Nick Thacker's Blog, page 18

Authors: 10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog!

Wait. IÂseriously haven’t written this post yet?

I’ve never talked about why you, as a writer,ÂmustÂhave a blog?

What’s wrong with me?Â

Most likely, I’ve just put that information — some of the most important information in the world, ever — in things like books and articles and products.

But since we’re both here, I’ll write it again. This time I’ll put a “bloggy” spin on it: a”top 10″ list, toÂproveÂto you how awesome and important a blog can be.

Ready? Here you go:Â10 Reasons Why You Need A Bl...

Email Marketing for the Time and Cash-strapped Self-published Author

Note from Nick: Two things: I love MailChimp, and I love people who make my life easier. Caimin, the author of this post, has made my lifeÂunbelievablyÂeasier by perfectly following the guest-posting guidelines (making this an easy post to edit/prepare), and it’s on a wonderful, helpful, and necessary subject to boot. Please leave him a comment and let him know what a wonderful job he’s done!

It’s launch time for your next book. Imagine you can instantly email hundreds of interested readers.

No...

The 10 Best Books to Help You Market Your Books

Happy April!

Okay, moving on.

“Book marketing,” at least as a genre of nonfiction/how-to books, is a seriously underrepresented market. In fact, a search at Amazon for “book marketing” brings up mostly Kindle shorts — article-sized tidbits that, while certainly filled with some good information, aren’t exactly going to cover the full spectrum of what it means to market your book.

No offense to the authors of many of these, either. Most were written for a specific purpose. They’re short, sweet, a...

3 Simple Ways to Maximise your Creative Output & Get More Writing Done

“Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labour, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer.” – Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was right. Being a writer is not easy. Writing every day is not easy. Every writer has doubts. Every writer knows the pain of sitting at their keyboard and staring at the page, or throwing out thousands and thousands of words that just didn’t feel...

Is Your Writing Your Business (and Why it Should Be)

During my first year in self-publishing, I earned about $10,000. Most of it (~80%) was directly through the sale of books — Amazon, Smashwords, my own website, etc. The rest of that income was generated through affiliate sales of my favorite writing software (Scrivener), Amazon.com affiliate links (in my books and around this site), and through product sales and consultations.

That number, depending on where you are in your own publishing career, might be high. It also might be laughably low (...

No Writer Is An Island

This post is actually an excerpt from my upcoming book, tentatively titledÂThe 21 Irrefutable Laws of Self-Publishing, due to be released sometime next month. Let me know what you think, and if you’d like to see more like it.

Also, if you’d like to receive a free copy when it’s released, be sure to sign up on the waiting list over at Turtleshell Press!

You can’t go it alone.Â

Writers, by nature, are more apt to be independent, rather than social butterflies. As such, our chosen profession lead...

Muscle Up with a Blogging Boot Camp

As a blogger, it’s important to stay ahead of the game. Having a backup of great, original, SEO-rich content reduces stress and ensures that you have the material to keep going. If you have a free weekend or break coming up, set aside time to backlog content for the future. Just like an emergency cash fund, this is your “just-in-case” content for when you get overwhelmed with work, fall ill or have a future emergency.

The most difficult part is the first step. Simply carving out a niche...

Get Drunk, Write Epic Stuff, and Edit While You’re Sober

The inspiration behind this post comes from two very insightful men. Odds are, you haven’t heard of either one. However, they both have some pretty earth shaking stuff to tell writers.

Do Epic Shit

Brian Oberkirch gave a speech titled, “Try Making Yourself More Interesting.” One of his main points was this: do epic shit.

Those three words should dominate a writer’s career. Mediocrity has no place in writing. Whether you are composing for the internet or print publications, epicness...

Get Drunk, Write Epic Shit, and Edit While You’re Sober

The inspiration behind this post comes from two very insightful men. Odds are, you haven’t heard of either one. However, they both have some pretty earth shaking stuff to tell writers.

Do Epic Shit

Brian Oberkirch gave a speech titled, “Try Making Yourself More Interesting.” One of his main points was this: do epic shit.

Those three words should dominate a writer’s career. Mediocrity has no place in writing. Whether you are composing for the internet or print publications, epicness...

Developing Yourself as Both a Person and a Writer Through Focus Journaling

Every person wants to grow as a person, and every writer wants to grow as a writer. Did you know that you can do both at the same time? You can do this through a method I call focus journaling.

Focused journaling is, as the name suggests, a journal with a purpose. It involves asking yourself questions and answering them with total honesty, without filtering your thoughts. When used correctly, focused journaling helps you develop as a person by giving you a safe space to explore what truly matt...