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Book Writing, Writers Mindset

Why Your Manuscript Stays Stuck in Draft Mode

You have a manuscript sitting on your computer. You open it every few weeks, read through what you’ve written, maybe add a paragraph or two, then close it again. Months pass. Sometimes years. You tell yourself it’s because you’re busy. Or that you need more research. Or that you’re waiting for the right time to finish it properly. But here’s what’s actually happening: you’re going round and round in circles because there’s no clear thread. The Expert’s Curse When I was writing Power Marketing, I had tips everywhere. Brand advice here, content marketing strategies there, offline tactics scattered throughout. So much valuable knowledge, and absolutely no structure to hold it together. I kept adding more. Every time I sat down to write, I’d think of another important point that readers needed to know. The manuscript became a jumble. This is…
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more author income streams

Adding Other Income Streams to Your Book Royalties

Do authors in control of everything really make more money? US/UK/global… ALLi Author surveys of indie authors (in 2022) who spend at least half their working time on writing and self-publishing had a median income of US $12,749 — this is the middle value of self-published authors’ income distribution. ALLi’s 2025 survey was opened for data ­collection to update these figures, and one source notes a median income rising to about US $13,500 in 2025 — but still in progress. In Australia, surveys that include self-published authors reported a mean total author income (including all writing-related income) at around AU$18,000 (≈ US $12,000) — a figure that aligns with published medians in global surveys. Taking the median gives a more realistic picture than ‘average’ or mean earnings, because the higher earning authors really went gangbusters. Unfortunately, this is not even including…
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newsletter writing for financial advisors

Why Your Newsletter Stays in Your Mind

You know you’ve got to expand into newsletters if you’re writing a topical book or self-help guide. So why does your online newsletter sit unwritten? I believe it’s not about writing ability or finding the time. It’s about overcoming perfectionism. Most of us have the expertise or life experience. But translating that knowledge into newsletter content exhausts both your mental capacity—and hits the wall of wanting to be perfect. While my newsletters are not perfect either, I think research can help us overcome these barriers. The Research Gap Nobody Talks About Expert authors say “Just share about how your wrote your book”. Specialists say “Just share your expertise and stories” That’s not where to start. Before you write a word, you need to understand what your audience is actively searching for. Not what you assume they want. What they’re actually…
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Writing is a process and habit

Writing is a Process and a Habit

It’s good to keep in mind that writing is a habit — and a book is one potential outcome from that habit. So many want to have the outcome, but they haven’t got room in life for the habit, especially if research is also involved. Let’s take my client BD, a very busy 71-year-old who advises his old business. With overseas trips, interstate trips and 100 family members, he’s got a lot on. His first step involved writing once a week, answering a question on his life (this was a different, automated program). Then he had a weekly or fortnightly call with me for several months to go over small pieces he added to his manuscript. It expanded and I also structured the chronology of events. At the end of nine months, it was almost there. Now just for the…
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keep on writing productively
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…
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Doing research to create a book and blast writers block

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…
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