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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
How TikTok Helps You Build Your Author Brand
Have you heard of TikTok? And the trending hashtag #BookTok? We joined Alex McCarthy and Helen Lewis from Literally PR to learn more about the social media platform which is helping... Read more >
Enter Your Book For Awards
As an author, you might be wondering how to enter your book for awards. Or whether it’s worth it, because most awards charge a fee to enter. To reassure you, the... Read more >
Why Do You Need an Author Brand Story?
We chat with Author Brand mentor Isabelle Knight about promoting your book - and establishing what's behind the 'brand'. 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 >
Amazon Advertising Guide: Benefits, Budget & Setup
A guide to the benefits of Amazon Advertising, the kind of budget you will need and how to prepare for setting up Amazon adverts for your books and products. 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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 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 >
10 Tips for Crowdfunding Your Book
Thinking of crowdfunding your book? Here are 10 tips from successful book crowdfunder Elizabeth Hopkinson. 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 >
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 >
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 >
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 >
“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.”
