Publishing Strategy

Most authors spend years writing their book and three weeks thinking about the launch. Here's the launch strategy that actually works — and why it needs to start before the manuscript is finished.

What Happens After You Write Your Book? The Launch Strategy Most Authors Miss

Most authors spend years writing a book and three weeks thinking about how to launch it. The book arrives quietly. A few hundred copies sell. The speaking enquiries don't materialise. The business doesn't shift. And the author is left wondering what went wrong — not realising that the launch strategy needed to start before the last chapter was written. Here's what actually works.
Publishers want it. Speakers bureaus want it. Your readers need it. Here's how to build your author platform before the book is finished — and why starting now changes everything.

How to Build Your Author Platform Before Your Book Is Written

The single most common reason traditionally published books get rejected isn't the writing. It isn't the idea. It's the platform — or the absence of one. Publishers in 2026 expect authors to arrive with an audience already built. But platform building doesn't have to wait for a publishing deal, and it doesn't require a massive following. It requires the right strategy, started at the right time. That time is now.
Ethical Ghostwriting

Is Ghostwriting Ethical? The Truth About Who Actually Writes Bestsellers

Ghostwriting is one of publishing's worst-kept secrets and most misunderstood practices. The moral panic around it resurfaces every few years — usually when a public figure's book gets attributed to a ghost. Here's what thirty years inside the industry has taught me about the ethics, the reality, and why the question itself is based on a misunderstanding of what authorship actually is.
I've helped create four New York Times bestsellers. Here's what the list actually measures, what it doesn't, and the honest answer to whether hitting it should be your goal.

What Makes a New York Times Bestseller — And Does It Actually Matter?

I've helped create four New York Times bestselling books. I can tell you exactly what it takes to hit the list — and I can also tell you that for most business authors, thought leaders, and experts, the NYT list is the wrong goal. Not because it doesn't matter. Because there's something that matters more, and confusing the two is one of the most expensive mistakes in publishing.
A business book that reads like an annual report will be forgotten by Thursday. Here's how to take thirty years of hard-won business experience and turn it into a book people actually want to read.

How to Turn Your Business Into a Book (Without It Reading Like a Case Study)

The most common mistake I see business leaders make when writing a book is trying to document their business instead of telling their story. Documentation produces case studies. Story produces books that change things. Here's the difference — and how to write a business book that captures your expertise without losing the human being behind it.
Not every author needs a book proposal. Some need one desperately and don't know it. Here's the definitive guide to what a proposal is, who needs it, and exactly what goes inside.

The Storykeeper’s Book Proposal: Do You Need One — And What Goes In It?

The book proposal is one of the most misunderstood documents in publishing. Some authors spend months writing one they never needed. Others query agents for years without one and wonder why no one bites. If you are a nonfiction author — a founder, a leader, a coach, a consultant, a person with a story and a methodology — the question of whether you need a proposal, and what should be in it, is one of the most important questions you will answer before your book reaches readers. This is the guide.
A Createcation is a destination writing retreat designed for the humans who think best when they leave their ordinary life behind. Here's what it is, how it works, and why some books only get written when you go somewhere to write them.

What Is a Createcation — And Could One Change Your Book?

Some books don't get written at your desk. They get written somewhere the light is different, the pace is slower, and the noise of ordinary life is far enough away that the real story can finally surface. A Createcation is a destination writing retreat designed for exactly that — the point in your book journey where immersion unlocks what structure alone can't. Here's how it works and why it might be the thing your book has been waiting for.
Book coaching is an unregulated industry. Anyone can call themselves one. Here are the 7 questions that separate the coaches who finish books from the ones who don't.

How to Choose a Book Coach: The 7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire Anyone

Book coaching is one of the most unregulated spaces in publishing. There are no qualifications required, no industry board, no certification that guarantees competence. Anyone can put up a website and call themselves a book coach — and thousands of people do. Which means that the difference between a transformative experience and an expensive disappointment comes down entirely to the questions you ask before you sign anything. These are the seven questions that matter.
Your story involves other people. Here's how to tell it honestly, protect yourself legally, and write the people in your life with the care and precision they deserve.

How to Write About Real People in Your Book: The Complete Guide for Memoir and Nonfiction Authors

Every memoir, every leadership book, every story drawn from real life runs into the same wall: the people in your story are real. Your ex-partner. Your difficult parent. The colleague who betrayed you. The mentor who changed your life. The client who became a friend. Writing about them is not optional — they are the story. But writing about them carelessly can create legal exposure, damage relationships that matter, and produce a book that feels like a score-settling exercise rather than a genuine piece of work. Here is everything I know, after thirty years, about how to do it right.
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