Hello Creatives,

I've been working hard on the Fourth Edition of How to Market a Book, which will be pretty extensive! (and hopefully out in Dec/Jan). But it gets a little intense at the desk, so yesterday I went to Kew Gardens in London to see the Henry Moore sculpture exhibition for a (much needed) Artist's Date.

I love large sculptures as they change as you move around them and the light and shadow is part of the experience. Moore was also frequently inspired by bones, as of course, am I! Have you been for an Artist's Date recently? Click reply and let me know about it (or go book one!)

I'm also prepping for my next AI-Assisted Artisan Author webinars, see below for more details. And if you want to write 50,000 words next month, check out Novel November with ProWritingAid.​

Bad choices make good stories. Writing character and navigating critique groups

How can giving your characters two bad choices raise the stakes in your stories? And how do you ask for the feedback you need from a critique group, and disregard the rest? Erin Dionne shares her writing and publishing tips after more than 20 years as an author and professor.

In the intro, The Future of Listening Audible survey, Spotify expand audiobooks globally, and new Audible features.

​Click here to listen or read the transcript

From story seeds to stories and writing an Author's Note

How do you find and notice story ideas, and how do you turn those into short stories, novels, or as anecdotes for your non-fiction or memoir? Why is an author's note so important in an age of AI, and what might it contain?

I share several chapters from How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories, human-narrated by me! Plus, my short story, The Black Church, along with its author's note.

In the intro, ebook pre-orders on Smashwords, Two titles per week on Amazon KDP; AI-related Digital Publishing Awards at Frankfurt Book Fair.

​Click here to listen or read the transcript ​

AI-Assisted Artisan Author webinars, Nov 14 and 21

While AI usage continues to be contentious around writing actual words, many authors and publishers are now using AI tools to help with book marketing, admin, and the business side of being an author. If you'd like to learn specifics that will help you, come and join my webinar/s.

If you don't currently use any AI, or you only use it for basic things, come to the Beginners, and if you want to learn how to transform business processes with agentic AI, come to the Advanced session

​Click here for Beginners, 14 November​

​Click here for Advanced, 21 November ​

Ticket-holders will get the replay, slides and resources within 24 hours of the event. Patrons and previous attendees, please use your discount code.

There are FAQ on each page, but just reply to this if you have any questions.