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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

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Home » Writing Craft » Page 6

Writing Craft

Promotion: Faithful or Self-full?

By Steve Laubeon July 23, 2018
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“What’s the difference between promotion and self-promotion? How do we promote ourselves/our books so that we honor God, respect others, and use common sense?”

The constant tension between marketing and ministry has plagued the Christian author, speaker, bookseller, and publisher forever. Why? Because Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. Because we are commanded to die to self and to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord….

And yet, our society…our culture insists, even demands, that we market and promote our message.

Hanging on my office wall is the following saying from Ignatius Loyola:

Work as if everything depends on you.
Pray as if everything depends on God.

And another one is from James 5:16:
“…the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Maybe that is the beginning of the balance. People in business, not just publishing, must work hard and make every effort to excel in their field of expertise. We never question a bank needing to market their wares, but if a Christian bank were to do so the critics would surge with vitriol. The principles of a successful business come into play with regard to our profession. We are in the business of communicating the message of redemption to a world that doesn’t read. Thus we are called to excellence in our craft for we have a message that can change lives. If we do not make every effort to be an evangelist (see marketer) of that message, the message will likely not be read or heard, and thus ministry would rarely occur. As one writer told me boldly, “Marketing, in essence, IS my ministry.”

Even the Mother Teresas, Thomas Mertons, Richard Fosters, John Eldreges, and Henri Nouwens of the world were out there in the public eye. They had a message of change that they were called to deliver. Thus they took the speaking engagements, they worked with their publishers in publicity, and they wrote absolutely stellar books that nearly sold themselves. Our challenge is to avoid the Publican attitudes of I, Me, and My. Instead we should strive to incorporate the Us, Our, and We.

Your turn:

How do you keep your balance?

Is this a real tension or are we thinking too hard about the topic?

 

 

[a previous version, now updated and edited, was published in February 2011.]

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Category: Book Business, Career, MarketingTag: Agents, Book Business, Editors, Get Published, Marketing, Writing Craft

Create Magic with Words

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 12, 2018
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Years ago, I took my five-year-old daughter to Toys R Us to meet “Barbie.” “Barbie” turned out to be a cute and charming teenager who, yes, looked like the classic blonde image of the doll. She wore a pretty pink gown. I expected a lot more fanfare around this event. Like, maybe some cheap swag, a chance to win a Barbie doll or Barbie convertible, or at least a throne for Barbie. Maybe a stage …

Read moreCreate Magic with Words
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Creativity, Marketing, Pitch, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Creativity, Marketing, Writing Craft

The Art of the Sentence

By Bob Hostetleron July 11, 2018
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A month or so ago I asked some social media friends what sentence from a book rocked their world. The replies were delightful, and I shared some of them in my June 27 post on this site, titled “In Praise of Memorable Sentences.” There were too many, however, to include them all at that time, so I offer the rest below, with  the author, title, and (in parentheses) the friend who …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Sentences, Writing Craft

Writers Beware! Protect Yourself

By Steve Laubeon July 9, 2018
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The writing profession starts off as a private venture. Creating ideas and stories in the privacy of your own home. But those of you who become serious about the work and slowly become more visible the issue of personal protection needs to be addressed.

I cannot emphasize this enough.

Read moreWriters Beware! Protect Yourself
Category: Book Business, Career, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Contracts, Internet Usage, Writing Craft

In Praise of Memorable Sentences

By Bob Hostetleron June 27, 2018
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In her book, The Writing Life, Annie Dillard tells the story of a well-known writer who was collared by a university student, who asked, “Do you think I could be a writer?” “Well,” the writer said, “I don’t know…. Do you like sentences?” Dillard continues: The writer could see the student’s amazement. Sentences? Do I like sentences? I am twenty years old and do I like sentences? If he had liked …

Read moreIn Praise of Memorable Sentences
Category: Language, Reading, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Language, Reading, Writing Craft

Test Your Writing Out Loud

By Dan Balowon June 26, 2018
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Once you write something, try reading it out loud. It might change the way you write. I worked with audiobooks for a number of years and few things were more interesting than how something sounded when read aloud by the audiobook performer, whether it was the author or a professional voice talent. There were times, when an author read their own material for the recording, they actually stopped …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: audio, Reading, Writing Craft

I Feel This Post May Hurt Your Thinkings

By Bob Hostetleron June 6, 2018
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Everyone has pet peeves. I have a menagerie of them. One of my favorites is the common (and fairly recent) tendency of English speakers and writers to confuse and conflate the words, “feel” and “think.” But feelings are not thoughts and thoughts are not feelings. That might seem obvious and elementary, but it drives me nuts how often people miss or ignore the distinction. Consider headlines and …

Read moreI Feel This Post May Hurt Your Thinkings
Category: Craft, Creativity, Language, Writing CraftTag: Language, Vocabulary, Writing Craft

Book Reading in a Social Media World

By Dan Balowon June 5, 2018
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At some point every writer confronts the trend of readers who would rather consume 140 characters in social media than 140 pages of words. Social media and smart phones change everything in our world and their impact on book reading and writing is substantial. At the same time social media and smart phones have made people closer and more accessible than ever before, they also allow others to …

Read moreBook Reading in a Social Media World
Category: Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Creativity, Media, Writing Craft

Why I Read to the End

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 17, 2018
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I am the world’s worst about abandoning novels I read for leisure. I’ll give a book a fair chance, but as soon as I find I don’t like it, I have no compunction about tossing it aside to pursue a different story. And believe me, as a literary agent, I have many books to consider. In any room we spend time in at home, several books stay within reach. Authors must earn my time and effort. So how does …

Read moreWhy I Read to the End
Category: Reading, Writing CraftTag: Reading, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Never Assume Biblical Literacy

By Steve Laubeon April 16, 2018
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It wasn’t long ago that a reference to a Biblical character or a Bible verse would be widely understood without explanation. That is no longer true. Researcher George Gallup said “We revere the Bible, but we don’t read it.” This was recently illustrated in our local newspaper in an article about a football player named Shadrach. “It is a name his mom found in the Old Testament, the Babylonian god …

Read moreNever Assume Biblical Literacy
Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Trends, Writing CraftTag: Bible, Biblical Knowledge, book proposals, Writing Craft
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