Speaking

ABOUT ME: I am an experienced self-publisher who loves to guide authors in how to happily self-publish and market their books while avoiding pitfalls. I also love all things story (structure, technique, how to get words down).

I am an award-winning novelist, non-fiction book author, and company founder with a unique business model that allows authors to self-publish (NOT subsidy publish).

Here are some sample topics I can speak on. I am flexible in tailoring talks within my areas of expertise of story structure and entrepreneurial self-publishing.

Fiction and Nonfiction

THE ROADMAP TO WRITE YOUR FICTION OR NONFICTION

Without a system, the odds for starting and finishing your story drastically fall. This lecture covers a game plan you can use to efficiently plan and write your project, whether short story/article or long novel/book. You’ll learn how to create a flexible weekly schedule, quickly plan the structure of your project, and smash writer’s block so you can put down — really — 1000 words per hour or more. You’ll be writing “THE END” before you know it!

Fiction

THE STORY TEMPLATE

Like it or not, every story possesses a deep architecture that resonates with the reader. Even if you are not aware of this structure you’re still writing with it, and if you ARE aware of it you can write with greater precision. This talk reviews the general composition of structure and reviews fifteen stages every story passes through. At the end we’ll discuss the secret weapon of story — the hidden need triplet — that will pop your characters and story off the page.

Fiction

ROCKET YOUR WRITING PAST THE MIDDLE LEVEL

Middle-level writers write well, and usually think they are ready to be published. However their works are characterized by habits that diminish reader involvement. This lecture covers intense ways to spark tension: great story beginnings, deep POV, and clear story arrows to eliminate reader confusion. This  lecture also covers some mechanical issues to watch out for such as Noah’s Ark, MRU’s, and the dreaded one thing after another syndrome. You’ll be amazed at the word makeovers.

Fiction

FIVE MINUTE TRICK TO GENERATE TENSION

We’ve all read that flat manuscript or book in which it’s a slog to get through the words. This happens because the writing has no TENSION which can be defined as the uncertainty of at least one story element. You need to use tension if you want anyone to care about your message. But how do you add those uncertain elements? This lecture covers fool-proof techniques that are like checking a box to add tension to your writing.

Fiction

SUBPLOT SANITY

If subplots leave you confused, bring back some sanity. The narrative strands in a story can be categorized into five distinct types: main story, protagonist’s hidden need, antagonist’s story, gift at climax subplot, and protagonist’s mirror subplot. Learn how to build a resonant story by developing each of these strands into narratives that weave and tangle delightfully.

Fiction and Nonfiction

AVOID THE SCAMS TO HAPPILY SELF-PUBLISH

Are you thinking of self-publishing? This talk gives an overview of the basics: editing, formatting, getting a cover and ISBN, and how to put your book online so you can go ahead to self-publish your book and ebook while avoiding costly mistakes.

Fiction and Nonfiction

EBOOK PROJECTS YOU CAN FINISH IN A WEEK

Think you can’t have an ebook for sale in a week? Think again. Short ebooks, fifty pages or less, are hot and a great way to make extra income. This talk describes an eminently doable plan for choosing a topic, writing, editing, getting a cover, and loading your ebook onto Amazon for sale — all in seven days. Marketing tactics are emphasized!

6 Hour Course on Self-Publishing

This series can be given as a track or individual lectures.

Fiction and Nonfiction

#1: LAY A STRONG BUSINESS FOUNDATION

Congratulations! You are looking ahead to the next stage of your writing journey — publishing. Self-publishing is an exciting way to go. You will become an entrepreneur who is actively controlling your book’s development to its next journey into the hands of (hopefully) a million readers. Self-publishers need to know how to set goals and to cultivate habits that encourage productivity, and this lecture covers those ideas too. But even if you want to traditionally publish or hybrid/subsidy publish, rather than self-publish, you’ll find the ideas here helpful.

Fiction and Nonfiction

#2: NICHE YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON

Like it or not, Amazon is the 800 pound gorilla in the room of book sales. If you want your self-publishing business to take off, you must write books that people buy — on Amazon. (And other places too 🙂 ). This lecture covers how to find the topics you love to write AND that people love to read.

Fiction and Nonfiction

#3: CREATE YOUR BOOK

One advantage to self-publishing is you can create as many books as you want. For example, short kindle books do amazingly well, and you can quickly write related works for an eager audience. Since the marketplace is exploding you need to consider different formats — paper, ebook, audible — to increase sales. To create books you must smash writer’s block. Once the book is finished, you can finalize each format (paper, ebook, audible) and get it ready to go. If all this sounds intimidating, it soon won’t — this lecture has your back.

Fiction and Nonfiction

#4: COVER, TITLE, AND BCC

Make your book stand out from the crowd with stunning title, back cover copy, and cover. Studies have shown that if you are not a name author, these three factors are the most critical to entice a reader into looking closer at your book and making that sale. This talk discusses tropes, guidelines, and keywords when writing titles and descriptions and how to create or find an affordable book cover that intrigues your reader into pushing the “Buy Now” button.

Fiction and Nonfiction

#5: SELL YOUR BOOK

If you self-publish, you probably won’t be able to go head-to-head with the marketing methods used by traditional publishers. Don’t panic! Happily there are many sideways marketing methods to jump sales for self-published authors. Today we’ll cover some good ones for selling your book.

Fiction and Nonfiction

#6: WRAP UP

This lecture invites material from the class — book covers, back cover copies, and general questions — for anonymous review from the class and implementation of strategies discussed in this course. If we have time, two bonus topics will be covered — a foolproof trick to add tension to any story, and a review of point of view (POV) with emphasis on the difference between objective third and deep third — and why deep third is in my opinion definitely the best!