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Being a cheerleader is one part of being a book coach

What Does an Author Coach Do?

The digital revolution has changed the world of publishing completely, and along the way, new jobshave been created. One of them is that of the author coach, also known as a writing coach or book coach. While there are plenty of author coaches around, it’s not a role everyone is familiar with, and every author …

10 Tips for Aspiring Writers

We all have a book in us, or so the saying goes… Whether you’ve put “write a book” on your goals for this year, you’re partway through your first draft or you’ve nearly finished and are wondering what to do next, you’ll find something to help you in my list of 10 top tips for …

15 Ways to Win a Publishing Deal

I am a big fan of self-publishing. Having experienced both traditional publishing and self-publishing with my first book The Boy From Hell: Life with a child with ADHD, and written about my issues with traditional publishing here, I don’t know that I would bother looking for a publishing deal again. For me, the benefits of …

The Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing

Post originally written July 2016; updated May 2022. Back in 2013 I published my first book, The Boy From Hell: Life with a Child with ADHD, about raising my lovely son Daniel, who has had a pretty challenging life. The book came about after many years of wanting to become an author, and a lot …

overcome writer's block

7 Tips to Overcome Writer’s Block

As authors, we all get stuck with our writing at times, but there are some easy things you can do to overcome writer’s block and start writing again. Here are a few ideas. How to Overcome Writer’s Block 1. Set a writing schedule and stick to it. You’ll be amazed how easy writing gets when …

book title

How to Choose a Book Title

One of the hardest things about writing a book is choosing the title. In a world where there are millions of books available and all you can see on the Amazon sales page is a thumbnail of the cover and the title, you need to find THE perfect title that’s catchy and imaginative whilst appealing …

“What’s Your Story?”

WHAT’S YOUR STORY? Take your non-fiction book from possibility to plan to publication… and beyond takes everything I’ve learned through writing books myself and helping my clients to write and self-publish books, and delivers it to you in a conversational, friendly way. WHAT’S YOUR STORY? is available now from Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. …

write a book

Why Write a Book Anyway?

It’s thought that around 80% of us want to write a book, but of those books that are actually started (and who knows how many people get beyond just thinking about it), 97% are never completed. Which suggests that fewer than 1% of people actually successfully write and publish a book! There are many reasons …

I want to write a book but don't know where to start

I want to write a book – but where do I start?

Have you always dreamt of being an author and writing a book, but that’s as far as the dream has gone? Probably you don’t know what to write about or why anyone else would be interested in reading it, and that’s stopped your ambition in its tracks before you’ve even put pen to paper. Sounds …

book trim size

What Trim Size Should I Use For My Book?

When I format paperback books for my clients, the first question I ask them is “What trim size do you want your book to be?” and their answer is usually “Oh, just the normal one.” But the thing is, there IS no ‘normal’ trim size! You may think books are all the same size but …