Author Lessons to Learn 1. - Agents suffer along with us -- truly they do, even when they don't show it. It's their job not to show it. So taking some time out when your book comes out to let your agent know you appreciate all his/her hard work is...

Last year saw story after story of authors (frantically trying to get readers) using sock puppet accounts to trash other authors with horrible reviews at Amazon and BN.com. We suppose desperate times call for desperate methods, and book sales are tough to come by these days.

"I want to implore you to remember to dedicate at least as much effort, if not more, to craft than you did before you started taking on so many of the business functions in the industry. Simply never lose sight of the fact that readers expect you to bring your...

People often complain about the narcissism of our moment, how everyone is posting and writing and talking about themselves. I worry about that.... such constant self-regard must surely mangle the soul... sometimes, I feel as if we've tipped the scales too far. Way too much skin on display. People are...

Sometimes what you mustn't do is just as just as important as what you must do.

I've had a dozen novels published and have made far more than a dozen mistakes. Which is why Randy Susan Meyers and I wrote a guidebook to help authors avoid making...

Before it was a movie... it was a powerful noir novel written by Vera Louise Caspary (1899-1987) who became one of the most prominent female authors and playwrights of her generation, writing more than 21 novels. Several of her books were turned into movies, including Bedelia. Caspary also wrote plays...

Hemingway said "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

As far as I'm concerned, he was right. I never lived there as a...

The Atria Mystery Bus tour took off April 12th. Four authors traveled 2,350 miles in eight days to 12 cities, 12 bookstores and talked about our work to well over 300 readers. I think that what made the strongest impression on me is John Connolly's wonderful Irish brogue....

It's taken me a long time to understand something about why some books sell and others don't.

It's taken me having written novels and marketed more than 1,200 others via AuthorBuzz.com.

Sales don't always have anything to do with good or brilliant or original.

Sales are about...

Co-written with Amy Edelman.

This is part three in a series about what authors who are self-publishing need to know -- not sugar coated and not exaggerated.

Part One is here, you might want to peruse it first. We covered: First you need to Write a Great Book...

Co-written with Amy Edelman.

Part two in a series about what authors who are self-publishing need to know -- not sugar coated and not exaggerated. Part One covering: you need to write a great book and Self Publish for the Right Reasons, is here.

So what's next?

Co-written with Amy Edelman.

Everyone is writing about how great and glorious the new publishing paradigm is. About the pot of gold at the end of the self-publishing rainbow. About authors getting 70% royalties and having control.

The scent of revolution...

I always miss my mom. Mother's Day would be just one more day I'd feel her absence but for the relentless commercialization. Thanks to that, this day is even harder to deal with. 

I've been told, Tweet, Facebook, MySpace, blog, use all the free tools and use them all the time... I've been wondering how people write here and write there and still write books. I've been working on a balance but I feel like I'm not putting enough of my time in...

As an author and in my AuthorBuzz.com capacity helping writers market their books, I talk to over 300 authors a year. What I hear the most (and what I know) is that we're all overwhelmed. Over-messaged. Over-extended. Over-Twittered and -Facebooked....

In the book world today is news that a traditional NYT-bestselling novelist has turned down a half-million-dollar deal to self-publish. Barry Eisler's going to get a lot of ink.

He's a good friend, and we've had many conversations about why he doesn't want to be with a legacy...

For the next ten days anyone who wants one can download a free copy of my last novel, The Reincarnationist. (Click here) But why is my book free? It's a question everyone has been asking me.

Well, it's not because I'm independently wealthy or because I think The...

Thriller novelists get asked -- berated, sometimes -- about whether their work glorifies bad behavior, even, exploits human tragedy for entertainment. You know -- if we write about sex a lot, are we encouraging depravity? If we describe a murder, are we responsible for putting the idea in some random...

There have been quite a few articles online about chick lit and not chick lit. In fact, even here in the Huffington Post there have been three.

I'm not going to enter into the Chick Lit versus Literary debate. Everyone else is doing just fine at it without me. I...