Lately, I’ve been reading Tim Grahl’s Book Launch Blueprint: The Step-by-Step Guide to Launching a Bestseller. Making a bestseller list woos authors like the cry of the mythical Siren. It carries status and puts oomph behind the sales of future books.
But do you have a true understanding of what it takes to make those lists?
Bestselling author Tim Ferriss explains in “How Bestseller Lists Work…and Introducing the Amazon Monthly 100” that the NYT has “20 weekly and 3 monthly lists.”
Wow! There’s also the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Washington Post. That’s a lot of opportunities to make a bestseller list. And let’s not forget Amazon.
If making bestseller status is your goal, then it’s important to know the criteria used to make the determination. Otherwise how can you [Read more…] about So You Want to Make the Bestseller List, But Do You Know What It Takes?
Today, I welcome back author Marie Wells Coutu. My first interview with Marie was shortly after her debut novel, For Such a Time, which won the Books of Hope contest. Thirsting for More, the second book in her Mended Vessels series was a finalist in the 2016 Selah Awards Contest and a semi-finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards sponsored by Florida Writers Association. You can find more about Marie and her novels on 
Today’s my birthday, so I decided to take the day off and have my friend Donna Wittlif guest post. I first met Donna through an online group I belong to and then had the opportunity to edit one of her books—fascinating sci-fi.
I don’t know about you, but during the long dark days of winter, I can get a bit down and unmotivated. Doctors call it seasonal affective disorder (SAD). I counter this gloominess with white Christmas lights in my bedroom that come on at 5 a.m. to simulate sunrise. I also take extra B complex during the winter.
Elaine describes herself as a history geek. Her bookshelves are filled with volumes about the American Revolution, an era she became fascinated with when growing up in Massachusetts. Her passions are her family, her faith in Christ and writing — usually about the American Revolution, a frequent subject of her novels.
I don’t know about you, but my inbox has been jammed with emails about making 2017 a great year. Nothing in and of itself wrong with that goal. But I’ve deleted those emails without reading them.