• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Twitter
  • FaceBook
  • RSS Feed
  • Get Published
  • Book Proposals
  • Book Business
  • Writing Craft
    • Conferences
    • Copyright
    • Craft
    • Creativity
    • Grammar
  • Fun Fridays
Home » Archives for Guest Blogger » Page 4

Guest Blogger

How To Stumble Onto Your Brand…

By Guest Bloggeron September 15, 2014
Share
Tweet
37
Erin Taylor YoungErin Taylor Young has a remarkable gift for making her readers laugh out loud even as she’s delivering hard truths about living a life of faith. Her down-to-earth writing style invites readers into the books that God has given her and sends them away refreshed and assured that we’re not in this gig alone. Her first humorous nonfiction, Surviving Henry: Adventures in Loving a Canine Catastrophe, released in August and has repeatedly been accused of making people laugh until they cry. Erin lives in the Southwest with her husband, their two sons, and the infamous–and, against all odds, still alive–Henry. Check out her new book…I promise, it is a delight.

____________________

Here’s the picture: Small local conference. Dream Agent attending. Must go.

Our writers group hosts a faculty dinner the night before the conference. The entertainment for the evening is to have us read short pieces we’d written. Out loud. In front of the whole faculty.

As you can surmise, somebody didn’t think that through.

My ditty is about writing amidst family chaos, but as I face the crowd I think a more appropriate title would’ve been “WHY Was I Dumb Enough To Do This?”.

After dinner, I approach Dream Agent. I want him to remember me when I pitch my YA fantasy the next day. You know, a human touch might make it harder for him to turn me down. (FYI—that doesn’t actually work.)

Mouth dry. Knees shaking. Possible imminent vomit. “Hi…I’m…Erin…”

He smiles. “You read that humor piece at dinner.”

“Umm…” OH MY GOSH, I’m having an actual conversation with STEVE LAUBE. Well, technically I’m gaping at him, but you get the idea.

He goes on like he hasn’t noticed my frozen-idiot look. “That was very well done. Humor is hard to write.”

“Umm…” Somebody get me a chimpanzee to speak for me. “…Funny things…happen to me…”

Steve gets that I-know-what-I’m-talking-about tone, in a good way. “Funny things happen to everybody. Writing them funny is hard. Nice job.”

“I…uh…thanks.” Actually, my humor is a fluke. I just write things like I see them. I can’t help it if I live in a cartoon.

Given my stellar conversation, I figure Steve will quickly flee. Perhaps to find that chimpanzee.

Instead he starts telling me about a wonderful humor client he has, and all I can think is good thing I’m not a humor writer ’cause Steve wouldn’t want two.

At our appointment the next day, I hand Steve the pitch sheet for my YA fantasy.

He does a double take, and I can see he’s not reading the sheet. Just squinting at it.

For a very long time.

Steve Laube. Speechless.

Then he squints at me, and his words come out like he’s marooned on an isle of incompatible data. “This is a fantasy.”

“Right…”

“I thought you were a humor writer…”

“But I write fantasy…”

Now we’re both squinting.

This lovely, awkward conversation is not the way I recommend you discover your brand. But it does illustrate the key point. Brand isn’t about how you see yourself, it’s about how others see you. And they will form an opinion.

Learn from my mistakes.

1) Steve categorized me in one reading. If an agent or editor can do that, chances are it’s a strong impression. Take. That. Seriously.

2) Steve reiterated the same thing to me more than once (as have others, but you don’t need to hear all my tales of slow-wittedness). What are the words and phrases you’re consistently hearing about your writing? Grasp the obvious. It’s not a fluke.

3) Once Steve branded me in his mind, he had an expectation of the writing he would get from me in the future—humor. When a guy squints at you for ten full seconds, it’s because you’ve confounded his expectation. Don’t do that.

Don’t hear me saying you have no control over your brand. You do. But the fact is that others can often see the unifying thread in your writing more easily than you can. Hear it. Pray over it. And be willing to let go of your self-preconceptions.

This is how we discover the uniqueness God planted in each one of us.

Trust me. It’s there. The place where you shine.

Find it.

Embrace it.

Delight in it.

Preferably before your next conversation with Steve Laube.

Leave a Comment
Category: Branding, Get Published, Guest Post, Humor, MarketingTag: Branding, Humor, Marketing

Orphan Trains & Wild Stallions

By Guest Bloggeron July 28, 2014
Share
Tweet
20

by Allen Arnold I recently read about the unexpected publishing success of Orphan Train.  It’s a novel set in present-day Maine and Depression-era Minnesota. This fifth book from Christina Baker Kline has turned out to be a sleeper hit of the year, with more than one million copies sold. I’m intrigued by the book’s premise. But it’s the subhead of the article that caught my attention.  “Unlikely …

Read moreOrphan Trains & Wild Stallions
Category: Art, Guest Post, The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Art, Craft, The Writing Life

The Greatest Book (Ever) on Sales & Marketing

By Guest Bloggeron August 8, 2011
Share
Tweet
8

by Jim Rubart

Today's guest post is from Jim Rubart. He and I first met at the Mt. Hermon writers conference where I infamously rejected him (see #10). A bit about Jim. Since 1994, Jim has worked with clients such as AT&T/Cingular, RE/MAX, ABC and Clear Channel radio though his company Barefoot Marketing, but his passion is writing fiction. His debut novel Rooms released in April 2010 …

Read moreThe Greatest Book (Ever) on Sales & Marketing
Category: Guest Post, MarketingTag: Marketing
  • Previous
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4

Sidebar

Get Blog Updates

Enter your email address to get new blog updates delivered via email. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Grow as a Writer


Find Out More →

Popular Posts

Top Posts on Book Proposals
  • Hints for a Great Cover Letter
  • The Keys to a Great Book Proposal
  • What Steve Laube is Looking For
  • Book Proposals I’d Love to See – Tamela Hancock Murray
  • What I’m Looking for – Bob Hostetler
  • What I’m Looking for – Dan Balow
  • What I’m Looking for – Lynette Eason
  • What’s the Best Way to Submit My Self-Published Book?
  • What Is the Agent Doing While I Wait?
  • God Gave Me This Blog Post
Top Posts on The Business Side
  • When Your Book Becomes Personal
  • The Myth of the Unearned Advance
  • How Long Does it Take to Get Published?
  • What Are Average Book Sales?
  • Can You Plagiarize Yourself?
  • Never Burn a Bridge
  • Who Decides to Publish Your Book?
  • That Conference Appointment
  • Goodbye to Traditional Publishing?
  • Who Owns Whom in Publishing?
  • Ten Commandments for Working with Your Agent
  • Writers Beware! Protect Yourself
Top Series
  • Book Proposal Basics
  • Publishing A-Z
  • A Defense of Traditional Publishing
Top Posts on Rejection
  • The Slush Pile: Enter at Your Own Risk
  • Even the Best Get Rejected
  • Five Reasons Why You May Never Get Published
  • The Unhelpful Rejection Letter
  • Writers Learn to Wait

Blog Post Archives by Month

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 · The Steve Laube Agency · All Rights Reserved · Website by Stormhill Media