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About Tom Collins

Here at Master Book Builders, I'm known as the "Book Artisan" -- the guy who takes over to help with your book design and publishing steps, after you and Yvonne finish writing, editing, and polishing your book manuscript. As a writer myself, I usually chime in with a suggestion here or there. Since reading your book is inherent in my layout process, I bring that understanding of your message to your cover design, as well. And then I help with many of the tech and "author business" tasks in the publishing and marketing phases, constantly learning as the industry evolves. I try to share some of that learning in my blog posts, too.

image showing spiral shapes with words like dignity, purpose, community, safety, respect, and many others

Dignity as a Plural Term

This edition of Marginalia focuses on Dignity: Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, by Donna Hicks, PhD. Using her broad experience as an international conflict […]

By Tom Collins May 11, 2023 Books, Learning, Marginalia
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Finding and Fixing Your Sacred Flaws

Finding and Fixing Your Sacred Flaws

A funny thing happened when I was reading Will Storr’s The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better. […]

By Tom Collins April 12, 2023 Books, Marginalia, Writing
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blog post image for Are We Having Fun Yet? (with AI)

Are We Having Fun Yet? (with AI)

Let’s have some fun together, experimenting with an AI animated video tool and Bard, Google’s new entry to compete with ChatGPT.

By Tom Collins March 30, 2023 AI Tools & Tips, Business & Entrepreneurship, Tips from Tom's inbox, Tools & Technology
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Finding Lost Time (and What to Do with It)

Finding Lost Time (and What to Do with It)

As I began writing, the photo above made sense. A major Nor’easter was moving up the coast and the governor had declared a state of […]

By Tom Collins March 21, 2023 Business & Entrepreneurship, Tips from Tom's inbox, Writing
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Wanna Bet? – Why Authors Need a Scout Mindset

Wanna Bet? – Why Authors Need a Scout Mindset

This edition of Marginalia focuses on The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t, by Julia Galef. As the subtitle suggests, it’s […]

By Tom Collins March 7, 2023 Books, Learning, Marginalia, Writing
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Taming the AI Beast: How to make ChatGPT serve, not enslave you

Taming the AI Beast: How to make ChatGPT serve, not enslave you

We’ll review ways content creators can use ChatGPT’s capabilities; 2 major concerns about quality and 1 about copyright in AI’s output; and how to avoid those dangers.

By Tom Collins February 21, 2023 AI Tools & Tips, Business & Entrepreneurship, Tips from Tom's inbox, Writing
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blog post feature image for Writing a Book only FEELS like herding cats

Writing a book only FEELS like herding cats

Take your book writing project from herding cats to the Hero’s Journey!

By Tom Collins February 7, 2023 Books, Marginalia, Writing
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blog post image for 'Weighing the investment in - and the value of - your book'

Weighing the investment in your book: Indie, Hybrid, or Traditional Publishing

This edition of Tips from Tom’s inbox flows from the questions we get all the time in emails, calls, and in-person, in two basic flavors: […]

By Tom Collins January 23, 2023 Books, Business & Entrepreneurship, Indie Publishing, Tips from Tom's inbox
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An image of ancient cave paintings with the text "Cave Dweller to Counselor? Oh, the stories we tell!" This post discusses Yuval Noah Harari's book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind"

Cave Dweller to Counsellor? Oh, the Stories We Tell!

In this edition of Marginalia, we’ll be digging into some of the lessons – and mysteries – from our earliest ancestors as they developed the ability to tell stories. And consider how that evolution may guide us in telling our own stories about ourselves and our businesses.

By Tom Collins January 6, 2023 Big Ideas, Creativity, Marginalia
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image of two dogs lying in the entries of two play tunnels that meet just a few feet inside

Which BIG DOG will you choose for your book?

[A version of this post first appeared in our weekly newsletter, which of course you should sign up for.] I called this entry “manufactured marginalia” […]

By Tom Collins December 17, 2022 Books, Business & Entrepreneurship, Indie Publishing, Marginalia, Writing
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Recent Blog Posts

  • AI Update: Copyright and Thoughts on the Authors Guild “Human Authored” Certification
  • Is Your Book Idea Really a Book? 5 Tests for First‑Time Authors Before You Write a Single Chapter.
  • What Can a Virtual Book Tour Do for Indie Authors?
  • Are You Ready? 7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Editor, Hit Upload, Or Start Marketing Your Book.
  • Reading and Writing as Dementia Defense
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