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The momentum trap As a writer and certified life coach, I’ve seen a pattern—both in my coaching work and in myself—that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. That pattern is what happens to us after we finish “the thing.” My most recent reminder came in late November. I’d been pushing hard, working late nights and early mornings, trying to hit a deadline on a traditionally published book. I p…

I’ve been talking to authors about publishing wide for well over a decade now. I’ve written books about it, spoken about it at conferences around the world, and spent years inside the Kobo and Draft2Digital operations watching how it all works from the inside. And I keep seeing authors making the same mistakes. Authors hear the message about not putting all their eggs in one basket. They agree …

A new wave of ‘gentle fantasy’ is captivating readers who crave wonder without the war The first time I spotted Legends & Lattes at my local bookshop, I experienced a flutter of recognition. Here was a fantasy novel about an orc who retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop. No dark lords. No chosen ones. Just someone building a small business and finding community. As a cozy mystery …

  Have you ever considered changing genres? Or did you try but it turned into an utter non-starter? As I head into my next major genre leap, I asked some fellow jumpers five basic questions about their ideas, successes, and fu—, uh, hard lessons learned. The jumps Some say that writers’ brains are wild, entropy-driven vortices. Based on the jumps these folks have done, that is an accura…

Blogging used to be a popular way to connect with readers and share information about our books. Over time—and with the increased popularity of various social media platforms—blogging has come to be seen as optional, and even outdated. Nonetheless, I believe it’s still a viable option for book promotion. Unless you remove them, blog posts live on your website indefinitely, allowing new visitors…

The beginning is not always the optimal place to start a story. Many authors have found that nonlinear storytelling, with its shifts across time and perspective, can deepen reader engagement and create a more layered narrative experience. Nonlinear novels do not follow events chronologically. Instead, authors may move forward and backward in time or develop parallel timelines that unfold in con…