What the heck is a hybrid publisher, anyway? And how do you know if you’ve found a good one?
At its best, hybrid publishing offers many of the benefits of being published by a traditional publisher — including access to market (i.e. brick-and-mortar bookstores), high quality editing and design — as well as the benefits of self-publishing, such as higher royalties, ownership of rights and creative control. I founded LifeTree on this model ... keep reading
Think back to the last time you bought a movie ticket–I’m willing to bet you chose the movie in part because you’d seen a trailer for it first. Trailers are one of the most effective ways to get someone interested in your content, and they work for books as well as movies. Book trailers have been steadily growing in popularity, with some getting hundreds of thousands or even millions of views. And while early book trailers were often dismissed due to a lack of quality, that doesn’t have to be case–the book trailer for national bestseller keep reading
Child psychologist and LifeTree author Dr. Vanessa Lapointe has been changing the conversation around parenting for many years, but it wasn’t until she became an author that she started reaching new audiences on an unprecedented level. Vanessa published her book, Discipline Without Damage, in January 2016 through LifeTree Media’s Best Book ... keep reading
LifeTree Media is proud to announce that our very own Maggie Langrick was shortlisted for the 2015 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, a peer-reviewed award given out annually by Editors Canada.
Maggie, who is LifeTree’s Founder and Publisher, earned the nomination for her work on Shell: One Woman’s Final Year After a Life... keep reading
Before a single word of your book is consumed, readers will form an impression of it through its cover. A book with an amateurish, confusing or dull jacket design sends a subliminal signal to the reader that the book itself may have been poorly thought out or carelessly put together. But a smart, attractive design conveys a sense of excellence and seriousness, as well as telling the reader something about the subject matter inside.
“A successful book cover is both an advertisement for the book and a beautiful object all its own,” says book designer and art director Peter... keep reading
Chip Kidd’s home and office walk the fine line between collectible and cluttered, full of comic books, action figures, and other “Kidd-friendly” paraphernelia. The ad artists in Mad Men wouldn’t be caught dead with a collectible lunchbox, but Kidd displays his front and center.
Kidd isn’t a hoarder–he’s an award-winning book cover designer for Knopf, and has created both fiction and nonfiction covers for authors such as John Updike, Katharine Hepburn, Cormac McCarthy, David Sedaris, Neil Gaiman, and countless others. He’s perhaps mos... keep reading
There are a lot of decisions to make in publishing. Some of them, like whether or not you need an author platform, are easy to make (the answer is yes, by the way). But sometimes we get stumped. We ran into this problem when one of our upcoming titles, Resolve by Hal Movius, was back from the designers with not one, but three great covers. We’ll call them Orange, White and Blue.
... keep reading
When it comes to conducting research for your book, not all sources are created equal. Freelance editor Shirarose Wilensky offers an easy rule of thumb to steer you toward reputable sources: start with print-based materials such as books, newspapers, journals and magazine articles, then move on to online sources. This is because although some web-based publications have high journalistic standards, many (perhaps most) others simply do not.
Misinformation and unsubstantiated claims are rampant online. Inevitably, you will come across information that has been distorted by the grapevin... keep reading
Research is an essential part of writing almost any nonfiction book. Whether you want to back up an assertion with study findings, illustrate a point, or simply put your ideas in context, you will inevitably find yourself referring to the work of other authors or researchers in your own book.
When it comes to dealing with previously published work, you need to be very careful about how you use it and credit its origins. Whenever you quote another person, living or dead, you must attribute their words to them, along with a mention of where and when the quote first appeared (if it c... keep reading
Without research, there would be no studies for Brené Brown to base her claims on. Without research, the anecdotes behind Malcolm Gladwell’s stories would remain with their owners. And without research, every biographical or historical nonfiction title would be very, very short!
Since research is the foundation of knowledge, it needs to be done right, and that means interpreting your findings properly. I’ve put together a few common research pitfalls; get familiar with this list and avoid these at all costs.
1. Mistaking correlation for causation
... keep reading
