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Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Career » Page 6

Career

The Friends You Make on Social Media

By Dan Balowon March 30, 2023
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Let’s talk about the people you meet and befriend on social media. They are different from actual friends. For the most part, they aren’t real friends.

If you have a nice social-media presence with five hundred people, you can enjoy the conversations and connections since it’s on the level of a good-sized church or high-school graduation class.

But as you grow your social platform into thousands or tens and hundreds of thousands, you need to have your eyes wide open to that group of followers. On second thought, maybe it would be better to close your eyes because many social-media followers have all the traits of really bad, fickle friends.

Seriously, the social-media platforms need to put “Followers” in quotes, just to indicate their commitment to you is loose at best. You know what I mean. If you referred to someone as your “friend” in writing or used air quotes while speaking it, everyone would assume there’s something more to that story.

If you look through Scripture, world history, and the broad scope of writers from Socrates to Oprah Winfrey, you would be able to fill your refrigerator with magnetized Bible verses, quotes, and poems about friendship that would make a tear come to your eye and you saying “Awww” every time you walk by. I can hear Randy Newman singing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” right now.

But we aren’t talking about those kinds of friends. We are talking about people who fit the description of this quote from three hundred years ago: “Some of the most poisonous people come disguised as friends and family” (Johnathan Swift).

How would he have known about social-media followers so long ago?

I am not trying to be depressing today, but I do think once in a while we need to take a deep breath about platform-building and make certain we don’t attach self-worth and value before God to how many “friends” or “followers” we have.

Platform-building is a business. You serve people well and give them what they find interesting and valuable, and they stick with you. If you don’t, they go away, as any bad friend would.

Children and youth are driven crazy by expectations placed on them through social media. As Christian adults, Scripture commands us to stop that sort of behavior.

It’s not a suggestion: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me” (1 Corinthians 13:11, NIV).

Platform-building is not your life, your worth, or the totality of your world. It is your “work,” and sometimes nutty customers come into your platform. Handle their business with grace and love, but don’t invite them over for dinner. They are likely to find something to complain about what you serve anyway.

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Category: Career, Marketing, Social Media, The Writing Life, time management

Things That Work to Help Your Book Work

By Guest Bloggeron March 8, 2023
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Today’s guest post is by Jane Jenkins Herlong, who is a Sirius XM Southern humorist and member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. She is the author of five books. In the spring of this year, Jane’s latest book, Sweet Tea Secrets from the Deep-Fried South (Tyndale) will be available in select Cracker Barrel restaurants throughout the county. She is represented by Bob Hostetler. _________________ …

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Category: Career, Guest Post, The Writing Life

Q&A With Brett Harris from The Author Conservatory

By Steve Laubeon March 6, 2023
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I absolutely believe in the need to train the current and next generations of writers. Our world is in desperate need for Christ-infused content that can challenge and counter a broken culture. One person who is doing this every day is Brett Harris. Today, I’m delighted to present an interview with Brett. He is the bestselling author of Do Hard Things and co-founder of The Young Writer’s …

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Category: Career, The Writing Life

Voices of Faithfulness: Why Missionary Writers Are Important

By Dan Balowon March 1, 2023
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I’ve been pondering the types of people, professions, and perspectives that might best write to the Christian church in the coming years. No Christ-follower can look at the world around us without seeing it unraveling at an astounding pace. Thinking back to the 1990s when Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye created the first books of the fictional Left Behind series, they would have been roundly mocked …

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Category: Career, Encouragement, Inspiration, Trends

Writing to Bible Deniers

By Dan Balowon February 16, 2023
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My guess a sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus from 50 years ago is unexpected for this space today. A man enters an “Argument Clinic”: Man: Is this the right room for an argument? Other Man: I’ve told you once. Man: No you haven’t! Other Man: Yes I have. M: When? O: Just now. M: No you didn’t! O: Yes I did! M: You didn’t! O: I did! M: You didn’t! O: I’m …

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Category: Career, Communication, Encouragement, Inspiration

Voices of Courage: Why Military Writers are Important

By Dan Balowon February 8, 2023
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Successful books always come from a writer’s inspired, creative mind and heart. Every time we attempt to make publishing a science, making it more about business nuts and bolts, rather than art, serendipitous creativity seems to find a way around the science, nuts, and bolts. Effective and wise business planning is important, but Christian publishing’s guiding principle should be Proverbs …

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Category: Agents, Book Business, Branding, Career, Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration

6 Joys of Starting a New Writing Project

By Bob Hostetleron January 12, 2023
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It’s a new year! A fresh start. A turn of the page. What better time is there to start a new writing project, whether that’s a new novel manuscript, book proposal, article query, blog post, or poem? So, what are you waiting for? After all, consider the joys of starting something new: The world is your oyster. Possibilities abound. Whatever and wherever you begin, the first steps of a fresh, new …

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Category: Career, The Writing Life

Repetition Is Talent

By Dan Balowon December 14, 2022
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Early in my career, I attended a business conference that had a profound effect on my view of work ever since. First, I recall the presenter talking about the use of statistics and data in business. Data can support any position, depending on how you use it. It is like having an opinion and finding Scripture to back it up. Almost always the text is taken out of context. The same thing happens with …

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Category: Career, The Writing Life

Three Myths About an Agent’s Acceptance

By Steve Laubeon December 5, 2022
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You’ve worked hard. You wrote a great book. You pitched it just right, and the literary agent has called you saying they want to represent you and your project. Hooray! But there are some misunderstandings or myths about what happens next. 1. Your Book Will Soon Be Published Just because an agent has said yes doesn’t guarantee success. Nor does it speed up the inexorable process. Remember that …

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Category: Agents, Book Business, Career, Communication, Get Published, Writing CraftTag: Agents, Get Published

Ten Good Things Your Writing Is Doing, Published or Not

By Bob Hostetleron October 5, 2022
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We write to be read. To be published. To make a difference. To touch a life. Right? Of course, right. But those of us who write blog posts, articles, books, and even games (yes, that’s a thing, and maybe I’ll write about it in the near future) put immense pressure on ourselves to be accepted, get a contract, win an award, and so on. But whether or not your work is published, your writing is still …

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Category: Career, The Writing Life
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