Marketing pro Sharon Spaulding has promoted tech startups, authors, international nonprofits, Fortune 50 companies and celebrities. But when it came to promoting herself—establishing her author brand, building a platform, and cultivating a devoted following of readers—she was flummoxed. “I’m very good at what I do but cannot do it for myself,” Sharon says. “I was
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Feeding the hungry reader: The business of self-publishing with Amanda Clay
by Amanda Clay Over the past few months, we’ve talked through some key foundations to the business of indie publishing—why you might consider it, the various platforms, and the basic upfront costs and earning potential. Hopefully you’re still intrigued about this creative and independent endeavor! But a question you might be asking yourself is, what
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The Dollars and Cents of Self-Publishing
By Amanda Clay When I first started on the path of self-publishing, something I found a bit shocking was how candid everyone was in talking about money. In the Facebook groups, at the conferences, authors were discussing how much they’d made and how much they’d spent to get there. I don’t know about you, but
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New Year, New Day in Publishing
On March 27th SFWC Director Laurie McLean gave a presentation as part of the Mechanics Institute – San Francisco Writers Conference partnership entitled: New Year, New Day in Publishing. Here is the Powerpoint presentation for anyone who would like to see her thoughts on publishing in 2021. New Year, New Day in Publishing
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Walter Mosley speaks on not picking a lane, fomenting change, and the publishing industry
Podcast Interview by Joey Garcia with guest Walter Mosley. When questioned about his thoughts on writers sometimes being told to “pick a lane and stay in it,” i.e., choose fiction or nonfiction—but not both—Mosley explained that notion is inherently a capitalist one. He added that even when artists are told that what they are working
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The Importance of Writing an Unforgettable Single Digit Message
by Seth B. Greenwald, DTM Here’s my position: anyone who speaks in public can be considered a public speaker. The one exception to this rule is that you must be speaking to an audience of at least one human being to become a member of the ‘public speaker tribe’. Now there’s the difference between dabbling
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