Unhealthy competition; damned Spotify; invisible ads — Newsletter 13 December 2023
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Unhealthy competition; damned Spotify; invisible ads — Newsletter 13 December 2023

Newsletter week 22: Stop slagging other authors, will Spotify crash audiobooks?, AI copyright posturing, three people to follow, three books to read, and some very lame ad copy. The myth of personal market share A shocking and tragic story rattled the publishing world this week. Cait Corrain, a fantasy novelist who had secured a two-book…

Is your book topical or evergreen? Timely or timeless?

Is your book topical or evergreen? Timely or timeless?

There are two basic ways to approach the content that goes into a book. You are creating topical content that’s relevant based on current trends and events. Or you are creating evergreen content that will have value for many years to come. If I can shamelessly steal terminology from Scott Monty’s estimable podcast and Substack,…

Authors: proper planning is not procrastinating

Authors: proper planning is not procrastinating

I got some interesting responses to yesterday’s list of what tasks to do for your book and in what order. One editor’s response on LinkedIn was typical: I’m fascinated by this list. It seems incredibly counterintuitive to me. Spending time on a title, subtitle, marketing copy, and worrying about who your editor might be before…

To avoid waste (or disaster), do your book tasks in the right sequence
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To avoid waste (or disaster), do your book tasks in the right sequence

So often, authors waste time early in the process of creating a nonfiction book. It breaks my heart to see people writing extensive material that will almost certainly be useless, or trying to line up an agent without a solid idea. At best, such tasks are an inefficient way to make progress. At worst, they’ll…

Good clients

Good clients

Here’s what a good author client looks like to me: You want to help people. You know the specific type or group of people you want to help. You know what you are talking about; you have experience. What you know is bigger than could fit into a few pages. You have new insights, not…

Who makes the first move when negotiating with a publisher?

Who makes the first move when negotiating with a publisher?

I recently wrote about how to negotiate with your publisher. But the publisher-author dance is remarkably subtle, and if you don’t know the steps, you might inadvertently make the relationship awkward. The key for authors is to know when to go first . . . and when to expect the publisher to go first. The…