I’m planning future workshops on editing, manuscript preparation, publishing best practices, book launches, and other practical parts of the independent publishing process. To make sure I’m scheduling them at times that work for as many members as possible, I’d love your input. Please vote for the option that usually works best for you. Also, feel free to comment with your time zone and any specific time windows that are especially good or impossible. I’ll use your responses to plan upcoming Guild workshops.

Hi. My name is Cynthia. I'm a writer/blogger/photographer/musician, who formerly published a small-town newspaper, and freelanced for local entertainment magazines. I've completed a 360 page sci-fi/horror manuscript in Word that I'd like to publish as a novel. It's well past the editing/formatting stage, and I've designed and completed the flap info for a cover, but I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Looking for good ideas and advice. Thanks so much for including me. 😊

Hi, new to the group... New to writing, but I have blogged since before blogs were a thing (back in the GeoCities days). I am a disabled vet, was a single dad forever, been retired to the Philippines beach since 2013. They call me Tito Tim (uncle Tim). My first real book is in the hands of beta readers... No feedback yet... Not sure where I am going from here. Probably revising the draft. It is my fourth draft, but I had a bunch of exploratory drafts before that. I am calling it my first draft. Eventually KDP and D2D? I am unsure right now. Need an editor first... 😎🏝️🍹

Hello everyone. I look forward to learning about your experiences as an aspiring author. I am considering self-publishing, but some aspects seem daunting. Especially the marketing end of it. Also the cover art. I have so much to learn. I hold a BA in writing with a minor in drama. My professor's predicted I'd have success as a novelist. That definitely hasn't happened. I've completed five novels, with a few more in the works. I believe my writing compares favorably with those of established authors; but my many, many agent rejections have eroded my confidence. Research concerning trad publishing has been an eye opener. Even if a debut author is lucky enough to procure publication, publishers will spend piddly on marketing their books. Ninety-five percent of a publisher's marketing budget is devoted to authors with name recognition. As a result, book sales for a debut author in the first few years are disappointing. I was chagrinned to learn that established authors are offered contracts for books they haven't even written yet. Often these authors rush to meet deadlines, and as a result, the books are often poorly edited. Publishers don't care. Said authors rest on their laurels. It's becoming harder and harder to find a really well-crafted book these days. Bottom line: Maybe self-publishing, (self-empowerment) is the only way we can take a stand against the unfair practices of the publishing industry.

Build an email list. Start a TikTok. Post every day. Don’t post every day. Run ads. Don’t run ads until you have a series. Get on podcasts. Build a launch team. Do newsletter swaps. Go wide. Stay exclusive. Make reels. Write long-form posts. Create a reader magnet. Optimize Amazon. Sell direct. Start a community. Build a brand. And the exhausting part is that they’re not wrong. That’s what makes it maddening. If the advice were all terrible, you could ignore it and go make a sandwich. But a lot of it is good advice in the right situation, for the right author, at the right stage, with the right book, for the right goal. So instead of clarity, you get a thousand open tabs in your brain. And there you are, holding your book, wondering whether you are supposed to be a writer, a content creator, a media company, a data analyst, a publicist, a graphic designer, an ad buyer, a community leader, and a mildly unhinged motivational speaker with good lighting. No wonder authors freeze. The framework I’m going to share with you today is one that you can do each day, and it’s a great place to start. It will not suddenly solve all your marketing problems and produce shiny rainbows and bunny rabbits with gold coins shooting out their fluffy little butts, but it will get you going. It will bring you forward motion. Remember, every beautiful oak tree begins with a buried acorn. Every perfect result begins with imperfect action. ASK So here is what I want you to do today. Do not try to formulate a marketing strategy. Figure out where you’re stuck. There’s only five places that could be the core of the problem: visibility, clarity/positioning, trust, sales, or connection. To help you figure this out, ask yourself the following questions: Do people not know the book exists? Then your problem is VISIBILITY. Do people see the book but still not understand what it is, who it is for, or why they should care? Then your problem is CLARITY. Do people seem interested, but they are not confident enough to buy, join, sign up, or take the next step?