The most popular article on my website—by far—is How Long Should Your Nonfiction Book Be?. My writerly answer: “Use as many words as you need and no more.” My strategic answer: “Match your book length to your readers’ needs and your brand promise—while paying attention to genre norms.” My practical answer: “Probably 30,000 words for […]
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KDP and IngramSpark Printing Options
Originally published April 11, 2019; most recently updated November 23, 2021. This article is part of a series on KDP and IngramSpark (IS) as print-on-demand (POD) platforms for independent authors. For an overview of the two platforms and summary of key issues, read KDP vs. IngramSpark: Which Publishing Platform Is Right for You? Here, we […]
Emotion in Writing: Do You Need It?
In one of the first creative writing classes I took, we responded to the prompt “Write about the worst thing that happened this week, and the best thing that happened this week.” We went around the room, sharing what we’d written. As I read my piece, I began to cry. That was the week we’d […]
KDP vs. IngramSpark: Which Publishing Platform Is Right for You?
Originally published February 18, 2019; most recently updated November 22, 2021. To keep things simple for first-time authors, I often suggest they stick with Amazon’s ecosystem, using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for both ebooks and print books. However, there is another major player in the print-on-demand (POD) space: IngramSpark (IS), which is the POD service from […]
Are distractions keeping you from writing your book? Try these remedies
This is the year: You are writing a book. Excellent. Congratulations! But you’re already feeling under the gun because it’s the end of January and you haven’t started yet. Or maybe you started writing diligently the first couple weeks of January, then petered out as life swung back into post-holiday gear. Aargh! So frustrating. You’re […]