We all know we have a lot to offer the world—if we could just get a break, if we could just get out of our own way, if we could just be who we are deep down. But then life happens and we happen, then more of life and more
We were all excited. An author we had just published was going to be on Oprah, and the subject of our author’s book would be front and center during the interview. We shipped thousands of books to make sure our accounts had plenty of inventory. The day came, and Oprah set her
Once there was a woman who wanted to help people with a product she had in mind, so she started a company. She read about similar products, and began creating hers. She tested and tweaked it until it was just right. She let people use it to be sure it
The more I work with successful people and observe how they become successful, I’m convinced: success is not the result of some magic key. It doesn’t happen to people who are smarter or prettier or more talented than everybody else, or at least that’s not how it happens most of
I recently received this question from an aspiring writer: “I have a contact in book acquisitions who is willing to look over a proposal. I have ideas and draft work for like 4 books. How do I decide what to send him?” Friend and author Michelle DeRusha and I are in
Imagine you could pick up the phone when you needed writing or publishing advice and talk to two professionals with over 35 years of combined experience. These two have racked up a host of publishing/writing credits and have helped hundreds of other people get published and make progress toward their
[guestpost]This is guest post from Natasha Crain. Natasha is a marketing professional who blogs at Christian Mom Thoughts. Her first book (working title: Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith) releases with Harvest House in January 2016. Connect with Natasha via her
Stand up, everybody,” the perky lady said from up front. “We’re going to do a little stand-in-place yoga to get our blood moving.” Great, I thought to myself. Comfortably seated at a conference with two hundred strangers, I was not excited about getting up and moving my pudgy body in
I would have slammed into her if I hadn’t been looking. Luckily, at that particular moment anyway, I was, and so stopped within a few feet of her flashing hazards. The silver 1990s Corolla was bunching up the morning commute, and clearly the car was going nowhere. On another morning,
A group of friends got together to ask some questions. They ended up changing the world. In 1727 Benjamin Franklin started a group of about twelve souls whose purpose was individual and community improvement. The “Junto,” as Franklin called it, met on Friday nights and went through a list of questions including:
Several years back a colleague recommended Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Nonconformity, which was a real eye-opener to me. The book challenges readers to think about unconventional ways of doing life and making a living, and honestly I’ve never been the same. I can draw a straight line from his book to the
As editorial director for a major trade publisher, I regularly receive questions like the following: How big a platform is big enough? Am I out of luck if I don’t have much of a platform? What should I do if my platform is still smallish? Do I really have to