Jerry B. Jenkins's Blog, page 23

How to Survive the Marathon of the Middle and Finally Finish Your Novel

I’m known for comparing novelists to marathon runners. If you’ve ever attempted to write a novel or run a marathon, you know why.

This is one analogy that holds up fairly well.

For marathoners to succeed, they must:

Get into shape
Stay in shape
Start well
Stay strong through the middle while preserving enough strength to
Finish strong

For novelists to succeed, they must:

Learn the craft
Hone their skills
Write a great opening
Maintain a strong middle so they can
Write a resounding ending
Where Do Most People Quit?

My running friends tell me it’s at number 4.

My novelist colleagues tell me it’s at number 4.

As the author of nearly 190 books, two-thirds of those novels, I can tell you, number 4 is also where I’m tempted to throw in the towel nearly every time.

You say, “Seriously? After all your success and the number of times you’ve proved you can do this?”

Yes! You think I have a bookshelf full of my published works in my writing cave so I can show off? For one thing, I hardly ever let anyone else in there. That shelf is there to remind me I’ve done this before!

The marathon of the middle gets me almost every time.

“Don’t You Just Love Writing?”

Don’t ask me that when I’m slogging through the middle.

Don’t ask a marathoner if he doesn’t just love running when he’s at the 20-mile mark of a 26.2-mile marathon. You’re likely to get a response you won’t appreciate.

I love being a writer. I love knowing how to write. I love having written, being known as a writer, having been published.

But do I love writing right now, when I’m wondering why I ever got into the game and how I expect to drag myself to that great ending I have in mind?

No.

And I suspect the marathoner feels the same about his profession.

So What’s the Solution?

What’s the difference between those of us who stick with it and finish and those who quit?

We know the end game is worth it:

The sense of fulfillment and satisfaction of finishing
Becoming a published author and hearing from readers
Seeing our message actually reach the people who most need it

This makes it worth all the agony.

And we have also learned how to get there.

You Ready For the Silver Bullet?

The big reveal, the magic potion, the secret sauce?

Guess what? There are no short cuts.

You want overnight success, something for nothing? Look elsewhere.

You have a great novel idea, an unforgettable lead character, a killer opening, a plot to die for, and an ending that will make readers clamor for whatever you write from now till the end of time.

It’s just that marathon of the middle that has you bollixed up. How do you keep readers with you for two or three hours between grabbing them on page one and wringing out their hearts at the end?

By writing with the same verve and passion in the middle as you do at the front and back. You have all kinds of literary devices on that tool belt  of yours. It’s up to you to use every one in fresh and incisive ways.

Don’t you dare bore your reader, not for a second. Never allow yourself to think that because hundreds of pages stretch before you, your insistence on making every word count can flag for an instant.

Inject conflict and tension and changes of pace into every scene. Think of your plot as a roller coaster. That doesn’t mean a hundred miles an hour worth of drops and loops. It might also mean prolonged stretches of slow climbs, but where the tension is so thick with anticipation no one would dream about leaving the car.

Set up and payoff, set  up and payoff, and do this repeatedly so the reader must keep turning pages—all the while adding to the overall setup that will result in a huge payoff at the end.

The Principle of Multiplied Emotion

Commit yourself to that marathon of the middle with such devotion that you’re drawn back to the keyboard every day, eager to keep layering on the dollops of rich topping for your reader to enjoy. And remember Robert Frost’s adage: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.”

If your prose makes you weep, your reader will sob. If it makes you yawn, your reader will sleep.

Do you have a question about whether even one line is strong enough to stay in? When in doubt, throw it out.

Commit Yourself

You’ll never regret fully devoting yourself to the marathon of the middle. You’ll only regret quitting.

How will you force yourself to endure the marathon of the middle so you not only don’t quit but make your novel sing?

 

 

The post How to Survive the Marathon of the Middle and Finally Finish Your Novel appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

Should Your Memoir Throw People Under the Bus?

A memoir differs from an autobiography in that it is theme-oriented and draws upon only certain events in your life to serve that theme.

Memoirs that don’t work shy away from facing the depths of pain. Sugarcoat your life and you’ll omit those universally applicable truths that can make even the stories of unknown people resonate with the masses.

For the memoir of an unknown writer to become a breakout success for a publisher, readers must be able to see themselves in the stories.

So unless you’re a household name everyone is interested in merely because you’re famous, you must be willing to mine the depths of your experience.

Does that mean telling the truth about abuse, betrayal, sin, regret, shame—the ugliness of real life?

Yes!

If that’s too much to ask of yourself, and you still want to be an author, choose another genre.

Am I suggesting you turn your memoir into a novel?

I’m not. The reason? Because you will be tempted to almost tell it as it actually happened, and the strangeness of real life rarely seems plausible enough to work as fiction.

Readers will say, “That’s unrealistic! That would never happen!”

You would want to insist, “But it did happen! This is my story!”

And they would wonder why you didn’t just write it as a memoir.

How to Write About Trauma (Without Unnecessary Risk)

So if you’re brave enough to expose your own weaknesses, foibles, embarrassments, and yes, failures to the world, what about those of your friends, enemies, loved ones, teachers, bosses, and co-workers?

If you tell the truth, are you allowed to throw them under the bus?

In some cases, yes.

But should you?

No.

Even if they gave you permission in writing, what’s the upside?

Usually a person painted in a negative light—even if the story is true—would not sign a release allowing you to expose them publicly.

But even if they did, would it be the right, ethical, kind thing to do?

All I can tell you is that I wouldn’t do it. And I wouldn’t want it done to me.

If the Golden Rule alone isn’t reason enough not to do it, the risk of being sued certainly ought to be.

So, What to Do?

On the one hand I’m telling you your memoir is worthless without the grit, and on the other I’m telling you not to expose the evildoers.

Stalemate? No.

Here’s the solution:

Changing names to protect the guilty is not enough. Too many people in your family and social orbit will know the person, making your writing legally actionable.

So change more than the name. Change the location. Change the year. Change their gender. You could even change the offense.

If your own father verbally abused you so painfully when you were thirteen that you still suffer from the memory decades later, attribute it to a teacher and have it happen at an entirely different age.

Is that lying in a nonfiction book? Not if you include a disclaimer upfront that stipulates: “Some names and details have been changed to protect identities.”

So, no, don’t throw anyone under the bus. But don’t stop that bus!

Tell me below how you will camouflage someone’s identity in print to protect their reputation.

The post Should Your Memoir Throw People Under the Bus? appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

Secrets to Writing a Captivating Ending

Novel ideas are a dime a dozen. Ask any agent, publisher, editor, or movie producer.

It’s true. Everybody’s got one, maybe more than one. Even you, am I right?

Of my nearly 190 published books, more than two-thirds have been novels that started as ideas, so I know what most everybody in the business knows:

The idea is the easy part.

Want to know what’s second easiest? Starting.

I know. That one surprises you, because maybe you’re stuck. You’ve been sitting on your great idea, idling in neutral for too long.

So what’s keeping you from getting going?

Fear.

But fear of what?

Two things:

The marathon of the middle—which is a topic for another day (it’s that tough, for me too, and that important)
And coming up with an ending that does justice to that great idea of yours

That’s why publishers rarely hand out contracts and advances to first time novelists before they see entire manuscripts.

You may have the best novel idea since Chicken Soup for the Left Behind Amish Vampire. But until you prove you can finish—and I mean close that curtain with a resounding thud—all you’re getting from publishers is Fifty Shades of Wait and See.

So how do you ensure your story doesn’t fizzle when it should be delivering a thrill?

Keep the End in Sight the Whole Way

Don’t play the wishing game, hoping it will simply work itself out when the time comes.

Whether you’re a meticulous outliner or write by the seat of your pants, have an idea where your story is going and think about your ending every day. How you expect the story to end should inform every scene, every chapter. It may change, evolve, grow as you and your characters experience the inevitable arcs, but never leave it to chance.

And if you get near the end and worry something’s missing, that the punch isn’t there or that it doesn’t live up to the power of the other elements of your book, don’t rush it. Give it a few days, a few weeks if necessary.

Read through everything you’ve written. Take a long walk. Think on it. Sleep on it. Jot notes about it. Let your subconscious work on it. Play what-if games. Be outrageous if you must. Force that ending to sing. Make it unforgettable.

Musts

Be generous with your readers. They have invested in you and your work the entire way. Give them a proper payoff. Don’t allow it to look rushed by not allowing it be rushed.
Make it unpredictable but fair. You want readers to feel they should have seen it coming—because you planted enough hints—but not feel hoodwinked.
Never settle. If you’re not happy with every word, scuttle it until you are.
If you have too many ideas for how it should end, don’t despair. Just make yourself find the best one. When in doubt, go not for the cleverest or most cerebral. Readers long to be moved. Go for the heart.
Rewrite it until it shines. I’ve long been on record that all writing is rewriting, and this is never more true than at the end of your novel. When do you know it’s been rewritten enough? When you’ve gone from making it better to merely making it different.
Nothing Can Follow the End

This goes without saying. But I say it anyway, why? Because too many beginners think it appears sophisticated to leave things nebulous, or they want to save something crucial for the Epilogue. Avoid that mistake.

Modern readers raised on television and movies like chronology—beginnings, middles, ends. They expect the end to do its job. Artsy types may think it hip to just stop and enjoy gassing on talk shows about how life isn’t so tidy.

Well, terrific. I’ve seen enough movies like that, and I can tell you that most people don’t like sitting there shaking their heads as the lights come up. They scowl at each other and say, “Really? That’s it? We’re to wonder what happens now?”

All that does for me as a novelist is to remind me that I have one job, and I recommit myself to doing it again every time. Invent a story world for my readers and deliver a satisfying experience for them. They have invested their time and money, believing I will uphold my end of the bargain—and that means a beginning, a middle, and an end. One that satisfies.

That doesn’t mean every ending is happily-ever-after, everything tied in a neat bow. But the reader knows what happened, questions are answered, things are resolved, puzzles are solved. And because I happen to have a worldview of hope, my work will reflect that.

If you write from another worldview, at least be consistent. End your stories with how you see life, but don’t just stop.

That said, some stories end too neatly and then appear contrived. If they end too late, you’ve asked your reader to indulge you for too long. Be judicious. In the same way you decide when to enter and leave a scene, carefully determine when to exit your novel.

Don’t Forget Your Hero

This may seem obvious, but I’ve seen it violated. Your lead character should be center stage at the end. Everything he learned throughout all the complications that arose from his trying to fix the terrible trouble you plunged him into should by now have made him the person who rises to the occasion.

Maybe to this point he has been flawed, weak, defeated. But his character arc is about to resolve and become complete.

The action must happen on stage, not just be about or remembered or simply narrated. It can’t be resolved by a miracle or because he realizes something. He must act.

That’s what makes a reader respond emotionally, and if it moves you when you write it, it will move your readers exponentially.

See yourself as the captain of a mighty airline. You’ve taken your readers on a long, eventful journey. Now bring it in for a landing.

What will you do to ensure a great ending to your novel?

The post Secrets to Writing a Captivating Ending appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests

Regardless where you are on your writing journey—from wannabe to bestseller—you can benefit from entering contests.

Why?

Because the right contest can tell you:

Where you stand
How you measure up against the competition
What you still need to learn

To get you the complete lowdown on everything you need to know about writing contests I consulted the ultimate expert. Dr. Dennis Hensley is chairman of the Department of Professional Writing at Taylor University, Upland, Indiana.

It’s because of Doc that I unequivocally refer to Taylor as having the best university writer training program in the country, bar none. Ever since I heard him speak more than 30 years ago, I have never hosted a writers conference without inviting him to keynote and teach. Doc is always a favorite and never disappoints.

His students don’t just learn to write and sell and publish. They’re in the game every day, pushed to query and propose and market their work to real publications. So Doc isn’t preparing them to be professional writers when they graduate; he’s thrusting them into the action now.

Besides having students sell their writing, Doc pushes them into contests too. He’s turned out  enough productive writers over the decades to tell me that what’s good for them has to be good for you and me.

So I asked him:

Why are you such a strong advocate of writers’ contests?

Contests force writers to hit deadlines. That means they have to finish, and finish on time. It’s hard to beat that kind of training.

What else?

If a writer wins or even places in the top three, it often means publication in a magazine or quarterly or journal. That’s fantastic exposure for any writer trying to build a platform—which means every writer.

How big a deal is winning, really?

Being able to list “contest winner” on your resumé impresses publishers and boosts your confidence. From then on, the covers of all your books can feature you as an award winner. The news can be publicized in your hometown paper, college alumni magazine, church newsletter, you name it—it garners notoriety. It can also help land radio and TV interviews.

How can my students find out about writing contests?

The Write Life has a list of 29 free contests occurring in 2016. See that here.

Poets & Writers magazine lists at least 50 contests and the websites that explain their requirements.

The Christian Writer’s Market Guide 2015-16 carries 12 pages of contests in both inspirational  and general markets, including poetry, articles, children’s books, novels, and nonfiction books.

Writer’s Market contains 90 pages of contests for journalism, playwriting, songwriting, poetry, TV and movie scripts, novels and nonfiction books, and essays.

How can a writer be sure a contest is legitimate?

Go to swfa.org, a free website that offers tips on how not to be cheated by scam artists who try to get you to pay for awards or charge editing fees to work on your manuscript. Any contest that charges anything is suspect.

What is meant by “blind” vs. “open” judging?

Blind judges don’t know the names of the writers they’re judging. In open judging, the bylines appear on the entries.

Doc, why are you willing to spend so much time judging writing submitted to contests?

Because it exposes me to such a wide range of topics and writers. For example, I judge a different category each year for one magazine contest. One year I may judge Editorials, so I analyze more than 50 of those. The next year I may judge Interviews, so I’ll read 50 interviews amazingly interesting people.

Reading widely like that keeps me on top of things and stimulates my own thinking as a writer. It also exposes me to many periodicals I might not normally come across. That’s good for me and for my students.

Also, besides just judging, many times I’m able to critique the submissions, providing guidance to writers who show potential but still need mentoring.

Also, I hope my credentials add credibility to worthy contests. Hopefully contestants gain confidence knowing that a judge has a degree in English and has himself written more than 60 books.

If a competitor doesn’t win a prize, should they regret having entered?

Not at all, because of some of the things I mentioned earlier. Entering requires hitting a deadline. It offers the chance at prizes and publication. And often it also offers a chance for feedback from the judge, which can prove helpful.

Any inside tips on how to win a writing contest?

Follow the guidelines precisely.  Some require submissions by email and some hard copy. Some allow multiple submissions, while others limit it to one entry per person. Some are genre specific, others not. Some want your full name and address on the cover page, others want your name on a separate sheet. Whatever the guidelines ask for, follow them exactly or your submission may be disqualified.

Proofread carefully. Nothing is more disappointing to a judge than an excellent story full of errors, evidencing a lack of professionalism.

Avoid gimmicks, such as five different fonts or colors or lace-edged paper. None of that impresses judges.

Don’t resubmit last year’s entry unless you significantly revised it.

Dr. Dennis E. Hensley is the author of eight writing textbooks, ten novels, and dozens of other books. He serves as a judge for the Christy Fiction Awards, the Christian Book Awards, and the Evangelical Press Association Awards. For ten years he also was a judge for the Jerry B. Jenkins Operation First Novel Contest. 

What’s your favorite writing contest—and why?

The post Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

What Is POV (Point of View) and How Do You Use It?

The most common problem I see in aspiring novelists is an inability to grasp the concept of Point of View.

Veteran editor Dave Lambert says, “No decision you make will impact the shape and texture of your story more than your choice of Point of View.”

So what is Point of View, what’s the secret to making it work, and what’s the POV rule you must not break?
Point of View is the perspective from which you tell your story. You may choose to tell it in First Person (I); Second Person (you); or Third Person (he, she, or it).
The secret to making it work is to limit yourself to one perspective character per scene, preferably per chapter, and often per book.
The cardinal rule is to never violate #2—which means no switching perspective characters within the same scene, and definitely not within the same paragraph or sentence. Yes, that happens, and it’s a giant no-no.

Example:

[Third person POV perspective character] Suzie slipped into American History 101, late as usual, wishing Dr. Luck wouldn’t give her his usual scowl, while he wondered if it was possible for her to ever show up on time.

That’s called head-hopping (being in the head of more than one character at  time), and here’s what’s wrong with it:

It implies an omniscient viewpoint, which is archaic.
It violates the secret (#2): one POV character per scene.
That single perspective character serves as your camera. Your reader experiences only what that character sees, hears, thinks, feels, smells, and tastes.

How then can your reader learn anything about any other character? From what they say, and what your POV character says/thinks/feels/believes about them.

If Bill is your POV character and you’re writing in the third person, you could not write, “Bill said he was happy for her, but Mary didn’t believe him.”

Why?

Because you know only what your perspective character knows, and Bill cannot say unequivocally what Mary believes. But he can guess.

So you can write, “Bill said he was happy for her, but he could tell Mary didn’t believe him,” or “…but he could tell from the look on her face that Mary didn’t believe him,” or some variation of that.

Multiple Points of View in the Same Story

In some of the Left Behind (Tyndale House Publishers) novels I alternated between as many as five perspective characters per book, but I made it crystal clear every time I switched.

Perhaps I had finished a scene where airline pilot Rayford Steele was the perspective character and found himself caught in a dilemma in London. Now I want to switch locations and perspective characters.

So I would add extra space between paragraphs, insert what’s called a typographical dingbat—like this: ### —and then fully introduce the new POV character:

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Buck Williams sat hunched over his laptop…

In my latest novel, The Valley of the Dry Bones (Worthy Publishing)—which releases May 31, 2016—I employ a single perspective character for the entire book.

Primarily, remember that regardless which POV you choose, you’re limited to one perspective character per scene. Period.

What POV will you choose for your work-in-progress, and how many perspective characters will you use?

The post What Is POV (Point of View) and How Do You Use It? appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

What is POV (Point of View) and How Do You Use It?

The most common problem I see in aspiring novelists is an inability to grasp the concept of Point of View.

Veteran editor Dave Lambert says, “No decision you make will impact the shape and texture of your story more than your choice of Point of View.”

So what is Point of View, what’s the secret to making it work, and what’s the POV rule you must not break?
Point of View is the perspective from which you tell your story. You may choose to tell it in First Person (I); Second Person (he, she, or it); or Third Person (you).
The secret to making it work is to limit yourself to one perspective character per scene, preferably per chapter, and often per book.
The cardinal rule is to never violate #2—which means no switching perspective characters within the same scene, and definitely not within the same paragraph or sentence. Yes, that happens, and it’s a giant no-no.

Example:

[Third person POV perspective character] Suzie slipped into American History 101, late as usual, wishing Dr. Luck wouldn’t give her his usual scowl, while he wondered if it was possible for her to ever show up on time.

That’s called head-hopping (being in the head of more than one character at  time), and here’s what’s wrong with it:

It implies an omniscient viewpoint, which is archaic
It violates the secret (#2): one POV character per scene
That single perspective character serves as your camera. You reader experiences only what that character sees, hears, thinks, feels, smells, and tastes.

How then can your reader learn anything about any other character? From what they say, and what your POV character says/thinks/feels/believes about them.

If Bill is your POV character and you’re writing in the third person, you could not write, “Bill said he was happy for her, but Mary didn’t believe him.”

Why?

Because you know only what your perspective character knows, and Bill cannot say unequivocally what Mary believes. But he can guess.

So you can write, “Bill said he was happy for her, but he could tell Mary didn’t believe him,” or “…but he could tell from the look on her face that Mary didn’t believe him,” or some variation of that.

Multiple Points of View in the Same Story

In some of the Left Behind (Tyndale House Publishers) novels I alternated between as many as five perspective characters per book, but I made it crystal clear every time I switched.

Perhaps I had finished a scene where airline pilot Rayford Steele was the perspective character and found himself caught in a dilemma in London. Now I want to switch locations and perspective characters.

So I would add extra space between paragraphs, insert what’s called a typographical dingbat—like this: ### —and then fully introduce the new POV character:

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Buck Williams sat hunched over his laptop…

In my latest novel, The Valley of the Dry Bones (Worthy Publishing)—which releases May 31, 2016—I employ a single perspective character for the entire book.

Primarily, remember that regardless which POV you choose, you’re limited to one perspective character per scene. Period.

What POV will you choose for your work in progress, and how many perspective characters will you use?

The post What is POV (Point of View) and How Do You Use It? appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

3 Ways to Create Unforgettable Characters

Atticus Finch

Jane Eyre

Ebenezer Scrooge

Katniss Everdeen

Harry Potter

Scarlett O’Hara

Huckleberry Finn

If you’re an aspiring novelist, those names alone should prompt book titles to immediately come to mind.

If you’re a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Gone with the Wind, and Huckleberry Finn, it’s because of those lead characters.

If you’re not a fan of those classics, it’s time to reconsider your aspirations.

(And please don’t write me about the evils of Harry Potter. Keep Harry from young children if you must, but remember that you grew up on The Wizard of Oz.)

Wildly successful novelists can go a lifetime without creating a character people will remember forever, but it certainly helps us to know what heroes and heroines like those listed above have in common.

While they’re bigger than life, they also feel universally human
They see courage not as lack of fear but rather action in the face of fear
They learn from failure and rise to meet great moral challenges

How do you and I create characters like that?

1—Live it

Draw from personal experience. Your character might be in mortal danger. Call upon what you felt the last time you came closest to serious injury or death.

Or perhaps you recall when you mustered the courage to finally speak your mind and right a wrong. Transfer that emotion to your hero and embellish it to full effect.

 

2—Imagine it

I must, in essence, become the character as I write: old, young, male, female. I imagine myself in every situation, facing every dilemma and decision, and I decide how I would react and what I would say based on what has happened to me in the story thus far.

 

3—Research it

When writing about something wholly apart from your experience, conduct thorough research. I can imagine myself as a woman, imagine how it would feel to lose a child, imagine becoming so vengeful that I might want to kill someone.

But to write about a mother who lost a child due to someone’s negligence or—worse—spite, I’d have to interview someone who has endured such a tragedy.

I’ve seen countless movies and TV shows portraying homicide detectives. My father and two brothers were cops, but still I wouldn’t dare write a novel about murder without solid research: ride-alongs, interviews, shadowing real detectives.

In The Brotherhood / A Precinct 11 Novel, my detective character approaches an apartment, not knowing whether someone on the other side might fire a shotgun through the door. I could easily imagine his fear, but for how to properly handle the situation, I had to conduct careful research.

The scenes in the Left Behind series are imagined, of course. I haven’t lived through the Rapture, but I have been scared to death. I was thirty blocks north of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

My imagination must fill in the blanks. What would it be like to live through seven years of Tribulation? What if I were a new mother? Would I consider killing my own child rather than have her fall into the hands of the enemy? Could a mother consider such a thing?

Citizens of Masada faced that very decision in 73 A.D. They killed their offspring and then themselves rather than fall under the power of the enemy and have their children brainwashed, their beliefs obliterated.

Studying history can help you make story decisions that result in credible, believable, heroic, unforgettable characters.

Where have your most unique characters come from?

The post 3 Ways to Create Unforgettable Characters appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

How Research Amps Up Your Story

It’s fun to spin a yarn, isn’t it, making up stuff in our writing lairs?

But take it from me, it’s a lot more fun when you’ve done some not-so-fun work first:

Homework
Legwork
Spadework

I’m talking about research.

The Homework is deciding what you’re going to need to know.

The Legwork takes you where you need to go to get it.

And the Spadework digs for it.

You might say, “Huh-uh, no way. Leave the academic stuff to the non-fiction types. I got into fiction so I could just tell stories.”

Sorry, you don’t get off so easy.

Readers want their fiction plausible, and that means: believable. It has to make sense.

Doubt me? How often do you hear people criticize a novel by saying, “That would never happen!”

Why don’t they cut the novelist some slack? I mean, isn’t it supposed to be fictitious?

Yeah, but it has to ring true. Specificity, authenticity, and detail make it work, and those come only from rock-solid research.

If your research stinks, your story sinks.

Your plot may be fictitious, but your details had better be correct.

Your Credibility Is At Stake

What if you were reading an otherwise engrossing novel and came across this line: “When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas had been a state for only eighteen years.”

Excuse me? Everyone knows Kennedy was shot in November of 1963. So Texas joined the Union in 1945? That’s an egregious error.

It took me seconds to find the state’s website and learn that Texas was annexed to the United States as the twenty-eighth state in 1845, seceded and joined the Confederacy in 1861, and was readmitted to the Union in 1870.

Get those details right and they add flavor. Get them wrong and they inject a sour taste the reader wants to spit out. Make an obvious goof and you’ve ruined the reader’s crucial “willing suspension of disbelief” and probably stopped the reading forever.

Research is something you owe every reader who chooses to read your story.

Anachronisms—details out of place and time—jar readers, just like they do moviegoers.

In a movie set in the late 1930s, a housewife pulled a Tupperware container from the refrigerator. A quick check told me Tupperware made its debut in 1946.

5 Tips for Rock-Solid Research
Be discerning. On the Internet, uninformed authors, contributors, and bloggers can be sorely misinformed. Check your sources and learn which to trust before propagating bad information.
While many publishers have fact checkers, the buck may stop with you. Verify information via at least two sources and never settle for “close enough.”
Immerse yourself. Writing a police mystery or procedural? Do a ride-along or shadow a precinct house. Writing a medical thriller? Try to get into a hospital to learn the nuances of the culture. Set your novel in cities you know. Don’t rely on guidebooks.
Use social media. Learn about people, places, addictions, hobbies, or neuroses, by watching videos or listening to interviews on YouTube. You can also research via Twitter, Facebook, or various chat boards.
Know when to stop. You can kill your writing schedule by over-researching. Do enough to season and flavor your story and move it forward, but get back to the writing.

Caveat

Resist the urge to show off how much research you do.

I understand the temptation. You follow this advice and do all this work, and you’ll find it isn’t as bad as you fear. You’ll learn a lot of cool stuff.

But if you dump all of it into your story and make it the main course, it can overwhelm.

Better to let your research serve as seasoning, letting it enhance the story—which should always remain the star

What’s your favorite research technique?

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The Problem with Finding a Writers Group—and How to Solve It for Good

It’s amazing how much has to go right:

You have to find enough like-minded people serious about their writing
They must be willing to offer constructive feedback (and take it, too)
You want a widely published leader so the blind aren’t leading the blind
Then you have to travel far as far as necessary to find all this

No wonder it’s so hard to find nurturing writing environments…

They’re extremely rare.

I’ve been brainstorming with my team for a long time about how to solve this problem.

Sure, I’m still teaching writing here on my blog.

And yes, I’m still here to answer your questions and lend guidance.

But I want to provide something unique, something I enjoyed offering for years when I hosted conferences and taught writing all over the world.

Little satisfied me more than bringing to students and budding writers the expertise of the top authors and writing coaches on the planet.

Those were the days—when a writer like you could interact with mentors and a myriad of helpful training resources.

Where you could band together with others just like yourself—brothers and sisters who wouldn’t let you quit.

I’d love to bring back that same kind of community.

So I’m about to shake things up again.

Now that I’ve found a way to train writers 100% online, I can finally offer the mentoring I’ve always wanted to—and keep the cost ridiculously low.

For the past several months my team and I have been hard at work building something that will give you:

Access to the brightest minds in publishing
Personal coaching and feedback on your writing
Exclusive, top-quality training and live writing workshops
A place where you can connect and grow with other aspiring authors
We’re calling it The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild.

It will be a community of writers committed to improving, encouraging one another to grow under the guidance of the top instructors in the field.

The Guild will be limited to members only, and you’ll have a 10-day window during which you can register.

After that, I’ll work closely with the exclusive Founding Members to hone your writing and make the Guild something great.

You may be learning to write, writing articles and short stories for magazines or online sites, or writing a nonfiction book or a novel. If you want to gain real confidence, overcome your fear of failure, and get your message into as many readers’ hands as possible, I aim to give you all the tools you need to do that.

Imagine the ultimate virtual writers group. People to keep you motivated, committed, and on track while I provide a level of resources and support you won’t find anywhere else.

My goal is to provide so many services you’ll wonder how my team and I can do it. But you’ll be so busy learning and growing and marketing your writing, you’ll hardly have time to think about it.

You can find all the details here—and I can’t wait to see what you think!

What do you find most challenging about finding the right writing community and training?

The post The Problem with Finding a Writers Group—and How to Solve It for Good appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Write Your Book.

How to Become an Author: Your Complete Guide

So you want to be an author…

Well, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.

The bad news first:

Writing your book will be one of the hardest things you ever do. If you’re in the middle of that process, you’re nodding right now.

But here’s the good news:

All that work can be worth it—a small price for the amazing possibilities it can open to you:

Getting published
Enjoying a career you love
Impacting people with your writing
Media attention
Royalty income

Many will tell you this level of success is the exception.

And they’re right.

According to Steven Piersanti, president of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, the average U.S. nonfiction book sells fewer than 250 copies per year and fewer than 3,000 copies over its lifetime.

That gives you pause, and it should. If you’re going to do this, you want to be the exception. I’m living proof that it’s possible. You may say, sure, you’re a bestselling author, so that’s easy for you to say.

But think about this: Every “name” author you’ve ever heard of—people way more famous than I—were once where you are and where I once was: unknown and unpublished.

Imagine: John Grisham. Stephen King. J.K. Rowling. All of them. At one time their names provoked zero response.

Who’s to say yours can’t be a household name by this time next year?

You might be thinking, Me? Never! Well, if you don’t try, you have guaranteed that. So at least hear me out.

In this extensive guide, my goal is to give you an honest look at how to become an author—using lessons I’ve learned from 40+ years working with some of the top publishers in the world.

Having written 21 New York Times bestsellers myself, I’m confident these lessons will help you in your writing journey.

Ready? Let’s do it.

 

What You Will Learn

Here’s the short version of everything I cover in this complete, step-by-step post:

DON’T Attempt Writing a Book Until You’ve…
…Studied the Craft and Polished Your Skills
…Written and Sold Things Shorter Than a Book
…Plugged Yourself into a Community of Writers

 

Writing Your Book
Create a Writing Schedule You Can Stick to
Research and Plan
Keep Your Day Job
Become a Ferocious Self-Editor

 

Trying to Land a Publishing Contract
How to Get an Agent
Selling a Publisher
Editing Your Book Like Crazy (Again) with an Editor

 

Should You Self-Publish?
An Overview of Self-Publishing
How to Set Your Book Apart
Choosing the Right Self-Publishing Company
The #1 Killer of Self-Published Books

 

1. DON’T Attempt Writing a Book Until You’ve…

I get it. You’re antsy. You’re ready to pen your bestseller right now. You’ve read or heard of writers who had never written a thing before and yet scored with a million-seller on their first try.

Throttle back. Those stories become big news because they’re so rare. Don’t bank on winning the lottery. If you want your book (and your message) to go anywhere, make sure you’ve:

 

…Studied the Craft

There’s no need to figure out how to write a compelling story by trial and error anymore. Others have already done it for you—and written books about it. Your best bet is to follow proven methods.

Great writers are great readers. Here’s a list of my favorite 11 books on writing to get you started.

The competition has gotten so fierce, you’ll do yourself a favor if you learn how successful authors write before you try to get a second look from a publisher. Take the time to learn what you’re doing. You’ll thank yourself later.

 

…Written and Sold Things Shorter Than a Book

A book shouldn’t be where you start any more than you should enroll in grad school when you’re a kindergartner. A book is where you arrive.

Start small, learn the craft, hone your skills.

Do some journaling. Write a newsletter. Start a blog. Get articles published in a couple of magazines, a newspaper, an ezine. Take a night school or online course in journalism or creative writing.

Publishers are looking for authors with platforms (in short: audiences, tribes, followers, fans). So start building yours now. Any of the pieces above will start building steam behind your writing, and boost name recognition for you as a writer.

If you’re planning to start blogging, look at these author blog examples.

Bottom line: Work a quarter-million clichés out of your system, learn what it means to be edited, become an expert in something, build your platform, and then start thinking about that book or novel.

 

…Plugged Yourself into a Community of Writers

Think you can do it alone?

Then you’re a better writer than I.

Almost every traditionally published author I know is surrounded by a helpful community. How else would they deal with things like:

Frustration
Discouragement
Procrastination
Wanting to quit

I’ve written over 185 books, yet I often wonder whether I can finish the next one.

At this stage for me, community means knowing I can be encouraged by colleagues whenever I need it.

When you’re starting out, another pair of eyes on your work can prove to be invaluable. Ten pairs of eyes are even better.

Join a writers’ group. Find a mentor. Stay open to criticism.

One caveat with writers’ groups: make sure at least one person, preferably the leader, is widely published and understands the publishing landscape. Otherwise you risk the blind leading the blind.

 

2. Writing Your Book

Surprisingly, most people never get this far. Whether it’s fear or procrastination or something else, few writers ever make it to the first page.

To avoid becoming part of this sad group, you need a plan.

Regardless your personal writing method, be sure to cover these bases:

 

Create a Writing Schedule You Can Stick To

When you’re an author, writing becomes your job.

So treat it that way. Show up and do the work whether you feel like it or not. Writer’s block is no excuse. In no other profession could you get away with getting out of work by claiming you have worker’s block. Try that and see what it gets you—likely a pink slip.

Find at least six hours a week to write. Well, find is the wrong word, of course. You won’t find it, you’ll have to carve out the time. Lock these hours into your calendar and keep them sacred.

If you can’t think of what to write, then edit. If you can’t edit, plan. You’ll be astonished at your ability to get stuff done when you finally plant yourself in your chair.

Challenge: Don’t move until you have scheduled at least six hours.

 

Research and Plan

To give your manuscript the best chance to succeed, skip this step at your peril. Excellent preparation will make or break your book.

Two main ways you should be preparing:

Outline. Regardless how you feel about outlining, you need an idea of where you’re going before you start. If you’re writing a novel, you’re either an outliner or a pantser—those who write by the seat of their pants. (If you’re writing a nonfiction book, an outline is a given.)

On the fiction side, the definition of an outliner is obvious. You plan everything beforehand. But pantsers write by process of discovery—or as Stephen King puts it, they “put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens.”

Neither is better or worse, right or wrong. But most writers are one or the other (a few are hybrids, largely one over the other but doing a little of both). But, depending on which you are, you’ll approach the planning phase completely differently.

If you’re a hardcore outliner (and a novelist), you’ll enjoy my friend and colleague Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method. But if you’re a pantser, check out this post for non-outliners. It will teach you how to work within a structure while staying free enough to let your prose take shape on the fly.

Do the research. All great stories are rooted in solid research. If your research stinks, your story sinks.

If your character drives 10 miles east out of the Chicago Loop, he’d better be in an amphibious vehicle, because he’ll be in Lake Michigan. (And you thought I was joking about sinking.)

To avoid such embarrassing errors, do your research. Immerse yourself in the details of your setting. Make sure no characters are wearing ski jackets when it’s 95 degrees outside.

Two online research tools that will help you avoid mistakes:

The World Atlas
A directory of some of the world’s top almanacs

 

Don’t Quit Your Day Job

I didn’t become a full-time freelance author until I had written and published nearly 90 books. I had been advised by a veteran author that my freelance income ought to be around three times what I made at my job before I considered going solo.

I was stunned. Why so much more?

He started listing everything I would have to pay for on my own. Insurance, retirement, all my benefits. I had always been careful to separate my writing and my office work, but during my off hours on business trips I might do some research.

No more. Any travel would be on me.

When I was writing while working and our three sons were young, I came home each day, ate dinner with my family, spent quantity (not just quality) time with my boys and my wife, and then blocked off 9:00 to 12:00 each night to write.

I never brought home work from the office or wrote while the kids were awake. That way I never wrote with guilt, and those three hours each night became some of the most productive of my life.

Why? Because even though I’m a morning person and anything but a night person, I was forced to redeem the time. I didn’t have the luxury of procrastinating. I knocked out several books a year during that season.

Your day job doesn’t have to keep you from writing your book. You might not like this, but I recommend you keep it and spend your after-hours time writing your book. Why? Two reasons:

You’ll have steady income—one less thing to worry about—while trying to build your writing career.
The structure will force you to be more productive with fewer hours.

So, yes, you can have your cake and eat it too—without sacrificing time with family. You lose three hours per night for what, TV? How big a sacrifice is that for your writing dream? How badly do you want to become an author?

 

Become a Ferocious Self-Editor

This section is so important that it has the power to determine whether your book makes a huge splash with readers and publishers—or slides into the editor’s reject pile after the first page or two.

Get serious about self-editing.

Editors know from the first page whether your manuscript is publishable. I know that doesn’t sound fair or even logical. You’re thinking, It took me months, maybe years, to write hundreds of pages and you didn’t even get to the good stuff!

How could they do that to you? Why did they?

First, the good stuff ought to be in the first two paragraphs. And if they see 15 adjustments they need to make on the first two pages, they know the cost of editing three or four hundred pages of the same would eat whatever profits they could hope for before even printing the book.

To avoid the dreaded “Thank you, but this doesn’t meet a current need” letter, your manuscript must be lean and mean, besides being a great story and a great read.

Here are my 21 rules of ferocious self-editing ( which you can read more about here ):

Develop a thick skin.
Avoid throat-clearing.
Choose the normal word over the obtuse.
Omit needless words.
Avoid subtle redundancies, like: “She nodded her head in agreement.” Those last four words could be deleted.
Avoid the words up and down—unless they’re really needed.
Usually delete the word that. Use it only for clarity.
Give the reader credit. Once you’ve established something, you don’t need to repeat it.
Avoid telling what’s not happening.
Avoid being an adjectival maniac.
Avoid hedging verbs like smiled slightly, almost laughed, frowned a bit, etc.
Avoid the term literally—when you mean figuratively.
Avoid too much stage direction.
Maintain a single point of view (POV) for every scene.
Avoid clichés, and not just words and phrases, but situations.
Resist the urge to explain (RUE).
Show, don’t tell.
People say things; they don’t wheeze, gasp, sigh, laugh, grunt, or retort them.
Specifics add the ring of truth, even to fiction.
Avoid similar character names. In fact, avoid even the same first initials.
Avoid mannerisms of punctuation, typestyles, and sizes.

 

3. Trying to Land a Publishing Contract

I’m not going to sugarcoat it—this isn’t easy. But if you have a solid plan (and if you’ve followed the guide), you’ve got as good a chance as any.

This section will show you how to become an author by revealing the options available. These best practices can vastly increase your likelihood of getting published.

How to Get an Agent

Your first step in trying to land a traditional publishing deal should be to land an agent—which can be just as difficult, as it should be.

There will seem a dichotomy here, because you are likely writing for altruistic reasons—you have a mission, a passion, a message, something burning inside that you must share with the world. Yet agents or publishers will appear to base their decisions solely on the bottom line.

If they see sales potential, they will accept it; if they don’t they won’t.

But don’t despair. That doesn’t mean they don’t share your passion. It simply means they must make a profit to stay in business—even faith-based publishers who are all about ministry.

Though it’s hard to find an agent, it is possible to get traditionally published without one. Most will not consider unsolicited manuscripts, though some will.

Check The Writer’s Market Guide and The Christian Writer’s Market Guide for publishers that don’t require agent-represented manuscript submissions. Some will allow you to submit at writers conferences or through other clients of theirs.

Be aware that it’s not unheard of to submit an unsolicited manuscript to dozens of publishers without success.

An agent can make your life a lot easier. A plethora of new doors open because of your agent’s connections.

Besides the instant credibility of an agent’s approval and the knowledge that your writing has survived a vetting process, you also get valuable input and coaching on how to fashion your query and proposal from someone who understands the publishing industry, knows the players and who’s looking for what, and has experience successfully pitching publishers.

Obviously, there are good agents and bad agents. How do you know whom you can trust? The credible agent welcomes scrutiny. Find reviews. Check with other clients. Ask:

How did their book turn out?
Did they feel taken care of? Were they pleased with the results?

Feel free to ask agents:

What kinds of books have they succeeded with?
Have they succeeded in your genre?

Once you compile a list of agents who seem to be a good fit, follow their submission guidelines. They’ll likely ask for a query letter, synopsis, proposal, and perhaps a few chapters.

If any ask for any sort of reading fee or other payment up front, eliminate them as candidates and do not respond.

Before you do anything else, check out these submission guidelines from three agents I’m familiar with. I’m not necessarily evaluating or endorsing them, except to say that I know them to be ethical and trustworthy and find their guidelines helpful and sound.

Their pages will give you a good idea of what typical agents are looking for.

Steve Laube’s guidelines

Hartline Literary’s guidelines

Books and Such’s guidelines

Two things you may be asked for—and which some writers struggle with:

 

A query letter

This is an easy way to reach out to an agent, but many prefer more—like a full proposal, which we’ll get to.

Most agents prefer submissions of any kind to be electronically submitted as an attachment, not as part of the body of your message. Avoid snail mail.

Make your query letter crisp and short. The shorter (while saying what you need to say) the better.

A query letter is just what its name implies—it queries the interest of the agent in your book idea. So make it stimulating and intriguing. Remember, you’re selling your book to the agent.

Four essential parts of an effective query letter:

a. Your elevator pitch

This is a summary of your book’s premise, told in the time it would take for the editor to reach his floor if you happened to find yourself in the same elevator car. So it has to be fast and convincing.

Here’s the elevator pitch for my very first novel:

“A judge tries a man for a murder the judge committed.”

It worked.

b. Your synopsis

In a paragraph, tell what your nonfiction book is about and what you hope to accomplish with it. Or tell the basic premise of the plot of your novel. The synopsis would naturally go beyond the elevator pitch and tell what happens and how things turn out. (Note: Almost any plot, when reduced to a one- or two-paragraph synopsis, sounds ridiculous.)

c. Your target audience and why they’ll enjoy your book

Agents need to believe they can sell it before they’ll ask you for more. Help them envision how to pitch it to publishers, but be careful not to oversell. They know the business better than you do and will not be swayed by your assurance that “everyone will find this amazing.”

You can say that your audiences have been enthusiastic or that beta readers have expressed excitement.

d. Your personal information

Sell the agent on yourself. What qualifies you to write this book? What else have you published? What kind of tribe have you built? Where can they read your blog? Of course you’re including all your contact information.

Other query letter tips:

Keep it to one page, single-spaced, and 12 pt. sans serif type.
Don’t sell too hard—let your premise speak for itself.
Follow the agent’s submission guidelines to a T.
Proof your letter before sending. Any typo on such a short document makes you look like an amateur.

Here’s a great example of a query letter, with a breakdown of why it works, by Brian Klems of Writer’s Digest.

 

A book proposal

You’ll find that for most agents, this is the most important document they want to see. Some want only this. Succinctly and completely describe the details of your idea and make them want to read your manuscript in its entirety as soon as it’s ready. Leave nothing out. For nonfiction, include every major issue you’ll cover and the basics of what you’ll say about it. For fiction, rough out the entire plot in a few pages.

With a proposal, your query letter becomes a cover letter.

Resist the urge to write a long cover letter. Allow your proposal to do the heavy lifting.

Three trusted colleagues have produced masterful works on how to write book proposals, so check out what they have to offer:

Michael Hyatt: Writing a Winning Book Proposal

Jane Friedman: How to Write a Book Proposal

(Jane also has some great material on query letters, so search her site for that, too.)

Terry Whalin: Book Proposals That Sell

Proposals can contain any number of possible components, such as:

Premise
Elevator pitch
Overview
Target audience
Chapter synopses
Marketing ideas
Endorsements
Your analysis of competing books, and where yours fits
Up to three sample chapters

More book proposal tips:

Tell why you think your book can succeed.
Every page in your proposal should make them want to flip to the next page.
Despite that a proposal is longer, keep it tight and terse, as short as you can without cutting crucial information.

Every word should be designed to pique an agent’s interest, your goal being to be asked to send your entire manuscript.

Which should I choose, query or proposal?

The competition is so fierce these days, I would lean toward a full proposal almost every time. The only instances when I might fire off a query would be if an incredible opportunity fell in my lap and I thought an agent could help me jump on it before I had time to craft a proposal.

For instance, if a major celebrity wanted help with a book and chose you to write it, a fast letter to an agent might get a quick response. Otherwise, take the time to put together a professional proposal that shows an agent you know how to work and can be thorough.

But know this: If you spark an agent’s interest, they will immediately ask for more information. So you’ll need a proposal at some point. Keep that in mind and be ready to get busy.

 

Connecting with the Right Publisher

Regardless whether you secure an agent, there are five guidelines for submitting your proposal and/or manuscript to publishers:

Follow their submission guidelines to a T.
Customize your cover letter to each.
Know what the publisher wants, and tell them why you believe your book is right for them in light of that.
Let it show in your attitude and tone that you realize how few manuscripts are chosen for publication each year, and by the fact that you have done your homework and covered all the bases to ensure you’re giving the publisher everything they need to make a decision on your manuscript.
Avoid gushing and flattery, like adding the obvious sentiments, “I’ll do anything you say, make any changes you want, meet any deadline…” Just present your complete proposal and professionally express that you look forward to hearing from them.

A rule of thumb for first-time authors:

If you’re writing fiction, while some publishers may ask you to send your completed manuscript after reading your proposal, synopsis, and sample chapters, it’s highly unlikely they will actually offer a contract before they see that completed manuscript.

That’s because many people can come up with great ideas, and some can produce promising starts to novels. But few can see their way through to the end. You’ll have to prove you can do it.

If you’re writing nonfiction, you might be able to secure a publishing contract before you have finished your entire manuscript, though that is also rare.

Should it happen, the publisher is likely to offer a lot of guidance and input for shaping the rest of the writing—and you’ll have a much better chance of success if you work nicely with your editor.

Regardless your genre, publishers won’t take a second look at your manuscript unless it’s presented professionally. Use these submission guidelines:

Use Times New Roman font (or at the very least avoid sans serif fonts).
Use 12-point type.
Left-justify your page. (This means your text should be aligned at the left margin, but not the right. This is also called “flush left, ragged right.”)
Double-space your page with no extra space between paragraphs.
Each paragraph should be indented one-half inch.
One space between sentences.
Microsoft Word .doc or .docx file format.
1” top, bottom, and side margins (or whatever is standard in your Word program).

 

Editing Your Book Like Crazy (Again) with an Editor

By the time you get to this point, you’ve already spent hours editing your own work. You’ve rearranged, improved, and cut things that hurt to cut.

Be ready to do more.

Once a publisher agrees to take your manuscript, you’ll be assigned an editor to make your manuscript the best it can be.

This editor will suggest changes, maybe major ones—especially if it’s your first book.

Don’t get touchy. Writing is not a solo. It’s a duet between the writer and an editor.

Sometimes you’ll have to kill sentences that took hours to write. It’ll feel like disowning your children.

Remember, the editor is on your side. Throw a private temper tantrum if you must, but then cool down and listen. Let them to do their job. You can push back respectfully if you feel strongly that they’ve missed your point on something, but do this only when the sting of criticism has worn off and you’re thinking rationally. Keep an open mind and remain easy to work with. They’ll remember.

 

4. Should You Self-Publish?

If you can score with a traditional publisher, do it.

Exhaust your efforts to traditionally publish before resorting to self-publishing. Even honest self-publishing executives will give you this advice. Why? Because with traditional publishing, the publisher takes all the risks, and you’re paid an advance against royalties and royalties based on sales. Nothing comes out of your pocket.

With self-publishing, however, you pay for everything from design to editing. Packages can cost upwards of $10,000.

Back when self-publishing was referred to as “vanity publishing,” you could always tell a self-published book from a traditionally published book due to the lack of quality.

Schlocky covers, boring titles, the word by before the author’s name on the cover. Too much copy on the front and back covers. Poor typeface and interior design. Lousy writing, editing, and proofreading—sometimes clearly nonexistent.

But the game has changed.

Publishing your own book is vastly different than it used to be. Your end product can now look much more professional, and your price per book is much more reasonable.

Print-on-demand technology now allows for low-cost printing, so you can order as few as two or three books at a time for the same cost per book as you would pay if you were buying hundreds.

So, you no longer need to store countless copies in your garage or basement. And self-published books look nicer these days too, because writers have demanded it.

 

How to Set Your Self-Published Book Apart

If you resort to this route, realize that you are the publisher now. You have to advertise, promote, and market your own book. But because you’re earning the profits after expenses, not just a royalty, a successful book will net you more money per copy than a traditionally published one.

Admittedly, selling enough self-published copies to actually net you more money than you would make selling more traditionally at a lower royalty rate is rare, but it happens.

It’s also rare that a self-published book finds its way to bookstore shelves outside the author’s own town.

(The hard truth is that it’s not easy for even traditionally published books to place their books in bookstores. Experts say as few as one percent of all published books can be accommodated by bookstores and that the rest must be sold through other channels like the Internet, direct mail, and by hand.)

To give your self-published title the best chance to succeed, you need to invest in:

A great cover, which will involve purchasing a photo or artwork, type design, and layout
Inside layout, type design, and typesetting
Editing (resist the urge to use a relative who majored in English or even teaches English; book editing is a specific art)
Proofreading (same caveat as above; friends and loved ones who are meticulous spellers are not enough; there are myriad style matters to deal with)

Each of these elements will dramatically increase the professional look of your final product and, thus, your hope of selling more books. Do NOT skimp on them.

If you’ve ever built a house without a contractor, you have an idea of how complex this will be if you do it right.

So despite the fact that many self-published authors swear by it and believe it’s fairer to the author than traditional publishing, I maintain that traditional remains the ideal for authors—except for those unique titles that are targeted to deserving but very limited audiences.

 

Choosing the Right Company to Self-Publish Your Book

More than 400,000 books are self-published every year in the United States alone. So there are many companies to choose from. But sadly, many are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

They’ll let you create a poor product and tell you it’s great.

They’ll “award” you a contract, telling you their publication board has “evaluated” your manuscript and “found it worthy” to be published.

They’ll tell you that they’re “not a subsidy publisher” or “not a self-publisher” or “not an independent publisher.”

But they’ll use another euphemism to justify the fact that you’re paying “only for promotion” or “only for [this many] copies,” or “only for…” something else, when the fact is that the fee will cover all their costs and will include their profit.

They’ll imply they can get your title before the eyes of every bookstore owner and manager in the country. They might even give examples of a few titles of theirs that have sold into some stores or even made some bestseller list.

But they can’t guarantee your title will be sold into any store. Because that list your title is on that is “available” to every store owner and manager is merely a master list of all the books on some distributor’s Internet site of every title in their catalogue. That means your book will get no personal attention from a salesperson and no more emphasis than any of the tens of thousands of other titles on the list.

Such companies are using you as little more than a content generator, pretending to have “chosen” your book from among the many they have to choose from, when the fact is they would publish anything you send them in any form, provided your accompanying check clears the bank.

Be wary of any company that:

Doesn’t take seriously the editing and proofreading of your book
Lets you commit embarrassing typos such as spelling foreword as forward, foreward, or forword
Allows the word by before your name on the cover
Over-promises what you should expect in the way of personal sales representation, public relations, marketing, distribution, and advertising

That said, when you do need to self-publish, legitimate companies with proven track records are ready to assist you. Do your homework and go beyond an Internet search, which will likely turn up beautiful websites for countless companies putting their best foot forward.

Find previous customers and ask about their experience. You want a company who will answer every question straightforwardly and without hesitation. If you feel hard-sold, run.

A litmus test question for the publisher: Ask if they would advise you to exhaust your efforts to traditionally publish first. I asked this of the head of WestBow Press™, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, and he said he always advises customers that this is the ideal route.

That kind of refreshing honesty bodes well for a company.

 

The #1 Killer of Self-Published Books

When writers run out of money to invest in their book, too often the first place that suffers is the content itself.

Writers may understand that they are not experts in cover design, layout and typesetting, marketing and promotion, warehousing, distribution, and sales. But they overrate their writing and editing and proofreading abilities.

So, they invest in those other services and cut corners on editing and proofreading.

What they wind up with is a handsome product that looks like a real book but reads like the manuscript that made the rounds of the traditional houses and was rejected.

You must determine what will set you apart in a noisy marketplace.

That certain something that will set you apart is what it has always been:

Writing quality.

Having been in the writing game for 50 years and the book business for 40, that is something I am able to tell you.

To use an ancient adage, cream rises. That may sound like something scratched on a cave wall. But it simply means that readers recognize quality.

You or your agent may be looking for a deal from a traditional publisher. Or you may have chosen to self-publish online, in print, or both.

Regardless, you want your manuscript to be of the highest editorial quality you can make it.

What does that mean?

It means you must:

Learn the craft and hone your skills. Rigorously study writing, do exercises, write stories. It can all pay off. Just as with physical exercise, the more the better, but anything is better than nothing.
Recognize that writing well is much harder and more involved than you ever dreamed. If you thought writing was merely a hobby, this realization could crush you. To push through, remember why you wanted to become an author in the first place. You have a message, and people need to hear it.
Do not trust friends’ and relatives’ flattery . Sure, they’re great for keeping you from quitting. But when you need solid input on your writing, their enthusiasm won’t translate to sales.
Accept criticism and input from people who know what they’re talking about. Find an experienced writer or editor who’ll offer honest feedback on your work. Join a writers group. Attend writers conferences. Get a mentor.

If you really want to become an author, it can be done. You’ll know you’re ready when you’re willing to carve the time from your schedule to write.

How badly do you want it? Tell me in the Comments below.

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