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3 Reasons Why Rejection is Good

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 28, 2014

I’ll be the first to admit that rejection doesn’t feel good, so how can it be good?

Well, a rejection:

…allows you to close the door and move on to the next opportunity.

…shows that the other person doesn’t share your enthusiasm enough to be your partner. Learning this allows you the freedom to find the right partner.

…may be a sign of God’s will. His plans are better than you imagined, for both you and the the other party.

If you are rejected, allow yourself a limited time to grieve. Then press on. Life is short, so don’t delay. Keep trying.

Your turn:

What thoughts can you add about rejection?

When were you, in hindsight, grateful for a rejection?

You Are Not Alone

By Karen Ballon August 27, 2014

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts about proposals. Clearly, a lot of us struggle with this side of being a writer. As I was thinking over what to write for tackling those problematic proposal elements, I rediscovered the video below, made in ’09. It was created by best-selling authors Angela Hunt, Kristin Billerbeck, Robin Lee Hatcher, and Terri Blackstock. These authors, back in ’09, had written a …

Category: Book Proposals, Career, Get Published

Mao and the Four Pests

By Dan Balowon August 26, 2014

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In the late 1950’s , Chairman Mao Zedong of China implemented the first stages of his Great Leap Forward, an effort to move China away from a predominantly agrarian society to a modern industrial and political power. One of the first parts of the GLF was the Four Pests Campaign. The Chinese government identified four scourges on their society and set out to eradicate them. They were: rats, flies, …

Category: Book Business, Career, The Publishing LifeTag: Career, The Publishing Life

Fun Fridays – August 22, 2014

By Steve Laubeon August 22, 2014

Today is the 33rd wedding anniversary of my wife and I. The comic below is perfect to mark the occasion. Happy Anniversary Lisa! [click through for a larger picture]

Category: Fun Fridays, Personal

Who is Your Audience?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 21, 2014

Recently I went shopping for a new watch. Thankfully, I later discovered I could have the old one repaired and am taking that route. However, since I’m a literary agent, I can relate everything to books, so here goes. At high end stores a salesperson was immediately available. While I was trying on watches, I was given statistics such as, “This watch is Swiss made. The band is solid 18 …

Category: Book Business, Branding, Craft, MarketingTag: Audience, Branding, Marketing

A Perfect Proposal

By Karen Ballon August 20, 2014

A lot of the writers I’ve worked with over the years have the same complaint: “I hate doing proposals!” I admit, they can seem pretty imposing. And too often writers find themselves in the not-so-enviable position of trying to figure out what the agent or editor is looking for. When they ask for influential people, what do they mean? Those who’ve influence you in your writing, or those who will be …

Category: Book ProposalsTag: book proposals

Publishers are From Mercury, Authors are From Pluto

By Dan Balowon August 19, 2014

Next time someone tells you that Christianity is not as valid as science, just remind them that not many years ago, Pluto was assumed to be a planet, but in 2006 was determined not to be one, but instead was a “dwarf planet”, of which there a several dozen in our solar system alone. If you took a test in grade school and answered, “How many planets are there in our solar system” with the number …

Category: Book Business, Career, Communication, The Publishing LifeTag: Authors, Book Business, publishers, The Publishing Life

Fun Friday – August 15, 2014

By Steve Laubeon August 15, 2014

Two agents at conference. Along comes a writer! {Create your own caption below!}

Category: Fun Fridays

Discoverability

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 14, 2014

One of the buzzwords you hear in publishing today is discoverability. Authors must be discovered by potential readers. To that end, even though obviously selling a car is much different from selling a book, I still think we might be able to learn some lessons from Maserati. I hadn’t thought about this automobile company except with the vague idea that they are an iconic Italian race car …

Category: Book Business, Branding, MarketingTag: Branding, Marketing

Writer, Know Thyself!

By Karen Ballon August 13, 2014

I recently spent four days with a wonderful group of writers. We meet every year to pray together, brainstorm each other’s books, and laugh uproariously. I always come home feeling like I’ve had a major ab workout from all the laughter! In the course of our discussions, I realized that with publishing changing in so many ways, writers can sometimes lose their focus on what they’re really …

Category: Branding, Craft, Creativity, Genre, Writing CraftTag: Branding, Craft, Genre