After working with thousands of authors, as an editor, book designer and publicist, I've discovered the real thing all authors need help with is writing better books. Tomorrow I'll tell you more about my three publishing secrets, but the MOST important one is to "write books readers love."

Unfortunately, even (or especially) if you get a $20,000 for an MFA in Creative Writing, your first complete book may not be all that great. Which means, you'll need to hire a fancy-pants editor to clean it up for you - and then spend even more money promoting it.

After literally spending 10 years in a library getting a PhD in Literature, and then 5 more years studying the craft, I've gotten pretty great about writing commercial fiction and non-fiction. Recently I even put together all my best writing resources, plot templates and chapter outlines into a new course.

Make sure your book is as good as it possibly can be before you publish - use my checklists to double-check your work and make sure you aren't missing vital pieces. A few extra tweaks can make a big difference in reader satisfaction, which is CRUCIAL to the long term success of your book.