What 99.9% of authors don’t know.
Why I see so many good authors fail. Book publishing is a creative pursuit. Writing a book is creative. Designing a book cover is creative. Marketing a book is creative. Or is it? Book publishing is like construction. Architect Jørn Utzon designed the Sydney Opera...
How do you define your story?
How do you define your story? A surprising number of authors find it difficult to answer that simple question, but whatever your genre or form it’s an important question to know the answer to. So, how do you go about doing this and doing it right? How an author...
Three tips for drafting your own work.
While nothing compares to a professional edit, there are some things you can do to make sure your manuscript ready to be seen by an editor. Leave it for a week or more When you’ve finally reached the end of your first draft, you’ve no doubt been living and breathing...
When making your author website…
There are plenty of things to think about when making your author website, particularly the design, the focus, and what you want to use it for. What is the primary focus of your website? Is your website all about you or all about your book? There are a plenty of...
Success in self-publishing – it’s more complex than you think.
Success in self-publishing – it’s more complex than you think. There are many reasons to write a book, and there are just as many ways to gauge how successful your book is. Defining success by how many books are sold is a crude measure. ‘Success’ is really whatever...
Is the medium always the message?
Is the medium always the message? Publishing a book is not just about graphic design. A book is so much more than the visuals - it is also about touch. Print remains the most universal and popular format for publishing a book. Despite the rise of audiobooks and ebooks...
What is a metaphor for?
What is a metaphor? Metaphors are undoubtedly a master communication tool and use in book publishing is no exception. A metaphor can be described as: a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea...
The democratisation of publishing.
After graduating I started my career in a research unit within a government bureaucracy. My very first task was to undertake qualitative research—a series of interviews with 20 industry participants—and distill the findings and formulate recommendations for action. In...
Self-publishing is as old as the printing press
This year one of our authors rang concerned that announcement of the release her new book in social media was criticised by quite a few people. They said self-publishing was 'selling out', And 'my literary agent and I are still in negotiations with Picador'. The...
Printing your book – how it can lead to a publishing project disaster
How important is it to get print parameters right? Here's a succinct warning. It's as blunt as i can possibly be (and yes Green Hill staff tell me I can be quite blunt). Get your print parameters wrong and you are sure to fail in self-publishing. I hear many say......
