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Cowboy Musings
Volume
Three
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
The
"Writing Down the
writing
conference in Granbury was
a terrific
experience. There was good
attendance,
great presenters, and
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
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,
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.
It's nearly
time to leave for
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Love is
Murder mystery writers conference in
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
I just
finished an interview with Glenn Hascall of KHYM Christian Radio in Meade
Client and
good friend
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
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.
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.
Got to
watch the last half of the Super Bowl in the
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Had a nice
workshop at the library here in
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
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.
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.
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?
This morning
I read an interesting article in our local paper. The author is an AP writer
from
It points
out that in a recent
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
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
Let me also promote a terrific event this weekend at
the Southwest Branch Library here in
Hope to see you out there, and God go
with you Richard!
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!
I was supposed to do a writing workshop Saturday at
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.
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.
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.
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.
I just did a program
for the Dallas Ready Writers, part of the American Christian Fiction Writers,
down in Colleyville ( between
We headed out
immediately after our last stop before the rain started turning to ice, but by
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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.
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
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
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.
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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:
·
* Mar 15-17 Will
·
Mar 30-Apr 3: Mount Hermon Christian Writers,
·
May 20-24: Blue Ridge Mountains Christian
Writers –
·
* May 16-19
·
*June 6-9 Write to Publish conference,
·
June 8-9 Panhandle Professional Writers,
·
* June 12-16 – Western
Writers of
·
-July 30-Aug 2 – Oregon Christian Writers – Canby (near
·
-* Aug
9-11 – Greater
·
* Sept 20-23 –
American Christian Fiction Writers –
·
* Oct 17-21 – Glorieta
Christian Writers Conf –
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
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 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
April 7th I'm
off to
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.
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.
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 . . .
"
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.
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.
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.
Pat Kimbrew was one of
my favorite cousins.
The first memory I
have of him was when he
was dating my cousin
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
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.
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."
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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 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
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
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
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.
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?
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?