The Learning Zone
Features, articles, and information to help you on your writing and publishing journey
Are You Writing a Book?
Have you started writing a book? Maybe you’ve thought about writing a book as one of your New Year’s resolutions? Or you’ve decided that being a published author would be a... Read more >
Why Writing a Book is the Greatest Gift to Yourself
We look at the reasons to write a book, how writing changes your focus, why many authors undergo a kind of transformation, and how the world of book promotion leads to even more opportunities for the author. Read more >
Top Tips: How To Plan Your Book
We’ve asked writing mentor and author Lis McDermott to give her views on how to plan your book. Read her top tips in this article. Read more >
Why Publishing Your First Book is Like Having Your First Baby
In conversation with SilverWood Books, author Sharon King highlighted how your first book is like having your first baby, without the physical pain, but almost as much swearing! Read more >
How to Create Space for Your Writing
Here we look at the ways to create space for your writing, giving you the best chance to focus on what you want to achieve. Read more >
Keep Your Book on Track
To help you get ready for the finishing line of publishing, here’s our handy guide to sailing through the key publishing and production steps. Read more >
Seeing Your Book In Print
In this article, we speak to author V.S. Minou to share with you how it feels to see your book in print. Read more >
Why You Need a Plan to Market Your Book
Most authors aren’t marketing experts. If you’ve started writing as a creative hobby, I’m guessing you didn’t plan ahead to getting your books published, let alone marketing them? Read more >
Ten Ways to Get More Book Reviews
It sounds obvious: book reviews can help you sell more books. Readers will search the reviews when deciding whether to buy a book and online retailers like Amazon use the reviews to calculate book rankings. But there's more... Read more >
Engage More Readers on Social Media
When you’re first starting out as an author, there are many social media platforms to consider. To manage your time effectively, you’ll need to choose which ones to focus on. Start by identifying your audience and where they hang out. Also consider your time, your skills and your motives for building a community. Read more >
Promote Your Book with PR
When you’ve taken the time to write your book, the next step is to put together a marketing strategy to reach potential readers and tell them it’s available to buy. Publicity and PR (public relations) are an important ingredient. Read more >
Blogging to Promote Your Book
What is a blog? Put simply, it’s a series of articles designed to start conversations with people who have similar interests to you or the themes in your book. You can share information, promote events, develop your opinions and report back on your work. Read more >
How to Promote Your Books with Podcasts
When exploring all the ways to promote your book, you might want to consider podcasting. Podcasts are a popular format because the listener can choose a specific topic or a host they like. In contrast to video, audio podcasts enable you to listen while doing other tasks, anywhere, and at any time that’s convenient. Read more >
How To Build Your Email List
Email is still one of the most popular marketing tools and it’s a great way to attract and entertain potential readers for your book. But you might be concerned that it’s a lot of work to send out a regular email newsletter to promote your book. Read more >
Arranging a Blog Tour to Promote Your Book
If you’ve never heard of a blog tour for books, we’re here to help - we’ve interviewed Anne Cater of Random Things to tell you more about how to arrange a blog tour and the benefits. Read more >
When and How to Do a Cover Reveal on Social Media
There are a few things to consider first when organising a cover reveal. Here are our tips for how to share your cover to the greatest effect. Read more >
Is Your Mindset Preventing You From Promoting Your Book?
We realise it’s hard work to write a book. So when you’ve finished it, it might feel like even more hard work to start promoting it. You’ll need to put a plan together and work through the actions. Read more >
A Brief Guide to Copyright for Authors
A basic introduction to UK copyright law - not a replacement for qualified legal knowledge or advice, but a useful overview intended to point self-publishing authors to the right resources. Read more >
Indexing Your Book
Have you considered having an index in your non-fiction book? An index helps the reader to retrieve information from your text quickly and efficiently, saving time and ensuring a more useful reading experience. Read more >
Why Isn't My New Book Going Into Every Bookshop?
To help you understand how book distribution works, here's a snapshot of what really happens to get your first book onto readers' shelves. Read more >
How Much Does It Really Cost to Self-Publish?
One of the questions we are often asked at SilverWood Books is whether self publishing is worth the investment compared with mainstream publishing. In this article, we'll deconstruct the costs and explore how to make a return on your investment. Read more >
The Printing and Distribution of Books
The choices you make at the start of your self-publishing journey will have an impact not only on how your book looks and feels, but also on how it reaches your target readers. Should you opt for Print on Demand (POD) or bulk printing? Read more >
Editing Your Writing
When working on your manuscript, we recommend writing the whole book or at least complete chapters before you start editing your writing. Yet that can be hard to do. You open... Read more >
Eight Benefits of Working with a Writing Mentor
You’ve reached the end of what you hope is a fairly decent first draft. You’ve read it back to yourself. You think it’s okay, but you know it could be better... Read more >
Should Your Memoir be a Novel?
When you’re writing a family memoir or an autobiographical story, it can be tempting to alter parts of the story to make it more appealing to readers. So it’s a valid question: should your memoir be written as a novel? Read more >
How to Create Lovable Book Characters
Helping your readers fall in love with your characters is a classic route to a successful book. Read more >
How Writers Can Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Seventy percent of individuals will suffer from imposter syndrome at some point. We talked to Lauren Malone, business coach and mindset expert to discuss some of the ways forward. Read more >
Should You Have an Author Website?
In this article we cover the reasons why an author website will make a difference and our thoughts on how to make the most of your website once live. Read more >
How to Write the Perfect Author Biography
The main purpose of an author biography is to introduce yourself to your reader in the most concise way possible, and also to encourage them to purchase and read your book. Read more >
How to Write the Perfect Book Blurb
The age-old adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, sadly, just isn’t true. Your book cover and crucially your blurb will help readers decide whether to purchase your book or leave it on the shelf. Read more >
Turn Your Knowledge into a Business-Boosting Book
What can a book do for your business? In this article, we explore the benefits a book can bring to your business, clients, and team. Read more >
What Return Can You Expect from Writing a Business Book?
To share her experience, we talked to local accountant and published author, Della Hudson, about her business books and how yours will benefit your income long term. Read more >
How to Market Your Business Book
Once your business book is the hands of an editor or publisher, you can start work on planning the marketing. To work out how to market your business book, start by reviewing your audience. Read more >
Why Editing is the Most Important Step Before Publishing Your Book
The true purpose of editing is to make your book the best it possibly can be for readers. To help, here’s our guide to what’s involved in book editing before publishing your masterpiece. Read more >
Printing and Publishing Glossary
A list of commonly used terms to help you on your self-publishing journey, from 'gutters' and 'glyphs' to DPI and casebinding... Read more >
10 Tips for Crowdfunding Your Book
Thinking of crowdfunding your book? Here are 10 tips from successful book crowdfunder Elizabeth Hopkinson. Read more >
How to write a book in one month: National Novel Writing Month #NaNoWriMo
It’s nearly November and for all the would-be writers out there, it’s your annual reminder that it’s entirely possible to write that book! You may have started writing or thought about... Read more >
The Dreaded Bad Review
The more successful you are as a writer, the more you are likely to have a bad review. Here, author and intuitive life catalyst Becky Walsh gives you her tips to deal with negative reviews, and your own responses to them. Read more >
Launch Your Book in Time for the Christmas Marketplace
Here we offer you a typical timeline for self-publishing your book in time for the Christmas marketplace. Read more >
Use Facebook to Attract More Readers and Drive Book Sales
If you're planning to self-publish a book, SilverWood can offer sensible self-publishing advice, support and professional services. Here, we examine Facebook advertising to promote your self-published book. Read more >
Advertising on Amazon: How to Succeed with Pay-Per-Click to Promote Your Books
BooksGoSocial is a platform to create profitable ads to ensure all its authors increase their royalties and make a profit. Read more >
5 Tips: Get More Visibility For Your Book on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the perfect platform for promoting your business book. To help you get more visibility for your book we’ve shared tips below from other authors, LinkedIn coaches and our book marketing team. Read more >
Promote Your Book With Videos on YouTube
Have you thought about promoting your book using videos, or launched your YouTube channel yet? Read this article to find some helpful tips to get started. Read more >
Three Book Marketing Myths to Bust: Making the Switch From Trade to Self-Publishing
We found three common myths which might affect your confidence in your ability to switch to self-publishing and market your own books. Read more >
Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing: What's the Difference?
Many authors do switch publishers - because what worked for their first book isn't always right for subsequent books. To help you with your decision, we've outlined the differences between traditional publishing and self-publishing. Read more >
Why Proofreading Matters
Even if your standard of written English is exceptional, any manuscript will benefit from a second pair of eyes. You may not think that placing a comma in the middle of a sentence is a problem, but other people will, and they may criticise your book on the basis of it. Read more >
Five Secrets to a Successful Series
Creating a successful series is a skill. We think these five things hold the key to keeping your readers interested in more than one single novel. Read more >
Should You Use a Pseudonym?
Having a pseudonym can be useful for today’s writers. However, the advantages and disadvantages should be carefully considered before a decision is made. Read more >
Why Publish Your Own Work?
Bestseller status rarely beckons for the self publishing and indie author, despite phenomenal success stories. But, for many writers, being a bestselling superstar is less important than fulfilment and sharing a story. Read more >
Events: Building the Readership for Your Book
Events are a great way to spread the word about your book. However, it can take a lot of work to market events and get people to attend. In this article we look at the key elements to think about if you’re planning events to promote and sell your books. Read more >
How to Grow Loyal Fans For Books Two and Three
To ensure the success of your sequels, you need to think about your fans and what they’ll want from the books that you’ll write. Read more >
How to Find the Right Agent for You, and Stay Positive in the Face of Rejection
As an author, you’ll have poured your heart and soul into your work; in real time, it equates to thousands of hours of focus, research, thought, scribbles, interviews and nuts-and-bolts writing. Read more >
To Be Or Not To Be... Indie or Mainstream?
The novels we are reading here in 2019 are indistinguishable from the books published by the big (or small) mainstream publishing houses. In part, this is due to the advancements made with Print On Demand... Read more >
Hurdles for Publishing Your Book: How to Finish the Writing
You start writing a book, but down to the last chapters, it can feel like you’ll never finish. How will you know when it’s done? Our authors and publishing team have some practical advice on how to finish writing your book. Read more >
Ignite Your Book Sales - Because We Do Judge a Book by its Cover
No one wants to admit it but, subconsciously, we all judge a book by its cover. Read more >
Avoid Curling Sandwiches: Plan Your Dream Book Launch
When the writing is complete, the cover design is ready, and your book is edited and off to print, the next leap of faith is your book launch. Read more >
4 Useful Tips for Giving an Author Presentation
SilverWood author David Ebsworth offers helpful advice for authors preparing to give a presentation. Invaluable information for writers planning an author talk or event. Read more >
Building an Audience for Talks & Events
SilverWood author Helen Barbour gives us an insight into how she approaches building an audience for her events and talks. Read more >
Book Sales and Signings
After your book is published, you may wish to use a bookshop promotion service as part of your marketing strategy. SilverWood often refers its authors to Nigel Roberts Book Sales and Signings. Read more >
Writing a non-fiction book: how do I get started?
Editorial mentor Sophie Bradshaw shares her three-step guide to turning procrastination into productivity. Read more >
How Will Hamilton-Davies Introduced his Self-Published Book into Almost Every Bookshop in Bristol
5 easy steps outlining how to introduce a self-published book to bookshops. Read more >
The Author's Journey: A Tale of Two Generations with Gillian Morton
In 2018, Gillian proudly published her novel 'Bombweed’ after it had been in the family for over half a century. We spoke to Gillian to find out what it was like turning a private family treasure into a novel that thousands of people will enjoy. Read more >
The Principles of Great Book Cover Design
The average reader makes a judgement on a book in just 8 seconds, so effective cover design is a vital ingredient in your publishing success. Read more >
Book typography: (almost) everything you need to know
Find out more about typography and how the SilverWood team turn your manuscript into an elegant, readable book. Read more >
Something to Shout About
Our guide to writing an impactful shout line (sometimes called a tag line) for the front cover of your book. A shout line sums up your concept in a single line, and draws the reader's attention. Read more >
A Writer's Confession
The first draft is never the final draft. Writer Annie Franklin talks about her experience of asking for feedback. Read more >
“If you’re thinking of self-publishing, I hope you don't go at it alone. With a team like SilverWood behind you, you have the support you need to publish the best work you believe in.”
