Bard Press Essay #16July 8, 2021 Becky Robinson, from Weaving Influence, interviewed me recently for her podcast. The episode was released last week and I think it turned out pretty well. We covered a number of topics that I have written about here in the last several months. Here are the set of topics we […]
Essays
The Opening Words
Bard Press Essay #15June 10, 2021 In this last week, I’ve been reading two books on mindfulness, and from my work-a-day world of book publishing, it is interesting to look at the approaches the authors made in the opening to their books and what those words say about the rest of the book. Fully Present […]
One Word
Bard Press Essay #14May 28, 2021 When you think about the book you are writing, see if there is a way to boil down to one word. Sometimes, that one word is the subject of the book. This has been a popular method to naming non-fiction books in recent years—Quiet, Switch, Drive, Blink, Peak, Rework, […]
What’s The Sales Plan For Your Book?
When an author writes the proposal for their book, and again, after they finish the manuscript, there is a big focus on the question: What’s the marketing plan for the book? This set of activities is an incredibly important component of launching a book and there are many different tactics that one can employ. You […]
It depends.
Bard Press Essay #12May 7, 2021 1. When I talk to authors about their projects, they always want me to share my best ideas for marketing. “What are the three best things I can do to successfully launch my book?” I normally rattled off three answers, techniques that I have seen work over the years. […]
Take The Order
Bard Press Essay #11April 21, 2021 So… 10,000 copies sold in the first year is your new goal. So, how do you do it? Let’s build a model for how to think about that. The Long Term Book Launch Model There are three phases to the long-term book launch: Fuel Launch Accelerate In the fueling […]
The Magic Number
Welcome new readers! If you would like to subscribe to the Bard Press Essays, you can do that here. Bard Press Essays #10April 14, 2021 1. Launching a book is difficult and book launches are getting more difficult. For as long as I have worked in publishing, I have wondered what makes some books work […]
Speaking Truth
The Bard Press EssaysWeek 9 – March 30, 2021 “I want to change how publishing reaches out to authors.” That is how Yahdon Israel, newly hired senior editor at Simon & Schuster, described his approach in his Instagram Live last week. Editors using social media to talk directly to authors is not something you see much. […]
Marketing The Throughline
In the last few weeks, I’ve written a couple of essays about book throughlines. Creating a strong connection between the elements of the throughline makes your book a better product for readers. Today, I want to take it a step further and suggest that you extend the throughline beyond the book and into the marketing […]
Who Did You Write Your Book For?
Bard Press EssaysWeek 7 – March 17, 2021 1. Recently, I talked about the importance of picking the right problem. For an author, it is one of the most important decisions they can make. Books help readers solve problems. If you get the problem wrong, you are not going to connect with readers. What I […]
