The Writing Life: Try Something New

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the world of publishing, people fill many different roles such as writer, editor, agent, publicist and many others. Recently one of my writing friends released a new book from a major Christian publisher. As I've mentioned in these articles, this release event happens with about 4,500 books every week.

The Advanced Reading Copies (ARC) for this new book arrived at the author's home the day before the release date (late to be of much use since the book is out). I have not seen this particular ARC but typically these books are created in advance of the book release, have different information about the book and release date on the back cover and printed in small numbers for book reviewers, the press and a few other categories. These books are costly to create because of the small printing numbers. With over 4500 new books published every day, ARCs are reserved for a few titles the publisher believes is important and worthy of the limited marketing dollars to create these specialized books. My friend told me about the late arrival of his ARCs and on my own I offered to ask some writers if they would read and review, then compile a list of addresses to send to this friend. It's something I've never done before and I have no financial gain from promoting this book. I was simply willing to help.

I turned to a couple of Facebook groups with Christian writers. I wrote a short post about the author, the book. I asked the writer to email their mailing address and willingness to post the review on at least Amazon but hopefully some other places as well. These groups had many members and I had no idea the response. 16 people responded. These people get a free copy of the book and the opportunity to make a new relationship with the author (who will be grateful for their help). I encourage you to look for these opportunities and take advantage of them because they can be the start of something else in your writing life.

I've been reading ARCs from publishers for decades. My first time was at an American Bookseller convention in Los Angeles in 1987. At the Doubleday booth, I picked up an ARC for a new book called Covenant House. The meeting was in May and the book released in the fall or at least six months before the release. I was interested in reading the book (always the first step because not always the case). I thought, “I can write about this new book.” I wrote a query letter to a Christian magazine (no longer in print) and asked if I could review Covenant House. As I look back on my query, it was not in perfect alignment with this evangelical magazine. Covenant House was from a Catholic priest who was rescuing homeless children. Yet my pitch to the editor worked. He said yes (probably on speculation) and gave me a deadline and a word count. I read the book, crafted my review and sent it to the magazine. It was accepted and published for my first published book review. I began to write more book reviews. For years, I reviewed each month for a Christian trade publication. I've also written book review columns for a couple of magazines (no longer in print). I selected the books for these magazines (which reached thousands of readers). Publishers added my name and address to their list for new releases and the books poured into my mailbox.

Back to my friend and the late ARCs on his new book. I emailed him the addresses from those who volunteered to read his book and review it—something I had never done before but I was trying something new. Notice I've left out some details in my story—the author, the title of the book and the publisher. I tell the story so you will see there are many missed opportunties in this business. I don't want to do anything to hurt my own relationship with the publisher or author—who will be around hopefully for many years in the future. As I've mentioned in the past, you never want to publish anything to hurt your relationship. While it may seem big on the surface, the publishing community is small and interconnected.

What are you going to try that is new? There are many opportunities in publishing but you have to pitch and take action for them to actually happen. You could publish in a newspaper, a magazine, be on a podcast or radio station or any number of other possible things. You have to reach out to that editor or the person running the radio station or podcast and make a compelling pitch.

Throughout publishing, there are many opportunities but you have to take the first step. This prolific editor and aiuthor details trying something new. What new things are you trying? Let me know in the comments below.

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