The first time I met her, I entered my friend Kristen’s shop jittery as a triple espresso. She’s a multi-published author who didn’t know me from scrambled eggs. A mutual friend simply knew my resume, knew I was beginning a blog.
I was on “home” assignment from our post in Uganda (“home” while living overseas = weirdness. Every dang time). Perhaps I was most embarrassed that stress sweat tumbled off me in waves; I remember thinking I smelled like a packed African minibus. (Despite my insistence, my mom says I can either have 1) natural deodorant or 2) friends.)
But Kristen was warm and helpful. We connected over our mutual love for East Africa. And she became a key guide as I transitioned from writing for others to writing on my own.
Since then, I still have to flip over my inner impostor syndrome when someone asks me about writing. They want to know where to begin; where to go next.
In many ways, I’m far from a veteran. But if we were grabbing a latte, here’s part 1 of what I’d suggest.
Why write?
I began writing more regularly when invited to join a collective mom blog back in the day.
What I have loved: Writing is devotional for me. Its reflection, act of listening to God, and clarification sculpt my insides.
Writing has helped me catalog my development as a parent. It’s a crowbar for my brain–or like the Israelites, startled to find themselves on the opposite side of the Jordan, as “stones of remembrance” for what God has done.
Looking for how I’ve said something in the past, I see how God’s coaxed the seedlings of my kids from the soil. Has been faithful this whole way.
It helps me articulate the fraying mess of knots in me–and every now and then, God has woven that fuzzy mess into something useful. Even beautiful, as he is wont to do.
And as I work through how to preach to my own soul, I’m forced to draw in Scriptures and learning from all over. In many ways, I’m writing devotions for myself.
“I want to write a book.”
My heart both rises and falls when I hear this. It was my dream, too–and you’ve read some of the painstaking saga it took me to get there.
A few things it helps to know about traditional publishing:
Unless you write fiction, you’ll need a platform.
A “platform” is your collection of people who you can inform about your book; who care about your work. Email lists have the highest “conversion”–people who transition to be purchasers of a book. And social media, though publishers love big numbers, can result in lesser conversion to people actually visiting your site or podcast.
Early on in my writing journey, my husband encouraged me to see traffic to my writing as “hours of worship generated” rather than as numbers.
If your post has six readers, and because of that post all of them think about God for an extra 15 minutes that day? That’s an hour and a half of worship generated. (Check out How would Jesus tweet? Social media as love.)
Obviously that’s not hard and fast–but it helped swivel my mind from my own popularity toward God’s renown.
Good news: If you write regularly for other blogs or platforms, often those can be included in your proposal to gain an agent, then a publisher.
It’s a little easier right now to gain a following with a podcast than a blog. The net is soaked with 600 million blogs, yet only 800,000 podcasts. Publishers love speakers, too.
Educate yourself.
Research blogging or podcasting or your preferred form of platform (YouTube?). Do it well and not halfway, prepared for the long haul of earning the privilege of readers’/listeners’ very crowded time: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28).
Think of yourself with sober judgment (Romans 12:3), doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit (Philippians 2:3). Pray about this.
This must be about God’s Kingdom coming, not our own.
Like a gas station in a desert, it can be hard for readers to find you. But even a podcast usually needs a website, particularly if you hope to be an author. (No matter the title of your site, also purchase a domain that uses your own name for publishers’ sake, who will immediately Google your discoverability.)
So initially, follow the 80-20 rule: Spend 80% of your time on “marketing”–helping others find your blogs by writing for other sites, posting on social media, generating a lead magnet and welcome email sequence, etc. Twenty percent is spent on content.
“Is a writing platform even godly?”
It can be easy to write the need for a platform off to the narrow-mindedness of publishers and “gatekeepers”. But the truth is, it’s taken me a decade to build even the small platform I have.
Just like a college degree represents four years of “next level” work, the sometimes sysyphean tasks of writing and self-editing twice a week, networking, self-marketing, craft perfection–even failure? Those are disciplines publishers look for.
Personally, I loathe my own self-promotion–and at times, it may have held me back in my career.
But I appreciate Michael Hyatt’s admonition on the subject. Had the biblical Ezra built a platform too short when God asked him to speak to the people, it would have been out of false modesty–not out of a desire to make God known.
Have a great book idea? Start with a proposal.
You’ll need a proposal both to gain an agent, then for the publisher–which your agent will help you refind.
I used Michael Hyatt’s free non-fiction and fiction proposal ebooks. Even if you plan on self-publishing, proposal creation is critical to planning, exposing what’s lacking, and thinking holistically about the components of successful publishing.
Facts about self-publishing you may want to know:
You market and sell the book yourself.
So yes, you’ll still need a platform of some kind.
The turnaround time is much shorter (yay!) and much more of the profits are yours.
That said, most independently published books
- do not end up making more than is spent on them. I mean this humorously and kindly: “God told me to write this book” does not mean “God will sell my book.” (FYI, using that line with agents or publishers is not considered effective technique.)
- average 250 in sales. This can affect your future ability to be published, as traditional publishers will want to know sales numbers of previous books. (Traditional publishers sell in the thousands. But this is not everyone’s goal!)
- still need an excellent editor/copyeditor, proofer, graphic designer, marketing copywriter, etc.
- need a plan for an ebook’s discoverability.
More tips.
Become an avid student of the craft and the industry.
Proverbs’ Hebrew word for wisdom–hochma–refers also to technical skill.
God could feed us directly but he chooses to do it through work.
…it means one of the main ways to please God in our work is simply to do work well. Some have called this “the ministry of competence.” What passengers need first from an airline pilot is not that she speaks to them about Jesus but that she is a great, skillful pilot.
Practical ways to do this? Subscribe to a Christian agent’s blog. I like the Steve Laube agency, as well as the Novel Marketing podcast.
Books that have shaped me:
- Tim Keller’s Preaching: Communicating Faith in a Skeptical Age. It’s great for communication from the coffee house to the pulpit.
- Stephen Wilbers’ Mastering the Craft of Writing: How to Write With Clarity, Emphasis, and Style.
- Stephen King’s On Writing. (I know! It surprised me, too.)
Develop your particular brand/target audience and the voice you’ll respond with.
Some of the best I’ve heard are this podcast and the four-part How to Create a Breakthrough Author Brand series on the Novel Marketing podcast.
It changed the way I write, and helped me get published.
Learn to crave the red pen.
Editing can act as the Body of Christ smoothing and sharpening your work in all the right places. Learning from it, and appreciating it, are a profound form of humility.
I know well how your thoughts and art can feel sacred, one of the most vulnerable pieces of yourself. But in at least the traditional publishing world, expect (and learn to love) a lot of fingers in your pie. (And honestly, I’d much rather hear when I have the capability to incorporate them…than post-publication on Amazon.)
I’ve been told some higher-level authors may have the capability to resist editing more than underlings like myself. But honestly? I wouldn’t want that. I need perspectives broader, deeper, and different than my own.
Learn to write shorter.
It’s much easier to write long than short. Confine yourself to a word count. Stick to it. (For great tips, read Write Tight.)
Alas…I should take my own advice.
Grab Part 2 here.
Please chime in! What’s been some of the best advice you’ve received?
What questions would you love to ask about writing?
(I’ll address some of them in the next post.)
