The Author Guy Blog

 18 th September 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. I think we’ve all experienced the low hanging fruit of sports analogies to explain or justify all manner of unrelated activity. I heard an interesting one just the other day from a friend of mine – one I thought was worth sharing. We met for coffee because he wanted my input on his first effort at writing then publishing a work of fiction. The conversation, and reading the first draft of his manuscript, took me back eleven years to when I was where he is now before I published four novels and have completed a fifth one yet-to-be-published. The conversation inevitably turned to where he could get help marketing and selling his book. I was as candid as I could be about the frustrations encountered in this area by virtually every author, whether indie or mainstream, novice or established. And I confessed significant commercial success for me remains elusive. He responded with a sports analogy, saying that likely tens of thousands of...

22th March 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. My previously self-published and award-winning novel Blue by You is moving quickly through the editorial process with my new hybrid publisher Indigo River . I have final say regarding any changes their folks suggest, and mine will be a quick turnaround so that we can move ahead to the publishing phase (new cover design, formatting, etc.). My incredible marketing resource, RJ McHatton of Bend, OR, is in direct contact with Indigo’s marketing team to craft a launch ahead of the book’s availability for pre-ordering. Over the past couple of years, RJ and I have fine-tuned a marketing plan, one focused on the elimination of marginal opportunities, driven by the belief success will come more from what we choose not to do rather than what we actually pursue. Trying not to fall down rabbit holes, if you will. I’m doubly excited that my Indigo relationship (and I can’t say enough great things about them) brings with it the distribution prowess of ...

  9th February 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. I have so much to learn about my chosen craft of fiction writing that I seek advice and information whenever and wherever I can find it. As a result, I’ve joined several author-centric Facebook groups and up until now I just read the postings, make notes when appropriate, and keep on scrolling. But not this week. An author inquired of the group if her already-published indie novel had any chance of being picked up by a mainstream publishing house. Another group member responded “Absolutely not” and went on to opine that it would only happen if the book had achieved stunning sales success, as was the one-off and well-known instance of  Fifty Shades of Grey.  Two, possibly three, problems with that response. First, I don’t believe in “absolutes” in the co-joined worlds of writing and publishing. Second, from personal experience, I know the “absolutely not” to be absolutely not true. My award-winning fourth novel,  Blue...

  15 th December 2023 Hello, out there. Welcome back. Today, I want to share with you how proud I was when, upon renewing my passport recently for the fifth time since 1981, I listed my profession as “author.” It represents a dream come true for me since my high school days, and places me into what I believe is a very special category – one I encourage you to join. I’ve read many times that 80% of the U.S. population has thought at one time or another about writing a book. Only a very small percentage actually begin the process, and a miniscule number will go on to finish a manuscript. Sadly, for me at least, an even smaller subset of that tiny number will go on and actually publish a book. The rise of small and mid-size indie and hybrid publishers in recent years has opened doors for authors that were previously closed by the tight knit community of agents and mainstream publishers. I, for one, happily walked through that door ten years ago, and I would be delighted to share my ha...