A blog to help authors and designers alike

10 tips on how to overcome writer's block

1/16/2019

Most authors will at some point in their life face writer’s block, and for some this can feel completely crippling, staring blankly at the page before them with no idea of how to start or where to go next. This is something that has affected the most successful writers and authors of every age, so you’re in good company if you’re battling a block right now.

The good news is that you can work past any block, with the right frame of mind and trying some of the following techniques you can get your flow back and start writing once more!

So here are our top ten ideas of overcoming writer’s block.

1 Take a break – The temptation is in trying to force the creativity and keep banging away at the keyboard, but this can be the worst thing to do, take time and stop, if you need to take an hour or two (or even a day), do it, you’ll find it easier when you come back refreshed and refocused.

2 Just write anything – Free writing (anything) is a really useful way to step back into your flow and build momentum to get back to your manuscript.

3 Go for a walk – Get outside and into the fresh air, a walk outdoors works wonders to pump blood through your system and re-energize you.

4 Headphones On – Listen to some music while about to write, this has shown to help countless authors get back into the zone, it works well if you choose music without lyrics.

5 Meditate – To some this may seem a little on the New Age side of things, but try it, start by finding a quite spot and sit or lay down, concentrate on your breath and quiet your mind. There are some great guides on YouTube which will show you how meditate so check these out before you start. Meditation is practiced by many successful people both in writing and in business, it helps to clear your mind, refocus and regain your creative flow.

6 Change the scenery – Grab your laptop and find a different space to go and write in, many try their local coffee shop, but if you’re easily distracted you may want to take your headphones or try a quieter location.

7 Take notes – Lots of writers keep a note book where they record events, conversations, observations and things which interested them, over time these books become invaluable and a go to for inspiration.

8 Go off line – Switch off your internet connection (put your laptop and cellphone into airplane mode), with emails and social media notifications constantly coming in it can be incredibly distracting, take away the temptation and switch them all off.

9 Read a quality book – Read a classic novel or work of non-fiction, what ever your preference this can really help to inspire you back in to writing again.

10 Go old school – Grab a note pad and pen/pencil and write by hand, there’s something freeing about writing with a pen or pencil, if you need to free write then do it.

The main thing is not to lose hope, you can get your creativity back again so keep going and try some of the tips listed above.

We’d love to know if writer’s block has ever affected you and how you overcame it, what worked well and what would you recommend to your fellow authors?

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20 Great ways to promote your book

1/11/2019

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Successful book promotion relies upon the dedication of the author (if you’re independently launching your book), there are of course some great ways to publish, but once your book is actually for sale what do you do next to reach a larger audience?

Well the good news is that there are plenty of things that every author can do to self-promote, with a little planning and some effort you can ensure that more people see your book and that you go on to build a future readership.

So here we have our list of TWENTY things you can do to promote your book.

Promote it on Social media – an obvious call, but one which seems to be taken a little for granted, open accounts specifically as an author and use, the more you engage with others the greater the chance you’ll have of building interest.
Use Twitter – as with the first tip, engaged with others and build relationships, people’s feeds tend to be quick in changing which means that you can post more frequently, just don’t make it a constant stream of adverts!
Ensure your have a great book cover – We are bound to say this, but your book will initially be judged by its book cover, so make sure it looks great.
Have promotional designs – along with your book cover, ensure you have some banners and images of your book that look professional, if you can get them on an attractive looking background then post them to the likes of Pinterest and Instagram, you are building a brand, make sure it reflects the quality of your writing.
Write a Press Release – a bit of an old-school option but they can work, see our article on writing a Press Release. https://www.jdandj.com/how-to-write-a-press-release.html it even has a free template to help you write one.
Run a FREE promotion – With KDP you can run a five day promotion where you offer the eBook version for Free, this helps again with interest, remember to shout about it on your social media pages etc.
Create a website – Use a build-your-own website platform to make your own author’s website, here you can self-promote and also sell your own books from, you can also build an email list for future promotions.
Have a book launch party – you should do this locally and promote like crazy, it helps if you have built up your social media and mail out list first, but it can be a great way to meet your readers and promote your new book.
Hold a book signing event – This is best organized with your local book shop, it helps to promote smaller book stores along with promoting your book too (everyone wins), you will need to organize additional copies of your book, promotional materials, business cards, book marks, maybe hold a prize giving and competitions (the more fun you can make it the better the response).
YouTube – This is a great way to engage with your potential readers, if you have written a nonfiction book then you could create videos which are more along the lines of ‘how-to’ or lecture based, but even with fictional books you could read a chapter or offer advice on writing yourself.
Reviews for your book – Most people take notice of the reviews given on Amazon when buying anything, your book is no different, so, when you promote the free eBook version of your book, send links to everyone you know, get them to download it and submit a review (most of your friends and family should be willing to give you a hand).
Write a blog – Having your own website and/or Wordpress blog gives you the opportunity to not only shout about your book but engage with people about subjects that matter to you as a writer. As counter intuitive as it may seem, it is not all about advertising, writing content that your readers will be interested in and will actually benefit from is far more important.
Write a guest blog - Writing content for free for someone else’s blog/website really helps you to get noticed, websites with more traffic than yours normally welcome guest posts as long as it is relevant and of good quality (it’s something that we even accept ourselves from time to time), just make sure you ask for a link back to your own site or blog.
Write more – It’s no secret that authors with a larger collection of books tend to do better, so keep writing and if you publish several other smaller books it should help to sell you other work to a reader, just ensure you maintain the quality.
Add to your emails – change the email signature to have a link to your website and link to the book’s sales page.
Pinterest – Run competitions and encourage your readers to have photos taken of themselves with your book.
Promote the give-a-ways – Using freelancing websites can be great to have your book offers (especially the free eBook offer) promoted to the free book websites, it may cost $10 or $20 to do this but will save you a ton of work.
Add extras to the book – Adding additional material and resource to the back of the book will encourage your readers to dive deeper and also link back to your sales page and website.
Create an email list – offer a free element, this could be the first chapter of your up and coming new book in exchange for an email address, using services like Mailchimp (which starts off for free) you can engage in a more direct way with your readers.
Go live – Run a webinar where you could read excerpts or give advice on how to write (or even publish a book), this you can shout about through your social media and email lists.

21- (Bonus) Learn from the professionals - There are some great courses offered by very specific marketing professionals which will help you become a master in successfully promoting your book to a massive audience, the good news is that most of them are very reasonable to use too. Two that we like are specific for either Fiction or Non-fiction (follow the links for further details), but with a little bit of advice every author can successfully promote their book.

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10 tips on how to overcome writer's block

20 Great ways to promote your book

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