Swim With Whales
Do you swim with whales? When we want big clients and big opportunities, we get in the water with them! And that’s what we’ll do in this coolest-ever business retreat. Check an Item Off Your Bucket List Spend six days … More ☛
Tag Archives: author
Speakipedia Podcast #26: David Murray
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:05) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakepedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker , bringing you straight talk, smart strategies, and … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #23: Mitch Mitchem
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:00) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk, smart strategies, and amazing … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #22: Paula Rizzo
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:07) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk, smart strategies, and amazing … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #19: Humphrey Bower
Dave Bricker (00:00) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk, smart strategies, and amazing stories … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #18: Pauline Butcher Bird
Dave Bricker: Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk, strategies, and amazing stories from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast # 15:
Simone Vincenzi
Transcript Dave Bricker: Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia.com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #14:
Andrea Gold
Transcript: Dave Bricker (00:07) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakepedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast # 13:
Rick Lozano
Transcription Dave Bricker (00:07) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speekipedia Media, brought to you by speakipedia.com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast # 11:
Will Bowen
Transcription Dave Bricker (00:06) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media, brought to you by Speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Storytelling Wizard (Demo)
by Dave Bricker Load a demo and view the AI-generated results. Intro Setup Protagonist Transformation Conflict Steps Characters The Story Introduction If you have zero carpentry skills and you purchase a table saw, you’ll likely lose a few fingers by … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #10:
Johann Callaghan
Dave Bricker (00:01) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast # 9:
David H. Lawrence the XVII
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:01) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakypedia Media brought to you by Speakypedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Writing is Design: Avoid Writing Clichés for Better Prose
Since time immemorial, clichés have sneaked in the door when we least expect them to. They’re low-hanging fruit for writers who abscond with them quickly instead of striving for excellence. But to the trained eye, writing clichés stick out like … More ☛
Nonfiction Writing and the One-sided Sales Conversation
Business, technology, and how-to books can be viewed as one-sided sales conversations. Though the author may hope to sell products or services, what’s usually being sold directly to the reader is an idea—a strategy or philosophy that can be used … More ☛
Verbs: Spice Up Your Writing with Verbs that Rock
Verbs are the engines that move your writing and your readers, but many authors don’t spend enough time choosing the right ones. If your writing was an electric guitar, your verbs would be the volume, tone, and distortion controls that … More ☛
Book Design Basics: Choosing a Book Font
Selecting a book font seems simple enough, but important subtleties and fine points of typography are not obvious to the average writer. This article offers insights into fonts suitable for book typography. Though it won’t turn the average author into … More ☛
Rethinking Book Cover Design
Book cover design tells the story of the story. It must convey the spirit and intentions of the author authentically, and it also has a few practical chores to perform. If a book cover design is to accomplish these things … More ☛
Want a Traditional Publishing Contract? Do Your Homework
This article discusses the pros and cons of traditional publishing. Abandon your biases, study the business of publishing, and choose the publishing method that best suits you and your book. Perhaps the biggest myth in publishing is that as a … More ☛
Publishing Advice – Practices & Principles
The following publishing advice is based on my own experiences and those of my clients. I hope you find it valuable and encouraging, even if it changes your expectations. I’ve written and published 12 books. I’ve guided many remarkable people … More ☛
Writing is Design: Two-Word Writing Clichés
Two-word clichés are perhaps the least obvious kind. Unless we’re vigilant, they sneak into our prose, steal color, mask our individual writer’s voice, and make us sound like millions of other writers who mindlessly employ the same worn out word … More ☛
Book Design Basics: Quotation Marks and Primes
Writers often ask about the difference between “straight” or “dumb” quotation marks and traditional printers’ quotes, commonly referred to as “smart quotes” or “curly quotes.” Add in the need to distinguish between left single quotes and apostrophes, and the primes … More ☛
Track Changes – The Essential Tool for Writers and Editors
If you’re not using your Word Processor‘s Track Changes function, you’re missing out on one of the best writing tools of the digital age. The good news: it’s quick and easy to learn. This video tutorial will show you how. … More ☛
The Perfect Book Sales Page
Tom Morkes published The Perfect Book sales Page on his blog. I’m usually the first person to reject formulaic approaches to book marketing. Many well-written books are horrible products. But what I like about Tom’s template is that it forces … More ☛
Publishing Scams and How they Work
Many self-publishers start their book projects with unrealistic expectations and misunderstandings about how publishing works. A huge industry has arisen to prey on writers who are unsure of the path. This article explains the basics of how publishing scams work … More ☛
How to Produce Audiobooks with Amazon ACX
This article explains how to produce and market a professional quality audiobook using Amazon ACX. Through ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), I was able to audition voiceover talent, choose a professional producer, review the work in progress, and make my audiobook … More ☛
Self-Publishing Scams: Keep the “Self” in Self-Publishing
Here’s an addendum to Publishing Scams and How they Work. I wonder why so many authors, after spending thousands of hours working on a book, fail to conduct a few critical hours of research that will save them thousands of … More ☛
Tabs, Indents, and Margins: How to use the Tab Ruler
This article explains the tab ruler found on every word processor and typesetting application. Understanding the simple and elegant split ruler and tab functions opens up a world of formatting opportunities. Digital typesetting and word processing inherited a number of … More ☛
A Manuscript is Not a Book: Ten Tips for Manuscript Preparation
In my work with writers, I come across many common technical problems with manuscripts. These usually spring from the best of intentions as the writer attempts to create the feel of the finished book within the manuscript. Though they’re trying … More ☛
Not Selling Books? Did you do the Math?
You threw a grand party but nobody came. Your novel is so good but you’re not selling books. What happened? You were supposed to appear on Oprah’s show. Terry Gross isn’t calling you for an interview. You may be an … More ☛
Writing is Design: Shy Away from Timid and Passive Writing
“Passive writing” refers to a specific set of grammatical circumstances where emphasis switches from subject to object. The money was stolen by Jill. instead of Jill stole the money. This is confusing if you’re writing about Jill but perfectly acceptable … More ☛
Book Cover Design: Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 3
This third installment of Judging a Book by its Cover looks at great book cover designs that won the 2012 Design Observer 50 Books-50 Covers award. Part 1 explored how most book design rarely rises above “competent.” Part 2 looked … More ☛
Blogging to Build a Speaker or Author Platform
How can speakers, indie writers, and self-publishers use a blog to build a platform? This article explains how to publish online content to build community around your books. Build a Platform: Set up Your Blog A blog (short for web … More ☛
Book Cover Design: Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 2
Part 1 of Book Cover Design: Judging a Book by its Cover critiqued “professional” covers taken from Amazon’s Editor‘s choice list. Read that article first as it provides background for this one. The article looked at design elements that worked … More ☛
Book Cover Typefaces and Cover Design Horror Stories
I recently responded to a question in a writers‘ forum from an author who was in the process of designing a cover for her novel set in a swamp in New Orleans. “I chose a ‘swampy’ font that hangs down … More ☛
What’s a Professional Editor Worth?
What do you think a professional editor‘s pay scale should be? Assume that a proofreader would be at the bottom of the scale and a developmental/line editor would be at the top. An examination of the work editors perform sheds … More ☛
Co-Publishing – Alternative Path or Another Trap for Writers?
I recently published a post about the difference between vanity publishing and true self-publishing. Fundamentally, the article defines a publisher as “someone who takes the risk on a book.” Vanity Presses represent themselves as publishers and accept royalties while the … More ☛
Book Cover Design: Judging a Book by Its Cover – Part 1
Nothing screams “amateur” like a poorly crafted book cover. The standards for book design aspired to by trade publishers are not all that high, but self-publishers routinely fall short of them. If you want your book to be taken seriously, … More ☛
Self-Publishing & Vanity Publishing: Confuse Them and Pay the Price
What is true self-publishing? What is the difference between self-publishing and “vanity publishing” or “subsidy publishing?” How do these differ from “traditional publishing?” Don’t publish until you understand these terms; that knowledge can make or break your book. Learn about … More ☛
Proposed Standards for Book Typography
The word processor has placed new burdens on writers to understand how to use italics, big and small capitals, dashes, hyphens, initials, etc. Writers who do their own typesetting often produce mediocre results. Likewise, trade publishers sacrifice typographic aesthetics when … More ☛
Straight Talk About Book Reviews
Book reviews are critically important. Have you ever read a book hoping it would get better, only to find that it never did? And how do you tell if an independently published book is any good? So many are poorly … More ☛
Book Design Basics – Drop Caps and Initial Impressions
NITIAL CAPITALS have historical roots in the early days of book design; their use predates the printing press and the invention of moveable type. Today’s initial caps are not as fancy as those carefully rendered in gold leaf in ancient … More ☛
Book Design Basics: Small Capitals – Avoiding Capital Offenses
Use of Small Capitals—uppercase characters designed at lowercase scale—is one aspect of writing and book design that isn’t taught in grammar school. We all know every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. We all should … More ☛
Book Design Basics Part 1: Margins and Leading
Book design is a lost art. Though book design discussions usually focus on covers, consider how much more time a reader spends staring at the text. An elegant book block is just as important. Decades ago, professional tradesmen practiced the … More ☛
Book Distributors: What’s in it for Publishers?
There is a direct relationship between the number of sales you can expect from a book distributor and the value-added services they provide to publishers and readers. Publishers are best served to ally themselves with book distributors that do the … More ☛
Tone
Tone in writing and speaking refers to the attitude or approach that the author or speaker takes toward the subject and the audience. Tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, or cheerful, and it plays a crucial role … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #3:
Scott Lesnick
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:06) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia .com. I’m your emcee Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Using Other People’s Content: Fair Use
When can you use someone else’s intellectual property? With the property-holder’s permission, you can do what you want. That’s the safest way to use anyone else’s anything. Otherwise, the “gray area” is governed by the doctrine of fair use and … More ☛
AI Storytelling Wizard
Free E-Books by Dave Bricker
Effective speakers wrap their messages in stories—but few understand what stories are and how they work. This brief guide explores why some narratives connect with listeners and others don’t. Examples—including a few of the author‘s nautical adventure tales—reveal powerful techniques … More ☛
William Lyon Phelps: A Borrowed Book
(419 words) William Lyon Phelps (1865-1943) was an American educator, literary critic and author. On April 6, 1933, in response to the Nazi burning of books containing “un-German” ideas, he delivered the following radio address: The Speech (excerpted) The habit … More ☛
Blog is Short for Backlog
One of my colleagues has written a blog post every week for the past 17 years. If you’re that disciplined and you enjoy the challenge, go for it. But why add the extra pressure? At the time I’m writing this, … More ☛
Publish a Book as a Business Card
I’ve written and published 14 books… And as far as book sales go, that’s made me tens of dollars. Two million books are published every year. And getting your book noticed in the crowd is even more difficult than appearing … More ☛
How to Negotiate with a Speaker?
How do you negotiate with a speaker? What if you find just the right speaker for your conference and then discover there’s a gap between your budget and their fee? Here are a few ways to close the price—value gap. … More ☛
Stories to Never Tell: The Starfish Story
Like the Chauffeur story, here’s a tale that thousands of speakers love to tell but shouldn’t: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=speaker+telling+the+starfish+story A man walking along the beach noticed that thousands of starfish had been washed up on the sand by a storm tide. And … More ☛
Intromatic (Demo)
Load a demo and view the AI-generated results. Speaker Introduction Wizard by Dave Bricker A strong, interesting, and concise introduction sets the stage for your performance. It builds energy and primes your audience to focus on the problem you address, … More ☛
Punch Up Your Elevator Pitch
The “elevator pitch” is an essential professional tool—a tool that should be kept razor sharp and as ready to deploy as a handshake and a smile—and yet, most professionals are woefully bad at introducing themselves. Have you ever attended a … More ☛
Sound Advice for Writers & Publishers
The following advice on writing and publishing is based on my own experiences and those of my clients. I hope you find it valuable and encouraging, even if it changes your expectations. I’ve written and published twelve books, and I’m … More ☛
Storytelling Straight Talk: Humility Kills Conviction
Leaders write and speak with conviction. Bold writing is not arrogant. Readers and audiences know that your words are a direct extension of your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and experiences. Don’t talk about yourself at the expense of offering value to … More ☛
Are Your Messages Missing the Mark?
Are your messages missing the mark? Are your stories clear and accurate or are your meanings lost in translation? The storyteller’s challenge is to convert abstract and intangible ideas, experiences, emotions, and memories into sounds or characters on a page … More ☛
Potent Verbs Spice Up Your Storytelling
Verbs are the engines that move your writing, your speaking, your readers, and your audiences but many authors ands presenters don’t spend enough time choosing the right ones. If your writing was an electric guitar, your verbs would be the volume, … More ☛
The “Become a Millionaire Speaker” Story
A friend asked if he should take a day off work to attend a free “Become a Millionaire Speaker or Coach!” seminar. No. Don’t quit your day job—even for a day. I’m sure the session offers hours of true and … More ☛