Dec 21, 2021Before Jumping into Planning Your 2022 Goals You Might Want to Read This — Pages & PlatformsIt can be hard to make time for reflection, especially at the end of the year, when we’re hustling to buy presents, make travel plans, et cetera. But you’ve clicked on this article and made a bit of time to read it, so I invite you to spend just ten…Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
Sep 23, 2021Your Fall/Winter Writer Survival Kit — Pages & PlatformsThis post could very easily have been written as a McSweeney’s satirical piece about how we writers are going to survive another northern-hemisphere winter during a pandemic. (Picture an accompanying illustration with an ill-kempt writer swaddled in a blanket popping a handful of CBD gummies into her mouth.) But the…4 min read4 min read
Aug 11, 2021How (and Why) to Set Up Your Author Newsletter — Pages & PlatformsThe trick to growing your author platform and selling more books is building an email list of fans. Truly, it’s your number one book marketing goal. Cue the groans from writers who don’t want to start an email list. Writers tell me: “They’re a lot of work.” “They’re boring.” “No…Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
May 5, 2021Member-onlyHow to Talk about Your Book During an InterviewBack when I was a teenager, I used to work at a sandwich shop with a really nice kid named Rob. Rob was a television fanatic. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn he’d gone on to be a tv writer. Every shift, he would tell me about what he’d been…Writing9 min readWriting9 min read
Jan 10, 2020Member-onlyA Mindset Roadmap for Your Next Creative ProjectToo many of us writers fly by the seat of our pants at the start of a major project. We get really inspired, dive in without a clear plan for how we’re going see it through, then quit when we hit our first creative pothole. Our muse really deserves better…Authors5 min readAuthors5 min read
Oct 30, 2019Member-onlyThe Case for ScaryI’m not big on horror movies and haunted houses. In fact, last year I almost didn’t take my twelve-year-old to the Halloween store to get the make-up she needed for her Ziggy Stardust costume because I thought the décor might be too scary. But I’m writing today to make the…Writer3 min readWriter3 min read
Oct 10, 2019Member-onlyThe Next 7 Weeks Could Alter Your Future as an AuthorSometimes we wait too long to do something that we know needs doing. Just a little example for you: I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since second grade. I was thirty-two when I finally got serious about it. Twenty-five years of hiding from my destiny — of thinking it was out of reach. Once I hit my teenage years, I basically…Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Oct 7, 2019Member-onlyTo Sell More Books, Change the Story You Tell Yourself About Marketing — Book LaunchI talk to a ton of authors. At events, online, and on client calls. I always ask how they feel about book marketing and I take notes. Reading back those notes is like reading the journal of an angsty teenager. Believe me when I say, I am NOT criticizing anyone…8 min read8 min read
Jul 9, 2019Member-onlyTwo Podcasts Writers Shouldn’t MissHere’s some summer listening that that will enrich your writing life…and happens to features a few of the women from Pages & Platforms. 1. Sue’s on the Book Launch Show I’m sharing this one first, since there’s a time sensitive element. Tim Grahl is on vacation, so I was lucky enough to sit down with Valerie Francis…Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Published inThe Writing Cooperative·Jun 18, 2019Member-onlyThe Ridiculously Simple 3-Step Method That Sells BooksIf you do a google search on book marketing, you’ll get a staggering array of tactics that makes selling books look extremely complicated and time consuming. Some of it is bullshit. Some of it is woefully incomplete. Most of it misses the big picture. I won’t tell you that selling…Writing6 min readWriting6 min read
