Listen, then Make Adjustments

 

 By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Throughout my day as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, I receive a wide variety of email. As an author, I also get another set of emails. Also I’m speaking with authors on the phone and listening to their responses. 

Sometimes in this process, I learn some elements of my online presence which need adjustment. Recently one author introduced me to another author. In her email response, the new author mentioned she followed the link to my bio from my email and signed up for my newsletter. When I read this line, I asked myself, “Which newsletter?” 

During the last year, my newsletter has gone through many changes and adjustments. For over 20 years, I used a shopping cart for my newsletter which closed and involved a detailed behind-the-scene change to my online presence. 

Because of her comment, I took another look at this bio and in particular where this person could sign up for my newsletter. I saw she was using the wrong form and the wrong newsletter. Through many emails to new authors, I often refer to this link but it had been years since I made adjustments to that page. With this new insight, I made the effort and eliminated the wrong form and replaced it with the right one. My change came because of one person’s short feedback. If you haven’t subscribed to my weekly A Publishing Insight newsletter, I encourage you to follow this link and subscribe or forward it on to other writers. 

Throughout your day, are you listening to the feedback and making adjustments? It’s part of how we grow and improve as writers and communicators.

Here’s another recent example, I looked at this author’s blog post and encouraged him to use this article as the start of a personal experience story for a print magazine. Many authors don’t consider how to get more exposure and mileage from their writing. One of the easy ways for every writer is creating a personal experience article which many different publications are using. This author liked my idea and mentioned he was going to submit to two different publications. 

Because of my magazine writing experience, I knew these two publications each had large circulations. If a publication has a large circulation, they receive many submissions and overall it is more difficult for a new writer to grab attention and get published in them. You are entering a large competition for the editor’s attention and go ahead. 

I reached to my bookshelf and pulled out the 2026 Christian Writers Market Guide. It is important to have the latest edition of this guide because much of the information changes from year to year. When you pitch a magazine editor, you want to make sure you are following their current guidelines and use the current editor’s name. The guide has a topical index for magazines. The personal experience section listed 46 publications looking for these types of articles. The magazines with large circulation are in this section. I suggested the author select a couple of other publications with strong circulations (over 100,000 readers) yet lesser submissions and competition. 

Here’s several other actions before you submit to these publications:

--read their writer’s guidelines (which can normally be found online and will tell you the specific needs of the publication. If you pitch toward one of these needs, you will have a greater chance ot attention and possible success.

--read some of the publication’s articles online. Who are their readers and notice their audience. If you want target this audience with your pitch and article, you once again have a higher chance of publication.

--look for a theme list. In some cases, the editor has created a theme list for different issues in a year. From my magazine editor experience, I know how rare it is to receive a pitch tied to the theme list. In fact, I’ve had to call and email authors to gather enough submissions for a particular theme issue.

--tell the editor that you are submitting simultaneously. Some publications take a long time to respond. Other times the editor will say he doesn’t need a 1,200 word article but would love to have one which is 750 words. Then I submit the 750 word article.

With each pitch to a publication, you are building your relationship and credential with that editor. If you are a book author, I encourage you to use your personal experience stories in your book (or that you have in your life) then turn those into magazine articles. You will likely reach more readers through your print articles than any book will reach (thousands). At the end of your article, you can include a once sentence statement like: Terry Whalin is the author of 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed In general these magazine bios are short and may or may not include a website link to your book. Every author needs the repeated exposure to readers about their book. We’ve learned readers need to hear about your book as many as two dozen times before they buy your book. Every author has to create many different ways to tell readers about your books. 

I told these stories to highlight our need as authors to listen to feedback from others and make adjustments. What steps are you taking? These actions are not difficult and can be learned but are skills you can use over and over with your writing life. Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

As a writer, you need to listen to feedback from others then make adjustments. In this article, this prolific author and editor gives the specifics for you. (ClickToTweet)

Through my years in publishing, I’ve written for over 50 publications and more than 60 books with traditional publishers. Several of my books have sold 60,000 to 100,000 copies. I’ve also written different types of books such as biography, children’s books, how to/ self-help, co-authored and devotional books. From speaking with different authors about their books, I find many unrealistic expectations. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote  10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. 

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