10 Time Saving Tips for Authors

In no particular order Start using a Productivity System like Getting Things Done Measure how much time you are actually spending on writing Keep a Journal or a Diary with a record of hours you spent each day on actual writing Use a Software like RescueTime to measure what you are actually doing when sitting and working on your computer Use an App to measure what you use on your phone Remove all...

How long for an Author to learn to start making good book covers?

In general, to make covers as good as a Professional Cover Designer, you would need to have a similar level of practice and experience and skill as one That means 3 to 4 years of College to learn Graphic Design 5 to 10 years of working as a Graphic Designer doing 5 to 8 hours of design work each week day 5 to 10 years of working as a Book Cover Designer, doing 5 to 8 hours of book cover design...

How to Improve Your Typing Speed

There are three broad ways to improve your Typing Speed Do half an hour a day typing practice Do an hour a day typing practice and make a very deliberate attempt to not look at the keyboard Switch over to a keyboard that has no lettering on the keys The first method will improve your typing speed by 50% or more within a few months The second method will improve your typing speed by 50% to 100%...

How to Be Honest with Yourself (for Authors & Writers)

In general, the more brutally honest you are with yourself, the more successful you will be Here are a few reasons Authors are rarely honest with themselves (let alone brutally honest) Thinking your book is YOU. That if you admit your book needs more polish, then you are somehow admitting you are flawed. Your Book is just something you wrote - it is not you, it is not your baby, it is not your...

Why Increasing Your Typing Speed is One of the Very Best Things You can do as An Author

Our brains work a LOT faster than we can speak, write, type, or even read If you're an author or writer, then the speed at which you write books is primarily dictated by how fast you can type Firstly, the faster you can type, the more books you can write Secondly, being able to type fast is important so that you can type fast enough to not interrupt your flow of thinking Thirdly, being able to...

How to Make Time for your Author Responsibilities while still having a Day Job

You have to Make the Most Out of Your Time The best way to look at this, is to consider all the time and effort and energy people devote to things other than their day job Television and Movies - if you are serious about being an author then you have to say goodbye to weekends spent bingeing on Netflix. 1 or 2 TV Shows a week are OK. 1 or 2 Movies a month is all you can afford. You are now making...

Why Underestimating How Good You Are as a Writer is Usually Much Better than Overestimating How Good You Are as a Writer

The biggest roadblock to Success for most authors is not that they are missing some 'secret' or some 'strategy'. It is that they think they are way better at the core 3 skills than they actually are The 3 Core Skills are Knowing What to Write Being Able to Write Very Well Being Able to Market Very Well Let's look at what happens if an author does not accurately assess their skill level, starting...

The One Thing that has the most impact on an Author’s Chances of Success

What is The One Thing, such that the doing of it makes everything else easy and/or unnecessary Credit: The One Thing by Gary Keller It depends on where you are in your journey as an author The One Thing for Beginning Authors It's actually two things, both critically important Understanding that it is a long and hard struggle - a marathon with every single mile being difficult and demanding. No...

The 6 Stages of Competence – How to Assess Where You Are In Your Journey to be a Great Writer

Please Note: This only applies if you want to be a Great Writer. If your primary aim is something else, such as Becoming Famous, or Becoming Rich, then this post does not apply. Please read this post only if you want to become a very very very good or even great writer In this post we will cover how to assess how good of a writer you are The 4 Stages of Competence Unconscious Incompetence...

Top 10 Reasons Authors Fail to Sell their Books

It's not easy selling your books, especially if you're a new author. Here are the Top 10 Reasons Authors Fail to Sell Their Books Writing for the wrong market, or for No Market Not polishing their Product and not packaging it properly Not focusing on Product Quality Ignoring Marketing Or Doing Ineffective Marketing Believing they are already great writers Not trusting the Experts and/or Thinking...