Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Advice: Writer to Writer
July 13th, 2010 by Mary DeMuthIn preparing to teach a major track at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in September of 2006 about the spiritual life of the writer, I asked fellow members of ACFW what one piece of advice they’d like to pass on to other writers. Below is a compilation of some of their responses. I hope they encourage and cheerlead you as much as they did me:
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I would say “Don’t lose your joy.”
Authors write because God gives us these beautiful stories to tell, the heart to read and the pleasure of words. When we remember our joy, the edit and rewrite process is alright. But when we forget the joy, the other work becomes a deep bog we get stuck in. The author and finisher of our faith is also the author and finisher or our stories. We need to trust Him completely. He will guide our words and our finished products to the place He wants them to go. And in that is joy. So . . . don’t lose your joy.
Chandra Lynn Smith
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The two qualities that have become most vital in serving God on the writing journey have been my “AA” of writing (and alcohol is not involved.)
Availability and Authenticity.
Availability means I show up. I make the time and plant myself in the chair and let God know I’m there for Him to use IF He choses to. I ask Him what KIND of writing He wants me to do, what stories He wants told. It sounds sort of basic, but it’s been a difficult battle, because walking through that door into my work space in the morning, I have to push through a
barrier of self-doubt, anxiety, conflicting priorities, anxiety, and discouragement. I hate that I don’t have something better to bring Him to work with – which tempts me to not show up. But instead I bring Him what I have.
For me Authenticity means that I don’t write from a place of sage-like wisdom and cleverness with all the right answers to every dilemma. I write from my broken places, in hopes that as I face my hard questions and reveal my places of failure, others can feel God’s grace.
God’s grace leaks out of our broken places into the lives of others, and so when I’d rather pretend I didn’t have those cracks and chips – instead I let my questions and scars breathe life to my characters. I raise questions I don’t have easy answers for – I don’t write from my strengths, or things I have all figured out. I write about the things I don’t understand – trusting
that God can whisper answers through the stories.
Sharon Hinck
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Be true to yourself and who God made you to be. Never give up!
Michelle Sutton (pen name)
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Continuing to grow spiritually and emotionally is so important. There is so much the Lord wants to do in each one of our hearts and lives! And the more we grow, the more beauty and depth we will see in our writing.
I recently attended a New Life Ministries conference with two tracks – Healing is a Choice and Lose it For Life. The teaching was outstanding, and the insights brilliant. This workshop puts hands and feet on so many great principles from the Word. You also have small group sessions with a counselor. My group of eight women became dear friends over the course of the weekend as we shared the issues in our hearts and worked through many of them together. That was very powerful.
Understanding myself more and how to apply the principles I learned this weekend is going to help my writing. It will give me new insight into my characters and their needs and issues, and also insight and wisdom that God offers to work through these problems.
Carrie Turansky
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When the snake of rejection slithers to spread its venom of discouragement, I cringe. That familiar and unwanted sensation surges through me. And nauseous, I splash in the pool of self-pity, turning moist eyes to other writers who seem to glow at their heap of publications teetering on their writer’s portfolio.
Doubt about my skill or about my misunderstanding God’s calling also adds gloom to my disposition. Excuses flutter about-my job commitment robs needed writing time, no opportunities to attend writer’s conferences, lack of technical knowledge for marketing on line, and even my blindness piled atop the mound of reasons.
And why not, I might as well add the hint of envy. Yes, with a green glow to my countenance, I shamefully admit, the nose-wrinkling attitude toward other writers’ success. And to add to the mess, I found unhealthy comfort in thinking my blindness kept me from taking that next step toward author’s glory.
Then I read this:
“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.”
(1 Corinthians 3:7)
I breathed relief Knowing only God would be the one to make my writing career grow. So, I adopted the triple A insurance method:
A-Ask myself what would God want me to do next.
A-Assert my belief God will fulfill His promise in Jeremiah 39:11.
A- Accept the challenge to exert diligence in all I do.
The “Three A” method worked. Now, enthusiasm replaces envy. Renewed determination fuels me beyond rejections. And greater confidence in God’s promise propels me forward. I found the three “A” system is the best insurance protection against discouragement. So, with policy in place, I plunge ahead cheering other writers’ success, and choosing to revel in gratitude, I look up to God, who, in His timing, opens another door for me.
Janet Perez Eckles
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I would say write YOUR truth, even if it’s ugly. The truth resonates. Maybe that’s only for your eyes, but writing it down will help you work through it one way or the other.
Kristin Billerbeck
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The best advice I can give to writers is to reiterate what you said last year. You said something like:
“If you truly believe that God is omnipotent, then you won’t worry about your writing. You will believe that whatever happens, God has your best interest in mind.”
That was so freeing to me. I’ve never had much of a problem with waiting. I’ve waited as long as 2 years once before getting a rejection letter, but so many people on the ACFW will say things like, “It’s been so long, maybe God doesn’t want me to write.” Instead of trusting God, they are ready to give up.
Jeanne Marie Leach
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I read somewhere to put your best stuff in your manuscript – your best lines, your favorite story, your most interesting character trait – don’t hoard it to yourself. As I wrote my first book, a cozy mystery called A VASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY, I struggled with this advice. After all, I might need some of these great ideas for the next book! I hoped there would be a sequel and maybe another and…well, I couldn’t just give it all away in the first book! What if I needed it later?
Each time I would consider holding back, using something else instead, I felt a prodding within. It seemed like the Lord was saying, “Go for it! It’s a great line. Use it! You can trust Me…I’ll give you more when you need it.”
Really? Well, okay. I would use it…but almost grudgingly. I worried I was wasting it all on the first book. Then another thought would supplant that one and I’d think, There will be NO first book if it isn’t interesting enough, compelling enough, fun enough – good enough. And no
second book either. I had to take the chance and trust the Lord in this.
Yet Who better to trust than the Author of Life Himself? Where else would I find such creativity than from the One who dotted the backs of ladybugs? He was REALLY into detail! And so I chose to trust Him and gave my manuscript everything I had. Poured in all my best “stuff” and He was, as always, faithful to the call He gave me.
So…give it all away. There’s plenty more where that came from!
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Great question. My advice would be to not get your identity in what you do, but in who you are before God. God told Abraham in Gen 15:1, I am your exceeding great reward.
We must remember in this solitary, introspective business to carry the reward of Jesus within our heart and mind. He is all we need. But to do that, we have to hang out with Him, get to know Him.
I’d also advise being careful about taking the business of writing too far toward ministry ideals and terms. We all minister through our work. But if we consider writing “our ministry” it is going to make the hard times and rejections so much harder – as if God is not anointing our ministry.
Writing is a job. It’s a business. Yet one in which we can be very effective ministerially. (is that a word.) 
So, act professional. Treat writing as a job, a business, yet pray for God to use you to touch the
lives of others.
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Consider critiques, teaching, mentoring and correction gifts.
For a person to be truly brutally honest, they must be vulnerable. If someone tells me that something I’ve written needs work, or stinks, or is not up to my potential, then they are risking my wrath.
Writing is so personal, and the goal should always be clarity. If we don’t want to be understood, why would we write? So for someone to invest vulnerability into my work is a huge gift.
Now remind me I said this the next time I face rejection or correction. : ).
Kelly Klepfer
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I just finished a weekend of speaking at a book festival and I’m always surprised by the folks who are thinking they might like to try their hands at writing. I always make a point of saying that if one is not compelled to write, then writing is cruel and unusual punishment, and I quote Sidney Sheldon (certainly not my favorite writer) who was asked by a reporter what he would be if he was not a best-selling published author. He replied, “An obscure, unsuccessful author.” I think it takes that kind of dedication/compulsion to truly write–and certainly to publish routinely. I am so compelled to write that I often write out my prayers!
The other “essential” is discipline, and I often speak about inspiration versus discipline and/organization . It takes both. One alone will not provide a successful career as a published author. I believe that discipline and compulsion should go hand-in-hand. If you’re compelled to write, you might as well be disciplined about it!
None of this may be what you are looking for, but if so, feel free to use it.
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My advice would be to find your passion and write to it, regardless of what’s popular or selling at the time. I believe we all know what our passion is but we don’t always follow it, and thus we lose out on some amazing rewards God has for us. When we write to whatever it is that makes
our hearts ache and our eyes well with tears, we discover more about ourselves, our world, and our God.
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If I could pass on a snippet of advice, this would be it. I am particularly mindful of this since last week a very frustrated undiscovered writer unloaded on a blog for writers, lashing out against a post by a gifted and gentle novelist that pretty much said getting published and staying published ain’t the end of the rainbow.
I could sense how utterly at the end of his or her rope this writer was. Step aside, the writer commanded in response, and let us who dream of being where you are take your place. I know the sorry place where this unfounded, irrational response came from. Anyone who is published probably knows it, too.
It’s that place where you think that getting published is all you want, all you’ll ever want, and why, O God, can’t it just happen? The thing is, I found out getting published is a heady step on a ladder of desires that begins with getting published, not ends there. After you’re published all you want is for your books to sell. All you want is to have the kind of publicity and marketing support So-and-So gets for her books. All you want is to be on CBD’s Top Ten. All you want is a Gold Medallion. All you want is a Christy nomination. All you want is film-makers chasing after the rights to make your story a screenplay. All you want are steady sales figures and that next contract. All you want is to go into a bookstore and have the owner say, “It’s you!” instead of “And who are you?”
Longing doesn’t end with getting published. It begins. It’s a lovely beginning but it’s an unbelievable climb to contentment, a steep ascent that can suck the joy out of your life quicker and more steadily than waiting for a contract ever did. I am not saying it’s not worth it, I’m saying it’s hard work. All the effort you put into waiting and proposing and waiting and pitching and waiting and praying and attending conferences and waiting, you will put into maintaining your joy, integrity and contentment once you’re published.
There is no natural plateau. You make your own place of rest. It doesn’t happen on its own and it doesn’t happen when you get published. It can be a truly wonderful place of rest, but you have to make it – as surely as you wrote the book that you so earnestly dreamed of seeing in print. They are both wonderful endeavors, they will both tax you to your core. And in the end, we have to find our contentment in who we are in Christ and not what we do.
Susan Meissner
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Jesus successfully loved His people and cared for His disciples as He walked among them. But He didn’t step fully into His God-ordained role until two breathless moments–Gethsemane and Calvary. Surrendering to His Father’s perfect will in the Garden, knowing what it would cost Him. And spilling His blood on the ground, dying to give us life. Many people successfully write words. But a writer for God doesn’t step into his or her God-ordained fulfillment until two breathless moments–surrendering our writing to the Lord’s perfect will, knowing what it will cost us. And spilling the blood of our insecurities and vulnerabilities on the pages of our work, dying so others might find life. Mary, these are the thoughts the Lord has impressed on my own heart today as I’m having a Gethsemane afternoon.
4 Keys to Using Humor in Autobiography
May 11th, 2010 by Paul HawleyThe BelieversPress blog features Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Click the link in the sidebar to submit it!
Charles Humphreys asked
How much does humor come into play in writing a nonfiction semi-autobiography?
a) Be natural. Humor comes into play exactly to the extent that it’s natural to the writer. If it’s forced or contrived or a matter of elaborate metaphors or other cerebral explorations, you probably need to save the moment for some other passage.
b) Start with yourself. Humor is a dangerous commodity, though, because it always relies, no matter how slightly, on someone’s misfortune or foolishness. The safest avenue is to be funny at one’s own expense (let the mockery or gentle amusement be self-directed).
c) Aim at culture. However, there is every reason to direct all kinds of humorous observations in all directions. The culture of any time and place is a fit subject for lampooning and has ridiculous elements that cause conundrums and pratfalls. In fact, the most sacrosanct elements of (one’s own) culture may be the most fertile ground. If the observations or events are grounded in experience, so much the better (“Sorry you’re offended, but this is how it happened to me, and nobody should have to go through that”).
d) Tread lightly. As for limits, I would suggest only protecting the feelings of those you love and respect most, especially if they are advanced in years. This means only with extreme caution should you make fun of those most dear to your eldest elders and best-loved beloveds — to say nothing of sparing those figures themselves, or treating them with utmost gentleness. Unless, of course, you have cleared your intentions with them before the writing sees print and public distribution.
Humor does not have to amount to a joke every other line or knee-slappers twice per page. It can come up unexpectedly as a twist at the end of an anecdote, which will increase the emphasis and probably make it even funnier. Perhaps the best safeguard is a trusted friend or colleague who agrees to read critically and can give you unvarnished reactions to your writing to keep you on the strai(gh)t and narrow.
Write Nekkid
May 6th, 2010 by Mary DeMuthI’m reading one of those stark books (like Kite Runner) where the author writes pretty darned nekkid. What I mean by that is spare, harsh, in-your-face prose, the kind that evokes emotion and curiosity. The book? A recommendation by Mark Bertrand called The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Hear some of his prose:
“For the most part they carried themselves with poise, a kind of dignity. Now and then, however, there were times of panic, when they squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn’t, when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said Dear Jesus and flopped around on the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and sobbed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and make stupid promises to themselves and to God and to their mothers and fathers, hoping not to die.” (p. 19).
Beautiful, ain’t it?
When I first started writing, I resembled young Anne of Green Gables (which my young daughter mispronounced and called Anne with Green Bagels). Full of pomp and circumstance, my writing flowered its way through sentences and paragraphs. Adjectives and adverbs were my trusted friends. But worse than that was a weird pompousness that came through, like I was touting my English major, thank you very much. It reminded me of that poetry you read and go “huh?” afterward. Great, effusive words strung together that had very little meaning.
I balked at editorial correction too, thinking myself high and mighty, a wielder of words.
But, as the years wore on, I realized great writing isn’t the stuff of prettification. It’s not full of bright lipstick and rouge. It’s natural, stark, raw. I started concocting sentences that evoked emotion, that kept rich in its description of place, but spare in its contrivance of human emotion.
Ew. Now I just read that last paragraph and it sounds a bit hoity toity. Maybe I’ll always have Anne and her green New York rolls lurking inside.
Even so, I want to write nekkid. To grab my reader and thrust her into the lives of my characters. I want my prose to serve the story, not detract from it. I think it’s working. To prove it, I’ll paste two snippets, one from my first novel (not published) and another from a newer novel (not published). See if you can tell the difference:
Sample one:
When Augusta finished washing the last jelly jar, the sun burst through the mist, and the lake water danced as it did every time the fog dissipated. To call its lifting a miracle might be an exaggeration, but she called it that anyway. Sometimes the house stayed shrouded until suppertime, other days it evaporated all at once. Sometimes it dissipated in tendrils, wild and inconsistent, leaving the valley resembling Grandma Ellsworth’s silvered hair. Today the retreating curtain of fog revealed the fields beyond the lake, their softness in stark contrast to the lake’s prismatic dance.
Sample two:
“We can go up,” he said. “Let’s take the stairs.”
“Why not the elevator?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“Refresh my memory.”
“We kissed there once . . . in our pajamas.”
My memories hung on a broken charm bracelet. Some charms suffered from inefficient clasps, dropping along the streets of life, never to be returned. Some broke apart, like the tiny hind leg of a horse that’d never trot again. Some blackened thanks to time’s tarnish. Yet others remained pristine, happy silver clasped securely to the chain. This memory was like none of those. This was a forgotten charm, one so crammed in between broken and happy charms that I’d forgotten it. Rediscovered, its brilliance startled me.
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How about you? Can you see transformation in your writing? Are you moving from flowery to nekkid? Or the other way? As you’ve matured, how has your prose altered? Are your stories simpler or more complex? I’m curious.
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You can find Mary here, here and here.
Becoming a Writer
April 27th, 2010 by Andrew MackayI’m always interested to read how people “became” writers. The journey seems to take a different form for everyone, and there is always something to be learned.
This weekend, Jon Acuff at StuffChristiansLike (and author of the recent Stuff Christians Like from Zondervan) posted about how he learned to chase his dream and became a writer. Here’s what Jon had to say:
It is not dramatic. It is not magical. It is pretty simple. Here it is:
I decided to write.
That’s it. That’s all I did. When people ask me for the secret of getting a book published or growing a blog, that’s it. I write. More than that though, I decided to write.
Here’s what I mean. Most people have a love or an activity or something in their heart that makes them feel alive and lightheaded. It’s that thing you can do for hours without thinking about food or friends or anything. Time speeds across your head and hands like a bullet train. But there’s a problem.
Most people decide whether or not to pursue their thing every day. They sit down at the computer or the easel and have a discussion with themselves, “Should I do my thing today? Do I feel like it? Is there anything inside me right now that wants to? Is this the right moment? Are there other things I need to do?” And so they argue. Most times, maybe 90% of the time, what Steven Pressfield calls “resistance,” wins. You give up. You never start. You put it off for one more day. You don’t do your thing.
Read the whole post — it’s well worth it!
How did you become a writer?
An agent answers: What makes a great nonfiction book?
April 22nd, 2010 by Jenni BurkeThe BelieversPress blog features Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Click the link in the sidebar to submit it!
You asked:
“What makes a great nonfiction book?”
“What makes a great nonfiction book?” is always a loaded question. Having worked in editorial at a major Christian publishing house and now as a literary agent and consultant, I believe this is a crucial question for authors to ask. Entire books have been written about this subject (from Zinsser’s classic, On Writing Well, to the slew of newer titles available at http://amzn.to/d80dyn).
As an agent, here are the Top Five Ingredients I’m looking for in a nonfiction book from prospective clients:
- Good writing. Proper spelling and grammar are only the beginning. Writers of nonfiction should make their content engaging and enriching. The structure should be well organized and the tone appropriate for the subject matter. Obviously, voice and style this will vary widely between a memoir and a how-to book; but whatever your focus, quality is a non-negotiable.
- Credibility. The author should be qualified to write on this subject. How has this author earned the right to be read? I once found a blog post via Google claiming “I’ve found the secret key to increasing your blog traffic”, and yet the poster had only 37 followers…his promise didn’t seem to be working.
- Uniqueness. How is your book different from the dozens of other books that may have already been published on this subject? It may be true that there is nothing new under the sun, but even if you’re drawing upon “old” concepts, they should be presented in a fresh, relevant way.
- Platform. I know that aspiring authors without a platform are tired of hearing that they need a platform, but really this boils down to access to audience. The beautiful thing is that, with Web 2.0 and the social media revolution, anyone can build a platform. Think specifically about who your readers are (see my earlier post on Target Market) and think creatively about how you will reach them.
- Je ne sais quoi. Every great book contains a “something special” that cannot be put in a box. Each of the above four ingredients can be developed by almost anyone willing to put in the effort. So, I hope that future authors reading this post will be encouraged and challenged to develop themselves accordingly. But keep in mind that no matter how good your writing, credibility, uniqueness, and platform…your book will resonate with some people and it just won’t with others.
Question: which of these Top Five Ingredients do you find most challenging, and which come easiest to you?
Backstory: ask the right question!
April 21st, 2010 by Jeff GerkeThe BelieversPress blog features Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Click the link in the sidebar to submit it!
You asked:
I feel the urge to give a lot of backstory in the early chapters of my book. How can I keep readers interested as I fill them in on key details?
You’re asking the wrong question. This is like asking, “How can I keep people awake while I bore them?” The answer isn’t to distract them from the boring bits; the answer is to not bore them in the first place. The right question is, “How can I get my story moving without ever stopping the story to dump information on my reader?”
In polite conversation, we fill everyone in on the details. We want the listeners to not be confused when we mention certain subjects. We want them to understand the context and background in order to facilitate efficient communication. But in fiction, the rules are different. Strong fiction is less like a good teacher and more like a fascinating conversation you’ve come in on halfway through.
Books that start out with backstory (or any kind of “telling”) are like a boring lecturer giving a long, tedious lecture. The reader is leaning back in her chair, trying to stay awake while the author insists on telling her about things she doesn’t yet care about. Books that begin with showing, in which the reader finds clues and begins piecing together what’s happening and the reasons behind it, cause her to lean forward and engage. Which effect would you rather have on your reader?
Imagine a movie that started with 15 minutes of black screen while the narrator filled the audience in on the history of the characters and story world. No one would stand for it. Yet that’s what novelists do to their readers when they begin with backstory. Or imagine a movie that begins with action but then goes to black for several minutes at a time to let the narrator explain everything. The audience would shout, “Get on with the story!” and then march out and demand their money back. Don’t treat your reader that way. Get on with the story.
The irony of backstory is that, when you remove it, the reader “catches” enough information to understand the story anyway. When the author relaxes, having felt confident that she’s explained everything, she begins showing the story. Remove the obligatory explanation stuff and the showing that remains will be sufficient. You don’t need telling.
For a great example of showing without explanation, watch the first 30 minutes of WALL-E. With almost no words spoken–and without any boring information dumps–you understand a lot of what’s happened. But the filmmakers didn’t stop the narrative to explain anything.
Go, thou, and do likewise.
The Prayer and Paradox Marketing Strategy
April 13th, 2010 by Mary DeMuth I included this picture as perspective, to remind myself about this crazy beautiful world we live in, to ground myself in people, not products.
A while back, I asked via Twitter and Facebook this question:
How do you balance blessing the Kingdom of God with marketing your wares? Is there such a thing?
Here are the responses:
- A constant and careful balancing act.
- The question implies you can’t do both at the same time; I’d check that
assumption. It’s more of a healthy tension than opposite objectives. - That’s one thing I get nervous about. Whew.
- I keep asking and asking myself (and praying)…am I promoting the Lord
or me?…am I seeking glory or giving it to Him? …Am I marketing
myself or temporal stuff or seeking to draw all men to Him. If He’s not
in it…I don’t want it.
It’s a tension/balancing act authors face. I don’t know if I’ve balanced well (maybe I’ve camped more in the tension camp. My shoulders would say so.)
Marketing reminds me of a painful analogy my husband and I heard when we were raising support to be church planters in France. It went something like this: “Picture a long gravel driveway and you at the beginning of it. To raise support, your job is to simply (ha!) turn over every piece of gravel as you make your way to the house. There will be five rocks with a red X on the back. Find those, and you’ve found your support.”
But here’s the ironic thing. We started with that sort of “turn over every rock” strategy. What did it get us? Lots of fatigue, frustration, and frayed nerves. What did work? Prayer and paradox. Prayer because we’d get to the end of our support raising ro
pes and give up, asking God again for direction. He’d give it. We’d follow it. And often more support would come through His counterintuitive plan. Paradox because it was NEVER how we would think it would go. We’d ask wealthy folks to join us financially, and they wouldn’t. We’d ask poor seminary students who gladly sacrificed what little they had to help us gt to France.
How does this relate to marketing?
Perhaps our strategy should be Prayer and Paradox. And in that, we’ll kill two birds (marketing our books, advancing the kingdom of God) with one stone (trusting and obeying).
Prayer:
- Truly commit your marketing adventures to prayer. Ask God to direct your steps. To guide your blogging. To smile upon your facebook status.
- Pray for others in the industry. It’s been a rough year.
- Pray God would bless your competition.
- Pray that the Lord would specifically show you which social media (if any) is right for you. Some folks shouldn’t twitter. Some shouldn’t blog. Don’t give into the temptation to do everything. Seek Him first.
- Seek the Lord’s heart for your books in the first place. Ask about ways you can bless folks with your words.
- Before embarking on a new initiative, ask God to check your motives, to sift your heart.
- Seek God and HIs kingdomas you think about marketing. How can you combine promoting your book with highlighting the plight of the world? How can your book selling somehow positively impact someone in need? (Giving away books to prisoners may help word of mouth, but also help folks who need Jesus-y words, for example.)
Paradox:
- Understand that your great plans might come to naught–by God’s design. Not to frustrate you per se, but to redirect you. I once sent hundreds of newsletters highlighting my speaking ministry. It cost a lot of time and money. I received this many requests to speak: ZERO. What did I learn? For me (and it’s unique to eachperson), I was to rely on the Lord to bring the engagements. And how did He do that? Exclusively through relationship and word of mouth.
- Perhaps the scope of your book or speaking topic is smaller but deeper than you expected. I spoke on national radio on a well-known program about Building the Christian Family You Never Had. The book has had moderate sales. But when I shared my story of abuse, I received an email from a mom who had adopted a sibling group. All the girls had been sexually abused. They listened to my story. The youngest said to her eldest sister, “Why did that lady (me) have to go through all that terrible stuff?” The eldest answered, “I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s so she could get through it and then help girls like us.” Those comments changed my life. If I wrote that book for those girls, it was worth it.
- I remember sending my novels to celebrities. What came out of it? A big, fat nothing. Like a celebrity even has time to read my book! But the best things have happened marketing wise when I’ve sent my books to folks without a big name. I’ve met some pretty cool champions of my work who’ve sold way more copies than Angelina Jolie.
I doubt I have it all figured out. Do any of us? (And if you do, feel free to leave a comment and let us know! ) But I do know I am much more relaxed and peaceful when I pray and I welcome/invite paradox into my marketing efforts.
Find me here:
http://www.marydemuth.com
http://www.twitter.com/mdemuth
http://www.thewritingspa.com
http://blog.myfamilysecrets.org
How to get local media coverage
April 8th, 2010 by Susan BrillThe BelieversPress blog features Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Click the link in the sidebar to submit it!
You asked:
“I really feel like my book could benefit from some local media coverage — what can I do to get on my local paper’s editor’s good side?”
Susan Brill, writing and marketing expert, replied:
Great question! Editors are always in a crunch, on a deadline, and looking for something fresh. They’re often also short on funds to pay freelancers to cover local news. Instead of asking for their help – offer yours! Avail yourself as a resource, and be easy to work with. This will put your name and the name of your book in the public eye, and establish relationship and credibility with the editors. Here are a few ways to avail yourself:
- Offer to write an article. Let the editor know the topic of your book and your area of expertise. Be sure to include the title of your book in your byline or in a short biographical sentence at the end of the article.
- Offer to run an excerpt from your book in the paper – for free. (Don’t worry about giving your book away. If people have a taste and like what they read, they’ll want to buy the book for themselves!) Send the editor a copy of your book with an inscription from you on the inside front page, thanking the editor by name for his or her contribution to the community or for his or her work at the paper. Flag a few areas of the book you would offer as an excerpt for the paper.
- Send in a press release that highlights you as a local author. A book launch press release focuses on the content and relevance of your book. But in your own community – you’re bigger news than the book is! Again, the size of your community makes a difference, but, even in a big city, if you can find an angle that makes your authoring a book newsworthy, many papers would be happy to print it for the local color and human interest value. It’s easier for someone else to write this kind of release for you rather than trying to paint yourself as a local celebrity. (Believer’s Press can help you with that.)
Other ideas to use your local paper for publicity: Send in community event notices when you have speaking engagements in the area; set up a book discussion at the local library and issue a short press release in advance; or write an editorial for the Op/Ed section of the paper on a current issue in the news that ties in to the topic of your book.
Finally, be easy to work with by sending in clean, proofread copy. Be easy to reach by including your name and contact information on every correspondence or submission, and be quick to pick up your phone or respond to messages from the editor. (An hour can make or break whether your story runs!) Be informed – read the paper! Make sure you know the tone, news style, and content of the paper so your offers or requests to the editor are in proper context.
Keys to a Stand-Out Nonfiction Proposal
April 1st, 2010 by Barb LillandThe BelieversPress blog features Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Send it to info@believerspress.com and we’ll get you an answer!
You asked:
“I’ve written a nonfiction proposal. What can I do to stand out from the crowd?”
A unique benefit of writing nonfiction is that in most cases you need not write the entire manuscript before submitting a proposal to agents and publishers. However, keep in mind that writing the proposal may be just as difficult! A quality nonfiction proposal focuses on selling yourself and your idea. Like a successful advertisement, the nonfiction proposal should highlight your “product” in such as way as to leave a lasting impression on the reader.
There are numerous guidelines available that will walk you through the physical proposal (cover letter, summary, table of contents, etc.). If you need help with that step, here are a few links to help you get started: http://pages.prodigy.net/jimcypher/proposal.htm; http://www.ehow.com/how_2085531_write-non-fiction-book-proposal.html. (Editor’s note: Mary DeMuth has a great Nonfiction Book Proposal Tutorial eBook available for $25.)
What you may not find on the web are the specific elements an editor and agent are hoping to see when they open up your proposal. In my years as an acquisitions editor, I saw my share of the good, the bad, and the don’t-even-open. Here are some insider tips on how to keep yours in the good—if not excellent—category. First step? Take off your writer’s hat and put on your marketing hat. Second step? Concentrate on including these three keys in your proposal:
1) Subject: You may have a great idea, but if it is not timely and unique, you may not have a book.
a) Your idea needs to be timely. Have there been frequent news articles written on this topic? Have you written a magazine or newspaper article on the subject? Is it a cultural shift, a hot social issue, a current felt-need among a specific age group, or a topic the church is just beginning to address? If so, include one or two news pieces (particularly any you have written) as examples of the timeliness of your topic.
b) Your book needs to be unique. Are there a number of bestselling books on this topic, but yours takes a distinctive approach that will allow it to stand out from the market? Does your personal experience or career give you special insight into this subject? If you were writing the back cover copy of your book, how would you sell this idea as a unique approach with specific take-away value for the reader?
2) Platform: Your qualifications and current audience are often what makes or breaks a book deal.
a) What are your qualifications for tackling this topic? I’m not referring to a degree from an elite college—nice, but it won’t get you a book deal. More crucial is what you are doing now to advance your ideas. Have you written a number of articles on this topic? Do you teach extensively on this (or a similar) subject in your workplace, church, or community? Do you have a website, a popular blog? In today’s market, publishers want an author who comes with a history of successful self-promotion—trust me, those are the writers who get a book deal.
b) What audience have you already gathered? If you maintain a website, how many hits has it received? Do you regularly blog on this topic? How many followers do you have? If you have written articles on the topic, what kind of response did the magazine receive following its publication? How many people typically attend your teaching seminars? Include specific numbers. Remember, if your book proposal entices the acquisitions editor, he or she then has to “sell” it to the editorial board. Make the editor’s job easy by including details about the platform you have already established.
3) Market: Your book’s category and competition are critical to its success.
a) Into what category will your book be shelved? You may feel your book is unique and better than other books in the marketplace, but the fact is your book will sit on the shelf alongside similar books. Know the specific category, do your homework, and don’t be afraid to address it in your proposal.
b) What competition will your book face? I’ve known authors who hoped that by not mentioning the competition, they could trick the editor into thinking the market was wide open on their topic. Not going to happen. Know the competition, and detail how your book is better. You may want to list the top three books in the category along with their sales numbers or bestseller standing. Remember, the editor may have acquired one of those successful titles: tell him or her why yours is exceptional, why it is a good follow-up in the wake of that other book, and/or why your book will appeal to a broader audience.
Beyond just selling a good idea, your book proposal needs to address the timeliness and uniqueness of the subject, your established platform, and the current temperature of the market. Touch on those three keys in your cover letter, and follow with more specific details on the ensuing pages. The result? A top-notch proposal guaranteed to stand out from the crowd.
Find Your Angst – Writing Authentic Teenage Characters
March 16th, 2010 by Janna NysewanderThe BelieversPress blog is going to be featuring Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Ask it here and we’ll get you an answer!
You asked:
I’m writing a novel that features pre-teens and teens interacting both with each other and with older characters. What are some things I can do to make their speech feel authentic?
Janna replied:
Portraying those age groups in an authentic way can be difficult, as our environment/world has changed dramatically since we were that age, and it seems that kids have gotten to be more independent and savvy in general, especially with the technological and informational age we’re in. Obviously some things never change—like how catty and mean pre-teen and teen girls can be with each other, and how boys can be so easily threatened by one another and feel as though they need to prove themselves and go over the top to impress other people. The key is knowing/understanding/researching your subject matter as best you can.
Here are a few pointers to help you with your authenticity issues:
- Read through magazines and books that are aimed at pre-teens and teens to see what’s current. Along those lines, watch a couple of TV shows aimed at the same. Books and TV, especially, will more likely show interactions with a larger variety of age groups.
- Interview kids in those age groups to get a feel for their language, interests, interactions, etc. Use some sort of recording device (obviously getting permission from them first) so you can play it back as many times as you need to in order to get the right feel for scenes in your book.
- Go to the mall and just observe—you’d be surprised what you pick up on.
- Talk to friends/relatives who have kids in those age groups and ask them what theirs would do/say in specific situations.
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