainable income.   While you may find that you're doing a little of both, it's incredibly important that you consider which one is the primary--love or money. As you have to make decisions about the various aspects of how you promote and create, your timeline, your marketing, and all of those things, this will be vitally important to know. It can make the difference between finding success or not. And always be aware of whether advice and teaching you're listening to comes from someone who accidentally found a profitable niche or someone who researched and intentionally set out to find it. Don't let someone who stumbled upon success try to teach you how to accidentally make money through your passion. If the goal is to make money and be intentional, then take the time to research and learn from those who have done the same. Give yourself the freedom to change up what you're doing. I would create SOMETHING for the love just because. I will always do that in my life. But how much time and money I invest totally depends on whether or not I'm doing it for the money or just for fun. Consider your big goals as you are making your creative decisions! You'll find that making decisions comes easier when you know WHY you're doing what you do.  

The question I get asked most is something along the lines of: How do you write with five kids? Sometimes I ask myself this question too! The specific ways that work for me may not work for you, but I'll share some tips to help you learn how to find time to write.   HOW TO FIND TIME TO WRITE Whether you have small children, a job, or any number of other things going on, finding time to write is HARD. Writing is an art, but it's also a practice. A skill. It takes brain power, energy, and time. In my experience, it's also very life-giving. Evaluate your circumstances What do you have going on in this particular season of life? Not just in terms of things that take up your time, but emotional things. Maybe you're caring for a baby and are exhausted or have someone in your family with chronic illness. You might be depressed. Take into account all the things that are present in your life. Make a plan Once you've considered what's going on in your life, come up with a plan. Realize that  your first plan may not work, but you have to start with one, try it, and then you can adjust. You'll probably need to adjust. Don't feel defeated if the first plan doesn't work. Ex: my 10pm - midnight office hours. Trying to write with kids. Learn how you work best You may not always have a choice in how you work, but try to find out what's ideal for you. This means everything from the specifics of when to work, where you work, and how. I like working better in the mornings, but I used to only have the option for nighttime. I also really hate having a firm deadline and need to finish way ahead of time if I have something like a preorder or I freak out. This matters a lot, especially when you don't have a lot of time. If you aren't working the way you work best, you'll e slower. Know your limits, respect them, and test them It's very easy to compare yourselves to other people and try to measure yourself against that. It's not going to help you write more or better or faster. There's a difference between watching others and learning from them and watching others and trying to shove yourself into their mold. I'm a fast writer. That's just me. You can't look at me putting out a book a month and think you can do it because I am. Maybe you can; maybe you can't. Either way? That's okay! You can always challenge yourself and work to get better at your craft or increase your speed, but that may not be the best for you. I didn't know I could write a book a month until I did it. Now it's easier because I know I can. Find hacks that work for you Listening to what has worked for other people might help you find what works for you. In a Facebook group for moms, one mom mentioned joining two gyms. She couldn't afford a full-time (or part-time) daycare, but was working for home. So she joined two gyms and used one in the morning for two hours and one in the afternoon for two hours. When I heard this, I thought it was genius. Then immediately felt a rush of mom guilt, until I did the math on that and realized that those were just four hours out of the day when I still had like nine others I was with my kids. This was (and is) a huge help to me. I don't always use both, but I regularly work at the YMCA, which is $75 a month for me and all five kids. Collect tips and then see what ones can work for you.   That's how I work... have any tips or ideas to add?

I've shared a lot about my publishing experiences over the last year, and just in case I've made it sound like a walk in the park, today I'm sharing book launch disasters. Though I'm sharing things I've experienced, I think many of these are common, so hope that they will help you when you face book launch disasters of your own! This post contains affiliate links! At no extra cost to you, I may make a commission on purchases made after clicking links.    Book Launch Disaster: Amazon Glitches The biggest part of this post deals with Amazon. MOST of these have happened to me. USUALLY the answer is going to be: contact Amazon. And the result of that will be: SOMETIMES they might do something. (But as I say in the podcast episode, "Most of the time, they're too busy making money to care.") Here are some things that might go wrong on Amazon--or another publishing channel. Not publishing the book at the right time -  I did have a delay with one book of over three days when my book got flagged by Amazon (more on that in a sec). A big-time author this week tried to release the sequel to a series and people freaked out when it wasn't on time. The author was scurrying around Facebook groups sharing that Amazon hadn't published the book yet, but it should have been out. If this happens: contact Amazon. It may or may not help. Making you prove you wrote the book - I had a delay on my third Emma St. Clair billionaire book, The Billionaire Benefactor. Amazon says it may take up to 72 hours to publish, but usually it's hours. After a day, I contacted them. After three days, they emailed me asking me to prove that I had the rights to publish the book. I had to send an email from my domain name email address. It took a few days and messed up my launch timeline. I had swaps and ads set up, so had to email people and the companies I'd paid to try and switch dates. If this happens: Contact Amazon. Contact any people you have newsletter swaps with, any companies you've paid for promos, and let your fans know if you've said the book will be out on a certain date. Publishing the wrong version of your book - Amazon recently switched up preorders and how they are set up. This resulted in a TON of books being published with the draft version, not the final. Typos everywhere! Angry reviews! It was a mess. If this happens: Contact amazon. You can ask them to replace the file, but often they'll want documentation. It's a really stinky situation for them and for you. Double-check the files before you send because things have changed. Not changing the price - With my Billionaire Surprise Box Set, Amazon didn't change the price in the US until three days AFTER I changed it. For whatever reason, it dropped in Canada and outside the US, but my main promos I had scheduled were IN the US. So I lost money on the promos where they cancelled my book since it wasn't marked down as it was supposed to. One promo site rescheduled (thanks, Book Cave!). The others? I just lost money. Argh. If this happens: Contact Amazon. Usually you'll just have to wait it out. If you need to, contact any people you're swapping newsletters with or any paid promos. Disconnecting your series page - Masquerade Ball. When you have a series, Amazon will make a series page for them and show the others in the series at the bottom of the description. I had this set up and when I published the fifth book, they removed it. (Also had trouble getting them to add book #3 to the page when it published.) I don't know why they did this, but I simply had to call or email and get them to fix it. If this happens: Contact Amazon. They gave me a hard time once, but normally, they are fine and restore it quickly. Taking away your reviews - this is just something that happens. Usually there's nothing you can do other than get organic reviews from people. Make sure your reviews are legit, but otherwise, email Amazon if they ALL go. If it's a few, probably nothing you can do. If this happens: Unless it's ALL your reviews, there's nothing you can do. If ALL your reviews disappear, it's probably a glitch and will restore itself. Make sure you're not reviewing your own books, asking family to do this, and that your ARC readers aren't using phrases like "in exchange for" that make it sound like they got a free book in EXCHANGE for review. Those are no-nos. Removing your book - There was a glitch this weekend where al ton of books were removed from Amazon. It was just a glitch, but that doesn't help you feel better when you lose ranking because of your book being GONE. A few friends had this happen and it tanked their climb in the ranks. If this happens: It's probably a glitch. If Amazon contacts you and it's related to the content in your book, you can do your best to comply. I've seen that, but RARELY. BOOK LAUNCH DISASTERS: NOT SELLING ENOUGH Sometimes you launch and it just feels like your book isn't selling the way it SHOULD. Don't mistake that for the way you WANT. Chances are, you'll always WANT it to sell more. But if you check the ranking of your book compared to other similar books in the genre you're aiming for and things like that, you'll get a more realistic idea. (I also use the tool KDSPY to check on fun details within categories. You can check that out HERE.) If your book is not selling like it SHOULD, here are some things that might be going on. (Again, make sure your expectations are realistic. Mine sometimes aren't.) Your cover doesn't fit the genre - With my book, The Billionaire Love Match, I had a handsome, grumpy guy, perfect for billionaires, I thought. I didn't realize (duh) that EVERY billionaire is in a suit. (Almost.) My cover was okay, but he didn't look rich and it was dark. I've now gone through a few transformations. It mattered! Whether or not you think covers matter, they DO. Make sure yours is genre specific. Don't get emotionally attached or go with what you love. It matters more if your READERS will love it. Your blurb doesn't hook the readers - I have been testing Facebook ads with The Billionaire's Secret Heir and found that my ads were getting people to the page, but it wasn't selling like it should. The cover is fine and genre-appropriate and I asked around to get feedback. It all centered around my blurb. I wrote four revisions, bought a book, and wrote another one. I think it's much better and the ads converted better. You need to hook those readers who get to your page! Study other blurbs in your genre as they vary from genre to genre. Then study copywriting. I did and it helped! Related book: Mastering Amazon Descriptions by Brian D. Meeks Your ads aren't working - If this is the case, first check your cover and blurb. If that's not the issue, you may have a targeting issue with your audience or you may not understand how to run ads. This is a BIG reason I recommend email promo sites to start with, not Facebook, Bookbub, or Amazon ads. They have a learning curve. Sometimes your book just doesn't sell the way you want OR the way it should. Sometimes it's because of #1 or #2, but sometimes it's not something you can pinpoint. Until you grow your own fan base of people hungry for your book, which takes TIME, this can be slow going. Try to identify any problems and then just do your best. If this happens: Ask for help in a critique group. Check the other similar books in your genre and authors at your level (as in, don't compare your first book to an author with fifty). Be ready to respond to that feedback in a non-emotional way. :)   BOOK LAUNCH DISASTERS: YOUR EXPECTATIONS I saved this one for last because I think it's the hardest. It's not external; it's your mind. I am HARD on myself. I set big goals and I want to accomplish them. I shouldn't be disappointed in what happened this past year. I've reached my goals and then some. But I'm never NOT thinking about the next step. I always want to write better, sell better, and make more money. That's the goal-- not to get stagnant, but to get better. that means, though, that I can be super hard on myself. I also suffer from book envy. I see other authors doing what I'm doing, writing what I'm writing, and it's SO hard not to think, "Why isn't that me?" That is so unhelpful. Unless you are studying what they are doing to see how it might benefit you, that comparison is only going to leave you sad. Sometimes people want to read bland, vanilla, boring books. I've seen some selling really well in my genre. Sometimes you don't know why someone else's book with a bad cover is outselling yours with a to-genre cover. You can't compare. It's not healthy.   Any book launch disasters? Share in the comments or in the Facebook community!

This post deals with something super important: how to get book reviews for your book. I don't have a magic formula or some ninja trick for this. It's a long game, over time. Are you ready? Let's dive in.   Getting book reviews sometimes seems like a ninja trick. It's a struggle in the beginning and feels like a chicken and egg problem. Reviews help you sell books (and secure some of the paid promos), but you can't get reviews without selling books. If you're frustrated, you aren't alone! But you CAN do this. HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS Write a good book. No duh, right? Here's the thing: we all think that we've written a good book. But what you really need to know is if your book is well-written and suits the reader expectations for the genre. If you are not writing in a specific genre according to that genre's conventions and you're just choosing to write what you want, getting reviews will be harder. Unless you write a unicorn book. (Not an actual book about unicorns, but a book that just HAPPENS to find success.) To help make sure you've got a good book, get some other eyes on it. Find some beta readers or ask other authors in your genre. Make sure you've read the successful books in your genre. Above all, make sure your books meets reader expectations. The cover, blurb, and the contents in the book should all line up together and should all be what the reader expects. This is the basic foundation for getting reviews. Don't miss this! If you aren't sure about how to write to a particular genre, check out my post on niching down. Grow your audience.  It's hard to grow an audience as you start. This is slow work, but it's work that you should be continually doing. Growing an audience is something you'll do for your whole author career. You may be using social media, but your main focus should be your email list. Do newsletter swaps with authors who are in the same genre. Run ads targeted to the right people. You need eyes on you book to get reviews. As I launched my Emma St. Clair pen name last year, my reviews grew as I continued to write books. My earlier books had less reviews in the first thirty days than the books I write now. Build a review team.  While growing your audience, also grow your review team. I've talked about the difference between ARC readers and a launch team--you might have one or the other or both. But as you grow your overall audience, continue to build this team of people who see your book first and will review for you. Different people handle this different ways. Some ask for proof of reviews form the members and remove people from the team. This seems like a lot of work for me, and technically Amazon could take you to task. You are not allowed to incentivize reviews or require them in exchange for your free book. (More from Amazon on this.) Something realistic to realize: it is a SMALL percentage who leave reviews. As far as I can tell (without doing more work than I want to), about half of my current team leave reviews. When you're looking OUTSIDE your review team, it will be less. As an example, I've sold and given away over 6k copies of my most-reviewed book and it has had 1.5 million pages read. It's just shy of 100 reviews. Ask for reviews. To get more reviews, you DO have to ask. This is a place where authors sometimes get uncomfortable and then awkward. Let's avoid that. You don't need to feel bad asking for reviews and you also don't want to make READERS feel bad if they don't. Somewhere in the back matter of your book, ask for reviews in a simple, clear way that isn't emotionally manipulative or apologetic. I normally don't review because an author asks, but because I like them book and then am reminded to review when I finish a book on the app and Amazon asks for a review. It may not be the author asking, but the fact that I AM asked gets me taking action. Calls to action work. Don't miss this simple step. As for the wording, keep the tone light. You can explain why reviews matter, but don't go on too long about it. Ask for an honest review if they liked the book. Don't make people feel bad or like they HAVE to leave a review. Try not to come across as needy or whiny or demanding. Don't beg. Check to see how some of your favorite authors do this and then find a way to ask in your own words. Remind people. If authors don't like asking for reviews, they DEFINITELY don't love reminding readers. This feels like nagging. But nothing is wrong with reminding your email list or your Facebook page to leave a review. You don't have to ask overtly, but that's fine too. One way I've found to remind people is to post a screenshot or quote of a review and share how thankful you are for it. That gets people thinking, "Oh yeah-- I mean to leave a review!" It also shows that you appreciate your reviewers. With your review team, you can do more overt reminding. You should email them at least twice, maybe more, about reviews. After all, they signed up for this. You aren't annoying them, but reminding them that they signed up to do this. WHAT OTHER OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE?  If you've gotten this far, obviously these are slow, long-term strategies. They aren't quick wins or fast ways to get hundreds of reviews. There ARE some other ways to get reviews if you want to try other things. I just don't recommend them as much. BUT if you're just starting out, some of these might help you with that.  Paid Review Services There are services where you can pay them to connect you with readers and reviewers. This is NOT buying reviews, but giving away your book through a paid service to their audience with the hopes of getting reviews. I have never used these (other than Shifted Sheets, which worked well and grew my email list by 50 or so), but have seen other authors recommend them.  Happy Book Reviews Shifted Sheets (mailing list builder option) Booksprout Hidden Gem Book Sirens Xpresso Services Some authors have used Net Galley, but this seems to be a more expensive option with very harsh reviewers. I've not seen any authors recommending this.  Emailing Reviewers I've seen the advice (and even courses) about manually going in (or using a data scraping tool like Import.io) to get email addresses from Amazon reviewers, then emailing them offering a free book for a review. I'm not a fan of this for a few reasons, though I think it CAN be done well. Some Amazon reviewers WANT free books to review. They do this all day long. Amazon did remove the ability to SEE the email addresses when you click on a reviewer, so now it takes more work to click on a webiste or blog and find their email address.  I did try this once. It took hours. I should have been writing more books instead. :) WHAT IF I GET BAD REVIEWS? Some people suggest that you shouldn't read your bad reviews. That's not bad advice. Sometimes it's healthy to just step away. But you also might find something really helpful to you as an author in those bad reviews. I say read them. Learn from them if you can. Don't let them negatively impact you. Then move on. There isn't magic in getting more reviews on your book. If someone tells you there is a quick way to get lots of reviews, they are probably selling something or violating Amazon's terms somehow. Write good books. Grow your audience. Ask for reviews. And then repeat.  Questions? Tips or other resources for getting reviews? 

In the last post/podcast episode, I talked about beta and ARC readers, but didn't touch on the launch team. There are slight differences in the ARC team and the launch team, so I wanted to fully address what a launch team is and why authors might (or might not) want one.   REWIND: WHAT ARE BETA AND ARC READERS?  To refresh, I want to go over terms. When I talk about beta readers, these are a handful of readers who see the book in its finished, but not yet proofread form. They help catch errors, but also let me know if anything about the pacing or story needs work. ARC or advance readers get the book after the betas and my proofreader have been through the book. They get a fully-edited and formatted copy of the book and are encouraged (but not required, per Amazon terms of service) to leave a review.  WHAT IS A LAUNCH OR SCREAM TEAM?  A launch team is a little different. The fact that authors have started calling these Scream Teams gives you an idea what they do. They don't just review books, but go out and tell the world. As in, word-of-mouth marketing. Typically authors use a group like Facebook or Slack to communicate with the group, rather than just email (which is how I communicate with beta and ARC readers). This helps you build excitement because your readers can talk to each other.  WHAT DOES A LAUNCH TEAM DO?  Launch teams are often made up ARC readers, but the expectation is for more than an advance read and a review. Usually launch teams work to get the word out, whether through blog posts, emails to friends and family, social media posts, or even in-person events. The goal is word-of-mouth marketing, like a grassroots campaign.  HOW CAN AUTHORS MAKE AN EFFECTIVE LAUNCH TEAM?  Because I've seen so many different authors handle these differently, I think the most important thing is to be clear on expectations. Most of the time, there is an application of sorts. Sometimes authors require that the launch team actually BUY the book and sometimes it's given as an ARC. There might be requirements for the launch team members to post a certain number of times about the book. However you want to run your team, make that very clear from the start.  The main thing you should remember is that a launch is exciting. This should be like a party, not like an obligation of some kind. When you treat your launch like a party that all your launch team members are invited to, then you are going to have a contagious excitement--that's the goal!  If YOU are excited about your book, that feeds your LAUNCH TEAM'S excitement about the book, which feeds the excitement of their FRIENDS AND FAMILY that they share with.  Ideas for launch teams:  Exclusive content for launch team members Giveaways (NOT in exchange for reviews, per Amazon's terms of service) Live video Swag In-person events (check out my post on how to have a launch party!)  The sky is the limit for how you handle your launch team. Let your personality shine through. Find things that are fun for YOU and will be fun for your readers.  WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO HAVE A LAUNCH TEAM I've mentioned before that I'm publishing a book a month right now. Running a launch team EVERY MONTH would be exhausting. For me and all the members. It would burn them out. I do have some whale readers and superfans, so this might be something I consider as I grow my audience and as I stop publishing as frequently, but for now, it doesn't make sense. If you are publishing monthly, a scream team or launch team will be hard. If you really can't stand being personal, this is not the thing for you. The launch team works best when the author is involved, not a publishing company or personal assistant. I think these work best with an author who is all-hands-on-deck. FINAL THOUGHTS ON LAUNCH TEAMS OR SCREAM TEAMS If this doesn't sound like your jam, DON'T DO IT. it also seems to work better when you've built up an audience of superfans, so this may take some time. Word-of-mouth marketing is amazing, so if you can take the time to build up a team of superfans who have your back and want to tell the world about your books, then you will have a great team of people backing you up! Other links and resources:  Guide to creating a launch team Using an ARC Team to launch your book A Simple Book Launch Framework

I'm continuing on a fluid series on book launching and publishing with this post on how to find bet and ARC readers for your book. To read more of the series, click HERE.  One of the important parts of a book launch is sending out your book to beta and ARC readers. Not sure what those terms mean? You aren't alone! Let's break that down. Note: Different people may use these terms interchangeably and in different ways. The definitions I'm sharing are the ones that I use and what I think are most commonly used by authors.  To see the post on my main blog, click HERE.  To join my free Facebook community, click HERE.  WHAT ARE BETA READERS?  Who are they? My beta readers are superfans who love the genre I write in and get a chance to look at my manuscript before it's even been to the proofreader. I send it to them as soon as I'm done editing.  How many do you have?  I have less than ten beta readers. What you send them? I send them a Word doc or, by request, another type of file. They will either email a list of corrections or notes (if they aren't using Word) or will use the feature to make comments and track changes in Word. What they do for you? My beta readers look for things like plot holes, typos and other errors, or anything in the story that might trip them up, not make sense, or that slows down the overarching story. They help me get secure in the story and often they pick up things the paid proofreader misses.  When do I send them a book?  I send the book as soon as it's done with my final edits. I am on a super-tight schedule. I send them the book usually less than two weeks before publication. This is VERY SHORT and most people recommend longer. But for me and the readers I have, it works.  WHAT ARE ARC READERS?  Who are they? My beta readers get my books in the final form--after the betas and after the proofreaders and after I've made my corrections. The book is fully formatted and should be as close to perfect as possible.  What you send them? I send a .mobi or .epub file through Bookfunnel.  What they do for you? They read in advance and write the first set of reviews. If they happen to find any typos or have suggestions, I always welcome them, but I do let them know these are my final edits and I'm not looking for story suggestions. When do I send them a book?  I send them the book after I've made the final corrections after the betas and proofreaders have looked at it. Because I'm publishing on a super tight schedule, they usually get the book a week or a few days in advance of publication.  HOW TO FIND BETAS & ARC READERS Friends and family This can be good or bad and you may not know until you try it. Friends and family might not be great readers because they want to encourage you. OR they might feel so close to you that they will say whatever they think.  I've had bad experiences with friends and family reading books and telling me how much they hated things. It's really hard to come back from that. You may not want to.  Friends and family may not be the ideal readers for your genre. If you find someone who is a good reader, reads your genre, and you think would give you an honest (but kind) response, go for it! Paid Services I have not personally used paid services to find beta and ARC readers. I'm a little hesitant to recommend this, though I'd love for someone to weigh in who has had a good experience.  First of all, I think that an organic approach may yield better results. I've heard some horror stories about the paid services, but again-- it's not firsthand. The more I wrote and grew my audience, the more I had people requesting to be a part of my ARC teams. Paying for betas and ARCs might be your only option in the beginning, but I would work to organically build readers as early as you can.  Asking Other Authors' Readers I've seen authors teaming up to grow their ARC and beta reader. This would look like one author offering to give their own readers the signup form for another author. I think this can be great and I've personally done this for authors, but you don't want to do this too frequently, unless you want your readers stretched really thin.  I write a book a month, so I want readers who can keep up. If you're publishing less often, you might be more able to do this often. This is a great way to get in front of the right readers and another reason you want to be building relationships with other authors.  Asking Other Authors I haven't had great luck with this, mostly because I think all the other authors are busy being authors. But I know many authors do use other authors in their genre as beta readers or as ARC readers for their books. If you are just starting out and have no direction, but do have author friends, this is another thing you could do--read for them and they read for you.  TIPS FOR BETA AND ARC READERS Be clear in your expectations. I've had people do way more than I wanted or asked.  Don't let everyone on your beta team. You don't want a lot of beta readers. I have almost ten and they are epic. But some people only have a few other people look.  Find a timeline that works. My publication schedule is very fast. I have found people to work fast with me. That may not work for your genre or readers. You'll need to plan out the time you NEED for this to work for you.  BE THANKFUL. I've been a beta reader for some authors before, given great feedback, and gotten nothing in return. Not even a thanks. I will never beta for someone again who does that. If you find someone willing to read your book or write a review or share with friends, you better show them how much you appreciate them. 

All writers struggle with insecurities. A few this week who are at various stages of their writing and publishing and even blogging careers feeling like a failure or feeling scared or just struggling with doubts.  We have all been there! I hope this post can be an encouragement to you if and when you're feeling insecure about your writing or creative work. HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR DOUBTS Identify the trigger Can you find out what is causing those feelings of doubt? I've struggled with and still struggle with depression. When I'm having a low day, I put it on the calendar. It helps me identify if something happened to trigger it. There isn't always something, but for you maybe it's reviews or a particular Facebook group that makes you feel unhealthy. Try to find the cause.  Remove or adjust If you are able to avoid or remove that thing from your life, even temporarily, do it! If not, see if you can find a way to adjust. I've left groups that made me doubt myself, disconnected from Facebook friends who weren't positive, and I've taken breaks from writing altogether as needed.  Find support  We all need other creatives and to know that they are right there with us. Look for a group that makes you feel your worth. I don't mean a group of people who tell you what you want to hear. But find a group that will speak the truth to you kindly and that will share in your struggles.  Remind yourself of truths Focus on what you KNOW to be true, not how you FEEL. In January I had my best month ever. Then in February...I didn't. I was really low. When I talked to my husband about my income that month, he reminded me that though my income was lower than January, it was still my third-highest-grossing month. I got caught up in feelings, not facts.  Take an action to move you forward I've learned that I hit a low point at the time I finish a book. I am filled with self-doubt and even self-loathing. I think my book is the worst thing I've ever written. I want to quit. Once I identified that as a trigger, I learned to take an action: I start a new book. As soon as the finished book is with my proofreader, I open the next Word doc and start typing.  You are not alone in your doubt!  Every so often I've heard someone try to say that if you have doubts that it's just imposter syndrome or a sign of immaturity in your career. Just say NO to that nonsense.  At some point, you DO have to get out of your head and take action. You can't allow these doubts and hardships to hold you back. But having them is NOT a sign that you don't know what you're doing or that you have a lot to learn.  I've experienced doubt every single month for the last year, even though on paper I've gone from making under $100 a month to a healthy four-figure income.  You're in good company!