Serious faith. Serious fiction. Serious Fun.
Grappling With Goals
by Marilynn Griffith
What's the difference between an author and a writer?
A book.
Sounds blunt, but it's the truth. Every day we change as people, and our words change too. Are you still stirring ten-year-old sentences hoping to make the time to bake them into a book some day?
Well, as my writer friend Wanza Leftwich loves to say--flour ain't bread until you bake it. All the writing books, email groups and grand ideas in the world won't help until we see our writing for what it is--an assignment from God.
GET A GRIP
In 2001, an obedient friend from church emailed a scripture passage from Second Corinthians that changed my life.
"And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have." (2 Corinthians 8:10,11)
I had abandoned a novel about the previous year. In the wake of a false heart attack, abandoned characters and untold truths marched across my heart. I realized that God's focus wasn't my publishing or my perfection, but my completion. My obedience. I vowed that if He let me walk out of that hospital, I would write and I haven't stopped since. I didn't wantto carry my dreams to the grave.
GET A GOAL
Dreams don't have deadlines. Goals do. Don't say you'll give yourself a year to write, edit or sell a book, just make it your goal to do so. If it doesn't happen, you won't give up on your dream and you will have completed many of the steps necessary to make it happen.
So grab your pen and go. What do you want to happen this year? Complete a manuscript? Write ten articles and sell them to a hundred markets? Break into hardcover? Find an agent? Whatever it is write it down. For a real treat, make your list and give it to a friend with an envelope and a stamp. When next year arrives, have them send the list back. It's wild, believe me!
GO FOR IT
So we've resolved to complete the works God has given us. Does that mean we can finish them and shove them in a corner? No. Every minister has someone to minister to and he or she won't stop until they can share their message with those people. So after you've written from your heart, you have to go back and edit from your head, moving the story from your mind to your reader's heart.
As you polish your work, seek the Lord allowing him to direct you to the proper place. For some that might be a writer's conference or correspondence course. For others self-publishing, and yet others the process of finding an agent. Just remember that for all your market research, glowing story and compelling message--God has a plan which supercedes your own.
So get a grip, set a goal and go for it! Just don't forget that you're just the scribe for the greatest writer, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. After all, His book is the best seller of all time!
Copyright 2004, Marilynn Griffith. All rights reserved. Do not reprint without permission.
go to www.MarilynnGriffith.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Dan Poynter - How To Write Your First Non-Fiction Book
Dan Poynter tells you how to do it. Get his book, "The Self Publishing Manual" and then come back to Ministry Marketing Solutions so we can help you "get out there."
Friday, August 15, 2008
PR Boot Camp Recap - Blogging, Podcasting and Web 2.0
Hear Pam Perry talk about PR and Blogging - and hear what others said about the PR Boot Camp!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tips to Make a Best Seller - Urban Christian Fiction - Articles
Urban Christian Fiction - Articles
How to Create a Best Seller
By Pam Perry
If you talk to any author, they will tell you that writing their book was the easy part – compared to marketing it and getting folks to buy it!
You can go to any bookstore and get a book on how to publish your book or do a Google search on book publishing. (I recommend Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual – he’s been called the guru of self-publishing). You can even get a good editor to help you with your rough manuscript. If you really don’t want to do that much work and want to get your book out fast, you can go to “iuniverse.com” or “lulu.com” and have books produced as you needed. This is called Print-On-Demand (POD) – great for first time authors; they take your word document and turn it into a book. Kinkos is even in the book producing game.
The production of a book is now pretty common. That’s why we see so many people doing books.
But are the books selling? After the books are back from the printer/publisher – the real work begins. It’s time to promote and sell your book. You have just opened up a business. Like any new business, you need a business plan plus extensive knowledge of the field you’re in and good advisors. A standard statistic you need to know according to book industry sources: there are over 150,000 new books published every year. And typically we see the same roster of authors on the New York Times Best-Seller’s list.
As a book publicist for over ten years in the Christian literary field, I see what flys and what fizzles. Before you embark on this costly venture (prepare to spend at least $2,500 up to $10,000 for editing, production and promotion), I would like to share with you what I’ve learned on what makes a best-seller:
1. Title – is it griping, interesting? Would one know what it’s about without reading anything else?
2. Cover – people do judge a book by its cover. Make sure it has enough punch to stand out on the shelves among the thousands of other books. Is it clean, neat and crisp – yet interesting? Hire a professional!
3. Endorsements – what others say about you is key. Who these people are is even more important. Pull together the “best words from the best people.” It will pre-sell your book before you even open your mouth.
4. Writer’s credentials – do you have anything else with your byline? Do you blog? Do you have an audience that actually likes what you write?
5. Knowledge of the Market the book will reach – and the author’s reputation in that market. The author must create a market for himself by really addressing the needs of that market, knowing that market and communicating the right message to that market.
6. Timing – in relation to other events going on in the world/society. Are there movies, songs or talk shows that are bringing up the subject you have discussed in your book? Do you read the newspaper regularly and respond with Opinion Editorials when they are discussing “your” platform/topic?
7. Advertising – targeting the right message to the right media at the right time. Consistently!
8. Media coverage – publicity. The frosting on the cake. Getting on radio, TV and in newspapers and magazine and Ezines. Consistently (with advertising too).
9. Distribution – If you want to be a best-seller you have to have your book available. Make sure you sign up with a distributor or wholesaler so it is accessible to bookstores. (Amazon is not national distribution…it is a website) Best-sellers are sold in real bookstores and they only order from distributors or wholesales. (See Sally Stuart’s Christian Writers Market Guide for distributors to approach. Note: You must have a press kit and solid marketing plan for them to consider you).
10. Word of Mouth – The best advertising. The more “buzz” you have about your book the better. How do you get people talking about your book? By engaging in their culture and creating messages in their media. Be relentless in your goal to be a “best-seller” – and it will happen if you commit to the publicity process and pray for favor.
Pam Perry is a ministry marketing pioneer and expert in the African American Christian market. Her public relations and advertising career spans over two decades. She spent the first ten years working in ad agencies and secular media. She has dedicated the past ten to ministry marketing. Her company, Ministry Marketing Solutions Inc., has a roster of some of the most well known Christian publishers and African American Christian authors in the industry. For more information, go to MinistryMarketingSolutions and sign up for free PR tips.
How to Create a Best Seller
By Pam Perry
If you talk to any author, they will tell you that writing their book was the easy part – compared to marketing it and getting folks to buy it!
You can go to any bookstore and get a book on how to publish your book or do a Google search on book publishing. (I recommend Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual – he’s been called the guru of self-publishing). You can even get a good editor to help you with your rough manuscript. If you really don’t want to do that much work and want to get your book out fast, you can go to “iuniverse.com” or “lulu.com” and have books produced as you needed. This is called Print-On-Demand (POD) – great for first time authors; they take your word document and turn it into a book. Kinkos is even in the book producing game.
The production of a book is now pretty common. That’s why we see so many people doing books.
But are the books selling? After the books are back from the printer/publisher – the real work begins. It’s time to promote and sell your book. You have just opened up a business. Like any new business, you need a business plan plus extensive knowledge of the field you’re in and good advisors. A standard statistic you need to know according to book industry sources: there are over 150,000 new books published every year. And typically we see the same roster of authors on the New York Times Best-Seller’s list.
As a book publicist for over ten years in the Christian literary field, I see what flys and what fizzles. Before you embark on this costly venture (prepare to spend at least $2,500 up to $10,000 for editing, production and promotion), I would like to share with you what I’ve learned on what makes a best-seller:
1. Title – is it griping, interesting? Would one know what it’s about without reading anything else?
2. Cover – people do judge a book by its cover. Make sure it has enough punch to stand out on the shelves among the thousands of other books. Is it clean, neat and crisp – yet interesting? Hire a professional!
3. Endorsements – what others say about you is key. Who these people are is even more important. Pull together the “best words from the best people.” It will pre-sell your book before you even open your mouth.
4. Writer’s credentials – do you have anything else with your byline? Do you blog? Do you have an audience that actually likes what you write?
5. Knowledge of the Market the book will reach – and the author’s reputation in that market. The author must create a market for himself by really addressing the needs of that market, knowing that market and communicating the right message to that market.
6. Timing – in relation to other events going on in the world/society. Are there movies, songs or talk shows that are bringing up the subject you have discussed in your book? Do you read the newspaper regularly and respond with Opinion Editorials when they are discussing “your” platform/topic?
7. Advertising – targeting the right message to the right media at the right time. Consistently!
8. Media coverage – publicity. The frosting on the cake. Getting on radio, TV and in newspapers and magazine and Ezines. Consistently (with advertising too).
9. Distribution – If you want to be a best-seller you have to have your book available. Make sure you sign up with a distributor or wholesaler so it is accessible to bookstores. (Amazon is not national distribution…it is a website) Best-sellers are sold in real bookstores and they only order from distributors or wholesales. (See Sally Stuart’s Christian Writers Market Guide for distributors to approach. Note: You must have a press kit and solid marketing plan for them to consider you).
10. Word of Mouth – The best advertising. The more “buzz” you have about your book the better. How do you get people talking about your book? By engaging in their culture and creating messages in their media. Be relentless in your goal to be a “best-seller” – and it will happen if you commit to the publicity process and pray for favor.
Pam Perry is a ministry marketing pioneer and expert in the African American Christian market. Her public relations and advertising career spans over two decades. She spent the first ten years working in ad agencies and secular media. She has dedicated the past ten to ministry marketing. Her company, Ministry Marketing Solutions Inc., has a roster of some of the most well known Christian publishers and African American Christian authors in the industry. For more information, go to MinistryMarketingSolutions and sign up for free PR tips.
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