Peace be the Journey

A Speech Every American High School Principal Should Give

2011-06-23T07:51:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the words speak for themselves.

A Speech Every American High School Principal Should Give

By Dennis Prager

To the students and faculty of our high school:

I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers and against our country.

First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American.

This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans. If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity, race and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America , one of its three central values -- e pluribus Unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America 's values. This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a
society divided by political correctness.

Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.

Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America 's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English --but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.

Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.

My Dad Met Jesus on Palm Sunday

2011-05-09T19:46:00.002-04:00

I had the unusual honor of preaching my Dad's funeral on April 20, 2011. My father was 84 years old.

Dad had a knee replacement the Friday before, and never really recovered from the anesthetic. Over the last year, or so, he had developed a tumor between the bones in his knee joint and it had to come out. Instead of cutting into the tumor, the doctors decided it was just as good to replace the entire joint and avoid opening an encapsulated cancer.

On his last Friday morning, he began to have difficulty breathing, followed by a blood pressure crash, then a heart attack. Because I am so far away, my brother handled the hospital and they decided to chopper him to a very special, Cardiac Intervention Center at East Carolina Medical Center.

They should have let him slip away. What followed was two, plus days of life support systems and a clear path away from life.

It became necessary to direct the doctors to remove life support in stages, to avoid any unnecessary suffering. First we removed the many drugs - 12 IV's running at once. Next came the pressers and then the respirator.

I sat with him, on and off for two days and held his hand, sometimes reading him Scriptures, sometimes talking, sometimes just holding his hand.

When the end came, it was merciful, sweet and gentle. God blessed us in that regard and in so many others, through the weekend.

Their pastor was fairly new to their church and I would not allow a stranger to bury my dad. My father loved to sing hymns and celebrate life with his family. In his honor, we held a marvelous Celebration of Life, that began with a 30 minute hymn sing so that the congregation would understood the joy we felt knowing that my dad met Jesus.

Just before I took the pulpit, my oldest brother's, youngest son asked me if I would baptize him before he returned home. It was such a sweet and appropriate request, I asked if he minded being baptized at the end of his grandfather's service.

He was overjoyed and all those who came to say goodbye to my dad, stayed to celebrate the miracle of rebirth, with us. It was... unique. Even the funeral home staff commented on how beautiful it was to intertwine new birth with a funeral. I'm not sure how many other pastors would try it but it was right for us.

We had no body to bury. Dad donated his remains to the ECU Medical School to study the effects of polio, over 74 years. He one of the older surviving polio survivors, in America. In about 18 months mom will get his ashes and we will go from there.

If you are still reading, thanks. I wanted to share our joy and sorrow, in such a way that you might feel encouraged.

He is not there...

He has risen, just as He said...

and that, beloved, makes all the difference.

Peace be the Journey

2011-05-09T18:40:00.000-04:00

Truth cuts like a knife.
Lies lie there all your life.
Choose you this day whom you will serve...
Convenience or compassion

This Baby

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:

'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.

He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb.

The crime is the same!

If you agree, please SHARE. Together we can help save precious lives!

"Love says I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person. Abortion says I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself..."

Jesus sacrificed Himself for the good of sinners! That's perfect love!

-unkown

Scripture reference for the president in the New Year

2011-01-04T11:02:00.001-05:00

Psalm 109:8 (New King James Version)

8 Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.

December

2010-12-09T11:58:00.004-05:00

Luke:2 1-7 1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

We celebrate with God, the birth of His Son.

He came to free us...

and to save us...

and to give us Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

As you contemplate giving this year, think about giving the gift of God's Word to your friends and loved ones. It never goes out ineffective.

Hope for the future because He is Born.

Peace for the world because He reigns.

Joy which shall be to all people...

Love came down and we will never be the same.

Peace be the Journey.

Last Night at the Last Chance Diner

2010-11-29T09:00:00.001-05:00

November 24, 2010

Life humbles us, hurts us, encourages us, and builds us up. The writing process for my new novel, Last Night at the Last Chance Diner, has been all of that, and more.

When I started, I knew that this novel was purposed to be a gift given to loved ones of believers, who might not understand, or be willing to understand, all that Christ has to give them. His gifts, given overwhelmingly, need to be shared and "Last Night at the Last Chance", is me giving forward.

From start to finish, I sometimes felt like a squirrel trapped on a treadmill. A novel is called fiction because you make it up. From the first words, to the finish line, every action, setting, occurrence, thought, word, or prayer is created out of the air, to be modified, reconsidered, retyped and re-retyped, until you sit back, smile that wonderful, satisfied smile and say, "It is finished."

Then you retype a little more.

...and repeat as necessary.

As I wrote, I felt a kinship with the people of The Last Chance, as they all reflected little bits of me. I could put myself inside their heads, as I searched for the right words, that felt real and put them in their mouths. Their stories are America's stories and are fulfilling, engaging, aggravating and heart warming. These are folks that hurt when you hit them and bleed when you cut them. Their hurts are center stage and we use them as examples of lives lived and lives left behind.

Once up on a time, I had a collie named Benjamin. He taught me that unconditional love can be received, even by someone utterly undeserving. The years he shadowed my every move are some of my most precious memories and I have deliberately chosen to write about him in my novel.

I am blessed for his love and blessed again with the memories.

My gratitude goes out to the photographer who provided the cover photos. They were taken in downtown Bethlehem, Pa. and provided by award winning photographer, Darius Aidala, also of Bethlehem, Pa.

My deepest appreciation goes to the Cover Designer, Miroslav Suster, of Serbia. His work is inspiring.

Without a doubt, I need to also thank Sara Davis, of Greenville, SC, who provided superb edit and proofreading skills, without which, this would still in my hard drive making me crazy.

No book is a single effort. Without great people, willing to bring their amazing talents together, these things are never complete.

You three are my new heroes.

To those of you who love to read a good story, please take a chance.

Read my new novel.

Then let me know what you think.

Peace be the journey...

Last Night at the Last Chance Diner

2010-11-24T19:40:00.006-05:00

December 24, 2012

10:59:56 p.m.

Just outside Bethlehem, PA, Norman Jacobs skids on the ice, hitting a power pole and briefly blacking out downtown. As power is restored, patrons of The Last Chance Diner, unknowingly begin a countdown to midnight, that will change the world like nothing that has ever happened.

Christmas Eve, 2012.

Meet the denizens of the Last Chance. Hear their stories, experience their heartaches and discover the desires of their hearts, as the clock counts down to the beginning...

Last Night at the Last Chance Diner is available from Blessings Remembered, beginning 12/15/2010. Order your copy today.

At just $7, priced for Christmas, it is a great Christmas gift idea for those who love a mystery, and loved ones who do not yet know the Lord.

How Big is My Market?

2010-03-13T21:22:00.001-05:00

There are those that say the social media revolution is changing America in an astounding way. Facebook alone has a membership larger than all but the world's top three nations.

Social media seems like the new methodology for Generation Y, as it becomes larger than the Baby Boomer Generation. Fully 96% of Generation Y are the new social media. Who is reaching them and with what message?

Who are their idols and what do they worship? Some political scholars say Barrack Obama won the presidency on the back of social networking and the emerging media surrounding it. Others, with just as good a resume, say Sarah Palin has put the Obama effect so far behind, it will take years for democrats to catch up.

Which is right? I think it's both.

As quickly as a new trend emerges, commercial users and emerging technology jumps out and enlarges it. Once improved and enlarged, others invent tag along technology and applications that alter, widen and ultimately convert followers to participants.

Are you riding the wave, or sitting in the sand?

Will you use the inexpensive but time consuming Social Media frenzy to get your word out? Are you aware of the power of the new medium? Generation Y does not search the web for news, anymore. The news follows and searches for them, via social networking and intelligent applications.

How does this affect publishing and emerging writers? We are poised over a gulf that reaches into virtually every home in the world. The information explosion can take a well polished and targeted message into corners unheard of three years ago, at almost no cost.

Be bold. Be true and be untiring. If you are a writer, write. then get your message out.

Obama, Pelosi, Rangel, Geithner, Holder Head Judicial Watch 2009 Most Corrupt List

2010-02-03T10:41:00.003-05:00

Judicial Watch 2009 Ten Most Corrupt Politicians.

Barrack Obama is #1 on Their List of Crooked Politicians

http://bit.ly/5prdXS

Obama, Pelosi, Rangel, Geithner, Holder on Judicial Watch 2009 Most Corrupt List

Mainstream Stream Media Silent

Judicial Watch issued its Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2009″ list a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been waiting for MSM coverage of this story–as President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Tim Geithner, Eric Holder, Charles Rangel, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, John Murtha, Roland Burris, Rep. Jesse Jackson, and John Ensign are this year’s trophy winners.

Furthermore, Obama has been on Judicial Watch’s Most Corrupt list each year since 2006—in 2008, and 2007, and 2006

Why Did Scott Brown in Massachusetts???

2010-01-20T10:32:00.008-05:00

On the rude arch that spanned the flood
In the April breeze their flag unfurled
Here the embattled farmer stood
And fired the shot heard round the world
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Did Scott brown win because of a pick-up truck?

Did Scott Brown win because of anti-Obama sentiment?

Is the Scott Brown win a referendum Obama-care?

Mr. Brown came to town in a pick-up truck and President Obama chose to attack the truck and the kind of people who drive and ride in pick-up trucks.

Mr. Brown will drive his truck to Washington.

Mr. Obama flew home with his tail between his legs.

Why DID Scott Brown Win In Massachusetts?

The question is being spun in so many directions that pundits must think the answer lies in a cotton candy maker. If you stayed up election night and surfed the plethora of experts and political forecasters, the responses ranged from a fluke, to a poorly run campaign, to divine intervention.

The truth is so obvious that it was largely ignored. Scott Brown won because, at the end of the counting, he had more votes. Though that sounds simplistic, take a step back and examine the facts.

Brown won in a state in which Democrats outnumber Republicans by 3.5 to 1, but independents account for a huge percentage of registered voters. in a state where the Democrats win by putting their names on a ballot, the unthinkable happened. The people failed to follow their script and the Democrats never considered that possibility.

Much of the democratic script involved sarcasm, arrogance and anger, coupled with attacks against everything from the Tea Party parties, to Rush Limbeau. Scott Brown's pick-up truck figured often in responses, as if the man's choice of wheels was shallow, disingenuous and unfair to the liberal challenger.

The degree of anger was no surprise but the depth of antipathy against former President Bush was a little out of place. To hear the pundits on MSNBC, one would believe that the democrat lost in Massachusetts because people are VERY mad at George Bush. That is an answer that will not resonate with voters, who don't like being boxed and packaged by liberals seeking a politically correct response, instead of the truth.

Scott Brown won for a long list of reasons, not the least of which is the poor campaign run by the Democratic nominee and the tidal wave of negative ads run by the campaign. People tuned out the negative campaign, almost before it began and that left them free to listen for a message coming from the challengers. Coakley failed to provide more than a dusting of commentary, sprinkled with liberal talking points, choosing to pretend Scott Brown and anyone voting with him were slightly stupid and sadly gullible.

Her arrogance and elitism turned off voters who waited in vain for her to speak out about issues and conditions that require hard work and a thoughtful approach. Her refusal to debate except on ridiculous terms, then failing to give strong performance in their debate, caused many to give up and start to listen to the candidate that actually spoke to people, instead of pretending to be oh so, above them all.

It is true that Massachusetts should have been a cake walk for Martha Coakley but the cook forgot to check the temperature of the oven and the cake burned.

There is a lot of unfocused anger in the liberal media today but refusing to examine the truth, opting to fix blame instead of the problem, means the party will miss the teachable moment, here.

When Barack Obama jetted into Massachusetts to save the day, he forgot that preaching to the choir would not necessarily communicate through to the congregation. His message was stilted, scripted, fake and arrogant. More Massachusetts voters polled in Scott Brown's favor after Obama's appearance, than before. The slide was noticeable - not slight and the party aggressively ignored what that meant, as they continue to ignore what it means going forward.

When President Obama insisted former President Clinton temporarily abandon the mercy mission in Haiti to fly him and his entourage to Massachusetts for a political rally, he failed to connect to real America.

Real America understands what Mr. Obama can't begin to fathom. The devastation in Haiti far outweighed the election in Massachusetts.

I have always known that kitchen table company is so much better than dining room guests. Real America happens around kitchen tables, not elegant dinners and private jets.

If you can't connect to real Americans at their kitchen table, you can't connect. The President failed to connect and did so boldly, loudly and with as much arrogance as possible. Americans in Massachusetts heard him and responded just as loudly. The difference is that Mr. Obama was not and is not listening. The beat of his own agenda, ego and elitism is making too much noise.

When Mr. Obama attacked Scott Brown for driving a pick up truck, he attacked what makes America American.

I drove a pick up for decades and loved it. I hope to drive one again. Mr. Obama and his machine can't get that and that's why Scott Brown won last night.

Seven Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your First Chapter

2010-01-06T20:48:00.002-05:00

From the Guide to Literary Agents Editor's Blog

Chuck Sambuchino shares the results of a fabulous piece of investigative research.

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/7+Reasons+Agents+Stop+Reading+Your+First+Chapter.aspx

7 Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your First Chapter
Posted by Chuck

I recently attended the Writer Idol Event at Boston Book Fest. It was not for the faint of heart, but for those willing to brave public ridicule, it was a great way to get helpful feedback.

This is how it worked: An actress picked manuscripts at random and read the first 250 words out loud for the panel and the audience. If at any point a panelist felt he would stop reading, he raised his hand. The actress read until two or more panelists raised their hands, at which point the panel discussed the reasons they stopped, or in cases where the actress read to the end, they discussed what worked. Helene Atwan (Director of Beacon Press) and agents Esmond Harmsworth, Eve Bridburg, and Janet Silver (all from Zachary Shuster Harmsworth) served on the panel.

These panelists were tough! I'd say less than 25% made it to the end of the passage. Here are some of the common reasons panelists stopped reading.

1. Generic beginnings: Stories that opened with the date or the weather didn’t really inspire interest. According to Harmsworth, you are only allowed to start with the weather if you're writing a book about meteorologists. Otherwise, pick something more creative.

2. Slow beginnings: Some manuscripts started with too much pedestrian detail (characters washing dishes, etc) or unnecessary background information.

3. Trying too hard: Sometimes it seemed like a writer was using big words or flowery prose in an attempt to sound more sophisticated. In several cases, the writer used big words incorrectly. Awkward or forced imagery was also a turnoff. At one point, the panelists raised their hands when a character's eyes were described as “little lubricated balls moving back and forth.”

4. TMI (Too Much Information): Overly detailed description of bodily functions or medical examinations had the panelists begging for mercy.

5. Clichés: "The buildings were ramrod straight." "The morning air was raw." "Character X blossomed into Y." "A young woman looks into the mirror and tells us what she sees." Clichés are hard to avoid, but when you revise, go through and try to remove them.

6. Loss of Focus: Some manuscripts didn't have a clear narrative and hopped disjointedly from one theme to the next.

7. Unrealistic internal narrative: Make sure a character's internal narrative—what the character is thinking or feeling—matches up with reality. For example, you wouldn't want a long eloquent narration of what getting strangled feels like—the character would be too busy gasping for breath and passing out. Also, avoid having the character think about things just for the sake of letting the reader know about them.

Ever Thought About Going It Alone?

2009-12-10T12:46:00.002-05:00

As a Guest Blogger, Nicole O'Dell Talks About Publishing Without An Agent

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/12/guest-blogger-nicole-odell.html

One Isn't Always the Loneliest Number

I’ve never considered myself to be a rule breaker. But if you looked at my publishing history, you might think differently.

Let’s take a look at some “unbreakable” industry rules:

→ An unpublished author cannot sell an unwritten fiction manuscript.

In 2008, as an unpublished author, I got a two-book deal for unfinished fiction.

→ An unpublished author can only gain the attention of an agent or editor at a conference or by referral.

Not true for me. I’ve never been to a conference. (I’d LOVE to go but my toddler triplets have other plans for me right now.)

→ An unpublished author cannot approach publishers without an agent.

That two-book deal I mentioned above? There have been two more two-book deals since then. That’s six books since 2008 - with no agent.

In my few short years in the publishing industry, I’ve toiled many hours over the question of whether or not to find an agent to represent my work. In 2008, I was blessed beyond measure to receive a contract for my first two books through direct communication with Barbour Publishing. I didn’t have representation, my manuscripts were incomplete and I was unpublished at the time. I truly believed that my idea was going to sell my books, so I decided to give it a try on my own. Plus, I figured it would be just as difficult to get my ideas in front of an agent as it would be to go to the publisher directly. I broke several industry “rules” by going about it in that way, but it worked for me.

Granted, there are only a few publishers that are open to unagented authors, and fewer still who will contract a novel without it being complete. I happened to find a publisher who did both.

Sometimes, it’s just not the right time to work with an agent. If you’re an unpublished writer whose work is unfinished or unpolished, you’ll only damage the potential of a future contact by approaching them prematurely—after all, what do you expect them to represent? A hope and a promise?

Or, perhaps you’re like me and you’ve gotten your first contracts, written some books, secured future contracts and see a nice steady road mapped out ahead of you—you may not feel you “need” an agent right now, either.

Would things have been different for me if I’d had representation from the beginning? I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not a negotiator—I’m a contract signer. I’m not a sales person—I’m just a grateful working writer. I’m not an industry-savvy professional—I’m just a learn-as-I-go hard worker. So, in all likelihood, my advance would have been a little higher. Perhaps my royalty split would have been a little tighter. And, an agent would have definitely encouraged me to perfect my work more, knowing that I was still in the throes of learning. But, I think all of that is true for any author, with or without an agent. There’s always something to second guess.

If I were to seek an agent for future projects, I would want someone who believed in me as an author and wanted to manage my career, not just one book. She/he would be able to negotiate killer contracts, ensure that excellent books are published, guide me toward making sure they are marketed properly, etc. My perfect author/agent relationship would include a joint ministry focus, an overall approach to branding and a shared outlook on the future. That’s a tall order. Many agents don’t want to participate in all of that, and that’s fine. But, I would rather not sign with one at all than to settle for anything other than that.

Sometimes it’s okay to work alone. Your writing career doesn’t begin the day you join forces with a literary agency. You can still be a working writer, still pursue contracts and still chase your dreams one step at a time until the doors to the hallowed halls of the perfect literary agency open for you. The key is to keep going, keep writing and keep your eyes on your goals.

Is This The End of America?

2009-10-15T12:41:00.005-04:00

This is not my usual blog topic.

Everyday I read the news and wonder just how much more freedom can survive.

The obama administration seems determined to change America into a post American social experiment, where his troops use the patriot act to destroy those who disagree, or resist his agenda.

When a few malcontent liberals can derail the purchase of a sports team because they object to a person's opinions, then go out and fabricate statements just to have something to complain about, is a symptom of the end of our lifestyle as we know it.

The 2010 midterm election is our closest chance to limit the damage obama and his pack of wolves are doing, but we might not have a country to save in another year.

Publishers are pulling books because someone "might" be offended, someday and elitist liberals are demanding more.

Schools are labeling five year old children sex offenders for hugging a crying classmate.

Courts are inventing laws just to please their cocktail party friends and other courts are too timid to reverse them, for fear of being labeled by the left.

Are we experiencing the end of America? Is obama the one that is to blame? Is george soros really the puppet master, controlling obama just as David Rockerfeller controlled Jimmy Carter?

When the dollar fails completely, as obama and his pack of wolves are working toward, how do Americans pay bills, keep the electricity on, fund schools, maintain hospitals and buy food?

The trillions in new deficit sending is guaranteed to collapse our economic system and overwhelm the governments, which is exactly what obama's mentor, Saul Alinsky preached in his writings.

When you look at obama's plans, you see a list of new deficit spending out to the horizon, as if the destruction of America is exactly what he wants.

I think it's coming time to push back and demand accountability, refuse to be silenced by a partisan media with shivers down their legs and elect a new congress and senate. Force these newly elected representatives to appoint intelligent and decent people to judgeship's and stop the insanity.

We have no choice left but to take responsibility for our government's actions and demand that they stop the wholesale destruction of our economy, before there is nothing left to save.

Here is a good plan.

Be Prayerful. Pray for guidance, protection, honorable leaders and courage.

Be Brave.

Be unswayed by the emotional cocktails of the administration's crooks and liars.

Be Honest and Straightforward, giving no quarter to a bunch that would take over your local hospital and turn you out in a heartbeat.

Hold your elected government accountable. Do not let them wiggle off the hook by blaming George Bush, or anyone else.

This is the president that proclaimed no lobbyists would be allowed in his administration, then hired more lobbyists than the last four administrations put together.

This is the president that promised the most open administration in history but sealed the White House visitor records so no one can determine who is coming and going, has sealed every one of his records from first grade on up, and refuses to provide basic information about how he paid for his Harvard education and exactly what did his wife do for over $ 300,000 a year in a Chicago hospital, a job that began right after he was elected to the senate, after a bunch of questionable campaign activities.

In an economic meltdown, while making speeches about people tightening their belts, this is the president that spent millions of our money to go on a date to NYC, then flew Hawaiian dancers to Washington dance for him, at dinner one night.

This is the president that sent his wife on a separate 747, to speak to the Olympic committee, then flew over himself, twelve hours later, ignoring the massive wasted tax money.

This is the president that PROMISED bills would be posted online for FIVE DAYS before a vote so the people could know what their government was doing. You saw the stimulus passed by representatives that were never given time to read what they were hammered to pass and now they plan the exact same thing with health care and then cap and trade.

Each of those are multi-trillion dollar deficit programs, designed to harm American taxpayers. That debt is money the treasury can never tax people enough to pay back but they are inventing taxes at a record pace.

We are living through the end of America at the hands of a despotic regime. It's time to stand up and refuse to die.

You Say You Want to Become a Professional Speaker... Then What?

2009-09-29T10:55:00.003-04:00

Mike Hyatt shares much of what he learned from Ken Davis at the Professional Communicators Summit in Nashville, Tennessee.

There is a tremendous amount of information, distilled into a handful of paragraphs and lots of conversation topics. Use what is good for you and file the rest for future reference.

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/09/so-you-want-to-be-a-professional-speaker.html#IDComment36489586

As someone who does a fair amount of speaking myself, I was confident I could benefit personally form the Summit. However, I also thought I could use this information with many of the authors I publish as the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. I was right on both counts.

The conference is sponsored by Ken Davis. In case you are not familiar with Ken, he is a very popular Christian speaker and comedian. He has had a significant, wide-reaching career. He is also a student of speaking and, especially, the business of speaking. He has distilled everything he has learned in 30 years of professional speaking and used it to take hundreds of other speakers to the next level.

Over the course of three days, we learned four things:

1. How to discover our assets as a speaker. We took an inventory of our talents and gifts. We looked at our status and platform. We reviewed our own proprietary information and expertise. We even considered how we could convert our weaknesses into strengths. This was hugely eye-opening. I discovered that I had much more to work with than I originally thought.
2. How to design our products. Our “product” is all about how we package and sell our assets. We began with the question, “What product am I really promoting, selling, or delivering to your buyers? We then discussed four kinds of products:
* A presentation at someone else’s event
* Our own events, like seminars or conferences
* Resources, like books, DVDs, CDs, etc.
* Services, like consulting, coaching, counseling, etc.
3. How to market our products. We discussed what marketing is and four steps to building a perception about our products. It was especially helpful to learn about the kinds of things that damage perception. We also discussed what meeting planners are looking for, how to develop effective promotional materials, and the pluses and minuses of speakers bureaus and booking agents.
4. How to determine our value. Frankly, this was one of the most helpful segments. We discussed why we should charge for our services, how much we should charge, and an extremely helpful pricing concept called “high bar/low bar.” Ken even role-played a fee negotiation with one of the other instructors that demonstrated how natural this conversation can be and to do it in a way that is comfortable for both parties.

Ken was not the only instructor at the event. He had a team of dynamic communicators. I was also privileged to lead a session on “How Professional Speakers Can Get Published.” I will also be speaking at this next event.

If you have been thinking about “going pro” by either starting a speaking career or taking your existing career to the next level, this is the conference for you. This is the only conference of this type that I am aware of. It is both motivational and practical. You will leave pumped up about the possibilities for your career, with concrete tools that you can put to work immediately.

Will You Still Love Him?

2009-09-08T08:22:00.001-04:00

I preached, Sunday on the subject of September 11th. It is a bittersweet topic as I am a New Yorker by birth and even though I have lived away for decades, like so many others, I never left in my heart.

My Scripture was from Jeremiah...

Jeremiah 29: 11-13
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

...and my point was that even though the worst thing seemed to happen September 11th...

even though the world caved in on so many...

even though Taliban made indiscriminate war against innocent men, women and children...

even though America was hurt very badly...

even though the towers in your life sometimes collapse

and things seem to turn against you at every turn.

Even though you hurt so much you think it will surely kill you and hope that happens soon...

Will You Still Love Jesus Christ?

I cry every time I see the film of the towers coming down.

I cry when I hear the voice mail recordings of those poor souls who had a chance to call home and say I love you and be happy.

My tears would make a river but even so, I still love Him. I serve only Him. The intention of my life is to be worthy of being His child.

Will You Still Love Him????

Today When I Got Home...

2009-09-02T22:39:00.006-04:00

Today when I got home, there was a box from Barbour Books on the front porch waiting for me.

Inside the box was the First Printing of the book to which I contributed ten devotions.

The Great Adventure - a daily devotional journal
http://www.barbourbooks.com/product/...aspx?Tab=Books

...was released and shipped on Friday.

It came out much nicer than I expected and I expected a lot!

It sort of feels like a new member of the family. You never get used to the first time you handle a new published work. I hope I never get over the thrill.

...End Of Shameless Self Promotion...

Mike Hyatt: Before You Hire a Literary Agent

2009-08-20T08:35:00.002-04:00

One of the toughest decisions facing authors today, is what they will do about professional, positive, representation. Agents are like plumbers. For some things you can't just can't go it alone but for many others, it isn't absolutely necessary.

There are a list of "to do's" that come before hiring an agent and the list gets longer all the time.

In this age of electronic, on demand publishing, what can you do ahead of a representative to establish yourself, build a brand, lay out a solid, long term platform and find your reader base?

How can you create your finished product in publishable form, ready to be handed over to the wolves, ahead of hiring a representative?

What steps can you take to be an unpublished author of substance, who's work is ready for professional, positive, representation?

How do you know when you are nearing and / or crossing that fine line between being ready for representation and in need of representation?

Mike Hyatt has been there and done that. His suggestions are quite clear and on topic. He sits at the head of the largest publisher of Christ honoring literature in the world and knows something about this topic.

Before You Hire a Literary Agent

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/06/before-you-hire-a-literary-agent.html

A while back, I received an email from one of our authors, notifying us that he had hired a new literary agent. My first thought was, You’ve got to be kidding! Of all the agents out there, why would you pick THAT one!

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against agents. Not only was I a literary agent for six years, I have been represented by an agent on all of the books I have personally published. And, of course, as a publisher, I deal with agents on a daily basis.

A few of these agents are close, personal friends. Many of them add real value to the publishing process. However, some of them do irreparable harm to the author’s reputation. Like most professions, it is a mixed bag. You owe it to yourself to do your homework.

As an author, the most important thing you need to understand about agents is that they represent YOU. If an agent has a good reputation (i.e., a brand), that reputation will accrue to your benefit:

* If the agent is knowledgeable and well-read, publishers will assume that you are a person of literary merit—someone to be taken seriously.
* If the agent is prompt and responsive, publishers will assume that you are cooperative and low-maintenance—someone they want to work with.
* If the agent is reasonable in the terms they request, publishers will assume that you are committed to a win-win paradigm—someone they want to invest in.

However, if an agent has a bad reputation, that reputation will also accrue to your detriment:

* If the agent isn’t well-read and isn’t conversant with your topic or proposal, publishers will assume that you don’t know what you are talking about either.
* If your agent is disorganized and unresponsive, publishers will assume that you are uncooperative and high-maintenance.
* If the agent is unreasonable and greedy, publishers will assume that you are committed to a win-lose paradigm and just in it for the money.

Frankly, I am amazed that so many authors hire agents without checking references. To be blunt, this is just stupid. You wouldn’t do this with an employee; why would you do it with an agent?

In hiring new employees, I have found that checking references is the single most important thing I can do. Prospective employees will tell you all kinds of things in an interview. They will spin their story to their advantage. But, as Ronald Reagan used to say, “trust but verify.” You never know for sure until you check the references. The same is true in hiring a literary agent.

Before you hire a literary agent, I would encourage you to:

1. Contact at least three authors whom the agent currently represents. Ask the agent for a list, including telephone numbers. Obviously, these will be clients the agent thinks will speak well of him. Regardless, you will still learn a great deal by talking to these clients. If possible, talk with them on the phone. People will tell you things on a phone call that they will not put in writing.
2. Contact at least three publishers with whom the agent has recently done business. Again, ask the agent to provide a list. Ask the publisher, four questions:
* “Did the agent present a compelling proposal?”
* “Did the agent provide you what you needed to make a good decision?”
* “Did the agent respond to your calls and emails in a timely manner?”
* “Was the agent fair and reasonable in the negotiating process?”

If you already have an agent, it is important that you monitor how you are being represented. Check in with your publisher from time to time and make sure that you are being well-represented. Keep in mind that the publisher will be reluctant to be candid unless he can count on your confidentiality.

By the way, I maintain a “List of Literary Agents who Represent Christian Authors”
http://michaelhyatt.com/2007/11/literary-agents-who-represent-christian-authors.html

Why Video Trailers Help Sell Your Book

2009-08-18T08:56:00.002-04:00

Why a Video Will Help Sell Your Book

A shopper who watches a video about a product is more likely to buy it.

We are all concerned with the steps necessary to market our work. We wonder about how to spend very limited marketing dollars. Our thoughts are contradictory, at times and frustrating. At times it seems like we are taking a stab in the dark, with funds that need to be spent with the utmost care.

Alan Rinzler has a bit about one emerging marketing trend that seems promising, through a well produced video trailer. It's worth the read.

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2009/08/08/why-a-video-will-help-sell-your-book/

by Alan Rinzler
That’s why publishers and video producers are rushing to collaborate on low-cost video book trailers. Publicists and marketing professionals believe these videos are the best new way to create the kind of buzz that attracts readers and sales.
In the past few months, publishers like Simon & Schuster, Harlequin, Scholastic, Wiley and others, have commissioned and produced hundreds of these short videos. They’re posting them on their own company websites, on Amazon, YouTube, author sites and blogs, and an expanding universe of multimedia and social networking sites.
Some of these book videos look like movie trailers, with high production values, location shots and paid actors. Some are just about the author, with talking heads and an interview at home about the book and how it was written.
Here’s one I love
This is a book trailer for New Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado (Broadway Books/Random House Sept. 09). It’s about the author and her quest for meaning and purpose in her life, which she discovers by becoming a master baker and opening her own shop in Vermont where she creates pastry and cakes to die for. They’re so well photographed you’ll want to rush out and buy them, and the book.
A sudden trend
This new approach is part of the sea change in the industry’s turbulent and volatile efforts to sell books. Most of us generally agree that the old ways of marketing books has become prohibitively expensive and obsolete, especially in the current economy and declining retail sales in all sectors.
That full-page ad in the New York Times Book Review or the 30-second national TV spot on a show like Today or Front Line can cost tens of thousands of dollars with few tangible results. At the same time the DIY free-access culture of the internet has shown how powerful a three-minute YouTube video can be, careening around cyberspace in a few minutes if viewers pass it on to interested friends in their social network.
Book publishers are struggling to figure out how to survive and flourish in this brave new world of digital marketing. Many are now willing try something new.
At John Wiley & Sons, for example, we’ve already commissioned many such videos. The Dummies division at Wiley in particular, is using video trailers to market its books. Simon & Schuster’s CEO Carolyn Reidy, told me at Book Expo this year that she’s a big supporter of this recent initiative and has ordered dozens of videos for her various imprints. Jeff Gomez at Penguin is another strong advocate of this marketing tool.
We’ve also found that these book trailers are perfect as audition tapes for national broadcast and print media, and to generate author publicity and support the author’s direct-to-reader marketing efforts to drive sales and engage customers.
Growing book trailer industry
Video production companies targeting authors are emerging to produce book trailers. For example, Andrew Kaplan, Business Development Manager of the internet video company TurnHere, says they’ve produced about 500 book videos and is releasing three or four new ones every week.
Another producer, Scott Robinson of RFI films in NYC has been creating book videos directly with the author, most notably our own favorite discovery, Lenore Skenazy.
A quick search online turned up other players, including Living Jacket, Circle of Seven Productions, and Expanded Books. I don’t have any personal experience with these companies, so please do your own due diligence if you consider using their services.
If you’re a writer under contract, be clear about who’s paying for producing the video. If you don’t yet have a book publisher, consider doing something within your budget, either on your own or with professional help. The cost for such an effort can range from a few hundred to $5,000.
How can you make the best use of this new resource?
Watch as many book videos as you can and become familiar with the rapidly changing state of the art. To get started, check out BookScreening, a hub for book trailers submitted by publishers and authors featuring great examples of this new medium. Another big player in this arena is the book trailer channel at Barnes & Noble Studio. Search YouTube for book trailers, and you’ll find more than 50,000. And there’s Vimeo, with a roster of more than 200 book videos. Also take a look at The Book Trailer Blog, with interesting background and commentary about making and re-purposing book videos.
Book trailers tend to fall into two major categories: Some are like Hollywood movie previews, with professional actors playing out elements of the stories in actual locations, with good music, slick editing, and high production values.
Others are entirely author focused, with a writer explaining why and how they wrote the book, often speaking from home. The author might be sitting behind a keyboard, walking through a location associated with the book, or conducting an interview with an on or off-camera journalist or friend.
Readers want a relationship with the author
“Our experience and field surveys show that what potential readers want most is contact with the author,” Kaplan of TurnHere says.
“Book tours don’t often bring authors to neighborhood events anymore, but people still crave that personal touch, that sense of a real person they can get to know, that relationship between author and reader.”
What would work best for your book? Would you prefer to dramatize the story in an enticing manner, or talk about your work and how you did it?
Consider roughing out a preview trailer on your own. Do you have any video equipment at home? Do you know someone who would be willing to experiment and have some fun working on this with you?
“I’ve seen good book trailers that started as an amateur Flip camera version made by the author and then later redone with professional production values,” says Robinson of RFI films.
“Lenore Skenazy and her husband Joe, for example, did a first-draft video for her book Free Range Kids with consumer equipment and software. They wrote their own script. It had humor – which is important for many book trailers — and a lot of smart ideas for inserts and locations. So we re-shot the whole thing with better audio and editing. Humor, good sound and good editing can all make a huge difference.” See the final version on Amazon.
Is Amazon charging for placement?
Book trailer producers have told me also that one of the biggest challenges they face now in video marketing campaigns is placement. It used to be easier to get a video trailer posted on Amazon, for example. Now I hear they’re beginning to charge for posting a video on the first page of a book listing.
Kaplan at TurnHere says that Amazon is beginning to charge some of his clients a $1500 fee for posting on the first page of a book listing. A spokesperson for Amazon, who prefers to remain anonymous, told me that such a fee would depend on how much business the publisher does with them, and the status of an individual author.
I’m told that we’re not paying that kind of money at Wiley for posting on Amazon, but we may be getting credit for the volume of cooperative advertising dollars that a publisher makes available to major retailers.
If anyone out there has had direct experience with Amazon regarding placement of a book trailer, we’d love to hear from you.
The bottom line
Here’s the bottom line: Smart buyers do research online before making any retail purchase. Book readers are no different. If they’ve heard about a book, or read something by a writer they like, they’ll search for it. When they find an actual video, the research shows that people have an attention span of about 3 minutes.
Three minutes doesn’t sound like much. But that little book video could make a big impact in your ultimate sales.

Idea Starters for Stuck Bloggers - Part II

2009-08-09T16:17:00.002-04:00

Idea-Starters for Stuck Bloggers – Part Two

By Mike Hyatt

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/07/13-idea-starters-for-stuck-bloggers.html

The dreaded “writer’s block” afflicts us all from time to time. I struggle with it almost weekly. Occasionally, I have an easy run of several days, when the ideas seem to flow effortlessly. But that is rare. Most weeks, I get stuck at least once or twice.

So what do I do? What can you do? Here are some more idea-starters. I offer these up as possibilities for lighting a fire when your brain is damp:

Provide a step-by-step explanation for how to do something. When you provide five steps to this, or four strategies for that, people gobble it up. I think all of us have a need for down-to-earth, practical help with the items that interest us. Example: “How to Update Your Facebook Status With Twitter.”

Provide a list of resources. This is a huge way to give back to your industry or community. It is easy to take for granted what you know. You are probably sitting on priceless information that others would die to have access to. Resource lists are a great way to build traffic. Example: “Literary Agents Who Represent Christian Authors.”

Answer your readers’ questions. My readers ask some of the best questions. Sometimes they email them. Sometimes they put them in the comments of an older posts. Often they just Twitter them to me. I assume that if one person has the question, so do others. By answering these you demonstrate that you are listening. Example: “How Much Times Does Twittering Really Take?”

Make a seemingly overwhelming task simple. There is a huge audience for anyone who can make complex things simple. Provide a conceptual model, an outline, or an introduction to something you take for granted. Example: “Advice to First-Time Authors” and especially “Writing a Winning Book Proposal.”

Explain the rationale behind a decision. Intelligent people want to know why you do what you do. That is what makes everyone so interesting. You can explain the rational behind almost any decision you have made, and it will be instructive for others. Example: “Why Every Author Needs a Powerful Online Presence.”

Write a guide to something popular. This is especially good for technology topics—anything where people feel overwhelmed. I have written introductions to social networking, how to stay on top of email, and how to create a life plan. They key is not to assume the reader knows anything about the topic. Example: “The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.”

Next time you get stuck, you might want to pull this list out and review it. Sometimes, all it takes is a spark to re-ignite the fire.

Honest Scrap Award

2009-08-03T14:39:00.006-04:00

You see the badge. It's an honor and a burden. I "won" the Honest Scrap award by doing nothing.

I think Tommie Lynn, on the occasion of her 65th birthday, dropped the (non) coveted award on my unsuspecting head, as a way of jabbing at the world on her special day. So jabbed as I am, the rules of Honest Scrap are that I must share eight things about myself and nominate a bushel of other people to the lofty heights of Scrap.

1) I am absolutely no one. It's true. Nobody is here and you're reading his words.

2) I have an aversion to "going along" with things. My life has been a never ending series of events wherein I refuse to take the road most often traveled. The people that are closest, often refuse to wander the well trod paths, also.

3) I love Baseball. It's a beautiful game that gives me much pleasure. From the last day of the World Series, to the 15th of February, I patiently await the return of my game. All is well in the world once the baseball-ers are back at work.

4) For several years I sang opera and loved it. In the background is a recording of Gilbert and Sullivan. Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado and others. Once in a great while, I sing out a line or two of a part I once sang.

5) Politics has been a fascination since high school. Over the years, I worked with some relatively important people. Though I remember them, I am sure they do not have such keen memories of me.

6) I drive a Toyota Prius. Yes. I'm a hybrid kind of guy. I love the gas mileage and its zippy.

7) Once upon a time I was a policeman back in NY.

8) I'm married to the smartest, long suffering, woman that ever lived.

In the interest of harmony, I will name a very short list of new recipients.

Lynn Mosher Heading Home http://lynnmosher.blogspot.com/

Tasha Reed Endless Writings http://endlesswritings.blogspot.com/

Ginger Takamiya Christian Romance Magazine http://www.christianromancemagazine.com/Christian-Romance-blog.html

Linda Yezak 777 Peppermint Place http://lindayezak.wordpress.com/

Build Your Speaking Platform

2009-08-03T08:18:00.002-04:00

One often overlooked facet of direct author sales is how well you build your platform and how effectively you use speaking to get your message to people who might buy your books.

Virtually every organization wants / needs speakers who don't cost a lot and have something of value to say. Good speakers do many of the same things, that result in a growing base of organizations that invite them to speak, promote their message and their books.

Develop a Network of Contacts that automatically refer them to their friends who also need a speaker

Stay in Touch. Met those folks know what is new and what has changed. Give them a heads up on your career and the topics you bring to their events.

Do Your Homework. Be energetic, excited, prepared and worthy of the invitation.

Carla Williams from Wine Press of Words has more on the topic.

Sell More Books: Build a Speaking Platform
Carla Williams

Publicity & Editorial Director for The WinePress Group.

http://www.winepressofwords.com/2009/07/sell-more-books-build-a-speaking-platform/

Building a speaking ministry is the single best way to sell books.
One grandparenting expert built her speaking circuit to the point of being dubbed the “grandparenting guru of the Midwest.” She spoke at civic groups, churches, corporations, women’s retreats, and PTA meetings.

She built her reputation as an expert in her field and used much of the input she received from her speaking engagements to write her book on grandparenting. She did not want to wait for a traditional royalty publisher to offer her a contract; she chose to self-publish.

She started out with 2,000 copies and sold them all within six months. She had built a substantial mailing list from her many speaking engagements and had an automatic channel of distribution for her book.

These days, it really doesn’t even matter if your book has anything to do with the topic you are speaking on; the truth is, whatever you have on your book table will sell after your audience has heard you speak. In fact, your book might not even be of interest to your audience personally, but they may very well know someone else who might benefit from the book, and buy it as a gift, complete with your signature inside!

How to Prepare

Often, having a book in print will open more doors for you to speak, or will help accelerate an already established speaking ministry, so be prepared for the inevitable. To get prepared, attend some speaker training, if possible from a Christian perspective.

Two good choices are Speak Up Speaker Services and CLASSeminars. Both of these sessions train you on the basics of effective speaking.

Many communities also offer Toastmasters groups. They typically meet monthly, and sometimes more often, and give you a good chance to practice speaking in front of a group of people.
Collateral Material

Develop collateral material to promote your speaking ministry to include a brochure or “sell sheet” that includes your picture, bio, information on your book, and different topics you speak on. A few endorsements from groups you have spoken for in the past would also be helpful. This enables you to present yourself in a professional manner to a speakers’ committee or planning board.

Another important piece of your speaking ministry materials would be a good quality audio tape or CD of you speaking to a group. Often, if someone on the planning board hasn’t already heard you speak, they will require a sample to review before inviting you.

If you don’t have a good copy of your presentation, then set up a time with a group of friends where you can present your topic and get good group feedback during the session. Make sure the taping quality is good and there is no background noise.
Spread the Word

Once you’ve learned the fundamentals of effective communication and compiled a professional set of materials to promote your speaking ministry, you should begin to let people know that you are available.

However God helps you orchestrate it, develop a system for your speaking ministry to stay organized and begin to build a platform that can be measured and leveraged in the future.

Don't Write A Book - "Wisdom" from Tony Morgan

2009-07-31T16:22:00.005-04:00

I was struck by the plain spoken, take no prisoners approach to writing that Tony Morgan shares in his recent blog post, "Don't Write a Book." There is so much to argue with and so much to agree with that the conversation simply takes off on its own and goes where ever you wind up.

Take his points with skepticism and enjoy the diversity of hard edge, rapier attitudes and see how it makes you react.

Tony makes an important point when he encourages us to write things that matter, as opposed to setting out to write a book.

Don’t Write a Book

http://tonymorganlive.com/2009/07/31/do-not-write-a-book/

Since I’ve been involved in several book projects, I’m frequently approached by aspiring writers who are interested in the process. I’m certainly not the expert on getting a book published, but I have learned some things over the last number of years that might be helpful for you.

With that in mind, here are a few thoughts for you to consider…

Don’t write a book. Begin by writing in your journal. Write blog posts. Get your article published in a magazine or on someone else’s website. If your idea and your writing aren’t strong enough to be published in a magazine or on a website, it’s not strong enough to be published in a book.

Don’t assume if you have a book, someone will publish it. People who get published rarely go looking for a publisher. Typically, the publishers go looking for the authors. Or, the authors have literary agents who handle those conversations. If a publisher isn’t approaching you about writing a book, that’s a pretty good sign that you probably don’t have a book to publish.

Don’t start out to write a book. Start out with something to say. For lots of people, the goal is to get a book published. That shouldn’t be your goal. Your goal should be to spread good stories or ideas. If you don’t have a good story or idea to spread, you need to start there.

Don’t write a book if you’re not a writer. At the end of the day, if you can’t write you can’t get published. And, just because you can get up in front of people and talk, doesn’t necessarily mean you can get behind a keyboard and write. There’s an art to writing. Some people have it. Most people don’t. (If you have a strong idea or a good story, you may need to find a writer to help you get it published.)

Don’t try to write a book if you’re not willing to get disciplined with your time. Manuscripts just don’t drop out of the sky. You have to outline. You have to draft. You have to rewrite. You have to edit. You have to promote. You have to sell. It takes time. If you’re unwilling to prioritize your time, you shouldn’t write a book.

Don’t plan on making money. Unless your name is Rick Warren or Joel Osteen, you’re not going to make money writing a book. At best, you may get a platform from writing a book. Of course, the challenge there is that you have to have a platform before a publisher will even consider your book.

I know. You’re skeptical. So, for those of you who write books or publish books, I’ll let you chime in and tell me where I’m wrong.

Twitter for Business

2009-07-30T11:02:00.000-04:00

Twitter for business: Four breakthrough insights

http://schaefersolutions.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-for-business-four-breakthrough.html

Mark W. Schaefer from his blog of Practical Marketing Solutions, shares some practical uses for Twitter.

I’m privileged to introduce a week-long series of B2B social media insights with Dr. Ben Hanna, Vice President of Marketing for Business.com, where he oversees brand strategy, online marketing, public relations, social media, direct marketing and events.

Ben is a true online marketing pioneer. Prior to his current position, Ben led the eBay B2B trading platform, driving nearly $3 billion in annual sales. He was also a force behind IronPlanet, a leading online marketplace for construction equipment, and he co-founded a B2B strategic marketing agency specializing in high-tech product and company launches.

I was first introduced to Ben through his blog and was fascinated to read disclosures on his company's month-by-month progress on its first social media initiative. I highly recommend looking at these reports! They are chock-full of insights and data you will find nowhere else.

So let’s get into Part 1 of my interview!

Ben, I love the detailed statistics and correlations you're making through your analysis of Twitter successes and failures. I think the Tweet lifespan is a new one for me! It's still relatively early in the data collection process, but what "a-ha” morsels have you found?

We’re documenting some of these “a-ha” moments in our Twitter for business case studies but here are a couple new ones:

Tweet quality builds followers faster than tweet quantity – When we started using Twitter for business, we wondered about the relevant importance of tweeting only when we had something really interesting to pass along (quality focus) vs. tweeting more frequently to make sure our content was in front of our followers more often (quantity focus) for building a Twitter following. From what we’ve seen, tweet quality is MUCH more important than quantity: the higher the average number of clicks per tweet with a trackable link in a given week, the higher the follower growth (controlling for total number of followers). This said, you have to be in the game - our average tweets/day over this period ranged from 2.9 to 11.0.

The first 3-5 words are critical – At 140 characters max, tweets are like headlines and people scan through them quickly. If you want to catch someone’s eye, think like a headline writer and make sure the main topic keywords or a number/statistic are found in the first 3-5 words. I would also recommend against using the standard retweet style (e.g., “RT @markwschaefer: …” to start the tweet), instead shift attribution to the end of the tweet (e.g., “… via @markwschaefer”).
The average lifespan of a business tweet is four days -- If you measure the lifespan of a tweet by the number of days on which it receives at least one click from a Twitter user, then business tweets don’t live very long. On average, our tweets with a clickable link received at least one click on four separate days with a range of one day (not a very popular tweet) to 23 days (home run!).
The optimal time between business tweets -- Again looking at the clicks per tweet, the optimal space between business tweets to attract the most clicks is either 31-60 minutes or 2-3 hours. Tightly packed tweets just don’t appear to attract as much attention as tweets with more space between them. I’m not certain what causes the dip in click activity for tweets between 61 and 120 minutes but I suspect it has to do with missing prime Twitter activity time on the East and West coasts (we may look into this in a later post).
The more we find, the more I wonder how well what we find will apply to other business Twitter users and how stable the results will be as Twitter becomes a more mainstream channel for business information. We need a lot more B2B marketers to dig into their social media metrics and share what they’re finding to help move the overall field forward.

You took a very methodical business approach to your planning process. What did think "success" would look like? And after you've been in it awhile has your view changed?

"Success" depends on what phase the initiative is in. During this initial phase our focus has been learning about the opportunities for social media as part of our overall marketing mix including things like:

> Can we find certain factors that are consistently related to audience growth and engagement?
> How easy is it to codify and teach these factors to others so we can scale up our initiatives?
> What would it require to scale blogging/micro-blogging to the point where these would have a tangible impact on our business?

The task for us during this first phase isn’t to hit a home run with a particular social media campaign. Instead, its to figure out if and where we should invest additional resources in two social media tactics – blogging and micro-blogging – relative to our other marketing programs. Success will look different in later phases where we’ll set more specific performance goals using the data from our learning phase.

You can read more about our approach in our Business.com social media case study.

Ideas for Writer's Blocked Bloggers

2009-07-28T07:46:00.000-04:00

Idea-Starters for Stuck Bloggers – Part One

By Mike Hyatt

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/07/13-idea-starters-for-stuck-bloggers.html

The dreaded “writer’s block” afflicts us all from time to time. I struggle with it almost weekly. Occasionally, I have an easy run of several days, when the ideas seem to flow effortlessly. But that is rare. Most weeks, I get stuck at least once or twice.
So what do I do? What can you do? Here are some idea-starters. I offer these up as possibilities for lighting a fire when your brain is damp:

Tell a personal story. This almost always works, because you harness the power of your own personal narrative. It is particularly good if it is dramatic, and you feel the freedom to be transparent. It is helpful if you can conclude with a lesson or two that you have learned. Example: “What Does This Make Possible?”

Describe a historical event. This is very similar to using a personal story. History is full of great stories. It’s one of the reasons why I am almost always reading a history book of some kind or a biography. Again, you can tell the story and distill the lessons. Example: “Two Things Great Leaders Must Do in Turbulent Times.”

Review a book, movie, or software program. This is a great way to share some of the resources you have found and why you liked them. It can also help your readers avoid products or experiences that were not so helpful. What are some of your favorite resources? Example: “Book Review: Same Kind of Different As Me.”

Comment on a powerful quote. I can’t read a book without underlining the passages that impress me. Occasionally, I go back and post the quotes that stand alone. Also, from time to time, I post the quote and that comment on why a particular quote was meaningful. Example: “Don’t Wake Up Dead.”

Let a great photograph inspire you. Behind every great photo is a story. You may know the story or you may not. Regardless, you can find one in the photo. Some of the best ones are posted on Flickr.com. You can use these in accordance with a Creative Commons License. Example: “Learning to Recognize Wow.”

Comment on something in the news. This can be something global or something that is specific to your industry. If you are a thought-leader—or trying to establish yourself as a thought-leader—this is a great way to do that. Example: “Why the Authors Guild Is Off Base About the Kindle 2.”

Report on an interesting conversation. I meets lots of interesting people. Some of them I meet at work; some of them I meet in my social life. Regardless, rarely a week goes by that I am not deeply stimulated by a conversation I have had. Why not blog on that? Example: “Twitter as a Leadership Tool.”

Seven Tips for Networking on Twitter

2009-07-27T09:02:00.002-04:00

As authors it is imperative to develop a consistent marketing strategy and faithfully execute it, over a long period of time. A strong Reader Base is built through many contacts, that construct a relationship between a writer and a reader. These contacts vary in style, intensity and cement a bond that lasts for decades.

Seven Tips for Networking on Twitter
June 17th, 2009 Author: TwitterWatchDog

http://twitterwatchdog.com/2009/06/17/7-tips-for-networking-on-twitter/

By Skeeter Hansen and Al Ferretti
We’ve been using Twitter for six months now and have met so many terrific, interesting and business savvy people.

On Twitter, you’re allowed 140 characters when sending a tweet. It may seem short, but you can get in quite a mouthful. No one ever said networking had to be a long drawn out novel, sometimes shorter is better. Don’t underestimate the power of short and quick replies because with the right words they can be very effective.

We have observed over the months that everyone uses Twitter for different reasons, but the majority of people who use it for networking don’t always know how to network effectively.

These 7 tips will show exactly how you can get the most out of your networking efforts on Twitter.

1. Start by using your real name on your profile, upload a real photo of yourself and fill out your bio. Your bio is about you and not your business. People want to know they are talking to a person. Your website link will take care of your business.

2. Follow people that interest you and who can help grow your business.
Follow quality people. People you can connect with is more important than the quantity of people you follow.

3. People want knowledge, information and resources. It’s always better to give first and then receive. I’m not saying you shouldn’t self-promote, but if the whole time you’re on Twitter and you’re just self-promoting, people aren’t going to care and will most likely un-follow you.

Note: Networking is about engaging, building relationships and
providing value. A person who only has self-promotion on their
mind is looked upon and labeled a spammer.

4. People like freebies and tips. Offer your best tips on working from home, on direct sales, web design, marketing and even Twitter tips. There are tips for everything so find something in your niche that you think would be valuable information. Throw in a few freebies as everyone loves something for free.

5. It’s important to engage in conversations with your new found “friends”. Don’t ignore their tweets. Use it to strike up conversations by asking a question or giving a compliment, as you will never know where these will lead.

6. If you read an interesting or newsworthy tweet, retweet it. This is a great way to say something if you can’t find anything to say. Retweeting a quote is a great way to help promote others, others will help to promote you.

7. Expect to spend some quality time and be consistent in your networking. Try to visit daily and the relationships will start to take shape. Enjoy and be yourself on Twitter and be respectful. Your reputation should always be guarded as you brand yourself.

A number of people don’t take networking seriously because they don’t know how to effectively network. There are many people who do know how and can show you the ropes or better yet take the time to learn and observe what others are doing.

Six Marketing Lessons From A Great Campaign

2009-07-25T10:08:00.002-04:00

Six Lessons From a Great Marketing Campaign

BY Rohit BhargavaMon

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/rohit-bhargava/influential-marketing/7-lessons-best-marketing-campaign-ever

Last month an unlikely underdog stunned the marketing world at the International Cannes Advertising Festival. At the show, a single marketing campaign took home a Grand Prix award in three categories simultaneously--direct, cyber and PR-- something that had never happened before in the 50+ year history of the show. Contrary to what you might expect, the unanimous winner of this unprecedented victory was not a Fortune50 brand with an advertising budget of millions, but a small Tourism board promoting a little known island off the Great Barrier Reef.

The winning campaign was called the "Best Job in the World" and was essentially a big online job search conducted through social media for a new "caretaker" for Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia. Done on a comparatively paltry marketing budget of just $1.7 million dollars and reliant on fortuitous PR and word of mouth, the campaign achieved stunning results, including over 34,000 video entries from applicants in 200 countries, and more than 7 million visitors to the site who generated nearly 500,000 votes.
Just two weeks ago on July 1, the winner of the competition--a 34-year-old British man named Ben Southall started blogging and touring around Queensland, finally bringing the competition to a close. For the next six months, he will be touring around Queensland, sharing his adventures through a video blog, writing, Twitter account and Flickr photos-- generating even more interest in Hamilton Island and all of Queensland in the process. The tangible results for the island are rolling in as well: Amway Australia chose it as the site of their upcoming annual conference, and domestic Aussie airline Virgin Blue just started flying a direct flight between Sydney and Hamilton Island, due to the rise in demand from travelers wanting to get to the island.
I realize that tourism and the travel industry may seem far removed from your business. Unfortunately, we don't all have the natural beauty of Hamilton Island to fall back on when starting our marketing campaigns. Still, a big part of the reason for the amazing success of this campaign was not what they were marketing, but how they used social media to do it. In that, there are some lessons anyone trying to promote a product or service could use:
1. Make it believable. Many marketing groups would never make a claim if they can't provide substantial evidence. How might Tourism Queensland prove that their job is the best in the world? They can't. But it is believable because it is a beautiful place and fits what many people's definition of a dream job might be.
2. It's not about how much you spend. One of the major benefits of smart public relations and social media is that it scales in a way that advertising typically doesn't. In other words, you don't have to pay more to get more. The real trick is to have something worthwhile to say that people can't help talking about. You need a good story.
3. Focus on content, not traffic. The typical marketing campaign focuses on traffic to some kind of site. For Tourism Queensland, the biggest payoff of this campaign was having over 34,000 videos on YouTube from people around the world talking about how much they love Queensland. Aggregate the views of all those videos, and multiply them over the long term and you'll start to understand the true impact of their campaign.
4. Create an inherent reason for people to share. Another element of this campaign that worked extremely well was the fact that there was voting enabled on the videos. What this meant was that after someone submitted their video, they had an incentive to share it with everyone in their social network online to try and get more votes.
5. Don't underestimate the power of content creators Most recent statistics point to some number between 1% and 10% of the user base of any social network are the active content creators. Though these percentages may seem small, the potential impact of some of these individuals are vast online. It could easily become the secret weapon for your next marketing campaign.
6. Give your promotion a shelf life. The best thing about this campaign may just be the content yet to come. Ben, the winner, just started blogging and sharing videos and photos, but the content is already engaging, high quality and inspires you to dream of making it to Queensland yourself. Over the next six months, his itinerary will take him across the state of Queensland and unlock many other unique opportunities. Best of all, this content will live on far beyond the time span of the campaign.

Why Agents Turn Down Good Projects - Part Three

2009-07-24T08:00:00.002-04:00

Why do Agents Turn Down Good Books?

We live in a time of publishing turmoil. One of the unusual bits of news that drifted back from the ICRS, (CBA) show is that some publishers are rolling back advances, dramatically. On top of reduced lists of new books, a one thousand dollar advance is rumored to be the new "standard."

Agents have to be careful. With new titles becoming more rare and more agents than ever before, the availability of income producing clients is restricted and money spent developing new titles, new authors, or new concepts is having to be restricted with it.

As with all market corrections, this one chock full of opportunity for an imaginative, creative and determined author. Mine this and every other source of advice for what pertains to you and your project. Develop a constancy of purpose, single minded and indefatigable about marketing your work and keep good records.

It all counts.

By
Anne Hawkins, Literary Agent
John Hawkins & Associates, Inc.

CREDENTIALS AND/OR PLATFORM: For certain types of non-fiction, an author needs relevant professional or academic credentials. For example, to write a credible diet book, it’s best that the author (or co-author) be a physician or a nutritionist with demonstrated knowledge and experience in the field. Agents know that publishers aren’t likely to go out on a limb with a book that can’t speak with some kind of authority.

“Platform” is a different animal. It’s usually defined as the existing audience that an author can bring to his book. Authors often develop their platforms through such vehicles as speaking engagements, syndicated columns in magazines or newspapers, media exposure, or a very strong internet presence. Platform is essential to selling some kinds of nonfiction. Without it, an agent will surely turn down the project, no matter how good it may be.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Weirdly enough, this situation comes up much more frequently than anyone would suppose. If a new author approaches an agent with a project that is uncannily similar to one she’s currently representing, the agent has to turn it down. There’s simply too great a chance for misunderstanding or possible legal action if one author suspects that his agent has discussed his ideas with a competitor. This is the kind of situation that can ruin an agent’s reputation, and no book is worth that.

SUITABILITY FOR AGENT/AGENCY: This is somewhat of an odd-ball issue, but it does happen. Once in a great while, an agent will have to turn down a project simply because representing it could cause hard feelings among her established clients or publishing contacts. To use an extreme and fictitious example, let’s say that an agent does a lot of business in the Christian publishing market. She’d be hard pressed to take on a book with raunchy or irreverent content that would be deeply offensive to the authors and editors with whom she works every day. Most of the time, agents are pretty eclectic in the projects that they choose -- and authors and editors accept that -- but there are some lines that just can’t be crossed.

Good books draw rejections for a variety of reasons, and many of these reasons have nothing to do with the quality of the work. I know for a fact that I have has turned down books that other agents subsequently took on and sold. Then again, I’ve had some major successes with books that quite a number of my colleagues had previously rejected. If a book is truly outstanding, it’s only a matter of time until the right agent steps up to the plate and offers to represent it. Don’t give up too soon!

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-do-good-agents-turn-down-good-books.html

In Just a Moment

2009-07-23T09:55:00.006-04:00

"In just a moment this wedding will be over and your marriage will begin..."

Officiating at weddings is one of the most fulfilling parts of being a pastor. Being there to help get a new family started is kind of like delivering a baby, (which I did one night back when I was a police officer in NY). You are honored enough by the couple to be invited to share in their intimate moment with God when they turn their backs on the past, slip on those rings and create something new and beautiful.

One of the best things about performing weddings is standing at the front and seeing a father walking a daughter down the aisle. For those brides who have no father, or have one who won't or can't walk them down, it is fun to see how they adapt. One had her mother and sisters walk with her. One had her favorite aunt as her escort. Some walk alone, smiling, crying, laughing, or simply so proud to meet their intended at the altar, that nothing else mattered.

There were those couples who smile as if every light in the hall exploded into brilliance. Especially when they slip their rings on the finger of their forever loved one. That is the moment when I think the purpose of the wedding is fully accomplished.

There are those who are so devoted to each other that they barely know the rest of us are present. Then there are those weddings when a learning disabled child participates, even though participating takes them to the uttermost limits of their ability.

A father with a 15 year old special needs child asked me if his son could stand with him at the wedding. His special need often caused him to act out and the groom feared that might cause me to decline.

During the wedding, the young man started to pace in a circle around the wedding party. He made no noise and it didn't detract from the celebration. In fact, I thought it was quite charming and when this little man circle past me again, I reached out and collected him under my free arm, pointing to my place in the ritual of marriage book and asked him to help me stay on the right line.

He pointed to the page but no where near our place and kept his finger there until we were finished. After the new couple had processed out, his aunt walked up and took him along to the reception.

It was a moment when ordinary becomes eternally beautiful.

This little man, wanting to be with his daddy, tried all he could to behave but didn't quite make it and no one noticed. He was part of a beautiful and loving celebration with his daddy and all was good in his world and mine.

May your life be filled with beauty and joy, celebrations of love and memories that make you laugh and cry, today and forevermore...

Peace be the Journey...

Why do Agents Turn Down Good Books? Part II

2009-07-23T09:35:00.000-04:00

Why Do Agents Turn Down Good Books? Part II

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-do-good-agents-turn-down-good-books.html

By
Anne Hawkins, Literary Agent
John Hawkins & Associates, Inc.

Anne Hawkins is an agent with John Hawkins & Associates, which was founded as Paul Reynolds Literary Agency in 1893, and makes it the first literary agency founded in America.

Anne is not only a highly respected, and beloved agent with a list of best-selling authors in her stable. She is a consummate professional with impeccable instincts, a devoted advocate for her authors, but she’s also a blind hoot. It is with great pleasure that I welcome Anne here as my guest on The Kill Zone.

EDITORIAL CONTACTS: To put it bluntly, if an agent doesn’t know the right editors for a book, she has no business representing it. From time to time, every agent reads a wonderful project that she has no clue how to place. Believe me, she’s doing the author a favor by declining.

Here’s why. As a general rule, an agent can submit a project to a particular publishing imprint once -- and only once. If the original editor declines, it’s very difficult to get another editor at that house to reconsider the book. Obviously, the key is to get the submission into the hands of the right editor the first time around, since you usually don’t get second chances.

SUITABILITY TO GENRE: Some kinds of books have specific conventions as to format, word count, style, content, etc. If a book strays too far, it may be unsalable – no matter how good it is. Of course, authors can cheat this unhappy fate by doing some homework on the particular requirements of their chosen genres.

Mixed genre books are another dicey situation, since an agent or publisher needs to feel that there is a definable market for a particular book. When an agent reads a book that is “kinda mystery, sorta horror, with strong romance and science fiction elements,” she’s going to wonder just who the audience might be. Projects like this have a history of falling through the cracks in the marketplace, so an agent will have to think long and hard about her chances of placing it.

LENGTH: A related subject is the matter of length, or word count. For adult fiction, most books range from around 70,000 to 130,000 words in length. There are exceptions of course, but very short or very long novels can be problematic to sell because of pricing, production, and distribution issues. In the case of books for children and young adults, the length must be appropriate for the targeted age group. There’s a bit more leeway for certain kinds of non-fiction, but even there inappropriate length can be a deal-breaker.

AUTHOR: Generally speaking, an agent takes on an author and his project because she is interested helping him build a long-term career. This is almost invariably true for fiction, where the name of the game is to increase readership over the course of many books. Agents may shy away from a novelist whom they believe to be a “one book wonder” because of the enormous investment of time and energy for only a single book. (This is not necessarily true in non-fiction, where one-off books, such as celebrity biographies, are more common and can be quite profitable.)

It goes without saying that if an agent has reason to suspect that an author might be the “client from hell,” she’ll have to carefully consider whether representation is worth the hassle. Then again, everybody’s different, and what’s poison to one agent may be ambrosia to another.

Why Do Agents Turn Down Good Books? Part One

2009-07-22T17:10:00.002-04:00

Why do Agents Turn Down Good Books?

With so many of our members concerned with the issues relating to Agents, I thought it would be a good thing to remind ourselves of the way Agents see these things from the other side of the table. I regularly read several Agent Blogs, to try and keep current with their ever changing thinking.

I'll blog this in several parts to cut down on size and hope that we get a good conversation going about it.

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-do-good-agents-turn-down-good-books.html

By Anne Hawkins, Literary Agent
John Hawkins & Associates, Inc.

Anne Hawkins is an agent with John Hawkins & Associates, which was founded as Paul Reynolds Literary Agency in 1893, and makes it the first literary agency founded in America.

Anne is not only a highly respected, and beloved agent with a list of best-selling authors in her stable. She is a consummate professional with impeccable instincts, a devoted advocate for her authors, but she’s also a blind hoot. It is with great pleasure that I welcome Anne here as my guest on The Kill Zone.

Rejecting authors’ projects is one of the least pleasant aspects of my job. It’s no fun to feel that I’ve ruined someone’s day, even though I always try to be gentle and courteous. How much nicer it is to call or e-mail and say, “I love what I’ve read. Please send more.”

Of course, the most common reason for rejection is a perceived lack of quality, a natural reaction to a misbegotten query letter or sloppy sample pages. Sometimes, however, I have to turn down projects that are actually quite good. Subjective judgment plays a large role in that sort of decision, but so do other business considerations. Let’s take a look at some of the factors that influence an agent’s choice of books for representation.

PERSONAL TASTE: A literary agent sinks or swims professionally because of her taste in books. This taste impacts the kinds of books she represents (her list), her contacts among editors and publishers, and ultimately her success in the business. Good agents learn to trust their taste and only represent projects that inspire them, because those are the books they’re likely to sell.

Most of us concentrate on the areas we enjoy and where we consequently have the greatest knowledge and expertise. If we don’t “get” it, we don’t handle it. You may be the next Dr. Seuss, but if the agent you query doesn’t fancy children’s books, she’ll almost certainly turn you down.

Authors can minimize this kind of turn-down by researching the kinds of books each agent does represent. Jeff Herman’s GUIDE TO EDITORS, PUBLISHERS, AND LITERARY AGENTS (most recent edition) is the premier print resource, since each listed agent states specifically the sorts of books she does and does not handle. Some of the best on-line resources are the searchable databases on Authorlink.com, Publishers Marketplace.com, and the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) website. Sad to say, certain other writer-friendly sites perpetuate information is that is either out of date or downright wrong. (One has me listed as a top agent for horror fiction, even though I have never represented a single book in the genre.) There is good information on the internet, but do yourself a favor and cross-reference. Don’t rely on any single source.

PASSION: For me to take on a new book by a new author, especially a novel, I simply have to love it. It’s not enough to “like” it or “admire” it or consider it “salable”. We’re talking about real passion here. Even at the very beginning of the submission process, editors can sense when the agent is on fire about a book -- and the feeling is contagious. Chances are, that’s the book the editor will choose to read first. Later on after the sale, down the long, bumpy road to publication, an agent needs this kind of wild enthusiasm to continue to be a strong and persuasive advocate for the author and his work. “Lukewarm” just won’t go the distance.

KNOWLEDGE OF MARKET: An agent needs to keep track of the markets for the kinds of books she represents. This knowledge may be as general as the track record of an entire genre or as specific as one publisher’s immediate needs. In short, agents need to know what’s hot -- what’s not -- and who’s looking for what. Market factors are a huge topic, so here are just a few examples:

Publishing is in the business of selling books, lots of books. If an agent wants to place a book with a major publisher, she has to believe that book has the potential to attract a substantial number of readers. If she judges that its market is too small or too specific, she’ll most likely decline.

The existence of a recent, successfully published book (or books) can make a similar project extremely hard to sell. Even if your book is better, somebody has beaten you to the punch. The concept is no longer “new news.” This is particularly true for non- fiction, but it applies to novels as well. If the market appears saturated with a certain kind of book, an agent will be reluctant to take on a new project in that category, knowing that her chances of placing it are slim.

Sometimes, an agent will know that the market for an entire genre is on the decline, so she’ll be hesitant to take on any book of that sort. At other times, a market will be on an upswing, so she’ll be champing at the bit to land an author in that genre. Historical fiction, for example, was a tough sell for many years. Recently, however, its popularity has surged to the point that agents who wouldn’t have touched the genre five years ago are now actively looking for it.

Facebook Tips

2009-07-21T08:39:00.002-04:00

Four Facebook Tips – See What Others are Doing

Non-profits have discovered how to use facebook to promote their cause, by promoting a community. Much of what applies to getting the message out for non-profit organizations can be applicable to our cause. As in every form of advice. Use what you can and learn from the rest.

Courtesy of Frank Barry, Moderator of NetWits Think Tank

Facebook is an ever growing force in the internet space and it looks like it will be for a while. With 200 Million users (and growing) it’s hard to ague otherwise.
Facebook is also a great tool for nonprofits. It’s free, it gives you an immediate way to build a tribe and engage people in online community. Facebook also gives others the ability to share their affinity to you with their friends, family and co-workers. That said, you can’t just throw up a page and expect to be successful. You have to be thoughtful, strategic and knowledgeable. Four tips to help you get started.

1. Create a Page not a Group or Cause

Facebook pages give you a ton of great features that Groups and Causes do not. There is a place for each of the Facebook page types, but the generic “Facebook page” is the place to start. Here are a few reasons why:

• You get a friendly URL like
http://www.facebook.com/your-nonprofit-name-here

• People can find you via Google. More people can find out about your Nonprofit because your Facebook Page gets indexed and is searchable inside and outside (i.e. Google) of Facebook. Which also means you can boost your search engine rankings (SEO).

• No limit on the number of people who can express their support for your nonprofit by becoming your fan

• Pages Have Access to Users’ Feeds - When Facebook users become a “fan” of your nonprofit page, they will be notified of your status updates every time you make one! Then they can comment, share and/or like your wall posts which then shares it with all their friends – now that’s viral.

• Communicate with your fans regularly just to stay in touch or with special news, offers and information.

• All the great features of Facebook are available - writing on the Wall, uploading photos, and joining discussion groups.

• Add applications to your Page and engage your users with videos (YouTube Box), photos (Flickr Box) reviews, flash content, and more.

• Integrate your blog/web site content via Blog RSS Feed Reader
Examples of Great Nonprofit Facebook Pages:

• Lance Armstrong Foundation

• Stand up 2 Cancer

• Prostate Cancer Foundation – Athletes for a Cure

• Red Cross Fan Page

• One Campaign

• Stanford University

• Athletes for a Cure (read about their social media strategy)

Excited to get started ... Create a page here

2. Participate and be a community like the Lance Armstrong Foundation
Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is doing a great job participating and building community with their Facebook page. If you take a look at their page you’ll notice that there are hundreds if not thousands of people interacting there (I’ve added an image to the right – notice the red box towards the bottom). It’s not just LAF “shouting out” or broadcasting to their fans. As a matter of fact you’ll notice that the LIVESTRONG representative is talking with the people, sharing things, commenting, liking wall posts and more. They are fully interacting.

So what’s that mean for you?

• Be active daily. Share news, video, photos, stories and what ever else makes sense for your organization.

• Engage with your fans. Comment on their wall posts. Like things they share.

Help people connect with others.

3. Get folks to engage with you in more than one way like the ONE Campaign

Check out the ONE Campaign Facebook page. Did you see that? They set up their page
to go to a custom tab where they show people how to engage with them beyond Facebook. They do this with compelling imagery, a simple form and the ability to get to their main web site. Very nice!

Why is this important? Because we know that email is still a HUGE way people like to be communicated with. According to the “eNonprofit Benchmarks Study” done by NTEN (shout out to Holly Ross) email is still the “killer app” that reaches the most people. Open rates and click-throughs are holding steady.

We also know that having a ‘home base’ is vital to internet longevity. Facebook is an outpost, but your main web site should provide people with added value and ways to connect with your organization.

4. Stats, stats, stats …

Facebook Pages give you stats!! Awesome, I know. Administrators have the ability to see how well their wall posts and content are engaging people through the recently updated “Insight Portal”. You may be thinking “why do stats matter?”
As I discussed in a recent post (see 4 Keys to Building a Successful Nonprofit Web Site) stats are key to helping you improve your web site or in this case your Facebook page. By understanding your activity and performance, fan response, trends and comparisons, you are better equipped to improve your presence on Facebook.

Actually, this data will likely help you improve your overall web efforts! Use the stats to gain valuable insight into what your constituents like, what type of content they interact with the most, what they tend to share with their friends and, maybe most importantly, what they don’t like.

See a sample of what the stats look like here

What is measured you ask?

• User exposure- Actions and overall behavior relating to your Facebook Page.
• Total Interactions - The total interactions metric captures all of the feedback Pages receive from Facebook users. Including media consumption and interactions per post, as well as the number of fans who have hidden you from their stream.

• This number measures the aggregate count of Wall posts, Likes, Discussion posts and comments on any content such as photos, videos, notes or links in the past 7 days.

• The goal of the metric is to provide an updated snapshot into how fans are engaging with your Page’s content.

• Demographic Information - The locale breakdown and demographic information offers you access to detailed data about your fan base in an effective way that isn’t available on any other site.

• Post Quality Score - One of the most important new metrics to pay attention to is your post quality score. That score measures how engaging your posts have been to users in the last 7 days. Posts that generate a high number of interactions (such as comments or Likes) per fan will improve the post quality score. Posts that do not draw interactions from fans will lower the post quality score.

Facebook offers many more great features, but I believe these are critical for nonprofit success on Facebook. If you don’t get these things right chances are you will have less of an impact on the community of people you are trying to engage and impact.

More Facebook Resources can be found here: http://www.netwitsthinktank.com/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=ifINKZOzFmG&b=4487123&content_id={EA4438F2-2529-4379-8A32-16EBD5D5BF90}¬oc=1

Eight Ideas to Improve Your Blog

2009-07-20T08:38:00.001-04:00

Blog Tips from Tim Ferris

Mike Hyatt, on his blog, featured Tim Ferris with blogging tips. Since so many of us are searching for the right mix of communication, education, humor and personal touch, I thought it was a good time to enjoy Tim’s ideas.

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/07/8-blog-tips-from-tim-ferriss.html

One of my favorite bloggers is Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek. His book has been on the New York Times Bestsellers list for almost two years. His blog is one of the most-read on the Internet. Tim has become famous for challenging the status quo.
Recently, he posted a video of his presentation at WordCamp San Francisco, a conference for WordPress bloggers. Though I don’t endorse everything he recommends—and am still mulling some of it over—I found his blog tips compelling and stimulating.
As I listened to him, I jotted down eight key insights. (These are my words not his.)
Write about what you are passionate about. Don’t pay too much attention to what your readers say they want. As it turns out, people are quite bad at predicting what they like. Typically, what works best—and generates the most traffic—is the stuff that is written out of deeply-felt convictions or emotion. If you can’t seem to get the creative juices flowing, start with anger. What makes you mad?

Be careful about how you allocate digital real estate. Obviously, people will eventually leave your site. However, you don’t want them to become distracted and leave prematurely. This is particularly true for first-time visitors. Instead, you want to pull them deeper into your site to explore your other content. Because of this, you probably don’t want to include your Twitter feed above the fold.

Don’t display the post date at the top of the post. Why? Because people place a higher value on newer posts and tend to discount the older ones. This is unfortunate—for them and for you. Unless you are running a news blog, most of your posts are still relevant and valuable. Move the date from the top of the post to the bottom. (If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog, you can modify this in your theme’s single.php file.) You can leave the date above the title on your home page, just not the single post pages.

Test everything and listen to the numbers. There is no shortage of blogging advice on the Internet. But beware of conventional wisdom. Just when you think you have it figured out, you don’t. The web is dynamic and things are constantly changing. What works last year—or last month—may not work now. The only way to know is to test and keep testing. Tim recommends a site called CrazyEggs.com that enables you to see, for example, where your users are clicking on your home page.

Optimize your posts for SEO. Forget about this when writing the first draft. It will make your writing seem forced and artificial. However, once you are satisfied with your post, run some of your key phrases through Google Keyword Tool to see which have the highest Global Monthly Search Volume. If you can use more highly-ranked synonyms without compromising your meaning, do so. That way, more people will be able to discover your post via Google.

Practice zero tolerance for negative comments. There is already too much negativity in the world. You have no obligation to provide an audience for snarky people with too much time on their hands. Your blog is like your living room. You are inviting people to come in and have a civil conversation. If they are rude are abusive, show them the door. Make your blog comments policy prominent, so people know the rules before they comment.

Keep it fun so that you stay engaged. If it is not fun for you as a blogger, you will post less frequently—or not at all. If you stop posting, that’s the end of your blog. So it’s better to write something, even if it is off-topic or silly, than to write nothing at all. Tim gave an example of a post he did called, “How to Peel Hard-boiled Eggs Without Peeling.”

Break the rules. Don’t listen to people who are not paying you to blog. Nothing is sacred. Experiment. If it sounds like a good idea, try it—then measure the results. If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn’t, try something else.

Encouraging and Equipping Children Who Love to Write

2009-07-18T09:37:00.001-04:00

Write Like Crazy has a bit about encouraging and directing your children who like to write. It’s full of good advice.

Maybe we should try to add to it. Kids who write are going to take publishing to heights we haven’t even begun to imagine. As a group, wouldn’t it be fun to add methods, ideas, suggestions about how we can help our youth become better writers?

http://writelikecrazy.wordpress.com

Does your character seem flat?

Think of your favorite books. What makes those books so memorable to you? I’ll bet it’s the characters.
Select the main character from one of your favorite books and answer the following. Even if the author doesn’t mention these specifics in the book, if the character is well-written, you should be able to guess at the answers:
1. If the character had free time on their hands, what would they most likely be doing?
2. If confronted by a bully, how would this character react?
3. What is this character’s favorite subject in school? Favorite band? Favorite TV show? Best friend?
How did you find the information listed above? Was it written into the story? Or maybe, the character’s traits, personality and unique quirks were so specific, you could make your own conclusions. This is a well-written character.
So, when you’re writing your own short stories or novels, how do you create memorable, realistic characters? In a first draft, your characters may seem lifeless and flat. Not sure? Test it out:
First, give your story to someone else to read. Then, give them the list of questions above and see if they can come up with the correct answers. If they’re stuck, so are you. Your character needs more life, more details to flesh him out.
Come back all this week to get tips on “fleshing out” your characters. Already have tips that would help others? Share them here!
Since we’re discussing characters, let’s write wacky characteristics and discuss how you can “show” not “tell” through writing.
Example #1: Minor Character has a nervous twitch when he walks.
Don’t say:
Billy has this weird twitch when he walks.
Instead, say:
Billy lagged behind the others. He was careful to pretend he had stumbled if anyone noticed that his left leg swung out at an awkward angle when he walked.
Example #2: Main character has a unique fashion sense.
Don’t say:
Melody liked to dress in mismatching clothes to get attention.
Instead, try:
All eyes turned when Melody entered the cafeteria in her purple leopard printed leggings, orange turtleneck and red gingham jacket.
Your turn! Write a before and after of a character describing a wacky characteristic or trait. And don’t be selfish with your creations – share them here!
Advice for Developing a Character:
• Start with what matters to you about your character: Is he or she like you? Like someone you know?
• Put together a character so that all the parts fit together: Do these different things make sense within one person? Do they fit together in a believable way? Are these traits here for a reason?
• Explain any general descriptions of your character: What exactly does this description mean for this particular character?
• If a character seems too good to be true, make it more human: What is the downside of this trait? (too nice, too giving, etc.) How does this characteristic help and hurt the character?
• Know your character’s motivations (longings) and struggles.

In Regards to Online Posting

2009-07-17T08:41:00.002-04:00

Writers write. It's what we do. Jane at Writer's Digest talks about the balance between careful and careless in regards to online content.

Are You Needlessly Worrying About Your Work Getting TOO MUCH Exposure?
Posted by Jane at Writer's Digest

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/CategoryView,category,MarketingSelfPromotion.aspx

As writers become more and more comfortable with online media, I receive more and more questions like this:
• If I post my work on my own site, will anyone be willing to consider it for print publication?
• How much of my novel can I post online before a publisher won't take it any more?
• Do I lose rights to my work if it's posted on XYZ site?
Here are key points to remember.

1. First things first: You own the copyright and all rights to your work when you post it online, unless you specifically agree otherwise. It may be easier to steal when it's online, but you still own it.

2. Always check the terms of service when regularly posting content to any site. If you're posting your work on major sites like Authonomy, WeBook, etc., you really have nothing to worry about. In such cases, you're not relinquishing any exclusive or vital rights to your work by posting it. (If someone knows of exceptions, please note in the comments.)

However, there may be an implicit agreement—by very fact of you using a website—that the site owner has nonexclusive right to use the content in a limited (or expansive) way. Such use is usually justified or reasonable, and sometimes it might profit the site owner. You need to decide what you're comfortable with and if the trade-offs are worth it. I have yet to see an agreement that is unethical or not upfront.

For example, here is Amazon's language governing book review content, which you agree to when using their site:

If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Amazon for all claims resulting from content you supply. Amazon has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content. Amazon takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.

This basically means that while you retain rights to your work, Amazon has the right do whatever it pleases as well. The key is the word "nonexclusive." If Amazon decided to publish a collection of the most elegant book reviews ever written, and used your material, they would not owe you any money or need to ask your permission, though of course it would be considered good practice and common courtesy to notify you.

3. If your work doesn't have a lot of commercial value, who cares? Here is where I have to be completely insensitive and say bluntly: Writers are overly worried about work that is not commercially valuable. Many things that people post online, whether on their own sites or elsewhere, are online precisely because there isn't a commercial value attached. So, when you post your work without compensation, there is an essential value statement made that, right now, you're valuing exposure (or service or community) more than payment. Or that you're marketing and promoting yourself, your brand, or a work that does have commercial value.

4. That said, the value of your work CAN change or be discovered later—which only opens up the commercial value and potential of your work. Remember that online exposure and online media are not the same as print exposure and print media. They are usually written and edited differently, presented differently, marketed differently, and read differently. The online audience is not 100% the same as the print audience (and sometimes not even 10% the same!).

Think of it this way: If you participated in a poetry slam and became wildly successful as a poet-entertainer, with thousands of followers, would that detract from your ability to publish books of your poetry? No, in fact, it would help make the case for print publication. Would a presentation of your poems online, in a way that gathered 10,000 unique visitors every day, detract from the sales of a beautiful physical chapbook? Of course not. It would help.

For the most part, online and print are complimentary—they are not competitive. Any book publisher who refuses to consider a work that has been successfully published digitally or online or in a multimedia format has not caught up with the times. Magazine and newspapers are a little different, but if they become a fan of your online work, most likely they will ask you to produce an original work for print publication.

5. You're always producing more work, right? Don't hold on so tightly to each piece of work that you're not focusing on new production.

Yes, even I hang onto my creative writing from senior year in high school, and have a catalog of all the places my work has appeared over the years (online and in print, often without pay), but even if a third party is profiting off my work online, that work has no commercial value to me anymore. I'm producing better stuff now. Plus the old work serves to offer additional exposure, little guideposts leading people to the more recent work.

Key takeaway: Just because your work is "published" when it appears online doesn't mean you've destroyed its market value. That's a very old-school way of viewing the value of content—a viewpoint that's based on decades of print publication tradition, when whoever had the "first" rights to print publication had the "best" rights, and paid the most.

If you haven't noticed, things have changed.

P.S. ... and a final word on theft: Stop worrying. When writing becomes a lucrative profession and when demand for writing far outstrips supply, then maybe we can discuss. In the meantime, feel flattered that someone thought your work was good enough they wanted to bother taking the time and effort to market, promote, pitch, and/or publish it themselves.

Who Are You... and So What? Developing Your Platform, Your Brand and Your Identity

2009-07-16T09:33:00.005-04:00

When you finish writing a sermon you are taught to ask yourself, "So What?"

Jesus is Alive and Coming Back! So What? What difference does that make to those who heard that sermon? You must have a "so what" or writing is an empty exercise.

The same is true when discovering, building and nurturing your brand. Your writing is a part of your identity. A big part. Just like any part of your brand, it needs careful development and grooming.

Writer's Digest posted a great article on that subject, recently and I find it carries some important branding information about Who You Are, and So What.

The Hardest Part About Developing Platform - Who Are You Anyway?
by Jane... from Writer’s Digest

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/CategoryView,category,MarketingSelfPromotion.aspx

The hardest part about developing a platform is deciding what you're all about. In business terms, it would be considered your unique selling proposition (USP).

Identifying this USP—or your reason for being!—involves deep self-knowledge, an understanding of what you want out of life, and how that interrelates with what other people need and enjoy.

It boils down to 3 questions:
• What are you passionate about?
• Who's your audience?
• What are your strengths?

What are you passionate about?
What's the unique content, authentic experience, or remarkable work you would undertake even if you weren't paid for it? What motivates you to get up in the morning?

Who's your audience?
What are the needs of your audience? How do they want to be approached? What kinds of appeals are they most receptive to? Where can they be found?

What are your strengths?
When are you strongest in interacting and reaching and serving? What formats or mediums are a good fit for you—and match your passion? When is your content/service/product at its best? (Example of bad fit: Your passion for the cave dwelling Luddite movement combined with your Twitter marketing strength.)

What you're looking for is that moment of peak experience, when who you are and what you're passionate about and how it is expressed or manifested all comes together to create a compelling experience that your audience needs and loves.

Think about times when you've experienced peak performance, the times when you felt you were in your absolute element, better than anyone else in the world at what you were doing in that moment. You felt happy, fulfilled, relaxed, joyful. Some people call it "flow."

That's the seed of your platform.

ICRS Attendance Down 20% Over 2008

2009-07-15T20:04:00.003-04:00

CBA is coming into the final day of it's premier event with disappointing attendance and ever shrinking sales.

http://www.cbanews.org/article.php?id=352

The International Christian Retail Show 2009 Attracts Retailers and Suppliers From 56 Countries.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (July 15, 2009) CBA, the Association for Christian Retail, wrapped up its 60th annual convention in Denver, Colorado, Wednesday. Final attendance figures have Professional Attendees (non-exhibitor personnel) at 1,903, down 20% from 2008. International attendees numbered 534, down 28% from last year, with 56 countries represented at the Show.

The 60th Show opened with a strong spiritual tone set at the beginning with the Worship Now event and continued throughout the duration of the Show. Evidence of a growing desire within the industry to be more intentionally focused on Christ, reliant on prayer, and united together to do the work He’s called us to do was seen and commented on throughout the event.

“In light of the economy and its effects over the past 10 months, we approached this Show with conservative expectations,” said CBA President-CEO Bill Anderson. “We’ve observed in this economic downturn most trade shows are down 30-40% in attendance. We rallied the exhibitors and we’re pleased that a total of 79 responded in providing retailer attendees with clear benefits available only at the Show, cumulatively amassing more than $11,000 in potential savings – offering a tipping point for some retailers. I’m very pleased with the attendance results. While we knew attendance would be down some, I’m satisfied with a strong turnout and the enthusiasm and positive tone throughout the event by both retailers and suppliers.”

Next year’s International Christian Retail Show will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, June 27-30, 2010.

Why Thomas Nelson Doesn't Attend ICRS

2009-07-15T08:45:00.002-04:00

Why Thomas Nelson Doesn’t Attend Trade Shows

Mike Hyatt, Publisher at Thomas Nelson Publishing, the premier Christian publisher in the world, shares some of the rationale behind Nelson’s Decision to stop exhibiting at the Christian Booksellers Convention, which was renamed, ICRC: International Christian Retailers Convention.

The organization has stood guard while the industry dwindled, for the last 25 years, finally having to admit things needed a change, and all they could come up with was a non-event, name / initials swap.

The CBA International Convention was the penultimate event, for decades. You simply HAD to be there. Then the organization began to cater to the very people who would put it virtually out of business and continued to follow that agonizingly painful trail, to the bitter end. Now the marquee publisher simply skips it and the industry wonders why.

Mike share a little about his decision, here:

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/07/why-thomas-nelson-doesn%E2%80%99t-attend-trade-shows.html#more-2656

In the last two weeks, several people have asked to meet with me at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) being held in Denver, July 12–15, 2009. I have had to tell them that Thomas Nelson is not exhibiting this year. We also didn’t exhibit last year. Some have asked why.

Historically, trade shows have played an important role in publishing and bookselling. I have attended scores of them and have very fond memories of connecting with customers, authors, and the media. But the market has changed. Dramatically. We simply cannot justify the enormous costs associated with these trade shows—especially in this tough economy.

I originally wrote about this when we decided not to exhibit last year at either BookExpo America or ICRS. Last week, someone in the media asked me if I had any regrets about this decision. Without hesitation, I said, “None.” Why?

I believe there are better ways to connect with our key customers in a way that is more meaningful to them and to us. Trade shows made sense when the industry was more fragmented. It was one of the few ways to connect face-to-face with retailers. But things have changed. The industry is largely consolidated.

Because of this, we meet face-to-face with our top 600 or so customers in Christian retail channel at least four times a year. These customers account for 95% of our revenue in this channel. Our telephone reps call on another 600 customers. These account for an additional 3% of our business. So that only leaves the stores that account for 2% of our total volume in this channel. We simply cannot justify the enormous expense of a trade show to reach these 2%. It’s not cost-effective for us. The same could be said of the general market as well.

We will continue to send a handful of our staff members to ICRS. (We are members of CBA, the association for Christian retail and the sponsor.) There is still value in networking on foreign rights, international, and remainders accounts. We just won’t exhibit.

I am not suggesting that this strategy is right for every publisher. For some, it may make great sense. It just doesn’t work for us.

Christian Fiction Sales booming - So to Speak

2009-07-14T09:27:00.004-04:00

The International Christian Retail Show, which for many years was called CBA International, is going on in Denver as we speak, or read, as the case may be. The industry news is often predictable and sometimes manufactured, bu this little tidbit jumped out at me, this AM.

Christian Fiction Sales Booming- Sort Of
Posted by admin on Jul 14, 2009

http://www.christianpublishingtips.com/?p=197

to subscibe:
http://www.christianpublishingtips.com/feed

This week many from the Christian publishing industry are gathered in Denver, Colorado for the International Christian Retail Show. The convention includes great networking opportunities and educational opportunities through seminars. A recent seminar looked at Christian fiction sales which have exploded over the last three decades.

Christian fiction was born as a genre in 1979 with Janette Oke’s book Love Comes Softly. From 1980 to 2000 fiction sales quadrupled to $4 billion in Christian bookstores. Pretty soon mainstream retailers like Wal-mart and Barnes and Noble realized they needed to start carrying Christian fiction. So who’s buying all of these Christian fiction books?

* 72% of Christian fiction is purchased by women

* 41% of those buying Christian fiction make less than 35,000 a year

* Active Christians purchase 53% of the titles

While the Christian fiction marketplace is booming it still only makes up 5% of the overall fiction market. And while online sales are growing, in-store buying is still the preferred method with 61% buying in stores and 27% buying online.

Personal recommendations are a big factor when buyers are deciding which books to buy Seventeen percent of people buy books based on online sources including book reviews, online advertisements, email from the retailer or based on the author’s website.

The Importance of Your Name in Personal Branding

2009-07-13T00:12:00.003-04:00

The Most Important Piece In Personal Branding

It came up quite by accident. In a discussion on a web board, I commented on how vital it is to display your name in the title of your blog. If people have to search, or guess who your are, 75% won't bother.

An author is their name, more than their work. Putting it out there to become top of mind, is your objective, as you build the brand and separate yourself from the field.

Jacob Share talks about it more:

Your Name
By: Jacob Share
In People, Personal Branding

http://personalbrandingblog.com/the-most-unexploited-tool-in-personal-branding-your-name/

The largest words on any resume should be your name. As the text that will be seen and repeated the most throughout life, what can you do to make your name leave a positive impression?

First, some terminology.

There are 2 kinds of names:

Anthroponyms - literally meaning ‘human name’, an anthroponym is any real name that can be given to a human being such as given names, surnames, nicknames, etc.

Pseudonyms - The opposite of “anthroponym”, it means ‘false name’ in Latin. There are many good reasons for people to use false names without being a James Bond-esque spy as you’ll see.

Both anthroponyms and pseudonyms can be used as personal brand names.

What is a personal brand name?

If a brand name is a word or group of words that communicate ideas about a subject, then a personal brand name is a word or group of words that communicate ideas about a person.

For most people, that group of words is simply their birth name. If your birth name is Barack Hussein Obama Jr. that might be good enough, but there are some cases where an improvement is desperately needed.

Personal brand name nightmares

Having the same name as someone famous - Albert Brooks was actually born Albert Lawrence Einstein. Now a famous Hollywood actor, he changed his last name to avoid confusion with the Albert Einstein that the whole world already knows about.

Having the same name as someone who’s infamous - As Steven Moody wrote to Penelope Trunk, “I am trying to get to the top of Google searches for my name, but competing with a Death Row inmate in TX and a con artist in Utah is proving difficult.”

Having the same name as someone not famous, but still being found ahead of you online - even with his own blog and solid web presence, Ryan Healy is still finding it a challenge to be found first in search results on his name.

Having a name that’s also used regularly as a pseudonym - In the US, John Doe and Jane Doe are names that police officers use for unidentified bodies but if you search Facebook, there are many live Jane Does.

If you’re living a personal brand name nightmare or just looking for ideas to improve your personal brand name, there are more options than you might think. To fully understand those options, let’s take a look at how names convey meaning.

Ways that personal names share meaning
Names that are words or sound like them - the most obvious case, when part of a name seems to have literal meaning or actually does. Examples: George Bush, Danielle Steele.

Single names - this only works when someone is so famous that the context makes it clear who’s being referred to. Examples: Madonna, Elvis.

Titles - used to indicate special status. Examples: Sir, Doctor, Prince of Wales.

Historical names - the classic example would be biblical names; aside from having a meaning in Hebrew, these usually indicate a Christian/Jewish background.
Examples: Sarah, David.

Ethnic names - names like Fernandez, Goldberg or Wu can give an idea of a person’s origins.

Patronyms & matronyms - many cultures used to express names through who the parents were. Examples: Wilson, Carlson.

Hyphenated family names - these typically mean that a woman in the family decided not to take her husband’s name at marriage time. Example: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Maddox Jolie-Pitt.

Senior/Junior - a way of distinguishing a son from a father with the same name, the ‘Jr.’ often gets dropped later in life or when there’s no longer a risk of confusing father and son. Example: Martin Luther King.

Roman numerals - typically associated with royalty, aristocracy or wealth, roman numerals can make someone appear aloof or even silly if the person doesn’t fits the association.

But how can you use these possibilities for your own personal brand name?

4 ways to improve your personal brand with your name

1. Capitalize on existing meanings - use an etymology dictionary to fully understand what your name means and then harmonize that definition with the personal brand you’ve chosen for yourself. This works best when your name’s meaning is easy to grasp i.e. no etymology dictionary is needed, but don’t let that limit you if your name has a story to tell.

2. Use a nickname - everyone knows who Joe the Plumber is now. If my last name was different, I could go by ‘Jacob the Job Search Expert’ on my blog, in discussion forums, even on my resume. Give yourself a nickname that meshes with your personal brand.

3. Take on a pseudonym - probably the most typical usage of pseudonyms are as entertainment (stage/screen/pen) names. Many Jews have used less ethnic-sounding stage names - Jon Stewart is actually Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, Natalie Portman is really Natalie Hershlag - because they thought it would improve their chances of success. On the other hand, Caryn Elaine Johnson chose the more ethnic-sounding screen name of Whoopi Goldberg for the same reason. The advantage of a pseudonym is that using the list above for inspiration, you can literally design a name that conveys the meaning you want.

4. Change your legal name - this is the brute force scenario, the kind of thing to do when you feel you have no choice such as when Talula Does the Hula, age 9, was granted a court-ordered name change that will save her from a life of embarrassment and increase her chances of eventually getting a job when she’s older.

How far would you be willing to go?

The sweetest words to your ears, you will make your name appear in many places over your lifetime. Take advantage of that reality and use your name to convey the branding message of your choosing.

How far would you be willing to go in using your name to improve your chances of success?

How To Build Better Traffic on Your Blog

2009-07-11T10:31:00.005-04:00

How To Build Traffic on Your Blog

by Jennifer Fulwiler

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/

A lot of writers have mixed feelings when they hear about the importance of using blogs to build platforms. On the one hand it sounds nice to have a popular blog, but on the other hand it's daunting: How do you go about getting traffic? Isn't it mostly just luck anyway? I have good news: Attracting a loyal readership to a blog is not just blind luck. After more than a decade working as a web developer, I've learned from some exciting successes (and a few spectacular failures) that there are concrete steps you can take to grow traffic to your site.

When I give advice on this topic I usually spend most of my time talking about how to write well; after all, if a blog is not well-written there are no tips or tricks that will make people want to read it. But since most of you probably have that part covered, here are some practical steps you can take to make sure your blog effectively highlights your writing and draws in a loyal audience:

It's all about generosity.
If you only remember one thing from this post, make it this: It is a spirit of generosity that brings traffic to a website. As I know from personal experience, having a blog can tempt you to become a black hole of attention. However, the more inwardly-focused you become, the fewer readers you will have. Ironically, it is when you stop asking questions like "How can I get people to link to me?" or "Why don't more people comment on my posts?" and start asking questions like "Who are some other great bloggers I can link to?" and "How can I better serve readers through my blog?" that your traffic will begin to grow.

Write scannable posts.
Internet readers have notoriously short attention spans, and they tend to briefly scan a post first to assess whether it's worth their time to read the whole thing. Use things like pictures, bolded section headers, varied paragraph sizes, bulleted lists and indented quotes to make your posts appealing from the first glance.

Make your blog easy to read and follow.
I believe that a lot of blogs don't have the readership that they could simply because of design problems. You don't have to hire a professional designer to do anything fancy, just make sure that you keep an eye on these things:

- Value prime real estate: The part of your blog that is "above the fold," i.e. what first appears in a reader's browser without him having to scroll down, is precious space. Avoid mastheads that are so tall that a reader has to scroll down to see your content and put the most important sidebar elements at the very top.

- Use a readable font: Use one of the standard, easy-to-read fonts; make sure it's big enough (a good rule of thumb is to look at the size of online newspapers' text); and watch out for harsh color combinations like white font against a black background.

- Check your blog in different browsers: Your site will show up differently in different browsers. You don't have to go crazy checking all possible options, but just take a glance at your blog on friends' computers to make sure it doesn't look strange.

- One of the best ways to build a loyal readership is to encourage people to subscribe to your RSS feed. Check your blogging platform's support documents to find out how to add a "Subscribe to my RSS feed" link in your sidebar.

Decide on a theme - but don't stick to it rigidly.
It's important to identify a loose theme for the subject matter of your blog. If you write a description of a family picnic one day, an analysis of the stock market the next day, and a lesson on Chinese history the day after that, readers are going to get whiplash from so much jumping around. A good litmus test for how well you've clarified your theme is if you could summarize your blog within the 140-character limit on Twitter.

That said, don't forget that what draws readers to blogs is not just the information itself, but the unique personality behind the great content. Don't be afraid to throw in some posts about topics near and dear to your heart, even if they're off-topic from your usual subject matter.

Help people get to know you quickly

- Introduce yourself: New readers immediately want to know who is behind the blog they're reading. Put a two- to three-sentence bio in a prominent place on the front page of your blog.

- Remember that every post you write will be the first post someone reads: The other day I stumbled across a blog with a stirring post about how life was different after Sara left. You're probably wondering the same things I did: Who's Sara? Where did she go? I spent a few minutes looking for the answers but eventually lost interest. Make sure that in every post you either explain necessary backstory or link to where it's explained elsewhere.

- Include a "best of" list: I can't recommend strongly enough that you list a few of your best posts as permanent links in the sidebar. (If you're uncomfortable self-identifying which posts are great, just do a "most popular" list.)

Don't give up.
Website traffic grows geometrically; it's much easier to go from 1,200 to 1,400 visits per day than it is to go from 200 to 400. There will be periods where it seems like it's taking forever for your traffic to increase, but don't give up. Just keep having fun and pouring genuine love and passion into each post; before long, you'll find that you've been too busy engaging with readers and practicing the craft of writing to notice that you finally have a platform.

Helpful Writer's Links

2009-07-10T16:53:00.002-04:00

Helpful links from this week:

http://alexisgrant.wordpress.com

* What’s a book club hustler? An author who markets her work to book clubs by showing up in person. Sounds fun, albeit a lot of work. On that same note, author Galen Kindley offers practical advice about how to find book clubs open to author visits and prepare for the meetings.

* Quips and Tips brings you Tips for developing your writer’s voice. How-tos like this on literary voice are hard to come by, probably because voice is difficult to explain and teach.

* Penelope Trunk on staying disciplined. More reasons why it’s important to stay focused and on track with my writing every day.

* While documenting her path to publication, writer Jody Hedlund explains the slew of committees her book has to go through before (hopefully) publisher acceptance.

* From Writer’s Digest, a post on the power of networking: That Unquantifiable Factor that Helps You Get Published and Succeed.

* A blog worth checking out: 1st Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started. It’s both inspiring and informative.

* Lastly, a post from author Janice Hardy about why you should kill your prologue. This spoke to me because I killed my prologue months ago, after realizing that I fell into her category #3, thinking that it had more oomph to grab readers than the first chapter. But that was taking the easy way out. As she writes, instead “make your first chapter sing.”

Twitter as a Leadership Tool

2009-07-10T10:14:00.000-04:00

Mike Hyatt has something interesting and important to say about using Twitter to maintain your lead.

The concept: Maintaining Your Lead, was a big topic in divinity school. As pastors, we were taught to stay out front, acting, instead of reacting and lead by example.

Many people are searching for leadership. You can lead through your writing, just as a pastor leads by preaching and living out the lessons in God's Word.

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/07/twitter-as-a-leadership-tool.html

Twitter as a Leadership Tool

I was talking to a good friend the other day about Twitter. He knows that I believe it is important. Really important. Some of his clients are also beginning to ask questions about it. But he just didn’t get it.

He finally blurted out, “It just seems like a huge waste of time. I don’t need one more inbox to check. I can barely keep up with what I have now.”

I said, “Buddy, you’re completely missing it.”

“Missing what?” he said, defensively.

“The potential.”

“What potential?” he asked emphatically.

“It’s not about what you get out of it,” I said. “It’s about the opportunity it affords you to give to others and make an impact.”

“Excuse me,” he muttered.

“Twitter is an opportunity for you to lead in a way that was not possible until now.” I explained.

“As you and I both teach, when you boil it down, leadership is influence. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” he acknowledged.

“Leadership is not about position, a title, or status. It is about influence. Plain and simple. I know you believe that, too, right?”

“Right.”

I continued, “If that’s true, then Twitter provides an unprecedented opportunity for people like us to extend and amplify our influence. You don’t have to buy time on television or radio. You don’t have to write a book or magazine column. You don’t even have to blog,” I went on.

“All you have to do is write short 140 character micro-posts about what you are doing or—more importantly—what has your attention right now.”

I could almost hear his brain shift into a different gear. “You and I both know that [B]people today crave leadership[/B]. They are dying for role models. They want to see what good leadership looks like—as it is lived out in the challenges of everyday life.”

I continued, “If you are living your life on-purpose, like I know you are, then by Twittering, you are modeling something worth emulating. This is unquestionably the most powerful way to lead.”

“Hmm.” I could hear the flicker of possibility in his voice. I knew this was resonating with him. But then he countered, “But you just can’t lead by Twittering.”

“I agree. I am not suggesting that you can. It is simply one tool in your leadership toolbox—but a very powerful one. Twitter is like an influence amplifier. It enables extend your influence in ways never before possible.”

We continued to chat about this for several more minutes. He finally said, “Wow! Maybe there’s more to Twitter than I thought. How do I get started.”

The Profitable World of Self Publishing

2009-07-10T00:15:00.001-04:00

The publishing world is continuing to change and the reinvention is just starting, not finishing as some believe. Those who have an important and appropriate message will find innumerable opportunities for success, but their success will be creatively driven.

To win during a time of change, one must be willing to be ahead of the curve, not desperately trying to catch up. Mike Moore teaches us more;

The Profitable World of Self Publishing
By: Mike Moore

Five years ago I was a professional speaker desperately in need of my own book. After each presentation members of my audience would approach me and ask if had a book or a tape for sale. The need was obvious. The market existed. All I needed to do was write a book and bring it to my audiences. This is how my first book was born.

I wrote nonstop for two months and finally had it written and illustrated with my own original cartoons. The question facing me now was who would be chosen from among thousands of publishers to bring my masterpiece to the waiting, eager multitudes. After many submissions to numerous publishing houses and many rejection slips, I finally found one who agreed to publish my book. The problem was that they couldn't get around to it for about a year and a half. I would receive 20% of the retail cost of each copy sold and would have to do most of the promotion myself.

This arrangement just wasn't satisfactory. I needed the book as soon as possible and I wanted to receive more than 20% of each copy sold. It was then that I decided to enter the world of self publishing and started Lifeline Publications.

Five hundred copies of were printed as a test run and I sold them all within the year as " back of the room" items at my speeches and seminars. Since I wasn't on the road speaking 365 days of the year I wanted to have my book available for purchase seven days a week whether I was speaking or not. I had my webmaster create a store for me and connect it to my speaking website. I was in business.

With well chosen and well directed advertising online and off I began to receive orders in my mailbox and by email. As sales increased so did the number of published items in my store. At present I have a total of nine information products, manuals, books, tapes, and special reports available for purchase.

In my first year as a publishing tycoon I sold 300 copies of my products online alone and another 100 offline. Add these sales to those at my talks and you can see that I was off and running as a self publisher. The orders seem to increase in number each month.

Writers are no longer dependent on the acceptance and approval of editors and publishers. Using the internet as well as offline classified ads in popular magazines you can bring your writing directly to a wide and eager market. People are always seeking " how to" information. In fact the most sought after items on the internet are information products. So if you research peoples' needs, wants and interests then write to satisfy them you are going to sell effectively..

Self publishing is simple and cost effective especially if you print on demand. You don't print a copy of your product until you get an order for that product. By doing this you avoid the cost of having 500 copies printed plus having to find storage space in your already cluttered basement.

If you have the writing bug and have received enough rejection slips to wallpaper a bedroom, try self publishing. When that first order comes in you will feel great satisfaction and a surge of self confidence which will, inevitably, result in more sales. You will be on your way to conquering the world of self publishing. GOOD LUCK!

Mike Moore is an international speaker and writer on humor and human potential. You can take a look at Mike's books, manuals, tapes and reports at http://www.motivationalplus.com

Somebody is Watching You

2009-07-09T14:19:00.004-04:00

Five Things the World Dislikes About Christians

Do we ever pay close enough attention to the things the world has to teach that we need to hear? While we are busy ignoring the sex, drugs, depraved lifestyles, hateful behavior and more, are we missing the "good" lessons that we need to heed?

From Thom Rainer President of Lifeway Bookstores...

http://www.thomrainer.com/2009/07/what-the-unchurched-dont-like-about-christians.php
Somebody is watching you.

I’m still amazed at the stories I hear from my three grown sons. They remind me of things I did and said when they were children. Some good. Some not so good.

Yes, I’m really amazed how closely they watched their dad.

Somebody else is watching us Christians. The unchurched. Non-Christians.

And you might be surprised how closely they are watching us.

Listening to the Formerly Unchurched

In a previous blog I wrote about research my team had conducted on the formerly unchurched. These were men and women who had been Christians less than a year. They were able to give us some keen insights about their lives as unchurched, non-Christians, especially since those days were in the recent past.

One of the more fascinating times in our interviews took place when we asked them what they didn’t like about Christians. We asked them to specify issues, attitudes, actions, and words that turned them away from the church and the gospel.

They gave us an ear full.

Five Negatives

Though the responses varied in their specific wording, we were able to group the negatives into five major categories. So what it is that the unchurched don’t like about Christians? Some of the responses hit too close to home for my comfort.

I don’t like Christians who treat other Christians poorly. The unchurched don’t expect us Christians to be perfect, but they can’t understand why we treat each other without dignity and respect. “I thought Christians were supposed to love one another,” Sandy from Pennsylvania told us. “But the more I observed Christians, the more I thought they really didn’t like each other.”

I don’t like “holier-than-thou” attitudes. The unchurched know that Christians will make mistakes, and they often have a forgiving attitude when we mess up. But they are repulsed when Christians act in superior ways to them “It would help,” said Bailey of Tampa, “if Christians showed just a little humility.”

I don’t like Christians who talk more than they listen. Many of the unchurched, at some point, have a perception that a Christian is a person who can offer a sympathetic and compassionate ear. Unfortunately, many of the unchurched thought Christians were too busy talking to listen to them.

I don’t like Christians who won’t get involved in my life. One of the many surprises of our study was discovering how much many unchurched persons would like to have a Christian as a friend. Yet very few Christians are willing to invest their lives in the messy world that evangelism requires.

I don’t like Christians who don’t go to church. The unchurched saw the disconnect between belief and practice in the lives of Christians who did not or who rarely attended church. “You would think that Christians would want to have the time together to worship and study,” noted Frances. “But I am amazed how many Christians just are not committed to any church.”

The Takeaway

The unchurched really are not too bothered by some hypocrisy with us Christians. They are well aware that any human will stumble at times. But these lost men and women want to know that Christians will treat each other well. They want to see humility in our lives. They want to know that we will take the time to listen, and even take more time to really be involved in their lives. And they want to know that we love our churches.

The unchurched really want to see a Christian live incarnationally. Most of them will gladly listen to us if we show love toward them and toward other Christians. Most of them desire to see a Christian live his or her faith as well as speak about it.

I have learned much from the world of the unchurched.

And I know I have still have much yet to learn.

It’s a Good Time to be a Writer

2009-07-09T09:19:00.002-04:00

During times of Economic Distress creative people find clever ways to make their way. This time is no exception. With publishers reducing the number of titles, while cutting their financial commitment to those books they are printing, your book may be the one topic overlooked and therefore, forging ahead on your own could be the best possible strategy.

Here are 3 reasons it’s a good time to be a writer
By Lisa Abeyta
http://editorunleashed.com/2009/06/22/why-its-a-good-time-to-dive-into-writing/

Online Ventures Offer New Opportunities

When Matt Drudge was an employee at a CBS gift shop, he started emailing insider gossip to friends. The list grew (exponentially) and eventually changed to political content. And when The Drudge Report, which created an entirely new way of reporting and compiling news, broke several major stories, mainstream media was no longer able to dismiss him as an insignificant upstart. By 2006, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.
Matt Drudge was one of the first in a long line of writers using the internet as their business base. Today new writers have far more opportunities to land a published article than ever before. No longer are opportunities controlled by those who own the presses. In communities with only one newspaper, now a dozen websites exist which provide content to that same demographic.

It’s Easier Than Ever To Create A Platform

With the proliferation of affordable website publishing tools and domain options, free blogs, and social networking sites, almost anyone has the opportunity to build a platform. A platform is not just about establishing yourself as an expert in some particular field—although that is part of it. It is in large part about building up readership, loyalty, and name recognition. With effective use of the internet, that particular task is within reach of just about anyone.

The Corporate World Is Moving Into Social Media

When I was hired to do some marketing and public relations work for a local museum, the first thing I did was to launch a blog and create Facebook and Twitter accounts. The museum had a website, but the constraints and paperwork made updates slow and often clunky. With social networking, I could get the word got out immediately, upload event photos in real time, and begin to change public perception and loyalty. Despite a lack of advertising dollars, the museum has enjoyed an increase in attendance, facility rentals and local press within the past few months.

The museum I contract with is not alone. Businesses across America are beginning to see the advantage of using social networking sites as an effective tool not only for advertising but also for viral content and customer loyalty. And most of those business are at a complete loss of how to accomplish this task. Writers who hone their skills in social media marketing will have no problem keeping busy - even in a tight market.

OK, there are my three reasons. If you’re still not convinced that it’s a good time to pursue your writing, here is one more:

Print Is Not Dead

In April, 2009, PW’s Matthew Thornton, divulged a round-up of recent book deals which included a six-figure offer for Rules for My Unborn Son. Why should you care? The book began as a blog. If you have a blog, treat it as a portal to a six-figure book deal. Agents are still accepting new clients, and publishers are still buying new manuscripts. Yes, there may be less on the market, but the market is still there and still buying. Someone is getting noticed, and that someone could be you.

How to Build Good Blog Traffic

2009-07-08T15:18:00.001-04:00

How to Build Traffic on Your Blog

Rachelle Gardner’s Guest Blogger, Jennifer Fulwiler gives us some tremendous advice about driving “good” traffic to your blog.

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/

How do you get blog visitors to come to you?

I've been asking that same question for more than 10 years as I've worked to get the word out about both personal and professional websites, and in this post I'll share my thoughts on the main options for pro-actively driving traffic to your blog.

Commenting on other blogs
Leaving comments on other blogs is the only thing on this list that I would say you must do. Not only is it a way to get new readers, but it's just good etiquette to show an interest in other people's sites. In order to make sure your comments have the most impact, I recommend the following:

- Use a unique name: Even if people don't click through to your site, commenting on blogs can help you build name recognition—but only if your username is unique. For example, if your name is Jessica Jones and your blog is called Writer Musings, if you leave comments as "Jessica" you're not doing anything to build name recognition or to entice people to check out your blog. Leave comments as "Jessica Jones" or "Jessica @ Writer Musings" so that people know which Jessica they're hearing from every time you comment.

- Be careful about linking to your own posts: It's fine to leave a comment referring to a post you wrote if it would really add value to the comment thread, but don't refer to your own blog in every comment you leave. Also, learn a little basic HTML so that when you do link to a post you can embed a clickable link. (Here's a helpful tutorial on that.)

- Be sincere: As we discussed in Part 1, it's all about generosity. Going out into the blog world with the goal of building up fellow bloggers and offering sincere encouragement is not only a nice thing to do, but it will get more people to click through to your site than half-hearted comments with the sole aim of getting traffic to your own blog.

Social media
Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Plurk, etc. can be a great way to find new readers for your blog and keep your current readers engaged. If you're not familiar with social media, I recommend signing up for accounts on the two big sites, Twitter and Facebook, and trying them for a week to see if you like them.

The bottom line on social media is this: It's social. If you can find a network that you truly enjoy using to interact with others, you will end up reaching new people and driving traffic to your blog without even trying. But if you find yourself reluctantly participating in one of these sites just to throw out the occasional link to a blog post you wrote, not only will it be unlikely to drive much traffic to your site, but you may alienate existing readers as well. Don't feel pressure to get involved in social media if it's not for you; there are plenty of other ways to build traffic to your blog.

Search engine optimization
Search engines can provide a surprisingly significant source of traffic to your site if it is search engine optimized. All the major blogging platforms take care of the basics for you, but in order to write search-engine-friendly posts it's helpful to understand which words search engines value most:

- Words in links: Search engines track which words show up in links to any given page on the internet, so if you're going to link to one of your own posts, make sure descriptive words are part of the link. For example, "See my post about developing fiction characters" will help people searching on that subject find your post better than "See my post about developing fiction characters."

- Words in titles: Search engines pay more attention to words in titles, so make sure each post's title is descriptive of the subject you're covering.

- Words in linked titles: If your blogging platform doesn't automatically create a clickable link to the URL of your post from its title, check the support documents to see how you can add that feature. Not only is it more user-friendly for your readers, but it will make search engines value the words in your title even more.

Product giveaways
Giving away free products, even if they're inexpensive, is a great idea for attracting people to your blog. I would recommend waiting until you have at least 50 visitors per day to make sure that you get enough of a response to make it interesting, but after that you may want to try hosting a giveaway, offering extra entries for people who tell others about it. Also, if you're using social media, you can be a little more forward about promoting your giveaway posts since you're offering something in return.

Carnival participation and blog directories
A blog carnival, broadly defined, is where one blogger creates a collection of links to individual blog posts on a specific topic (e.g. Menu Plan Monday). Submitting your blog to carnivals is not only a way to bring in a little traffic, but you often end up "meeting" new bloggers with similar interests as well.

Blog directories are sites that collect links to blogs, arranged by category (e.g. Blogflux). Submitting your site to directories can't hurt, but don't spend too much time on it since it's unlikely to bring in much traffic.

Paid advertising
If you're hoping to build traffic quickly, consider purchasing advertising. Even if you don't have the budget to take out a billboard, you might be surprised at what you can afford when it comes to online ads. If you're not sure where to start, I recommend Google Adwords. With Adwords you can have your custom text ad show up on search terms of your choice, and you only pay when people click through your link; you can also set a cap on how much you want to pay per day so that you don't spend too much. Another good bet is to contact the big bloggers in your genre and ask if they sell advertising on their sites. You can often find great deals when you work one-on-one with site owners.

Guest posts and interviews
Guest posts and radio or podcast interviews can work wonders for getting the word out about your blog, and those opportunities are more accessible than you might imagine. First, define some areas in which you have expertise: Are you a published author? Did you help someone battle cancer? Do you have the best garden on the block? Be sure to cast the net wide and define your successes not only in terms of professional accomplishments.

Now, do some searching to find blogs, talk radio shows or podcasts that deal with those subject areas, preferably ones that already do regular guest posts or interviews. Email the person in charge to offer your expertise, and be specific about how you could add value to their project: For example, if you email a blogger about doing a guest post, include a bulleted list of the points you would touch on in the post as well as a paragraph about why you're qualified to write it. You might be surprised at how many people would be happy to take you up on your offer!

Almost all of these options are free, though they do take time; and the more time you can commit to spreading the word about your blog, the more quickly your traffic will grow. However, I recommend following an 80/20 rule here: Spend at least 80% of your time working on the tips from Part 1 to craft a fantastic blog, and no more than 20% of your time marketing it. A great blog will eventually get traffic no matter what, whereas all the publicity in the world will do little to help a blog with poor writing or major usability flaws.

I'd like to close with a word of encouragement: The world is always hungry for good writers. If you love the craft of writing and are serious about using your blog to build a platform, you will almost definitely succeed. It might take longer than you'd like—it usually takes about two years for a blog's traffic to start gaining momentum—but if you follow all the tips from Part 1 and utilize even a couple of the ideas from here in Part 2, I have no doubt that you will create a successful blog.

Self Publishing: The New Entrepreneur

2009-07-07T08:01:00.001-04:00

Self Publishing: The New Entrepreneur
Sara Wolski at Examiner.com talks about the new frontiers of Self Publishing. It’s old material for some but makes good points.

http://www.examiner.com/x-10580-Chicago-Writing-Careers-Examiner~y2009m7d4-Selfpublishing-the-new-frontier-of-literature
Entrepreneurial spirit and smart marketing has propelled several self-published books onto the bestseller list, including John Javna and Julie Bennett’s 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, John Roger and Peter McWilliams’ Life 101, and Richard Bolles’ What Color is Your Parachute?, according to the New York Times. To some in the literary industry, self-published books had a stigma of amateurism, but today that attitude is very much a thing of the past. Certainly in the publishing hubs and within the traditional literary industry this stigma may remain, but it’s quickly becoming a wake-up call for trade houses, agents, and writers alike.
Helen Gallagher, a local expert on everything from computers and web-based technology to ins and outs of self-publishing, says that many writers don’t realize how beneficial self-publishing can be as a means of making timely material available to the masses. “Writers don’t like to think their books aren’t good enough to get published, and they think their work is too good for print-on-demand. Many think POD is a last resort when in reality it is the quickest way to publishing success for most authors, especially first-time authors,” she explains. It can be a tough decision for many writers who want to try the traditional route first: approaching an agent, waiting a while for a response, and potentially dealing with rejection.
Gallagher aims to educate those interested in self-publishing while empowering them as well with marketing ideas, promotion strategies, advice on building a platform, and guidance to maintain a long life for the book. She has self-published twice and her second book, Release Your Writing, was recently featured as a finalist in the National Best Books 2008 Awards sponsored by USA Book News, in the Writing & Publishing category – it’s all about how to successfully self-publish a book and create a sustainable life for it in a very competitive literary marketplace. “It’s up to authors to give their books life and drive,” Gallagher says. “If a book isn’t selling, the author isn’t trying.” This is a statement equally true of traditionally published books. Trade houses are increasingly tight on their budgets, leading to less publicity funds and more reliance on authors to self-promote an create their own visibility.
The bottom line is that self-publishing is a very viable means to achieving a successful book career. In the midst of a changing literary industry, trends thus far indicate that self-publishing may just be the proboscis on the new face of literature.

Does Your Online Presence Help Achieve Your Publishing Goals

2009-07-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

What Does Your Online Presence do to Help Achieve Your Publishing Goals?

Chris Brogan, in his blog, writes about managing your online presence. Presence is a bog part of your brand and must be managed carefully. Think of each person who touches you, through your online presence as a soon to be, reader, then think about how you wish to direct and manage their impressions of you and your work.

There are as many theories about this as there are theorists.

Be intentional. Make your online presence YOURS. Cookie cutter, off the shelf looking blogs and social media pages are just that; cookie cutter and off the shelf. You are an individual artist and your “look” is the main event until they pick up and start to read your books.

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/19-presence-management-chores-you-could-do-every-day/

If you’re looking to establish your online presence, and build relationships, it’s not the kind of project where you show up, build your profiles, friend a few people, and call it good. It’s a lot like tending the farm. Here are seven particular “chores” you could do every day that should prove beneficial to your online interests.

Twitter
Find seven things others are saying, worth retweeting in your general feed and share.
Reply to at least five things with full responses (not just “thanks”).
Point out a few people that you admire. It shows your mindset, too.
Follow back at least 10 folks. (I use an automated tool, but this is a personal preference. If you want such, I use SocialToo.)
10 minutes of just polite two-way chit chat goes far.

Facebook
Check in on birthdays on the home page. (Want a secret? Send the birthday wish via Twitter or email. Feels even more deliberate.)
Respond to any comments on your wall.
Post a status message daily, something engaging or interesting.
Comment on at least seven people’s status messages or updates.
Share at least 3 interesting updates that you find.
If you belong to groups or fan pages, leave a new comment or two.
LinkedIn
Accept any invitations that make sense for you to accept.
Enter any recent business cards to invite them to LinkedIn (if you’re growing your network).
Drop into Q&A and see if you can volunteer 2-3 answers.
Provide 1 recommendation every few days for people you can honestly and fully recommend.
Add any relevant slide decks to the Slideshare app there, or books to the Amazon bookshelf.

Blogs
Visit your blog’s comments section and comment back on at least 5 replies.
If you have a few extra minutes, click through to the blogs of the commenters, and read a post or two and comment back.
While on those sites, use a tool like StumbleUpon and promote their good work.
Write the occasional post promoting the good work of a blog in your community.
It’s Not Easy
Maintaining your online presence takes time. If you look at all I’ve listed above, that’s easily more than an hour of work. But it depends what the value of that presence is to you, if you’re doing this as an individual, or to your organization, if you’re doing this on behalf of a brand or product.
We’ve traded dollars for time, in lots of these equations, as we see the return on our advertising spend diminish. It’s your choice whether you want to maintain an active online presence, or if you want to get away with a bit less.

Speaking Your Way to a Bestseller

2009-07-05T16:12:00.003-04:00

Sheila Wray Gregoire Shares some "Getting Started" tips with us, from her blog, Christian Woman Speaker. The best way to get you book out there, the short term, is to find venues where people can hear your heart and engage themselves in the topics you present.

That First Speaking Engagement
by sheilagregoire

http://christianwomensspeaker.wordpress.com/

What do you do when you want to start speaking, but no one seems to be asking you? How can you get that first speaking engagement?

That’s a tricky one, but I think there are certain steps that one has to take that make it easier.

1. Figure out what your story is. The mistake many new speakers make is that they want to seem like an expert, and so they try to throw too much teaching and too many “facts” or Bible verses into their talk. It is so much better just to learn how to tell your story well. People relate to you on a personal level, and so it’s important to share who you are and what God has done for you. More on that here.

2. Once you’ve figured out your story, it’s easier to figure out what the main message God has for you to deliver. My main message, for instance, is different from the message of other speakers I know. Joanne Goodwin talks about seeing God in the midst of depression. Shannon Ethridge talks about seeing God as our husband. I talk about getting rid of the guilt society lays on us and just learning how to be real before Him. They’re all valid; and they all end up at the same place. But we come to that point differently because of the nature of our stories.

And it’s okay to have a different theme than other speakers. In fact, you should! As long as everything leads to the cross, you’re on the right track. But what is your unique angle? If you choose something that doesn’t fit with your story, you’re always going to be struggling with the structure of your talk. But if you choose something that flows smoothly, then you’ll be much more at ease, you’ll make more sense, and people will be able to relate to you and follow you better.

3. Once you have your story and your main message chosen, start to look at small venues that need speakers. Think about who your natural niche is. I write for moms, and so my natural niche is moms and tots groups. Now that I am more established I speak for a whole variety of groups, but when you’re starting out, head to your natural niche. It’s easier to get an engagement, and easier to craft an appropriate talk.

A senior should not aim at moms & tots, even if you have wise words to say. A young woman should not aim at a seniors’ group. A single shouldn’t aim at couples. You get the picture, I’m sure.

4. Contact some people you know in that group and ask if they may be interested in you sharing your story. When does your niche meet? Do they have regular Bible studies? Christmas outreaches? Sunday School classes? Could they meet in libraries or at the gym?

The launch of a new ministry year or a new term is often a great time to do this. Try for your own church, or for a church where many of your friends go so that you already have a natural connection.

Be prepared to do it for free, too. One day you’ll be able to charge, but the important thing at the start is to just get an engagement so you can get practice.

5. Record yourself. Buy a digital voice recorder so that you can record your talk. You never know when you might say something interesting! Even if you don’t like how you sounded for the whole talk, there may be a portion that you can pull out and use as a demo to give to other groups that might be interested in booking you.

One of the first things I did was ask ten of my friends to come to a room and listen to me give a 45 minute talk just so that I could get a recording. We had a lot of fun, they did me a big favour, and it all worked out well.

6. Collect email addresses and contact information of those who are there so you can follow up. If you can remain in touch with people, it is more likely that they will think of you when their group needs another speaker.

The best way to build a speaking career is through word of mouth, and to do that you need to get out there and speak. So prepare your story, tie it in to your natural message, and then find groups that relate to that message. And pray that when you’re prepared, the opportunities will come!

What is American About America

2009-07-04T11:40:00.001-04:00

What is American About America?
________________________________________
A school teacher asked her 10th grade students to write a paper describing what is American about America. The young folks were free to interview anyone they wished and a young man asked me.

After I had a chance to think about it, I answered...

America was best captured, for me, the afternoon I stood at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watched people come and go. They came with a quiet, interested, demeanor and their willingness to respect the family that will never know if their son is alive somewhere, or dead, spoke volumes about their understanding.

I found it again at the Vietnam Memorial Wall, on the mall, in Washington. I went there looking for the name of a young boy that went off to war in 1965 and never came home. I found his name near the middle, on a very tall stone and had to stand on tip-toe to touch it. It was almost midnight, on a wonderfully warm January night, and when my fingers grazed the carved name, I suddenly remembered every detail about young Billy Smith, from New York. Billy Smith will remain, forever, seventeen. His gift to America truly noteworthy, because he gave all he would ever have and America took it and gave him a carved place on a stone in America's capital.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Charlie, I met America again, as I offered communion to relief workers and hurricane victims, alike, in a breezy tent, alongside a shopping mall. Ragged, sad and dirty, they just kept coming. Even after we ran out of the elements and had to make do with that which was at hand, they came for a bit of comfort and to be close to someone else, in their loss.

On top of a lonely mountain, in South Western Virginia, I met America, one other time, when the neighborhood families met to join hands at midnight, and listen, on Christmas Eve, for the sound of Angels singing the birth of Jesus Christ.

America is an idea, not a place. It is a belief in the greater good of mankind and the endless possibilities of freedom.

America is the leather-worn hands of migrant farm workers, eking out a life, riding buses criss crossing the farm states, making almost nothing and having just that. It's the flags flying on Main Street, on July Fourth and Wreaths hanging from street lamps in December. It is found in church basements, where housewives prepare pot-luck dinners and little league fields where ten year olds, pretend they are Ken Griffey Junior and David Ortiz.

America finds you, my friend. You are just along for the ride.

Enjoy the ride. There never will be another like it.

What is the PURPOSE of Your Book Cover?

2009-07-03T08:32:00.002-04:00

Every way in which you interact with a reader, potential reader, or person by their commentary might lead to a reader, has a purpose.

The book title, by announcing your work, calls out for acclaim. The size of the book and the weight of the paper make statements about the type, style and seriousness of the work. The brightness (whiteness) of the paper force people to draw certain conclusions about the work it contains. Even the type size and style create illusions and impressions.

None of those make much difference if your cover does not do it's job.

Seth Godin, in his blog, makes several good points for consideration. Remember You are the final arbiter of Your work. You decide if the work is ready to go to print. You decide the seriousness of the paper, size, type and style, then you decide what the cover should communicate. Others participate by suggestion and professional input but it is your baby and your decision.

Make it a good one.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/07/the-purpose-of-a-book-cover.html
The purpose of a book cover

(and I think it works for lots of products)

Is the purpose of the cover to sell books, to accurately describe what's in the book, or to tee up the reader so the book has maximum impact?

The third.

It's the third because if the book has maximum impact, then word of mouth is created, and word of mouth is what sells your product, not the cover.

Tactically, the cover sells the back cover, the back cover sells the flap and by then you've sold the book. If those steps end up selling a book that the purchaser doesn't like, game over. So you have to be consistent all the way through and end up creating a conversation after the purchase. Books are better at creating conversations than most products (when was the last time you talked about a pool cue), but there's lots of opportunity here, no matter what you make.

Some ways that a book cover can accomplish its mission:

* Iconic (because iconic items tend to signal 'important')
* Noticeable across the room (you see that lots of other people own it, thus making it likely that you'll want to know why)
* Sophisticated (because this helps reinforce that the ideas inside are worthy of your time)
* Original (why bother reading a book you already know)
* Clever
* Funny
* Generic (reminding you of a genre or another book you liked, not generic as in boring)

I don't know about you, but I judge books by their cover every day.

Defining Your Reader and Finding Them

2009-07-02T08:11:00.001-04:00

From The Creative Pen, comes a strong primer on the targeting of your reader base and ways to creatively reach them. The book is definitely not my cup of tea but the concept is true, For This Book.

Every book has a defined market, whether you market to that audience, or not.

Take this advice as another opportunity to mine someone’s experience for what it brings to your cause and apply it in that vein.
Fantastic Book Marketing: A Great Example

This is a great example of fantastic book marketing! “Wired for War” by P.W. Singer is not my type of book and I haven’t read it myself, but my husband saw a review, visited the website and bought it immediately. I was curious to see how he made a decision so quickly to buy a book. You may not agree with the subject of this book, but it is a case of perfectly directed marketing.
Here are some lessons we can all learn from this book:
• Identify and know your target market. If you get 100 men in a room, how many of them are interested in talking about war machines and robots? Probably quite a few! This book has a target audience of techy men only. No one else would even be interested, but that group are totally into this subject. The first chapter is entitled “Why a book on robots and war?” and the first line “Because robots are frakin’ cool”. That says it all! If you have a book that a market will definitely buy, you just need to tell them you are there (and that is marketing!)
• Get reviews online where your target market are hanging out. Many authors aim to get reviews on book review websites and from literary critics in print media. If you have a non-fiction book, you are better off aiming for websites where your target market are. Most readers don’t actually hang out on book review sites, and particularly not techy men. Singer got reviews on Gizmodo.com, SlashDot (news for nerds) and Robotics.com as well as The Financial Times, traditional media and The New Scientist.
• Become a multimedia presence. Singer has videos of himself as well as print and internet reviews. You may not make it onto TED or The Daily Show, but you can make a video and put it on YouTube and embed it on your website. You can record some audio, get some blog posts online and be multimedia in no time! Meet people where they are, and people find books through all different media.
• Establish an excellent, but basic, website for free or cheap. I don’t know the details of who built Singer’s website, but it is built on Joomla, which is free software and easy to customise. I use Wordpress, but Joomla is definitely recommended for people who want an easy to set up and maintain website. This is a basic website, but very effective and to the point.
• Make it easy to buy your book. There is a link to Buy the book on every page of the site.
• Engage your readers. I had to sit through a number of the videos of “cool war robots” such was the enthusiasm this website aroused in my husband. It also has interesting polls, pictures, a discussion topic page and even a playlist of appropriate war-related tunes to listen to as you read.
• Be an expert. This is specifically for non-fiction authors, but Singer is obviously a master in his field. His bio demonstrates how much of an expert he is in this area and he has 2 previous books behind him. He is also passionate about this topic, and the book is also packed with references and technical knowledge. The book is excellent quality (if you like those kind of books!) so it is not a triumph of marketing over content, but more a case of a great book being extremely well marketed.
This book is published by Penguin, and Singer has a professional publicist behind him, but there are many authors who don’t achieve such a pervasive online presence. Other published and self-published authors can certainly learn a lot from this example.

Publishing to Your Audience

2009-07-01T09:20:00.001-04:00

From Denise Williams at Cassidar Ink, a primer on publishing TO the audience right for your book. The process of becoming a self promoting Author, is all about getting as much input as possible and making all you can out of what is good for you.

Your book is a reflection of your voice and that voice appeals to a specific set of ears. Your job is to define and reach the ears that most wish to hear your voice.

More from Denise.

http://cassidarink.com/
If you’ve written a book, an e-book, or an information product, you’ve probably been told that one of the best ways to sell it is to write articles and submit them online.
And if you’re like many of the authors who contact me for assistance, you may be wondering why your books aren’t selling, even though you’ve been writing and submitting articles to beat the band.
So, why aren’t your articles selling? Here are some possible reasons.
1.First of all, articles don’t actually sell. They PRE-sell, which is an important stage to get through before you can sell anyone anything. People buy from people they know and like. Pre-selling is making your visitors like you and want to know more about you. This is what articles do for you. They don’t sell your product. They build a relationship and invite your readers to visit your website to learn more about you.
2. Very rarely will people buy on the first visit to your website. If a reader clicks through to your website, and lands on a sales page for your book or info product, they probably won’t buy. Don’t worry, it’s not you. It’s them. They’re still getting to know you and aren’t ready to buy from you just yet. OK, it might be a little bit you, but the next item will help.
3. Instead of giving them the choice of buying your book or nothing, invite them to leave their email address instead, so you can stay in touch and get to know each other a little better. To get visitors to subscribe to your list, give away a cool gift that’s actually valuable to your readers, like a report, a quiz, or even a chapter of your book
4. Make sure your landing page isn’t scary. The landing page is the page of your website people land on when they click through the link in your author’s resource box. This is the page that has to sell, so it’s worth taking the time to learn copywriting or paying someone to write the page for you if you don’t know how.
5. Your articles must be relevant to topic of your book. Even if you don’t remember anything else I’ve listed here, this is something you absolutely must do. Let’s say you’ve written a book about dog grooming. You will want to write articles about dog grooming to attract people who are actually interested in the topic of your book. Articles on building bird feeders, for example, will not pre-sell your book, or pre-qualify your visitors.
Articles really are one of the best ways to sell your books or information products. If yours haven’t been getting the results you want, keep this cheat sheet handy before you submit your next article.

Katherine Smith's Five Golden Rules of Publicty for Authors

2009-06-30T08:53:00.002-04:00

Katherine Smith writes about her five rules of publicity for authors on her blog, Writer’s Write. Every author needs to institute a broad range of strategies in their quest for publishing success and we all need to be exposed to as many people’s ideas as possible. Use the tips for what they are; the kinds of things that made others publishing successful.

Being your own publicist is at once hard and easy. If you know the what and how of the task, doing those things are a matter of faithful execution. Teresa Evenson at TEAM Marketing runs a clinic on the subject and attending should be a must for every serious author. I caught her clinic at Estes Park and was amazed at her ability to boil the whole thing down to manageable pieces.

My first exposure to her author self-publicist concept was when she used to do her author tour each year at CBA EXPO. Teresa cajoled a room full of press into a conference suite and ran authors through at twenty minute intervals, giving each huge exposure at such a pace the press had no choice but to pay attention, or miss an opportunity.

It was very affordable, easy to achieve and had long term benefits for everyone, not the least of which was the literary press corps.

http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/oct02/ksmith.htm

The Five Golden Rules Of Publicity For Authors
By Katherine "Kat" Smith

The hard work, you think, is over. You've labored into many late nights writing your book, struggled to literally make sure every "i" is dotted and every "t" crossed. Your book -- your baby -- is all grown up now; completed and ready to set the world on fire.

Then, the cold, hard truth slaps you in the face like a winter chill. Like the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one around, your book isn't going to make a sound -- or even be known about by anyone -- unless you get the word out. You could hire a publicist, but the often high-costs can be prohibitive, and perhaps most of your "book money" went to editing, design, layout and printing.

What to do?

Relax, set your ego aside, and set up a plan and course of action. Book promotion isn't rocket science; but it does involve a lot of hard work, persistence and some added touches of creativity. Here are some basic yet invaluable pointers for the bold author who has decided to go it alone in the wild world of book promotion.

Change positions with the media

The essence of book promotion is the utilization of the media to get the word out to the public about your book. Sure, producers, editors and journalists can be a gruff bunch, but the reality is they are literally swamped with books and press releases every day.

What you need to do is put yourself in the shoes of the media. If you were a feature editor at a paper or a producer of a talk show, what would interest you? Too often, amateur publicists simply believe that getting a book or press release into the right person's hands will do the trick. WRONG. You've got to think of an angle, hook, slant -- whatever you want to call it -- that will interest the right people.

Listen to talk radio. Watch TV talk shows. Read the lifestyle and feature sections of newspapers. Read magazines. See what makes it; then create a press release that will make it happen for you.

Remember: No one ever interviews a book

Getting on radio and TV talk shows is exciting, fun and can really jumpstart book sales. But if you think your book will get you on the air by itself, you're probably wrong. No one interviews a book ... they interview PEOPLE. Of course, the topic your book may be gets the attention of producers, but they need and want people who can be informative, entertaining and articulate. People make a show ... not books.

When you're promoting a book, you're also promoting yourself. Remember this, practice this, and go for it!

Invest in useful resources

No self-promoting author can achieve success without a few essential resources. You need to know who to contact and how to contact them. Media directories are plentiful, and some are actually affordable. Shop around and get one. One of the most popular is the series of Bacon's media directories, but there are many available.

But what about non-media publicity resources? Book signings and speaking engagements are excellent ways to get books moving and create word-of-mouth awareness. A book such as The Book Seller's List -- a directory of book stores and other outlets -- puts the information right at your fingertips. Other books cover virtually every aspect of book promotion -- from direct mail and marketing to media coaching and radio interviewing skills.

Practice relentlessness

The reality of book publicity is ... you have to get used to being a salesperson. Make no mistake about it; you are selling something when you try to get the media interested in you or your book. Practice the art of persuasion while always keeping in mind what the media wants.

Any publicist will tell you that being relentless is paramount in book promotion. You have to walk the fine line between persistence and annoyance, being careful to not become "pushy," but persuasive. Don't stop with one phone call, email, fax or letter. Follow everything up, and then do it again and again.

Know the game

Think of book promotion as a very simple marketing game: If you give the media what they want -- good stories, solid information, controversial or provocative topics - they'll give you what you want -- print coverage or air time to get the word out about your book.

So many authors complain that they "sent 100 review copies out with fancy press kits and no responses!" Perhaps the books and press kits didn't give the recipients what they need and want to do their jobs? Are you simply shoving a book in their face, or persuading them to take a look at the book because of a compelling angle or tie-in to a topic many people are interested in?

Anyone can send out books or press releases about a book, but the successful self-promoters lure the media in by enticing them with information that can help them do their job.

Twitterature - A New Sub-Medium

2009-06-29T18:02:00.000-04:00

...and now for something completely ridiculous.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/172538.asp?source=rss

"Twitterature" Has Book World Atwitter
Posted by Stephen J. Gertz
Two nineteen year old freshmen at the University of Chicago have scored a publishing deal for their book, Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books, Now Presented in Twenty Tweets or Less, to be released later this year by Penguin.
The students, Emmett Rensin and Alex Aciman, "had an epiphany," they declare on their website. "What, we asked, are the grandest ventures of our or any generation? And what, to give this a bit more focus, best expresses the souls of 21st century Americans?"
Their answer: that the two most important platforms of expression for their generation were literature and Twitter, and so they sought a way to marry the two.
"More than any other social networking tool, Twitter has refined to its purest form the instant-publishing, short-attention-span, all-digital-all-the-time, self-important age of info-deluge that is the essence of our contemporary world. So what could be better than to combine the two? After all, as great as the classics are, who has time to read those big, long books anymore?"
And so their "humorous retelling of works of great literature in Twitter format aimed at people aged between 18 and 35."
The intent is to metaphorically throw the works of Dante, Shakespeare, Stendhal, Joyce and JK Rowling into a log-chipper and have twenty 140-character Tweets for each come out the other end. The humor, presumably, will be added somewhere along the process, like carnauba wax in a car wash, then polished to hilarious sheen. Humor's a tricky thing; without meta-context the laughs get lost and there's no room for any sort of context in a Twitter tweet.
This is not exactly a fresh idea. In early May of 2009, the U.K. Telegraph reported that writer Tim Collins has a new book, The Little Book of Twitter, comprised of plot summaries of the great books and aimed at the Twitteratti, i.e.:
Ulysses:
jamesjoyce: Man walks around Dublin. We follow every minute detail of his day. He's probably overtweeting.
Great Expectations:
charlesdickens: Orphan given £££ by secret follower. He thinks it's @misshavisham but it turns out to be @magwitch
The Catcher in the Rye:
jdsalinger: Rich kid thinks everyone is fake except for his little sister. Has breakdown. @markchapman is now following @johnlennon
Pride and Prejudice:
janeaustin: Woman meets man called Darcy who seems horrible. He turns out to be nice really. They get together.
Bridget Jones's Diary:
helenfielding: RT @janeaustin Woman meets man called Darcy who seems horrible. He turns out to be nice really. They get together.
Okay, this is fun up to a point; I got paid to do this in an earlier incarnation: Ultimately, Collins' book is an exercise in writing what in TVLand-speak is called the "high-concept," a high-fallutin' way to describe the log line for the program/movie's TV Guide entry, nothing more. Writing "high-concepts" sounds a lot more significant than writing TV Guide teasers, along the lines of "sanitation engineer" for garbageman which, come to think of it, was exactly what I was doing.
Twitterature apprs 2B aimng at smthng mre &, hopefully, litteratwerps hu thk plot is bk wll B dsapntd.
If Rensin and Aciman can capture the soul of a book within its theme, plot, character, and milieu in twenty Tweets of 160 characters each or less, and include a wry slant, that would really be an accomplishment; high art, I think, and poetry of the highest rank.
I'm not counting on it.

How Can You Get Published if No One WIll Publish You?

2009-06-29T11:12:00.005-04:00

Mike Hyatt, THE publishing guru, blogged about platform building in an entry April 29th, that needs reviewed by those wishing to crack the concrete ceiling that is hanging over publishing in America.

The truth is that a platform is a huge part of the equation, just as consistent direct communication between you and those visiting your blog/twitter/facebook/etc.

The day of publishers taking a flyer on a new author are so over, one wonders if they ever existed, or if it was just a fond, imaginary, phase we all went through together. In this century, you build from within, maintaining a data base, even if it's in Outlook, of everyone you touch through your writing, speaking and marketing of yourself.

Do the easy work now and you won't be playing catch-up later.

Mike Hyatt received an email yesterday from a young lady who wanted to write a book. She complained that neither publishers nor agents would give her a chance. According to her, their main objection was that she didn’t have a platform. "How can I get a platform," she wrote, if no one will publish me?"

http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/04/how-can-you-get-published-if-you-don%E2%80%99t-have-a-platform.html
Frankly, I get this question a lot. The answer is simpler than you think: build one. It’s never been more possible. For the first time in history, perhaps, you don’t need a lot of money or even the right connections. What you need is something to say, a fair amount of determination, and persistence. But it is possible.

By platform most publishers mean the ability to influence an audience that is large enough to make publishing a book less of a risk. Just a few years ago, this meant you had to have a television or radio show or write a regular magazine or newspaper column. This typically required a lot of money or important contacts.

But today, by starting a blog and making use of tools social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, you can build a big platform with little more that the investment of your creativity and time. I’m not saying it is easy, but I am saying it is within reach. (By the way, I consider my blog to be my homebase and Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, etc., to be outposts.)

Therefore, if you are thinking about writing a book, and if you don’t already have a large media platform, I would strongly urge you to start blogging. Why? I can think of four reasons:

1. It will hone your writing skills. The truth is, that if you can’t muster the discipline to blog consistently, you won’t have the discipline to write a book either. In addition, blogging enables you to find your voice, one post at a time. The more you write, the better you will get. There’s no substitute for practice and lots of it.
2. It will provide near-instant feedback. The problem with writing a book is that it is a long process. You won’t get much feedback along the way. And you won’t really discover if you have hit the bulls eye, so to speak, until after you have invested a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears. With blogging, you get almost instant feedback, particularly if you encourage comments. This will give you a tremendous boost to stay with the process and keep writing.
3. It will enable you to build a tribe. If your writing is good, and if it connects with people, then they will begin to tell others. Whether they mention your blog in casual conversation or Twitter a link to a post that was meaningful to them, you will start to attract readers. This will be slow at first, but you must persevere. Like almost everything in life, it’s difficult to overcome inertia and get the flywheel turning. But once you do, the growth will come more quickly.
4. It will eventually get an agent or publisher’s attention. Once you are getting 500 - 1,000 unique visitors a day, you suddenly have a platform that can be leveraged into a book deal. In order to track this, I would strongly urge to sign up with Google Analytics. This will provide you with a verifiable way to prove to an agent or a publisher that you have the traffic you claim to have.

Obviously, you can blame agents, publishers, the industry, or even the economy for why you can’t seem to get published. Or, you can roll up your sleeves and get to work.

Made Perfect Through Brokenness

2009-06-28T20:00:00.006-04:00

There is a village is the Far East that, through the centuries, was known for its exquisite pottery. Especially striking were its urns, admired around the globe for their strong form and delicate beauty.

Legend has it that each urn took months to fashion, redone until each surface was perfect. When the artisan knew his creation was ready, it was fired into a smooth, glass-like, amazingly unique piece of art.

When it was finished and painted in colors so rich they made you cry, there was one final step. The potter would examine the piece and after declaring its perfection, take a large mallet and shatter it.

The potter would then begin the painstaking process of putting the broken pieces back together using only gold filigree.

An ordinary urn was then transformed into a priceless work of art. What seemed finished wasn’t, until it was broken.

We think we have arrived. We believe our life is perfect. Sometimes we even proclaim perfection through our words and behavior and one day life smashes our perfect dream, breaking our life into an array of pieces. Our world suddenly seems disjointed, out of step and unfulfilled.

Then the Potter takes over, taking all the little pieces of a life destroyed and carefully fitting them back together using the most precious substance known, to cement us in place, so that He might place us among the many other works of art He created out of brokenness and pain.

Give Him a chance, today. Stay a while on the Potter's wheel and be healed, fixed, recreated and made beautiful by the hands of the One whose love was so great He left Heaven to die on a cross, alone and hated, so that He would not have to live forever in Paradise without you.

Rest in His arms.

Let the wheel of His will restore and repair you.

As He turns your broken heart and shattered dreams into a priceless work of art, let His love overflow your vessel, touching and changing everything in its path.

He Loves You, you know.

You personally. Individually.

He loves you...

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18

Why Should YOU Help Sell Your Book?

2009-06-27T14:21:00.003-04:00

Rachelle Gardner makes some tough points from an agent's perspective, on the responsibility of the author to sell books. When I worked with Jerry Jenkins at Moody Press, he always considered it his obligation to market a book for AT LEAST the first year after publication and as long as run up to publication as possible.

If you are not selling books for yourself, your going to limit, dramatically, what you can sell in the future. That is IF you get a publisher, in this market, who is willing to take a chance picking up your project. That is reality to many, MANY currently published authors, finding out their house said "No" to the next project and maybe to some already under contract.

Why You Should Help Sell Your Book
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-you-should-help-sell-your-book.html

Every time I post anything about building a platform, blogging, or creating an online presence, I inevitably get a few grumbles and complaints about why this is necessary. Some people want proof that all these activities can actually sell books. I also get "what-if" and "but-I" and every possible argument from writers who don't want to do this.

Well, here's the thing. If you manage to get a contract with a mainstream commercial publisher for your first book, that's awesome. But if your book doesn't go on to have strong sales to consumers, your publishing career could be over. Just that quick. Even if your publishing career isn't over at that point, it's definitely handicapped, and you might have to work even harder than you did with your first book to sell a second one to a publisher.

In the golden days of publishing, it was common for publishers to put a book out there, then expect it to slowly build. They'd allow time for readers to find it. Even if a first book didn't sell very well, publishers took the long view of an author, understanding that it might take two or three books for readers to find them. They'd stick with that author and build them over time. But today it's rare to get that kind of treatment. We don't have the luxury of "waiting" for an author to find an audience.

There are exceptions. Occasionally there's a writer that the publishing house believes in so strongly that they'll put out a second and even a third book, despite poor sales, especially if it was a multi-book contract to start with. Hopefully by then, the sales will begin to meet the publisher's expectations. If not... doom.

In general... the latest wisdom from the current publishing industry is this: It's easier for a first-time, never-published author to sell a book to a publisher than it is for an author who's had a book that tanked.

What's the definition of "tanked?" It depends on what the publisher's expectations were to begin with. Your book could sell 75,000 copies, but if the publisher projected 150k, the book may be seen as a failure. Or, your book could sell 20k, but the publisher expected 12k so you are considered very successful, and they'll want more books from you.

What's my point?

In this environment, wouldn't you want to do everything humanly possible to drive up the sales of your own book? I'm talking about sales to the end-user, the reader purchasing your book from the bookseller. Wouldn't you want to be looking at ways that you could find an audience for your book, and at least try to help it fly off the shelves at Barnes & Noble? If your publishing future depends on your sales, it makes sense.

A blog can help you build an audience, but maybe a blog isn't your vehicle of choice. Maybe you have access to 5,000 people or 50,000 people another way... through an organization you work for, or a newsletter you distribute. It doesn't matter. The point is, if you want a career as a multi-published author, that first book really needs to sell. It's in your best interest to find an audience and do what you can to boost sales of your book.

Sure, you could leave all the marketing to your publisher. But then if your book doesn't sell very well, who are you going to blame? Your publisher, of course. You'd be abdicating your own responsibility and the power you have to impact the sales of your own book.

This article is about Bookscan, but the first paragraph gives a bit of crucial information. A publisher is giving the reason for declining to pick up a third book from an author who has published two highly praised books. "...sales of his two titles have been modest in comparison to the great praise and attention his work has received, and in this economy that’s a very difficult obstacle for us to overcome with our accounts and booksellers." The point is, publishers base these decisions on previous sales; more importantly, so do booksellers. Even if the publisher picked up a book from this author, the booksellers may decline to carry it. Bummer.

I'll admit, this isn't an easy road. But you do have some power, and you get to decide: Help sell your book to consumers, or not. It's that simple (and that hard).

Inheriting the Gift

2009-06-27T12:29:00.003-04:00

One of my devotions written for the Barbour Books men's devotional,

"The Great Adventure Journal."

ISBN: 9781602606043
http://www.barbourbooks.com/catalog/productinfo.aspx?id=7803&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Inheriting the Gift

I Cor. 8:6 "There is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live."

Have you ever paddled a canoe across a mountain lake and wondered at the beauty of the scenery? God the Creator made it all just for you. Have you ever gazed up a mountain, from the lake and caught sight of an eagle? His hands made their wings. If you noticed any of these things, did you take a moment to consider who God was thinking of when He made it all?
Millions stand beside the waters that flow through their lives, oblivious to the panoramic slide show God is performing for them. Their busy lifestyles shut them out from the beautiful and they miss the One that makes it possible.
If you’re going through a hard time... if you’re seeking answers to questions you haven’t got the courage to pose... If your life is one long disappointment with occasional joy and no beauty, then you’re missing the secret. Its right before your eyes and all you have to do to find it is stop and look around, without the blinders of hurry and the bondage of disappointment.

God give us courage to stop and gaze on Your Creation, so that we might better appreciate the Creator.

Save Time and Money with Professional Editors

2009-06-26T16:01:00.001-04:00

Writer’s Digest has some strong words about using professional editors to make your work all it can be. The truth is that publishers are harder pressed than ever to fund their projects. If you bring them a proposal in ready to print condition, you likely get nearer the top of the pile.

Bring them one that isn’t and you go straight to the bottom and it’s a bottomless pit.

How to Save Time and Money with Professional Editors
Posted by Jane

This post has been adapted from material by Jim Adams, at his site Migdalin.com. I met the talented Jim this past weekend at the WD Editors' Intensive, and we discussed his passion for editor George H. Scithers.

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2009/06/22/HowToSaveTimeAndMoneyWithProfessionalEditors.aspx

After 30 years of rejection, I finally got tired of not knowing why my writing wasn't working. Before trying to find a publisher or an agent, I sent the novel I'd just finished (or so I thought) off to a professional editor.

The year that followed was expensive (professional editors don't come cheap), but it also taught me things about plot, protagonist, pacing, and novel structure that I hadn't picked up from 15 credit hours of undergraduate creative writing courses, an M.A. in creative writing, and reading untold books on writing (some of them with titles like PLOT).

Professional editors are more efficient than how-to books. They give you feedback specific to your project. It's one thing to read a "rule" in a book, it's another thing to have an editor point to a spot in your opus and say, "Here's where you broke the rule, and here's how your writing was weakened as a result."

Professional editors can be more effective than a degree in creative writing, since half your time in getting that sort of degree will be in ancillary class work. Worse, unless you're careful and choosy, you could easily wind up (as I did) at a university where the creative writing teachers sneer at pedestrian concerns like plot. If you dream of getting an M.A. or M.F.A. in creative writing, you might consider finding a professional editor instead. Not only could you learn more in less time, the editorial route might even be less expensive (depending on the university you're applying to), especially if going back to school means giving up a decent-paying job.

As sold as I am on getting help from professional editors, though, when I started working on a new novel, I faced a real dilemma: an insufficiency of funds. Although I hope this new book will need less editorial hand-holding than the previous one, getting the full manuscript critiqued still represents a major expense.

Also, I never feel I've mastered something until I do it right three times in a row. As such, I still have doubts about my ability to spot major plot holes and plot sidetracks on my own.

My brilliant solution to this conundrum?

I sent my editor a detailed synopsis rather than a complete novel.

Getting a synopsis critiqued is not only less expensive, it can save you a lot of time. In my case, although I already had a complete draft of the novel written, revising generally takes me twice as long (at least) as writing the rough draft. Thus, by spotting major non sequiturs in the synopsis, my editor can save me from tweaking pages, chapters, or even (please God, not that again!) an entire book that needs to be tossed out and rewritten from scratch.

If you like to outline and plan books ahead of time, you could even save yourself time during the drafting stage by getting an editor to look at your story premise and outline straightaway.

While they might tell you things you don't want to hear (such as that your underlying story idea won't hold water), wouldn't you rather find that out before you've spent months or years of your life working on the thing?

Even getting a synopsis edited can cost $200 or more, but it's money well-spent, since this particular $200 could save me weeks, even months, of fruitless revision and polishing. Even better, it could save me several thousand dollars, compared to sending a full manuscript to my editor, only to find that my novel has major structural problems—problems that could have been fixed via a review of my story outline.

Wondering how to find a solid professional editor? Preditors and Editors is a good resource for checking out an editing service before you give them your money or your manuscript. I've been using The Editorial Department, and the editor they assigned me to (Peter Gelfan) is the greatest: cruel, insensitive, tactful, patient, and very insightful.

My first book is still making the rounds of agents and publishers, and may still wind up turning into a trunk novel. While I'm convinced it's technically solid, that isn't enough to make a book sell given the difficult publishing environment these days. But whether my first book makes it or not, I feel much better about what I'm doing. I no longer feel like I'm spinning my wheels fruitlessly, repeating the same mistakes over and over again without realizing it.

Saying More Than We Can Say

2009-06-25T10:24:00.001-04:00

Saying More Than We Can Say

Why the Arts Matter Even During a Recession
Carolyn Arends

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/june/27.50.html?start=1

At a concert in Erie, Pennsylvania, I sang a song called "In Good Hands." Afterward, the church's custodian stopped by. "When you was singing that song about Jesus' hands," he said, "the sun was setting behind you, and it was making them stained glass pictures of Jesus glow. The sound of your buddy's violin was bouncing off these stone walls, and, well, you was saying more than you was even saying."

In these tough times, I worry that violins and stained glass and folk songs may become extraneous. Many people are in a state of financial frostbite; just as blood flow to the extremities is restricted to save vital organs in a case of hypothermia, resources for less essential items must be diverted during an economic crisis. Who's going to buy tickets to a film festival, ballet, or concert when there isn't enough money for groceries?

What business do I have writing songs when there is practical work that needs doing? Do the arts matter? Are they expendables or essentials?

Karl Paulnack, director of the music program at the Boston Conservatory, tells the story of Olivier Messiaen, a French composer who was 31 when he was sent to a Nazi concentration camp. Messiaen convinced a sympathetic prison guard to provide paper and a place to compose; in January 1941, his Quartet for the End of Time was performed for 4,000 prisoners and guards. To this day, it is considered a masterpiece.

Paulnack asks, "Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? … And yet—from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art … Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. Art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are."
The Christian faith provides an explanation for the resilience of the human creative impulse. Consider God's first revelation about himself, the first five words of the Bible: In the beginning, God created. When we help make something—when we participate in bringing "cosmos out of chaos," as writer Madeleine L'Engle put it—we affirm the fact that we are made in the image of the Creator. No wonder we can't help ourselves. We are made to participate in the arts.

There are a thousand arguments for the usefulness of the arts in the church. Paintings and plays let us say things that we could never express in direct conversation, giving them great evangelistic potential. Poems and visual icons can be powerful discipleship tools, and Scripture mandates the use of song. Music and poetic liturgy have long been essential mechanisms for communal worship.

But the arts are also important for less obvious reasons. When we witness the transformation of raw material into something beautiful, we are encouraged to remember that other new realities can be made—that perhaps justice can be created where there is injustice, wholeness can be wrought where there is disease and poverty, and community can be made even from discord. Beauty not only suggests these ideals are possible, but it also awakens a longing for them.
When songwriter Sara Groves told International Justice Mission founder Gary Haugen that she wanted to quit music and become a lawyer in support of the cause, Haugen told her she must continue in the important work she was already doing to move hearts and minds toward justice. The arts are not in competition with efforts against injustice; they are an essential part of the fight.

But the arts do even more than help us believe in transformed realities: they kindle faith in unseen realities. My own sense of transcendence is nurtured primarily by beauty—in the created world (mountains, oceans, wildflowers) and in the world we help create (poems, songs, sculpture). By convincing us that there is something more than the material realm of atoms and synapses, the arts open a vista to belief in God.
And when we meet this God, our creativity becomes one of the ways we delight in him. The Message translation of Genesis says that we were created "reflecting God's nature." When we are lost in some endeavor—consumed by singing a song, dancing a jig, building a presentation, or telling a story—people say we are "in our glory." In truth, we are in God's glory, participating in the beauty overflowing from the Creator himself.

Those are the times we wind up saying more than we are even saying, and knowing more than we could know any other way.

Avoid Scams in "Traditional" Publishing

2009-06-24T19:57:00.004-04:00

The playing field has shifted in the last year, more so than in the 25 years previously. WHen the economy is bad, scams pop up all over the map. Take a look at employment scams for a primmer.

Writers Weekly has an excellent article on the subject that can teach us all several important lessons. Read on for more...

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8431156933876079412&postID=3095111883493586329

June 24, 2009

"I Just Landed a Traditional Contract...Or Did I?"

WARNING - SO-CALLED "TRADITIONAL" PUBLISHERS ARE FOOLING AUTHORS INTO PLUNKING DOWN DOUGH!

Below is an email I received from an author last week, with details edited to protect his identity. The author had been led to believe that this was a traditional publishing house.

My new publisher has stopped responding to my messages. Their committee spent a week "reviewing" my manuscript.
They decided to publish the book.

The contract is attached to this email. They would be selling the book at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and would make my book available to bookstores through Ingram. Please take a look at the paragraph I've colored in red.

They asked me to "co-invest" in the project - to pay them $900.00.

I declined the offer and told them that I found it to be humiliating. Rather than offering an advance to the author, the publisher asked for it!

I wish I could say this is a new type of scam...but it's not. In fact, it mirrors other types of scams we've read about over the years.

Several BookLocker authors have emailed me over the years, asking to terminate their contracts because they landed a traditional contract. Some of these authors really did land traditional contracts. However, a few were duped.

This is basically how the scam usually works.

1. Somebody puts up a website, claiming to be a traditional publisher.

2. They accept the author's manuscript after some sort of seemingly high-level "review" process (when, in fact, everybody gets accepted). They then tell the author he or she must immediately terminate any other contracts they have for their book. (As with most scams, they want you to hurry, before you can figure out you're begin scammed and before you can ask someone else for advice. They will likely state they can't offer you a contract until/unless you are not under contract elsewhere. Note: They may even send you the text of one contract "for review", which doesn't mention fees...but send you a different contract - the real one - to officially sign later.) At this point, the unsuspecting self-published author will email their POD publisher and terminate their contract...basically throwing away all the money they invested to self-publish their book. They are now at the mercy of their new "publisher" and, believe me, the new publisher knows this.

3. The company starts making broad claims about how great they are, how professional their books look, and how successful their authors have been (cough). Lots of glowing emails are exchanged back and forth over the days or weeks, praising the author, and making them feel like a V.I.P.

4. The publisher also makes (false) claims about all the promotion they're going to do for an author's book, perhaps including a book tour for the author, a press release sent to thousands of journalists, a book review in a major, nationwide magazine, and much, much more.

5. With each email communication, the author gets more and more excited about the possibility that they're going to have a huge best seller, thanks to their wonderful new publisher! They're going to make so much money that they'll be able to retire on a beach somewhere, and spend the rest of their days with a mai tai in one hand and a keyboard under the other.

6. Only after the "traditional publisher" has elevated the author's hopes to incredible heights (and separated the author from their previous publisher), do they say, "Oh, and by the way, to show you're as serious as we are about your success, we need you to invest money in your book, too. Please send us $$$ (hundreds to thousands of dollars) today so we can move forward with your future best seller!"

That's right. The author has simply been tricked into moving from one self-publishing service to another, at great financial and emotional expense. Yes, emotional expense. Authors who have fallen for this type of scam are deeply ashamed when they realize they've been duped. Many won't talk about it publicly, which, of course, helps the scammer stay in business, pursuing even more victims. Some will even pay the money, either feeling they have no other choice (because they already terminated their other contract), or because they continue to naively and desperately hope the "publisher" will still fulfill all their promises later. Some even refuse to initially believe they've been scammed, and remain in a state of denial...until months later, when they finally realize there will be no book tour, no national magazine review, and certainly no mai tai's on the beach. Only then will they admit that something didn't feel quite right all along.

So, how can you protect yourself from this type of scam?

1. Don't blindly trust the publisher's references. Even some of the authors listed on their website might be the publisher (or his/her relatives), writing under a variety of names.

2. Don't terminate an old publishing contract until you have a final, signed contract from your new publisher. If they balk, tell them to include a clause that requires you to terminate your previous contract within a certain number of days/weeks before your book's scheduled (new) publication date.

3. If you think you've landed a real "traditional" contract, have a literary agent or your attorney negotiate the details and terms. If an attorney or agent intervenes on your behalf, scam services will likely "change their mind" about your manuscript, and may suddenly decline to publish it. Or, they may simply stop responding to correspondence from you and/or your attorney/agent. Many literary agents will be very happy to accept an author who has already landed a traditional contract. Heck, you've already done most of their work for them! If a "traditional" publisher says you don't need an agent or attorney, or, worse, refuses to correspond with yours, RUN!

4. Google the name of the company with words like scam and complaint. Look through their website for other companies they are associated with. Google those names as well.

5. Ask around! Posting inquiries about these types of companies online will almost always result in feedback from others. Warning: If the company is too new (or if they change their name periodically in an attempt to separate themselves from bad press), you may not find anything about them online. Aso be ware of false praise as many shady companies have trolls posting false positive statements about them online.

6. Take advantage of your research skills and poke around a bit. Get creative. You'd be surprised how much you can find out about a company or a company's owner/associates/affiliated firms just by following links on their website(s), in search engines, and their DNS information.

With the so-called publisher above, I discovered these tidbits:

- Their homepage states they're in New York...yet they're actually located in a different state.

- They have a sister company that is a literary agency. Why would a publisher also be a literary agency? That's an easy one! If an author is accepted as a client of their "literary agency", they will then refer that author to their (fee-based) publishing company, leading the author to believe the "literary agent" landed the contract for them! The company then gets the publishing fees AND the literary agent percentage! This is also an old scam in the industry.

- They include logos and verbiage that makes authors think their books will be stocked in the large bookstores.

- I found a warning posted about them that lists more than a dozen company names associated with this outfit - all of them appear to be scams, with hundreds of complaints posted online. Sure makes me wonder why the police haven't intervened in this one.

Why haven't I named them here? Because I want to protect the victim that contacted me and because I want authors to be wary of, and investigate, all so-called "traditional" publishing houses that offer them a contract.

Sadly, no matter how many times I publish articles like this, authors continue to fall for these too-good-to-be-true scams...and scammers continue to find new ways to rip-off authors.

Where will we be in five years?

2009-06-23T18:56:00.000-04:00

Chip MacGregor Asks - Where will we be in five years?
http://chipmacgregor.com/

...At a conference recently where they asked people in the industry to talk about trends they're seeing in publishing. Specifically, they wanted to know what changes we should expect to see in the next five years. My list...

1. You will own an electronic reader. It may be a Kindle (the Amazon.com tool that works on cell phone service, so that books show up on your clipboard-like device like a text message), or the Sony Reader (a better device to use, in my opinion, since it feels more like a book and you can easily download your own files without sending them off or paying Amazon to do it), or some cheap $99 knock-off device that we'll start seeing in the next year. But you WILL own one. Why? No more forty-pound sack of books to carry around. A thousand books on one device. If you get bored with one, you can skip to another. No losing a book ever again, since the companies who sold you the title will replace it for free. You remember when you thought you could get by without a cell phone, iPod, DVD player, Blackberry, GPS, and laptop? Well, you now own most of those. You'll soon recognize the value of an electronic reader and you'll buy one.

2. The web will replace your book show and your book catalog. The big book shows are dying -- too expensive and not enough return to keep going. They'll be replaced with smarter, more cost-effective company events or web-based specialty events. And publishers will soon buy into the green movement by doing away with printed book catalogs and going to web-based catalogs that are always accessible and easy to correct and update.

3. Publishers will soon scrap their print-based semi-annual royalty statements to authors and agents, and will replace them with electronic statements. This makes too much sense. It could be done today, frankly, if publishers wanted to spend the time to make the change. The only thing keeping your publishing house from moving to an email version of your royalty statement is that it doesn't want to be bothered changing the system in light of all the other financial struggles it is facing. But within five years, they'll all have gone to electronic royalty statements.

4. The concept of convergence will jump from newspapers and magazines to books. We live in an image-driven culture, so it's only natural that the convergence of words and images will come to the world of books. On an electronic book screen, we can expect interactive features, downloadable extras, video clips, author interviews, and all sorts of other images to enhance the text. (Think of the newspapers they sell in the Harry Potter movies, with moving images and dynamic graphics -- that's exactly the type of book we'll see in the near future.)

5. A new role will be established within publishing houses. All those images and special features will mean a new role must be established to create and manage the convergence of words and images. We can expect "creative content editors" to become a regular part of every editorial staff. These indviduals will have experience with words as well as images and the interactive aspects marketing.

6. The new products will mean new companies. It may sound crazy in this lousy economic time to predict a spate of new companies being formed... but I think the new technology will make it imperative. One thing that has always been clear is that new breakthroughs in technology (and I believe the electronic reader is a wonderful breakthrough) means new companies to create cutting-edge applications. I think we'll see new companies rise up to compete with the big New York houses when it comes to e-books.

7. A writing superstar will self-publish a book (and make a killing). Again, I think this is inevitable. There is too much money at stake for a celebrity writer to leave it on the table by remaining with a regular royalty-paying publisher. I believe one of the big writers of our era will decide to self-publish, either digitally or in a print-on-demand format, and he or she will sell a boatload of books. (For those not in the know, you can make MORE money at self-publishing, if you have the ability to sell your book. The reason most self-pubbed authors lose money is because they don't know how to sell their book.)

The AMY AWARDS - Christian Content in Secular Media

2009-06-19T11:56:00.000-04:00

...from Jim Barrett, Executive VP of The Amy Foundation...

http://www.amyawardsatl.com/

The Amy Writing Awards is celebrating our 25th year of the program. Last year more than 600 articles were submitted. Cash prizes totaling $34,000 were presented to fifteen authors in May for articles published in 2008. These include the $10,000 first prize award, $5,000 second prize, $4,000 third prize, $3,000 fourth prize, $2,000 fifth prize, as well as ten $1,000 awards of Outstanding Merit. For articles published during 2009, prizes will be awarded in May, 2010.

The Amy Foundation Writing Awards program is designed to recognize creative, skillful writing that applies in a sensitive, thought-provoking manner the biblical principles to issues affecting the world today, with an emphasis on discipling.

To be eligible, submitted articles must be published in a secular, non-religious publication (either printed or online) and must be reinforced with at least one passage of scripture. Each author may submit up to ten entries.

There is no entry fee. A submission form is available on The Amy Foundation website. Past Amy Writing Award winning articles are posted on our website as well as printed in our annual booklet of prize-winning entries.

Entries must be postmarked on or before January 31, 2010 to qualify for the 2009 Amy Writing Awards. Please note that January 31, 2010 is a Sunday. Entries must be postmarked by that date.

The Benefits of Selling to Non-Bookstore Markets

2009-06-19T11:47:00.002-04:00

I got a chance to review "Publishing Basics" article on non-traditional book selling opportunities at:

http://www.publishingbasics.com/2009/06/15/the-benefits-of-selling-to-non-bookstore-markets-2/

...and thought you would love to read more about it.

Special-sales marketing is the process of selling your books to individuals — or to professional buyers — in businesses other than bookstores. In non-bookstore marketing, a successful title is written in response to an identified need, is published in the form desired by the reader, then is properly priced, distributed and promoted directly to a defined group of prospective customers. There are two major advantages of special sales over traditional bookstore marketing. These are control and segmentation.

1. Control. Special-sales marketing gives you more control over your destiny. The responsibility for success falls squarely upon your shoulders as you direct and control the journey of your titles to the appropriate buyers.

Pricing control. Competitive titles are not on a shelf next to yours, so immediate price comparisons are unlikely. The price ceiling is raised, if not eliminated. At the same time, distribution discounts may be eliminated and your print run could be higher. A strategy of pricing your titles based upon the value they offer the customer is more the rule. The result is more pricing flexibility and more leeway to offer price incentives, discounts, two-for-ones or coupons. There are instances in which you could actually lower your list price and still be more profitable.

Product control. Bookstore marketing requires that you sell books, probably 6” x 9” softcover books with a wide spine for easy visibility on the shelf. In special-sales marketing you are not necessarily selling books, you are selling the intangible content of your books. People are interested in what the information in your books will do for them – educate, inform or entertain. The beauty of non-traditional marketing is that the categories of frontlist and backlist are irrelevant. Buyers are concerned with the relevancy of your content to the solution of their problems, and the format in which it is delivered, while relevant, is not mandated as a book.

Buyers want to buy helpful information, not necessarily books. This gives you the flexibility to customize the form in which the information is delivered. It may be a comb-bound or spiral-bound manual that lies flat when used as a workbook during your seminars. Or, it may be a 3-ring binder allowing people to add or change pages easily. You may choose to serve the needs of you potential customers with a video program, DVD, CD or saddle-stitched booklet.

Promotion control. You no longer have to cringe when a careless editor misinterprets your press release, or when a reviewer pans your book. Instead, you can create your own publicity, advertising, sales literature and sales promotional tools to tell your story in your way. You may also decide to contact people directly by telephone or personal visit to present your story and negotiate the terms of sale.

Distribution Control. In non-bookstore marketing you can devise your own sales channels. You might sell your business books through airline magazines or career coaches; your book about dogs, in kennels; or your book about car safety in schools or automobile dealerships. You might choose to sell your romance novel to discount stores, or negotiate with Godiva Chocolate Company to use it as a premium, or have limousine services purchase it as a gift for their passengers.

2) Market segmentation. Some people looked at Goliath and thought he was too big to hit. David looked at him and thought he was too big to miss. You might look at special-sales marketing and think, “Is the non-traditional market big enough to approach, or is it too big?” The answer is yes. A market of $15 billion is too big to pass up, but it is too big a market in which to compete profitably — if you look at it as one goliath market.

Selling books is similar to selling automobiles in the sense that neither is one homogeneous market. In the latter, there are many groups of people, each with a preference for economy cars, luxury cars, sports cars, SUVs, used cars or antique cars. Within each segment, some people may also demonstrate a unique preference for style and color. There are demographic breakdowns in age groups that buy certain brands or styles, as well as psychographic differences among people who buy particular cars to express themselves.

The essence of special-sales marketing is this concept of segmentation, the act of breaking the mass market down into smaller pieces, each more relevant to your particular title. The total non-bookstore market is actually made up of hundreds of “mini-markets,” each with varying degrees of suitability for your title. These could be separated geographically, demographically and psychographically.

As an example of non-traditional market segmentation, consider the market for selling job-search books to unemployed people. Not everyone in that total market has the same career needs, skills or aspirations. There are college students seeking their first position. There are 50+ people with families and greater financial obligations. Women, minorities, blue-collar workers and Hispanic people all have different needs, require different information and may look for job-search assistance in diverse places. A title describing the basic functions of how to get a job could – and should — be marketed differently to each segment.

This concept applies to fiction, as well. Fred Fenn’s Journey to Common Ground is an historical fiction novel set in New England during the Civil War. This book could be sold in Civil War museums, or in airport stores, gift shops and bed & breakfast inns in New England.

Segmentation also applies to publicity. You might seek a review for your science fiction book in the Fantastic Daily Book Reviews ezine, your romance novel in Romantic Notions or your mystery in The Drood Review instead of submitting them to the New York Times Book Review.

Award competitions are also segmented. IBPA’s (formerly PMA) Ben Franklin Awards competition has many different categories for fiction and non-fiction titles. You may also enter your science fiction book for The World Fantasy Award, or your mystery for the Dagger Award presented by the Crime Writers Association.

Segmentation helps you market your book where interested, prospective buyers congregate. This may save you from wasting time, effort and money – all valuable commodities to the independent publisher. Below are additional benefits that accrue when selling books in special-sales markets.

A) Increase your sales in a marketplace equal in size to the bookstore market. If you do not seek book sales outside of bookstores than you may be missing half of your potential. Or, to look at it from a different perspective, you could double your sales with additional marketing effort directed to non-bookstore markets.

B) Experience growth that is virtually limitless. You can create an entirely new segment for your books simply by conducting some basic research. Mandeville Press was able to breathe new life into its line of spirituality titles by finding new sales in yoga-center bookstores and meditation centers, in bookstores at retreat centers and through marriage counselors.

C) Take your titles to the potential buyers rather than waiting for them to go to a bookstore, browsing among all the competitive titles. When you call on large corporations or small gift shops you have the buyers’ undivided attention. Most likely, no other author or publisher has tried to contact them. And when you call on people who more regularly deal with publishers – such as book clubs and catalogs — the buyers are usually receptive to your presentation.

D) Reduce the competition because most publishers ignore the segments in which you are selling. The majority of publishers ignores special-sales markets, with the possible exception of libraries, and relies upon bookstores as their sole source of revenue.

E) Minimize discounting since buyers do not have immediate access to competitive pricing. Bookstore buyers know where your book compares to competitive titles. That is their job. But if you go to product managers in a corporation who are looking for a premium to boost the sales of their products, they do not know if yours is priced above or below competitors’ titles. They are only concerned with its cost — how the information in your book can help them sell more of their products profitably.

F) Sell books on a non-returnable basis. Although some buy on a returnable basis (discount stores, warehouse clubs, supermarkets) most special-sales buyers do not expect to return books.

G) Stimulate increased exposure. Confer multiple hits upon your target buyers through a variety of promotional tools such as articles in niche magazines, trade shows, direct mail, and media performances. If you are selling a title about improving someone’s tennis serve, a review or article in Tennis magazine would more efficiently reach prospective buyers than it would in People.

H) Increase your flexibility in negotiations since there are few fixed distribution fees. Discounts are more flexible, and are typically based on the number of books purchased. Even if you negotiate a 50% discount with a buyer, you are 5 – 20% better off than selling that same book through bookstores. There are also non-price variables open to negotiation, such as format, terms and payments periods.

I) Improved cash flow, since some businesses purchase your products at list price. Government agencies are obligated to pay you interest if uncontested invoices are not paid within 30 days. In special sales markets, many orders are for multiple copies, minimizing your costs to fulfill orders. Shipping charges are typically prepaid an added to the invoice. Returns are less prevalent and payments may be made in 30 days from your invoice date.

J) Make your marketing expenditures more efficient. Segmentation of your prospects and pinpoint promotion reduce waste and increase the efficiency of your expenditures.

Adrift in the Land of Readers. What makes readers tick???

2009-06-18T11:00:00.003-04:00

Mike Hyatt blogging on the life in land of readers makes some fascinating points. As always, every writer has an audience but must define themselves, their work and their message, so that their audience can fine them.

http://ow.ly/ee7D

I am endlessly surprised by what works and what doesn’t, especially when it comes to publishing.

I experience this first-hand when it comes to my blog.

Sometimes I write a post and think, This is going to get huge traffic. Then I post it and watch in disbelief as people collectively shrug their shoulders and ignore it.Then I can throw something together on a whim, post it within minutes, and—bam!—my traffic goes through the roof.

For example, on Saturday, my daughter, Megan, told me about a great quote from P. J. O’Rourke on how easy it is to get distracted when you are writing. I Googled it and finally found the quote:

Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o’clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word “paisly” in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on The New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting—by width—all the interesting articles I’ve cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write.”

I read it aloud to Gail, and we both were laughing so hard we could barely get through the whole thing. It so perfectly expressed the week I had had and the challenge of writing.

So, I thought, Great. This is worth sharing this with other writers. I decided to post it in the Resources section of my blog. This took me about three minutes. Then I tweeted about it, so people could find it. (Posts in my Resource section don’t appear in my usual RSS feed.)

Little did I know how popular it would be. On Saturday, 3,053 people read that little post. On Sunday, 4,345 people read it. Conversely, some of the posts I spend the most time on have the poorest readership. I don’t get it.

The bottom line is that there is no necessary correlation between what I think will be popular and what actually is popular. The only way you can tell is by experimenting. (This, by the way, is why every author should have a blog. It is a sort of lab where authors can figure out what works and what doesn’t.)

That’s also true with book publishing. So often, the books that we think will be big bestsellers (and pay big royalty advances on) aren’t. They tank—or at least don’t achieve what we hope they will. Why? Because people just aren’t interested, no matter how much we hype the book or spend on promotion.

Similarly, some books that we anticipate will have modest sales completely blow us away. The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews, Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, and Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore were all surprise hits—and continue to sell well to this day.

The moral of the story? Knowing what the public will respond to is still shrouded in mystery. If we could reduce it to a simple algorithm, we would. Then we could only publish the bestsellers. But, alas, this is not possible.

So instead, we try to learn from the past, listen to our gut, and publish the best content we can. In the end, publishing is a humbling reminder that none of us can determine with absolute certainty what will work and what won’t. Relatively speaking, the readers are still sovereign and we would do well to respect that fact.

Writer Conferences: Good Advice Part II

2009-06-17T23:12:00.001-04:00

Part II of Chip MacGregor's commentary on Writer Conferences.

http://chipmacgregor.com/

7. Amy said, "I was thinking of doing something creative with my proposal, just to make it stand out. Does that sort of thing help?"

True story: I once received a woman's romance proposal wrapped inside a lacy thong. Apparently the author thought it would make the project stand out in my mind. It did -- I assumed the author had lost her mind. My job is interesting enough as it is; I don't need to add t"ouching someone else's underwear" to my to-do list. This sort of creative thing can seem downright weird unless you explain it. So no -- I don't think these types of extra bonus things help very much. Ultimately it comes down to the idea, the writing, and the platform of the author. If you do a good job with those three things, you'll be way ahead of everybody else.

8. Jennifer asked, "Is it really important to include comparative titles in my book proposal?"

Absolutely. Good comparable titles make the editor's job easier. It sets up your manuscript and gives it context. It allows the editor to tell his or her sales staff, "This book is like that book." Besides, it's not that hard to do -- spend some time on Amazon, then poke around the shelves at Barnes & Noble. You'll quickly find some appropriate comparable titles. The one lesson I'd keep in mind is "not too big, not too small." In other words, don't compare your book to Left Behind, Harry Potter, The Purpose Driven Life, or The Shack. That just looks stupid -- you can't really be expected to compete with runaway hits. By the same token, don't compare your book to something nobody has ever heard of, a book that sold 12 copies, or a book that died a dog's death. Hello! That just suggests your book includes a one-way ticket to Loserville.

9. Rob wants to know, "If an agent at a conference invites me to send him a proposal, how long is okay to wait before I send it?"

Generally you'd want to send it as soon as possible. I mean, if you need a few days to polish it, by all means put the finishing touches on your work. But agents see a lot of proposals, and they aren't going to remember many they saw briefly at a conference. True Story II: I received an email from someone last week that reads, "I met you at a writing conference two years ago..." Um, who cares? I'd have a hard time telling you what cities I was in two years ago, let alone remember some guy who had another book idea. Besides, the marketplace for books changes all the time -- I don't know if an idea that was good two years ago will still be viable today. So don't delay. If an agent asked to see it, send it along.

10. And Anita asked me, "Can you show me a sample book proposal?"

If you go to my company website (MacGregorLiterary.com), you can find a sample fiction and a sample nonfiction book proposal. If you go the website of my former employer, Alive Communications, you'll find sample fiction and nonfiction book proposals (Alive is a very good literary agency). If you need help, I recommend Terry Whalin's wonderful little tome, Book Proposals That Sell. You can find it on Amazon for about ten bucks, and it's got great information to help you create a winning book proposal.

Writer Conferences: Good Advice from Chip MacGregor

2009-06-17T23:05:00.002-04:00

Chip MacGregor is blogging about Writer Conferences. I have a strong interest in the subject and urge all potential writers to use them as an important resource. Chip says;

http://chipmacgregor.com/

June 14, 2009
A Dozen Questions about Writing Conferences

I've been going over the questions people have sent me recently, and several have asked about writing conferences...

1. Dylan asked, "Are you a fan of writers' conferences?"

I'm a huge fan. I think writing conferences are a great place to network with other writers, learn about the craft, and meet people in the industry.

2. Sarah wants to know, "Is a writing conferernce worth the cost? What should I get out of it?"

The value of a conference depends on your expectations. If you're going to meet people in the industry and get connected, you'll probably find it worthwhile. But if you're going with the thought that "an agent will have a ten-minute conversation and want to sign me" or "an editor will take one look at my proposal and offer me a contract," you're probably going to be disappointed. I suggest an author sit down and look at the list of faculty and the list of workshops being offered. If you need craft help, go to a conference with really strong craft seminars. If you are most in need of talking with agents, look for one with a long lineup of literary agents. With travel, meals, hotel, and the registration fee, you could be spending more than a thousand bucks on a big conference -- that's a lot of money, especially if you're a writer who isn't making a thousand dollars a year via writing. So you've got to think about what your expectations are and how well the conference meets them. A little research can go a long way.

3. Veronica wrote this: "I'm planning to attend a conference in September, and they offer appointments with agents and editors. I'm not really ready for an agent -- should I sign up to meet some anyway?"

That depends on what your goals are. Sometimes you'll sign up with an editor just to let them see your work and get their perspective on it. If you're looking for direction in your writing, make that clear at the outset, so that you can get the most out of your fifteen minutes. You might sign up to talk with an agent about the industry -- again, give them some sense of your expectation in the meeting. But be aware -- sometimes an editor or agent will have limited times available, and we hate it when somebody is clearly wasting our time. I'll offer two examples... I don't represent children's books, poetry, or sci-fi novels. Ten minutes of research would reveal that to a prospective author. Yet I regularly have morons pitch me their sci-fi children's poetry crap during agent appointments. As though they expect I'm suddenly going to see the light, grasp their proposal, and shout, "Hallelujah! Poetry I love!" Geez. That's what you call "getting off on the wrong foot." A couple years ago, at a conference I did as a favor to the director, I could only be there for an afternoon. They made a big point of stating "Chip is here just for a couple hours, and we'd appreciate it if you would leave those appointment times for experienced writers." So who was my first appointment? A woman with her fourteen-year-old daughter, who began by saying, "I don't really have anything to talk with you about, I just wanted my teenage daughter to meet you." (And I was polite. I figure seriously stupid people require calmness in order to keep from getting violent.)

4. Danny asked, "What do you say at a meeting with an agent?"

That depends on you and the agent. If you were meeting with an agent who was a longtime editor like Janet Grant, you might ask about the salability of your work, or talk about your craft. If you're talking with an agent who is known for industry stuff, like Steve Laube, you might ask about how your idea fit with publishing houses. If you were meeting with me, you might ask career questions. In other words, do your homework. Be ready to talk about yourself and your book. Be clear about what you're hoping to get out of the meeting. Allow the agent to respond to your questions. Don't push too hard. Understand that agents are just people doing their jobs, so they may not have fabulous answers to every question you ask. If you're serious about writing, then you have to treat a conference as a business trip, not just a mini-vacation.

5. Sally said this: "I've met you at conferences before, and you never seem to take material with you. Why don't you take proposals?"

It gets worse, Sharon... I usually don't even take business cards. Why? Because I don't want to have to fill my suitcase with piles of dead trees. If I find your idea interesting, I might ask you to email it to me. But understand that I frequently say "no thanks" to ideas pitched to me at conferences. (I feel a need to say that, since I find some editors are total weenies and seem to tell everyone to "send it to me." That way they can just reject stuff with a faceless email.) Look, if I'm not crazy about the idea, or it's not a fit, or I don't think the person can write, I've got no reason to take their proposal. Or their card or bookmark, for that matter. I see hundreds of proposals each year, and I might take on a handful of clients. Do the math.

6. Mike wrote: "At last year's conference, I had a bunch of people ask to see my proposal... but no one made me an offer. Am I wasting my time at conferences?"

Not the way I look at it. I figure having people say "send it to me" is better than having them say "get lost." So it didn't sell -- at least it got looked at. Get some people to help you improve it, and show it to them again. (Or ditch the old idea and move on to something better.) Remember, for most people getting published is a process. You start out taking baby steps, and move toward learning how to write as an adult in the marketplace.

NewsWeek - Have the Days of Christian Media Come and Gone?

2009-06-09T11:13:00.004-04:00

NewsWeek is a little anxious to declare Christian Media dead and gone. In a typically liberal article, Newsweek writer Lisa Miller pretends to understand what the closing down of Christianity Today, means.

Have the days of Christian media come and gone?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/200442?GT1=43002
Jun 4, 2009 | Updated: 1:22 p.m. ET Jun 4, 2009

Another week, another failed magazine. But while the collapse of print media is hardly news, this demise is different.

Today's Christian Woman was founded in 1978 to reach evangelical Christian women who wanted a publication that reflected their values. They didn't want the crass sex talk of Cosmopolitan. They didn't want the mainstream relationship advice of Redbook. They wanted inspirational stories of faith and Bible-based help in managing their children, friendships and marriages. Anita Bryant graced the first issue's cover. "It was as close to what people were looking for as anything," remembers its founding editor, Dale Hanson Bourke. Last week, TCW's parent company, Christianity Today International (CTI), announced that the magazine's September/October issue would be its last. "I feel like a dinosaur," Bourke moaned in an e-mail.

The death of TCW is important for two reasons. First, it shows that Christian magazine publishing is in the toilet along with almost every other kind of print publishing. In its announcement, CTI also said that Ignite Your Faith—formerly the historic Campus Life—would close, and that 22 percent of the CTI staff would be laid off. (Christianity Today, CTI's flagship publication, founded by Billy Graham in 1956, will remain in business.) Other Christian magazines—Discipleship Journal, Pray and CCM, the Christian community's version of Rolling Stone—have also been shuttered in the past 18 months. New Man and SpiritLed Woman, published by the Charisma group, have abandoned print and are now available only online. "The perfect publishing storm that's hitting everyone is hitting us," says Harold Smith, CTI's CEO and editor in chief. "It has hammered us."

The real interest here, though, is more than merely economic. TCW's death signals something much bigger: an end in America to the perceived separation between the secular and the evangelical worlds. Not 10 years ago, the conventional wisdom as reflected in much of the mass media held that evangelical Christians led completely separate lives from everyone else. They went to separate colleges, they married each other—and they shopped at Christian bookstores, where they could purchase books, records, magazines and tea napkins produced and distributed by Christian-owned companies. Only secular people shopped at Barnes & Noble. So separate were the two worlds that Christian bestsellers rarely showed up on the New York Times bestseller list—and when they did (as with Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins's Left Behind books), the secular media treated the authors and consumers as oddities. In December 1985 the hip, Andy Warhol-founded Interview magazine did a piece on Bourke and TCW. "It was very much a look-who-we-discovered approach," says Bourke.

Now, though, Christian and inspirational stories are widely available in secular places. O, Redbook and Good Housekeeping regularly run the kinds of articles that TCW once considered its bread and butter. On her Web site, Oprah currently features an interview with Queen Rania of Jordan, in which the queen says that she and her husband strive to raise their children "like any other family." "The most important thing," she says, "is to instill [in your children] the right values." Barnes & Noble and Borders—not to mention Sam's Club and Wal-Mart—carry a wide variety of Christian and inspirational books, magazines and music. Even the most committed Christians no longer have to shop only at Christian stores or buy only Christian media. "I don't shop at a Christian bookstore," admits Ginger Kolbaba, the current editor of TCW. "Not when I can go online."

Even more important, evangelical Christians are less willing to identify themselves as a coherent group embodying one set of values. As a result, it seems Christians are more willing to take their parenting and relationship advice from secular sources. "This next generation, they can read a marriage magazine or a parenting magazine and filter it through their Christian world view without saying, 'I need Today's Christian Marriage or Today's Christian Woman'," says Don Pape, publisher of trade books for David C. Cook, a Christian publishing firm. "I can pick up a music magazine and I don't need a writer to say, 'You will like this because it's a Christian artist.' I can do that myself. I think that's one of the issues." In the old days, efforts by Christian or secular companies to "cross over" into foreign turf were considered quixotic. But the popularity of the book The Shack and the music of Carrie Underwood, not to mention The Passion of the Christ and the selection of Kris Allen as America's newest Idol, demonstrate how defunct the conventional wisdom has become.

In the world of Christian publishing, as elsewhere, the successful brands are those that have found small but profitable niches. Relevant magazine, with about 100,000 subscribers, talks to young, mostly male evangelical Christians with a strong interest in social-justice issues. Its ad sales have remained steady through the downturn, as has its subscriber base, says editor Cameron Strang. Now TCW is in the process of reinventing itself as what Kolbaba calls "a digizine": an online magazine for Christian women in their 30s interested in social justice and community action. The price of the new product—which doesn't yet have a name—will be much lower than that of the print version. But since the layoffs at CTI, Kolbaba is doing this relaunch very much on her own. Who else from the TCW staff is working with her on this project? "Actually, just me. I'm it, yeah."

You've got to love her for trying.

New Trends in the Christian Fiction Market

2009-06-06T22:36:00.003-04:00

Sally Stuart is pretty much the expert when it comes to Christian publishing business. Her new article hits some fascinating areas of the market and is good news to many writers... read more

http://novelmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/smokin-hot-new-trends-in-christian.html

Smokin' Hot New Trends in the Christian Fiction Market
As promised, our esteemed friend Sally Stuart, compiler of The Christian Writers' Market Guide, is here as a guest blogger today. In one of her Q&A responses, she tells below how to get the attention of an agent and/or editor. We here at NovelMatters remind you of our now-running contest, Audience With an Agent. Six winning entries will be read by Wendy Lawton of Book & Such Literary Agency. Submission details under the "promotions" tab. So get those manuscripts polished until they shine, and listen to the wisdom of Sally Stuart as she tells us what impressions and data she gleaned from the new edition of the Guide which just went to press.....

Question: What are the most significant changes you've seen in this upcoming Christian Writers' Market Guide, as compared to the previous one?

Sally Stuart: It seems that most of the changes this year are somehow connected to the advancement of technology. For years I have stressed the importance of submitting material to an editor by name, but every year it seems like more and more publishers are not naming editors in the guide and are asking that submissions be sent by e-mail to a generic e-mail address, or not even supplying an e-mail address but requiring the use of an online submission form.

Of course, one of the most significant changes is the drop in the number of markets. Although there are 18 new book publishers for 2010, the total number is 384--34 less than last year. There are just under 600 periodicals listed (35 new), but 54 fewer than last year. I am hearing of more publications going out of business every week now.

Question: You have your finger on the pulse of Christian publishing. What's hot in book-length Christian fiction right now?

Sally Stuart: Although Amish books seem to be all the buzz these days, I checked to see which genres increased in interest based on publishers' responses in the topical listings in the next edition. The Teen/YA category actually went up the most with 14 new publishers. The next batch tied at 13 new publishers apiece: biblical, frontier, and novellas. Frontier/romance was up 11; followed by historical, mystery/suspense, and historical/romance up 9. The rest ranged from 1-6. Science fiction was the only one not to gain any, and a new genre this year is cozy mysteries with 24 publishers showing interest.

Question: The Christian book industry, like all book industries right now, is suffering. Are editors willing to take chances on first-time novelists?

Sally Stuart: I think publishers are always on the look-out for the next great novelist. But they want really great fiction. Your best chance for making that agent or editor connection is to attend conferences where there are a lot of them present. That's where they're out there looking.

Question: What's the most important thing you would convey to aspiring Christian novelists?

Sally Stuart: The best thing a novelist can do is work on polishing his/her craft. Strive to be exceptional--to stand out in the crowd. Be sure the book is not only well written but well edited. Publishers these days are short-handed and they want books that will require little or no editing. But if an editor sends the book back for rewrites, do it. I'm amazed at how many authors just ignore those requests and just drop it or try another publisher. If a publisher is willing to invest their time to make you a success, you owe them your best.

Sally E. Stuart
Christian Writers' Market Guide
www.stuartmarket.com (order the market guide here)
www.stuartmarket.blogspot.com (marketing info here)

Does Every Author Need a Video Book Trailer??

2009-06-04T15:21:00.003-04:00

Web Book Trailers are one of those new, "Must Have" marketing tools that may, or may not be the missing link between you and increased book sales. It is new and it is fashionable. The Book Trailer sets your project apart and at the same time leaps your work up beside the big guys.

Peggy Richardson is blogging all about it on her website;
http://s231411637.onlinehome.us/editors_blog/2009/06/01/every-author-needs-a-video-book-trailer/

Every Author Needs a Video Book Trailer
June 1st, 2009 . by Peggy Richardson

Here are my tips for creating your best book or eBook video trailer to promote your product on video sites like YouTube, and places like Twitter or FaceBook.

The job of the video book trailer is the same as that of a movie trailer: give them a taste, but keep them wanting more. It should accurately reflect the content of your book, but not give away the farm.

Perhaps most importantly, this video should be able to be distributed all on its own: if people see nothing about your book but the trailer, they should know (1) what your book will do for them, (2) how much it is, and (3) where to buy it or find out more. This way, you can distribute the video almost any way, through any media, and it will do the same job.

As a sales tool, I won’t bore you again here with my now-familiar rant about video being the most powerful communication medium, how anybody can do it in their basement, and how the cost-benefit ratio of all online marketing tools is highest with video.
Let’s skip to the tips.

- At the very top of the cheap-and-simple scale, you can always cobble together video clips using Windows Movie Maker, now part of basic Windows. Mac fans have numerous choices, but the objective here is to use whatever allows you to get it out the door the fastest.

- Focus on benefits, rather than features. (Yeah, I know you’ve head me lecture about that before, too.) Will the book tell them how to shave minutes off their best marathon run time? Will it teach them how to drug-proof their kids? Will it give them an advantage when they apply for their next job? It’s not about “how to”, but rather about “you can have this too”.

- Keep it under 2 minutes. Longer than that and you lose them.

- Put a ghost image of your URL on every screen, either in the bottom corner or across the bottom. Just make sure you don’t block the view of stuff on-screen. If you can’t put a ghost image, be sure to clearly display the URL at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, and again clearly at the end.

- Include a copyright statement as the last screen with your company and the year.

- Enhance the mood using cool music, appropriate tempo and pace, and additional stock video if need be. (iStock.com now offers video as well as still photographs.)

Writer's Digest. The TRUTH About Self Publishing

2009-06-03T19:20:00.003-04:00

Writer's Digest has a fascinating article, "The Truth About Self Publishing." It asks and answers the most pressing questions about the sport of independent publishing.

What is not covered is how YOU get YOUR books out?

What independent publishing house is the right house to work with?

When do you need to hire a publicist and for how long?

Read for yourself.

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/the-truth-about-self-publishing/

1. WHAT SHOULD I CONSIDER BEFORE DECIDING TO SELF-PUBLISH?
There are three critical factors if you’re hoping to see your self-published work widely read and/or favorably received by editors and agents:

Editorial quality. Never publish a book that has not been professionally edited. A self-publishing service rarely reviews your work to assess the quality of its content (or, more important, its market viability), and no service will undertake the revision and editing process unless you pay for it. Only you can ensure that your work has the best content, structure and organization, and it’s up to you to pay for copyediting, proofreading, indexing or any other polishing your work may require. Unfortunately, many self-published books have not undergone any meaningful editing, which can give the whole lot a bad rap.

Distribution and sales. The thing to remember about self-publishing services is that, almost without exception, they make their money on the upfront fees that you pay before even a single copy is sold. Compare their situation to that of a traditional publishing house, which must invest a significant sum of money upfront, then recoup the investment through book sales. A traditional publisher has a sales force or a distributor who pitches books to the national chains and independent stores; the same cannot be said of self-publishing services. Plus, in a self-publishing scenario, there’s rarely a supply of books to distribute and stock on store shelves because most authors use print-on-demand technology to keep costs low, printing one book at a time to fill customer orders.

Bottom line? Self-published authors need to have a way to reach their readership directly and let everyone know a book is available for purchase. Without marketing and promotion, very few sales will occur. (Of course, the same is true of traditionally published books, but with distribution in place, it’s easier for people to stumble across books on the shelf and make impulse buys.)

Cover, design and packaging. The cover (as well as the title) can be the No. 1 marketing tool for any book. The same can be said of the size, trim, price and interior features. All these factors contribute to having the right packaging to make the right sale to the right audience. Traditional publishers often have considerable in-house expertise on what kind of packaging will sell to a particular consumer, and they spend numerous hours on title, design and packaging refinement. Many self-publishing services require you take a template approach (one size fits all) for convenience and economic efficiency, which can make it difficult to compete. (Click here to learn more about how to create a successful cover package.)

Of course, if you’re just looking into self-publishing for your own gratification, perhaps to have some copies for your friends and family members, these considerations don’t apply—and you have more affordable options now than ever before. See question No. 3.

2. WILL I KILL MY CHANCES WITH A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER IF I SELF-PUBLISH?
Of course not. Even if you publish what in hindsight is a terrible book, or you’re embarrassed by the results, no agent or editor would turn down your subsequent work if it looked like a surefire winner in the marketplace. But, you may ask, have you ruined your chances of traditionally publishing that same work?

It depends. If your self-published book sells well and looks like it could take off with traditional distribution (and you’ve probably read success stories like this, such as the one on Page 50), then agents and editors will gladly take a piece of that success. This is a huge exception to the rule, though, and no one should self-publish solely to win attention from traditional publishing houses. It’s a rare occurrence, and one that usually only happens after the author has created a quality work and dedicated countless hours to self-promotion.

3. IF I SELF-PUBLISH, WHICH SERVICE SHOULD I USE?
We can’t possibly recommend a service that works for everyone because every writer has a unique situation, a unique book, a unique set of resources and unique goals. It’s up to each writer to research the options carefully and make an informed decision. But what we can do is help you get started, so we’ve created an exclusive online directory of 60 self-publishers and the services they offer. Simply visit writersdigest.com, where more information about each one is just a click away.

4. I’VE ALREADY SELF-PUBLISHED. NOW WHAT?
If you’re wondering if you’ve made the wrong decision, it’s time to stop worrying and start focusing on either marketing the book you now have, or moving on to writing your next book.

5. SO WHERE DOES WD STAND ON SELF-PUBLISHING?
I can’t tell you how many heated discussions the Writer’s Digest staff has had about self-publishing—its advantages or disadvantages, its past and future, its advertising presence in this very magazine. As publisher and editorial director of Writer’s Digest, I can tell you this is where we stand: Our main goal is to inform and educate, so you make the right decision for your work. Self-publishing can be easy, affordable and satisfying—but marketing, selling and promoting can be difficult. Many authors enter into it without a full understanding of the challenges and of what self-publishing services can and can’t provide. We want to help you have realistic expectations and give you the tools to succeed, no matter what road you take.

Social Networking Going User Pay

2009-06-03T14:34:00.003-04:00

In an unsurprising move, Financial Times reports, Facebook informs people of the coming payment/credit system being implemented to increase revenue by 1/3 beginning soon.

Facebook Brings in Payment System
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2adf1976-4f91-11de-a692-00144feabdc0.html
By David Gelles

Published: June 2 2009 17:36 | Last updated: June 2 2009 17:36

Facebook has begun tapping a new revenue stream with the introduction of an internal payments system, a move that might help the fast-growing social networking website achieve profitability while being less reliant on advertising.

The long-rumored payments system, which is in its early stages, will allow users to purchase Facebook credits, then use those credits to buy virtual goods from the third-party applications that run on the site, or from Facebook itself.

Facebook hopes that by offering a site-wide currency it will encourage more commerce on the website. By serving as the payment provider, it will capture a percentage of every transaction.

Over time, this will be very significant, said Ray Valdes, an analyst with Gartner Research. Social networking sites have suffered with monetizing [their services], but this leverages [the fact that] users are there on Facebook.

Mr Valdes said revenue from its payments system could soon represent one-third of Facebook’s income.

BookExpo America Notes

2009-06-03T10:39:00.002-04:00

BookExpo America is usually full of news but this year the news is off a little. Commentators seem to be struggling to fill their columns, where in years past, they couldn't begin to get it all in print.

I guess, it's all the news that's worth the ink...

BEA: Big Morph in the Big Apple
From Shelf Awareness
http://ow.ly/ap2v
Simultaneously this past weekend, attendees at BookExpo America could witness the end of time-honored parts of the show--some of the losses were welcomed, others lamented--and one could see the outline of a different kind of show that should be just as important to the industry, wherever the industry goes. As Peter Osnos of PublicAffairs put it, "This is a great event for learning all the important stuff about digital. BEA is important, as usual."

In addition to ye olde books and authors, change--both technological and economic--was the biggest topic of the show. Companies and individuals are trying to reinvent themselves and thrive in the new era of viral marketing, social networking and upended sales and distribution channels. As Jennifer Bigelow of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association commented: "Publishers are being creative. They're thinking outside the box."

On the show floor, mountains of galleys were swept away in the cost-conscious e-age and were missed by many. This perhaps contributed to a feeling that there were fewer big show books. But at the same time, the author events, which seemed to have increased in number, drew raves. It's easy to forget that not long ago author signings in booths were banned at these shows; now the lines of people forming on the floor to meet authors add to a sense of excitement in the aisles.

Educational panels and seminars were more focused, of consistent quality, explored the major issues of the day and often drew SRO audiences. The two stages on the show floor featuring author and panel discussions similarly drew large crowds. Nearby exhibitors told Shelf Awareness that the programs, which were not distracting, increased traffic for them.

Exhibitors' booths shrank (overall down 20%), but exhibitors we spoke with expressed satisfaction with the show. For example, Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks called BEA "the best show of my career." Martha Fluke of Elsevier noted that traffic was steady and that more librarians seek out the company at BEA than seek it out at ALA, a trend that has occurred the past three years. At mid-morning on Friday, Doug Armato of the University of Minnesota Press (which highlighted its books with a sign saying "your mental stimulus plan") said, "Already this is better than Los Angeles."

Some of the slimmed-down booths were striking, most notably Random House's. The company that once took so much space its location was called Randomland had a booth called a kiosk by a few wags. Random's Stuart Applebaum said that the approach--having a floor booth "for authors and booksellers and librarians to meet" while business meetings took place in rooms downstairs, off the show floor--"worked out well."

Attendance was 29,923, up 1,500 from last year in Los Angeles, but down 6,189 or 17.1% from 36,112 two years ago in New York. Still, many felt that if there were fewer people, they mattered more. According to BEA's red-bowtied Lance Fensterman, ABA member bookstore attendance was equal to that in 2007, while media representation rose to 1,700 from 1,250. There were 7,066 book buyers.

Nick Harrison Named Editor of the Year Finalist by ACFW

2009-06-02T10:20:00.002-04:00

Fellow Colorado Christian Writers Conference faculty member, Nick Harrison has been named finalist for the coveted, American Christian Fiction Writers, Editor of the Year, award.

Way to go Nick!

Harvest House Editor Picked as Finalist for ACFW 2009 Editor of the Year Honor
http://www.ecpa.org/rush/
For the second year in a row, Harvest House Senior Editor Nick Harrison has been named as a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) annual 2009 Editor of the Year award. In addition to his present nomination, last year Harrison was named Fiction Editor of the Year by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) and was awarded their annual Golden Scroll Award in recognition of his work with Harvest House fiction authors. August will mark Harrison’s ninth year with the publisher. ACFW will announce the Editor of the Year during a banquet at the 2009 ACFW Conference from September 17-20, in Denver.

What IS the Future of Publishing in the Age of Kindle?

2009-06-01T23:22:00.003-04:00

The CEO Roundatable at BookExpo America, the old ABA convention, is the topic of Books and Such Literary Agency bloggers tonight. There is a tremendous amount of unnecessary anxiety over the Kindle and other electronic book delivery systems.
Janet Kobel Grant says this:

http://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/2009/06/alphabet-soup-ceos-bea/#more-1230

HarperCollins’s Brian Murray, Macmillan’s John Sargent, Simon & Schuster’s Carolyn Reidy, and Perseus’s David Steinberger. Tina started out the discussion by describing the media as being “in the middle of an industrial revolution,” with a reimagining of an industry taking place, with fewer and fewer places to talk about books (referring to the demise of magazines, newspapers, and book reviews).

One of the questions weighing on John Sargent’s mind was: “Amazon shows Kindle readers buy much more, but do Kindle reader continue to buy long-term?” (My personal experience is, oh, yes. I find I’ve increased my reading–and buying–threefold since purchasing my Kindle last July. Wendy would agree with that.)

David Steinberger said, “The danger is the development of monopolies because there’s someone who has come between the publisher and the reader.” (Referring to Amazon, Google, and Yahoo.)

Brian Murray’s concern was: “Consumers are used to paying for books. What are the ways to make the migration to electronic publishing profitable?”

Carolyn Reidy wanted “thinking electronically to be in everyone’s DNA at the publisher’s. The true explosion happens when people can read on devices they bought for other purposes. How do we step into this world and take control of it?”

The publishers talked about crashing books and how that will become the norm in the future. Carolyn Reidy observed that S&S crashed 150 books last year “and they did well.” Rapid response, David pointed out, is the future of publishing.

Each CEO also weighed in on thoughts regarding marketing, and while each gave a nod to viral marketing, they all agreed that, as Reidy said, “The Internet has not replaced The Today Show yet.” In other words, national publicity still is the way, in the CEOs’ opinion, to generate word of mouth.

Should You Go To A Writers Conference?

2009-06-01T16:33:00.002-04:00

Peter Pollock, on his May 30, 2009 blog, Rediscovering the Church, blogs his skepticism about Writers Conferences. After my experience on Faculty at Colorado CWC and upcoming Philly Conference http://www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia/
I can see how one might be skeptical.
Now I am as sold as Peter. Read on from his blog entry...

Peter P on May 30th, 2009

writingTwo months ago I was very skeptical about writer’s conferences. As far as I was concerned, they were expensive and time-consuming and I wasn’t going to learn anything from them. I was pretty fixed in my opinions. I was certain that I was right.

Then someone paid for me to actually go to one (The Antelope Valley Christian Writer’s Conference) and my opinion was forever changed!

Whether you are an aspiring writer or a seasoned, published one, Writer’s conferences have something for you. Here’s why I think you should go to one and what you should expect.

The top three reasons to go:

1. Networking. Like it or not, in the publishing industry, it’s as much about who you know as what you know. At a writer’s conference, you will meet aspiring authors, published authors, professional editors, agents, publishers and a whole host of other people connected with the industry. Starting and building relationships with these people will help you no end in your quest to get published.
2. Education. At a conference, you will learn things you didn’t even know you needed to learn. You will discover more about the process of writing, more about what you should and shouldn’t do in your book(s), what has worked for other people, what other people have found doesn’t work, lots of different ways to make money as a writer that you probably haven’t considered and most importantly what NOT to do when writing a book proposal.
3. Giving. It is always true in life that you have to give to receive. I’m sure you want to receive help, I’m sure you want to receive a contract, you’d probably even like to receive some nice royalty checks. If you want to receive all of those things from the writing industry then you need to give first. At the conference you will meet other people like you to whom you can give encouragement and support and you’ll meet the faculty who you can encourage and give feedback to. Believe me, giving is essential and will reap rewards for both you and the people you give to in many, many ways.

What not to expect:

1. A contract right there, on the spot. It’s not going to happen. Sorry.
2. To sign an agent. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll actually get yourself an agent at the conference. Sorry.

On the flip side of that though:

1. You may just meet a publishing editor who asks you to send her (or him) your book proposal. BOOM! Your proposal just went from unsolicited to solicited. It’s not a contract or any form of guarantee but it’s a BIG step up the ladder.
2. You will start building relationships with one or more agents. When you later send them your book proposal, they will have a face to put to your name. You’re no longer just an unknown nobody, you’re that person they talked with last week who made them laugh over lunch. As they read your proposal, they will start with a positive opinion of you. That’s going to help you no end.

I am quite introverted and find it hard to strike up conversations with people but at a writer’s conference, there are two opening questions you can ask anyone you talk to:

* What do you write?
* Have you been published?

I used that approach to talk to quite a few people and ended up making some great friends and meeting some really interesting people. Not only that, but since then I’ve had some incredible advice and feedback and continued to build some wonderful friendships. The experience was really invaluable to me.

I absolutely recommend that you go to a conference. If you are anywhere in southern California, the AV Writer’s Conference is a great place to start (no, I’m not on commission, I just really enjoyed it).

My biggest single piece of advice though is this:

FOLLOW UP!

There is no point in going to a conference and making new contacts and friends if you’re not going to follow up afterward. It’s just a waste of your time and theirs!

What do you think? Have you been to a writer’s conference? Would you recommend that others go?

Chip MacGregor Answers a Tough Question

2009-06-01T15:46:00.003-04:00

Chip MacGregor is known as a "Book Guy." His insight is timely and at times, remarkable. His blog about the current publishing trends highlights some thigns we've been discussing lately.

http://chipmacgregor.typepad.com/main/2009/05/five-questions-writers-are-asking.html

Questions Writers Are Asking

I've had more than 50 questions sent my way recently, so I'm going to dip into the mailbag and pull out five that I can respond to today...

Evan wrote to ask, "Do you think it's a good idea to start with a smaller publisher and try to have some success, as a way of getting the attention of a larger publisher?"

That's not only a good idea, it's pretty much the pattern writers follow in today's market. (Occasionally we'll see a great novelist get discovered and published by a large house, but that's become the exception instead of the rule.) Again, the best thing an author can do is to write a great book. Greatness gets discovered, in my view. Whether you move to a larger house is probably going to be part of the "career" conversation you have with your agent. Some writers have done very well at smaller publishing houses, and prefer feeling like the big fish in a smaller pond. Don't think that landing at a large publisher is going to be a dream come true -- it might be great, but larger houses have unique issues (for example, you can become writer #37 on their list of top authors).

And an addendum -- a couple people have written to ask about doing a book with Xulon or PublishAmerica. Those are not really publishing houses; they are printers. I don't have anything against an author choosing to self-publish, but a book with a self-publisher doesn't count as a "small house." As I've noted here before, unless you have a sales channel to move a lot of your books, publishers will completely discount the fact that you paid to have your novel self-published.

BookExpo America - Focusing on E Pub

2009-06-01T11:43:00.002-04:00

The "E" Book craze has finally gotten the attention of traditional publishing houses, such that Book Expo America has multiple venues where this is the only topic.
The New York Times is covering it and seems to have a wait and see attitude about the future of e-book publishing...

Book Fair Buzz Is Not Contained Between 2 Covers
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: May 31, 2009

The book publishing industry is notorious for jumping on bandwagons: witness the flood of Da Vinci Code knockoffs that clogged tables at the front of bookstores a few years ago, and the stream of novels featuring vampires that are crowding bestseller lists now.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Motoko Rich Reports From BookExpo America on the Paper Cuts Blog

So it should be no surprise that at BookExpo America, the publishing industry’s annual trade convention that ended Sunday in New York, publishers seemed to be putting their own stamps on the increasingly frenzied conversation about electronic books that has hijacked the business.

There were the panels: Giving It Away: When Free eBooks Make Sense and When They Don’t, Red Hot Readers: Market Adoption of Mobile eReading Devices and Jumping Off a Cliff: How Publishers Can Succeed Online Where Others Failed. Tina Brown, rasping with a bad case of laryngitis, kick-started a discussion with the chief executives of four New York publishing houses by asking if they were shocked when Amazon.com began charging $9.99 for e-books that paltry, pitiful sum.

Interead, a British company that introduced its new Cool-er electronic reader the first day of the Expo, sponsored a booth at which two blond women in tankinis handed out nonalcoholic margaritas and more potent piña coladas to a steady stream of conventiongoers who stopped by to watch demonstrations of the new devices. HarperCollins decided mostly to forgo the traditional giveaways of advance paperback editions of forthcoming books, and instead gave out gift cards redeemable for electronic galleys of titles like Neil Gaiman’s Odd and the Frost Giants and Mary Karr’s Lit.

So far e-books represent 1 to 3 percent of total book sales. But they make up the fastest growing part of the industry, and publishers, authors and booksellers have no idea just how big they will become and how they might affect profits and reading habits in the future.

The Author's Brand - Where Do You Live and Minister?

2009-05-31T20:33:00.003-04:00

On his blog, Author Bill Reichart writes about branding and what it means to do a good job of it. Most authors aren't thinking of branding as they go about their careers and often find their brand is something that attached itself to them along the way. Not surprisingly, those involuntary brands often miss the mark and ministry of the author, consigning them to audiences just a beat off and out of step with the calling of your work.

One must determine their "Brand" then work to make and keep it so.

Great Branding Should Be Invisible
Written by Bill Reichart on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 2:41 PM
http://ow.ly/aglW

Legendary film director John Huston said something to the effect, “Great movie directing should be invisible. If someone in the audience ever tells you how great a particular shot is, then you’ve failed, because you’ve distracted them from the story.” Huston knew great shooting was there to enhance the film story, never to call attention to itself.

The same way is true about "branding".

In Phil Cooke's book Branding Faith, he shares that branding and identity are tools to help a product, person, or organization connect with an audience. An effective brand story is a way to cut through the media clutter and get your message heard. The ultimate point of course is to sell more products, get your message out there, or create name recognition.
Our church is currently in a branding process. Of course we are not so much concerned about "selling products" but we are interesting in getting our message and identity clearly out. We are working through our church name, logo and look to make sure we connect and communicate with the community and people that have contact with our church.

Branding isn't about spin. It isn't about communicating something your aren't. But rather branding marks out and identifies clearly who you are. That is the process our church is currently moving through. It is a process, and it takes a while. But we are staying faithful to it and seeing where it is going to taking us.

How NOT to Pitch Your Book Proposal

2009-05-30T14:13:00.003-04:00

One of things that is fun whenever publishing people get together is to listen to the "crazy stuff" portion of their conversation, when they play, "Try to Top This!" The crazy stuff is the stories of all the funny, poignant, sad, silly and downright mental stuff that comes across their desks, phones, faxes and e-mail.
Mike Hyatt shares some of these in his latest blog...

How NOT to Pitch Your Book Proposal
by Michael Hyatt
http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/05/how-not-to-pitch-your-book-proposal.html

Hello fellow Twitter user! Don't forget to Twit this post if you like it, or follow me on Twitter if you find me interesting.
In 30 years of book publishing I have heard it all. In the spring of 1987, I received a book proposal from a man who was predicting that the Rapture would happen before November (the 40-year anniversary of the founding of Israel).
He said, “Since I will be gone once this happens, I wish to assign all my royalties to my brother-in-law who is not a Christian.” I kid you not.
I replied, “Being Christians ourselves and being convinced by your proposal, we don’t believe we will be around to publish your book!” I never heard from him again.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only crazy stuff I’ve heard. In fact, I probably get at least one proposal a month that makes me shake my head in disbelief.
Therefore, let me save your proposal from a one-way trip to the trash can. If you are trying to get a publisher (or an agent) to take your proposal seriously, there are at least ten things you should never say:
1. God told me to write this book.
2. God told me to contact you.
3. My book is destined to be a bestseller.
4. My book is perfect for Oprah.
5. My book is very similar to [insert the name of the latest mega-bestseller].
6. There is nothing like my book in the marketplace.
7. This is a multi-million dollar opportunity. I hope you are smart enough to see it.
8. I will only share my book idea with you after you sign a confidentiality agreement.
9. I don’t care about the money; I just want to help people.
10. You probably won’t publish my book, because most of what you publish is fluff.
If you want to write a good query letter, start by reading The Writers Digest Guide To Query Letters. Then just apply a little common sense.

Making Friends: The Essence of Marketing

2009-05-30T10:53:00.001-04:00

On his blog, high energy marketer, John Kremer talks about the art of forging positive relationships in marketing

Making Friends: The Essence of Marketing
http://ow.ly/9XqU
All of marketing ultimately comes down to one thing: creating relationships. If you don't understand this basic principle, you will ultimately fail as a book marketer. Indeed, you will fail in life as well.

Think of it: What is publicity? It is simply creating relationships with people in the media who, if they like your product, idea, or service, will pass on that information to their audience in the form of reviews, interviews, stories, or notices.

Think of it: What is distribution? It is simply creating relationships with bookstores, wholesalers, and sales representatives who will make your books available to retail customers.

Think of it: What are rights sales? They, too, are based on creating relationships with key companies and people who can exploit those rights better than you can.

Think of it: What is editorial? It is simply creating relationships with authors, literary agents, and other people who can bring you good material to polish, design, and promote.
All of book publishing ultimately comes down to creating relationships. Indeed, all of business operates the same way.

Wherever you look in business, relationships are what make things happen: networking, the old boy network, the new girl network, customer lists, sales reps visiting their customers, publicists talking with the media, luncheon meetings, conventions, trade shows, chat groups, newsletters, blogs, and more. They all have one thing in common: Their primary purpose is to enhance communication and further relationships.

To help you create better relationships and market your books more effectively, here are a few basic principles you should follow.

1. Create your Kremer 100 list. Don't try to be friends with thousands or millions of people. You can't do it. Focus on 100 key media and marketing contacts (if you don't have time to focus on 100, make the database 25 or 50 people). Develop this Kremer 100 database or list yourself. Find out what their addresses are. Also their phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, and URLs. Plus their cell phone numbers, perhaps even their home phone numbers. Your goal is to get to know their likes and dislikes, what moves them, and what they look for in a good story (if they are media) or a good product (if they are a buyer). You also want to get to know how they like to get info. Do they prefer email, fax, phone, or mail?

2. Be persistent. Once you've developed a database of key contacts, you must be in touch with them on a regular basis -- at least once a month. Tell them something new with each contact. If you ever get an opportunity to meet them in person, jump at the chance. But the key is continual follow-up. It makes all the difference in whether or not you establish a real relationship.

3. Create a word-of-mouth army. Since 80% of all books are sold by word-of-mouth, your primary goal in marketing your books is to create a core group of people who will spark that word-of-mouth. I like to think of these people as the officers for your word-of-mouth army, because what you ultimately want to create is an army of people talking about your book. In that army, you'll have privates, corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, majors, colonels, and generals. The moment someone meets one of your authors, they've self-promoted themselves to at least a corporal. If they get an autograph, count them a sergeant. If they buy ten books for other people, promote them to lieutenant. You get the idea. In my 1001 Ways army, I have at least two five-star generals: Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. They've earned every star. [Note: If you don't like the analogy of an army, then think of it as a parade, or fan club, or party.]

4. Become a people person. At home in Fairfield, I'm a quiet shy fellow. Here, few people know who I am or what I do. But when I go out to speak or to attend trade shows, I become a new person -- a people person. Fortunately I enjoy that interaction with the public. If you are going to become a successful book promoter, you, too, will have to cultivate that fun feeling when you go out into the public. If you genuinely care about people, you will have no problem facing the public. Just open your heart and let it out.

When speaking to the Women Writers of the West conference several years ago, I realized that when I talked about creating relationships, I was really talking about making friends. Because that is what every good marketer really does: They make friends. When you begin to think of marketing in this way, everything about marketing books becomes more fun. Suddenly there is no foreignness, no fear, no feelings of inadequacy. We can all make friends. It's a talent we've had since we were little children. Use it.

The Eight Second Rule?

2009-05-29T18:19:00.002-04:00

DID YOU KNOW?

John Kremer
at BookMarket.com says...
http://ow.ly/9XqU

Bookstore browsers spend an average of 8 seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds studying the back cover before deciding whether to buy your book? If your book cover doesn’t instantly hook their interest and eyeballs, and then convey the right message about you, your chance to make a sale is gone.

And you don’t just lose the sale. You lose a potentially long-term, highly profitable customer. Most authors, speakers and consultants use their books as the introductory product in a funnel of increasingly expensive products and services. When prospects don’t buy your book, you lose the $19.95 sale and the thousands of dollars they could have spent on your audio programs, seminars, and coaching/consulting services.

Reader sustainability is our first job when we think about marketing our work. If you can't sustain your customers you will not succeed in giving a long life to your work.

Can Books Survive in the Facebooked, ADD, Multichannel Universe?

2009-05-29T10:12:00.000-04:00

Can Books Survive in this age of electronic madness?
Sure they can. But only if publishers adopt Wark's perspective and provide new ways for people to encounter the written word. We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading.

Every other form of media that's gone digital has been transformed by its audience. Whenever a newspaper story or TV clip or blog post or white paper goes online, readers and viewers begin commenting about it on blogs, snipping their favorite sections, passing them along. The only reason the same thing doesn't happen to books is that they're locked into ink on paper.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-06/st_thompson

Stop thinking about future of publishing and think instead about future of reading.

Publishing and publishers have sought to abandon the present by embracing the past. Authors are being shortchanged by shortsighted marketing plans and an out of date view of who the customer really is, where they live and what they want.

The future of publishing is a broad, positive and exciting place, full of new challenges that give way to new markets, new marketing and a two way communication vehicle that lets authors dialogue with readers to understand what the reader wants to buy.

"Fear Not," the angel said, because the shepherds would automatically fear the unknown ahead. That advice is as true today as it was in Bethlehem.

At WillowCreek Marketing, we connect authors to their readers and build lifelong relationships that enhance and promote positive communication to create stable and profitable, long term, customers.

Growing Fiction Category Offers ‘Escape'

2009-05-29T09:50:00.000-04:00

Good News. Christians love their favorite authors enough to buck the trends and that love has resulted in Christian Fiction being recognized as one of the only growing categories in publishing this year.

Christian Retailing Magazine sums up this surprise in their latest edition.

Growing Fiction Category Offers ‘Escape'

Allen Arnold
Defying current sales trends, Christian fiction continues to grow-offering a bright spot for retailers, publishers and readers during a bleak economy.

In the midst of the economic recession, some publishers are targeting growth while others are launching new fiction lines for the first time. They attribute the growth to consumers' desire to escape their day-to-day challenges-at a reasonable price.

Thomas Nelson's fiction has seen double-digit growth this year over the previous 12 months, translating to "millions in revenue," according to Allen Arnold, senior vice president and publisher, fiction. Weeks into the new fiscal year, the company is "projecting aggressive growth" for the next year, which includes summer releases from Ted Dekker, Colleen Coble, T.L. Hines and Eric Wilson.

"No publishing group is bulletproof, but fiction that offers hope is one of the best places to be right now," Arnold said.

Shannon Marchese, senior editor, fiction for WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, pointed to a parallel between fiction's popularity during the current recession and previous economic troughs.

"Historically speaking, novels have been an affordable means of entertainment and 'escape,' so to speak," she said. "The Wizard of Oz is one of the best examples, in both book and film form, of a very popular choice, written during an economic shift and attracting fans during the Great Depression.

"(In) an environment where it's difficult to turn on the news, I believe fiction that offers a different view of the world, like fantastical or allegorical stories or some of the sub-genres, with embedded truth will draw an audience looking for a good story and a bright spot."

Read the full report in the June 6 issue of Christian Retailing.

http://www.christianretailing.com/index.php/newsletter/latest-etailing/19235-growing-fiction-category-offers-escape

Texas Hospital Removes American Flag From Office - Calls it "Offensive"

2009-05-27T10:03:00.001-04:00

Texas Hospital Call American Flag "Offensive"
http://cbs11tv.com/local/patriotism....2.1020415.html

Kindred Hospital Corporation in Mansfield, Texas removed an American Flag from an employee's office and left it on the floor, referring to it as offensive, yesterday.

http://www.kindredhealthcare.com/Hos...HLocations.asp

Kindred Hospital - Mansfield
1802 Highway 157 North
Mansfield, TX 76063
Phone: (817) 473-6101
http://www.kindredmansfield.com/

I think we need a letter writing campaign to help them see the light.
__________________

Sales Occur at the Intersection of Need and Opportunity

2009-05-27T08:53:00.001-04:00

*Beef Prices*

It's a summer holiday weekend and a man walks into a butcher shop which has a sign in the window saying "Ground Sirloin: 29 cents per pound" The man says, "I'm having a cookout this weekend. I'd like 5 pounds of your ground sirloin, please."

The butcher shakes his head and says, "Sorry. I'm all out."

The man, disappointed goes down the street to another butcher shop and asks, "How much is your ground sirloin?"

The proprietor replies, "It's $3.29 per pound."

"Three twenty nine!?!" exclaimed the customer. "Just up the street he sells it for 29 cents!"

The butcher smiles calmly at the gentleman and asks, "Does he have any?"

"No. He's out of it right now."

"Well," says the butcher. "When I don't have any, I can sell it for 19 cents per pound!"

So many companies offer terrific deals on things they don't have to deliver.

Self Publishing companies can be like that, offering what looks like great pricing, amazing marketing opportunities and fine tuned promotional campaigns. It's what they're selling that they actually deliver that counts and that's where you find the truth.

I was surfing one well known self publishing company that advertises their network has distribution to 25,000 bookstores, Including 2,500 Christian Bookstores.
The truth is EVERYONE has distribution potential to 25,000 bookstores.

Bookstores order what sells. Bookstores order from distributors and though a "Self Publishing Giant" might have an account with major distributors, it doesn't mean they have marketed, serviced and successfully gotten their clients books into those outlets. It means they know the name of all the major distributors.

Marketing for authors is a combination of hard work, perseverance, combined with the science of direct to consumer contact and consistently, creative approaches that speak to the reader in terms they respect, understand and to which they respond.

There are no short cuts, other than the disciplines of direct marketing that have been tested, refined and applied consistently. Any self publisher promoting their massive distribution list is simply repeating the number of potential outlets for those who are willing to engage in activities that open those doors.

2009-05-26T11:22:00.000-04:00

Book Expo America gets underway this week and the "buzz" is all about what's not happening.

Worried Book Industry Gathers For Convention
By HILLEL ITALIE
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090526/D98DS8IG0.html

NEW YORK (AP) - This weekend's BookExpo America will be a good time for promoting, predicting, mingling - and worrying.

For example, the audio market.

Except for e-books, sales are down throughout the publishing industry and the numbers have looked especially steep for audio sales. The Association of American Publishers has seen a 47 percent drop this year: Just 14 publishers reported to the AAP, but they include Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and virtually all the major New York companies.

The numbers at Nielsen BookScan, which covers about 75 percent of sales (although not audio downloads), are down 20 percent this year from 2008. Data compiled by the newly founded Institute for Publishing Research Institute projects a 4.7 percent fall in 2009.

Anthony Goff, president of the Audio Publishers Association, doesn't know the exact figures (the APA is assembling its own statistics). But he is sure they are bad.

"We know all too well what's happening in the marketplace," says Goff, the publisher and director of audiobooks at the Hachette Book Group USA, among those reporting sales to the publishers association.

Goff and others cite a few reasons for audiobooks' troubles. Sales of physical audiobooks, dropping for years, have been especially poor and the relatively steady, but still emerging, digital audio market has yet to compensate.

With the economy shrinking, fewer people work, and fewer people drive to work; many audio customers listen in their cars. Audiobooks also tend to cost more. The audio download for the country's hottest title, Mark R. Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny," has a list price of $29.99, nearly $5 higher than for the hardcover.

"There is a sense that audiobooks are a luxury item. The gut feeling is that, 'OK, sales are down and the price points are of concern.' Publishers are trying to bring it down, but the cost of audio book production is so expensive it's hard to bring the cost down very far," says Goff, who estimates the cost can run as high as $40,000-$50,000, especially if a celebrity has been signed up as the reader.

The state of audiobooks will be among the countless topics - from Google to Arab publishing - at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where around 25,000 publishers, booksellers, agents and writers are expected at a time when sales are falling, and advances and print runs have been cut.

Like the industry itself, this year's booksellers convention seeks to be smaller, more economical and more committed to a digital future.

The show will likely cover 20 percent to 25 percent less space than last year and cocktails, rather than dinners, will be the standard for after-hours gatherings. E-books, after years of being sidelined from the convention floor, will be centrally showcased at a New Media Zone, which will feature the Kindle and other e-book devices, and provide space for the growing number of bloggers.

"We're attempting to shine a light on the Internet and digital content," says BookExpo show manager Lance Fensterman. "And we see BEA as becoming increasingly interactive."

Featured authors include Pat Conroy, David Baldacci and Richard Russo, along with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, actresses Julie Andrews and Julianne Moore, and the country's favorite airline pilot, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger. There won't be many major celebrities, but a good number of minor ones: Kathie Lee Gifford and Mary Jo Buttafucco, Oliver North and the Amazing Kreskin, Emeril Lagasse and "Sneaky Chef" Missy Chase Lapine.

Endlessly criticized as too expensive and even irrelevant, the booksellers convention remains the industry's best chance to meet in person, although some may prefer to be kept apart.

On the Net:

http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/

Memorial Day - What is Taps?

2009-05-25T23:13:00.000-04:00

If any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which taps were played; this brings out a new meaning of it. Here is something EVERY AMERICAN should know.

TAPS
We in the United States have all heard the haunting song, Taps. It's
The song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes. But, do you know the story behind the song; If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble beginnings.

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb With shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out.

Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy
status.

His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he Could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate.

But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him Only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This wish was granted.

The haunting melody, we now know as Taps ... used at military funerals was born. The words are ...

From the lakes ... From the hills ...
From the sky ... All is well ... Safely rest ... God is nigh ...

Fading light ... Dims the sight .. And a star ... Gems the sky ...
Gleaming bright ... From afar ... Drawing nigh ... Falls the night ...

Thanks and praise ... For our days ... Neath the sun . Neath the stars.
Neath the sky ... As we go ... This we know ... God is nigh ...

I, too, have felt the chills while listening to Taps but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn't know if you had either so I thought I'd pass it along. I now have an even deeper respect for the song than I did before.

On Memorial Day

2009-05-25T22:59:00.000-04:00

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

A Christian group has proposed an amendment to our constitution. Here’s why:

Believing that Almighty God is the source of all power and authority in civil government, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler of Nations, and that the revealed Will of God is of Supreme authority in civil affairs; Remembering that this country was settled by Christian men, with Christian ends in view, and that they gave a distinctly Christian character to the institutions which they established;

Perceiving the subtle and persevering attempts which are made to prohibit the reading of the Bible in our Public Schools, to corrupt the Family, to abolish the Prayer in our National and State Legislatures, and other Christian features of our institutions, and so to divorce the American Government from all connection with the Christian religion;
Viewing with grave apprehension the corruption of our politics, and the disregard of moral and religious character in those who are exalted to high places in the nation;

Believing that a written Constitution ought to contain explicit evidence of the Christian character and purpose of the nation which frames it, and perceiving that the silence of the Constitution of the United States in this respect is used as an argument against all that is Christian in the us-age and administration of our Government.

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:
We, citizens of the United States, respectfully ask your honorable bodies to adopt measures for amending the Constitution of the United States, so as to read, in sub-stance, as follows:

We, the people of the United States, humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian govern-ment, and in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the inalienable rights and the blessings of life, liberty, and the pur-suit of happiness to ourselves, our posterity, and all the people, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

This Christian Amendment is not the work of Tom DeLay, Bill Frist or Rick Santoram. It was not proposed by Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, or James Dobson. It came from the National Reform Association on January 27, 1864.

This group of Christian ministers presented it to President Abraham Lincoln because they were convinced that the Civil War in which the nation was embroiled was not about slavery but was an act of God.

Colorado Christian Writers Conference

2009-05-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

When you sign up for a writers conference, the question always seems to be, "what am I going to get for my money?"

Marlene Bagnull has discovered the answer to that question, at least for some 250 writers last week in Estes Park. At 7500 feet people received a full schedule of clinics, continuing classes, seminars and critiques, that started early and ended late. Most folks didn't last through twelve straight hours of brain drain but got so much out of each day, they had to make copious notes to keep it all straight.

The faculty was pretty extensive, also. Here is a short list of just authors in attendance.

Liz Babbs

James Scott Bell

Dianne Butts

Sue Cameron

Sandy Cathcart

Wanda Dyson

Suzie Eller

Dianna Gay

Kristen Heitzmann

Virelle Kidder

David LeCompte

Robert Liparulo

Rick Marschall

Susan Meissner

Diane Obbema

Emily Osburne

Katherine Porter

Tim Shoemaker

Susan May Warren

Get the idea?

These people know their work and they dug in to the work of those who attended and helped sharpen, cut, add and edit the work in ways that make it better, clearer, harder and more exciting, to catch the attention of the list of editors that were in the same room.

Marlene Bagnull - Publisher and Editor, Ampelos Press; author; writing mentor

Jessica Barnes - Associate Editor, WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Jean Blackmer - MOPS International Publishing Manager

Craig Bubeck - Wesleyan Publishing House, Eleison Publishing

Jeff Gerke - Publisher, Marcher Lord Press

Nick Harrison - Senior Editor, Harvest House Publishers

Cindy Kenney - Representative, WinePress Publishing

Catherine Lawton - Cladach Publishing

Shannon Marchese - Senior Editor, Fiction, The WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

Amy Nappa - Executive Editor and Champion for Women's Ministry - Group Publishing

Linda Evans Shepherd - Publisher, Jubilant Press; founder Right to the Heart of Women e-zine and AWSA; author; speaker

Natasha Sperling - Managing Editor for young adult books, Bethany House Publishers

W. Terry Whalin - Vice-President and Publisher, Intermedia Publishing Group

Joe Wheeler - Joe Wheeler Books

Jeanette Windle - Author Representative, Kregel Publications

When their work completed, the conferees were still in the room with some of the toughest, most powerful agents in the business.

Terry Burns - Agent, Hartline Literary Agency

Jeff Dunn - Agent, Winters & King

Teresa Evenson - TEAM Services

Diana Flegal - Agent, Hartline Literary Agency

C. Hope Flinchbaugh - Agent, HigherLife Publishing

Rachelle Gardner - Agent, WordServe Literary

Bill Jensen - Agent, William K. Jensen Literary Agency

Chip MacGregor - Agent, MacGregor Literary Agency

Don S. Otis - Veritas Communications

If that didn't complete the work, then...

Teresa Evenson - TEAM Services

Was there to help them through the questions about how one promotes their work once it is published. Teresa made quite an impression on the writers present. Her continuing clinic on publicity and being your own publicist was just one of the many venues directed at the business of writing, along with lots of attention to the ministry.

All in all you need to see it to understand it and I have an amazing amount of respect for Marlene and her fantastic staff.

John on Twitter

2009-05-18T20:24:00.001-04:00

You all know the publishing world has gone Twitter Crazy! You can find me at,

http://twitter.com/jlong16

I just returned from teaching at the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference and met some of the nicest, kindest, most talented and decent people in the world.

The weather was Colorado gorgeous, which means it was Florida freezing but the conference made a huge impression on me.

It is owned and operated by Marlene Bagnull of Write His Answer.

http://www.writehisanswer.com/Colorado/

She has held it for years and another in Philadelphia in August.

http://www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia/

Both are worth the price of admission.

Terry Whalin, of Intermedia Publishing Group

http://www.intermediapub.com/index.htm

was my roommate and we had a wonderful time, though Terry had to suffer through my loud breathing at night.

Sorry Terry!

His new publishing venture allows him to say yes to writers, instead of the never ending succession of rejections he has spent decades sending out for other publishing houses. We'll talk about Terry one day soon and catch you all up.

Super Agent, Bill Jensen,

http://www.wkjagency.com/

one of the most respected agents in Christian Publishing was gracious to this first time faculty member and led me and three others, on a sunset climb to the top of Bible Point Mountain, where we saw the grave of a nineteen year old boy, who died in 1918. His memorial plaque, hammered into a huge bolder atop the grave made you want to cry.

The sun was disappearing so fast we had to hurry down or make the walk in total darkness but the scenery, antelope, mule deer and stupendous view were worth the effort.

In the next couple of weeks, I will attempt to acquaint you all with what is coming of the paradigm shift in publishing and how the smartest people in the business are getting ahead of it and making the most of the new world of opportunity.

In the meantime...

Peace be the Journey