Every now and then, someone emails me out of the blue to ask if I'd consider writing their memoir. The pitch rarely changes. They've lived an extraordinary life, the story simply has to be told, and they're offering me a generous fifty per cent of the royalties to write it. All I need to supply is roughly a thousand hours of my working life. They'll supply the sample life. I want to be fair, because the people asking are almost never chancers. They're sincere. They genuinely believe they're … continue reading
Writing Tips
Honest, jargon-free advice on writing and finishing a novel, from a full-time author who has written twenty. Keith A Pearson's writing tips.
Is It Time to Quit Being an Author? (One Writer’s Plea, and My Honest Answer)
Every so often, someone in an author group posts something so raw and so familiar that I want to put the kettle on, reach through the screen, and talk it through properly. This is the first of those, and it opens a new series where I take a real plea from a fellow writer, tidied a little to spare any blushes, and give the honest reply I'd offer if we were sat across a table. Here's this one. The plea I have six books out, five in a Regency Romance series and one romantic suspense that never … continue reading
How Long Does It Take To Write a Book?
You have time to write a book. You just have to be honest about it. I built the little calculator below so you can run your own numbers. Tell it how many words you can realistically write in a day and how many days a week you'll genuinely show up, and it'll tell you when your 80,000-word book will be finished. Be honest with it and it'll be honest with you. My first novel started with a drunken wager. A few Christmas drinks, a rash declaration that I'd write a book, and a bet I … continue reading
How to Sell More Books: The One Thing That Actually Works
This morning, I happened to stumble upon a post in a Facebook group for authors. A chap with a single novel to his name, asking the assembled wisdom of the internet how to sell more books. He'd spent the previous twelve months ploughing money into ads. His total spend? More than the royalties his novel had earned in the same period. The replies came thick and fast. BookBub. Facebook ads. Amazon ads. Newsletter swaps. One bloke even tried to sell him a course on TikTok marketing for authors, … continue reading
Should You Write a Book? An Honest Answer from a Novelist Who’s Written Twenty
"So, I had this idea..." I've heard that line more times than I can count. From the plumber who spotted one of my novels on the kitchen counter. From old school mates who've tracked me down on Facebook after three decades of radio silence. What follows is usually a novel the person has been thinking about for years. A story they swear is different from anything else out there. A character they can't stop picturing. Roughly one in five is something else. A memoir. The life they'd get … continue reading
A Quick Q&A About Writing For a Living
A college student recently contacted me to ask if I'd help with part of her course. In short, she had to select her ideal career and then ask five questions to someone within that industry. The student in question wants to be a full-time author, and as her questions are quite interesting, I thought I'd share my answers with you... 1. What skills are most important when it comes to being an author? Being able to tell a compelling story is, without doubt, the most important skill, … continue reading
Want to Write a Book?
I receive several emails a week from folks who've read my books and would love to write their own. So, I decided I'd put together a basic overview of my writing strategy, together with the process I go through to stock Amazon's shelves. I would stress that this is my process. It might not work for everyone but it works for me; being a process I've honed over the last seven years and sixteen novels. Hopefully, it'll help you in some way. I've tried to list the tips/steps as intuitively as … continue reading
Don’t Say That. Say This…
How many times have you read a page of copy, only to realise you've used a certain word too many times. Next time, try replacing those commonly-used words with one from the list below. To download and save this list as a PDF file - click here. … continue reading