Your book is finished. It’s about to hit the bookshelves and online stores. Now you’re ready to launch.

Hold on! (Sound of screeching brakes) This is not the time to launch your book. That time actually started months ago, when your book was just a glimmer in your eye and a glow in your brain.

So how do you launch your book – before you have a book? And how do you carry that through after you publish your book? Here are 5 tips that will get you started right, regardless of where you are in the process.

1. Start a blog

While you will post articles about the topic of your book on your regular blog, it’s never too early to start a blog dedicated to your book.

There is where you can post the progress of the book, from concept to completion. You can write about the actual process of writing and Read More→

One of the most common issues people have in writing a book is the writing. People who can send out 100 Tweets, write 20 emails, and post to Facebook 15 times suddenly find it hard to write.

It’s not that it’s hard to write. It’s that you have it in your head that when you “write a book” it must be all proper and perfect. Let’s dispel that myth right now – you don’t need to be perfect just because you’re writing a book.

So how do you make it easy to write a book? Here are five tips for making it easier to write any kind of piece – from the cheap research papers to a novel.

1. Set realistic expectations

Too often we enter the “writing a book” mindset thinking that our first book is going to be a best-seller and we’ll suddenly be rich and famous. It could happen.

But it’s much more likely that you will publish your book. It will help a lot of people. You’ll gain credibility and Read More→

Your book cover is the first thing a potential buyer sees, whether online or in the book store. So it is critical that you make it attractive. Here are five tips to help you design a book cover to sell more books.

1. Consider your target market.

There is a huge difference in the look of a book for one target market versus another. So you need to look in a bookstore to see what appeals to buyers like the ones who will buy your book.

For example, you may find that books for entrepreneurs are generally paperbacks, in the 5.5 x 8.5 size, with read and yellow as predominant colors and an average of 150 pages.

On the other hand, books for corporate executives are hard bound, in full 6 x 9 size, with blue and gray paper covers and an average of 200 pages or more.

2. Your front cover is the first impression.

When browsing online, the first thing that people see is the front cover. So you want to make it jump out at them, either with a Read More→

So you have an idea for a book or your book is already finished. Congratulations! You are about to enter the ranks of published authors.

But which way do you want to publish your book? Should you get an agent and send them to New York to peddle your manuscript? Or should you go the route of self-publishing your book?

If this is your first book, there is no doubt. Self-publish it. As a new author you are an unproven quantity. A large publisher doesn’t know whether or not your book will sell. Therefore publishing your book is a big risk to them. Even if they agree, chances are your royalty rate will be low and a cash advance non-existent.

But when you self-publish, you actually avoid all of these concerns: Read More→