Behind the Scenes: Organizing a Successful Book Festival Booth

I had the opportunity to attend and exhibit at the Sunshine Book Festival in Gainesville on January 27, and I learned a lot about how to attract readers and maximize your return on investment. Here are some of the learning tips I identified. First, consider your goals for the fair. Do you want to maximize book sales? Do you want …

Building Your Email List: Essential Strategy for Authors

Why should authors care about building an email list? As an author, you want to sell books and build your business. It’s critical to grow your tribe of those who are eager for your content and are fans of your approach and voice. As you write more books or develop other products and services, having a list of those who …

Confessions of a Book Coach

If you had told my younger self that I would someday be a book coach, I would have laughed. I don’t like to write, and I think that writing is very hard work. And yet, here I am, celebrating my 10th year as a book coach, having helped more than 230 professionals become published authors, and having written my 12th book. Before …

What’s Your Writing Plan for the Holidays?

As a book coach, you might think that my advice for your writing goals over the holidays might be to write as much as you possibly can. And while that advice might hold true for some clients, it likely wouldn’t be true for all my clients. Let me explain. I believe that every writer should be extremely intentional about their …

You’re Not Broken: Writing with ADHD by Cathy Kirch

Note: A special thank you to Cathy Kirch for contributing this article and participating my my Master Class. More than anything, I wanted to finish my book. I tried to do all the “right things”: scheduling time to write, setting lofty word-count goals, devising intricate reward systems. Every night, I went to bed determined to spend the next day writing… …

I Can’t Look at my Book Another Minute! Help!

Dear Allie and Cathy: I don’t think I can look at my book another minute. Yet, I’ve invested so much time, energy, and resources that I can’t give up. What can I do? Hit The Wall Harold Dear Harold: First, don’t despair! Feeling sick and tired of your book is normal. In fact, think about any huge task you’ve undertaken, …

Hearing from Your Negative Voice (aka “The Bitch”)

In my first book on writing, I talk about that negative voice—The Bitch–inside your head that says, “Who’s going to want to read what you have to say?” “Who told you that you could write?” and “Really, you think you’re the expert?” My clients and I often discuss ways to talk back to that voice and take part in writing …

Help! Im Struggling with Productive Procrastination!

Dear Allie and Cathy: I’ve blocked writing time on my calendar, and now it’s time to sit down and just DO IT. Only one problem. I now realize that I really can’t write because I should answer that important email. Then I realize that my desk is a mess, and I know I could write so much more effectively if …

Writing a Book Can be Overwhelming

The following is excerpted from Allie Pleiter’s and Cathy Fyock’s forthcoming book, Writer Crisis Hotline, due in October 2023. Dear Allie and Cathy: Every time I get ready to write my book, I feel overwhelmed. There are so many words to write, so many ideas to organize, and so many aspects to book writing, publishing, and promotion to learn. How …

Working with Your Editorial Board: New Lessons from New Experiences

As a book coach, one of the most important strategies for me in becoming a better coach is to continue to write and publish, since I can learn through the experience and share my insights with my authors. Allie Pleiter (book coach and full-time author) and I are currently working on a new book, to be released in Fall 2023, …