TCK Publishing Videos

  This is one of the toughest lessons in life. It’s more difficult to learn for some of us than it is for others, but we all must learn and accept it eventually. If we don’t, our chances of succeeding at just about anything we attempt are slim to none. For me, the lesson appeared in stages. My first big “aha moment” happened when I was still in college. The second took place just this week. In the hope that others will reap the benefits of a lesson worth learning and re-learning … here’s my story. Why Work Together When It’s Quicker to Work Alone? Organizational Psychology 301. The professor loved to divide the class into small groups, give us case studies, then sip her coffee and smile while we rushed to come up with a coherent summary and takeaways based on the scenario. We’d then choose a group spokesperson to present our findings to the others. How juvenile can you get? I hated that class. Had it not been required for my major, I would’ve dropped it the first...

  We want our heroes to be better than us. That’s why we read “escapist” fiction like adventure stories, superhero comics, and epic fantasy. We love to see larger-than-life characters having incredible adventures and performing superhuman feats of heroism. They always save the day, always make the right choice, and always do the right thing. Why do we love it? Because it’s fun, that’s why. So of course, when you sit down to write your novel, you want your protagonist to be just as heroic as your own favorite fictional characters. He’ll be pure of heart. He’ll have special powers nobody else has, and he’ll use them to fight evil. He’ll be handsome and funny and amazing and whatever he does, and everybody will love him because he’s just so dang cool . Right? Well, no. Congratulations: you’ve just created a Mary Sue. Wait, What’s a Mary Sue? This is what happens when a hero is too heroic—to pure, too powerful, too overwhelmingly good . A Mary Sue is an over-idealized and s...

  You’ve got email subscribers. You’ve done all that work. Now you can’t get anyone to buy anything. People spend too much time trying to get people to sign up to their newsletter when they already have a bunch of email subscribers who already have an interest in the product they are offering . One of the greatest assets that business owners have is the pool of unconverted leads that they already have, eager and waiting for more from you. People on your list who didn’t convert in the first 90 days should be considered assets . This is the shift in thinking that business and marketing experts Nicholas Kusmich and Dean Jackson are advocating. In this post, Dean will reveal his secret to engaging with potential customers and turning them from cold leads into hot leads—and from hot leads into loyal fans! The Value of Unconverted Leads People spend a lot of time, effort, and money on getting fresh leads and getting customers on the fast track to buy right now. But that’s a ...

  Lucky you—your book is getting published! You’ve spent hundreds of hours crafting and polishing your masterpiece, and dozens more with your trusted editor fine-tuning your writing for a huge new audience. And now the layout of your book has been designed: how the words fit and flow on the page, where the page numbers and illustrations go, how wide the margins are… every detail that goes into making your book look beautiful. After years of work and sweat, your book looks like, well, a book. But you’re not finished quite yet. Before your magnum opus is ready for the bookstore shelves, there’s one more task awaiting you… Once your book is laid out, it’s absolutely essential that you, the author, proofread your story one last time before it’s published.  Why You Must Proofread before Publishing “But why?” you ask. After all, you’ve already spent so much time and effort editing and re-editing your book. And your editor’s worked on it, too. And so have your friends, and yo...

Is your love of books hurting the environment? Don’t get me wrong—we at TCK Publishing love books. We wouldn’t be doing what we do if we didn’t! But part of our responsibility as citizens of the planet is to be aware of when things we love might have unintended consequences. If you love to read, I’m guessing you also value knowledge, truth, and a commitment to doing the right thing—even when it’s not easy. Books are amazing things—they allow us to peer into others’ thought processes or imaginations; share our dreams, visions, goals, and insights; and transform the world around us through education and stories. Whether in print or digital form, books are magical. They have some downsides, though, especially in printed form. The Environmental Impact of Print Books Did you know that more than 2 billion books are printed in the United States alone each year? Creating all those books requires more than 30 million trees . That’s enough trees to fill 37,000 football fields —that...

Mimika Cooney is an international award-winning photographer and the author of Photographing Newborns . She was nominated by the Huffington Post as one of the 50 women entrepreneurs to follow in 2017. Mimika is a multi-passionate creative. Born and raised in South Africa, Mimika and her husband left in 2000 and emigrated to England. In 2006, they immigrated to the US. She is currently based in Charlotte, North Carolina. She’s had a very interesting journey both creatively and in the realm of business and marketing. Photography was originally a hobby for Mimika. She’s had an entrepreneurial mindset since she was a child, and she always looks for ways to make money with anything she does. She loves the creative outlet of photography. Mimika started her photography business in England, and continued it when she moved to the United States. She decided to write her books about newborn photography to answer all the questions she was getting while speaking at photography conferences; wri...

  The stereotype of a writer looks something like this: a lonely figure in a dark room of a cabin, pecking away at an ancient typewriter or staring into the pale glow of a computer screen, working with only a smoldering cigarette or a bottle of Pinot Gris for company. But while this reclusive lifestyle might have its merits, many modern writers have taken a decidedly more social approach to achieving success in their field. The same way other industries have guilds and societies to further their professions, authors can join writers’ associations to connect with industry peers, access resources, and bolster their careers and their standing in the literary community. Writers’ associations exist to create specialized communities in the literary world, to connect writers with each other as well as with other industry professionals like literary agents and publishers. These organizations also advocate for the interests of their member writers, promoting industry standards and provi...