Best seller lists may seem impressive, but the reality is that many titles buy their way onto them, making these accolades less about sales and more about strategy. We’ve all seen the labels: Amazon best seller. National best seller. New York Times best seller. Wall Street Journal best seller. But are best sellers really selling that many copies? Maybe not. The shocking truth is that far more “best sellers” bought that status than actually achieved it through legitimate sales of books. You might be asking, how could that be possible? How could authors possibly claim that their nonfiction books, novels, memoirs, or cookbooks were best sellers if that is not the case? Here is the secret the publishing industry would rather you didn’t know: you can buy your way onto practically any best seller list, and you can cheat your way into Amazon best seller status. Here’s How it Works…
Explore how first-time authors can balance personal anecdotes and professional insights to engage readers effectively. One of the biggest challenges first time authors face is the question of just how much they should talk about themselves in their own book. So let’s talk about the common pitfalls that many first-time authors run into, so that you can avoid them. First you have got Mr. Bloated Ego. He finds himself so fascinating that he can’t imagine a paragraph of the book failing to remind the reader of how smart, successful, and good looking he is. Bor-ing! Then you have got Mr. Reticent, whose genuine humility prevents him from saying even a few words about who he is or what he does. Bewildering! Then you have got folks who don’t have swollen egos or overarching humility. They simply aren’t sure how much they should say about themselves. The uncertainty about this issue…
New stars, same thrills. Why the US Open still captivates. Here comes the US Open, the fourth and final tennis Grand Slam event for the year, starting Monday, August 26 at Flushing Meadow in New York. Of the Big Three who’ve dominated the sport for decades, Roger Federer has retired, Rafael Nadal is injured and may be done, and only Novak Djokovic remains. On the women’s side, the Williams sisters have left the building and no American women have come close to replacing them. And yet, the sport is more popular than ever and the U.S. National Tennis Center will be jam packed with tennis-loving funs for three weeks (including Fan Fest, already underway). Why the popularity without an array of transcendent stars? To put it simply, winning a major tennis tournament is one of the hardest accomplishments in sports. And watching people accomplish that goal is consistently thrilling, even…