Is it worth it to pay to publish? Six ways to recoup your investment, beyond the bookstore

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If you’re thinking of investing money in publishing your book through a hybrid publisher or by self-publishing, you’re likely trying to work out whether you’ll get a strong enough return on investment to make the endeavour worthwhile. And rightly so: publishing a book to a professional standard is a significant investment, especially if you are considering using a ghostwriter.

Most authors think online and in-store book sales will be their primary revenue stream, an understandable but overly limited assumption. There are many other ways in which your book-publishing venture ca... keep reading

7 Creative Ways to Fund Your Book

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“I can’t afford to publish my book right now.” We hear this a lot. And we get it–publishing can be a large investment for many people, and sometimes publishing seems like it can wait. But when we hear authors shying away from a publishing project because of funding, we simply smile and say, “Not so fast!” There are plenty of creative ways to finance your publishing project, so if you’re looking to publish but don’t have the means, consider these seven creative ways to fund your book.

Use a crowdsourcing website

<... keep reading

Professionally Self-Published Authors Now Eligible for the Writers Union of Canada

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Did you know?

Over the last three years, the Writers Union of Canada has changed its eligibility criteria, opening up its membership to authors who are professionally self-published. Previously, to be eligible for membership in the WUOC you were required to have “a trade book published by a commercial or university press” under your belt. Now the requirement is a professionally self-published book that successfully demonstrates commercial intent.

Self-published authors haven’t always been eligible because the trick is, to be a professional writer, you have to publish pr... keep reading

LifeTree Media licenses rights for Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto to India’s Embassy Books

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Embassy Book Distributors has acquired the Indian
 Subcontinental rights for health and wellness book Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto: 30 Minutes a Day for a Healthier Body, Mind and Spirit, written by Dai Manuel and first published by LifeTree Media in January 2016.

Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto showcases a fitness lifestyle that blends mindfulness an... keep reading

LifeTree Media licenses rights for The Digital Matrix to Grand China Publishing House

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Grand China Publishing House has acquired Simplified Chinese rights for business book The Digital Matrix: New Rules for Business Transformation Through Technology, written by Venkat Venkatraman and published by LifeTree Media.

The Digital Matrix—the Indian rights of which were acquired by Penguin Random House India in March 2017—shows business leaders how to rethink their business model, assemble the right team for necessary change, and make bold strategic choices along the three phases of digital transformation.

Venkatraman is the David J McGrath Jr ... keep reading

The Sacred Path of the Soulmate: An Interview with Existential Philosopher Gerald Sze

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At any moment, millions of women and men are ending romantic relationships. This made Gerald Sze wonder: “Where did the passion go?”

Gerald understands passion. An award-winning spirituality author and existential philosopher, Gerald has studied and conducted research in the fields of spirituality and existential philosophy for nearly 30 years. Not only has he written the book on love—The Sacred Path of the Soulmate—his own passion was the driving force behind its publication.

The Sacred Path of the Soulmate comes from Gerald’s studies on the nature... keep reading

How to write a world-changing manifesto

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When I sit down to work with a new author, I always ask them about their goals for their book, and invariably I get a version of the same answer: They want to make a difference in people’s lives. Very often, they want to change the way people think, elevate a conversation, and bring new understanding to a vexing problem.

That’s a great mission. We all want to have an impact on the world, and most of us would like that impact to be a positive one. But changing the world through a book begins with changing the mind of one reader, and then the next. Most of us are stubbornly attache... keep reading

Writing groups: what they are and how to join one

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You might stumble across them in libraries and coffee shops across the country: a circle of writers surrounding a paper-covered table. Armed with their notebooks and a desire to master the use of language, these writers have committed to their writing groups, and you may want to as well.

At its core, writing groups (or writing circles) are places for you and other writers to come together, share ideas, and get feedback on your work. They might be a peer critique in your living room over a glass of wine, a workshop or class with an instructor, or even a Facebook discussion group with ... keep reading

New guidelines in the Chicago Manual of Style are an enlightened step forward

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This week the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) announced the changes that will be made to its upcoming new edition, which comes out in September. As an editor, a publisher, and a progressive idealist, I am applauding one of those changes in particular: approval of the use of the singular pronoun they.

The English language is one of the most shape-shifting languages in the world. Every year, English speakers add new words to the lexicon and repurpose old ones. Some of these innovations are widely adopted and become part of the language; others fall by the wayside. Ther... keep reading

An Editor Stumbles into a Writing Workshop

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Nine a.m. on a Sunday morning and I rolled into the conference hall.

I’d had a long week and was looking forward to sitting in back row of some interesting talks that I had no responsibility to develop, edit, or promote, until the caffeine from my large cup of tea kicked in. It was this editor’s day off! Little did I know I was about to discover something unexpected inside myself and to glimpse that spark that draws me to my vocation in the first place.

I set out to attend Limmud, an all-day festival of Jewish learning in down... keep reading