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Cowboy Musings

Volume Three    

                                Click to browse Volume Two

                                click to browse Volume One

 

Granbury was great!     Granbury     Recalled     What is "Voice"?     What I need is time     Blog Interview on Kay Dycus Site      Writing update dropped     Rose Colored Glasses     Hide Newbie Status     My Name is . . .      Facing the Giants     An Interview     A Rejection     Taking pitches     Chicago Condolences     Love is Murder     Books for Boys     Talking to Readers     Drawing fire?     Tough for Newbies     Manuscript is too big     Guest Blogger Les Williams     So Long, Richard     Christian Libraries     Writing workshop     Writing ministry     Conjunctions     Empathy     Whew, what a weekend!     No Lectures Please     What are we reading?     Fruitbasket Turn-over     Age and writing     Getting started     A discouraged writer     An honor?     A learning experience     Reformation Generation     The 80% factor     Stand and Deliver     Looking Ahead     Christmas thoughts     My Christmas Comments     Who's Looking?     Print on Demand     Conferences     The Dreaded Letter     Patience     Feelings?     What does it take?       Infinite number of monkeys     Snowed In     Awesome Proposal     More to read     Losing a friend     A great read     Red Herring    My First Book     Writing Full Time     Sign from God     What are we handling?     None of the Above     The Elite 15%     Do Men Read?      Branding     I miss Boots     On the road again     New Markets      

 

 

 

 
Granbury was great!

                               

The "Writing Down the Brazos"

writing conference in Granbury was

a terrific experience. There was good

attendance, great presenters, and

Langdon Center of Tarlton College

were great hosts. Peggy Freeman

did a super job of putting the

conference together. Everybody was

very friendly except three guys that

hung out on the front lawn and I could never get them to say a word.

 

 
                                                                        A special treat, we were hosted

                                                                        At the "Warm County Heart"

music threater where Jack

Gruebel and his group put on

a terrific Branson-style show.

Jack is about to be inducted 

into the Hall of Fame, and was a

drummer with country greats

Boots Randolph, Chet Atkins

and Floyd Cramer. His

teacher on the skins also

taught drum legends Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Blake Barnes

does the keyboard and vocals, Jerry Van Kirk on the fiddle, John Nash is on lead guitar and vocals while his wife Alice is on bass. Shea Buchanan and Michelle Winters top it off with contemporary vocals. More on them and directions to the show which we highly recommend can be found at http://www.warmcountryheart.com

 
 


There are few who really know how

to use the drums as a solo

instrument, but go to the show and

Jack will show you in an amazing

display of talent.

 

Hats off to all concerned for a great

conference, and you can find out

more about the Granbury Writers

and the group they call "Writers Bloc"

at http://writersblocgranbury.tripod.com/ and thanks to "The Estates" retirement community who put us up in a beautiful suite. That'd be a great place to retire.

 

Granbury

                               

It's nearly time to leave for Lake Granbury, to do a workshop for the Granbury Writers. It's always a humbling experience to be asked to do programs. I know I have information I can impart to such gatherings, information I have often learned the hard way, information gathered as I take the best from one conference to another as I go to more and more of these type sessions.

 

I do know there is a great danger in trying to teach if we cease to be a student as well. If we do we start passing on a stagnant body of knowledge in which we are "expert" instead of being a conduit for an ever-changing flow of information, we're doing a disservice, and I don't think anybody would argue with me that the publishing industry is in a constant state of change. Editors move from house to house or maybe become agents at the same time that agents are becoming editors. Houses that have been steadfastly publishing in one area make abrupt shifts to go in new directions. Publishing trends change, fads come and go, technology causes changes, and commenting on the industry is very often a case of "Here's what I see TODAY."

 

In college we had the professors who were the fount of all knowledge, and we had the student teachers and lab assistants who were both students and teachers. I'm clearly the latter, still trying to learn, but passing on what I know or think I know at the same time. Usually at most conferences I go to I think I learn more than I teach. I hope it always stays that way.

 

It seems to me it's almost like being in Army Intelligence, and the person with the best intelligence-gathering has a leg up.

 

Recalled

                               

I got a postcard in the mail. My Jeep is being recalled. Something about a defect in a ball joint. It set me to thinking. What if God recalled us for our defects, how much time would we spend in the shop?

 

I could see it now, a glowing white postcard in the mail with the words, "You are being recalled for service, the defect is faulty prayer time." Or it might say, "You are being recalled for a spiritual filling, your levels are getting dangerously low." The possibilities are endless, failure to show for regular Sundy "service," not enough time spent studying the "manual." I fear I'd spend all my time in the shop.

 

Fortunately I know the master mechanic. I have to have my Jeep serviced every couple of months, but I'm in much worse shape and have far more defects. I have to check in every day, several times more often than not, because I'm really hard to keep in tune. He tweaks me here, tweaks me there, smiles and shakes His head as He cleanses me and sets me back on my way. He knows how imperfect I am, and knows I'll be back, but I try . . . oh how I try.

 

Yesterday I posted a great new blog just put up by one of my clients, Graham Garrison. My good friend and faithful blog reader Les Williams pointed out to me that the link I had didn't work so let me try posting it again. The site is http://www.hometown-heroes.com/ and it collects stories of real hometown heroes. It's a great site and I encourage you all to visit and share a story if you have one.

 

Comments:  Something for us all to think about. I'm afraid if the Lord recalled me, I would need a cot set up in the back. Much like you, I do try. I know HE is not finished with me yet. Maybe next time I will only be in the shop for a quick "oil change".  - Les

 

What is "Voice"?

 

FINDING OUR WRITING "VOICE" -  Kay Dacus is running a series on her blog about what "voice" is, how we find it, how we make sure we don't lose it. My comments are included there (or see blog interview below) , but she's been talking to people about it for some time at http://kndacus.blogspot.com/ and I encourage you to go by and take a look. These other folks are probably a lot smarter about it than I am, but you know me, if I open up my head on a subject something always falls out.

 

Kay has done a great job of pulling people together on a common theme like this, and if anybody is having trouble getting a handle on this topic – those interviews she has posted are sure to clear it up.

 

Another of my clients, Graham Garrison has a new website up at http://www.hometown-heroes.com/ that collects stories of real hometown heroes. It's a great site and I encourage you all to visit and share a story if you have one.

 

Yet another, Max Anderson, a well-published writer is on a mission to reach out to young male readers that we are prone to dismiss as readers simply because the young ladies read more than they do. I've signed on to Max's cause and encourage you to visit his website as well where he blogs on this issue. It's at http://booksandboys.blogspot.com/

 

All of the resources that are online never fail to amaze me.

 

What I need is time

                               

 

I was home all weekend – lots of time and I fully intended to do some writing, to catch up some on reading proposals. Then along came a migraine headache. I was there with no conflict on my time, my laptop was beside me, all the pieces were in place, but my head didn't work well enough for me to do it. I didn't even have it in me to go to church Sunday and I really hate it when that happens.

 

So I had the time and couldn't use it. Actually that's the opposite of what I usually hear, I hear people saying "I just don't have time to do it." We have all the time there is, we aren't going to be given any more, no such thing as a 26 hour day. We just need to assess our priorities, and it may be we have our priorities exactly right, our time is being taken up with things that are more important to do than writing. If so we shouldn't be beating ourselves up for not getting the writing done, we're doing what we need to be doing.

 

However, it could be our priorities aren't right. We may be spending time on things that really aren't more important, but are more convenient. Watching too much TV, spending too much time on email and internet, a number of things could fall in that category. All we have to do is decide what is really important to us, then we'll find the time to do what that is . . . unless we get a migraine headache.

 

FINDING OUR WRITING "VOICE" -  Kay Dacus is running a series on her blog about what "voice" is, how we find it, how we make sure we don't lose it. My comments are supposed to be posted there soon, but she's been talking to people about it for some time at http://kndacus.blogspot.com/ and I encourage you to go by and take a look. These other folks are probably a lot smarter about it than I am, but you know me, if I open up my head on a subject something always falls out.

 

 

                   Blog Interview on Kay Dycus Site

 

> > --How did you find your unique writing voice? Did you struggle to

> > find it or did it come easily to you?

 

In my opinion if somebody is struggling to find "their writing voice" they're trying to force it. My writing voice is not the way I talk, my West Texas Drawl, it is who I am. It is the sum total of my education, my upbringing, my faith, my family, my experiences and it comes through in the way I write, even when I am trying to craft dialogue where the character speaks far differently than how I would speak myself. Some of my characters would speak much as I do, others speak far differently, but always no matter what is going on in the dialogue there are ways I would phrase things and ways that I wouldn't. There are things I would allow in my writing and things I wouldn't. The way I craft sentences, the pacing of my writing, these are the things that make up voice, not the way I speak or make my characters speak. I think far too many writers mistake dialogue for "voice."

> >

> > --How would you describe your unique writing voice? What is it that

> > you do to make sure your writing "sounds like" you?

 

My writing style is simple, because that's what I am, a simple old cowboy. If I tried to write complicated literary fiction it wouldn't work because then I would be outside my voice. I write simple, fast-moving stories and even if I'm not trying to do so, my faith is still evident. As long as I stay true to my upbringing I don't have to worry about my voice, it'll be there.

 

> >

> > --When reviewing submissions,  what do you as an agent look for in

> > others' writing? How do you identify a writer's voice?

 

I look for the same thing, is the writing natural? I don't try to identify a writer's voice and style but I can tell when it is contrived, when it is not natural. When it is forced it can seem pompous, the story doesn't seem to flow easily, it sounds like the writer is using words and phrasing they are not comfortable with. It feels very much as if they are trying to be something they aren't.

 

> >

> > --What advice would you give to beginning/intermediate writers to

> > help them find and develop their unique writing voice?

> >

 

Don't overthink it. Tell your story, then look at what you've written and see if it sounds like you or if it sounds like you are trying to be someone else. Not the dialogue, we all try to be someone else in the dialogue and sound the way we feel that character should sound, but in the general tone and style of the writing. Does it feel natural, or does it feel like you are trying to write like somebody else? If someone were sitting there with you, is this the way you'd tell them a story?

 

That's voice.

 

 

 
Writing update dropped

                               

 

Saundra wrote a periodic writing

update or newsletter to try and

keep friends and supporters up

to speed on what we were doing

in terms of writing and career

activity. Then I started doing this

blog on the front of the webpage

and she decided it was superfluous

since I mentioned most things

first over here. She did leave the

archive of past issues up in case

anybody was ever interested in

looking through them.

 

The picture on the site today is one she took of me with new client Amy Alessio at the

Love is Murder mystery writers conference in Chicago. Amy is a really nice lady with a

heart for writing for young adult readers.

 

 
Also got to meet Karen Syed and Teresa Saldana of

Echleon Press there. Karen is on the left and Teresa on the right.            

It was a very good conference in spite of the weather, well orchestrated with a terrific lineup

                                    of programs and presenters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last picture is of Saundra

and I with dear friend and

prolific writer Lena Nelson

Dooley at the program I did

for the DFW (Dallas/Ft Worth)

Ready Writers. The restaurant

where the meeting was held

was like going up to a ski

lodge in the mountains.

 
 


Rose Colored Glasses

                               

 

One of the special gifts I try to use is the gift of encouragement and one of the places I try to use it is in encouraging other writers. Maybe I do it in a backwards manner, but I do it by first discouraging them. I tell them the real truth about getting published, the long odds, the snares and pitfalls. I believe people who go about building a writing career with rose colored glasses on, oblivious to all that is in their way will probably never be successful.

 

Pretending obstacles and challenges do not exist practically guarantees that they won't be surmounted. I'm a "realistic optimist." I believe the best is going to happen, but only if we understand what we are up against and deal with it. Those who choose easier routes than traditional publishing can circumvent many of these difficulties and that process has become quite popular. Nothing wrong with it as long as people truly know that it isn't a different path to major publishers but most of the time is a career path instead of major publishing.

 

The good news is the fact that those who realize the obstacles and put in the time, who learn their craft and grow their career, who fail to get discouraged, those people end up in the elite 15% who are genuinely in the hunt for major publishing. The unprepared, those who have failed to learn what needs to happen in their work and in their career, and the easily discouraged are left by the wayside.

 

It might not sounds as good as unconditional encouragement, but to me the best way to encourage a writer is to show them the task at hand and then tell them we belive they can do it.

 

Hide Newbie Status

                               

 

I was giving a program and was asked why it was so important to get the formatting exactly right, after all, wasn't it the story that was important? I pointed out if the manuscript looks like it's going to take too much work to get it ready and others are professionally submitted that the story might not get much consideration or even be read at all. I said the manuscript had to look professional.

 

"But I'm not a professional," came the reply. Maybe so, but you want to hide that fact as long as possible. Not lie to whoever is looking at the submission, that'd be the kiss of death, but look professional and read professionally. Manuscript formatting that has the one inch borders, chapters half way down the page, header bar with name, word from the title and page number at the top and in the header space, not integrated in the text. It should be double spaced with half inch indentations and with one space after sentences and the right side never justified. There should be no extra spaces between paragraphs. No color (unless it is in the letterhead of your cover letter), no fancy fonts, no pictures, and the preferred type font is Times Roman or Courier new and should be 12 point.

 

The cover letter should have contact information in the upper left or lower right and should include the approximate word count. The title and the authors name should be centered halfway down the page.  Why would I spend time mentioning this? It is surprising how many submissions fail to do this, but it is what the pros do, no bells and whistles, crisp typing all in the same font.

 

Lets not kid ourselves, editors and agents would rather work with professionals. If we haven't published to the point that we feel that's what we are we should at least present ourselves that way. More than once I've gotten well into a proposal to find out it was a first effort and been surprised at how well it was presented. That creates a very favorable response. Trying something cute or fancy to get the reviewers attention gets that attention all right, but not in a positive way.

 

My Name is . . . .

                               

 

It was a different group than those I have been giving workshops to. Usually I'm presenting to a group of people who are already a good ways down the writing trail. These were people from my church, people who had a desire to write, but most of whom had not yet done much with it.

 

We started like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, "My name is Terry Burns and I'm a writer. I write Christian fiction and my desire is to write good stories that will pull people in, get them invested in the story, and by the time they discover it has a faith content they will stay with it even if they weren't looking to read something of that nature."

 

Everybody had to do it. When you are just getting started, there is something empowering about admitting to a group of people that "I am a writer." That's all there is to being a writer, putting words on paper and being serious about it. Now getting published and doing something with our words, that's another step. For now, admitting we are a writer, carving time out of our lives to do it no matter what, and realizing what we want to write and what we want to come from our writing, that's the place to start.

 

I was happy with the beginning. I was happy with the questions asked and what they wanted to know. I was happy that they had a heart for getting their words out. The starting point was realizing whether it was poetry, family stories, journaling, non-fiction, short stories or book length fiction that it was all about the story. It was about realizing no matter what words we had to convey that they were meaningless if we didn't do it in an interesting and engaging manner.

 

I said the best way was to assume that nobody wanted to read our words, that we had to pull them into our story and keep them there. Hopefully they will be interested in reading what we have to say, but we can do a better job of reaching them if we proceed on the assumption that they don't want to.

 

It was a good start. I'm interested in seeing where it goes from there.

 

Facing the Giants

                               

 

I've reviewed a couple of books here, not often, but I don't believe I've ever reviewed a movie. Saundra gave me a copy of the DVD for "Facing the Giants" for Valentines Day, and it's an awesome movie. With the ever-popular theme of the David and Goliath battle between a small school and the huge perennial state championship winner, it has the adrenlin rush of rooting the underdog to victory even though you know they are going to be able to do it.

 

But this movie is different. Produced by a church down in Georgia, yes you heard me right, a church, it has a pwerful faith theme in it. The coach is up against it in every possible way, failing as a coach, in his family life, everything seems to be falling around him, until he turns it over to God. The small school is a Christian school which allows the resulting revival of faith to spill over from his life to the team, to the school campus itself, to his detractors, showing "nothin g is impossible for God."

 

Trust me, I haven't given anything away by telling you this. Simply knowing what the film is about is enough for any believer to know what is going to happen, but the story isn't trying to guess the outcome, the story is watching and experiencing the warmth of getting to watch as faith makes a difference in the character's lives. It's a terrific movie and I entend my heartfelt congratulations and admiration to all those volvunteers down there that made it happen.

 

It was picked up by Provident Films who have taken it into theaters around the country making it a powerful testimony to all who see it. I encourage you to be one of them.

 

An Interview

                               

 

I just finished an interview with Glenn Hascall of KHYM Christian Radio in Meade Kansas. I met Glenn online  in a group called SHOUTLIFE http://www.shoutlife.com It's sort of a MYSPACE for Christians. Like a lot of the online presence that I have I just sort of hang around and keep an eye on things but don't have the time to be very active. Anyway, I enjoyed my visit with Glenn and listen to KHYM as they stream online at http://www.khym.org. I don't think they archive interviews and it was live, so . . .

 

Client and good friend Max Anderson has had several interviews up here of late. I have joined Max on his crusade to reach out to young male readers that the publishing industry seems content to leave out of the readership mix. I've mentioned his blog that he has over at http://booksandboys.blogspot.com/which is on this very subject. I totally agree that it is far too easy to just say "boys don't read" and just publish stuff for the girls that do. But if little is published for them it will certainly be true and not likely to change.

 

On his blog Max pointed to a larger question however. He has posted a large number of articles talking about the "Feminization of Education" where our educational system is more and more catering to the girls widening this gap. Many nations around the world don't let girls go to school, but is our nation pratically going the other direction? The articles make interesting reading and while I'm not ready to say we are giving up on our boys, it is clear we aren't producing much for them to read and I'm working with several writers who write for the young adult market to see if we can specifically work on this. Noted author Jerry Jenkins of Left Behind fame expressed his support to Max in this cause and really believes something needs to be done in this area. This could get interesting.

 

A Rejection

                               

 

I got a rejection yesterday. I know, I know, I say a rejection is only when it's personal, that all of the other responses aren't personal but just about whether our writing fits the market. I call them "negative market reports." This was a rejection, but not of my writing, it was a rejection of my response to a query letter. The sender in very profane language berated me for making a "snap judgement," and "not taking the time to see what he had to say." He seemed to think the entire industry was taking that stand against him in some sort of organized fashion. If he wants to see snap judgments he ought to hang around a bookstore for a while and watch them performed by the thousands as readers reject books.

 

I told him in a very polite response that I could tell by the query letter that it wasn't an area that I'm working in at the present time and didn't need to spend an hour or two reading to find it out. I also told him that I keep tract of submissions and their general content in case I run across a market need later and want to go back and see if the work is still available. After witnessing his temper and his language I won't bother.

 

I have 200 proposals sitting here, I can't read all of them. It's his job to make his stand out, to force me to pick it to pursue further and he didn't get it done. Then he compounded his failure to do so by attacking me and insuring that I'll never look at anything of his in the future. It's your basic lose-lose proposition.

 

So I turned my attention back to market research. Working in this business is sort of like being an Army intelligence officer. They constantly seek to learn enemy strength, disposition, armament and tactics not just in general but specificly and hour-by-hour. This business is the same. Editors move or change constantly. The needs change as they get enough of one thing and start seeking something else, seeking to fill a catalog slot. I watch market sales to see who is buying what. It's all about finding and filling needs with available products, it isn't about taking something that doesn't fit where I've found markets and instead knocking on door after door seeking to find a place for it.

 

 

Taking pitches

                               

 

When we go to some of these conferences the first thing I hear is "what are you looking to see?" Not an easy question to answer. I'm not just there as an individual agent, but representing Hartline as a whole. That means I'm taking a pretty wide range of pitches, and if it isn't an area I'm trying to work in, I pass it to another agent who is working there.

 

I think it's easier to say what we aren't looking for. We don't do Sci-Fi, Fantasy or horror at the present time, although I have looked at some fantasy for the YA market. I've been charged with the task of doing more in the secular marketplace, but probably aren't the right place if there is too much language, sex or violence.

 

Hartline has a long reputation in the Christian marketplace and  in Romance and continues to be a good place for titles that fall in those areas. I particularly like inspirationals, mystery and thrillers, historicals and historical romance and of course it's a really tough market to try to do something with right now but I've always loved westerns. I grew up on them.

 

I also believe we need to be developing our young readers, particularly young boys. For that reason I'm trying to work with a few middle reader to YA writers although that's a pretty tough market to try to sell in as well.

 

Things change rapidly in this business, I know that. I know I've got to have some varied shelf stock so I have the ability to respond if I run across a market need. It's all about having the right product in front of the right person at just the right place at exactly the right time. The time when it is needed. Easier said than done.

 

Chicago Condolences

                               

 

Got to watch the last half of the Super Bowl in the Albuquerque airport on our way home from Chicago. Our condolences to all the fine folks we met up in the "Windy City." Having to endure such a loss and such brutal temperatures at the same time is adding insult to injury. When we got home the temp was only 32 degrees and we felt like we didn't even need a coat after all those sub-zero temperatures.

 

The Love is Murder mystery conference was well staged and they made us feel right at home. Sorry I didn't get to attend more sessions (I got to sit in on one) but I was booked solid taking pitches. Got some interesting projects that I'm looking forward to checking out, as well as one that I offered a contract to while I was there.

 

Most of the attendees were from that area so we got to meet a lot of new folks. I do see the mystery writers are a close knit group and are as a rule in several different organizations together. This was the first year the "Dark and Stormy" mystery writers conference has merged with the L.I.M. group and the merger seemed to go very well.

 

It was Saundra's first trip to Chicago, but with double digit below zero wind chill all she got to see was from the window of the cab on the way from the airport. We holed up big time. I tried to help you with your Bears, guys, I promise . . . but this time out they were just out-gunned.

 

Love is Murder

                               

 

We'll be hanging out with a bunch of murderers this weekend. No, we aren't going to be locked in some creepy house while people keep dying off and we have to figure out who is doing it before we're next. I draw the line at actively participating in catching killers.

 

It's the "Love is Murder" writers conference in Chicago and though it is multi-genre, I believe the predominant genre is mystery writers. It's cold as a well-digger's boots here in Amarillo now with what they call another "artic cold front" bearing down on us like a derranged locomotive so I ought to be glad to get out of here, only Chicago is probably not the right direction to go.

 

Travel aside I look forward to the conference itself. We did use a travel credit on Southwest to book our fares which saved the conference some money, but it also brings us in to Midway airport. What's wrong with that? The conference is at the O'Hare Wyndham, practically in the shadow of that airport. Yes, by the time it dawned on us we found the fares were non-refundable, that's how life works. The trip between airports in a cab will surely eat up any savings on the fare.

 

There are supposed to be between 300-400 people there assuming they all brave the frozen tundra. And we'll probably have the city to ourselves since everybody that lives there will probably be off supporting their Bears at the super bowl. Ought to be downright interesting.

 

 

Books for Boys

                               

 

Max Anderson, one of my clients and an author of delightful books for boys has a new blog with the same title as this blog http://booksandboys.blogspot.com/ promoting his books. These days the publishing industry seems to think that it just isn't worthwhile to publish books for boys.

 

Sure, more girls read than boys, it has always been that way. But does that mean we should write them off and just publish things to interest the girls? Or should we work even harder trying to interest them and reach out to them? The latter, of course, particularly if we're trying to build a reader base for the future.

 

It doesn't have to be a big sacrifice to do this, because girls LIKE to read about boys. Not that I'm advocating that we quit publishing books that specifically speak to the interests of the girls, but we CAN reach out to the guys with titles and these gals would read them as well.

 

I think it's kind of like self-fulfilling prophesy. We say "Boys aren't going to read these books," so we don't publish them, and sure enough they don't read them. What if we said we didn't want to write them off? What if we reached out to them with some really intriguing stories? What if we didn't give up the first time we tried a title and it didn't automatically hit the bestseller list , and instead followed with more titles and did some promotion and worked to pull them in.

 

What if we acted like we want boys to read? Max is on a crusade to pull more boys into the reader base, and I'm with him. I believe that's a goal well worth pursuing.

 

Talking to Readers?

                               

 

Had a nice program put on by the library in Dumas TX, about 40 miles north of here last night. Most of those programs I've been doing lately have been writers in attendance. There were some writers or wannabe writers here as well, but the group was better than half readers. They had all read Mysterious Ways in a "one book for Moore County" reading program.

 

I enjoyed it. Readers ask different questions. "Where did the character of Joseph come from, how did you think him up?" I didn't think him up, he just showed up in the story and carved out a place for himself.

 

"Do you feel God is giving you things to put into your books?" Let me put it this way, I don't write my own faith into the books, that would be preaching to the reader and most of them don't want that. Instead, some of my characters have faith and some don't, and their interaction is what brings any Christian theme to the book. I never know who is going to be what or who is going to be affected by that interaction. I suppose just as God works in our lives, that He is the one affecting those lives as well.

 

"Where do your story ideas come from?" We all learned how as a kid, playing "What if?" this or "What if?" that, building make believe worlds for our games. I take an idea about a character, a plot or a setting and say "what if?" I pull 2-3 chapters out of thin air, then the characters take over and they start writing the story. Later they will go back and rewrite the first chapters that I wrote initially as well.

 

"I couldn't help liking Amos in spite of the bad things he was doing, how did you manage that?" That was the big challenge of the book, I had to make him as bad as I could make him without him becoming so bad that the reader no longer was pulling for him to change. Joseph, on the other hand was a problem because he had so few flaws. Nobody is that good since Jesus walked with us. I had to work to make him more human, but it was hard because ever since he showed up in the story he was a really good guy. But after all, he WAS blind, that's a pretty big flaw.

 

That's the first time I got to discuss a book with readers since I went down to talk to a book club in Floydada. I always enjoy it, and it is always a learning experience for me.

 

Drawing fire?

                               

 

Had a nice workshop at the library here in Amarillo Saturday.  The turnout was small, but there were some good presenters who did as good a job as if there had been a hundred of them in the crowd, and those attending stayed for the whole thing for the most part.

 

Reminds me of the story about the preacher who woke up one morning and there were huge piles of snow everywhere. He figured that church would be cancelled when he saw this rancher drive up at the church next door and go in. The preacher tossed on his clothes and thought if the man could drive all the way in from his ranch he could certainly walk next door and do his part.

 

Do his part he did, he preached as if it were an overflow crowd. At the end, sweating profusely, he asked the rancher what he thought. The man smiled and said, "You know, Pastor, if I was feeding and only one old cow showed up, I'd still do my job . . . but I don't think I'd drop the whole load."

 

We dropped the whole load. Snow wasn't as bad as the story, but it was pretty cold. I just did one in Dallas and it was terrible weather and icy but they turned out. Two in this area had to be cancelled because of the weather but are rescheduled, one of them for tonight. We go to Chicago Thursday and I'm sure a blizzard will hit.

 

I guess it's just par for the course with events set this time of the year . . . or perhaps old scratch doesn't like me going around talking to writers, particularly if I talk about putting our faith into our writing. If that's the case, the harder he tries to stop me, the more I'm inclined to do it.

 

Tough for Newbies

                               

 

I've had a half dozen editors tell me what they are looking for is established writers with proven sales performance. It's always been a challenge for us to sell our first books, even more of a challenge to sell more  if those first titles don't produce sales numbers that will catch someone's attention. Right now with houses that have been playing fruitbasket turnover and a bunch of editors in new positions looking to hang some big skins on the wall quickly, the situation has escalated.

 

Oh, that outstanding manuscript can always catch an editors eye and cause them to take it in and fight for it, but it has editors and agents alike looking for that stellar performer that can surely cause that to happen. The need to have an agent who can convince that editor to champion the cause has become more important as well. The time it takes to storm the gates has increased, but hey, if it was easy anybody could do it, right?

 

Being on top of the market is more crucial now than ever. Carefully nurturing and grooming those contacts have become even more vital. I'm reading stacks of proposals looking for those gems that I know as soon as I see them that they match up with somebody I've been talking to, and if they've got a little track record behind them too - - -

 

The marketplace will shift again, it always does. But the key to publishing is dealing with the situation as it exists right now, today, matching the manuscript to the publisher, the product to the buyer. I did that in chamber of commerce work for 25 years in good economies and bad. Business as usual.

 

Manuscript is too big

                               

 

I just got a proposal on a manuscript that is 200,000 words. What's it about? It doesn't matter. I could never sell a book that size on an unproven writer. Why would that be, after all James Michener wrote some huge books, as did others. Well, he did after he was established and could justify the print run with his sales.

 

That's the key, the cost of the print run. Depending on the genre the two most popular size books are 50-60,000 words or around 100,000 words. The publishers guidelines will usually say the approximate size they are looking for, if not, it isn't hard to search around and find out. But it doesn't matter, right? We write this wonderful book so they'll be willing to forget their guidelines and rush to publish it incidentially paying us an obscene amount of money for the priviledge to do so.

 

Each 10,000 words over the guidelines is a 20% increase in print costs for a 50,000 word book, a ten% increase on a 100,000 word book. A book that is significantly over by a writer that doesn't have a proven sales record isn't likely to be done, in fact they probably will recognize that and not even consider it given the fact that they get dozens of good proposals each day that are the right size and fit their criteria exactly.

 

What if it is too small? Not a cost factor there, but if they are producing a certain size book and are set up to do a certain size book they are not likely to want to do a smaller one. True, if the manuscript is not too far off the guidelines they may take a look at it and if they like it may offer the author a chance to cut or expand. Unless there are books equally good lying there that are ready to go.

 

Why should we take a chance on getting the opportunity to revise if we can do the research we are supposed to be doing and submit according to guidelines in the first place?

 

Guest Blogger Les Williams

                               

 

This morning I read an interesting article in our local paper. The author is an AP writer from Chicago. The  piece is titled SURVEY SHOCKER: ME GENERATION  WANTS TO BE RICH.

 

It points out that in a recent Pew Research Center survey, 81% of 18-25 year olds listed their most important goal in life is to get rich. 51% wanted to be famous. Finally something good to say. 30% wanted to help the needy and 22% had a desire of becoming a leader in the community. When an articles includes in it's title the "Me Generation", the poll results should not be so surprising.

 

Still, I find the results a little disturbing. Granted as has been often said and quoted, you can prove anything with statistics, however, today's youth seems to be caught up in the easy, fast, fun and more of our current culture. Part of this I will put on the parents who appear to be spending much more on their kids today than in past generations. I'm not sure if this is because the parents have more to spend or they don't want their kids to be unhappy because they can't have the latest and greatest electronic device. The obsession for material wealth will be setting up many of these young people for inevitable disappointment down the road. How those who fail to become rich handle their disillusionment may determine their destiny.

 

Makes me wonder where our country will be when the youth represented in this poll become adults and decision makers.

 

                                      -----------------------------------

Very thought provoking, Les, and let me again promote a terrific event this weekend at the Southwest Branch Library here in Amarillo. Starting at 11 am there will be a series of programs in connection with the Winter Reading Festival. It will be like getting the chance to attend a free writing conference, one that normally would cost several hundred dollars, and that features some of the top authors and presenters in the area. I have the honor of wrapping it up at 5 pm with a segment on why writers need an agent and how to get one.

 

So Long, Richard

                               

It is with sadness that I say goodbye to my friend Richard Mencer. Richard was the manager of the Lifeway Christian Store here in Amarillo, the one I have often referred to as my "home store," mostly because of him. They keep my books well stocked year around, and anytime I have a spare Saturday and certainly on special events such as Father's Day and Christmas I'm always welcome there to do a little signing and promotion.

 

Richard is a fine Christian gentleman, soft spoken and polite, and I met him when he contacted me one day about doing an author signing and some promotion at a regional meeting of church librarians. I had a great time and got a number of books into area church libraries through the contact. It led to me going to some other meetings of church librarians with similar results. He has gone above and beyond what any writer might expect from a bookstore because he recognizes for me writing is a ministry and he wants to be a part of it.

 

Richard is taking over the store in Shreveport Louisiana and our loss is indeed their gain. I'd make the drive all the way out there just to work with him again, so perhaps we'll get that chance. Best of luck, my friend, I know you are going to do really well there.

 

Let me also promote a terrific event this weekend at the Southwest Branch Library here in Amarillo. Starting at 11 am there will be a series of programs in connection with the Winter Reading Festival. It will be like getting the chance to attend a free writing conference, one that normally would cost several hundred dollars, and that features some of the top authors and presenters in the area. I have the honor of wrapping it up at 5 pm with a segment on why writers need an agent and how to get one.

 

Hope to see you out there, and God go with you Richard!

 

Christian Libraries

                               

I was just talking to a writer who decried the fact that there was little Christian fiction in her local library. She said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were Christian Libraries where such books could be  checked out?"

 

It would indeed, and I assured her that such a thing exists. I list libraries where I have found my books shelved here on this website, and a number of them are church libraries. On several occassions I have spoken to groups of church librarians who are working to develop just such collections.

 

They need our help. Most churches have libraries. Many, maybe even a predominance of them are simply reference libries for the pastor. Others, which have larger collections which can be checked out by the congregation, simply contain Bible study materials and such and have no Christian Fiction. To these people I would remind them that Jesus knew how to get people to relate to his message, he used parables they could easily understand. Christian fiction is an extension of that role.

 

Saundra and I donated our personal collection of Christian books, including fiction to the church, expanding that library significantly. After all, we can still get them and read them again when we want to, but this way others can read them as well. We can and should be encouraging our churches to expand these libraries.

 

We shouldn't stop there. My books are shelved in over 1500 libraries across the country. That's 1500 libraries that I know have some Christian fiction on their secular shelves. We should be requesting that they shelve more. I'd be honored if you'd request mine, but there are a lot of good Christian fiction that deserves to be there. If they are reticent to do it, ask for some through inter-library loan. Most libraries will do that, and since it costs about ten bucks to do it, they will often just buy the book instead of borrowing it from another library. A back door approach to getting such books into the collection.

 

I push my local libraries to do this, encourage our church library as well as other churches in the area and encourage libraries any way I can. I'm giving a program in one in an area town today and have another one set up locally in in a couple of weeks. Can I enlist you in this cause?

 

Comment: Les Williams and his wife just wrote to buy severn of my titles to donate to the library of their church. I'm selling them at cost of course just to get replacement copies. What a great gesture!

 

Writing workshop

                               

I was supposed to do a writing workshop Saturday at Bolton Street Baptist Church, but it was cancelled because of the snow and church was cancelled this morning as well. I'm supposed to be doing another workshop in Dumas at the library tomorrow but I don't know if the roads will allow it. That's about 40 miles. I have a gig coming up in Chicago and one in Grandbury Texas. Maybe I'll run across some of you at one of them.

The snow is so beautiful and has stopped now but there is supposed to be another round late tonight and into tomorrow. It did collapse the canvas awning on the deck, but I had plans to replace it with a hard cover anyway. Last weekend I was doing a workshop in the Dallas and Ft Worth area and got trapped there by icy roads and had to stay an extra day. Weather has been a bit capricious.

Wish I could say I'd gotten a lot of writing done, but I was so far behind working the queries and proposals I've been sent that I spent the time working on them. Unfortunately that involves telling quite a few that we just aren't well positioned to work with them. I don't like the word rejections, that implys that it's personal and of course it is not. A writing friend, Ron Benry, made a great comment on that.

 

He said he had just been in a room where hundreds of rejections were being made all in one day and nobody was upset at all. Amazing? No that room is conveniently located at the Barnes and Noble and he watched as a person would pull out a book, make a decision on it based on a very tiny sample and put it back. He said if readers were doing it and it didn't bother us, why should a similar reaction from agents and editors bother us so much?

 

Good comment, I wish I'd thought of it. If books don't grab us right off we don't carry it to the checkout stand and those acquiring books really should be judging them the way the readers are going to do.

This is quite an unusual business.

 

Writing ministry

                               

Another subject on an online list is on my mind today. A lady spoke her mind about the difference between publishing houses that "see their authors as ministry partners," and those who "know they can always get another author, so why give kind treatment to those already on the team?" She leads an agency that gives an award each year to houses that are good examples of the former, so she should have good insight.

 

I've been thinking about that. Christian houses and churches for that matter have to make money, they have to cover the overhead or they go out of business. So to what extent do we "take care of business", and still keep the mission in mind that we hope the words we are trying to get out will accomplish? Most Christian writers will say it isn't about the money. I know I've plowed back every dollar I've made and then some trying to get my words out where they might do some good. I came to work as an agent because I thought I might could do even more good helping other people get their words out into the marketplace.

 

Like the businesses, however, I'm reaching a point where I need to start "taking care of business" as well as pursuing a writing ministry. When I get ready to retire I need it be a little additional income, not an expense so I'm going to have to quit investing in it and hope it provides some proceeds. My drive for my work to have a ministry will not be any less, but the situation will have changed.

 

I was a chamber of commerce manager for over 25 years, I know about a non-profit business. The only difference between a for profit business and a non-profit is what the revenue over expenses is called and how it is used. But if there isn't any surplus revenue, then the organization is slowly going out of business.

 

I understand that, but I also understand the comment the lady made at the top of the blog. Doing business and forming a ministry partnership with your writers are not mutually exclusive goals. I'd like to see more of it. There are a lot of secular houses buying Christian imprints or forming Christian lines that aren't used to working this way. I hope it's a lesson they come to understand as well.

 

Conjunctions

                               

On an online list we've been talking about a trend in writing to leave out a conjunction that should normally be there, particularly the word "and." There were different opinions, but it does seem to be going on, even in some recent well known published works.  There is another side to this issue, and it bothers me even more. I've been reading a large number of ms lately that begin several sentences in a paragraph with a conjunction. The words "and," "but," "or" and others are each primarily intended to tie phrases together. I know we talk that way and expect a certain amount of it, but more and more I'm finding the pause the author intends can easily be there by putting the phrase where it is supposed to go, on the preceding sentence behind a semicolon or at least a comma, using the proper punctuation. The intent they are trying for is good, they want a small pause for effect in reading. To me, however, when it starts happening with such jarring regularity it begins to echo and I start noticing them, taking me out of the story. In fact, like I say, I think I notice that even more than a missing conjunction.

 

Most of us have other "echo" issues. I tend to use "that" and "just" too much. Often someone has to find them for me because I don't see them. Any word which starts being repeated in short intervals can echo and start standing out. Of course, sometimes an echo can be intentionally done for effect, repeating a word several times in a sentence, making a point. "I told my children they had to clean their room, BECAUSE they can play better with clean floor space, BECAUSE it isn't health to have all that clutter in the floor, or just BECAUSE I said so." A simple example but it makes the point.

 

How much of this is voice and how much is a grammatical problem? It's subjective, but in my own writing I tend to try to make narrative clean and grammatically correct, and take liberties in the dialogue to help create and differentiate character voices. I complained about the large number of conjunctions in one manuscript recently and the author said the book had been read by a number of first readers and they had no problem with it. That caused me to wonder if I was too sensitive to the problem . . . or if I was simply reflecting the fact that I know a number of editors who are also sensitive to it. Then again, a number of readers not noticing or overlooking something doesn't make it right. Just causes me to wonder how significant it really is in the writing.

 

Here’s what The Chicago Manual of Style (the manual most publishing houses use as their style guide) says about beginning a sentence with a conjunction [5.191]

Beginning a sentence with a conjunction. There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical foundation—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and, but, or so. In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice. Charles Allen Lloyd’s 1938 words fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today: “Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs about the use of our language is the equally groundless notion that it is incorrect to begin one with ‘but’ or ‘and.’ As in the case of the superstition about the prepositional ending, no textbook supports it, but apparently about half of our teachers of English go out of their way to handicap their pupils by inculcating it. One cannot help wondering whether those who teach such a monstrous doctrine ever read any English themselves.” Still, but as an adversative conjunction can occasionally be unclear at the beginning of a sentence. Evaluate the contrasting force of the but in question and see whether the needed word is really and; if and can be substituted, then but is almost certainly the wrong word.

EXAMPLES FOLLOW, and the entry concludes this way:
To sum up, then, but is a perfectly proper way to open a sentence, but only if the idea it introduces truly contrasts with what precedes. For that matter, but is often an effective way of introducing a paragraph that develops an idea contrary to the one preceding it.

 

Great commnents – and I want to be sure the reader realizes I'm not against this usage – I just have a problem when it happens so regularly that it begins to echo and become noticable. I also have one in hand written in first person. In first person we expect to see a lot of the word "I." Even at that, when every sentence begins that way as well as "I" references other places as well then it's a seriou8s echo and some of those need to be written in other ways.

 

 

Empathy

                               

My own collection of negative responses to wonderfully worded entreaties that I've sent  to agents and editors over the years may not land me in the Guiness Book of Records, but they still make up an impressive collection.  They also cause me to empathize and identify with all of the proposals now parading through my inbox. It's really hard for me to say no when I know how that no feels on the other end. Harder than I thought it would be.

 

Some aren't. There are those that weren't ready to be submitted anyway, wrong genre, badly written,  you know the drill. Those are easy. What's hard is those that are pretty good, but they come in with a bunch that are just better. I can just try to represent so many.

 

Or maybe it's a good project and I just don't have a place to go with it at the present time. It'd be a real disservice to an author to tie up a good project when I don't have an appropriate market. Down the road maybe I'll develop something, but right now they'd be better off with someone who has the appropriate contacts right now, while they need them.

 

I've said it before, it's all about market and timing. A publishing contract comes from having the right product in front of the right person at the right place at exactly the right time. Anything else is a near miss, and there are no awards given for coming close.

 

There's a game my grandkids play, I think it's called concentration. There are a bunch of cards face down and the people playing turn them over two at a time. If they match, you get them, if they don't it's the other person's turn. Struck me that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm talking to editors, monitoring deals, seeing who is selling what to whom. That's a set of cards. At the same time I'm looking at submission after submission, and in my head I'm trying to match up those cards. If I think I have a match I try it, and if they do match it's a win. If not we get to play again.

 

Maybe I ought to let my grandkids help me with this, they beat the socks off me with that game.

 

Whew, what a weekend!

                               

I just did a program for the Dallas Ready Writers, part of the American Christian Fiction Writers, down in Colleyville ( between Dallas and Ft. Worth). It's a great group and the workshop went well from the emails I've gotten from participants. It was followed by a reading in a Christian Coffee House ( last time I did anything like that I was singing folk music for my supper in my college days). The day ended with a signing at Borders Bookstore and a visit to Inside Colleyville Magazine.  Those folks from the DFW group stayed with us all the way and were terrific hosts.

 

We headed out immediately after our last stop before the rain started turning to ice, but by Denton decided that was silly and we holed up in a motel for an extra dat waiting for the skating rinks on the roads to thaw. There were constant accidents and places where accidents had been all the way back so we feel like we did the prudent thing. We got back to find our sewer line frozen, so the ordeal is still not over.

 

The actual meeting was at the La Hacienda Ranch restaurant, a big log house facility decorated in such a way, with log fires going, that we felt like we were in a lodge up in the mountains. It was great.

 

Among other things we talked about all of the changes going on in the Christian publishing industries, about house ofter house that is buying a Christian imprint or starting one of their own to cash in on the fact that Christian Fiction has been the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry the past few years. In spite of them positioning themselves to get into that market there has been remarkably little come from these efforts. They don't seem to know how to get rolling with it.

 

They need product, and Christian Writers are positioned to sell, so what's the deal? Part of it is the fact that many of these houses require an agent to get in the door. Some, even if they meet a writer at an event and take a submission ask the author to get an agent to continue if they like it. Agents are scrambling to fill the gap between potential and product. Interesting times.

 

No Lectures Please

                               

I didn't much like lectures when I was in school. I didn't like it when my parents "lectured" me, and I for sure didn't like it when it was done by some drill sergeant in the army. I'm on my way down to do a program for the Dallas Ready Writers, part of the American Christian Fiction Writers.  Actually it'll be in Colleyville between Dallas and Ft. Worth. I have a nice handout, a good program, and I hope I don't have to use it.

 

What I liked when I was in school and what I like when I'm on the other side of the fence is participation. I like it when the questions and the comments turn it into a discussion instead of a lecture thus insuring that it will more closely meet the exact interests of the group. I give positive feedback and reward people who help to accomplish this. I give people that ask a question one of my pens.

 

Funny thing about that, I could put a box of those pens out and there wouldn't be a handful of them picked up, but make them a reward for participating and our old "earning a gold star" training kicks in and people start trying to get one. Don/t ya love it?

 

One thing I'll be sure of, since the writers will for the most part be ACFW members I can be sure of a couple of things, first that they are serious about their writing, and second that they probably include or want to include their faith in their writing.

 

We're going to be talking about how you can have a writing career if you are too shy to promote, and about working with agents and editors.  The meeting will be at the La Hacienda Restaurant  at 11am. There's supposed to be a reception following at the Christian Coffee House, then a booksigning at Borders Bookstore there in Colleyville. It sounds like fun, although with this freezing temp and possible icy roads, the trip may be quite entertaining. If you live in the area, maybe I'll see you there.

 

What are we reading?

                               

I'm told we should be reading as much as we are writing, and marketing as much as we are reading. I talk to few writers who are doing anywhere near that proportion. For most it is the marketing and promotion that suffers, so many of us just don't want to do it. However, for me it's the reading. I don't get to read nearly as much as I would like. I like to read in the genre I'm working in, it reinforces what I'm doing as long as I'm careful something doesn't creep into my work that I just read.

 

The problem is escalating. I'm reading much more, getting 25-30 proposals a day, but what am I reading? Much of it isn't in my genre, to be very truthful much of it isn't ready for publication. So instead of reading things I can learn from I'm reading . . . well, you get the picture, and mostly I just get to read pieces which doesn't exectly help my plot development skills. If I read and enjoy a full manuscript, you can bet I'm going to try and do something with that author. 

 

I remember back when I was first starting. I participated in crit groups and various writers groups until I had absorbed so much information that I thought surely I was a resource. Many of us would pass information back and forth amongst each other, the blind leading the blind.  Then I started getting the chance to glean information from some industry professionals and significantly published writers. I discovered how little I knew, and there I was expounding on that false information. I was embarrassed.

 

I just had a young writer call and we talked for 30 minutes, she was so frustrated by all of the conflicting information that she was receiving. I told her not just in writing, but in life, all advice had to be measured by how experienced and credible the source was. I still feel an obligation to give back for all those who helped me, but I'm very careful now to only pass on knowledge from very credible sources.

 

And I really need to learn to fit in more reading of published work that is selling well, I think we all do.

 

 

Fruitbasket Turn-over

                               

Every day I hear of an editor changing houses, an agent becoming an editor or vice-versa,  houses change what they are looking for and what they are not, so of course agents adjust to the change. Writers who try to write to the market often find by the time they finish the work, that market is saturated and the industry is looking for something else entirely.

 

It's the nature of the beast, nothing is constant but change Those who are successful ride it like a green horse, seeking that rare piece of intelligence that helps them make the right connection. A couple of times I've made sales by getting something in front of a brand new editor before they got covered up. It is all about reaching the right person with the right product at exactly the right place and the right time. If you've ever tried shooting a gun or maybe a bow and arrow, you know hitting a target is a difficult task, but if someone is moving that target all over the place, up and down, side to side, that does complicate matters a little.

 

I get a number of queries addressed to MS. Burns. Most folks are a little miffed when people get their gender wrong, but that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is the fact that obviously the person has not taken the time to check us out and see who we are and what we are looking for. A sure sign they haven't done their homework, and it probably is a sign of a mass mailing to agents. Our agents don't mind working with authors who are looking at more than one agency, it's just good business, but mass mailings are different. There's a service that "blasts" agents all over the country with a query. Really hard to work with an author in such a case if we have genuine interest. Of course the big faux-pas is multiple agents inside the same agency, and we get that a lot.

 

Keeping up with this intelligence is part of what an agent brings to the table, but the writer can't afford to not be involved as well. If the writer doesn't have an agent, doing their homework can help them get one, or perhaps publish a piece themselves. If they do have an agent, they may run across that piece of intelligence that helps their agent make that perfect contact at just the right time.  It's a moving target and more people are going to miss it than hit it so those shooting at it need every advantage they can get.

 

Age and writing

                               

I'm going to be doing a workshop at our church. Most of these that I do, people have been trying to write, have  some experience, and are seeking to learn more. This group will be quite inexperienced, and one is a middle-grader. Too young to get started? No, I'm delighted. Will he stick with it? Who knows, but in a recent discussion in a big writing group I was struck by the number of writers who said they had started trying at a very young age and had remained determined. I first published in the Jr High newspaper and in a state-wide poetry anthology, so I can relate.

 

I had a great experience a couple of years back doing a workshop for the Groom Texas school district. There were kids from the fifth grade through high school. It was a delightful experience and they asked great questions and showed a lot of interest. Well, the older high school kids were far too "cool" to show open interest, but the rest did. The following year the writing group in this area, the Panhandle Professional Writers, sponsored a writing contest for young people. In blind competetion where the judges knew nothing of the identity of the person submitting, the Groom kids practically swept the field. One teacher in the district is an active writer and I'm sure had a lot to do with that. I hope I had a little to do with it as well.

 

There are some writing opportunities specifically open to younger writers. A number of them are writing more than they realize with the advent of blogs, chat rooms and online opportunities such as My Space. You would think perhaps young people don't have the patience to develop skills and to endure the rejections that are an integral part of getting published, but I find just the opposite is true. Because of their age they expect more of this, and the ones that are committed expect to have to build experience and skills and calmly go about doing so.

 

I don't think age works against them, but it is true that lack of experience can. I recently had a book proposal from a teenager wanting to publish a book that contained deep philosophical insights. The writing wasn't too bad, but I'd never be able to convince an editor that someone of his age had the experience base to form all of these "deep philosophical insights."  We may be missing the boat, but I know what the odds are and need to spend my time where I've got a better shot.

 

Getting started

                               

A young lady came up to me at a workshop I was giving. She said she was serious about writing and wanted to know what writing books I would recommend, or if she should get into a local writing group, or use a bunch of online groups or sources, or  . . .  well, how should she get started?

 

I said all of those things are good, but none are the most important. The most important thing is to write. If we simply want to be a writer, but there are no stories rattling around in our heads, bursting to get out, there is a strong chance that we are are in love with the idea of being a writer, not longing to write. There's a big difference there.

 

Buying writing books before we are actually writing and are starting to see where we need help with is more likely to confuse us and stall out the process than it is to help. Information before we have something to apply it to can actually be counter-productive.

 

Getting in a writing group just to "be a writer" as opposed to already putting words down and knowing the kind of help we are seeking are totally different experiences. Writing groups are quick to spot people who are all talk and no action about writing. They are serious about their craft and expect those who join in with them to be the same.

 

The story is the key, what do we have to say? A tale that has heart and has interest but is very poorly written can be fixed.  A beautifully written, grammatically correct, perfectly formatted tale that generates no interest or has nothing to compell the reader to continue probably can't be fixed. When we have words we can edit, storyline where we can see what is working and not working, then we can learn, not with abstract theory.

 

I told her she was taking one important step coming to the workshop. Admitting out loud before a group of people that "I'm going to write," was an important step, important in showing commitment.  She asked where to start and I told her to start with what was in her head. It might turn out to not be the beginning, she might find she's starting with the ending. She might find herself outlining the story she wants to pursue, it doesn't matter. Only when we have some words on paper, something concrete to work with,  can we start can we start deciding where it's going and what sort of help we might need.

 

If we want to be a writer, that's a goal we may never achieve. If we want to write, we need to simply sit down and start writing, then take it from there.

 

A discouraged writer

                               

Over on one of the writing lists a writer read our agency

guidelines and it discouraged her. I sent her a note, and

have decided to use it here as well:

     Hi, thanks for visiting my website. Literally thousands of queries will be submitted each week. Those are pretty long odds. If you want to be discouraged, 85% will fail to make the cut with only a cursory look. But though it sounds discouraging it isn't. You wouldn't believe how many people don't do the legwork. They send queries to agents or editors who clearly do not handle the genre they are proposing. We find that out within a couple of sentences and send it on its way. They send stuff that is so badly formatted that no agent or editor wants to take on the task of fixing it, not with so many good ones coming in right beside it. They ignore the submission guidelines and send things editors and agents don't want and don't include things they ask for to make a good evaluation. They send hard copy when electronic was requested and vice versa. In other words, the 85% are not being turned down, they are taking themselves out of consideration by failing to submit a professional query or proposal. 85% are gone, and it isn't about the writing as I said over on the main list yesterday.
     But it shouldn't be discouraging because it means those who are doing it right are only up against 15% of the submissions, and when we make the cut to the 15% then it IS about the writing. Marketing plan? Sure, because it increases our odds. Nobody but those who have graduated to be strongly supported by publishers advertising and promotion can get away with not marketing and promoting. Publishers want to know we understand that and what our plans are (in addition to their efforts) to get out and help make it happen. But you know what, you even see King and Rowling and those big name people out there as well, doing things to get their name in the paper. If they aren't exempt why would we think we would be?
     As a writer I went to several conferences a year. I sold a number of books myself, all of them resulting from a contact at a conference. As an agent I have a couple a month scheduled next year. Nobody really wants to get out and do the business side of writing, we want to sit home and spin our tales, and in a perfect world publishers would beat a path to our door and offer us obscene amounts of money for the honor of publishing our work and would then throw further major budgets behind the work to make it an instant bestseller. Sigh. I can dream, can't I?
     I'm up against the same thing you are with my own work, but guess what? I'm up against the same thing representing clients as well. I have to find people and stories that stand out. That's been 7 out of several hundred so far. Stories and people that I connect with and love and believe in strongly. That's your job, to get out of that large group of submissions and make some agent or editor say "Ah, that's what I was looking for." And it's a personal thing. Just because it doesn't happen with one doesn't mean it won't click with the next. It happens easier in person at a conference, but it can happen anyway.
     I didn't mean to write a book here, but the publishing industry just doesnt make people quit writing without achieving their dreams. People give up, or maybe they select some self publishing option and are satisfied selling a few books to friends and relatives. If it was easy everybody would be doing it. It's hard, and we gotta kiss a lot of frogs to find that princess. Fortunately, I've always been fond of frogs.

 

An honor?

                               

Maybe. I did some work with a class of high school students studying western literature this year.  I didn't do much, but the idea that they were doing it sure appealed to me. Anything we can do to start getting a new generation of readers is a good thing. Anyway, the teacher told me I was one of the questions on the final exam. I think that's an honor . . . maybe?  Given the way I always felt about final exams I'm not sure.

 

Looking forward to 2007 I find myself wondering what's in store for me. My primary publisher is making a major change in their fiction program, a change that doesn't look like it'll include me. I've gotten wonderful response to the simple little series I wrote for them, even some who said it played a part in some life-changing revelations for them. It doesn't take much of that to make the effort worthwhile, in fact, one would be enough. Perhaps I've written what the Lord intended me to write. Maybe I've reached the people who gravitate to my simple little stories and my role now is supposed to be to help others get their words out to where they need to go.

 

I don't know, I just know things are changing, and I have this powerful feeling that 2007 is going to be a very strong year. As in so many things in my life I just have to try and figure out where the Lord is going and try to do my best to go with him. Sometimes that's hard.

 

I have a couple of friends trying to get started writing. They've asked me questions about what books they needed to be reading, the groups they needed to be in, the courses they need to take, and all are excellent ways to learn the craft. But the overall thing, I pointed out, is to write, consistently and unceasingly. It'll get better as we go, and we'll learn more by editing the things we do, learning what is good and what is bad, learning what worked and what didn't than if we read books or sit in some class trying to learn writing theory. Theory is good, but it doesn't make much sense until we apply it to what we're already trying to do. I'm hoping those people start the new year by getting words on paper and pursuing that dream. If we have words in us, we have to get them out even if we never achieve what we thought we might.

 

A learning experience

                               

I just got a beautiful book proposal, high dollar glossy cover with graphics that would have served for the book cover itself. The only problem is the guy broke every rule in the book for submissions. The largest is the fact that his cover letter said "I know most agents and editors want to see the first chapters, but I'm sending . . ."  Another way to have written that would be "Since I know better than you what you should look at . . . "

 

Guaranteed rejection at the first sentence by probably 80% of the publishing community, but the fact that he has obviously spent so much money on this presentation compelled me to look further in spite of the fact that the submission guidelines clearly said I wanted submissions in a word doccument attached to an email.  It was bound which should NEVER be done. It didn't include the market comparisons, author's bio, market plan, history of the manuscript, and the other items the guidelines call for.

 

The sample chapters were single spaced and on both sides of the page and in a font outside of the standard TNR or Courier that most submission guidelines ask for. The SASE wasn't enough to return it so of course I didn't. I couldn't stand to think of him spending this kind of money on all his submissions and guaranteeing himself a rejection in the process so I told him what needed to be done. It will probably just make him mad instead.  It was a credible storyline, but I get a lot of good stories that are ready to go, where the writer has shown they know the rules and will play by them.  Most agents and editors get a substantial number of them DAILY, and will pay little attention to one that requires a huge amount of work or that don't fit the markets they are trying to sell to.

 

It's a shame, in trying to go that extra mile, he completely took himself out of the game. I hope instead of getting mad he realizes I did him a favor and takes the time to learn how to do a professional submission.

 

Reformation Generation

                               

Rick Warren, author of the big time successful book The Purpose Driven Life was being interviewed this morning on Good Morning America about what he saw for the future. I noted Christmas he had a huge visibility on Fox News, and they were actually showing his Christmas message, really unusual for a news network. Anyway, Warren said he had great hope for the immediate future because of what he termed the Reformation Generation. He was in St Louis at a very large gathering of college age kids and said the faith among them was inspiring to say the least.

 

I've been seeing that in my contacts with young people. My generation is strongly faith based, the Baby Boomers perhaps less so, and I'm not at all sure about Generation X, I suppose the jury is still out there.  But perhaps he has coined the label for the Reformation Generation.  I watched a church service on TV not long ago, and the pastor was very young as was most of the congregation – I suppose it was a youth rally. Those seem to be going on all over.  Our Grandaughter just got married in as strong a faith based ceremony as I've ever seen and they did the counseling and took the steps to insure that their union would be strongly based in their religious tenets. Wonderful.

 

What can we do to help? Mostly it is in their hands, but as writers we can encourage them with our words. As an agent I'm finding myself drawn to works that reach out to younger readers for this very reason. As a parent or grandparent I'm pretty much out of the game except in trying my best to provide an example for them.

 

I've been talking of late about the fact that over 80% of our country believe in God, although they take different paths beneath that overall umbrella. I really believe God has blessed America because we are primarily a Christian nation, and will cease to do so should that change. If Warren is right about the Reformation Generation, there is a new wave of voters coming who may be able to insure that doesn't happen.   I've been drawing fire for these beliefs, and that's okay, others are allowed to think what they will just as I'm allowed to think what I want.  I do share Warren's belief and hope for the new generation, and can't wait to see what they do with it.

 

The 80% factor

                               

On one of the writing lists they were talking about the fact that 80% of the gift cards given are never used. I bet the stores love that. They went on to say that 80% of all opportunities to look at work extended by agents and editors are not responded to either. That's probably  in the ball park too, judging on what I'm seeing.

 

Then the discussion turned to the reason the response

didn't come. Some thought if it wasn't followed up on within a month that the editor or agent wouldn't be interested. It doesn't bother me if someone takes a long time (months) to make that initial contact. I know it does bother some editors and I don't take that chance. It does bother me though when followups don't come expeditiously. If I respond to a query and ask for a proposal, after a couple of months I'll probably just drop it off my tracking log and put it over on the inactive log unless they've told me what they are doing and when to expect a response.

 

There's a difference between initial contact and followup, in that followup shows if the writer is a professional  and stays on top of requested material, revisions, etc. Once the process is underway I start to get a bad feeling if the author is slow in responding.

 

Agents and editors will be slow in responding to the initial contact too. For most they are taken in the order receivied and there are a lot of them. Again, for most, after the initial contact, followup materials are handled on an entirely different tracking log, and the further a writer gets through the process, the more prompt the replies get.

 

The 80% factor? Do you suppose there is a correlation to the fact that 85% of all submissions are summarily rejected? The people who succeed in getting published go at it in a very businesslike manner, know that they will knock on a lot of wrong doors before they find the right one, do their homework, follow submission guidelines, and are very persistent in continuing to submit. Is there a correlation? I think so, and it means that those of us who are doing it right are only competing with 15% of the submissions for publishing slots.

 

Stand and Deliver

                               

In one of my westerns an outlaw sticks up a stagecoach.  Even the dirty deeds in those days were  done in a forthright manner, in person, although granted they generally hid behind a mask. Like that stagecoach, I got hijacked today, but it was done in a not so forthright manner.  If you go to the "Cowboy Musing Blog" over on blogspot you'll find an ad for an adult site. If that isn't bad enough, they didn't even take my stuff down, but it still has the link to this website (boy are some people hunting porn going to be surprised when they get over here and find all the Christian content I have on this site).

 

Hmm, maybe that's it, maybe it's a chance to witness, hadn't thought about that.  The site still has the label on it saying it's about "thoughts on life, writing, faith and other notions that occur to me."  If people go to that adult site they may find inspiration, all right, but not the kind of inspiration I deal in.

 

I asked that it be taken down, don't know whether they will do it or not. It was a mirror site for this blog anyway, a test to see which method people preferred for a blog. It had turned out that far more people seem to prefer coming over here, so I was thinking about dropping it anyway.

 

It's kind of a sad little commentary on life. You'd think if somebody was going to hold you up that they'd have the decency to stick a gun in your face and say, "put em up."

 

Comments:  Here's another thought on the porn site. Maybe these people are having a difficult time attracting viewers( How I wish this were true), lookers or what ever you want to call them, that they( the porn site) is "reaching out" in hopes of snaring some unsuspecting sole to their brand of "entertainment".  On the other hand, as you said, it's another unexpected oppertunity to witness. As we know, God works in Mysterious Ways( Is this a plug for your book? You bet!). If memory serves me correctly, in the past, I have seen porn ads on the Frontier Times Yahoo site as well. The Devil never gives up. Neither should or will we Christians.

 

Les

 

I appreciate your heart for Jesus, for people, and for writing.

And I like that your priorities are in that order. :)   

 

Comments:  Terry, that's just wrong what was done to your blog. Now I wonder if my blogs are safe from piracy.

 

Marsha

 

 

 

Looking Ahead

                               

Almost time for New Year Resolutions. In the past I've said the only time I was able to keep them was when I resolved not to make any more silly resolutions. That one I was able to keep. Not sure what I'll do this year, but it does have me thinking about the coming year. It'll be a busy one as I've got a ton of events set up each month I have to go to.  Being the trooper and helpmate that she is, Saundra will be right there with me. I don't deserve her, and that's a fact.

 

I guess my big challenge for the new year is finding out what I need to do to take advantage of the special gifts the Lord has given me. I know I need to use the gift of encouragement in the programs I'm going to be doing as well as in the work as an agent helping other writers get their words out. There's a learning curve involved there and hopefully I can get up to speed fast and make a difference for those I'm teaming up with to help. My own writing is changing and I'm just not sure what's happening there, but I intend to keep trying to make a difference with my words whatever I have to do in order to make it happen.

 

It appears right now helping others is the higher priority, maybe it always is. I'm getting some really good proposals and some I'm really excited about. Some are really good but just not right for me. It's sort of like dating, have to make that match for things to happen. The third gift is music, and Saundra and I will continue to use that together at church in the choir and doing specials when it is appropriate.

 

It seems like God is making changes in my life right now and as is so often the case I don't really understand what He's doing or what I need to do in response. I figure I'll just do my best and pray about it a lot and hope He's pretty forceful in His direction (I don't do subtle all that well)

 

Saundra is reading "The Praying Wife" so I know she's praying for me even though it isn't said. I pray for her and for my other loved ones daily and have for many years, but that's not something I talk about either unless it is important to let someone know I'm praying for them for needed encouragement.  Facing the challenges of 2007, it may take a lot of prayer, both for me and for my friends and loved ones.

 

Christmas thoughts

                               

In the movie "Miss Congeniality" an undercover FBI agent makes fun of the Miss America contestants all saying their greatest wish was "Peace on Earth." She comes around, of course, by the end of the movie. The great over-riding theme of the Bible is love, no doubt about it. When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment he didn't hesitate at all  but in Matthew 22, verse 37 said, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and all thy mind . . . love thy neighbor as thyself."  I went into one of the online Bible study tools and asked for love passages and got 497 verses. Before the advent of such a tool I remember in "Pollyanna"  the preacher staying up all night counting such verses but I don't remember if he came up with the same number, but I bet he did or came close.

 

There can't be peace without love, I think everyone understands that.  Real love is selfless, when we care more about someone else than we do ourselves. Ask those who have really good marriage relationships and chances are they'll say it is because each is more concerned about the other than they are themselves. Some of the greatest people in history have had this trait, giving of themselves for others even to the exclusion of their own personal needs. We have people in uniform doing this even as we speak.

 

Of course the greatest example was when Jesus gave his life for us, what greater sacrifice can be made? It's hard for me to celebrate his birth as we do this time of year without also thinking of his death, his death for me.  Even greater is the fact that he arose again at Easter, giving all those who believe in him the promise of eternal life. That's the greatest  gift anyone could ever receive, Christmas or otherwise.

 

I'm unbelievably happy for those who believe, conflicted by a need to tell those who have not heard, and saddened by those who do not believe or who believe something else. I join all those contestants mentioned above in wishing for peace on earth, as do millions of other people all over the world, and I wish for a proliferation of the love it would require for that to happen.

 

Merry Christmas everyone, and the very richest of blessings to you and yours in the New Year.

 

My Christmas Comments

                               

My comments on Christmas yesterday set a new one day high on the website with over 6,000 hits. All were positive except for one that took me to task for being a religious zealot "forever screeching about Jesus being the reason for the season." Guilty as charged, and I will continue to do so.

 

It seems we will never achieve religious diversity as long as I and others like me do that.  He points out that there are six million Jews and 2 million Muslims plus a number of other faiths living here. Out of 300 million people, those numbers are hardly overwhelming, but I have no problem with others practicing their religion and am not offended in the least when someone wishes me Happy Hanukkah this time of year.  Still, that would be the definition of a minority as 85% of those surveyed say they believe in Jesus and in God.

 

There are Christians living in Israel and they are very well accepted but they make no bones about being a Jewish nation in spite of other faiths that live there. There are Christians living in Muslim countries, with varying degrees of acceptance, but they assuredly say they are Muslim countries, and the same thing with faiths in other countries. Those who attended our initial constitutional conference were almost all Christian and this nation was founded as a Christian nation, but with religious freedom to express ones faith no matter what it might be.

 

That 85% number suggests to me that it still is a Christian nation, and I believe there is a difference between practicing forebearance of all religions, which we do, and in fostering religious diversity. I don't mind other religions growing and certainly don't oppose or work against them, but neither do I have any obligation to help them poliferate either. That's their job, not mine.

 

Christmas is the day picked to celebrate the birth of Jesus. If proclaiming that makes me a zealot I'm in good company. If being unhappy that our government seems dead set on getting away from recognizing that we are a Christian nation, in spite of the overwhelming numbers, makes me subversive or whatever label goes with that I suppose I'm guilty of that as well.

 

Happy Holidays to those who don't practice my faith, and Merry Christmas to all of the rest of you.

 

A glimpse of Christmas

                               

Our Church adopts some apartment complexes and get presents for children who aren't set to get much under the tree. A number are children who ride the bus to church but we drew the name of a three year old with bright eyes and an infectious smile. We showed up at his house Saturday with an armload of gifts, and that smile lit up the neighborhood.

 

We've got ten grandkids, this is nothing new to us, but to be honest, the sight of loved ones getting gifts they are expecting, and the look on the face of a young one who had no such expectations is not the same thing. We do things to this end every year, we've adopted angels from the angel tree, we give money that goes into a fund that's used to buy such gifts, a group of David C. Cook authors did a book called "Heartwarming Christmas Stories" (which makes a great gift, by the way) with the entire proceeds earmarked for such ministry,  but we haven't gotten to take them before. We've deprived ourselves of a blessing.  It was a delightful experience and I recommend it highly.

 

I'm also encouraged that more and more I hear people returning to saying "Merry Christmas" and acknowledging the fact that this season is about more than gift-giving, but a celebration of the birth of Jesus. No, we can't be sure that this is the exact date, but it doesn't matter, some date had to be chosen and this is it. Jesus gave us the greatest gift we will ever receive, the gift of our salvation, and this is a wonderful time to remind people of that.

 

In a day when it seems many are dead set to remove religion from the walls and nativity scenes from the lawns in public places, they can't remove it from the hearts of Christians, and that's over a hundred million potential shining billboards for the real meaning of Christmas. I hope we all resolve to make a mockery of their efforts to remove Christianity from our land and send forth a wave of peace and love that will cause lawmakers to realize they are bowing to the wishes of a very vocal minority against the wishes of the huge majority of the population. They just don't get it.

 

Enjoyed your blog this morning about Christmas. It's funny how "giving" has become so comcercialized and somehow translates into people with everything buying more things for other people who have everything, when the true spirit comes out when we give something to someone who is truely stunned, and probably changed, by the act of grace. Kind of like what Christ did for us.

Graham

 

 

truly agree with you about Christmas, Terry. I watched a program on CBS the other night on questions about the birth of Jesus. It really made me think but, it also reenforced my feelings that neither questions nor answers matter. It's a question of belief. I'm an open-minded, curious person, and I came away from the program believing even more than ever

 

Mary

 

 

Prayers for a Merry Christmas to both you and Saundra and Ruth.  I always enjoy surging around in your web site.  And EVERYONE needs to acknowledge, that Jesus is the Reason for the Season.  LOL/ed

 

 

Comments:  I have just joined FCW this weekend, and came to your blog at your invitation on this mornings email.

 

I enjoyed this.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Comments:  Terry, I too am fed up with the "politically correct' nonsense that is sweeping this country.

 

Around Christmas time you'll hear a hearty "Merry Christmas!" from me, not "Happy Holidays" or anything close.

 

I will defend anyone's right to practice the religion of their choice. All I ask is that I am given the same right, and I don't think that's too much to ask.

 

So, God bless America ... and Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Ray Hoy, Publisher

The Fiction Works

 

 

And a Happy Hanukkah to everyone as well. Even we as Christians should
remember that if not for the historical event surrounding miracle of
Hanukkah, we might not have had a Jewish state/province from which the
Messiah could come. They are not warring holidays, but complementary. Even
Jesus probably celebrated the Holiday.

Terri

 

 

Terry,

Henry county schools still allows staff to say "merry Christmas" and we can even use Jesus, Mary, and such as long as it introduced as culture and not religion.

There are a lot of churchs that have special programs with high attendance.

 

 

I believe it's more correct to say that those who fail to recognize American religious diversity don't get it.

Christmas has both religious and secular meanings -- hence the Supreme Court's "Reindeer Rule" of 1985 -- which realistically must be addressed, and can't be so long as some folks insist on screeching about how "Jesus is the reason for the season!" Furthermore, the United States is home to some two or three million Muslims, close to six million Jews and a panoply of other adherents to a bewildering variety of faiths.

By all means, celebrate Christmas in your way, but realize that it is your way, and may not even reflect the feelings of your fellow Christians. And never accuse our government, which operates under a Constitutional edict not to elevate one religion above another, of failing to recognize some illusory commitment to the furtherance of Christianity.

 

 

Comments:  Absolutely right on, Terry!

 

Hope your Christmas time is happy and that your new year is full of blessings! 

 

 

Comments:  I cast my vote. Well written Terry!!! Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Les

Comments:  Bless you Terry, I am blessed you make a difference in the world...

 

 

You got my vote, brother.

 

God bless you,

 

Deborah

Terry,

I SO agree!  I'm also getting tired of us all tiptoeing around the gay issue.  We're allowing SIN to be the normal way of life in the USA.  Woe onto us if we become so PC that we forget the father of PC...the devil.

 

Rhonda

 

Comments:  I agree with your article completely.  You said exactly what I would have said.  It is so sad that we as Christians just sit back and let so many things that are negative happen and we don't say anything or take a stand. Christmas is what it is...nothing less, nothing more.  Why people try to take away from it or add to it is a puzzle to me.  Why fight so hard to take Christ out of it when it is because of Him we have Christmas in the first place!!  Doesn't make a lot of sense if you ask me.

 

Thanks for making us think!  Merry Christmas to everyone.  God bless you all.

 

Comments:  AMEN!  Christ is in Christmas and should be included.  We as a nation are kicking God out of our courts, our nation, His birthday, etc.  God is not going to be happy and neither should we.

 

Keep being a zealot. I guess I'm right there with you!

Connie

 

 

Comments:  I don't understand the one complaint about your article. After all, if this person looked closely at the word Christmas, he or she would see that the first six letters are indeed..Christ. Is that not reason enough to proclaim the birth of Jesus Christ to be "the reason for the season"?

 

As I'm sure you are aware, your blog is not the only place comments about saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays has come up. This week alone, there was a letter to the editor in our paper saying how the writer was tired of all the PC that takes place at this time of year. I agree..Happy Holidays?..Humbug!

 

Count me as one of the proud 85%.

 

Les

 

Who's Looking?

                               

It's funny how topics break out on a list, then seem to spread to a number of lists. No, I guess it's not surprising since people tend to be on more than one so a topic spreads.  Right now a bunch of writing groups are talking about websites and website traffic. I think it started with a Publisher's Weekly article that said 18% of readers surveyed had visited a publisher's website, but 23% had visited an author's website.

 

Interesting. The statistics box below shows the traffic to this site, and believe me they didn't all buy books. You can buy a book directly from this site by going to the bookstore but a million six in traffic sure didn't result in that many book sales. Hard to tell a correlation in traffic and sales, particularly when we don't know if a purchasing decision began with a visit to the site but culminated with a trip to the local bookstore.

 

It does show a website is a necessity for an author for visibility and promotion if not for sales.  It does show that of those visiting the sites that 35% were under thirty-five, more than half said they had bought a book this year as a gift, and most of those said they bought more thyan one. They didn't ask if they bought online or in a store.

 

Young people are spending more time online as another study showed almost half of 15-24 year olds are spending more time browsing the internet than watching TV or listening to the radio. It would appear that the media orientation of this new group is going to make online digital books more and more important in the future. This explains steps like Amazon's download program and Simon and Schuster's net digital initiative, or as one of their executives put it, "The biggest sales opportunity in the digital world is currently audio and I expect that digital downloads of audio will represent 7 – 10% of audio sales, up from zero two years ago."

 

Much of my business as a writer and agent is 'paperless' – working by email and attaching doccuments. Quite a change. Yes, an online presence, and competence in internet activities has become a necessity in the writing trade, and it's going to do nothing but increase.

 

 

Comments:  PW never asked me, but I am one of those who has visited both a publishers web site and an authors( which is how I happen to be here). I also visit Amazon.

 

I use Amazon as a guide about a book I am interested in. I'll look at the story description and if there are any, the reviews. Then using this information, if I decide to purchase the book, I contact my local independent book store to place my order. I'm curious as to how many other book buyers do the same.

 

Call me old fashion if you will, but I for one hope that online digital books don't entirely take over. There is nothing quite like having a book in your hands while reading. Turning the pages to see what is going to take place next. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

Les

 

 

Sam Hawken said...

Given the rapidly increasing role of the internet in the entertainment aspect of people's lives, it's odd to me how few publishers seem to grasp the importance of a solid online presence. With the exception of Dorchester, I can't think of many publishers' sites worth visiting, either for information or commerce purposes.

 

 

Print on Demand

                               

I keep getting proposals from people who have a self-published or print on demand book that they want me to represent. Represent how, it's published? They don't need an agent, they need a distributor.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people that are down on POD, it has its place. If a book is aimed at a limited market and the author  is willing to do all the sales, then POD is the way to go.  Some POD companies  even offer distribution, but if the author isn't out doing publicity and making sales people don't know to go there and buy them.

 

I have a friend who has several self-published books. He gets out and markets in some very high traffic venues and sells a ton of books, making a living at it. But he hasn't been able to use those sales to interest a traditional publisher in doing his books. Is he a success, you bet? Hard to say anybody making that number of sales isn't. Did it work as a strategy to get a major publisher? No.

 

As an avenue to convince a publisher to take it up, it doesn't work. Sure, there are a few who have made it happen, like MJ Rose, but they took a POD book and with huge personal marketing efforts sold a bunch, attracting a publishers attention. If one comes in that has sold well up in the thousands, that's a different deal, we'll talk.

 

Offering a POD is selling reprint rights, and when we talk to an editor about it the first thing they say is, "Does it have an isbn number?" Most PODs do. If we say yes, they ask about sales. I do have one I'm trying to work with that did not allow the publisher to give it an isbn number. I'm pitching it as a book where they had a "professional prototype" done to use in pitching some focus groups and told them not to have it online for sale anywhere. Will it work? Who knows?

 

Every time this subject has come up and I've made these comments, someone who has POD books out takes me to task. Don't bother, as I said, I'm not opposed to POD as long as you make the choice knowing all the facts and it's what you want to do, go for it. But if the choice is made trying to interest a major, or is made out of frustration because the writer is not willing to undergo several years of trying to find the right publisher that almost ever traditionally published writer went through, I question the choice. At any rate, don't send me a proposal on them, they're published, I can't help you.

 

Comments:  Invaluable inside, Terry. I saw your post on ACFW and really appreciate what you had to say. As an author trying to make that leap, I've explored every creative avenue that's come along. More and more online groups/proponents push the POD venue as an outlet to build sales figures and attract traditional publishers. Thanks for giving an industry professional's view. God Bless, Dan

 

Comments:  I so agree with your thoughts about POD's. I'm not against them either but authors should definitely go into that process knowing exactly what it means to have to make all the sales, etc. And believe me, it is hard to find a distributor for POD's. It is possible but not the easiest things. I've done some ghostwriting for a couple of POD's and have seen these struggles up close. Thanks for blogging.  Great thoughts, Terry. So true.  Julie

 

Terry, I just read your POD comment on your site...you are a "straight shooter"! I respect that in a person, and I hope others do, too.

Judy

 

 

Conferences

                               

 

Without a doubt the best way to meet an agent or an editor is at a writing conference. Even those who don't accept unsolicited submissions will generally accept one from someone they met at a conference. I'm working on my schedule for the coming year and looking at a number of such conferences. Those I have booked have an * by them. I'll put them on my writing conference page in the library. Any suggestions to add?

 

·         * Feb 2-4: Love is Murder Writing Conference – Chicago

·         Feb 15-18; Writing for the Soul Conference, Colo Springs

·         Mar 1-4: Florida Christian Writing Conference – Bradenton

·         * Mar 15-17 Will Rogers Writers Workshop, OK City

·         Mar 30-Apr 3: Mount Hermon Christian Writers, Mount Hermon CA

·         May 20-24: Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers – Ridgecrest NC

·         * May 16-19 Colorado Christian Writers Conference, Estes Park

·         *June 6-9  Write to Publish conference, Chicago

·         June 8-9 Panhandle Professional Writers, Amarillo TX

·         * June 12-16 – Western Writers of AmericaSpringfield MO

·         -July 30-Aug 2  – Oregon Christian Writers – Canby (near Portland)

·         -* Aug 9-11 – Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers – Langhorn

·         * Sept 20-23 – American Christian Fiction Writers – Dallas

·         * Oct 17-21 – Glorieta Christian Writers Conf – Glorieta NM

 

 

Hope I get the chance to meet up with some of my friends at these conferences.

 

Which are worth attending?  http://www.right-writing.com/conferences.html

Comprehensive conference listing  http://writing.shawguides.com/

Why attend conferences?  http://www.right-writing.com/conference.html

http://www.bylinemag.com/contests.asp

 

 

The Dreaded Letter

                               

I send off my babies and I wait. I wait for word from some editor or agent that might signal going to the next step in the process.  I know publishing isn't a selection process but a survival process, getting through test after test until I survive my way to the top of the heap, the place where all  the pieces are in place and there is a fit for my offering.  Most of the time I don't take it personal.

 

Now I have to write the letter. Some of them are easy. It's a good product and a good fit and I offer to represent them. Some are not a good fit at all and if the person sending it had researched us a little, or even read our website and submission guidelines they would have known it. The hardest ones are those where the product is good, but it just isn't a fit for the people we are working with. No place to go with it, and to take on a client with no place to sell their work is doing them a disservice. That may change at some point and we may develop new contacts, and new markets, but this business is about today. We have to sell what we have the ability to handle at the present, not make a client sit around while we try to develop some new contacts and leads, particularly if somebody else is set up to handle the product right now.

 

The writer has to sell the project to the agent. The agent has to be able to sell it to the editor. The editor has to sell it in committee. When it comes out it has to be sold to the reading public. At every step there has to be a connection. It's more than just good writing or a good story, the person who needs to take it to the next level needs to connect with it. It can be a really good story and this connection just not occur.

 

It's seldom about the writing, it's about the market. Houses buy certain things and we work with certain houses. We have a good idea what we can sell right now, and that's why writers hire us to represent them. If we don't have a good feeling about being able to make that happen, the writer is better off hooking up with somebody who can get it done.

 

I think I'd rather get one of the letters than to have to write them.

 

But it goes with the job.

 

 

Patience

                               

 

Patience isn't my strong suite, I readily admit that. I send off all these epistles to editors for the agency, and of course  some on my own work as well. I've always believed in having a lot of hooks in the water, both from the standpoint of increasing the odds of catching something, and because the more lines that are out the less attention that we might pay to one particular bobber riding the waves.

 

It might be easier to wait on my own stuff than to await word on something for a client.  As usual, the Lord has something to say on the subject, however, and this time it's right on this page, down in the section where the International Bible Society places a Bible verse each day. He leaves messages for me there regularly. Today you will note it says, "The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."

 

Right, I get it. One of the main reasons that I'm doing this is to get my message out to serve the Lord, and most of the clients I work with have the same objective in mind. Patience, wait on the Lord, a hard lesson to learn, and even harder to do sometimes.

 

I'm starting to schedule for next year. Hope to see some of my friends on the road.  I'll kick off in Dallas with a program to the DFW Ready Writers Jan 13th. The 27th will be local with the Winter Reading Festival. Feb 2nd it's off to Chicago for the "Love is Murder" mystery writers conference, and March 2-3rd is a program to the Gerandbury Writers in Grandbury TX. The 15-16th I'll be on the faculty of the Will Rogers Writers Workshop in Oklahoma City. That looks like a good one for sure.

 

April 7th I'm off to Tulsa to give a program to the regional meeting of the American Christian Fiction Writers. June 6-9th it's back to Chicago to be on the program of the "Write to Publish" Christian Writers Conference. June 12-16th is the Western Writers of America in Springfield MO. July 8-12th is the International Christian Retailers Show in Atlanta Georga,  and October 17-21st is the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference in Glorieta NM.

 

Feelings?

                               

 

There's a song by that name, isn't there? I just read a manuscript that had 'em in spades. Strong feelings,  a good faith component, powerful book. I like that. I like any book that will raise emotions in me; happy, sad, moved, angry, any emotion as long as the author makes me feel something they are obviously feeling themselves.

 

I strive to do that in my own writing, but never seem to  reach a point where I do it as strongly as I would like.  I do often makemyself laugh, or cry, as I write and I think that's important. How can we stir emotions in others if we can't do it to ourselves. I have a couple of pieces that I still can't read today without tears coming to my eyes.

 

Some of my best writing was done in a period that was easily the lowest point in my whole life. Maybe not from a standpoint of that writing being successfully published, although much of it has been, but because the feelings in the work were honest, real, and raw. It's been said that writing is easy, all you have to do is open a vein and bleed all over the page. Maybe that's true. I do think a reader appreciates when someone is sharing something they recognize is coming from deep within them.

 

I compare this to what I call "plastic writing." I've read stuff where the author used feelings, used visual images, used smell and taste, but didn't use their heart. We can tell when someone is talking about a feeling instead of sharing it. Dispassionately describing an emotion or feeling that a character might have and it is clear the author is not feeling it at all. Plastic writing.

 

This manuscript was anything but. Did I agree to represent it? Are you kidding me? I don't know if it'll move an editor as much as it did the author and I, but we're sure gonna give it a shot.

 

What does it take?

                               

 

One good thing about reading a number of book proposals every day is the wide variety of genres I'm getting a  chance to sample, genres I might not otherwise be  reading. I'm learning a lot about what it takes to draw me into the story so I'll want to ask for and read the full  manuscript. That tells me a lot about what must be happening to my stuff when I send it in.

 

The process really is what I always have been told it was, looking at a query letter to see if it appears the project is enough of a fit to merit my looking at a proposal. If not, there are a lot of others waiting. If it does, ask for a proposal and look to see who I'm dealing with. Do they have writing credentials, are they the right person to tell the story, do they really know the market they are writing for, do they know who the authors are that define the market they hope to reach? If they seem to be the real deal, read some of the proposal, does it pull me in, is the writing good?

 

Forks in the road, that's what it is. Publishing is not a selection process, but a survival process. The author has to survive each of these tests to get me to reading the work. It's good, I sign them, then guess what? I have to go on to the next set of forks in the road and again pass every one of these tests over again offering the work to an editor. That's why I have to know if they can pass them with me.

 

No guarantees. Even if I like it, I may not can find the one place where the fit is just exactly right, and I have to select the very best products to offer. If I take an editor several projects that are just not good (in that editors opinion) he or she will be less likely to want to give full attention to what I'm bringing them in the future. This is particularly true when I'm relatively new at this.  I have to pick and pitch some awesome projects, and I have to do a real winning pitch to build the reputation I need to have to do a good job for my clients. I need to pick winners.

 

The key is people giving me not only a well written manuscript, but the tools to use in taking the project forward. They have to win me over just as I am going to have to win that editor over, and the pitch has to include the things necessary to win at committee with marketing and promotion people involved. Why don't I do all this research and find out all of this stuff myself? Because I'll never know any project as well as the person who wrote it. Want a good agent to go to bat for you? Give them the tools to do the job.

 

 

Infinite number of monkeys

                               

 

Bob Newhart had an old routine build on an old theory that an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters would eventually write all of the great works. I can still hear him as he played the part of a monkey supervisor, calling out "Wait a minute, I think I've got  something here. 'To be or not to be, that is the  gazenklesnort.' No, I guess not."

 

That bit came to mind as I was thinking about the staff of writers that I have working for me thinking up character names. Impressed? You should be, a group of full time writers dreaming up names for me to use, what a luxury! Of course they also write a bunch of stuff down in the email touting viagra or pharmacy drugs, or various enhancement products, but I never read any of that. I just go down the list and read the name before I hit the delete key. Some of them really are pretty good.

 

It serves a dual purpose as well. Instead of my stress level going up because I'm having to deal with a lot of spam, I'm pleased that these people are working so hard trying to dream up new names for me. The few minutes I spend each morning reviewing their efforts, and tossing the rest of the email, has produced some excellent names which I may use or have used in my writing. Occassionally I'll read one and a full blown visual of a character will come to mind.  That's really pretty neat.

 

Now if I could just get past this image in my head of Bob Newhart walking down the line in a big room yelling out, "Wait a minute, I think I've got a good name here . . . "

 

Snowed In

                               

 

Yes, for the first time in quite a while we were snowed in yesterday. It was great. I spent the day in sweats reading  a bunch of submissions and getting off a couple of proposals, then on to my WIP, the sequel to the mystery I just finished. It was a 14 hour writing day fortified with lots of coffee and bowls of chili. Then my agent sent me an IM saying an editor wanted the mystery pending  acceptance of some revisions. That's good news, but of course will reshape my priorities a little when I get those revisions. Could well mean more titles with this publisher though.

 

I have a writing friend that lives in a far southern clime and who has never seen snow. She asked me one time how it was to live someplace where we are capable of seeing substaqntial amounts of snow fall. We don't get it as often as they do up in the mountains, of course, but the jet stream is quite capable of taking that snow right off the Rockies and dumping it right on Amarillo.

 

I asked her which snow she was talking about, that white, fluffy stuff that falls gently to lie in gleaming mounds of white while we sat by the fire writing and sipping hot chocolate? Or that gray, slushy stuff that we have to slog through on treacherous streets trying to get where we need to be?

 

It was white and fluffy and we enjoyed it very much.

 

Today was gray and slushy.

 

Awesome Proposal

                               

 

I just got through reading the best proposal I've ever had in my hands. This author did it right. He followed the guidelines and sent  the exact material we want to see, even in the order we listed it. He told a compelling storyline, gave terrific credentials that testified he was the man to tell the story, he showed he knew who the market was for the book and how to reach them.

 

He showed he had some good endorsements lined up, knew exactly which books and writers were his competetion and in so doing knew the books and authors that best defined the market. His synopsis capsuled the story in three pages, a compelling read all by itself.  The first three chapters opened catching my attention and pulled me into the story. The book is the perfect size for the market, no accident I'm sure.

 

I don't even have to ask for the full manuscript to know that this is a project that I want to be associated with. Of course I'm going to try to get him under contract.

 

After reading through a stack of proposals many of which made every mistake that could be made, a few have risen to the top. Now one has come through to set the bar. I wish I could tell you his name, because you're going to be hearing more from this guy. He has some good writing credentials, but this is his first foray into the book market.

 

As you can tell, it made my day.

 

More to read

                               

 

Now I understand how agents and editors have been treating my stuff, I'm finding myself with no choice  but to do exactly the same things. We have posted requirements about what we'd like to see and how it should be submitted. Then I open an email and it's just a manuscript or some sample chapters, no proposal, so I drop them a note and tell them I need them to send me all the required information to evaluate it.  I don't waste time looking at it now because there's so much waiting for me to read.

 

They do send a proposal and I get down to the writing but the formatting is terrible. Not anywhere near ready to submit. Maybe I read a little if it catches my attention right off, maybe I just drop them a note and say it isn't ready to submit. They write back and say this is how some agent or editor wanted it, want to argue.  I don't have time to argue, because there is so much more to read.

 

The guidelines show that we try to run a paperless office as much as possible, work by email most of the time. They send big packages with manuscripts, proposals, cute things to get our attention. If they include their email I tell them how to send it to me the way I'm set up to work. No email? I toss it over in the stack and will look at it when I have time to wade through it. If they send an SASE I'll answer, because there's so much more to read.

 

Then I get one that obviously read the guidelines and followed them. Wonderful, that means they told me everything I need to know in order to see what is going on with the work. It means they have submitted a nice sample to be read.  If it speaks to me I'm going to ask for the full manuscript. If it doesn't seem to be a good fit for us or for the editors that we're trying to select material for, I'm going to say that, but for somebody that has really tried to do it right, I'm going to really give them a good read, even if there is so much more waiting for me to read.

 

Editors have X number of slots at any given time to fill. Agents can only handle so many clients at any time and those clients need to be aimed at opportunities they see with editors they are working with. Many good books come through that we just aren't geared to do, and it would be a disservice to the writer to try, and a disservice to us to work on them when there are other good submissions there that do fit the opportunities, submissions we have a good chance to place. They're there, I know, because there are so many waiting for me to read.

 

Losing a friend

                       

 

 
Pat Kimbrew was one of my favorite cousins. 

The first memory I have of him was when he

was dating my cousin Janie in the thriving

metropolis of Electra TX and I went out to

eat with them. I remember he hid a plate of

french fries under an entire bottle of catsup.

 

Perhaps my favorite memory was watching him when his babies were born. I've never seen a man more crazy about his kids, showed me it was ok to let people see how silly you are about them.

 

He loved the mountains, born in the wrong century he should have been a mountain man. I could picture him in buckskins, full beard (little hair but a wolfhead hat would cover that) hunting and trapping in the high Rockies. The only problem with envisioning that is he somehow seems to be on a fourwheeler instead of riding and holding the reins of a packhorse.

 

Pat passed over yesterday, his big heart giving out on him. We'll miss him, but he was a man of great faith, and I know where he is now. A favorite song of ours proclaims, "If you could see where I am you wouldn't cry," and I know how very true that is. I don't grieve for Pat because I know he is enthralled and awed by his first glimpses of Heaven.

 

Saundra's dad recently passed from cancer, and in the last days he remarked that he "could hardly wait to see what Heaven looked like, and to see some dear friends and family." That's what Pat is doing now, so my sorrow is not for him, but for us. Those who are left behind to miss his happy face and terrific sense of humor, his infectious laugh.

 

Pat loved life about as much as anybody I've ever met, and we'll miss him.

 

A great read

                       

 

If you're serious about writing and have fifty cents (ok, actually .49) to invest in your writing career, then I recommend you go to Amazon and download Terry Whalin's new Amazon Short "Straight Talk from the Editor, 18 keys to a rejection-proof submission."

http://www.amazon.com/Straight-Talk-Editor-Rejection-Proof-Submission/dp/B000KHX8S4/ref=cm_pdp_review_teaser_product/104-5853666-6637547

 

Terry tells it like it is in this piece, and I really enjoyed the read. He noted when I did an endorsement of it and dropped me a note saying he was really surprised when the book broke into the top thousand books at Amazon and went to the number one spot for Amazon shorts. This is no small feat when you consider there are over a thousand writers doing shorts including people like James Patterson, Danielle Steele and David McCullough (the 1776 historian). 

 

Terry is also known for his book, "Book Proposals that Sell" that I also loved and did a review on. He's very active in a variety of online groups,  a popular speaker at events all over the country, and his advice is sought after and fortunately for writers all over this country, freely given. 

 

I'm very proud to say I can also call him my friend.

 

Red Herring

                       

 

The term is used by mystery writers all the time to mean intentional misdirection. Somebody asked me  where it came from, and I said, "I don't know, but maybe it came from someone leaving a big, smelly fish at the scene of a crime  but it turned out to have nothing to do with the actual solution of it."

 

I thought I was being funny, but it made sense to me.  More inquisitive than I, an online friend googled the term and came up with this:  This term for deliberate misdirection comes from hunting.  Poachers would interpose themselves between the prey and the hunting party and drag a red herring across the trail to mislead the dogs. This would give them an opportunity to bag the prey themselves.

 

A red herring was chosen because dog trainers often used the pungent fish to create a trail when training their hounds. Thye dogs, upon encountering the herring scent, would follow the trial as it was the one they had been trained with.

 

Now that's interesting. Imagine plain old common sense sounding out something close to the answer. I guess the old saying is true, even a blind hog will find an acorn now and then.

 

My First Book

                       

My first book rests sedately in a drawer from which it will never emerge. Oh, it wasn't a bad effort, and family and friends loved it, but that's just it, it only interested family and friends. A lot of writers tell me that about their first book. Some others who should  feel that way try over and over and over to sell that first one, getting intensely frustrated and instead of working on the next one end up ceasing to write altogether.

 

I was lucky. I had a long-time friend by the name of Dan Parkinson who wrote a number of westerns and some fantasy read mine. He said I had a way with words and should write, then it was he that told me to put the book in a drawer and spend a little time learning my craft. He was right.

 

The book wasn't wasted. I learned my craft by revising on it over and over until I finally dropped it and started on a fresh story, which untimately sold. The work wasn't wasted in it either as pieces of it have shown up in a number of books. It's rather like a resource base from which I can draw words, phrases, scenes or characters.

 

Since that time I try to do something with anything I write. A speaker came to a writing group that I'm in and did a program on writing flash fiction. We did an exercise in class, a whole story in 100 words or less, and I sold it to her right then to be printed in the Roswell Literary Review. Another speaker gave a program on short stories, and I sold the story I wrote in class before we had a chance to read them aloud. Often writing opportunities pass in front of me and I have something for it or sit down and write something then because it catches my interest.

 

If I'd stalled out trying to sell that first book, or stalled out on the second because I couldn't get the first chapter written the way I wanted, I would have probably been dead in the water and would have given up. Dan is gone now I'm sorry to say, but I repay my debt to him by keeping his name alive in the writing community. If you find one of his books online, or in a used bookstore, do yourself a favor and read it.

 

Thanks, pardner.

 

 

Writing Full Time

                       

 

I wrote full time several years ago for three years. I did it prematurely. Writing and doing freelance work I was making money, but not enough.  It was back to the old day job.

 

I'm bordering now on going full time again, counting it down.  I'm building the agent role, increasing the number of programs that I'm doing, writing in what I hope will be a better selling format,  have paid off most of our bills and on a schedule to have the remainder paid off,  and if necessary I'll do some freelance again to make up the difference.

 

I hear others talking about writing full time.  Most I hear talking about it,  I don't hear this kind of meticulous planning, realistic income predictions. I know, I thought I had it figured last time, but even with the intense effort I was putting into it, it just wasn't there.

 

Now I know better, I know what is required.  I overestimate expenses and use very modest income predictions, and while I very much want to keep writing, I know writing won't  do it by itself except for a few very fortunate people.  It has to be subsidized, and within a short period of time I'll have that dependable subsidy built to where I want it.

 

When I was in basic training a sergeant was giving me a chewing out as only  a drill sergeant can do.  When he got through he remarked that I seemed very unscathed by the barrage.  I told him I didn't mind making mistakes, I had made them before and I would make them again. I said what I did mind was making the same mistake twice and if he ever had to get onto me for the same error that I'd take it hard indeed.

 

This time it'll take.

 

Sign from God

                       

Our grandaughter's wedding was beautiful. These  young people did it right, pre-wedding counseling,  planning, waiting, they made sure it was the real thing.

 

However, they mentioned one thing that erased all doubt for me.  Shanda told Kenneth that years ago she had prayed for God to send a man into her life that would make a good, Christian husband, the man who would complete her and make her a whole person.  This admission came after they had been dating some time and were getting pretty serious. It seems she recorded this prayer in her diary so she knew exactly when she voiced this request.

 

The date was significant for him as well. It was when he got saved. I don't know about you, but there's no doubt in my mind that God has blessed this union.

 

There's no doubt in seeing them together, either. They compliment each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses. They are loving, sentimental, and possess a powerful faith that will bless them in the good times and will take them through the bad times. The ceremony was a strong affirmation of that faith and I got a blessing just by being there.

 

What are we handling?

 

Tamela Hancock Murray, one of the four agents at Hartline Literary is doing a program on approaching an agent. The comments she's including kinda sum up where each agent stands at present.

 

She writes: 

Joyce Hart, our president and CEO, has been involved with marketing and representing CBA authors for decades. She considers fiction and nonfiction submissions.

 

Andrea Boeshaar is a romance writer as well as an agent. She specializes in romance and women’s fiction, although she is taking very few clients at present.

 

A new and exciting development for Hartline is that Terry Burns, author of several western novels, has joined us. As our newest agent, he is still formulating his tastes and preferences, although he is not positioning himself as a strong agent for romantic and women’s fiction. You might try him with westerns, mysteries, and general fiction and nonfiction.

 

I represent a range of fiction and nonfiction primarily for the Christian market. I do work with ABA houses and market a select few submissions to appropriate editors there.

 

Tamela

 

Not a bad capsule – although I am doing some work in children's fiction, having run across a couple of very talented writers there. How do you approach one of the above? Use the manner and format specified in the submission guidelines at the website http://www.hartlineliterary.com

 

None of the Above

 

Election day, and I found myself thinking of an old movie, Brewster's Millions,  with Richard Pryor.  It seems a minor league baseball player  stood to inherit $300 million dollars, but only if he could spend $30 million in 30 days without having a penny left. Seems the old man wanted him to get so sick of spending the money that he'd do a pretty good job of handling the main estate. He couldn't end up with anything of value, and he couldn't tell a soul.

 

So why would that come to mind? It turns out he figured out the easiest way to squander millions of dollars was to run for office, as long as he could be sure he wouldn't actually win, then he'd have something of value. So he ran a campaign of writing in "none of the above" trying to get New Yorkers to vote against the two people running but not to elect him either.

 

Sometimes I wish that option was available.  There are times when I wish I could just vote that way and send them back to the drawing board to re-do the election with some different people running. That's how I feel about a number of races this year.

 

If I had $30 million to squander I might . . . nah.

 

The Elite 15%

 

85%  of all submissions are rejected with little if any consideration. That's terrible! Somebody spends  maybe an entire year writing and some callous agent  or editor blows it off with little or no consideration. Is that so terrible?

 

I've known about this for some time, but now on the other side of the table proposals are stacking up and most of them have not taken the time to go look at our submission guidelines to see what we want and how we want it submitted.  Clear indication that they are an 85 percenter.  The formatting of the work included is not ready to be submitted and no editor in today's market is going to invest the time rewriting it, nor will an agent. There are some good articles on formatting that can help such as:

Manuscript formatting for beginners  http://www.speculations.com/format.htm

Manuscript preparation  http://www.sfwa.org/writing/format_rothman.htm

Proper Manuscript format  http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec98/shunn.htm

 

If an editor can see the manuscript needs too much work, or is the wrong genre for them (no market research), or any one of the readily apparent things in the submission, why would they read any of the manuscript and take a chance on falling in love with something they can't buy? The answer is simple, they wouldn't.

 

If the world was fair, we'd write a good book and the world would beat a path to our door and offer us an obscene amount of money for the pleasure of publishing it, taking care of all the work beyond that point. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, so in addition to writing a good offering, we have to tend to the business of getting published.

 

The good news is those who finish the book using proper formatting, read the guidelines and submit exactly as requested, do the market research and only submit places that are a fit for their writing only have to compete against 15% of those submitting. The elite 15% . . . that's the goal of all writers, to get into that prestigious group.  Then and only then does the quality of the writing come into play.

 

Do Men Read?

 

Over on a list of western writers they're lamenting that it's the women who buy all the books.  Sure,  a lot of them are buying for hubby or other males  in their lives, but  the lion's share of books are bought  by the ladies.  One of them said, "If I had a dime for

every time I've heard 'My Grandmother loves your books' I wouldn't have to work any more. I've got the grandmother market covered."

 

Is that true, or is the person buying the book just disclaiming responsibility for buying a >>> shudder <<< western? And how about kids? They say the children's market is good, but once again it's said to be because mothers buy them and read to them. Takes a lot of books if they are read to every night, not because the kids tire of the stories because they don't; but mom and dad get tired of reading the same old stories over and over.

 

Older kids? Hard to get them off the iPods and video games long enough to read. My grandkids read and enjoy my books, but it's mostly because they're mine, I don't have a feel for how much they read outside of that. They all swear they love to read, but I love to read and I don't get to do it as much as I'd like. Maybe I'm the case that proves the point.

 

How about historicals? Who reads them? Romance is the fastest selling market and it's obviously female. So many are produced there that a romance won't even be shelved much over a month before the new one takes its place. Christian is the fastest growing market, again very female-driven.

 

It seems like those who do read, read a lot. Librarian friends tell me couples often come in together but the guys tend to go over and get on the computers and the ladies head for the stacks.

 

I know when I post this that I'll hear from my friend Les. He's a voracious reader and has a warehouse full of westerns plus a generous sampling of other genres.  Are there more of them out there than we think? Or are people like Les the exceptions that prove the rule?

 

Whatcha think?

 

Comments:  I hope I am not the exception to the rule when it comes to reading. I have noticed that when I'm in a book store, the majority of those browsing and buying are women. Why is that?

 

Maybe because we men are more into sports. While the husband is hunkerd down in front of the TV with a football game on, what is the wife doing? She might be sewing, stiching, going over recipes or reading. Men are, I believe, competitive by nature. Most men find it hard to relax reading but can relax watching a sporting event.

 

As far as libraries go, Phyllis and I volunteer at one of our local branch libraries. When couples come in, more often than not, they will split up. Each going to look at the books in the sections of their favorite generas. I see far more women and female students on the computers at the library than men

 

I agree with your assessment about todays kids and reading. There are way TO MANY electronic devices competing for their attention. That's one reason I think the youth of today do not have nearly the imagination we had when I was growing up. We did not need, nor did we have( thankfully) all the electronic devices to entertain us. Maybe if more parents today were readers, their kids would be also. My Dad was a big reader. I think that is where my love of reading comes from.

 

Having said all this, someone must be reading. You go in book store and the shelves are full. They must be full because writers are writing the books and people are buying them. Just go in any book store during the Christmas season and see how may people are buying books.

 

From my experience, libraries are much the same. We shelve books and there are ALWAYS books to be shelved and prople lined up at the counter to check out books.

 

In closing I will say that I would much rather read, and do so, than watch what passes for "entertainment" on the TV screen. Now give me a good college football game and I have a choice to make, but I ALWAYS find time to READ.

 

Les

 

 

 

Branding

 

It seems to be the hot topic, seems like every list  I associate with is talking about branding. For an old cowboy like me that means put it on straight, not too light or you'll get a "hair brand" like rustlers used to use that would be easy to eradicate and not too deep  or  the animal could actually be injured.

 

But these people are talking about writers being branded. OUCH! That hurts just thinking about it.

 

There has been some really good discussion on the subject, a lot of it over this old country boy's head. But I wonder if sometimes we don't overthink a problem.  Branding in the first paragraph is a mark put on the animal so anybody that comes along knows who that cow belongs to.

 

Seems to me that's what branding of an author should do as well. When people come across a book in a store and see our mark on it (our name) they should know what to expect.  Some folks want that mark to be very specific so people will know exactly what kind of book, genre, voice and style the reader is going to find on the inside.

 

Some want it to be more general because they write in more than one genre, do some different things, and don't want to be tied down that much.  Stephen King writes all kinds of things, but even though he does, wouldn't we know it was him even if there was no cover on the book?

 

People shop for a book either by subject or by author, or by both.  A book reviewer gave me my brand some time ago and I like it, "Inspirational fiction with a western flair." I can live with that. My voice and style is going to reflect my western upbringing no matter what I try to write. Just don't burn that brand in too deep because my hip is kinda tender.

 

I miss Boots

 

I miss Boots when Halloween time rolls around. Boots was a black on grey tiger-striped cat and he lived to be pretty old, something like 14-15 years as I recall. The reason he lived so long was hanging on for one  more Halloween. He loved it more than anything. He  should have been born a black cat, it would have  made more sense.

 

Boots knew when it was Halloween, and before the first trick or treater came to the door he'd run in there and take his seat front and center. He'd hear them, I suppose.  The door would swing open, and there they'd be, angels and devils, cowboys and spacemen, and Boots would look at them in wonder. The door would close and he'd go lie back down, only to beat the doorbell announcing their arrival by a couple of minutes. He was totally fascinated.

 

Oh I know Halloween is based on a pagan ritual and I know for that and other reasons that kids are much better off at the terrific party they throw down at the church. I get that, but in my youth that wasn't an option, nor for my kids.

 

The parties are winning out, or parents are much more selective in where they allow the kids to go because very few have come by in the last few years. I'm sure that's a good thing, but you'll forgive me if I smile and recall an old grey cat, muzzle turning white, trying to work in one last Halloween fix.

 

God bless him, he did love it so.

 

Comments:  When we first bought our house, we did not know how many kids to expect on Halloween. Based on that first year, I made sure there were 4-5 bags of candy ready to give out in the years that followed. This taught me one lesson. Buy candy you like, just in case you have some left over.

 

I have noticed a drop off in the number of costumed visitors that ring our door bell the past few Halloweens. This may be due to the fact that there are fewer grade school and middle school kids in our neighborhood as there was when we first moved in, or it's because of the reason you mentioned as well. Maybe it's a little of both.

 

Our "Boss Cat" Tiger is now 18 years old. Even when he was young and in his prime, he would head for the hills each time the door bell rang. Halloween was no exception. Now since he moves slower, he pretty much ignores the constant door bell ringing on Halloween.

 

This blog brought back pleasant memories. THANKS for sharing with us.

 

Les

 

 

 

On the road again

 

This time I'm cyber traveling. I'm guest blogging this  week over at http://favoritepastimes.blogspot.com/ again. Drop by and say hi.

 

I have an interview posting tomorrow at Amber Miller's website http://www.ambermiller.com/  and a review of  Brother's Keeper just posted on Paula Miller's Reviews by Two website at http://reviewsbytwo.blogspot.com/ . 

 

There's a neat website for writers over at  http://www.1018press.com/forum/  that gave me my own discussion area. Some interesting dialogue over there. I'm still mirroring the blog on this site over  at http://cowboymusing.blogspot.com  and I'm still hosting a discussion on western writing with Lincoln Rogers over at http://best-of-the-west.blogspot.com/  though it's been pretty quiet over there as of late.

 

Why do I spend so much time doing these online things, plus participating in a number of online groups as well? Exposure for one thing, but more than that.  I have a commitment to use the gift of encouragement that I've been given and these are a major outlet for it. Take a look over at the Favorite Pastimes blog if you want to know more about that.

 

But here soon I've got to get back on the road again for real.

 

New Markets

 

What do we do when dead times come in writing? I've got a couple in the pipeline yet to release, but after that, what?  Try to sell a new one, of course.  Shift to promotion on the books that are out, try to schedule programs and events. That's standard.  I can use a little time to help try to get the new agent  gig underway. Anything else?

 

Yes, I think there is. How about trying to break into new markets with current work? There are some new markets for work to be adapted into film. Made for TV movies have been big, and Broken Trail proved the public still likes to see westerns. I'm going to have to spend some time looking into that.

 

There's another market that loves westerns, and that's the audio market. Truck drivers love them, and there are a lot of Christian truck drivers. I talked to a producer of these books and he was very interested, but I have to get my publisher roped into both of these deals, see if I can get them into the game and help me tie one of these markets down.

 

How about foreign sales? Mysterious Ways was reprinted in Russian, but I don't know how it's doing over there. Going to have to see how I go about reaching out to that market some more.  My publisher said the library market was too hard to access and they don't try to do it, but I've gotten my books into more than 1300 libraries and still trying for more.

 

How about book clubs? Maybe that isn't a good market for an inspirational set in the old west, I don't know.  They do tend to be female organizations, and even though most of those who buy me are female, some are put off by the setting. I've had several reading groups thoroughly enjoy doing the book, though. Then there's large print, a totally separate market, but another good avenue to get more mileage out of a book. The publisher that has already invested money in the book has a chance to make additional revenue for them and for us without additional investment, just by pursuing licensing.

 

And keep writing, that goes without saying. Time to concentrate on the old work in progress. Hmm, looking back over this activity, what dead time was I talking about?