How much does it cost to self-publish a book?
Plenty of people will tell you that self-publishing a book is free. And it is free if all you’re talking about is the cost of uploading your files to CreateSpace or Kindle or Bookbaby. But
Best Fonts for Book Covers
I’m working with an author on a book cover for a nonfiction book with strong commercial potential. Since the cover is among the top 3 reasons why readers buy a book, we’re working closely with
Book Marketing
How To Approach a Bookstore: Tips for Authors
I’m often asked by authors how to get their books into local bookstores. I recently sat down with Tanya Landsberger, manager of Books, Inc., just off the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, to find out
New Options for Writers Who Self-Publish
Book Expo, the granddaddy of book conferences, is traditionally the place where publishers meet with booksellers. But lately, there’s been a lot for up-and-coming self-publishers–not the least of which is UPublishU, a full day of
If You Want Readers, You Have To Work At Selling
Sometimes it’s best to hear the truth from writers in the trenches. Here’s a guest post from Marcia Kemp Sterling, who’s just self-published her first novel. She came to one of my Stanford classes looking
An Author’s Guide to Amazon: 7 Tools To Help Increase Book and Author “Discoverability”
Below is a terrific summary of practical things you can do to make your book more visible on Amazon. It comes from the enewsletter of Smith Publicity, Inc. Kudos to Book Publicist Jennifer Tucker who
How To Get Over 50 Starred Reviews on Amazon First Day Out
Last week during my Stanford workshop on self-publishing, guest speaker Guy Kawasaki was asked whether he had purchased any ads for his new book on self-publishing APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur–How to Publish a Book. “Not
Best Fonts for your Self-Published Book
One of the biggest mistakes I see in self-published print books (like those created on CreateSpace) is in the choice of typefaces. They’re either too common or too weird. Since most wordsmiths are design-challenged, I
The “Truthiest” Font Is…
If you don’t think fonts matter, take a look at the article in Friday’s New York Times. Errol Morris describes the informal experiment of a university student who found that he could raise his grade
Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan, dies at 90
Folks who came through Stanford Publishing Course will remember Helen Gurley Brown, the editor of Cosmopolitan, who gave such memorable talks about her rise to the top of the New York publishing world–alongside her husband,