TCK Publishing Videos

Authors have more options than ever when it comes to publishing a book. We can choose to self-publish, work with a contract publisher or packager, outsource most of the work, DIY everything, or pursue a traditional publishing arrangement. And we can mix and match among these for every book we create, choosing what works best for each unique project. But in order to make the right choices, you have to understand the benefits and drawbacks of each option. There are lots of reasons to choose self-publishing, and lots of reasons to pursue traditional publishing deals. It’s all about making the right choice for the right project at the right time . Traditional publishers, too, have to make choices: with limited resources for editorial, production, and marketing, they have to pick books that they think will succeed. This involves a lot of planning and financial mapping—but it also involves a lot of guesswork. And that’s one reason why navigating traditional publishing can be so frustrati...

Writers are, by nature, a creative lot, and often more than a little rebellious. Many of us are trying to create full-time careers so that we don’t have to report in to an office or a boss every day and so that we can shape our lives the way we want them to be. So why on earth would you willingly schedule out your life? Don’t be a slave to the calendar, man! But hold that thought. One of the greatest triggers of stress is a sense of not being in control. Even if you’re churning out 5,000 words a day, rocking out at a full-time job, shuttling the kids to soccer practice, and cooking a gourmet meal every night, if you don’t feel in control, you’re going to be a ball of stress. Why Plan? Dana Gionta, a PhD psychologist, notes that the more control you perceive you have in your work, the more satisfied you are with your job . That goes for writing, too—there’s a lot we don’t control in terms of our work (publishing offers, sales stats, reviews…the list goes on), and so it’s important...

Our lives are friggin’ busy. Work, relationships, kids, social obligations, volunteer work, school, commuting, meetings—regardless of what configuration of events your life involves, it all adds up to constantly running around, trying to get the next thing on your list taken care of. Where’s writing supposed to fit into all that? It’s totally possible to create a full-time career as an author , but it takes work…and it can be hard to change your mindset so that writing is a priority, not something that’s taking away from your other priorities. Thankfully, you already have the greatest tool you’ll ever need to get organized, stay on task, and maximize your writing potential: your calendar. Whether you use a paper planner or a calendar app, your calendar is your best friend when it comes to creating a sustainable life as a writer, both immediately and in the long term. Apply these calendar hacks today and watch your stress drop as your productivity soars! 1. Define Your Viewing Mo...

One of the most crucial elements of great fiction is great dialogue. You can write a novel with no dialogue, but it gets very avant garde very quickly—and if that’s not what you’re going for, then you’re going to need your characters to talk to each other, at least occasionally. Dialogue is an amazing tool for revealing plot points, deepening characterization, developing in-story relationships, and conveying the kind of depth and tone that every author wants to achieve. But writing natural dialogue is way harder than it seems like it should be. We talk to each other all the time; shouldn’t writing natural conversations flow smoothly from that lived experience? Yet dialogue continues to be something many writers struggle with. Their characters’ conversations sound forced or stilted, like they’re reading a script or dictating a textbook instead of having a real discussion. Or the dialogue is clipped and abrupt, failing to flow with the rest of the writing. There’s a ton of ways wr...

There are a lot of myths surrounding being a writer. The biggest and most dangerous is that we have to suffer for our art. This “misery myth” holds that writers are moody, fragile, flighty, and prone to bouts of depression—and that we need those things in order to be good at our craft. It’s true that writers are around eight times as likely to suffer from mental illness than those who don’t pursue writing as a career, according to Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins who wrote Touched with Fire , an excellent book on the topic. But that doesn’t mean that you need to suffer in silence. Why Are Writers Depressed? So why are writers more prone to depression and anxiety, anyway? The answer lies deep within our brains. Neurology Studies have shown that in most people, the right precuneus, the part of the brain that is responsible for coming up with ideas only fires up a few times a day—it’s mostly resting while you go about your business and get stuff done...

Life isn’t just in the real world anymore. We hang out in virtual chat rooms, our “friends” on various social networks are often people we’ve never seen in person, and we can build entire communities that span the globe with just the click of a mouse. It’s pretty fantastic what technology has allowed us to do, both as social creatures and as authors. Our writing can reach people on the other side of the planet and we can interact with friends, fans, and supporters anywhere, at any time. But with great power comes great responsibility—the need to take care of all the usernames, passwords, logins, files, and other digital detritus that has popped up like mushrooms surrounding our online lives. We’ve been talking recently about how to spring clean your computer files and your author website , and today we’re going to dig into cleaning up your online footprint and making sure that you’re safe and secure wherever your digital life takes you. 1. Be Alert You are your own first line o...

Rob is the best-selling author of Life after Debt and the founder of Bestseller Publishing. He’s been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and in the Wall Street Journal and on many other media sites. Rob teaches entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants how to stop hunting for clients and instead position yourself as the hunted. Rob got started in real estate at 18. He owned three very successful real estate companies that made more than $100 million a year—right up until the real estate market collapsed in 2008. He shut down those companies in 2008 and searched for a different way to generate income. He decided he wanted to pivot to financial services. He was a member of two mastermind groups at the time and he asked them what they would do in his position. Two different people told him he should write a book. This made a lot of sense to Rob because everybody he considered an expert had a book out on their area of expertise. That’s when he decided to write Life after Debt . He us...