A great video of a good mom training her child on how to read an editorial slush pile:
Archives for April 2017
Are You Sure You Want to Write Great Literature?
“′Classic′ – a book which people praise and don’t read.” – Mark Twain At my college preparatory school, our vacations weren’t unfettered thanks to “Summer Reading” that required us to read four books during break. Our list going from seventh to eighth grade was limited to four books so we had no choices. I only remember two – Pride and Prejudice and The Oxbow Incident. I’m sure none of …
Obstacles are a Pain
You may have noticed that my blog was missing last week. That’s because I’ve been fighting with today’s obstacle: chronic pain. I’ve had a series of headaches and migraines that have made it hard for me to think, let alone write a blog. I’ve dealt with pain before, but this…this ice pick in the temple that doesn’t let up…this assault on the body that had me hiding under the covers in my bed, …
Choosing Your Words Wisely, Part 1
There are a number of reasons for the apparent decrease in reading in the world, from attention-span changes brought on by reader’s addiction to various “screens” to climate change. But it might simply be a vocabulary problem. The first time this concept came to me was about 25 years ago in a New York City taxi when a very talkative driver and I discussed local sports, politics and society in …
Five Lessons from the Road to Publication
Our guest post is by Ginny L. Yttrup who is the award-winning author of five novels including her latest, Home, which released earlier this month. She writes contemporary women’s fiction and enjoys exploring the issues everyday women face. “Publishers Weekly” dubbed Ginny’s work “as inspiring as it is entertaining.” When not writing, Ginny coaches writers, …
A Writer’s Digest Accolade
Last week at the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference Bob Hostetler came up to me and said, “Congratulations!” I looked at him blankly and said, “For what?” His smile lit up, “For being named as one of the top websites by ‘Writer’s Digest!’” Bob later showed me the May-June 2017 issue he had with him and there we were on page 39 (see below). Thank you Writer’s Digest for including us. (For …
Repeal and Replace
Writers live full and demanding lives. Let’s become more focused and productive with my unscientific version of Repeal and Replace! Repeal: Exhaustion. Replace: Go to bed earlier. Even fifteen minutes can help. If you like how you feel, shave off a few more minutes until you find that perfect bedtime. The more often enough rest helps you be vibrant the next day, the more you realize how little you …
Pushing and Pulling Your Book
The marketing and promotion of books differs somewhat from other forms of product marketing, but not as much as you might think. Basic marketing principles, which work for toothpaste and automobiles, also work for books. The greatest changes in publishing over the last 10-20 years have been brought on by the Internet, which unlocked a previously difficult and expensive connection directly to …
How Do I Grow My Market?
I work with a ministry that self-publishes its own books. These are posted on our website, displayed at ministry-related conferences, and mentioned to donors via print and email. How can we expand our market? It depends. (For those of you following this blog regularly, I hope that made you smile.) It depends on a number of factors. In this case the question is more specific to non-fiction authors, …