Archive for December, 2009
10 Common Writing Mistakes: Do you pass the test?
December 21st, 2009 by Mary DeMuthIn my adventures in publishing and helping new authors get published, I’ve found ten common mistakes authors should avoid. Look through this list. How many do you do? How many have you nixed? Keep this by your manuscript (fiction or nonfiction) as a handy way to self-edit your work.
1. Negatives: The mind takes 48% longer to process a negation. Eliminating no, not, don’t, and can’t will clean up your writing.
Example: He didn’t know.
He was clueless.
Example: The sun didn’t shine.
The clouds covered the sun.
2. Repeated words: Often new writers will repeat words within paragraphs or subsequent pages. Be particularly aware of pet words (your own personal overused words). Every author will have different words, but a careful reading of your draft will turn them up. Some oft-overused words include: since, just, still, might, manage, began, started, really.
3. Adverb Adoration: Adverbs strengthen weak verbs. Why not write with strong verbs instead?
Example: She walked lazily down the path.
She ambled down the path.
Heidi wrote her sentences quickly. (Wrote is not a weak verb, but now that it’s modified, quickly weakens it.) Instead: When her hand touched the pen, it sped ink across the page in a blur. (See how you can transform a sentence from something mundane to something visual? How tweaking your verbs, making them stronger, helps you to show instead of tell?)
The dog gnawed the bone maliciously. (This sentence would be better off without the adverb.) Or instead: The dog attacked the bone like prey.
He hardly noticed the scar criss-crossing her cheek. (This isn’t too bad, but by eliminating the “hardly noticed,” you can make a more visual sentence.) Instead: He held her eyes, never once glancing at the scar criss-crossing her face. In that moment, she fell in love with him.
You will find a revolution in your writing when you kill your adverbs, I promise.
And yet, when you use adverbs, keep them near the verb: Instead of Take the garbage out. Take out the garbage.
4. Split Infinitives: No more “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” To go boldly is the correct usage.
5. Wimpy Voice: Be assertive when you write. Instead of “I’d like to thank you,” just thank the reader.
6. Misused Colons: Use after an independent clause to introduce a list.
Example: He toted several items to the curb: a rug, four kittens, his spouse, and an old racecar track.
7. Voicing Problems: Each character must have his/her own distinctive voice. They must not sound alike.
8. Lack of Details: Your writing will be richer if you stick to details rather than vagaries. Instead of: He ate lunch. He ate Copper River salmon with a dill reduction sauce.
9. Flabby Prose. We writers are in love with words, so much so that we tend to flaunt our use of them early in our careers. (I was guilty of this.) Strong nouns and strong verbs make a great impact. Adding extraneous adverbs and adjectives willy-nilly weakens the structure. Don’t try to fluff up your writing to impress people. Tell it like it is. Don’t believe me? Read The Kite Runner. Hosseini’s sentences are stark, full of detail, and have amazing emotive impact.
10. Same sentence structure over and over again. He had. He did. He saw. N-V. N-V. N-V. Spice it up a bit. Add a gerund or two. Start with a prepositional phrase. And vary sentence length. You don’t want staccato prose, nor do you want insanely long sentences that lose the reader.
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“Marketing” Basics & Fundamentals for Christian Authors & Publishers
December 21st, 2009 by J A Heinlein
With all of the changes, emerging technologies, and new things to learn in our publishing world and in communications media as a whole, it is important to always have the “basics” in mind.
Vince Lombardi – Basics of Football
There is a legendary “fundamentals” story that is often retold about Coach Lombardi’s approach to football and leading his players.
Vince Lombardi, one of the most successful coaches in the history of football, started every new season with a standard speech to veterans and the rookies alike. He would hold up a football and say, “This is a football!” He would roll it around in his hands and talk about the size and shape of the football, and the many ways that it could be handled on the football field including carrying, passing, kicking. He would then take the team out onto the football field and say, “This is a football field!” He would describe the measurements of the field, and the rules of the game. He did it every year – even after the Green Bay Packers a previously losing team became the NFL Champions and Super Bowl Winners. He is said to have even repeated the speech at half-time during a particularly tough game…
The “secret” to Vince Lombardi’s success was clearly that he always helped his players to focus on what was fundamental and basic to the game of football -and, to do those elementary things very, very well.
Marketing Basics
Most everyone has heard of the “Basics P’s- Practices of Marketing” – usually summarized by 3-5 “P’s” including:
Product, Price, Place(ment), Promotion, People
I encourage you to make these “P’s” a part of your regular “fundamentals of marketing” study and as part of every strategic plan.
Outlined below are what I believe to be the “4 Foundational P’s”- Practices for Christian Authors & Publishers.
As Coach Lombardi did with his players, these practices should be continually revisited and reviewed throughout the publishing process and for each new project.
Prayer
We need to start every project with a commitment of that project into God’s hands. And, then we must spend time in prayer thoughtfully pondering the “why’s and how’s” and asking for God’s direction.
“I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.” —John Wesley
Purpose
Prayer and thoughtful pondering also helps us to focus our objectives and goals. What are our own intentions. Are those intentions aligned with God’s purposes and His particular purposes for us personally? A clearly defined purpose creates great courage and resolve.
“What’s in your heart? … What disturbs you?” -Rick Warren, author Purpose Driven Life
“Success demands singleness of purpose.” –Vince Lombardi
Plan
A book project must always be approached as a business enterprise. A well developed strategic plan is critical to success. The plan is the purposed “vision” of the project.
“Good plans shape good decision. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.” -unknown
“Our goals can be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” -Stephen A. Brennan
Perform
Performance is where all the work gets done. It is about Implementation – Execution – Accomplishing intended objectives.
This part is where many unfortunately fall short. To take the words of James a bit out of context (Jas 2:20), “Faith without works is dead.” The author will always be the best “marketer” for their book, just as parents are the greatest champions for their children. The author must likewise be the champion for their work and a tireless marketer working in partnership with associates and in vigorously developing and expanding their author platform.
John Wesley famously said, “Pray like it depends on God, work like it depends on you.” It certainly applies to our work and callings in practical application.
“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.” – Vince Lombardi
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Covers that Caught a Cover Designer’s Eye
December 21st, 2009 by Nikki WallaceAs a designer, one thing I enjoy doing is perusing my local bookstore, taking note of new trends and simply enjoying the wide range of creativity displayed in cover design. There is much to be appreciated!
This week I thought I’d take a few minutes to mention 5 covers I recently noticed and quickly explain just why they caught my eye.
I should add that I have no idea who designed these covers (kudos to you if it’s you)!
Without further ado…and in random order…here goes:
The Wild Things
Another wonderfully creative cover. What could support a title like “The Wild Things” better than scrawled lettering and a background full of, well, “wild things”? The black silhouette hints at the character whose story will be told. Fun!
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
I love the clever use of imagery on this one. The close-up of a bicycle wheel hub not only supports the title well; the sharp lines and angles provide great visual interest. The vibrant gold background is the contrasts perfectly.
The Amish Gathering
I love the marriage of elegance and simplicity on this cover. The ornate title set against the background of an Amish farm makes for a beautifully striking contrast. The colors are soft, warm and lovely. Beautiful cover.
Collections of Nothing
Sometimes simplicity itself is striking. This cover is an example of that — it quickly caught my eye. I love the way the “nothingness” of the rectangles has a “somethingness” to it. I have no idea what this book is about, but my curiosity is piqued.
Forgotten God
This cover is blazing with creativity, and I love it. It’s a book about the Holy Spirit, aimed at the next generation, and the cover hits the nail right on the head. I love the dove that appears to be made out of pages from the book of Acts. I love the orange and yellow circle behind the dove that hints at fire. I love the way the relative starkness of the rest of the cover sets off the imagery even more. Great cover.
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13
December 13th, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot- Old school book reviews are dead? FastCompany thinks so: http://bit.ly/1Z0jGd #
- RT @KelliStandish: Fabulous advice for writers on @brandilyn 's blog today. Check it out! http://forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/ #
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13
December 13th, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot- Old school book reviews are dead? FastCompany thinks so: http://bit.ly/1Z0jGd #
- RT @KelliStandish: Fabulous advice for writers on @brandilyn 's blog today. Check it out! http://forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/ #
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Where Do I Sell My Books? How do I tell the world my message?
December 8th, 2009 by J A Heinlein
Is your Marketing Strategy: New & Improved…Tried & True… or Old & Tired…?
Recently, Christian Retailing featured an article on “Self-publishing”. It outlined new developments and statistics and included highlighting some “big brand name” publishers who have become involved in self-publishing. And, predictably, it quoted some quite overused and outdated arguments against. But, one quote that stood out to me was a quote from a respected industry agent (and friend) regarding sales and distribution,
“I think the chances of those books actually having a very effective distribution channel [into retail bookstores] are very slim.”– RG, Christian Retailing Dec 7, ‘09
First of all, I have to respond by saying, that I highly respect the very essential role of agents in the publishing process. But, that said, it must also be understood that good agents are good at selling books to publishers. But, even good agents don’t generally participate in the actual selling process into the “real marketplace”.
And, that statement also caused to me to reflect on an industry “trend shift” that is not readily perceived and often overlooked.
Books are sold in bookstores right? Well, about half of them are…
“52% of books are not sold in bookstores. They are merchandised [directly] via mail order, online, in discount or warehouse stores, through book clubs, in nontraditional retail outlets, etc.” “The worldwide book market is almost $90 billion, and every year [more than] half of those sales are made in non-bookstore markets such as museums, schools, libraries, warehouse clubs, catalogs, book clubs, book fairs, and to corporations, among many other markets.” – http://BookStatistics.com, Para Publishing – http://bit.ly/14nOAF
Bookstores are now “a sales channel” and, are now not “the only channel” for book sales. And, selling books to the “traditional retail channels” is likely not the most profitable way to sell books – especially for a smaller publisher or new authors. For most, the required “sales hoops” that must be jumped through are simply insurmountable. This includes high discounts, expensive marketing and merchandising programs, and a high percentage of returns. And, all of that is done for a very short “selling window” – usually 3-6 months.
Another whole discussion involves the very definition of “what is a published book?”–it’s many forms and formats that are now available–and the related new emerging sales channels.
So where/how do I sell my books?
The most basic and fundamental objective of marketing is connecting with the right audience–that is introducing a product, solution, or service to those that are most likely to benefit.
Developing a productive author platform that engages and develops relationship with the intended audience is essential.
The good news is that there are now many ways to connect to your best audience – that is to directly access your intended niche market - and common interest affinity groups.
The Online Trend: Building an “Author Brand” with Social Media Marketing
Develop a Social Media/ “Web 2.0″ strategy for building & expanding author platform on established associations, identity, and audience.
- Develop integration process for EVERYTHING – create a sales “funnel”
- Drive target audience to a specific direction/destination – author website and ecommerce page(s).
- Use all web 2.0/social media priority “standards”: Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Youtube, LinkedIn, and bookmarking sites such as Digg.
Purpose Objective: build a following – a “Tribe”
“A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It’s our nature.” “Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. – Seth Godin, Tribes
“If you are an author, your tribe members are your readers—or, at least, that’s potentially true. The only question is whether or not you will become the tribe’s leader and equip them to communicate with you and with one another.” – Michael Hyatt, CEO-Thomas Nelson
Recommended reading:
Beyond the Bookstore: How to Sell More Books Profitably to Non-Bookstore Markets (9781594290022): Brian Jud
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us (9781591842330): Seth Godin
Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust (9780470743089): Chris Brogan, Julien Smith
Related Links
- Are you a trust agent? Do you need to be? (myventurepad.com)
- The Power of Tribes on Blog Talk Radio (theimuniversity.com)
- Julien Smith – Social Capital and the New Tribe (andreavascellari.com)
- Reach Matters – Even In Social Media (socialmediatoday.com)
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Q&A with Brett Glover, author of Grace V Self–Esteem
December 8th, 2009 by Nick Ciske
Q 1. Why did you write Grace V Self-Esteem?
A 1. Firstly, let me say I am the last person who would write a book. I had no ambition to write and in fact I had nothing to write about until I had an encounter with God. (You can watch it on in2grace.com) I was called to write but had to wait on God for the message. In the months afterwards I travelled up and down the east Coast of Australia on business. I would pray about the call to write. Then as I travelled, a word would come to mind then a parable expanded from that one word. I wrote down the parable. The experience happened over and over again. So I collected the parables and found that each parable was interconnected and all of them showed me a big picture. I studied the parables, looking at the Bible, social trends and my personal life experiences.
Q2. Who is the book written for?
A 2. The book is for everyone but especially for the Western World. I would say it is extremely important for Pastors, Teachers and Counselors and Doctors to read. Anyone interested in modern life and society.
Q 3. Tell us some more about the parables?
A 3. As I have mentioned God called me to write, but I had no idea what he wanted me to say! I have always liked stories, especially as a kid. Then as a young adult I came to faith, I liked Jesus’ parables. So it was probably natural for me. But I never thought a parable would come through me! I was just driving along the Aussie countryside either early in the morning or late at night. One key word would enter my mind and before I knew it a parable came to life. Even now I look at those parables and learn something new. They are incredibly simple on one level but incredibly deep on another level. They speak to the heart. The meaning is easy to grasp yet the spiritual truths go deep. I am just an ordinary guy nothing special but these parables are special! I am humbled they were given to me.
Q 4. Grace V Self-Esteem is an interesting title, does the title suggests there is a struggle or battle between the two?
A 4. Yes, there is a spiritual struggle between the Grace of God and modern Self-esteem teaching. Most people these days think that high self esteem creates happy, successful and self actualized citizens. Most Psychologist, Counselors and Teachers and even some Preachers have encouraged the pursuit of high self-esteem as a desired goal. However, the grace of God affirms everyone as valuable. The cross is God’s love in action for everyone. In chapter 5 you can see the spiritual struggle; it shows how the Self-esteem teaching in practice creates arrogant and self serving personalities. While grace esteems and humbles us allowing us to love God, and others.
Q 5. What is the core message of your book?
A 5. The core message of the book is that self-esteem teaching is a counterfeit of grace. Both grace and self esteem gives us a sense of value. Grace is a divine attitude found in the generosity of God. That all of life is an unmerited grace gift and Jesus death on the cross is the greatest display of love declaring our value. While self –esteem in practice has become praise hunger and praise hunting in self worship.
Q 6. How did the modern praise game start?
A 6. The emphasis is upon modern! The desire for praise and status has been with us since Adam was a boy but there has been some major social changes that forces us in the West to hunger and hunt for praise. I call this the praise game. Around the mid 1950’s teachers adopt positive reinforcement methods in teaching or in other words using praise to motive children to learn and achieve. Unfortunately praise was used to socialize children, conditioning children to hunger for praise and to seek praise in the class room. While it started in the class room it grew out of control. The prize of the game is to win praise to assert one’s own personal value. You can read about this in Grace V Self Esteem Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.
Q 7. You mentioned that self-esteem is a modern invention?
A 7. Yes absolutely modern. Around the mid 1950’s the teaching profession introduced the practice of positive reinforcement into the school system, first in the US then in other countries. It was seem as a great advancement for educating children. Young children learned that praise was good as they sat and listened to the teacher. Then teachers would use praise to motivate and before long competitive praise entered the class room. Praise also became addictive as it created a pleasure praise biological response. Unfortunately hunting praise has become the main heart motivation for our generation. You can read more in Chapter 1 and 2.
Q 8. How wide spread is the praise game?
A 8. The praise game has gone global or at least the effect of it has! Teachers in the western world have adopted the use of praise as a teaching method starting in the US then to England, Canada, Australia and many other countries. On one level this teaching method worked brilliantly but it ignored the spiritual and social impacts on culture.
Q 9. Is the praise game about self-worship?
A9. Yes absolutely, to worship is a strong instinct just like eating, drinking and reproduction. Everyone is given the ability by God to worship or praise him. The gift allows us to love God but unfortunately when we use praise to gain our own sense of worth we worship ourselves. When we do this we disregard the second of the Ten Commandments. As a consequence we suffer the horrid side effects. I have traced the trail of human suffering from Chapter 1 to Chapter 14.
Q 10. What was Jesus’ attitude to praise hunting?
A10. In the gospels Jesus’ displays a distain for hunting praise. It’s without doubt his main criticism of the leaders of Israel; he called it hypocrisy, speaking out against their hunger for praise and status. This attitude allowed the leaders of Israel to oppose Jesus’ ministry and his teachings about the grace of God. You can read about this in Grace V Self Esteem Chapter 7 & 8
Q 11. What are the effects of the praise game on us?
A 11. Let me just say self worship is false worship and idolatry which creates a wide range of horrible side effects; it creates and promotes violence, depression, greed, abuse of the poor and also leads to hatred towards God. The praise game creates this! In Chapter 2 you can see how the praise game makes us abusive and violent. Chapter 6 shows how it creates depression; Chapter 9 shows how praise hunting creates abusive relationship patterns. Chapter 10 shows how praise distorts our sexuality and causes sexual crime, abuse and suffering. Then in Chapter 11 it shows how the hunt for praise abuses the poor and exploits the earth.
Q 12. Grace v Self-esteem looks at how everything is interconnected?
A 12. Yes everything is interconnected; small seemly harmless activities form part of the bigger picture. On the website The Big Picture page you can see how everything is joined together, for either our blessing or cursing it’s like one big social and spiritual map. The way of grace leads to paradise the other to the spiritual garbage dump. You can read more about the spiritual garbage dump in Chapter 13
Q 13. What does Jesus teach about grace?
A 13. If there was one word to describe Jesus life, teaching and mission it would be grace. No other word best described the attitude and lifestyle of Jesus. By this I mean that everything comes from a generous loving God, and we are all valued by grace, the goodness of God. Jesus claimed to be God’s son and freely offered his life to pay for our sins. You can read about this in Grace V Self Esteem Chapter 4 and Chapter 8
Q 14. When will the book be released?
A 14: It is available for sale in the US, Canada and Mexico now. In Australia–1st of February 2010. The UK–March/April 2010.
Q 15. How does the praise game make us depressed and even suicidal?
A 15: Every kid at school knows it’s better to be cool than not cool, these words describe the praise game. As children we are taught to hunger and hunt for praise, unfortunately some kids are deprived, conditioned to hunger for praise, taught to seek it to achieve esteem. They will feel insignificant or in some cases depressed. Depression is the main characteristic symptom for suicide. You can read more about how the praise game creates depression and leads to suicide in Chapter 6.
Q 16. How does the praise game make us mistreat and abuse others?
A 16: The praise game makes us self focused and self absorbed but on a deep psychological and spiritual level it makes us more concerned with the outer appearance or our self image. This creates socially acceptable “show case images” of ourselves. It lets us hide any negatives behind the image. Hiding sin and nasty attitudes rather than correcting them, they tend to grow! Jesus criticized the Pharisees for cleaning the outside of the cup or dish and leaving the inside unclean. When the image is challenged aggression and resentment will surface.
Q 17: How does the praise game affect our sexuality?
A 17: In Chapter 10 you will learn how the hunger for praise has distorted our biology and makes us hunger for praise in sexual attractiveness. The chapter highlights the sad outcome of sex without love, which keeps us fixated on the mirror and leads many to seek meaning in sexual desirability.
Q 18 Tell us a little about your interests?
A 18: I am married to Connie and have two teenage children Elijah 19 and Hannah 16. I love exploring the Ocean: fishing, diving, sailing, walking the dog along the beach or just enjoying the waves. You might say when I am around the ocean I feel close to God. I can’t help but praise him. I am sure the Ocean is God’s entertainment theme park. One of my all time best worship experiences occurred while scuba diving with Grey Nurse sharks, fifty or so eagle rays and a giant Queensland grouper big enough to eat you whole. I felt so close to God. I just kept on praising him for his full on awesomeness!
Q 19: How would you describe your ministry?
A 19: I feel like an ordinary guy carrying and extraordinary message. As I have said I felt called by God to write and the parables just blew my mind. I left full time ministry some years ago. I had once served as a pastor, a manager of a Baptist residential Youth and Family therapy program. But when called was selling fishing tackle, to my surprise God wanted me to write, go figure! So I stepped out in faith to start In2grace. This extraordinary revelation about grace has rocked my world! I have a prophetic responsibility to spread the word and show everyone what stops the grace of God coming alive in people’s lives and society as a whole. This message holds the key to revival. So I feel compelled to wake the sleeping members of God’s family.
Q20: what is your educational qualification?
A 20:
- A Bachelor Degree from the Sydney College of Divinity, a BTh, 1995
- Diploma in Theology – Morling College – Baptist 1987
- A Social Welfare Work Certification- Southern Sydney Institute,TAFE (3 years Part time) 1985
- One year Family Therapy Training Programme- Eastwood Family Therapy Centre, Epping 1990
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-06
December 6th, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot- Indigo is asking publishers to report whether or not their books are published on recycled/sustainably managed paper: http://bit.ly/8haBrH #
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Essential characteristic of the really great novelist: a Christ-like, all-embracing compassion.
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