Book Editor and Writing Coach

January 9, 2025

Re-Write of a Book Blurb

Occasionally I like to re-write a book blurb because it’s leaving so much unsaid. When writing a non-fiction book blurb especially, we need to focus on the specific group of end readers and what problems they want solved. How does the material match those problems? How can their dreams be helped on track by these pearls of wisdom? Let’s see how it works in this example (re-write is below the original). ORIGINAL: “How to be a Six-Star Business” (2021) Share the stories, inspiration, and genius of 22 entrepreneurs from around the world who provide insights and action steps to go BEYOND the every day in your business. Discover the 3 pillars and 9 principles that will make your business 6 Star as you continually strive to do and be better connect your heart to your purpose and join the 6…

book creation or writing courses compared

January 9, 2025

Self-Publishing

Two Courses Compared: Mark Dawson’s “Can You Write a Bestseller” vs. Jennifer Lancaster’s “Book Creation Self-Publish”

In the ever-expanding universe of self-publishing, aspiring authors often find themselves at a crossroads, seeking the perfect course to guide them through the intricate web of book creation, book marketing, and self-publishing. Two prominent contenders in this space are Mark Dawson’s Can You Write a Bestseller and Jennifer Lancaster’s Book Creation Self-Publish. In this comparison review, we’ll delve into the nuances of both courses to help you make an informed decision. Course Content and Structure: Led by Suzy K Quinn, the “Can You Write a Bestseller” course is modular, focusing primarily on the process of writing a bestseller. This unit places a spotlight on honing writing skills and crafting compelling narratives, key for beginning writers. However, it’s worth noting that this course might leave authors yearning for more comprehensive coverage in other crucial aspects of self-publishing and hence need to…

May 16, 2025

Writers Mindset

How Do You Keep on Writing and Being Productive on Blah Days?

I often witness non-fiction book writers have a dip in their motivation and self-belief. So what if you have those blah days, and can’t seem to think of a single good idea? The book ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King helped me long ago to realise: you just have to make a commitment to keep sitting down to write, despite not feeling like it. Prolific fiction writer Amy Suto said that a simple mindset shift early on changed everything for her. Her advice, whatever your feelings on the day: decide to show up imperfectly. “I’m going to do it without putting pressure on the outcome. I’m going to do it tired. I’m going to do it imperfectly.” Being a book coach is something that makes for fascinating party conversations. “Oh, you help people write a book? … I always wanted to write…

Doing research to create a book and blast writers block

May 14, 2025

Book Writing, Writers Mindset

Doing Research to Create a Book and Blast out Writer’s Block

One of my favourite tools to bust yourself out of blank page staring (writer’s block) is research. In particular, keyword and audience research for creating a book. This is about how research can help you start writing a topic-based book. A Walk Through Audience Research from Keywords First, you will want to do audience research along with keyword research. One without the other will be giving you herrings, red ones. The tool for this is SparkToro, made by Rand Fishkin, an SEO expert leader. What he doesn’t know about finding an audience isn’t worth knowing. Under SparkToro: Demographics you will find ‘Bio/profile terms’, and you see whether the relevant word appears in people’s bio. Are you onto the right target market? Creation, marketing, development were top 3 bio words of the keyword ‘Book Creation’. I could launch a LinkedIn search…

May 27, 2025

Book Writing

If You Use ChatGPT for Book Writing, a Word to the Wise

Last week I bought a Kindle book about Mastering your own Public Relations. Firstly, if you use a title along those lines, you will attract people wanting to DIY their brand publicity/PR and expecting some handy tips. Using ChatGPT can help with getting ideas for chapter titles because it will make the titles in a similar fashion that you can then adjust. But for words? Well, let’s see where the use of ChatGPT for book writing all went wrong. There were some real entrepreneur stories of success in the eBook, and these were the ideas I wanted to be taken deeper into. Many other pieces were quite obviously explanations and benefit lists generated by a chatbot. I recognised the boring tone straight away. Now, there are two reasons that this doesn’t work. The first is, ChatGPT and you don’t speak…

April 25, 2025

Blogging Strategy

How Clingy is Your Online Presence?

There is a term called ‘stickiness’ relating to website visitor content. If you’re an author-creator, then for your website and blog you’ll want to interest folk and make them stick around, i.e. cling. ‘Clinging’ could be the readers signing up for a juicy morsel, a free package: e.g. a rate sheet template, a six-page PDF on how to set rates, and an about you page. For ease of use, have this delivered by an email marketing system, e.g. Mailerlite, GetResponse. It is also important to note how long visitors stay on your website reading it. The longer they stay, the more interested they are in that particular content – thus telling you to write more of it. One to two minutes is considered pretty good, as some visitors have the attention span of a goldfish. Why care about Keywords? There…