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Archive for April, 2018

Magazine
04/172018

Make Way for Freelancers

Business of Writing , 1 by

When I began the journey to become a working writer, I took a freelance writing course taught by Kathryn Fanning at the local library. Week by week, I learned from Kathryn how to study the markets, identify what topics I was qualified to write, query magazines with the article ideas, write and submit my work.

When I told our pastor I was looking for articles to write, he showed me a small denominational magazine that was looking for profile pieces. He suggested I interview

and write a profile of a lady legendary for her church and community service who had died. Yes, my first published piece was about a dead woman!  But that also was the first magazine that paid me for an article. Granted, it wasn’t a lot of money—I think my first sale was $60.

Yet as I opened that little magazine with my byline tucked in our mailbox, I remembered the wise saying, “Don’t despise the day of small beginnings.”

During the two years before I started my first nonfiction book, the experience gained while freelancing proved invaluable. Adapting the content from Homelife: The Key To Your Child’s Success At School produced 10 articles that were published in national magazines (and for a bonus, included a photo of the cover and author bio at the end, which I asked for).

So while making additional income, the articles I wrote for Family Circle, Guideposts, Better Homes and Gardens, CHILD, Focus on the Family and other magazines promoted that first book and subsequent books I wrote. Those articles also led to being invited on TV and radio shows like “NBC News” and “Focus on the Family” and live national webchats. Using this simple strategy kept my books in print long after the publisher had gone on to publish other people’s books.

In addition, several times publishers called and said, “We were just looking for an author to write a book on this topic and read your article in so-and-so magazine. Could you expand it into a book for us?” Once you have a good track record with magazine editors—by meeting deadlines and being gracious about criticism—you may likely get requests to write other pieces for them.

Visit local bookstores and check out the magazine rack. You may be surprised at the variety of new magazines that relate to women or men, cooking, faith, health and fitness, family, parenting, and a myriad of hobbies and interests.

Then look at the digital magazine market where they are lots of opportunities to hone your freelancing skills. You can offer to be a guest writer on blog sites. You can also repurpose, re-slant and recycle your material that’s been published elsewhere. Caution: that doesn’t mean writing the same words with the same title and just sending it to another publication. Study different types of rights so you know what rights you’re selling.)

So let me encourage you: jump into freelancing for magazines. Learn as you go. Study the markets in Writers Market, on bookstore racks and online. It will bring more fun and adventure into your writing career, and you never know what doors it will open.

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Surprising Benefits
04/102018

5 Surprising Benefits of Attending a Writing Conference

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Whether you’re an accomplished writer or new to the writing world, if you’re considering attending a writing conference, it’s probably because you want to learn. You review the schedule, and see a variety of interesting topics to be presented by interesting speakers. You see places where you can sign up to pitch a project or consult with agents, editors and publishers. All very good stuff and excellent reasons to attend a conference. But, wait – there’s more!

Here are five surprising benefits to attending a writer’s conference that you won’t see on the schedule:

  1. A critique group in the making. Receiving thoughtful feedback on our writing can be invaluable when it comes to improving our writing skills and honing our craft. Participating in a small critique or writing group is a great way to get feedback from trusted sources as well as hone your own editing skills by providing feedback for other group members. The first conference I attended, I met several women who I chatted with while sharing a table for several of the presentations. In the course of our casual conversations, we discovered that we had a common desire to be in a group dedicated to improving our writing skills and projects while helping other group members do the same. We didn’t all write in the same genre and we had diverse backgrounds – which resulted in broader perspective and insight as we worked toward well-crafted stories and books.
  2. Helpful hobnobbing. Finding yourself seated next to an author, agent, editor or other industry professional could result in more than a pleasant conversation. Several years back I chose an open seat at a conference dinner table in spite of the fact that I didn’t know anyone at the table. It turned out the stranger to my left was an agent. We hit it off and during the course of our conversation she asked about my background. I didn’t have a project to pitch at that time, but during our conversation I told her about an idea I had for a project. By the end of dessert, we developed the concept to the point where we met the next day to talk about a book proposal. She worked with me (read: educated me) on crafting a good proposal over the next several months. While her agency decided not to offer representation for that project, what I learned from that agent with regard to learning how to put together a book proposal was invaluable. With a little further development, that same project was the one that landed me the agent I have now.
  3. Attendee-only opportunities. Often, attending a conference will gain you access to consideration of your writing project that non-attendees won’t have. Not only do you have an opportunity to actually meet with agents, editors and publishers who are at the conference looking for new talent, some will tell conference attendees their email communications will get higher priority if they note their attendance in the subject line. At a conference I attended last year, a greeting card publisher told the attendees in her class that the publisher was no longer taking work from freelancers, but if we put that we met her at the conference our submissions would be considered.
  4. A confidence boost. Fear of rejection can keep many of us from submitting work to agents and publishers that we would love to see published. By the end of a conference, you really understand that the distinct possibility of rejection is not to be feared, it’s to be learned from. Hearing from numerous speakers and other attendees who persevered in spite of, and sometimes because of, rejection can result in just the confidence boost you need to dare to get your writing out there!
  5. Motivation to write. If you’re at a writing conference, chances are good you want to write. But how strong is your motivation to sit down and actually write? The energy of being around so many other people who are excited about this process is absolutely contagious. Like a pep rally before a sports game, a writing conference leaves you invigorated and charged up, ready to head out in the real world and write the good write!
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Looking toward 2018
04/032018

Looking Ahead to 2018–and Beyond

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Writing about Hollywood, William Goldman famously said, “Nobody knows anything.” I feel much the same about publishing. When eBooks first broke, I repeatedly heard people say, “That will never catch on,” or “I love the feel of a real book in my hands.” Well, guess what? EBooks account for about 75% of sales in popular fiction, and a large chunk of the other categories. Similarly, the big New York publishers were little concerned when Amazon hit the scene. Who wants to buy online? “People want to hold the book and thumb through the pages, then carry it home with them.” Wrong again. The ease of advance ordering, home delivery, and deeply discounted prices vastly outweighed the advantages of brick-and-mortar stores, at least in many people’s minds.

It’s been almost ten years since the eBook revolution began, and the publishing world is still going through tremendous changes. Audiobooks are not a fad. They are the future. Amazon is the nation’s most sucessful retailer, not just in books, but overall. Self-publishing is not only viable, at least for some, it is profitable. Online marketing is paramount. But people wonder–how long will this last? Is this a fad or a new world order?

Prognostications for the Future:

  1. Indie Authors (Self-Pubbed Authors) Will Increase Their EBook Share. Traditional publishing in many ways seems mired in the past. They price eBooks too high and rely on “legacy authors,” which means their output shows little innovation. Indie authors can be more flexible and responsive. They can price their books lower, or use price pulsing and short-term free promos to spur sales. Indie works best when it innovates, not imitates. Indies are better at taking risks. There are too many idenitical-looking romances and Star Wars ripoffs. Indies are free to experiement, which doesn’t always work–but when it does, that’s when you see someone break out big. In 2017 the number of authors who reported making over $100,000 from writing grew by 70% over 2016. Who did this? The authors who paid attention to trends, stayed up-to-date on the latest information, and made the most of their opportunities, I predict the indie eBook share will increase in 2018.
  2. Marketing Will Change and Some Approaches Will Stop Working. Facebook and Amazon ads have become more popular and, as a result, more expensive. (I’ve had success with Amazon ads, less so with Facebook.) As more and more authors go indie, the need to market your work to emerge from the crowd will increase. I suspect more authors will use freelance marketing agencies, because it makes good business sense, and because the work is complex and time-consuming. (We will have some narketing firms at the RSC writers conference.) I believe you will see more emphasis on email marketing–going direct to the reader. Of course, that means you need a solid, curated list of readers, and you know what interests them.
  3. Amazon Will Continue to Grow–and That May Not Always Be Good. Amazon recently canceled the Kindle Scout program. What’s next? What happens if Amazon doesn’t love us anymore? Does anyone have the power to retaliate? Last year, Amazon made changes to its affiliate program that basically made it less profitable for participants. This trend will probably continue, because Amazon no longer needs to drive customers to them–they’re already there. Kindle Unlimited has some competition, but it remains by far the largest reader subscription service. KU pays out a lot of money each month, but it is divided into many different hands. For authors with a few titles, it is the simplest way to go, though it means being completely dependent upon Amazon. Last year, after much hand-wringing, I took all the titles I controlled out of KU, but it was a tough decision and there were no clear answers.
  4. You Need an Audiobook. If you really want to invest in your publishing future, this is what you should be doing. Audiobooks are the fastest growing segment of the book market. A few weeks ago, I recorded an audiobook for a fellow wirter using our home studio–and his audiobook is already outselling the eBook.  According to Kelly Lytle of Findaway Voices, “Digital audiobooks will remain the fastest growth area in publishing with sales increasing 30% to 40% or more. The dynamics—ease of access for consumers, lifestyle habits, increased market competition, new selling models—have all synced up to create significant staying power. It should surprise nobody when the market size of audiobooks surpasses eBooks in a few years.”
  5. Readers still love reading and still love books. This was my final point in the last newsletter, too, because it’s still true and, for me, it’s the point to always keep uppermost in your mind. Yes, you need to remember that this is a business, and you need knowledge and connections to be successful in any business. But writing is also an art. Books have changed people’s lives and have changed the world–and they will again. What is it you want to say to the world?
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