Dan Balow

Laube Agency Signs Saul of Tarsus

By Dan Balowon April 1, 2014

(Phoenix, Arizona) Steve Laube, founder of the Steve Laube Agency announced today that the agency has signed Saul of Tarsus to write in various Christian book categories starting with his debut release in Fall 2014.

Saul will be writing under the pen name of Paul, a name with special meaning to the author, given him after a dramatic personal experience several years ago while on an international trip to Syria.

“I am very pleased with this signing because of the breadth of works that Saul (Paul) will be able to create. From travel guides to church planting, we will have a wide variety of proposals available to Christian publishers for the next several years,” noted Steve Laube.

Concerns about Paul as an author has been expressed from a number of people. Because of his past incarceration, accusations that he damaged a prison during an escape (he was never charged), and his civil disobedience activity while preaching, have combined to make Paul a bit of a concern to some publishers.

Acknowledging a challenge for the agency, Laube said, “Honestly, a problem with Paul has been his travel schedule, which keeps him busy for years at a time. We are hoping with a renewed commitment to writing that we will see some amazing work coming from him. If we can just keep him out of boats for a while, we should be able to meet manuscript deadlines.”

Proposals for the first three titles by Paul are being developed and will soon be available for consideration by publishers. They are:

Be Careful What You Pray For: Earthquakes, Conversions and More

I Kissed Sailing Goodbye: What the Rocks Near Malta Taught Me

God is Smarter Than Me: A Look Back at Decades in Ministry

In addition, a short impulse gift book is under development titled, First Corinthians 13: Good for More than Weddings.

For information on Saul (Paul) and any other Steve Laube Agency author, call the office at 1-555-APRILFOOL.

Don’t Just Do It

By Dan Balowon March 25, 2014

I don’t like the word “just”. Don’t get me wrong, “just” is a fine word, especially when used in a triple-word space in Scrabble. It has all sorts of good uses and meanings…even used to fill time when we are thinking, along with the other great words and phrases of our culture, such as “like”, ”um”, “I mean” and ”you know.” I simply do not like the word “just” when it is used to place limits on …

Category: Career, Creativity, Dan, PlatformTag: Attitude, Career

How to Be A Reader’s Favorite Author

By Dan Balowon March 18, 2014

Last week in this space, I wrote about how you could become a publisher’s favorite author (other than selling millions of books). Today, we’ll go a little different direction and talk about what you would need to do to become a favorite author to your readers. A key difference between how you relate to a publisher and how you relate to a reader is that one is business and one is personal. An …

Category: Branding, Career, Communication, Craft, Creativity, Dan, Marketing, PlatformTag: Authors, Career, readers

How to Be A Publisher’s Favorite Author

By Dan Balowon March 11, 2014

Three years ago, Seth Godin published his book Linchpin. Since I follow Seth’s books and blog as a personal and professional challenge, I read it and was inspired by it’s concepts. In it, Godin speaks about some of the new realities in business relationships. There used to be management and those who were managed. But now, he says, there is a third group…linchpins. These are people who make …

Category: Book Business, Branding, Career, Dan, PlatformTag: Authors, Career, publishing

The Pessimist’s Guide to Things That Will Never Work

By Dan Balowon March 4, 2014

This is the first in a three-part series on attitudes toward work, specifically for people in publishing.

Today, I am writing about pessimism. If there were a book glorifying its virtues, it would be the title above. It would be a thousand pages long with an updated and expanded edition published annually.

Full disclosure…I became a baseball fan of the Chicago Cubs in 1966, a year when …

Category: Career, Dan, The Publishing LifeTag: Career

Basketball and Writing

By Dan Balowon February 25, 2014

Next week is March and that means basketball “March Madness” around the country. From high school to college, teams will compete in tournaments where excitement is at its peak.

One of my hobbies is to work as the official scorer for the Wheaton College (Illinois) men’s and women’s home basketball games. I started doing this back in the late 70’s, took some time away from it when our kids …

Category: Book Business, Career, Creativity, Dan, The Publishing Life, Writing CraftTag: Basketball, publishing, Writing Craft

Adopt a Bookstore

By Dan Balowon February 18, 2014

Bookstores throughout the United States are going through the most challenging period in their history. The combination of online purchase of printed books and the dawn of the eBook have combined to deliver a one-two punch to the business of book retailing.

For Christian bookstores, the challenges started over a decade ago when a substantial part of their business (in some cases over a third) …

Category: Book Business, Book Sales, DanTag: Book Business, Book Sales, Bookstores

Wanted: More Choir Members

By Dan Balowon February 11, 2014

Dan Balow

At some point in their writing career, many Christian authors express a desire to write a book that would reach the un-churched. That desire is a completely honorable and wonderful goal, just as any believer should desire to represent Christ in their lives in such a way that unbelievers would ask them questions about the hope that is in them.

However, the inference by such …

Category: Book Business, Creativity, Dan, Get Published, The Publishing Life, TrendsTag: Christian, publishing, Writers

And Another Thing, Your Baby is Ugly

By Dan Balowon February 4, 2014

Have you noticed how much of public and private discourse so quickly moves from a simple disagreement to a personal attack?

I was attending a sporting event not long ago and the people sitting around me in the stands seamlessly moved from displeasure how their team was performing to calling the players, coaches and referees all sorts of names that had nothing to do with how they …

Category: Book Business, Craft, Dan, Get Published, Rejection, The Publishing LifeTag: Rejection

Is Christian Fiction Dying?

By Dan Balowon January 28, 2014

Last year, a couple Christian publishers stopped publishing fiction. Some publishers are nervous about it and in a wait-and-see mode. Others are excited about growth potential. The answer to the title question is no, but it is certainly interesting to explore the reason behind such widely diverse opinions on the subject.

NOTE #1: For full disclosure, I am a member of the advisory board for …

Category: Awards, Book Business, Dan, E-Books, Get Published, TrendsTag: fiction, Trends