The Most Common Way a Book Dies
Books die three ways, and none of them involves the draft. The client goes silent. The finished manuscript never comes out. The book publishes and nothing happens. All three were decided in the first conversation.
Tag: Book Launch
A launch that sells does not happen by accident. These articles cover planning one that works: timelines, pre-orders, reviews, and the unglamorous work that happens long before launch day. Most of the result is decided before anyone can buy the book.
Book LaunchWhat a Book Production Schedule Tells You Before You Sign
An agency posted its production schedule: sixteen weeks, contract to finished book, broken out week by week. It answers three questions the sales call never gets to, and every one of them matters more than the total.
Book LaunchPromoting a Book That Does Not Exist Yet
A client of mine is promoting his book on LinkedIn, his website, and YouTube. We are still writing it. The launch starts during the writing, and the plan came from a fifteen-minute break in an interview session.
Amazon & KDPI Clicked Publish on My First Book and Sold Nothing for Two Weeks
I had fallen into the classic trap every new author falls into. I thought writing the book was the hard part. Wrong.
Author PlatformSubstack as the pre-book platform that actually works in 2026
Most pre-book platform advice is build-on-LinkedIn or build-a-newsletter, with no real path from either to an actual book. Substack in 2026 is the underused option for authority authors who want to validate the idea, build the launch list, and pre-sell…
Book LaunchEndorsements and blurbs: the politics nobody explains
Book blurbs are the social currency of authority publishing, a real economy with real rules that most first-time authors fumble. Here is how the blurb system actually works, how to ask for one, what to do when your dream blurber…
Book LaunchBook foreword strategy: who should write yours and how to actually ask
A good foreword borrows credibility, pre-positions the book's argument, and hands you a sales hook; a bad one does the opposite of all three. Here is how to choose the right foreword writer, how to ask without sounding desperate, what…
Book LaunchThe ghostwriter’s role after the manuscript is done
Most ghostwriters vanish at delivery; the best stay through launch and beyond. Here is what yours should be able to help with once the manuscript is done, pitch packages, back-cover copy, podcast-tour materials, content repurposing, keynote scripts drawn from the…
Author TalksBrenda Haire: Save the Buttertubs, a Grandmother’s Story, and a 700-Person Launch Team
Brenda Haire joins Author Talks to discuss Save the Buttertubs, merging a memoir with her grandmother's story, and building a 700-person launch team.