About the Author
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Irvine, California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called:
Write a Book Proposal His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. |
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The Proactive Authoris a monthly column
focused on instructing authors in the art of
Selling Books, Reaching Readers
focused on instructing authors in the art of
Selling Books, Reaching Readers
The Constant Hunt for Excellent Writing
(c) June 2013
Recently I was in beautiful Seattle at the Northwest Writers Association Conference. I've been privileged to speak at this conference several times over the years. I always find it invigorating to get away from my computer and phone for a bit to meet face to face with writers and talk about books and publishing.
In today's connected world, we seem to rarely get away from our computer and phone but at least we can grab the face to face time. Several years ago at this conference, I met retired surgeon Lloyd Johnson. In recent years, Lloyd has been writing fiction. We've kept in touch and when I joined Morgan James, I reached out to him to him and discovered he had a great novel called Living Stones. I championed his novel to my colleagues at Koehler Books, the fiction imprint of Morgan James. If you click this link, you can read a sample of the book and see the attractive book cover.
Lloyd's passion is about telling stories about the Middle East and he has taken that passion into his storytelling and novel. Lloyd and I had dinner at beautiful Lake Washington and talked about book publishing. He is excited about the forthcoming publication of his first book and has connections to some great nonprofit organizations in this part of the world. I was encouraging him to include in his launch plans some ideas to sell his books large numbers.
Most writers are thinking of selling books one book at a time. What if you could sell boxes of books with one connection? It can happen with the right mindset and planning. To learn more listen to this free teleseminar. It's an interview that I hosted with Ted Rogers and Vickie Mullins (use this link). Lloyd has an excellent novel and now needs to reach as many people as possible with his new book. If you have a book, I encourage you to spend some time in strategic thinking about how to reach new audiences.
All day Friday, the Seattle conference had a series of group pitching sessions. Each one had five or six or seven writers. Often these conferences have individual meetings so it was different to hear the pitches in a group. I am actively looking for excellent writing. Morgan James publishes nonfiction, fiction and even children's books (a challenging area for any new writer these days).
In this group setting, I focused on one writer at a time and heard their pitch. Yet everyone else in the group also heard the pitch and could learn from what worked or didn't work. It was a different dynamic than one on one pitching but the participants seemed to enjoy the interaction and learning experience.
Since meeting these new people, I've been writing emails and encouraging these writers to send me their material. Morgan James receives about 5,000 submissions a year and only publishes about 150 books. Yet you can't have your material considered if you don't send it. During the conference, I participated in a panel discussion with all of the faculty (several other editors and literary agents). We agreed that often we encourage writers to submit their material. It was confirmed that many times, we ask for the submission at a conference and the writer never sends it. Talk about a missed opportunity! Yes no one likes to be rejected—but you can't get into the consideration process if you never submit it.
As editors and agents, we are on a constant hunt for excellent writing. Yes we are looking for authors who are connected to the marketplace. Yet good writing is always important. Are you a good communicator? How do you become a good communicator? Practice. Good writing will result in more good writing.
Several weeks ago, I attended an excellent workshop at the American Society of Journalists and Author Conference in New York City called Book Publishing: Making It in the New Frontier. Unfortunately this session was not recorded. The panelists included Jon Fine, the director of Author & Publisher Relations at Amazon.com, Amy Grace Loyd, the executive editor of Byliner, and Jofie Ferrari-Adler, a Senior Editor at Simon and Schuster. Moderator John Rosengren organized this excellent event.
While this workshop had a lot of information about the future of publishing, at one point, each of the experienced panelists talked about the importance of excellent writing. Whether you are writing for Byliner or magazines or books, your storytelling and writing has to be excellent.
How do you learn to be an excellent writer? I believe it comes from constant practice and working in the publishing industry. So many authors want to publish a book so they work for hours and hours on a long 40,000 to 100,000 piece of writing—yet they ignore the magazine market. It is much better to learn to write with shorter articles than to “practice” with a longer work like a book. You are better to start a blog and begin writing short articles or to learn to write query letters to magazines and then write the articles than to work years on a longer book which finds limited readers. Thousands of people will read your magazine work so don't ignore those possibilities.
I continue to write for magazines on a regular basis—and have done so for over 20 years. It's where I can practice my storytelling craft on a regular basis—and you can do the same.
I'm speaking at a number of places in the coming months. I hope to see you on the road and we can talk about your book ideas face to face. Or you can always email me with your ideas and manuscripts. I’m easy to reach and I'm on the continual search for excellent writing.
In today's connected world, we seem to rarely get away from our computer and phone but at least we can grab the face to face time. Several years ago at this conference, I met retired surgeon Lloyd Johnson. In recent years, Lloyd has been writing fiction. We've kept in touch and when I joined Morgan James, I reached out to him to him and discovered he had a great novel called Living Stones. I championed his novel to my colleagues at Koehler Books, the fiction imprint of Morgan James. If you click this link, you can read a sample of the book and see the attractive book cover.
Lloyd's passion is about telling stories about the Middle East and he has taken that passion into his storytelling and novel. Lloyd and I had dinner at beautiful Lake Washington and talked about book publishing. He is excited about the forthcoming publication of his first book and has connections to some great nonprofit organizations in this part of the world. I was encouraging him to include in his launch plans some ideas to sell his books large numbers.
Most writers are thinking of selling books one book at a time. What if you could sell boxes of books with one connection? It can happen with the right mindset and planning. To learn more listen to this free teleseminar. It's an interview that I hosted with Ted Rogers and Vickie Mullins (use this link). Lloyd has an excellent novel and now needs to reach as many people as possible with his new book. If you have a book, I encourage you to spend some time in strategic thinking about how to reach new audiences.
All day Friday, the Seattle conference had a series of group pitching sessions. Each one had five or six or seven writers. Often these conferences have individual meetings so it was different to hear the pitches in a group. I am actively looking for excellent writing. Morgan James publishes nonfiction, fiction and even children's books (a challenging area for any new writer these days).
In this group setting, I focused on one writer at a time and heard their pitch. Yet everyone else in the group also heard the pitch and could learn from what worked or didn't work. It was a different dynamic than one on one pitching but the participants seemed to enjoy the interaction and learning experience.
Since meeting these new people, I've been writing emails and encouraging these writers to send me their material. Morgan James receives about 5,000 submissions a year and only publishes about 150 books. Yet you can't have your material considered if you don't send it. During the conference, I participated in a panel discussion with all of the faculty (several other editors and literary agents). We agreed that often we encourage writers to submit their material. It was confirmed that many times, we ask for the submission at a conference and the writer never sends it. Talk about a missed opportunity! Yes no one likes to be rejected—but you can't get into the consideration process if you never submit it.
As editors and agents, we are on a constant hunt for excellent writing. Yes we are looking for authors who are connected to the marketplace. Yet good writing is always important. Are you a good communicator? How do you become a good communicator? Practice. Good writing will result in more good writing.
Several weeks ago, I attended an excellent workshop at the American Society of Journalists and Author Conference in New York City called Book Publishing: Making It in the New Frontier. Unfortunately this session was not recorded. The panelists included Jon Fine, the director of Author & Publisher Relations at Amazon.com, Amy Grace Loyd, the executive editor of Byliner, and Jofie Ferrari-Adler, a Senior Editor at Simon and Schuster. Moderator John Rosengren organized this excellent event.
While this workshop had a lot of information about the future of publishing, at one point, each of the experienced panelists talked about the importance of excellent writing. Whether you are writing for Byliner or magazines or books, your storytelling and writing has to be excellent.
How do you learn to be an excellent writer? I believe it comes from constant practice and working in the publishing industry. So many authors want to publish a book so they work for hours and hours on a long 40,000 to 100,000 piece of writing—yet they ignore the magazine market. It is much better to learn to write with shorter articles than to “practice” with a longer work like a book. You are better to start a blog and begin writing short articles or to learn to write query letters to magazines and then write the articles than to work years on a longer book which finds limited readers. Thousands of people will read your magazine work so don't ignore those possibilities.
I continue to write for magazines on a regular basis—and have done so for over 20 years. It's where I can practice my storytelling craft on a regular basis—and you can do the same.
I'm speaking at a number of places in the coming months. I hope to see you on the road and we can talk about your book ideas face to face. Or you can always email me with your ideas and manuscripts. I’m easy to reach and I'm on the continual search for excellent writing.
Little Actions Have Big Potential
(c)May 2013
Are you dreaming of some great things happening in your writing life over the next few months? I hope so. I look around at the publishing community and see great opportunity for readers—online and in print—in books and in magazines. As I read the publishing news, I learn about a continual stream of new publications and new publishing efforts. Each one is full of big potential—only if you take action.
As I speak with authors, I find many of them have deep-seated dreams for their novel to find a publisher or their nonfiction book to jump on the bestseller list. I applaud the dreams but they must be backed with consistent action. Are you searching for the right publisher for your next work? Are you actively approaching literary agents to champion your cause? When you learn about a new editor, are you writing that editor and pitching an article or an idea? Are you approaching long-term editor friends with your ideas and pitches?
When I dig into what these authors are doing to expand their writing life, I find very little action. I don't know what will catch fire and become the next best thing in the new year. I do know I will not find it, if I'm not actively looking. Also if you are stuck or not finding a place for your work, I encourage you to knock on a different door. If you are writing novels, then try to publish some short stories. If you are writing a nonfiction book or book proposal, then pitch some magazine articles and write some shorter works. If you don't have any presence online then begin building one. There are few overnight successes but the key is to take action every day and build potential. That potential remains unrealized if the pitch is never made and the book stays on your computer or in your file drawer.
It's an old image but big doors turn on little hinges. As a writer, you are looking for the right connection or connections to move you into the next level with your publishing life. It will not happen unless you are on the move and taking action—daily action.
And when you get rejected? I've been in this business many years and I believe it is important to plan your response for how you will handle rejection. I encourage you to follow the example of Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. When they were looking for a publisher for Chicken Soup for the Soul and getting rejected. Each time, they turned to each other and said one little word, “Next.” That word propels you forward to the next opportunity and the next place to consider your work. It prevents you from sticking the idea back in your drawer and never sending it out again.
As I speak with authors, I find many of them have deep-seated dreams for their novel to find a publisher or their nonfiction book to jump on the bestseller list. I applaud the dreams but they must be backed with consistent action. Are you searching for the right publisher for your next work? Are you actively approaching literary agents to champion your cause? When you learn about a new editor, are you writing that editor and pitching an article or an idea? Are you approaching long-term editor friends with your ideas and pitches?
When I dig into what these authors are doing to expand their writing life, I find very little action. I don't know what will catch fire and become the next best thing in the new year. I do know I will not find it, if I'm not actively looking. Also if you are stuck or not finding a place for your work, I encourage you to knock on a different door. If you are writing novels, then try to publish some short stories. If you are writing a nonfiction book or book proposal, then pitch some magazine articles and write some shorter works. If you don't have any presence online then begin building one. There are few overnight successes but the key is to take action every day and build potential. That potential remains unrealized if the pitch is never made and the book stays on your computer or in your file drawer.
It's an old image but big doors turn on little hinges. As a writer, you are looking for the right connection or connections to move you into the next level with your publishing life. It will not happen unless you are on the move and taking action—daily action.
And when you get rejected? I've been in this business many years and I believe it is important to plan your response for how you will handle rejection. I encourage you to follow the example of Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. When they were looking for a publisher for Chicken Soup for the Soul and getting rejected. Each time, they turned to each other and said one little word, “Next.” That word propels you forward to the next opportunity and the next place to consider your work. It prevents you from sticking the idea back in your drawer and never sending it out again.
The Merit of Consistency
(c) April 2013
While it's not often recognized, there is great merit to consistently working at the craft of your writing. Which part of that craft you select to work on will vary for each of us. For some people, they need to develop the basic skill of writing a magazine article. It's a good place to start whether you are writing for a large magazine or a small newsletter. You need to learn how to craft a single story with an engaging opening paragraph, a solid section in the middle, then wrap it up with a take-away or single point for the reader. If you learn this skill, then you can apply it to other area of storytelling and writing--whether you are putting together a newsletter or a single letter or a chapter of a forthcoming book.
For the last few years, I've been putting together the Right Writing News. Now the back issues have built up to over 700 pages of how-to-write information. It is free but to access this information, you have to subscribe to the publication. I'm constantly looking for additional material that I can use in future issues of this publication. There is a wealth of material in these back issues. It didn't suddenly appear but came one issue at a time.
I continue to regularly write about the publishing business at The Writing Life. To date, I’ve written almost 1,200 entries which amount to a large volume of searchable information. If you scroll down in the right-hand column, you will find the search tool and you can find older articles using a key word. This body of work didn’t appear instantly but was built through consistent action.
This week another issue of The Foster Letter, Religious Market Update arrived in my mailbox. Gary Foster compiles a rich publication every two weeks and it comes like clockwork. If you want to know more, I'd encourage you to look at some of the excerpts from his archived issues. You can find a lot of valuable information here.
Recently I was interviewed during a teleseminar about Book Proposals That Sell and was asked about when my first book was published. The common misconception is that it was many decades ago. It was 1992 and now over 60 books later they wonder how such a body of work was created. It's not difficult to understand when you consider the merits of consistency. I'm constantly working to develop new projects and now in particular for Morgan James. I write my work like everyone else--one page at a time then one chapter at a time and one book at a time. Over a period of time, it ends up being something substantial. It’s not magic but consistency counts. The proactive author understands the value and merit of consistent action.
Follow Your Ideas for Submission
(c) March 2013
The idea pops into your head. “Send this article to this editor.” Or as you are reading a magazine, you think, “I could send this editor an article about this personal experience or this how-to idea.” Or you are reminded about a connection you made months earlier at a conference and you haven't followed up with the agent or editor.
In each of these cases, how do you handle it? Some people shrug it and the “nudge” disappears. Others will take action and get their idea into the marketplace for consideration. Without action, nothing happens.
From my years in publishing, I've learned the importance of taking action on a thought or idea. For example, I will call or email an author about their book proposal or manuscript, it will happen just on a day when they need some encouragement or direction.
Or my entry about The Writing Life will land in someone's mailbox on exactly the day they need the encouragement to move forward. Some people would call these accidents but to me, these actions from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. As a Christian I believe God is guiding my daily actions and steps. Certainly I fail to follow that guidance but I've discovered remarkable things happen when I take action on those ideas.
For example, I've been wanting to attend a large conference in a couple of months yet I wondered how to budget for the conference fee. One morning I got an idea that maybe I could do something else at that conference to help out such as volunteer to work registration or some other task. To follow through on my idea, I called a leader in the organization which sponsored the conference and pitched my idea of working the registration in a voice mail message.
The exact day of my call, this leader got a message that the person who was going to teach the publishing workshop was not going to be able to attend the conference. My voice mail message and this cancellation arrived on exactly the same day. Was it coincidence? I don't believe so. I was asked to lead the publishing workshop at this conference. As a workshop leader, my fee for the conference is waived and I have a much larger opportunity than I could even have imagined.
Notice what happened in this story: I had an idea and I took action and made a phone call.
What ideas and possible actions are whirling in your writing life? Are you writing them down then crossing them off as you execute each one? I appreciate the necessity of having dreams and ambitions for our writing—yet at the same time we must be taking consistent action for those dreams to turn into reality.
In each of these cases, how do you handle it? Some people shrug it and the “nudge” disappears. Others will take action and get their idea into the marketplace for consideration. Without action, nothing happens.
From my years in publishing, I've learned the importance of taking action on a thought or idea. For example, I will call or email an author about their book proposal or manuscript, it will happen just on a day when they need some encouragement or direction.
Or my entry about The Writing Life will land in someone's mailbox on exactly the day they need the encouragement to move forward. Some people would call these accidents but to me, these actions from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. As a Christian I believe God is guiding my daily actions and steps. Certainly I fail to follow that guidance but I've discovered remarkable things happen when I take action on those ideas.
For example, I've been wanting to attend a large conference in a couple of months yet I wondered how to budget for the conference fee. One morning I got an idea that maybe I could do something else at that conference to help out such as volunteer to work registration or some other task. To follow through on my idea, I called a leader in the organization which sponsored the conference and pitched my idea of working the registration in a voice mail message.
The exact day of my call, this leader got a message that the person who was going to teach the publishing workshop was not going to be able to attend the conference. My voice mail message and this cancellation arrived on exactly the same day. Was it coincidence? I don't believe so. I was asked to lead the publishing workshop at this conference. As a workshop leader, my fee for the conference is waived and I have a much larger opportunity than I could even have imagined.
Notice what happened in this story: I had an idea and I took action and made a phone call.
What ideas and possible actions are whirling in your writing life? Are you writing them down then crossing them off as you execute each one? I appreciate the necessity of having dreams and ambitions for our writing—yet at the same time we must be taking consistent action for those dreams to turn into reality.
Keep Building Publishing Relationships
(c) Feb. 2013
I had not heard from this author in several months then I received this follow-up message: “Since I haven't heard back from you, I'll assume you're not interested. Just wanted to let you know that I'm pursuing other publishers for my book. Cheers.”
What did she submit? It had been weeks ago so I used my search tool for my email and located her “submission.” It was a scattered “idea” of a book project claiming that she was too busy to properly put together anything else. The submission didn't contain her name, contact info, her marketing ideas or a brief bio. When it arrived, I reviewed it and confirmed receipt but I assumed that something much more polished and presentable would be coming. It never arrived so I had nothing to present to my publication board. Instead I received her follow-up note.
This author is clueless of the volume of submissions that editors and agents receive—nor the necessity of building (not tearing down) relationships with these publishing professionals.
As writers we need to continually grow our connections and relationships. Here's some positive ways to grow these relationships:
First, follow the editor or agent and their writing. It may be as simple as reading their blog on a regular basis (if they have a blog) or following them on Twitter (and if you follow them back you have a direct connection to them and can send them little bits of encouragement—we all need it).
Or get connected to them through LinkedIn (which is another tool that I'm using to be connected to different editors). Or befriend them on Facebook and follow their posts and comment on them or “like” them. These connections do not have to take tons of time or energy or cost lots of money but you do need to be actively developing and strengthening new connections on a regular basis.
Next, you want to polish your writing and proposals, and then be sending them out on a regular basis to the editors and agents in your path. And if you don't hear any response (which happens fairly often because of the large volume of submissions), after a few weeks’ time, I encourage you to gently follow-up. Not as the opening example in this entry—but maybe something simple as, “I'm double checking to make sure you received my submission which I sent on this date.”
Email gets messed up and we receive a lot of it. The simple checking to see if they got it may spur the editor or agent into action and get you the attention that you wanted in the first place.
Another way to build publishing relationships is a little harder for me to explain but I'm going to try. I listen to my inner thoughts and take action on those thoughts. Some people would call it listening to the “still small voice” which directs your daily actions. For example, today I was reminded of one of my Morgan James authors and I wrote a little email checking in. Or it might be an author that I've not heard from in a while and the author comes into my thoughts—and I write a simple email to this person.
Sometimes I hear nothing from those little emails (and it will work the same for you). Other times I reach out to an author just at their point of decision and they are trying to figure out which way to go. Because I've reached out to them, they come my direction as opposed to going another way (and I'm talking about my work as an acquisitions editor here but it can also happen with my writing life). One of the keys in this publishing business is being in the right place at the right time. It can only happen if you are taking consistent persistent action.
Today one of my friends, Bob Bly wrote about the characteristics of successful people and the seven factors that make a difference. I encourage you to follow this link and study this list. How can you gain more of these characteristics for your own publishing life?
How are you building publishing relationships this year? One of the best ways is to plan to attend a writer's conference. There are many different choices in this area. I'm speaking at a number of different events around the country. I'd love to help you and hope our paths cross soon—either on the phone or email or face to face at a conference.
What did she submit? It had been weeks ago so I used my search tool for my email and located her “submission.” It was a scattered “idea” of a book project claiming that she was too busy to properly put together anything else. The submission didn't contain her name, contact info, her marketing ideas or a brief bio. When it arrived, I reviewed it and confirmed receipt but I assumed that something much more polished and presentable would be coming. It never arrived so I had nothing to present to my publication board. Instead I received her follow-up note.
This author is clueless of the volume of submissions that editors and agents receive—nor the necessity of building (not tearing down) relationships with these publishing professionals.
As writers we need to continually grow our connections and relationships. Here's some positive ways to grow these relationships:
First, follow the editor or agent and their writing. It may be as simple as reading their blog on a regular basis (if they have a blog) or following them on Twitter (and if you follow them back you have a direct connection to them and can send them little bits of encouragement—we all need it).
Or get connected to them through LinkedIn (which is another tool that I'm using to be connected to different editors). Or befriend them on Facebook and follow their posts and comment on them or “like” them. These connections do not have to take tons of time or energy or cost lots of money but you do need to be actively developing and strengthening new connections on a regular basis.
Next, you want to polish your writing and proposals, and then be sending them out on a regular basis to the editors and agents in your path. And if you don't hear any response (which happens fairly often because of the large volume of submissions), after a few weeks’ time, I encourage you to gently follow-up. Not as the opening example in this entry—but maybe something simple as, “I'm double checking to make sure you received my submission which I sent on this date.”
Email gets messed up and we receive a lot of it. The simple checking to see if they got it may spur the editor or agent into action and get you the attention that you wanted in the first place.
Another way to build publishing relationships is a little harder for me to explain but I'm going to try. I listen to my inner thoughts and take action on those thoughts. Some people would call it listening to the “still small voice” which directs your daily actions. For example, today I was reminded of one of my Morgan James authors and I wrote a little email checking in. Or it might be an author that I've not heard from in a while and the author comes into my thoughts—and I write a simple email to this person.
Sometimes I hear nothing from those little emails (and it will work the same for you). Other times I reach out to an author just at their point of decision and they are trying to figure out which way to go. Because I've reached out to them, they come my direction as opposed to going another way (and I'm talking about my work as an acquisitions editor here but it can also happen with my writing life). One of the keys in this publishing business is being in the right place at the right time. It can only happen if you are taking consistent persistent action.
Today one of my friends, Bob Bly wrote about the characteristics of successful people and the seven factors that make a difference. I encourage you to follow this link and study this list. How can you gain more of these characteristics for your own publishing life?
How are you building publishing relationships this year? One of the best ways is to plan to attend a writer's conference. There are many different choices in this area. I'm speaking at a number of different events around the country. I'd love to help you and hope our paths cross soon—either on the phone or email or face to face at a conference.
Make Resolutions You Can Keep
(c) Jan 2013
Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? If you are like me, you have goals, dreams and plans for the New Year. I encourage you to write down these resolutions or plans or goals. You want to make them specific actions so you can hold yourself (or your partner can hold you) accountable to carry them out.
Over 15 years ago in 11 days I wrote a diet book by Carole Lewis called First Place. I took such a crazy writing deadline because the publisher was determined to have the book inside the bookstores for January. If you look at bestseller lists, often in January there will be several diet books about losing weight. In our overweight society, many people resolve to lose some pounds in the New Year. They begin with such great resolve and commitment.
As I write these words in late December, the fitness center in my community has been empty—except for my consistently using it. Over the last few days close to the holidays, I worked out alone in a room full of equipment. In January, I expect someone will always be working out with me. Then the first week of February will arrive and the crowds will slack off because people’s resolve begins to lessen.
To become a proactive author, I want to suggest several resolutions or goals that you can keep throughout the months ahead. I encourage you to use these ideas to create your own goals. Make sure you make each one specific, measureable and action oriented.
- Plan to consistently talk with others about your books or products. As the author, you should take the primary responsibility to market and tell other people about your books. There are dozens of tools and ways to do it. Your method should be a way that serves other people (helps them) and doesn’t pound them with “buy me” messages. The “buy me” message is a turn off and the service to others is an attraction. Can you take your book and create a teleseminar or take chapters from your book and turn them into magazine articles or blog posts? For example, I have my Book Proposals That Sell, which has over 100 five star reviews on Amazon and continues to help people. I have a free teleseminar on proposal creation but also an online step-by-step course on proposal creation. I’m teaching about proposals in a free workshop on January 7th but also teaching about proposals at the Florida Christian Writers Conference in late February. Notice the multiple ways I’m still talking with people about the same product and serving them. How can you create such an effort for your book?
- Resolve to Persevere. Are you trying to publish something which is getting rejected? You are in good company. Just check out this article from bestselling novelist James Scott Bell called Rejecting Rejection. Possibly you have not made the right connection to get your work published. Are you consistently submitting your work? Often when I ask writers about this detail, I find they haven’t been consistently working on getting their book pitch to the right editor at the right time and the right place. I don’t believe that I’m a great writer. I work hard at improving my storytelling and writing—yet I am persistent and preserve. I’m determined to a fault. Nurture this quality in your own life in the weeks and months ahead.
- Resolve to take better care of yourself. Over the last few years, I’ve worked hard at getting more consistent sleep, taking a daily multiple vitamins and a commitment to regular exercise. Also I attempt to watch my weight and eating patterns to be in balance. Am I perfect? No, but I continue to consistently work at these elements and build regular patterns into my life. For several years I taught consistently at a writers’ conference and until I made this commitment to myself, I didn’t know this facility had an exercise room. The last time I used the room every single day of the event. It is a goal that I’m determined to keep. Your goal will be different for your lifestyle and situation but do consider this area of your life.
- Resolve to learn a new skill then practice it repeatedly. Maybe you want to develop your storytelling skills. Then I suggest you look at different conferences and plan a way to get to listen to an instructor. I’m going to be all over the U.S in 2013 and here’s where I keep my schedule. Or maybe you can learn from a how-to book or take an online training. I use all of these methods to keep growing in my abilities and skills.
Make Plans for Next Year
(c) Dec. 2012
Recently I marked off my second weekend in a row where I'm home. Why is that different? This fall I went to six conferences in a seven-week stretch. I met some fabulous writers and had the opportunity to teach and help other writers. It was intense but in a good way yet left few weekends at home.
With a month, left in this year, I've turned my attention to my speaking schedule for next year. If you follow this link, you will see some events are already on my calendar. There are only a few conferences at the time I'm writing this material. I expect it to grow in the coming weeks because I'm actively working at adding events to my schedule.
In recent months, I've moved to a new location and now I'm working with a New York based publisher—yet living in California. I've written friends who run conferences where I've spoken in the past but I'm also exploring new conferences and opportunities.
In a word, I'm proactively asking the conference director to consider me for their 2013 or 2014 faculty. I wrote some friends who lead a large conference. They responded their conference was set for 2013 and they would think about me for 2014. I wrote back and asked when I should send a reminder for 2014–-and they told me the time period for next year. So I would not forget to send them a message next year, I set a reminder which will sound on my computer and the appropriate time next year and send this conference director a reminder.
For some conferences, I'm approaching their director as a cold call (someone that I do not know). I'm introducing myself, pitching my position as an acquisitions editor with Morgan James, sending my short bio and list of possible speaking topics and workshops. I do not know if I will hear from them or not—but I'm asking for their consideration—and I'm expecting that some of this asking will result in scheduling more conferences in 2013 and 2014. I'm not passively waiting for it to happen.
What are you planning or dreaming about for the year ahead? Some writers would like to get their book published next year or get published in some magazine. What active steps are you taking to accomplish these plans?
Some writers would like to meet a particular editor or agent in the year ahead. Are you making plans to cross paths with that person in the year ahead? Publishing is a relational business and who you know is important and who you can reach out and touch is a key part of succeeding with your plans and dreams. It does not happen in isolation or without taking active steps.
One of my friends has completed a novel that he would like to see in print. Yet he's not reached out to a single editor or literary agent. The manuscript remains in his computer and will stay there until he takes active steps to get it into the marketplace. The writing and story has to be excellent—and this excellence is foundational—yet the writer must take action and enter the marketplace.
Some of those pitches will be completely cold—as I've been doing to line up some speaking for 2013 and 2014. Other pitches will be where the author has a connection (however slight) to that editor.
Maybe you are planning to attend a particular conference in 2013. That is excellent. Are you watching the conference website to see which editors and agents will be attending that conference? Then are you targeting those editors with material that they need or are searching for? I always enjoy my meeting with writers who have done some initial research about my publishing house. For those conversations, they instantly plunge to a deeper level than someone who has no idea what types of books we publish.
What are your plans for the year ahead? Are you actively working at seeing those plans come to reality? Take some steps today to move forward. Its how a proactive author works and I want you to be proactive in achieving your dreams and plans for your writing in the days ahead.
As you knock on the doors, you will be surprised at the opportunities which open to you. One thing is certain: they will never happen if you don’t knock on the door and proactively seek these opportunities. As they say, “It won’t fly if you don’t try.” Here’s to great plans and amazing achievements in the year ahead.
Opportunities Are Everywhere
(c) Nov 2012
If you hold a glass partially filled with liquid, what is your perspective? Is the glass half-filled or half empty?
For the last six or seven years, I've been writing about publishing, I believe the glass is half full. As I look over the landscape of the publishing world, I see opportunities are everywhere. Magazine editors are actively looking every day for writers who understand their publication and write targeted articles for their readers. Editors of online publications are reading their email and looking for excellent material to use. Book editors are also actively reading their mail (and email) and continually listening to literary agents and writers as they pitch their ideas.
Over the years, I've been inside some of the top literary agencies in New York City. These agents are looking for the next bestseller that they can champion to their editor friends.
One of the keys to seizing an opportunity is looking for change. The marketplace is constantly changing. New publications start. New editors come on the scene. Long-term editors will leave their publisher and start to work as a literary agent. These changes are only a few of the many transitions in the marketplace.
When you read about these changes, I encourage you to understand they are opportunities for you as a writer. Each of these professionals is actively looking for a new stable of writers. Your pitch has to be right on target but it can make a huge impact if it comes at the right time.
During recent months, I've also been making some changes. After four years at one publisher and working with many authors, I recently resigned that role. I took an acquisitions editor position with Morgan James Publishing.
Each day I'm actively looking for excellent book proposals which I can present to our publication board. Because Morgan James is based in New York, I've got a New York phone number and mailing address. For the last eight years, I was living and working in Arizona. Last summer, my family and I moved to Irvine, California. In a pattern that is familiar to many in the publishing world, I telecommute for my acquisitions editor role. If I can help you, don't hesitate to reach out and send me your proposal.
Here are several keys as you explore the opportunities:
—continue to build relationships with anyone and everyone in the publishing community. You never know when a relationship may become important to you. Writers become editors. Editors become literary agents. Literary agents become editors. The fluid nature of the community means you should work each day to expand your connections.
—continue to grasp opportunities large and small which keep you active in the publishing world. There are times when the phone does not ring and you receive no personal email. How do you handle those times? Do you pull into your shell and do nothing or do you increase your activity? I encourage you to write more query letters and pitch more ideas. Activity will breed activity.
—take action every day to write what you want to write and continually touch the marketplace. Earlier this week I exchanged emails with a long-term friend. He has been dreaming for years about writing a book—yet never put his fingers on the keyboard and produced any writing. The days continue to pass and he has not taken action. I encouraged him to choose a small number of words that he wants to write each day and then commit to working at his writing. If you take this small action step, you will be surprised after a month or two at the accumulated writing. It does not happen without taking action.
Let's return to the half-filled glass. Do you see opportunity?
For the last six or seven years, I've been writing about publishing, I believe the glass is half full. As I look over the landscape of the publishing world, I see opportunities are everywhere. Magazine editors are actively looking every day for writers who understand their publication and write targeted articles for their readers. Editors of online publications are reading their email and looking for excellent material to use. Book editors are also actively reading their mail (and email) and continually listening to literary agents and writers as they pitch their ideas.
Over the years, I've been inside some of the top literary agencies in New York City. These agents are looking for the next bestseller that they can champion to their editor friends.
One of the keys to seizing an opportunity is looking for change. The marketplace is constantly changing. New publications start. New editors come on the scene. Long-term editors will leave their publisher and start to work as a literary agent. These changes are only a few of the many transitions in the marketplace.
When you read about these changes, I encourage you to understand they are opportunities for you as a writer. Each of these professionals is actively looking for a new stable of writers. Your pitch has to be right on target but it can make a huge impact if it comes at the right time.
During recent months, I've also been making some changes. After four years at one publisher and working with many authors, I recently resigned that role. I took an acquisitions editor position with Morgan James Publishing.
Each day I'm actively looking for excellent book proposals which I can present to our publication board. Because Morgan James is based in New York, I've got a New York phone number and mailing address. For the last eight years, I was living and working in Arizona. Last summer, my family and I moved to Irvine, California. In a pattern that is familiar to many in the publishing world, I telecommute for my acquisitions editor role. If I can help you, don't hesitate to reach out and send me your proposal.
Here are several keys as you explore the opportunities:
—continue to build relationships with anyone and everyone in the publishing community. You never know when a relationship may become important to you. Writers become editors. Editors become literary agents. Literary agents become editors. The fluid nature of the community means you should work each day to expand your connections.
—continue to grasp opportunities large and small which keep you active in the publishing world. There are times when the phone does not ring and you receive no personal email. How do you handle those times? Do you pull into your shell and do nothing or do you increase your activity? I encourage you to write more query letters and pitch more ideas. Activity will breed activity.
—take action every day to write what you want to write and continually touch the marketplace. Earlier this week I exchanged emails with a long-term friend. He has been dreaming for years about writing a book—yet never put his fingers on the keyboard and produced any writing. The days continue to pass and he has not taken action. I encouraged him to choose a small number of words that he wants to write each day and then commit to working at his writing. If you take this small action step, you will be surprised after a month or two at the accumulated writing. It does not happen without taking action.
Let's return to the half-filled glass. Do you see opportunity?
Everyone Starts Small So Get Started
(c) Oct. 2012
When I talk with would-be book authors about starting an email newsletter or an ezine, I often hear, “No one will be interested in my newsletter and my list will be so small.” Or “What in the world will I write about or use to fill the newsletter (or starting a blog)?” Here’s the truth of the matter: everyone starts small. When you start any publication, you put yourself, your spouse and a few close friends to pad your newsletter list and get it going.
The key is to start and then consistently put out your newsletter. It doesn’t have to be often but it does have to be consistent and continually grow. Many people talk about writing and even repeatedly go to writers conferences, but the ones who succeed are the ones who continue to grow in their craft--and they consistently write. They write for magazines and they write fiction and nonfiction but they keep working at their writing.
I’m suggesting you can do the same thing when it comes to growing a newsletter. Over eight years ago, I started Right-Writing News I had less than 50 subscribers. Today I have thousands of subscribers and this list continues to grow. Yes, I’ve had a few people unsubscribe but that happens for many reasons and some of them have even unsubscribed then returned. It’s a free newsletter and I’ve produced 54 issues. If you look at the newsletter, I don’t write all of it but get articles from my friends and those articles promote their books and other work. You can do the same with your newsletter. It doesn’t have to be as much work as it appears. You can download a free 115-page Ebook about this topic but the key is to get it started and grow your relationships with individuals. Newsletters, blogs or a book project or any type of consistent writing project takes work. Just keep the big picture in mind and take the plunge. If you struggle to get a publisher’s attention, a newsletter is one means to gain their interest.
New York Times bestselling romance novelist, Debbie Macomber continues to grow her newsletter list and use it. This Christian writer often uses her newsletter to reach her fans to tell them about her newest book plus promote a 20-city tour. Publishers Weekly wrote about a Chicago signing where fans lined up for more than two hours to meet her. Then the magazine says, “Many attendees learned about the signings through e-mails from Macomber. At every appearance, she invites readers to join her e-mail list--already over 90,000 names. Mira reports 480,000 copies in print (of Twenty Wishes).” Macomber has established a personal connection to her audience.
The value of your list and that direct connection to the author will be evident in your book proposal and pitches to publishers. It will pay off. Are you struggling to get a publisher’s attention? Whether you are a first time author or a much published author, I encourage you to build your newsletter audience and communicate with them on a regular basis.
Several years ago when I was a literary agent, I sold a book project to Harvest House Publishers. This author has a newsletter list with 10,000 people. He travels the world and teaches but collected this database of people and regularly communicated with them. The publisher could see potential book sales because this author was connected with his audience. He’s now published several books with the same publisher.
A newsletter does not have to consume hours of your time or attention. You do need to send it on a regular basis. I encourage you to imagine yourself as a magazine editor. Collect stories from others and write your own stories on a topic—and build your audience through your newsletter.
As you take action, you will become a more proactive author and increase your visibility in the marketplace.
The key is to start and then consistently put out your newsletter. It doesn’t have to be often but it does have to be consistent and continually grow. Many people talk about writing and even repeatedly go to writers conferences, but the ones who succeed are the ones who continue to grow in their craft--and they consistently write. They write for magazines and they write fiction and nonfiction but they keep working at their writing.
I’m suggesting you can do the same thing when it comes to growing a newsletter. Over eight years ago, I started Right-Writing News I had less than 50 subscribers. Today I have thousands of subscribers and this list continues to grow. Yes, I’ve had a few people unsubscribe but that happens for many reasons and some of them have even unsubscribed then returned. It’s a free newsletter and I’ve produced 54 issues. If you look at the newsletter, I don’t write all of it but get articles from my friends and those articles promote their books and other work. You can do the same with your newsletter. It doesn’t have to be as much work as it appears. You can download a free 115-page Ebook about this topic but the key is to get it started and grow your relationships with individuals. Newsletters, blogs or a book project or any type of consistent writing project takes work. Just keep the big picture in mind and take the plunge. If you struggle to get a publisher’s attention, a newsletter is one means to gain their interest.
New York Times bestselling romance novelist, Debbie Macomber continues to grow her newsletter list and use it. This Christian writer often uses her newsletter to reach her fans to tell them about her newest book plus promote a 20-city tour. Publishers Weekly wrote about a Chicago signing where fans lined up for more than two hours to meet her. Then the magazine says, “Many attendees learned about the signings through e-mails from Macomber. At every appearance, she invites readers to join her e-mail list--already over 90,000 names. Mira reports 480,000 copies in print (of Twenty Wishes).” Macomber has established a personal connection to her audience.
The value of your list and that direct connection to the author will be evident in your book proposal and pitches to publishers. It will pay off. Are you struggling to get a publisher’s attention? Whether you are a first time author or a much published author, I encourage you to build your newsletter audience and communicate with them on a regular basis.
Several years ago when I was a literary agent, I sold a book project to Harvest House Publishers. This author has a newsletter list with 10,000 people. He travels the world and teaches but collected this database of people and regularly communicated with them. The publisher could see potential book sales because this author was connected with his audience. He’s now published several books with the same publisher.
A newsletter does not have to consume hours of your time or attention. You do need to send it on a regular basis. I encourage you to imagine yourself as a magazine editor. Collect stories from others and write your own stories on a topic—and build your audience through your newsletter.
As you take action, you will become a more proactive author and increase your visibility in the marketplace.
Is Giving Away Content Valuable?
© Sept 2012
It is completely counter-intuitive to give away valuable content. Often new or unpublished writers will ask whether they lose their rights or will be hurt or hindered if they give away their written material online.
While I understand their fears of their idea being stolen, I reassure them from my personal experience of years in publishing, I have never seen it happen. Yes, I've seen people pitch similar ideas but I've never had one of my exact ideas stolen from either my work online or my printed writing. I've actually been too busy writing and producing new material to spend a lot of time thinking about it, guarding my work and even worrying about it. In many ways, it's the complete wrong focus for a would-be writer.
Instead, I'd encourage them to be focused on learning the craft of storytelling and how to shape their words into compelling prose. It's a better use of their time and energy. If you have written something that is excellent and valuable--whether fiction or nonfiction, you can give that information away--and attract readers. For example, I'm giving away my Straight Talk From the Editor Ebook in exchange for giving me your first name and email address. Or I'm giving away a 90 page Ebook about book proposal creation with the same exchange.
Or maybe you've written an excellent novel and are trying to figure out how to get attention for it. Could you achieve that attention through giving it away?
Book Marketing Expert John Kremer tells the story of Brazilian author Paulo Coelho who for years has been an apostle of free Internet distribution. "He figures they sell more books this way. In 1999, best-selling author Paulo Coelho, who wrote The Alchemist, was failing in Russia. That year he sold only about 1,000 books, and his Russian publisher dropped him. But after he found another, Coelho took a radical step. On his own website, launched in 1996, he posted a digital Russian copy of The Alchemist."
"With no additional promotion, print sales picked up immediately. Within a year he sold 10,000 copies; the next year around 100,000. By 2002 he was selling a total of a million copies of multiple titles. Today, Coelho's sales in Russian are over 10 million and growing. "I'm convinced it was putting it up for free on the Internet that made the difference," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos."
"Coelho explained why he thinks giving books away online leads to selling more copies in print: "It's very difficult to read a book on your computer. People start printing out their own copies. But if they like the book, after reading 30-40 pages they just go out and buy it." By last year Coelho's total print sales worldwide surpassed 100 million books. "Publishing is in a kind of Jurassic age," Coelho continues. "Publishers see free downloads as threatening the sales of the book. But this should make them rethink their entire business model." Now Coelho is a convert to the Internet way of doing things. His online e-mail newsletter, published since 2000, has 200,000 subscribers."
While this story about Coelho is a great success story in the publishing world, make sure you see one of the keys--brilliant storytelling is foundational and understanding the needs of the audience or market--then meeting that need with excellent writing. All too often, I've seen people attempt to give away material which does not fall into this excellent category and does little to help them in their audience building intent.
I want to include several practical resources for you in this process of giving away content. First, I use Pop up Domination (). Yes, no one likes pop ups, but they are effective and work. You can see an example on my affiliate sign-up site at: Terry Info. If you use Word Press then you need WP Easy Optin Plugin. This inexpensive plugin installs in minutes—and comes with Private Label Rights—which means you can sell it to others. Finally I have more information about List Building in The List Building Tycoon Ebook. These final two products come risk-free because they come with my no-question’s asked 60 day guarantee.
Every author (whether much published or unpublished) needs to be taking daily active steps to build an audience. You can take the first step as a proactive author to select some valuable content which you begin to give away—for the exchange of a first name and email address. I hope you will get started on this important aspect right away.
While I understand their fears of their idea being stolen, I reassure them from my personal experience of years in publishing, I have never seen it happen. Yes, I've seen people pitch similar ideas but I've never had one of my exact ideas stolen from either my work online or my printed writing. I've actually been too busy writing and producing new material to spend a lot of time thinking about it, guarding my work and even worrying about it. In many ways, it's the complete wrong focus for a would-be writer.
Instead, I'd encourage them to be focused on learning the craft of storytelling and how to shape their words into compelling prose. It's a better use of their time and energy. If you have written something that is excellent and valuable--whether fiction or nonfiction, you can give that information away--and attract readers. For example, I'm giving away my Straight Talk From the Editor Ebook in exchange for giving me your first name and email address. Or I'm giving away a 90 page Ebook about book proposal creation with the same exchange.
Or maybe you've written an excellent novel and are trying to figure out how to get attention for it. Could you achieve that attention through giving it away?
Book Marketing Expert John Kremer tells the story of Brazilian author Paulo Coelho who for years has been an apostle of free Internet distribution. "He figures they sell more books this way. In 1999, best-selling author Paulo Coelho, who wrote The Alchemist, was failing in Russia. That year he sold only about 1,000 books, and his Russian publisher dropped him. But after he found another, Coelho took a radical step. On his own website, launched in 1996, he posted a digital Russian copy of The Alchemist."
"With no additional promotion, print sales picked up immediately. Within a year he sold 10,000 copies; the next year around 100,000. By 2002 he was selling a total of a million copies of multiple titles. Today, Coelho's sales in Russian are over 10 million and growing. "I'm convinced it was putting it up for free on the Internet that made the difference," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos."
"Coelho explained why he thinks giving books away online leads to selling more copies in print: "It's very difficult to read a book on your computer. People start printing out their own copies. But if they like the book, after reading 30-40 pages they just go out and buy it." By last year Coelho's total print sales worldwide surpassed 100 million books. "Publishing is in a kind of Jurassic age," Coelho continues. "Publishers see free downloads as threatening the sales of the book. But this should make them rethink their entire business model." Now Coelho is a convert to the Internet way of doing things. His online e-mail newsletter, published since 2000, has 200,000 subscribers."
While this story about Coelho is a great success story in the publishing world, make sure you see one of the keys--brilliant storytelling is foundational and understanding the needs of the audience or market--then meeting that need with excellent writing. All too often, I've seen people attempt to give away material which does not fall into this excellent category and does little to help them in their audience building intent.
I want to include several practical resources for you in this process of giving away content. First, I use Pop up Domination (). Yes, no one likes pop ups, but they are effective and work. You can see an example on my affiliate sign-up site at: Terry Info. If you use Word Press then you need WP Easy Optin Plugin. This inexpensive plugin installs in minutes—and comes with Private Label Rights—which means you can sell it to others. Finally I have more information about List Building in The List Building Tycoon Ebook. These final two products come risk-free because they come with my no-question’s asked 60 day guarantee.
Every author (whether much published or unpublished) needs to be taking daily active steps to build an audience. You can take the first step as a proactive author to select some valuable content which you begin to give away—for the exchange of a first name and email address. I hope you will get started on this important aspect right away.
Never Say Never
© August 2012
If you haven’t said it, I don’t doubt that you’ve thought the words: “I will never ______.”
Some of my professional writer friends proclaimed about blogging: “I will never blog because you are simply giving away your writing craft for free. Why should I give away my storytelling when I can sell it to a magazine or be writing a book?”
I’ve heard other writers say, “I will never do a work made for hire. There is no reason to give away all of my rights to a publisher.” They have committed to never signing that type of agreement.
Other writers have an aversion to doing anything in the marketing and sales area. They proudly say, “I’m a writer and I write. I never want to be selling myself and my books.”
From my years in publishing, I’ve learned there is little point in using the word “never.”
Let’s tackle the different areas I mentioned as “never” statements.
First I have become a blogger. I run in seasons of consistency. If I’m traveling or consumed with a project, then my blogging takes less of a priority. Yet I continue to blog. Instead of seeing it as giving away my writing, there are ways to monetize and make money from your blog. Every writer needs to have a presence in the marketplace and blogging is a terrific way to build your presence. I have over 1,000 searchable entries in my blog.
Also I’ve learned to monetize my blog and it’s even something I’ve been able to pass on to others through my Ebook, The 31 Day Guide to Blogging for Bucks. If you have not read this valuable resource, I recommend you get it “risk free” and read it for 60 days. If you don't find it valuable, then send me an email and I will refund your money. That's what I mean by risk free.
My Rights to My Work. Many authors do not want to sign work made for hire agreements which give a publisher or individual the right to your creative work.
In the case of work made for hire, these writers have limited their own potential through their use of the word “never.”
My literary attorney has told me that I’ve signed more Work Made for Hire agreements than anyone she knows—yet I’ve been a working writer for years. Work Made for Hire comes with the territory in my view.
Several years ago I wrote two devotional books for a book packager as a Work Made for Hire. I wrote the books in a two month period and was well-compensated for my work. Each of these books sold over 60,000 copies (which is a good book sale credit for any author). I would not have had the opportunity if I had said “never.”
Writing or Marketing? Finally I want to address the writers who say they never want to sell or market their books. I understand the reluctance to enter into the marketing and selling process. It would be great to delegate this process to someone else but it is not realistic thinking. Every writer has to learn to market to sell their work and get it into print. They also have to be involved in the marketing and promotion of their work when it gets into print. The savvy writers understand this process and lean into it rather than resist it.
My recommendation is to wipe the word “never” out of your vocabulary. Instead approach your writing looking for open doors of opportunity.
As I look over the publishing world, I believe there are many opportunities for every writer. It is your responsibility to be submitting your work and regularly knocking on doors to see which one will open for you and your work. As you attempt new things, you will be surprised which ones will open for you.
Some of my professional writer friends proclaimed about blogging: “I will never blog because you are simply giving away your writing craft for free. Why should I give away my storytelling when I can sell it to a magazine or be writing a book?”
I’ve heard other writers say, “I will never do a work made for hire. There is no reason to give away all of my rights to a publisher.” They have committed to never signing that type of agreement.
Other writers have an aversion to doing anything in the marketing and sales area. They proudly say, “I’m a writer and I write. I never want to be selling myself and my books.”
From my years in publishing, I’ve learned there is little point in using the word “never.”
Let’s tackle the different areas I mentioned as “never” statements.
First I have become a blogger. I run in seasons of consistency. If I’m traveling or consumed with a project, then my blogging takes less of a priority. Yet I continue to blog. Instead of seeing it as giving away my writing, there are ways to monetize and make money from your blog. Every writer needs to have a presence in the marketplace and blogging is a terrific way to build your presence. I have over 1,000 searchable entries in my blog.
Also I’ve learned to monetize my blog and it’s even something I’ve been able to pass on to others through my Ebook, The 31 Day Guide to Blogging for Bucks. If you have not read this valuable resource, I recommend you get it “risk free” and read it for 60 days. If you don't find it valuable, then send me an email and I will refund your money. That's what I mean by risk free.
My Rights to My Work. Many authors do not want to sign work made for hire agreements which give a publisher or individual the right to your creative work.
In the case of work made for hire, these writers have limited their own potential through their use of the word “never.”
My literary attorney has told me that I’ve signed more Work Made for Hire agreements than anyone she knows—yet I’ve been a working writer for years. Work Made for Hire comes with the territory in my view.
Several years ago I wrote two devotional books for a book packager as a Work Made for Hire. I wrote the books in a two month period and was well-compensated for my work. Each of these books sold over 60,000 copies (which is a good book sale credit for any author). I would not have had the opportunity if I had said “never.”
Writing or Marketing? Finally I want to address the writers who say they never want to sell or market their books. I understand the reluctance to enter into the marketing and selling process. It would be great to delegate this process to someone else but it is not realistic thinking. Every writer has to learn to market to sell their work and get it into print. They also have to be involved in the marketing and promotion of their work when it gets into print. The savvy writers understand this process and lean into it rather than resist it.
My recommendation is to wipe the word “never” out of your vocabulary. Instead approach your writing looking for open doors of opportunity.
As I look over the publishing world, I believe there are many opportunities for every writer. It is your responsibility to be submitting your work and regularly knocking on doors to see which one will open for you and your work. As you attempt new things, you will be surprised which ones will open for you.
Think Beyond The Bookstore
(c) July 2012
You may be wondering what I am talking about “beyond the bookstore.” Most authors are focused on getting their books into the bookstore and bookstore signings. They falsely believe the bookstores will be the best way to sell their book. There are several reasons for my statement.
1. The typical Barnes & Noble only holds 10,000 to 15,000 different book titles. According to Bowker who publishes books in print there were over a million new books published last year. Now that is only the new books. What about all the older book titles which sell consistently year after year? See why there is a problem to be focused only on the bookstore? I'm not contending to ignore the retail market but it is not the only game in town. In fact, it is not the biggest share of the book-selling market.
2. More than 60% of books sold are sold outside the bookstore. How do you as an author begin to think about opportunities beyond the bookstore? One huge opportunity is an area called special market sales. One of the best ways that I know to learn about this area is through a free teleseminar that I held with my friends Ted Rogers and Vickie Rogers. This event is on replay at www.massivebooksales.com You can immediately download the full hour interview as well as a free Ebook.
Here's one example of the thinking presented to authors during the teleseminar. You've written a book about how someone can have joy and happiness in their retirement years. You've identified your target audience as people who have retired or are nearing retirement. Think about that target reader. What types of products do they consume every day? What types of beverages do they drink? Could you approach one of those beverage companies and offer them the ability to reach that target market with a customized version of your book on how to enjoy your retirement? The book would be branded with this beverage companies logo and marketing information. The beverage company would print 50,000 or 100,000 copies of your book. Then the books are given to a convention where there will be 50,000 or 100,000 people (or maybe several conventions) and given away to the people who attend. The beverage company gets the advertising from the gift of your book and you gain huge exposure and sales with a single sale of your book. Because these books are branded, they are not returned (a problem in the retail bookstore market). The sales of the book are final and you have suddenly become a bestselling author.
Hopefully you see the innovation in this type of thinking. More than just thinking about it, this teleseminar helps you take practical action to make this type of special sales with your book idea. Ted Rogers and Vickie Mullins gave great information as they were answering author questions. The event was recorded and you can have instant access to the replay for this resource. Get it and listen to it today: www.massivebooksales.com
Then take one additional step forward with your book. Plan your own strategic steps to make a special market sale for your book. I can hear the skeptics to these words. You don't know my book. My book is ________. Several times during this teleseminar, I asked specifically if special market sales are for every type of book. Ted and Vickie answered yes. Today I urge you to think beyond the bookstore. This action can be a complete game changer for what happens with your book in the marketplace.
You may be wondering what I am talking about “beyond the bookstore.” Most authors are focused on getting their books into the bookstore and bookstore signings. They falsely believe the bookstores will be the best way to sell their book. There are several reasons for my statement.
1. The typical Barnes & Noble only holds 10,000 to 15,000 different book titles. According to Bowker who publishes books in print there were over a million new books published last year. Now that is only the new books. What about all the older book titles which sell consistently year after year? See why there is a problem to be focused only on the bookstore? I'm not contending to ignore the retail market but it is not the only game in town. In fact, it is not the biggest share of the book-selling market.
2. More than 60% of books sold are sold outside the bookstore. How do you as an author begin to think about opportunities beyond the bookstore? One huge opportunity is an area called special market sales. One of the best ways that I know to learn about this area is through a free teleseminar that I held with my friends Ted Rogers and Vickie Rogers. This event is on replay at www.massivebooksales.com You can immediately download the full hour interview as well as a free Ebook.
Here's one example of the thinking presented to authors during the teleseminar. You've written a book about how someone can have joy and happiness in their retirement years. You've identified your target audience as people who have retired or are nearing retirement. Think about that target reader. What types of products do they consume every day? What types of beverages do they drink? Could you approach one of those beverage companies and offer them the ability to reach that target market with a customized version of your book on how to enjoy your retirement? The book would be branded with this beverage companies logo and marketing information. The beverage company would print 50,000 or 100,000 copies of your book. Then the books are given to a convention where there will be 50,000 or 100,000 people (or maybe several conventions) and given away to the people who attend. The beverage company gets the advertising from the gift of your book and you gain huge exposure and sales with a single sale of your book. Because these books are branded, they are not returned (a problem in the retail bookstore market). The sales of the book are final and you have suddenly become a bestselling author.
Hopefully you see the innovation in this type of thinking. More than just thinking about it, this teleseminar helps you take practical action to make this type of special sales with your book idea. Ted Rogers and Vickie Mullins gave great information as they were answering author questions. The event was recorded and you can have instant access to the replay for this resource. Get it and listen to it today: www.massivebooksales.com
Then take one additional step forward with your book. Plan your own strategic steps to make a special market sale for your book. I can hear the skeptics to these words. You don't know my book. My book is ________. Several times during this teleseminar, I asked specifically if special market sales are for every type of book. Ted and Vickie answered yes. Today I urge you to think beyond the bookstore. This action can be a complete game changer for what happens with your book in the marketplace.
Get To A Writer’s Conference
(c) June 2012
It's a personal investment to attend a writer's conference. Whether you attend for a full day or spend several days in another state, it will involve investing your time, energy and money. In this article, I explore some of the reasons to attend these meetings. The proactive author needs to learn attending these conferences can be a huge boost to their own writing life and book sales.
Like many other kinds of businesses, the writing business is relational. Talent, craft and skill does enter the consideration but it's also who you know. Possibly you are new to this field and you are crying, "I don't know anyone." That's OK. Everyone has to begin somewhere in this journey. You don't have to stay in that situation. Through writer's conferences, you can begin to form some editor relationships.
Over twenty years ago, I began attending these specialized meetings. I worked on a magazine staff and we understood the benefits and accordingly we used our slim financial resources to send staff members to meetings. It helped their professional development and also helped improve their ability to work on our magazine. I've attended conferences for my own personal development and professionalism.
In recent years, I've represented publishing houses as an acquisitions editor at these gatherings. As an editor and an agent, the experience has been eye-opening to me and changed some of my perspectives. I've got some amazing stories about pushy conferees trying to convince me to purchase a particular manuscript. A pushy attitude usually backfires and makes the editor or agent want to run instead of listen carefully to your idea. Always remember that you want to make a good impression on the editor or the agent.
Even as an acquisitions editor, I continue to select at least one conference a year that I attend as a regular conferee--i.e. a paying participant and not someone who attends to represent a publisher or magazine and teach workshops. One conference that I regularly attend for my own development is the annual conference for the American Society of Journalists and Authors in New York City. The schedule is posted on their website and it is a broad reaching event. I've met editors at Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day, Modern Maturity, Money magazine, and numerous mainstream book editors. Several years ago at the ASJA member meeting, President and Mrs. Carter came to the session. One of the ASJA members wrote a book with Mrs. Carter and they were invited. I managed to give President Carter a copy of my then new book, Lessons From the Pit. Such a connection came from attending a conference.
Conferences have been a large part of my writing career. Often at these conferences, editors and agents are inundated with the wrong material because writers haven't done their homework. So often writers will send the wrong material to the wrong place and wasted everyone time--the writer and the editor or the agent. At a writer's conference, you meet the editors face to face and realize that they are also real people. This process begins to form your relationship. Then when you send in your material, they recall your name (or you can recall it to their attention saying, "It was great to meet you at ______ conference..."
Three Pieces of Advice
1. Do your homework. Know who will be attending the conference and reading advance what a particular editor needs and acquires (even the Writer's Market Guide is a good place to start). Then craft an idea, a proposal or something to start the conversation with this editor. Give them something they need. Editors read lots of stuff that they don't need at these conferences. Why? Because they are looking for the jewel in the stack, then they can publish that manuscript. It could be your writing if you do your homework.
2. Make a point to get to know different editors--even outside of your particular genre. What you write this year may change next year. Even if you've never written a book, get to know the book editors. Sit at their tables and talk with them about your dreams and hopes. And throughout the week, make little notes of things which strike you--then read your notes when you get home and follow through. You would be surprised how few people actually execute the necessary follow through work.
3. Learn your craft but also look to expand your writing horizon. This advice would be for newcomers but also for the veteran. I'd encourage everyone to take a class outside of what they normally take. If you don't write for children, take a children's workshop. If you have never written a personal experience article then take a one hour workshop on this topic. It might open a new door of opportunity in your writing life.
I've made some dear friends at writer's conferences and that's why I look forward to going to various conferences. It's my opportunity to help others and give back. I'm constantly learning new things as a writer--and a writer's conference is a place to soak it in. Also I teach at conferences on a regular basis. Here’s where I maintain my personal schedule. I’d love to meet with you face to face at one of these forthcoming events.
From my perspective, writer's conferences have been life-changing events and have been critical in my professional and personal development. I recommend you take the time, energy and resources to get to a conference.
Like many other kinds of businesses, the writing business is relational. Talent, craft and skill does enter the consideration but it's also who you know. Possibly you are new to this field and you are crying, "I don't know anyone." That's OK. Everyone has to begin somewhere in this journey. You don't have to stay in that situation. Through writer's conferences, you can begin to form some editor relationships.
Over twenty years ago, I began attending these specialized meetings. I worked on a magazine staff and we understood the benefits and accordingly we used our slim financial resources to send staff members to meetings. It helped their professional development and also helped improve their ability to work on our magazine. I've attended conferences for my own personal development and professionalism.
In recent years, I've represented publishing houses as an acquisitions editor at these gatherings. As an editor and an agent, the experience has been eye-opening to me and changed some of my perspectives. I've got some amazing stories about pushy conferees trying to convince me to purchase a particular manuscript. A pushy attitude usually backfires and makes the editor or agent want to run instead of listen carefully to your idea. Always remember that you want to make a good impression on the editor or the agent.
Even as an acquisitions editor, I continue to select at least one conference a year that I attend as a regular conferee--i.e. a paying participant and not someone who attends to represent a publisher or magazine and teach workshops. One conference that I regularly attend for my own development is the annual conference for the American Society of Journalists and Authors in New York City. The schedule is posted on their website and it is a broad reaching event. I've met editors at Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day, Modern Maturity, Money magazine, and numerous mainstream book editors. Several years ago at the ASJA member meeting, President and Mrs. Carter came to the session. One of the ASJA members wrote a book with Mrs. Carter and they were invited. I managed to give President Carter a copy of my then new book, Lessons From the Pit. Such a connection came from attending a conference.
Conferences have been a large part of my writing career. Often at these conferences, editors and agents are inundated with the wrong material because writers haven't done their homework. So often writers will send the wrong material to the wrong place and wasted everyone time--the writer and the editor or the agent. At a writer's conference, you meet the editors face to face and realize that they are also real people. This process begins to form your relationship. Then when you send in your material, they recall your name (or you can recall it to their attention saying, "It was great to meet you at ______ conference..."
Three Pieces of Advice
1. Do your homework. Know who will be attending the conference and reading advance what a particular editor needs and acquires (even the Writer's Market Guide is a good place to start). Then craft an idea, a proposal or something to start the conversation with this editor. Give them something they need. Editors read lots of stuff that they don't need at these conferences. Why? Because they are looking for the jewel in the stack, then they can publish that manuscript. It could be your writing if you do your homework.
2. Make a point to get to know different editors--even outside of your particular genre. What you write this year may change next year. Even if you've never written a book, get to know the book editors. Sit at their tables and talk with them about your dreams and hopes. And throughout the week, make little notes of things which strike you--then read your notes when you get home and follow through. You would be surprised how few people actually execute the necessary follow through work.
3. Learn your craft but also look to expand your writing horizon. This advice would be for newcomers but also for the veteran. I'd encourage everyone to take a class outside of what they normally take. If you don't write for children, take a children's workshop. If you have never written a personal experience article then take a one hour workshop on this topic. It might open a new door of opportunity in your writing life.
I've made some dear friends at writer's conferences and that's why I look forward to going to various conferences. It's my opportunity to help others and give back. I'm constantly learning new things as a writer--and a writer's conference is a place to soak it in. Also I teach at conferences on a regular basis. Here’s where I maintain my personal schedule. I’d love to meet with you face to face at one of these forthcoming events.
From my perspective, writer's conferences have been life-changing events and have been critical in my professional and personal development. I recommend you take the time, energy and resources to get to a conference.
Constantly Build Relationships
(c) May 2012
Book marketing expert and my friend John Kremer says, “All of bookselling is about forming relationships.” Kremer is the author of the 700-page comprehensive guide, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book.
One of the best and most consistent ways to build this relationship with your audience is through a method which many authors ignore. It is staring right in front of them: email. Are you building your relationship with your audience through a regular newsletter?
I can already hear the protest from various authors.
“No one cares about my writing so why should I start a newsletter.”
“I don’t have anything to say to others.”
“There are already way too many newsletters.”
I could write half a dozen more objections but you get the idea. While there may be many newsletters, you are the only one who can reach out and touch your audience.
Several years ago when I was a literary agent, one of my authors had an ezine list of 10,000 people who he wrote monthly. He was an excellent writer yet I’m certain his connection to his audience was a persuasive factor in the publisher contracting this book.
When I talk with would-be book authors about starting an email newsletter or an ezine, I often hear, "No one will be interested in my newsletter and my list will be so small. Here's the truth of the matter: everyone starts small. When you start any publication, you put yourself, your spouse and a few close friends to get your newsletter list going.
The key is to start and then consistently put out your newsletter. It doesn't have to be often but it does have to be consistent and continually grow. Many people talk about writing and even repeatedly go to writers conferences, but the ones who succeed are the ones who continue to grow in their craft--and they consistently write. They write for magazines and they write fiction and nonfiction but they keep working at their writing.
I'm suggesting you can do the same thing when it comes to growing a newsletter. Over eight years ago, I started Right-Writing News I had less than 50 subscribers. Today I have thousands of subscribers and this list continues to grow. Yes, I've had a few people unsubscribe but that happens for many reasons and some of them have even unsubscribed then returned. It's a free newsletter and I've produced over 50 issues. If you look at the newsletter, I don't write all of it but get articles from my friends and those articles promote their books and other work. You can do the same with your newsletter. It doesn't have to be as much work as it appears.
Here are three resources in this area of building a list:
First go to www.askbobbly.com and download the free special report on how to make $100,000 a year in your spare time. Plus you can listen to the hour long interview I did with Bob about creating information products. Even if you write fiction, you can adapt this information to your writing situation. Bob has expert advice in our free interview about how to grow your mailing list.
Second, for the skeptics that say you can’t make money with email marketing, you can subscribe to my 21 Email Success tips. This free resource will give you 21 ideas from Internet Marketing Expert Jimmy D. Brown about the importance of building a list and a relationship with your readers.
Finally, I wrote a Ebook called The List Building Tycoon which is less than $10 and will give you step-by-step insight in this area. I also have an Amazon Kindle version of this resource.
Newsletters, blogs or a book project or any type of consistent writing project takes work. Just keep the big picture in mind and take the plunge. Start building your relationships and audience today.
One of the best and most consistent ways to build this relationship with your audience is through a method which many authors ignore. It is staring right in front of them: email. Are you building your relationship with your audience through a regular newsletter?
I can already hear the protest from various authors.
“No one cares about my writing so why should I start a newsletter.”
“I don’t have anything to say to others.”
“There are already way too many newsletters.”
I could write half a dozen more objections but you get the idea. While there may be many newsletters, you are the only one who can reach out and touch your audience.
Several years ago when I was a literary agent, one of my authors had an ezine list of 10,000 people who he wrote monthly. He was an excellent writer yet I’m certain his connection to his audience was a persuasive factor in the publisher contracting this book.
When I talk with would-be book authors about starting an email newsletter or an ezine, I often hear, "No one will be interested in my newsletter and my list will be so small. Here's the truth of the matter: everyone starts small. When you start any publication, you put yourself, your spouse and a few close friends to get your newsletter list going.
The key is to start and then consistently put out your newsletter. It doesn't have to be often but it does have to be consistent and continually grow. Many people talk about writing and even repeatedly go to writers conferences, but the ones who succeed are the ones who continue to grow in their craft--and they consistently write. They write for magazines and they write fiction and nonfiction but they keep working at their writing.
I'm suggesting you can do the same thing when it comes to growing a newsletter. Over eight years ago, I started Right-Writing News I had less than 50 subscribers. Today I have thousands of subscribers and this list continues to grow. Yes, I've had a few people unsubscribe but that happens for many reasons and some of them have even unsubscribed then returned. It's a free newsletter and I've produced over 50 issues. If you look at the newsletter, I don't write all of it but get articles from my friends and those articles promote their books and other work. You can do the same with your newsletter. It doesn't have to be as much work as it appears.
Here are three resources in this area of building a list:
First go to www.askbobbly.com and download the free special report on how to make $100,000 a year in your spare time. Plus you can listen to the hour long interview I did with Bob about creating information products. Even if you write fiction, you can adapt this information to your writing situation. Bob has expert advice in our free interview about how to grow your mailing list.
Second, for the skeptics that say you can’t make money with email marketing, you can subscribe to my 21 Email Success tips. This free resource will give you 21 ideas from Internet Marketing Expert Jimmy D. Brown about the importance of building a list and a relationship with your readers.
Finally, I wrote a Ebook called The List Building Tycoon which is less than $10 and will give you step-by-step insight in this area. I also have an Amazon Kindle version of this resource.
Newsletters, blogs or a book project or any type of consistent writing project takes work. Just keep the big picture in mind and take the plunge. Start building your relationships and audience today.
Use Book Reviews to Help Others
(c) April 2012
One of the ways that I broke into publishing on a consistent basis was writing book reviews. As more books are being published, there is an ever-increasing demand for book reviews. If you read books, then you can tap into this important area of publishing. You will help others and also gain visibility for you and your writing in the marketplace.
For a number of different publications, I wrote individual book reviews. Then one of these publications asked me to be their book review columnist. For this assignment, I wrote a series of book reviews for each issue of their magazine. I selected the books, received review of books from various publishers, then I wrote my reviews and sent them into the magazine on deadline to be published. Over several years, I held this role with this magazine until it came to an end. Then I became the book review columnist for another publication for another season.
Neither one of these magazines where I was a columnist are in print today. I learned a tremendous amount from my experience of writing those book review columns.
While I've gone on and written many other things including a number of books, I continue to write for magazines and continue to publish book reviews. One of the places where I write book reviews is in the customer review section of Amazon.
If you have purchased a book on Amazon, then you can write a customer review on any book. It does not matter whether you have purchased that book through Amazon or not because you can still write a review. For example, I read a number of books from my local public library. After reading the book, I write my review and post it on Amazon. It is a way you can support books through writing these customer reviews. They are not lengthy but at times, you may be among the few people who have reviewed a particular book.
When the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, wrote Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border, I read the book and wrote a Five Star review because I enjoyed the book and learned a great deal from it. When the President of the United States and Governor Brewer had a moment together at the Phoenix Airport, the story received a great deal of media attention. Many of the one star reviews on the page are people who don't like Governor Brewer—and it is fairly obvious to me that they did not read the book. The book continues to have a fairly good sales number on Amazon because of the controversy.
Consistently when I read books, I will write an Amazon review. I've written over 350 of these reviews. Here's some pointers for writing reviews:
1. Read the book. It seems like this aspect should be a given but people try to write reviews without reading the book.
2. Craft a good headline for your review. I suggest you create several words that draw the reader into reading your review.
3. Write a short summary of what the book is about. It doesn't have to be lengthy but needs to show you absorbed the contents of the book.
4. Pull a little quotation from the book and note the specific page where the quote appears in the book.
5. End with your recommendation about why someone should read this book.
As an example, I'm going to show you a review I wrote about journalist Todd Starnes' book, Dispatches from Bitter America, a Gun Toting, Chicken Eating Son of a Baptist's Culture War Stories.
My review is located here. I began with a simple statement as the headline to show the reader what they would gain from this book: This Book Is Certain To Stir Conversation at the Dinner Table
In my opening paragraph, I tried to summarize the contents of the book: From the red, white and blue cover along with the overalls, Bible and gun, award-winning journalist Todd Starnes makes a clear statement of his conservative perspective. Get ready for an insider's glimpse at the current state of America in DISPATCHES FROM BITTER AMERICA.
With the next paragraph, I pulled a quotation that I found in the introduction about what motivated Starnes to write this book: I found the stories engaging and fascinating---yet carefully researched and documented (the final pages of end notes show the detailed research. In the introduction, Starnes gives this background as he sits in the Red Arrow Diner, "As I sipped on a cup of coffee, I was reminded of the lyrics from that great lee Greenwood song, "I'm Proud to Be an American."...And that's how I came up with the idea for this book. It's a collection of stories from my travels across this country--conversations I've had with regular folks who have deep concerns about the direction we are going as a nation." (Page 9) Also when I use a quotation it is a subtle way of validating that I'm not just throwing some review on Amazon. I read this book.
In the final paragraph, I summarize why the reader wants to read this book: The well-told stories are organized into sections: Dispatches from DC, Dispatches from the Fly-over States, Dispatches from the Schoolhouse and Dispatches from the Pew. Get this book and absorb every story. You can't help to be educated and entertained through DISPATCHES FROM BITTER AMERICA.
Whether you write books or magazine articles, whether you have been published a great deal or never, I encourage you to write book reviews. You will be a help to the authors and others who are looking for good books.
Book reviews are another proactive way you can be involved in the publishing community, reach readers and sell books.
One of the ways that I broke into publishing on a consistent basis was writing book reviews. As more books are being published, there is an ever-increasing demand for book reviews. If you read books, then you can tap into this important area of publishing. You will help others and also gain visibility for you and your writing in the marketplace.
For a number of different publications, I wrote individual book reviews. Then one of these publications asked me to be their book review columnist. For this assignment, I wrote a series of book reviews for each issue of their magazine. I selected the books, received review of books from various publishers, then I wrote my reviews and sent them into the magazine on deadline to be published. Over several years, I held this role with this magazine until it came to an end. Then I became the book review columnist for another publication for another season.
Neither one of these magazines where I was a columnist are in print today. I learned a tremendous amount from my experience of writing those book review columns.
While I've gone on and written many other things including a number of books, I continue to write for magazines and continue to publish book reviews. One of the places where I write book reviews is in the customer review section of Amazon.
If you have purchased a book on Amazon, then you can write a customer review on any book. It does not matter whether you have purchased that book through Amazon or not because you can still write a review. For example, I read a number of books from my local public library. After reading the book, I write my review and post it on Amazon. It is a way you can support books through writing these customer reviews. They are not lengthy but at times, you may be among the few people who have reviewed a particular book.
When the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, wrote Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border, I read the book and wrote a Five Star review because I enjoyed the book and learned a great deal from it. When the President of the United States and Governor Brewer had a moment together at the Phoenix Airport, the story received a great deal of media attention. Many of the one star reviews on the page are people who don't like Governor Brewer—and it is fairly obvious to me that they did not read the book. The book continues to have a fairly good sales number on Amazon because of the controversy.
Consistently when I read books, I will write an Amazon review. I've written over 350 of these reviews. Here's some pointers for writing reviews:
1. Read the book. It seems like this aspect should be a given but people try to write reviews without reading the book.
2. Craft a good headline for your review. I suggest you create several words that draw the reader into reading your review.
3. Write a short summary of what the book is about. It doesn't have to be lengthy but needs to show you absorbed the contents of the book.
4. Pull a little quotation from the book and note the specific page where the quote appears in the book.
5. End with your recommendation about why someone should read this book.
As an example, I'm going to show you a review I wrote about journalist Todd Starnes' book, Dispatches from Bitter America, a Gun Toting, Chicken Eating Son of a Baptist's Culture War Stories.
My review is located here. I began with a simple statement as the headline to show the reader what they would gain from this book: This Book Is Certain To Stir Conversation at the Dinner Table
In my opening paragraph, I tried to summarize the contents of the book: From the red, white and blue cover along with the overalls, Bible and gun, award-winning journalist Todd Starnes makes a clear statement of his conservative perspective. Get ready for an insider's glimpse at the current state of America in DISPATCHES FROM BITTER AMERICA.
With the next paragraph, I pulled a quotation that I found in the introduction about what motivated Starnes to write this book: I found the stories engaging and fascinating---yet carefully researched and documented (the final pages of end notes show the detailed research. In the introduction, Starnes gives this background as he sits in the Red Arrow Diner, "As I sipped on a cup of coffee, I was reminded of the lyrics from that great lee Greenwood song, "I'm Proud to Be an American."...And that's how I came up with the idea for this book. It's a collection of stories from my travels across this country--conversations I've had with regular folks who have deep concerns about the direction we are going as a nation." (Page 9) Also when I use a quotation it is a subtle way of validating that I'm not just throwing some review on Amazon. I read this book.
In the final paragraph, I summarize why the reader wants to read this book: The well-told stories are organized into sections: Dispatches from DC, Dispatches from the Fly-over States, Dispatches from the Schoolhouse and Dispatches from the Pew. Get this book and absorb every story. You can't help to be educated and entertained through DISPATCHES FROM BITTER AMERICA.
Whether you write books or magazine articles, whether you have been published a great deal or never, I encourage you to write book reviews. You will be a help to the authors and others who are looking for good books.
Book reviews are another proactive way you can be involved in the publishing community, reach readers and sell books.
Keep Experimenting to Sell Books
(c) March 2012
I've never met a book author who didn't want to sell more copies of their work. It doesn't matter if they are published through one of the largest publishers or Podunk Press (I don't believe there is such a small publisher named Podunk Press but maybe since there are many of them).
I've interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors and spoken with hundreds of other authors. If you bring up the topic of selling more books, almost every author has a story about something they tried yet failed to work. Often these stories are filled with the author blaming someone else for the lack of sales. They blame:
·their publisher
·their publicist
·their agent
·their editor
·the wrong title
·the wrong cover
·the missing endorsements
·_____ you name it
It's rare that I hear the author blame the real culprit: themselves. Yes, it's hard to admit but it is the first step toward selling more books and understanding who bears the true responsibility for selling books—the author.
In Jack Canfield's bestselling title, The Success Principles, How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, he begins the book with some fundamentals for success. The first principle is: Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life.
For book authors, you can easily take the word Life and substitute Book: Take 100% Responsibility for Your Book. It's amazing how your attitude will shift if you take this simple step.
Many authors long to have their book appear on the bestseller list. For some authors they equate getting on the bestseller list as their benchmark of success for their book. Over ten years ago, I read Michael Korda's Making the List, a Cultural History of the American Bestseller 1900–1999. Korda at the time was the Editor-in-Chief at Simon and Schuster, one of the largest publishers. If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it.
In the introduction, Korda writes, “The bestseller list is therefore neither as predictable nor as dominating as its critics make it out to be. Plenty of strange books get onto the list and stay there for a long time…at least half of the books on any given list are there to the immense surprise and puzzlement of their publishers. That's why publishers find it so hard to repeat their success—half the time they can't figure out how they happened in the first place.” (Page xv) I love his honesty. There is no magic bullet and it is different for every book. The author is key.
Some books start slow and steadily sell then catapult in sales. Other books begin strong then sales drop to nothing. There is no consistent pattern.
My encouragement is for you to keep experimenting with different methods to sell your book. Each author has a different experience.
Yesterday I spoke with an author who had sold 8,000 to 10,000 copies of his self-published books. He had held over 300 book signings for his book. For many authors book signings have yielded almost nothing but not for this author. He regularly speaks at schools and service clubs and even AARP meetings.
If you aren't speaking much as an author, I encourage you to get a copy of Barbara Techel's Class Act, Sell More Books Through School and Library Appearances. This book gives step-by-step help and is loaded with ideas where you can take action.
What proactive steps can you take to learn a new skill or try some new way to sell books? It doesn't matter if your book is brand new or has been in print for a while. Keep the experimentation going until you hit the elements which work for your book.
I've never met a book author who didn't want to sell more copies of their work. It doesn't matter if they are published through one of the largest publishers or Podunk Press (I don't believe there is such a small publisher named Podunk Press but maybe since there are many of them).
I've interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors and spoken with hundreds of other authors. If you bring up the topic of selling more books, almost every author has a story about something they tried yet failed to work. Often these stories are filled with the author blaming someone else for the lack of sales. They blame:
·their publisher
·their publicist
·their agent
·their editor
·the wrong title
·the wrong cover
·the missing endorsements
·_____ you name it
It's rare that I hear the author blame the real culprit: themselves. Yes, it's hard to admit but it is the first step toward selling more books and understanding who bears the true responsibility for selling books—the author.
In Jack Canfield's bestselling title, The Success Principles, How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, he begins the book with some fundamentals for success. The first principle is: Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life.
For book authors, you can easily take the word Life and substitute Book: Take 100% Responsibility for Your Book. It's amazing how your attitude will shift if you take this simple step.
Many authors long to have their book appear on the bestseller list. For some authors they equate getting on the bestseller list as their benchmark of success for their book. Over ten years ago, I read Michael Korda's Making the List, a Cultural History of the American Bestseller 1900–1999. Korda at the time was the Editor-in-Chief at Simon and Schuster, one of the largest publishers. If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it.
In the introduction, Korda writes, “The bestseller list is therefore neither as predictable nor as dominating as its critics make it out to be. Plenty of strange books get onto the list and stay there for a long time…at least half of the books on any given list are there to the immense surprise and puzzlement of their publishers. That's why publishers find it so hard to repeat their success—half the time they can't figure out how they happened in the first place.” (Page xv) I love his honesty. There is no magic bullet and it is different for every book. The author is key.
Some books start slow and steadily sell then catapult in sales. Other books begin strong then sales drop to nothing. There is no consistent pattern.
My encouragement is for you to keep experimenting with different methods to sell your book. Each author has a different experience.
Yesterday I spoke with an author who had sold 8,000 to 10,000 copies of his self-published books. He had held over 300 book signings for his book. For many authors book signings have yielded almost nothing but not for this author. He regularly speaks at schools and service clubs and even AARP meetings.
If you aren't speaking much as an author, I encourage you to get a copy of Barbara Techel's Class Act, Sell More Books Through School and Library Appearances. This book gives step-by-step help and is loaded with ideas where you can take action.
What proactive steps can you take to learn a new skill or try some new way to sell books? It doesn't matter if your book is brand new or has been in print for a while. Keep the experimentation going until you hit the elements which work for your book.
Become More Productive
(c) February 2012
If you are eager to sell more books in the coming months, I want to encourage you to become prolific or more productive. Many years ago, a wise agent spoke with me about the necessity of building a “body of work.” If you are passionate about a particular topic or the book that you have written, how are you taking that passion into a multitude of formats? Some people call this process repurposing but it’s a way to become more productive and get more mileage from your writing.
I encourage you to think big and strategically as a writer. Too many writers are focused on a single magazine article or a single book without considering how they can get the most mileage from their writing. A key is to approach your writing in a different way and I’m going to give you some ideas in this article to increase productivity and even become prolific—and in the process sell more books.
The first step is to identify your target audience and the topic which stirs your passion. Maybe you have a couple of topics like parenting and strengthening marriage or explaining Biblical truth and principles for living the Christian life. You are the only person who can identify these themes. You can write for different publications either online or in print—but if you don’t coordinate the themes, then you end up with an unrelated mixture where you can’t repurpose your content into other venues.
I want to encourage you to take material that you already have created--and repurpose it or re-create it into a way which reaches a different audience. It will give you more exposure and more income from that writing.
Let’s use my own writing as an example so you can see the specifics and hopefully apply it to your own writing life. Many of you are familiar with myBook Proposals that Sell, which has 100 Five Star Amazon reviews and came out about seven years ago. I teach on book proposals so I created an audio product, Editor Reveals Book Proposals Secrets. which combined several of my writing workshops. Before I launched this product, I edited it and connected each workshop with the same music introduction and exit music. The creation of this product is one example of repurposing or expansion of my teaching into a different format. I also sell this Book Proposals That Sell as an Ebook. But I wanted to do more.
I took my content from Book Proposals That Sell (a series of random secrets about proposal creation) and completely remade it into step-by-step lessons and launched an online course called Write A Book Proposal. I have students all over the world in this three-month course. A key method for you to expand your teaching and become more productive is to create your own online course. A few months ago, I launched the Simple Membership System to give you the full scoop on how to make your own course. I've been writing a series about membership courses and here’s the link to the first article called Use Your Content in a New Way.
Every writer needs to think bigger about their writing. Here are more ideas to expand your productivity, You can take:
The list of possibilities is endless--if you are open to it. It will extend your reach and visibility in the market and your income. It takes action and work to achieve these new renditions of your material. You’ve done the original work to create it and I'm challenging you to get the greatest possible use from this material.
If you are eager to sell more books in the coming months, I want to encourage you to become prolific or more productive. Many years ago, a wise agent spoke with me about the necessity of building a “body of work.” If you are passionate about a particular topic or the book that you have written, how are you taking that passion into a multitude of formats? Some people call this process repurposing but it’s a way to become more productive and get more mileage from your writing.
I encourage you to think big and strategically as a writer. Too many writers are focused on a single magazine article or a single book without considering how they can get the most mileage from their writing. A key is to approach your writing in a different way and I’m going to give you some ideas in this article to increase productivity and even become prolific—and in the process sell more books.
The first step is to identify your target audience and the topic which stirs your passion. Maybe you have a couple of topics like parenting and strengthening marriage or explaining Biblical truth and principles for living the Christian life. You are the only person who can identify these themes. You can write for different publications either online or in print—but if you don’t coordinate the themes, then you end up with an unrelated mixture where you can’t repurpose your content into other venues.
I want to encourage you to take material that you already have created--and repurpose it or re-create it into a way which reaches a different audience. It will give you more exposure and more income from that writing.
Let’s use my own writing as an example so you can see the specifics and hopefully apply it to your own writing life. Many of you are familiar with myBook Proposals that Sell, which has 100 Five Star Amazon reviews and came out about seven years ago. I teach on book proposals so I created an audio product, Editor Reveals Book Proposals Secrets. which combined several of my writing workshops. Before I launched this product, I edited it and connected each workshop with the same music introduction and exit music. The creation of this product is one example of repurposing or expansion of my teaching into a different format. I also sell this Book Proposals That Sell as an Ebook. But I wanted to do more.
I took my content from Book Proposals That Sell (a series of random secrets about proposal creation) and completely remade it into step-by-step lessons and launched an online course called Write A Book Proposal. I have students all over the world in this three-month course. A key method for you to expand your teaching and become more productive is to create your own online course. A few months ago, I launched the Simple Membership System to give you the full scoop on how to make your own course. I've been writing a series about membership courses and here’s the link to the first article called Use Your Content in a New Way.
Every writer needs to think bigger about their writing. Here are more ideas to expand your productivity, You can take:
- a series of blog posts and turn them into print magazine articles (series or standalone)
- your blog posts and change them into chapters of a book
- your chapters of a book and change that into a step-by-step online course.
- your workshop teaching and repurpose them into a series of CDs that you sell online or in person at conferences.
- out-of-print books and change them into Kindle or Ebooks in other formats.
The list of possibilities is endless--if you are open to it. It will extend your reach and visibility in the market and your income. It takes action and work to achieve these new renditions of your material. You’ve done the original work to create it and I'm challenging you to get the greatest possible use from this material.
Make Every Second Count
(c) January 2012
One of my prolific author friends, Robert W. Bly wrote a book called Make Every Second Count. I loved his book but I really loved the title. In this New Year you may have decided to become more proactive as an author. One of the key aspects in this process of becoming more active is to increase your own knowledge and learning. How will you do it?
We all have the same constraints for our writing and marketing life: time. Yet some people manage to get so much more done in that 24-hour period. We want to write (and have plans in this area), yet we also want to continue to grow as writers and communicators.
One of the tools that I’ve been using for this area of growth has been audio. Unlike many people, I don’t have a long commute, yet I do spend a fair amount of time in my car driving—even in short bursts of time like five or ten minutes. How do I use those short amounts of time?
Several years ago, I purchased Jack Canfield’s bestselling book, The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. I hauled the book to a conference where I saw Jack, and he autographed my book. I hauled the book on several trips—yet never managed to crack open the pages and read it. If you are a reader, I imagine you have a few books you handle in the same way.
I decided I wanted to learn the information in The Success Principles,and another means to that information was through audio. I purchased the audio book and loaded the six CDs into my car player. Then for the next few weeks every time I was in my car—even for a few minutes—I turned on the audio book. In a short amount of time, I listened to every single CD and learned a great deal from them. In fact, the experience was so valuable to me that I plan to listen to the entire book again soon.
I mentioned attending the 2007 Mark Victor Hansen Mega Book Marketing University. For four years the audios from this conference have been on my shelf—and I’ve not listened to them. In recent weeks, I’ve been listening to these speakers again and gaining inspiration and fresh marketing ideas from their audio presentations.
Several weeks ago, I launched Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams Audio. It is almost an hour and a half of my teaching about different ways you can jumpstart your publishing life. It doesn’t matter whether you are unpublished or much published, you will gain practical insight and inspiration from this CD.
Karen Morerod, author of More Than Just A Pretty Face, wrote about my CD, “The most challenging thing for me is: time. My family is great at giving me writing time, but after working seven hours away from home, my energy/creative levels are waning by the time I get home—IF, indeed, I have the luxury of being at home in the evening. Many times I’ve driven the two hours from KC to Manhattan and I must say, listening to your CD was the fastest drive I’ve ever had! Usually when I try to listen to CDs in the car, my mind wanders. But this CD totally got me encouraged to get BUSY—plus it had such practical ideas. The CD gave me vision! It was wonderful.”
Time is the challenge for every writer. If you choose wisely, you can use audio as another tool in your arsenal to grow as a writer. It’s what I’m doing. Are you?
One of my prolific author friends, Robert W. Bly wrote a book called Make Every Second Count. I loved his book but I really loved the title. In this New Year you may have decided to become more proactive as an author. One of the key aspects in this process of becoming more active is to increase your own knowledge and learning. How will you do it?
We all have the same constraints for our writing and marketing life: time. Yet some people manage to get so much more done in that 24-hour period. We want to write (and have plans in this area), yet we also want to continue to grow as writers and communicators.
One of the tools that I’ve been using for this area of growth has been audio. Unlike many people, I don’t have a long commute, yet I do spend a fair amount of time in my car driving—even in short bursts of time like five or ten minutes. How do I use those short amounts of time?
Several years ago, I purchased Jack Canfield’s bestselling book, The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. I hauled the book to a conference where I saw Jack, and he autographed my book. I hauled the book on several trips—yet never managed to crack open the pages and read it. If you are a reader, I imagine you have a few books you handle in the same way.
I decided I wanted to learn the information in The Success Principles,and another means to that information was through audio. I purchased the audio book and loaded the six CDs into my car player. Then for the next few weeks every time I was in my car—even for a few minutes—I turned on the audio book. In a short amount of time, I listened to every single CD and learned a great deal from them. In fact, the experience was so valuable to me that I plan to listen to the entire book again soon.
I mentioned attending the 2007 Mark Victor Hansen Mega Book Marketing University. For four years the audios from this conference have been on my shelf—and I’ve not listened to them. In recent weeks, I’ve been listening to these speakers again and gaining inspiration and fresh marketing ideas from their audio presentations.
Several weeks ago, I launched Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams Audio. It is almost an hour and a half of my teaching about different ways you can jumpstart your publishing life. It doesn’t matter whether you are unpublished or much published, you will gain practical insight and inspiration from this CD.
Karen Morerod, author of More Than Just A Pretty Face, wrote about my CD, “The most challenging thing for me is: time. My family is great at giving me writing time, but after working seven hours away from home, my energy/creative levels are waning by the time I get home—IF, indeed, I have the luxury of being at home in the evening. Many times I’ve driven the two hours from KC to Manhattan and I must say, listening to your CD was the fastest drive I’ve ever had! Usually when I try to listen to CDs in the car, my mind wanders. But this CD totally got me encouraged to get BUSY—plus it had such practical ideas. The CD gave me vision! It was wonderful.”
Time is the challenge for every writer. If you choose wisely, you can use audio as another tool in your arsenal to grow as a writer. It’s what I’m doing. Are you?
Work Your Simple Plan
(c) December 2011
From time to time, I’ve had author envy. I look at someone’s twitter following with thousands of people or the thousands of subscribers to their blog or newsletter, and I wish it could happen to me. Or I read about a bestselling book and wonder why my books haven’t achieved such a level of success. Envy sprouts into my mind and heart, and I begin to grow jealous of another author’s success. Then I pull myself up short. I’ve interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors. Repeatedly I’ve learned there are few overnight success stories. Most authors who spring to the top of the bestseller list have been in the trenches for years growing their presence in the marketplace.
Every author has to take action and begin building their presence in the market. I do not believe there is a magic formula, but there are tried and true methods that, when used consistently, will help you. Recently I was listening to the audio version of Jack Canfield’s bestselling book, The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. The book is full of insight. Success Principle #13 is Take Action. He writes, “Most people are familiar with the phrase, ‘Ready, aim, fire!’ The problem is that too many people spend their whole life aiming and never firing. They are always getting ready, getting it perfect. The quickest way to hit a target is to fire, see where the bullet landed, and then adjust your aim accordingly. If the hit was 2 inches above the target, lower your aim a little. Fire again. See where it is now. Keep firing and readjusting. Soon you are hitting the bull’s-eye.” (Page 103)
Recently I was meeting with an unpublished author who had written about a 400-page Christian fantasy. He gave me a copy of his novel to read and recognized that he is an unknown writer. Like many people he wondered what steps to take to enter the publishing business and change from being unknown to being known.
These steps are not a quick fix and will take on-going time and effort. The good news is that with the Internet and regular effort it can be done with a minimal financial investment. Here are ten simple steps.
1. Pick a good domain name—a dot com. How do you want to be known? Pick that for your domain name. What is your area of expertise? If you write Christian fantasy, select something you can brand and promote. A domain name will cost about $7.49 a year at GoDaddy (http://bit.ly/wtwgod) —and always look for a coupon as you check out.
2. Get a Hostgator account (http://bit.ly/gt9iKK). Most writers can get along for $4.95 to $7.95 a month. This system is powerful and inexpensive.
3. On your Hostgator account, start a Word Press blog (not a free one but one you set up). The tools are free and because you are hosting it, you don’t have the restrictions of the free Word Press account. Then post several times a week on your topic that you want to brand
4. Start a Twitter account with your brand name and post only on that topic—link to articles about it and other things to draw readers
5. Also post to your Facebook about this topic—automatically repeat your tweets.
6. Join forums on this topic. At first, watch, and then participate with solid content about the topic at hand—and emphasizing your topic. You will become known as a thoughtful expert.
7. Eventually begin a newsletter with your blog posts—repurpose them into a newsletter and encourage people to subscribe to it.
8. Repurpose your blog posts to Internet articles and post to the free articles sites (there are many of them). As you repurpose your material in this way, you will become known as an expert in your particular area of the market..
9. Get a free copy of my 43-page Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. Read this book and take action.
10. Take action over and over—consistently and regularly to build your brand. It will pay off and you will build your presence and become known.
As you work this simple plan, you will be surprised with the results just like the bestselling author who took 20 years to become an overnight success. A seemingly innocent event set off the unplanned chain of events and propelled the author to recognition. You are the best person to promote yourself, but you have to take action. Work your simple plan and it can happen. I’ve seen it over and over.
From time to time, I’ve had author envy. I look at someone’s twitter following with thousands of people or the thousands of subscribers to their blog or newsletter, and I wish it could happen to me. Or I read about a bestselling book and wonder why my books haven’t achieved such a level of success. Envy sprouts into my mind and heart, and I begin to grow jealous of another author’s success. Then I pull myself up short. I’ve interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors. Repeatedly I’ve learned there are few overnight success stories. Most authors who spring to the top of the bestseller list have been in the trenches for years growing their presence in the marketplace.
Every author has to take action and begin building their presence in the market. I do not believe there is a magic formula, but there are tried and true methods that, when used consistently, will help you. Recently I was listening to the audio version of Jack Canfield’s bestselling book, The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. The book is full of insight. Success Principle #13 is Take Action. He writes, “Most people are familiar with the phrase, ‘Ready, aim, fire!’ The problem is that too many people spend their whole life aiming and never firing. They are always getting ready, getting it perfect. The quickest way to hit a target is to fire, see where the bullet landed, and then adjust your aim accordingly. If the hit was 2 inches above the target, lower your aim a little. Fire again. See where it is now. Keep firing and readjusting. Soon you are hitting the bull’s-eye.” (Page 103)
Recently I was meeting with an unpublished author who had written about a 400-page Christian fantasy. He gave me a copy of his novel to read and recognized that he is an unknown writer. Like many people he wondered what steps to take to enter the publishing business and change from being unknown to being known.
These steps are not a quick fix and will take on-going time and effort. The good news is that with the Internet and regular effort it can be done with a minimal financial investment. Here are ten simple steps.
1. Pick a good domain name—a dot com. How do you want to be known? Pick that for your domain name. What is your area of expertise? If you write Christian fantasy, select something you can brand and promote. A domain name will cost about $7.49 a year at GoDaddy (http://bit.ly/wtwgod) —and always look for a coupon as you check out.
2. Get a Hostgator account (http://bit.ly/gt9iKK). Most writers can get along for $4.95 to $7.95 a month. This system is powerful and inexpensive.
3. On your Hostgator account, start a Word Press blog (not a free one but one you set up). The tools are free and because you are hosting it, you don’t have the restrictions of the free Word Press account. Then post several times a week on your topic that you want to brand
4. Start a Twitter account with your brand name and post only on that topic—link to articles about it and other things to draw readers
5. Also post to your Facebook about this topic—automatically repeat your tweets.
6. Join forums on this topic. At first, watch, and then participate with solid content about the topic at hand—and emphasizing your topic. You will become known as a thoughtful expert.
7. Eventually begin a newsletter with your blog posts—repurpose them into a newsletter and encourage people to subscribe to it.
8. Repurpose your blog posts to Internet articles and post to the free articles sites (there are many of them). As you repurpose your material in this way, you will become known as an expert in your particular area of the market..
9. Get a free copy of my 43-page Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. Read this book and take action.
10. Take action over and over—consistently and regularly to build your brand. It will pay off and you will build your presence and become known.
As you work this simple plan, you will be surprised with the results just like the bestselling author who took 20 years to become an overnight success. A seemingly innocent event set off the unplanned chain of events and propelled the author to recognition. You are the best person to promote yourself, but you have to take action. Work your simple plan and it can happen. I’ve seen it over and over.
Perseverance Pays Off
(C) November 2011
Whether they know it or not, many book authors are doing aimless marketing. These authors have no plans or goals and are almost certain to fail.
Yes, I understand I’ve made a sweeping statement which is a bit harsh. Yet from my years of experience watching authors and working with them, I know it’s true. I encourage you to keep reading because I’m going to provide a series of steps so you can change from aimless marketing to a targeted effort for your books. If you take action, then you will move forward with your dreams of reaching others with your books.
The old saying goes: “If you aim at nothing you will be sure to hit it.” The first question you need to answer is who is your target reader? Please don’t say everyone because no book is for everyone. While some books achieve a broad spectrum of readers, every book has a specific target audience. Write to a specific group of people and you will have your target clearly in front of you. Next write down a secondary group of people who would be your target.
Create what Mark Victor Hansen calls a Big Hairy Goal. What is your overall plan to reach your target audience? Set aside anything that your publisher or anyone else is going to do for your book and focus on yourself and your efforts. Do you plan to sell 5,000 books over the next 12 months? Write down your specific goal on the back of a business card, and then stick that card in your wallet or someplace where you will see it often. It can serve as consistent reminder of your goal.
For your next step, break down your large goal into incremental steps. How are you going to take the tiny steps to achieve those book sales? Maybe it means taking an hour a week to focus on having a more active role in an online forum (where you include mention of your book). Or maybe it means you will create a postcard about your book then send it to 1,000 names and addresses. Each goal should be definable and specific.
The successful Internet marketer, Dan Kennedy, recently wrote about the most important component of success in business boils down to “one thing.” Implementation was the one thing that means to take action and complete the most important activities in your business. I encourage you to take small steps yet also take consistent action to complete those goals.
If you are going to take consistent action, you need perseverance. Consider the story of Andy Andrews, author of The Traveler’s Gift. A popular speaker, Andy wrote a manuscript that he tried to get published. It was rejected 54 times. How many of us can handle this level of rejection? He continued in his popular speaking work but did not have a book for his audience. One day Gayle Hyatt was in Andys’ audience. She came up to him afterward and suggested that he write a book.
Looking a bit sheepish, Andy told Gayle, “Your husband’s company [Thomas Nelson] has already rejected my manuscript.” Gayle asked for a copy of his manuscript and promised to read it. Andy sent her the manuscript. She showed it to her husband, Michael Hyatt, president of Thomas Nelson, and the book was published.
Notice the perseverance in what happened next. When Andy got his new book, he gave away 12,000 copies. Most of those review copies didn’t make much of a difference. But one of those copies got in the hands of Robin Roberts, who at the time was a producer of ABC’s Good Morning America.Roberts selected The Traveler’s Gift as their Book of the Month. The Traveler’s Gift sold 850,000 copies and the rest is history.
From my study of publishing, there is no formula to make a bestseller or achieve success with your book. Each author has a different definition of success. For some it is simply creating their book and getting it into the market. Other authors want to get on a particular bestseller list. A range of answers lies between these two extremes.
What is your goal and how are you going to reach it? Consistent action is the key. Michael Hyatt, chairman of the board for Thomas Nelson recently wrote about The Power of Incremental Change Over Time. I encourage you to take action and turn aimless marketing into consistent marketing. Productive authors have a commitment to marketing their books on a personal and consistent basis.
Whether they know it or not, many book authors are doing aimless marketing. These authors have no plans or goals and are almost certain to fail.
Yes, I understand I’ve made a sweeping statement which is a bit harsh. Yet from my years of experience watching authors and working with them, I know it’s true. I encourage you to keep reading because I’m going to provide a series of steps so you can change from aimless marketing to a targeted effort for your books. If you take action, then you will move forward with your dreams of reaching others with your books.
The old saying goes: “If you aim at nothing you will be sure to hit it.” The first question you need to answer is who is your target reader? Please don’t say everyone because no book is for everyone. While some books achieve a broad spectrum of readers, every book has a specific target audience. Write to a specific group of people and you will have your target clearly in front of you. Next write down a secondary group of people who would be your target.
Create what Mark Victor Hansen calls a Big Hairy Goal. What is your overall plan to reach your target audience? Set aside anything that your publisher or anyone else is going to do for your book and focus on yourself and your efforts. Do you plan to sell 5,000 books over the next 12 months? Write down your specific goal on the back of a business card, and then stick that card in your wallet or someplace where you will see it often. It can serve as consistent reminder of your goal.
For your next step, break down your large goal into incremental steps. How are you going to take the tiny steps to achieve those book sales? Maybe it means taking an hour a week to focus on having a more active role in an online forum (where you include mention of your book). Or maybe it means you will create a postcard about your book then send it to 1,000 names and addresses. Each goal should be definable and specific.
The successful Internet marketer, Dan Kennedy, recently wrote about the most important component of success in business boils down to “one thing.” Implementation was the one thing that means to take action and complete the most important activities in your business. I encourage you to take small steps yet also take consistent action to complete those goals.
If you are going to take consistent action, you need perseverance. Consider the story of Andy Andrews, author of The Traveler’s Gift. A popular speaker, Andy wrote a manuscript that he tried to get published. It was rejected 54 times. How many of us can handle this level of rejection? He continued in his popular speaking work but did not have a book for his audience. One day Gayle Hyatt was in Andys’ audience. She came up to him afterward and suggested that he write a book.
Looking a bit sheepish, Andy told Gayle, “Your husband’s company [Thomas Nelson] has already rejected my manuscript.” Gayle asked for a copy of his manuscript and promised to read it. Andy sent her the manuscript. She showed it to her husband, Michael Hyatt, president of Thomas Nelson, and the book was published.
Notice the perseverance in what happened next. When Andy got his new book, he gave away 12,000 copies. Most of those review copies didn’t make much of a difference. But one of those copies got in the hands of Robin Roberts, who at the time was a producer of ABC’s Good Morning America.Roberts selected The Traveler’s Gift as their Book of the Month. The Traveler’s Gift sold 850,000 copies and the rest is history.
From my study of publishing, there is no formula to make a bestseller or achieve success with your book. Each author has a different definition of success. For some it is simply creating their book and getting it into the market. Other authors want to get on a particular bestseller list. A range of answers lies between these two extremes.
What is your goal and how are you going to reach it? Consistent action is the key. Michael Hyatt, chairman of the board for Thomas Nelson recently wrote about The Power of Incremental Change Over Time. I encourage you to take action and turn aimless marketing into consistent marketing. Productive authors have a commitment to marketing their books on a personal and consistent basis.
My Eyes Were Opened
(C) October 2011
It was unlike any writers’ conference that I had ever attended—and I had been to many of them for over 20 years. The inspirational music combined with Hollywood lights and enthusiastic applause. I was in the audience at Mark Victor Hansen’s MegaBook Marketing University Los Angeles in 2007.
Back then I was a literary agent and meeting potential authors at the conference. I seized the opportunity to listen to each of the speakers with their fascinating messages and information.
At the time I had written more than 55 books, been an acquisition editor at two traditional publishers and spent years in the book business.
I had written many different types of books—children, youth biographies, co-authored books, and nonfiction how-to books. I had done some marketing on my books. Yet for the majority of the time, my attitude mirrored that of many authors—maybe even you. I expected my publisher to carry the primary marketing and promotion for my book. They had paid me an advance and printed each book. I wanted to stick with writing and earn my living from my words and not from promoting my books.
As I listened to speakers like Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, Alex Mandossian, David Riklan, Dr. Denis Waitley and many others, I heard the message over and over. Suddenly it hit me: authors needed to be proactive. Yes the publisher has responsibility but they have other books. It is the author who has the greatest passion and enthusiasm for their book. They can be much more focused and long-term on telling others about their book.
Often the larger publishers will give less time to a new book in terms of promotion and marketing. Most of them give a three or four month focused effort to get a book pushed out into the market and catch attention. If nothing or little happens, then they go on to the next book and that new book becomes a back list product.
Not every book surges into the marketplace with great enthusiasm. Some books take time to begin to sell. I understand the sales for Frank Peretti’sThis Present Darkness were slow the first couple of years. Among other elements for the book, Pop recording artist Amy Grant began to tell her audiences about the spiritual battle and how a book she had read called This Present Darkness explained the elements of spiritual warfare. The word of mouth enthusiasm for Peretti’s book spread, and then it jumped on the bestseller list and continues to touch lives.
Sitting in the audience at MegaBook Marketing University, I made a life-changing decision. I would no longer expect others to carry the marketing and promotion of my product. I wanted others to do the marketing and promotion but I would have to carry the primary responsibility—no matter who published my book. This attitude adjustment is something every author needs to acquire. The marketing and promotion doesn’t have to overwhelm you. In this column, I’m going to give you practical information to foster the process. As you have to be continually writing to finish a book, you also have to incorporate the marketing and promotion into your daily, weekly, and monthly plans.
As the great promoter extraordinaire, P. T. Barnum said, “Without promotion, something terrible happens. Nothing.” You can do it and I’m eager to point you in the right direction.
It was unlike any writers’ conference that I had ever attended—and I had been to many of them for over 20 years. The inspirational music combined with Hollywood lights and enthusiastic applause. I was in the audience at Mark Victor Hansen’s MegaBook Marketing University Los Angeles in 2007.
Back then I was a literary agent and meeting potential authors at the conference. I seized the opportunity to listen to each of the speakers with their fascinating messages and information.
At the time I had written more than 55 books, been an acquisition editor at two traditional publishers and spent years in the book business.
I had written many different types of books—children, youth biographies, co-authored books, and nonfiction how-to books. I had done some marketing on my books. Yet for the majority of the time, my attitude mirrored that of many authors—maybe even you. I expected my publisher to carry the primary marketing and promotion for my book. They had paid me an advance and printed each book. I wanted to stick with writing and earn my living from my words and not from promoting my books.
As I listened to speakers like Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, Alex Mandossian, David Riklan, Dr. Denis Waitley and many others, I heard the message over and over. Suddenly it hit me: authors needed to be proactive. Yes the publisher has responsibility but they have other books. It is the author who has the greatest passion and enthusiasm for their book. They can be much more focused and long-term on telling others about their book.
Often the larger publishers will give less time to a new book in terms of promotion and marketing. Most of them give a three or four month focused effort to get a book pushed out into the market and catch attention. If nothing or little happens, then they go on to the next book and that new book becomes a back list product.
Not every book surges into the marketplace with great enthusiasm. Some books take time to begin to sell. I understand the sales for Frank Peretti’sThis Present Darkness were slow the first couple of years. Among other elements for the book, Pop recording artist Amy Grant began to tell her audiences about the spiritual battle and how a book she had read called This Present Darkness explained the elements of spiritual warfare. The word of mouth enthusiasm for Peretti’s book spread, and then it jumped on the bestseller list and continues to touch lives.
Sitting in the audience at MegaBook Marketing University, I made a life-changing decision. I would no longer expect others to carry the marketing and promotion of my product. I wanted others to do the marketing and promotion but I would have to carry the primary responsibility—no matter who published my book. This attitude adjustment is something every author needs to acquire. The marketing and promotion doesn’t have to overwhelm you. In this column, I’m going to give you practical information to foster the process. As you have to be continually writing to finish a book, you also have to incorporate the marketing and promotion into your daily, weekly, and monthly plans.
As the great promoter extraordinaire, P. T. Barnum said, “Without promotion, something terrible happens. Nothing.” You can do it and I’m eager to point you in the right direction.
Disclaimer
Our goal at The Wordsmith Journal Magazine is to introduce readers to authors of books with a strong moral message. Primarily Christian based, we do not adhere to any particular denomination, nor do we question the integrity or worship of our readers, interview candidates, sponsors, columnists, reviewers, or authors who advertise with us. We understand reading is subjective and what one person deems sweet, clean, cozy or inspirational, another will not. Please know we do not read nor endorse every book advertised in our magazine but trust that the author understands our goal and his or her work fits the desires of our readers.
