Join the Generous Community

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

When they survey the personality of writers, the majority of them are introverts. Most people who have met me in person at a conference or an event would not categorize me as an introvert. I’ve taken personality tests and I do land in this category. At a party or event, I’d rather be sitting in the corner speaking with a person than leading the group or speaking to many people. Writing is something we do alone in our offices. Some writers intentionally need a busy environment to write so they will write in a coffee shop. I have written in those busy environments but it is not my preference.

While writing is a solitary activity, you don’t have to be alone or by yourself in this process. Years ago I learned to join the generous community of writers. Through my local writer group, I got connected to a community of writers. I joined a critique group (learn more how to do that here). At that time of my life, the bulk of the people I interacted with on a daily basis were Christians. I decided to expand my connections and I joined the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Some years I’ve been more active in this group than others. For over 20 years I served as the chairman of their membership committee. Unlike many groups, you have to apply and meet the member requirement of the ASJA to join it. Also I served a term on their board of directors and often attended their annual conference in New York City.

During one of those trips to New York, I rushed to the airport and when I reached my destination and unpacked, I discovered I had left my clothing in my closet at home. In NYC, I had a series of meetings scheduled with literary agents and editors and planned to wear my suit and be appropriately dressed. I called my wife, Christine, in a panic and she suggested, “You are in the biggest city in the world. Go buy yourself a suit.”

The next morning before my scheduled meetings, I went to Harold’s Square and purchased a suit off the rack. That shop adjusted my pants during the day and I returned later for them but I was appropiately dressed for my meetings.

The ASJA had two group meetings. One was the large well-known public meeting. A second meeting with a smaller group was only for members and held the day before the public meeting. That year, one of our members had written a book with Roselyn Carter and they had invited the Carters to attend our member meeting. As a regular member, I wasn’t invited to sit with the former President but with a colleague, we figured out where the Secret Service would sit and sat at that table.

That year I had written a new book with Joe Leninger, who traded for ten years in the Eurodollar Pit of the Chicago Merchantile. Broadman and Holman published our book, Lessons From the Pit and I had a copy in my briefcase. Also I knew Broadman Press published President Carter’s first book, Why Not the Best? I asked the Secret Service, “When could I give President Carter a copy of my book?”

He said, “I’d do it now because we are going to eat, greet and leave.” With the permission of the Secret Service, I signed my book to President Carter, then walked over to his table. The former President stood, shook my hand and graciously accepted the copy of my book. I have no idea if he opened and read anything in it but I know this book was the only one he carried out of the room that day.

I had this incredible opportunity because I joined the generous ASJA community. Among the members, a common saying is “We train our competition.” It’s true there is no competitive spirit among the members because there is plenty of writing work for all of us.

If you are feeling disconnected and alone as a writer, I encourage you to join the generous community and here’s some specific ideas:  

1. Make a short list of the types of groups that tie to your type of writing.

2. Join those groups online or in person and make plans to attend their gathering. 

3. When you are at the event, make sure you bring your business cards and swap with everyone you meet, then follow-up and expand your connections.

Through the years, I’ve met some incredible authors and writers through our generous community. I encourage you to not feel isolated in your writing but to take action steps to join the community and expand your connections and opportunity. I have no doubt my work and what I write and teach is built on what others have taught to me.

What actions are you going to take in this area to increase your connections to the community? Let me know in the comments below.

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Why Writers Should Care About Contract Details

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

One of the important elements in every book deal is the publishing contract. Yes I can see you possibly yawning and clicking away but I hope you will hang in there with me. First, I am not an attorney but I have studied publishing contract law and read numerous books on the topic—plus I've signed over 60 book contracts. Two of these contracts were lengthy with six-figure advances—and yes from well-known publishers.  I've learned some hard lessons in this process and often I hire my own literary attorney to review an agreement before I sign it because of those hard lessons.

 

Most contracts are buried in file cabinets and not in the public domain to show you for this article. The exception that I'm going to show you in this article is because this contract is in the public domain from a court case.

 

As a writer, I get a lot of enjoyment telling stories—whether the stories of others or my own stories. Crafting those details on my computer screen is a lot of fun. Yet as a writer, the task is much more diverse than just telling stories. As writers, we must wear many different hats and play many different roles. One of these roles is to carefully read and review our contracts and ask questions and clarifications. If I need help in this area of contracts, then I turn to my literary attorney or The Author's Guild. Even if you have never published a book, if you have a contract, you can join the author's guild. As a part of your membership, you can get their feedback and suggestions for your publishing contract. The time to get these clarifications and understanding for your contract is before you sign it.

 

Some publishers have lengthy contracts for a reason. Normally some author before you has caused an issue, so the resolution to that issue is an additional clause to their contract. For this reason, many of these agreements are lengthy and can have some innocent words with big meaning behind them. Part of the reason many publishing contracts are lengthy is because some author ahead of you has caused a challenge for the publishing company and they added a clause so this situation does not happen in future books. The exact words are important and another reason why you want an expert (someone who is looking out only for your interest) that you get to review the contract before signing.

 

Every publishing contract has an “acceptability” clause where the publisher gets to determine if the writer has delivered a manuscript which is acceptable to be published. This issue is why one of these dusty contracts is in the public domain and something I can show you in this article. The contract was done in the pre-computer days so it has crossed out sections and handwritten sections. It includes a four million dollar advance for two novels. Hopefully I've given you some motivation to look at this Joan Collins agreement. You can follow this link to see the agreement from the public domain.

 

As I understand the story, her agent crossed out the acceptability clause and she did not deliver a novel to the specified requirements. Random House balked at paying the remainder of the advance and the parties went to court. Because this acceptability clause was crossed out in the signed agreement, Random House lost the case—and publishers will always have this clause in their contract.  

 

How did I get a copy of this contract to show you? Years ago, I chaired a workshop at the American Society of Journalists and Authors annual conference in New York. I had three literary attorneys and a literary agent on my panel. One of those panelists was the former deputy consul at Simon and Schuster and brought this story and gave me the electronic version. When I heard these details, I pay attention. I also attend conferences and learn (something I recommend to every writer). Admittedly I've scratched the surface of a complex topic but hopefully given you some things to consider when you sign a contract in your future.

 

How do you process your publishing contracts? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Grow Your Writing By Teaching Others

Twice last week I taught about helping authors be more effective on Goodreads. I helped some of my colleagues at a local meeting of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. We brought our laptops and worked on improving our Goodreads tools right on the spot. I'm still learning about Goodreads and feel like I'm far from an expert—but I was further along the path than the people I was helping.

Then on Saturday, I spoke about Goodreads again to the Colorado Author League. There were more people in attendance during this second session and I helped authors increase their effectiveness on this significant site which has 40 million registered participants.

From this experience, I want to draw a couple of principles for you to use in your own writing and publishing life.

Teaching Forces You To Know The Details

While you may have experimented and learned some things when you create your own work, I have found teaching forces me to return to the basics and recall my early mistakes and successes. I have to capture the sequence of steps that I used and write them down.

As a part of teaching a workshop on a topic, I prepare teaching notes and a detailed handout for the participant. It is one step to gather information but quite another to put it into a format where the listener can take action and apply the information to their own work. I was focused on the people who take action and helping them succeed with the promotion and exposure for their books and writing.

Goodreads provides many tools for authors to help in this effort. It does not happen in a vacuum without action. It is passive to learn about a topic and gather information. The rubber meets the road when you begin to do something with this information.

You may intellectually understand millions of people use Goodreads, but if you don't become a Goodreads Author, work on your profile and use the site, then that knowledge is not being used. I've gained a much more detailed working knowledge of Goodreads because I taught it twice this past week to others.  You will have the same opportunity as you teach the skills you learn to others.

Teaching Gets You Out With Others

Most of us spend too much time in our office and computers alone and not interacting with anyone. Yes we are cranking words into our computers and sending emails. That process is great but does not get us out of our office into the world to interact face to face with others. This personal time with others is important on several levels. It helps you to listen to others and their ideas and learn what they are writing and working on. Also it gives you fresh opportunities.

When I taught twice about Goodreads, at each session I made new connections with other speakers and also with participants who attended the event. We exchanged business cards and emails. When you teach, make sure you bring business cards. As you meet new people, offer the other person a business card and at the same time, ask for one from them. Because I initiate this interaction, I'm often surprised that agents and others only have a few business cards and I get one of those few exchanges. If you bring plenty of business cards (which I do), you can make sure to be liberal with your business cards. 

Each participant at the event received my handout. I made a point to include some of my key websites and email information on the document. Why? Even if I don't exchange business cards with an individual, they have my information and can easily reach me. It is critical that anyone can easily reach you.

My major point of this article is the teacher learns more about a particular subject than anyone else. You can grow your writing life by learning new areas, then teaching it to others. How have you found this effective in your own writing life? 
 

The Constant Hunt for Excellent Writing

The view from  Lake Washington

Last weekend I was in beautiful Seattle at the Northwest Writers Association Conference. I've been privileged to speak at this conference several times over the years. I always find it invigorating to get away from my computer and phone for a bit to meet face to face with writers and talk about books and publishing.

In today's connected world, we seem to rarely get away from our computer and phone but at least we can grab the face to face time. Several years ago at this conference, I met retired surgeon Lloyd Johnson. In recent years, Lloyd has been writing fiction. We've kept in touch and when I joined Morgan James, I reached out to him to him and discovered he had a great novel called Living Stones. I championed his novel to my colleagues at Koehler Books, the fiction imprint of Morgan James. If you click this link, you can read a sample of the book and see the attractive book cover.

Lloyd's passion is about telling stories about the Middle East and he has taken that passion into his storytelling and novel. Lloyd and I had dinner at beautiful Lake Washington (see my photo) and talked about book publishing. He is excited about the forthcoming publication of his first book and has connections to some great nonprofit organizations in this part of the world. I was encouraging him to include in his launch plans some ideas to sell his books large numbers.

Most writers are thinking of selling books one book at a time. What if you could sell boxes of books with one connection? It can happen with the right mindset and planning. To learn more listen to this free teleseminar. It's an interview that I hosted with Ted Rogers and Vickie Mullins (use this link). Lloyd has an excellent novel and now needs to reach as many people as possible with his new book. If you have a book, I encourage you to spend some time in strategic thinking about how to reach new audiences.

All day Friday, the Seattle conference had a series of group pitching sessions. Each one had five or six or seven writers. Often these conferences have individual meetings so it was different to hear the pitches in a group. I am actively looking for excellent writing. Morgan James publishes nonfiction, fiction and even children's books (a challenging area for any new writer these days).

In this group setting, I focused on one writer at a time and heard their pitch. Yet everyone else in the group also heard the pitch and could learn from what worked or didn't work. It was a different dynamic than one on one pitching but the participants seemed to enjoy the interaction and learning experience. 

Since meeting these new people, I've been writing emails and encouraging these writers to send me their material. Morgan James receives about 5,000 submissions a year and only publishes about 150 books. Yet you can't have your material considered if you don't send it. During the conference, I participated in a panel discussion with all of the faculty (several other editors and literary agents). We agreed that often we encourage writers to submit their material. It was confirmed that many times, we ask for the submission at a conference and the writer never sends it. Talk about a missed opportunity! Yes no one likes to be rejected—but you can't get into the consideration process if you never submit it.

As editors and agents, we are on a constant hunt for excellent writing. Yes we are looking for authors who are connected to the marketplace. Yet good writing is always important. Are you a good communicator? How do you become a good communicator? Practice. Good writing will result in more good writing.

Several weeks ago, I attended an excellent workshop at the American Society of Journalists and Author Conference in New York City called Book Publishing: Making It in the New Frontier. Unfortunately this session was not recorded. The panelists included Jon Fine, the director of Author & Publisher Relations at Amazon.com, Amy Grace Loyd, the executive editor of Byliner, and Jofie Ferrari-Adler, a Senior Editor at Simon and Schuster. Moderator John Rosengren organized this excellent event.

While this workshop had a lot of information about the future of publishing, at one point, each of the experienced panelists talked about the importance of excellent writing. Whether you are writing for Byliner or magazines or books, your storytelling and writing has to be excellent.

How do you learn to be an excellent writer? I believe it comes from constant practice and working in the publishing industry. So many authors want to publish a book so they work for hours and hours on a long 40,000 to 100,000 piece of writing—yet they ignore the magazine market. It is much better to learn to write with shorter articles than to “practice” with a longer work like a book. You are better to start a blog and begin writing short articles or to learn to write query letters to magazines and then write the articles than to work years on a longer book which finds limited readers. Thousands of people will read your magazine work so don't ignore those possibilities.

I continue to write for magazines on a regular basis—and have done so for over 20 years. It's where I can practice my storytelling craft on a regular basis—and you can do the same.

I'm speaking at a number of places in the coming months. I hope to see you on the road and we can talk about your book ideas face to face. I'm on the continual search for excellent writing.

The Holy Grail for Authors

Every business has a pinnacle of success. It is the ultimate mark of achievement. In book publishing, much of this mark of success is tied to winning a particular award or getting your book on a particular bestseller list.

The ultimate bestseller list is to see your book on the New York Times bestseller list.. If you study this particular group of authors, you will notice the same names repeatedly land on this list. 

When an author lands on the New York Times list, the achievement is forever carried with their publishing life. They are introduced as a New York Times bestselling author. In many ways, it is the holy grail of publishing to achieve such a milestone.

I’ve never achieved such a milestone but I know a number of authors who have reached this goal. Last Thursday, I moderated a panel with three members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors who have reached this milestone and become New York Times bestselling authors.

I wrote some these words in another airplane on the way to this event. As the moderator, I pulled together the speakers and organized the session into three parts: the pitch or the proposal, the writing and the promotion and life changes that came from the experience. 

I asked each speaker to pull together some tips and suggestions into a handout. This handout was given electronically to the conference attendees. Also I printed a number of copies that I hauled to the event.

This event is at a "members only session" for the ASJA. In other words, you have to be a member of this organization (about 1400) and have registered for the conference and traveled to New York City for the event (an even smaller number).  Several other workshops were going on at the same time but I had a good number in this session.

Originally I scheduled four speakers and at the last minute one of them got ill and could not attend. Yet her information is in the handout. Here’s the handout for this event. I found this document insightful and hopefully you will as well. It is nine pages of solid information and insight.

I give it to you in hopes it will help your writing life.

A Valuable Free Resource for Every Writer

I will often find a book reviewed or mentioned that I would like to possibly read. During some periods of my life, I would often turn to an online bookstore or a physical bookstore and purchase that book. In these tight economic times, I tend to look in a different direction for my first course of action: the public library. Here's just a few of the ways I'm using my local library:

I have a public library near my home which I frequent several times a week. I've discovered an amazing array of movie DVDs at the library (and many of them are some of the newest releases).

I've become skilled at using their online catalog to request forthcoming books. If I read about a new novel which I'd like to read, I can often find the library has that book (or has it on order). I can get on the list of people to receive the new book when it is available.

If I look and the book isn't in the library, our library has an online system to "make a suggested purchase." It requires that I list the title, author, ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and the form that I would like the book (book, audio, etc) then the branch where I'd like to pick up the book if ordered. If my request is accepted, then I receive an email about it and I'm one of the first people to get the book when it gets into the system. Some of my requests are not accepted as well (par for the course but at least I tried). Recently I was looking for a new book from one of my American Society of Journalists and Author colleagues. It was not in the library system so I made this request and the librarian decided to order the book and I'm on the list for it. I wrote my author friend and she was naturally thrilled since I pointed a way that her book is getting into my local library system.

I enjoy listening to audio books in my car and the library is a perfect place to find some great books in this category. Last week I noticed some inexpensive audio books the Friends of the Library were offering. I've been wanting to read Barbara Walters' bestselling memoir, Ambition. I purchased the audio book for the grand sum of $3 and the audio for a Michael Connelly novel, The Fifth Witness that is currently on the bestseller list. I bought the audio for $8--at the public library.

As an author, I'm always interested to see if my books are in the public library. For my local librarian, I asked the name of the person in charge of the collection then called her and introduced myself. I offered to send a few of my bestselling books to the library (without charge). She wanted the books to put into the collection and explained how to get them to her. I followed her instructions and a few months later my books were in the public library system. Now I know we can't give our books away to every library but in a few cases like this one, it makes sense. If you donate books in my library without going to this extra effort, then the books are put in the "Friends of the Library" section and sold to the public. They don't accomplish my goal of getting them into the library collection. Make sure you investigate if you want to get them into the library collection.

If you want to know more about how to sell your books into the public library, I have a free teleseminar that I did with one of my author friends, Max Davis who has sold his book into over 3,000 public libraries. He gives the full details in the teleseminar so I hope you will listen to it. I will probably be changing this teleseminar soon but for now it is available and a great resource to learn about selling your book into the public library.

Do not overlook this valuable writing resource. Begin using it on a regular basis and you will be surprised at what you will gain.

Free Seasoned Writer Advice

When it comes to following advice from other writers, I've always looked for the most experienced sources. For example, if I'm attending a writer's conference, I want to take instruction from the most experienced and most published instructor. I will often carefully research their background as I make my choices about which classes to attend.

Not that I can't learn from new writers, from my experience, I've found someone who has written many books has much more depth to their teaching than someone who has only published four or five books.

For many years I've been an active member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. I've written about their conventions and other aspects of the organization. It is an unusual writer's group because to become a member, you have to meet specific qualifications. While the ASJA has a public aspect to their conferences, they have a monthly magazine for members. The internal part of the magazine is for members only but each issue has public pages with insightful articles which ASJA members write for the publication.

I recommend you sign up to receive the public version of the newsletter which is free. For example, the December issue includes an insightful interview from David Kohn with Philip Turner, the editorial director of Union Square Press. Or you can read what Joan Price learned about Book Publicity.

As an ASJA member, I look forward to each issue of the newsletter and normally I often read it the day that I receive it. Now you can read the public portion and grow in your writing with free seasoned writer advice.

An Intimate Look Inside

Throughout this week, I've been giving you a glimpse of my recent time in New York City. Besides giving you some information, my hope is that it is spurred you to consider the value of organizations like the American Society of Journalists and Authors as well as attending writer's conferences in general. It's a solid way to grow as a writer and in your craft.

The largest Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, announced they are not going to be exhibiting at the Book Expo (for the general market) nor the International Christian Retail Show (for the Christian market). This company has a large presence at these events and you can follow this link and read the details. Coordinated with this announcement, Thomas Nelson hosted a two day, open house with 100 of their top accounts which represented about 1,400 store fronts.

Late last night I watched Michael Hyatt's 40 minute presentation called Why I Am (Still) Excited About Christian Retail. If you care at all about Christian publishing, I encourage you to watch this presentation. It is an incredible intimate look inside at this leader of the sixth largest book publisher. Mike tells about how he came to know Christ and the importance of books in his personal life. I hope you will find it encouraging and strengthen your own resolve in this business. It certainly did for me. I would challenge you to find any other publisher -- general market or Christian -- whose leadership provides such a peek inside. It's rare.

Toward the end of his presentation, Mike talks about the proliferation of product in the marketplace and uses the statistic that 250,000 new books were introduced in the marketplace last year. I'm sure he's got his documentation for such a statistic but it is higher than I've seen before. And he said that Thomas Nelson brought out 500 new books last year. Then he told how 23% of these new titles accounted for 90% of their revenue.

What does this last statistic tell you? I'm admittedly a words person but I believe if you look at what is not said, 76% of these new books accounted for only 10% of their revenue. It affirms the general statistic that I've read in other places that 90% of nonfiction books never earn back their advance. Thomas Nelson finished their fiscal year on March 31st and Mike also said they are taking a hard look at their own product creation and going to cut their new titles for this coming year "in half." So instead of 500 new books, they will make about 250 new titles. It means fewer books will be given book contracts at Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher.

How do you react to such news? From my perspective, you have two choices. You can throw in the towel, leave book publishing and go into another business. I've seen a number of people make such a choice during my years in this business. Or you can see this information as an encouragement to improve your writing craft and improve your own visibility in the marketplace--whether you write fiction or nonfiction. The great manuscripts will always rise to the top and get published. Yes, you need a champion such as a literary agent and an editor inside the publishing house but it is possible.

I want to close this entry with an example of this type of writing. Many people want to write fiction--yet the opportunity for fiction is less each year with a growing number of writers competing for those few spots. Nonfiction out sells fiction year after year. In other entries, I've mentioned Joel C. Rosenberg and his political thriller fiction. I've been a fan since Forge Press published his first book, The Last Jihad. I just completed reading Dead Heat which is the fifth and final installment in this series.According to the March 31st issue of Publishers Weekly, "Tyndale's initial printing for Dead Heat...was 100,000 copies; two additional printings bring the total to 145,000...In May, he'll do a 10-city book tour to promote Dead Heat and to discuss his nonfiction bestseller, Eipcenter (more than 248,000 copies in print)." See the wisdom of a fiction author having a nonfiction angle to talk about with the media? Also Rosenberg's writing is brilliant and page-turning.

I hope you see this entry as a clarion call to excellence in your writing and storytelling. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you need to be working on and constantly practicing the craft of writing. Also you need to continually work at building your audience and presence in the marketplace. It doesn't happen overnight (for anyone as even someone like Joel Rosenberg can attest if you look closely at his background) but it can happen.

Speed Editor Encounters

Throughout this week, I've been writing about some of my experiences in New York City for the American Society of Journalists and Authors meetings. If you have never been to one of these sessions, I highly recommend that you do it at least once. There are many benefits for being a part of this organization. The Friday sessions are just for ASJA members. Unlike many other writers organizations, to get into the ASJA, you have to qualify for membership which raises the level of professional for the group as well as the meaning of membership within the publishing community. Over the years, I have consistently cherished my friendships within this organization and learned so much from different members.

For the last several years, one of the benefits of the Members Only meeting is a session called Personal Pitch. A large number of magazine editors, book editors and literary agents come to these sessions which are Speed Pitch Sessions lasting about nine minutes. Because the conference is based in New York City, many major publications have editors who are a short distance from the hotel. They can easily attend these pitch sessions for a few hours and hopefully receive some great new professional connections. While some editors come year after year, there are often many different editors at each one of these sessions. Members can sign up ahead of time for their pitch sessions and they are run very regimented.

You can feel the tension outside the room as writers line up and are mentally rehearsing their pitches and looking over their notes. Nine minutes is not much time so the key will be to ask some pointed questions, swap business cards and get right to it. In years past, they have had these sessions in smaller rooms within the Grand Hyatt.

This year the pitch sessions were inside the Empire State Ballroom with lots of room. The numbered the tables and spread the editors around the room with space between them. It allowed you to talk quietly to the editor and not feel as if you were too close to another session. I met with four book editors and a magazine editor. I made some great new connections and I'm excited about the future potential with these relationships.

As any pitch session--even the longer ones at other conferences--the key will be in the follow-up. With the follow-up proposal or query letter, the editor can make a solid decision in their office or run it past any colleagues for input. I would not have formed these new relationships if I had not been in these sessions at this particular conference. There are many great conferences in different areas. What are you doing to invest in your own writing career? I hope you have plans to attend one of these conferences. Whether it is something you learn from another participant or one of the faculty members, it could take your writing life in a completely different direction.

A Room Full of Ideas

Years ago Elizabeth Sherrill spoke at a class which I attended and told us, "Writers are swimming in a sea of ideas." It's true there are many ideas around us all the time but which ideas do you execute? Is there some idea which crosses your mind or path which ends up becoming significant in your Writing Life? I've had these ideas become significant in my writing life over and over. It's one of the reasons I continue to attend conferences and meet new people.

Over the last few days, I've been writing about some of my experiences in New York City for the American Society of Journalists and Authors Conference. I hope writing about these experiences will stimulate some of you to come to this conference next year or take advantage of attending at least one conference a year. These experiences build deep value into my own writing and much more than I can capture in these brief entries. Notice whether you went to this conference or not, you can get the recordings from it and gain from the experience.

One of the unusual features of the ASJA conference is a room called The Idea Marketplace. It started a few years ago when some vendors wanted to be able to pitch the hundreds of journalists who attend the conference.

I've found great value in this room full of ideas. Each year it is different (follow this link to see the list from last week). I've learned it's important to enter the room as early as possible and catch the various people while they are fresh and see what they are pitching. For example, this year Consumer Reports was a new exhibitor and brought some of their magazines along with a few flash drives which are marked on the outside, "Consumer Reports.org." This little storage device will remind me of my brief interaction with these people.

Each table had some literature and often some unique reminder of their company. The American Kennel Club had a plastic notched rolodex card with the shape of a dog sticking up. Blumenfeld and Associates were giving away bottles of water from Iceland (I'm serious). Other groups were set up to provide sources for health-related stories or other resources.

You never know what can come from some of these exchanges. I'm glad to have had the experience and hope it encourages you to make the effort to get to such an event.

Publishing Experiments

Late last week online I saw several articles about the new HarperCollins imprint which is trying a different publishing model. The headline blared, "New HarperCollins Unit Cutting Advances; Refusing Returns" Now there's a way to get some attention!

The article about this new unit in The New York Times contains a ray of hope for authors. While there is little or no advance, the publisher hopes to offer authors a 50-50 split on the profits from the book. “Typically authors earn royalties of 15 percent of profits after they have paid off their advances. Many authors never earn royalties.” Yes, I’ve read 90% of nonfiction books never earn back their advance. A 50-50 split provides hope that authors can earn consistent income from their publishers—provided the book sells which is always a big caveat.

The other area of innovation involves not allowing returns for retailers. Many authors are unaware that booksellers have books in their stores on consignment. If they don't sell in a period, then they are returned to the publisher for a full credit or refund. This policy is a hold-over from the Great Depression according to Making The List by Michael Korda. Retailers complained about the risk of book publishing even then and the policy was established--and it has not been reversed. Can you think of another major product which operates in this way? I applaud HarperCollins for attempting something different about this long-term challenge for any publisher.

My entries about The Writing Life are going to be thin (if at all) for the rest of this week. Early tomorrow, I'm headed to New York City and a series of meetings for the rest of the week. I'll be speaking at the Grand Hyatt next door to Grand Central Station on Saturday as a part of the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference. I'm on a panel about blogging and it should be fun. I'm certain I will learn some new things that I'll come back here and capture.

Do You Have A Long-term Strategy?

When it comes to hitting a goal or a target, there is a saying, "If you aim at nothing, you will be sure to hit it."

Do you have dreams about where you want to take your writing in the future? Many of us have dreams and ambitions about publishing but do you have a strategy which you are working to achieve that dream? Where do you find experienced advice in this area?

For many years, I've known Annie Jennings who leads the national PR firm, Annie Jennings PR. Several years ago, we met at one of the American Society of Journalists and Authors conferences in New York City. Annie has a wealth of information for writers and publishers about reaching the marketplace. As USA Weekend magazine journalist Peggy Noonan says, " Annie Jennings does a wonderful job of grasping the essence of the story and finding exactly the right people."

What a wonderful endorsement but how do you get on Annie's radar as an expert? Tomorrow or Thursday, January 24th, you can take the first step in this process. It doesn't matter if you have never been published or you are a seasoned and much published writer. Take advantage of this free resource.

I'm hosting a 90-minute teleseminar with Annie Jennings about how to become a million dollar expert. Not even close to becoming a million dollar expert? No problem because you will learn the strategy, mindset and the marketing from Annie.

This informative session is absolutely free. Use this link to sign up and ask some questions. Also in appreciation for filling out the form, Annie Jennings PR will send you a personal copy of her blockbuster new CD called "Create The Optimal PR Strategy."

And if you can't make tomorrow night's session, it will be recorded. Every registrant will receive the information about how to get the replay (which you can download to your iPod or listen to any time on your computer). But to receive this information, you have to register. I look forward to this valuable session with Annie Jennings.

More Than A Memoir

The writing community has been stirred and drawn to "memoirs." It's given writers great hope they can find a traditional publisher for their personal story. Such hope is filled with danger because many of those personal stories don't have the national pull to become a bestseller. The majority of them are rejected almost immediately and if they appear in print, they are magazine articles. To all of these "regular practices" and "unwritten rules" within the publishing community, there are exceptions. I wanted to tell you about one of these exceptions and why you should rush out to read: If I Am Missing Or Dead, A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation.

Behind the scenes, I've been gently cheering for this book and I’m glad to be able to tell you about it here--and other places such as my Amazon review. Janine Latus is a long-time friend and fellow member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. From a distance, I've watched her hone her writing craft in many mainstream magazines and excellent journalistic writing. In October 2005, O magazine ran an intense personal story called "All The Wrong Men." Janine's article was selected as an award winner at the ASJA 2006 conference. This article was the springboard for Janine's book proposal for her first book. The proposal set off an intense bidding war which Simon and Schuster eventually won.

Janine wrote the book at a nearby coffee shop. In my view, the writing process of telling such a personal story must have been difficult and draining. The process of reliving the experiences captured in this book must have been tough. For a first-time author, I was interested to learn S & S printed over 120,000 copies, which indicates their expectations for this book. Publisher's Weekly gave the book a starred review (scroll down to see it from this link). Other reviews have appeared in People and Entertainment Weekly. If you go to Starbucks (I'll admit not to being a frequent customer), then I understand If I Am Missing is selling a flash drive with the first chapter of the book and part of the money goes to Amy's Courage Fund. The book is a tool to spur the movement against domestic violence. It is much more than a moving memoir. If you get the book, you should know besides being riveting, it does include some graphic language. Because I don't typically read or write these types of books, I just wanted you to be aware of what's inside the pages and not be shocked at my recommendation. It's true to life so the material is included. After reading the book, my admiration for Janine has grown. Her desire is for the book to be an integral part of a movement against domestic violence. I celebrate the creation of things like Amy's Courage Fund as a means to help women who are trapped escape these abusive relationships.

I will probably write more about If I Am Missing Or Dead in the future. For now, celebrate this new book and go to your favorite bookseller and pick up a copy.

A Stirring Place for Ideas

For the last several years (maybe five), the American Society of Journalists and Authors Conference has included a feature called the Idea Marketplace. Different vendors who want to reach writers have a little exhibit and pass out information during the conference. I've always found my interaction with these people stimulating for ideas and research.

Many of these exhibitors try to stir interest with interesting giveaways that make an impression. This year Memorial Hermann Health Care Systems was giving away jump drives or memory sticks which contained their press kit. It was not a hard sell to get me to put one of these little boxes into my bag and then use it. The New York Public Library gave away a beautiful full-color bookmark along with information on their services. Pharmavite was handing out vitamins with their information plus they gave out a DVD that shows how vitamins are manufactured. The American Academy of Osteopathic Surgeons were back with their writing pens that look like a large bone (always a conversation piece and a functioning writing instrument). The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing people were handing out small Teddy Bears along with ornate luggage tags and a reporter's notebook (each item included their website address and contact information). Even the United States Government was exhibiting with their little red, white and blue uncle sam hats (a stress relieving device). The Society of Professional Journalists were handing out plastic mugs which asked the question, "Has your career gone cold?" Then when you add a hot beverage, it changes and shows logo for journalismtraining.org (part of their society).

Ok, I picked up a bunch of different gadgets and stuff. What's the pay off for that exhibitor? They are stirring ideas and resources for writers. Months down the road when I need some bit of copyright information, I can turn to the USA.GOV website and search for it because I have a little uncle sam hat stress relief gizmo. Or if I write about health and need some resources to interview, I can contact Memorial Hermann because their press information is on a memory stick that I carry with me.

The payoff for the writer is stimulation of ideas for magazine articles or books. It was a terrific spot to walk around and collect information and another one of the benefits from attending the American Society of Journalists and Authors Conference. As writers, we have many different ideas. The key will always come in the execution. How can you take one of these ideas and carry it into action?

Learn From the ASJA Award Winners

One of the annual highlights of the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference is the member day meetings. This year for the first time, the information about the member day was included in the public brochure. Only ASJA members can attend the member day, which is held the Friday before the public Saturday and Sunday conference. Because of this restricted access, there is typically a rush of applications to the membership committee in the weeks prior to the conference.

Each year, the number of members attending the annual conference has been increasing. In the last five years, the ASJA has grown from 1,000 members to now over 1,300 members. This year for the Friday awards luncheon, the event was moved from a smaller ballroom into a much larger place so the entire group could comfortably fit into the room.

Over ten years ago, one of our members wrote a book with Roselynn Carter. President and Mrs. Carter were invited to attend the ASJA members-only luncheon and came to the event. I received an incredible opportunity to meet a former President of the United States and I told the full story several years ago.

At the luncheon, the awards committee presents a series of awards to members for their outstanding contributions to nonfiction writing in books and magazines. They announce the winners and normally the articles are available at the end of the session for members to read and study the craft of these writers. This year, the committee tried something different. Instead of massive duplication of these articles, they gave us a press release with links to each of these articles. The press release is available online. I suggest you study these articles as another means to increase your insight into the craft of writing.

A Dose of Encouragement

No matter where you are in the writing world, each of us need it--a solid dose of encouragement. While some people think I make it look easy, it's not. I continually struggle with writing the right things at the right time on the right day. Like every writer, I have screaming thoughts as to whether I've put the right thing down at the right time.

I've returned home from a whirlwind trip of five days at a family wedding in Southern California. We drove back from California to Arizona a little over a week ago. That evening I reorganized my suitcases and took off early the next morning for five nights in New York City. I'm delighted to be home for a few days (very few since I travel again in less than a week). My trip to New York was predominately a part of the annual conference for the American Society of Journalists and Authors, which is the leading nonfiction writers group in the nation. I was a bit amused when a fiction writer stopped me in the hall way and said we should have more on our program for novelists. This writer noticed my "board member" ribbon on my name badge. I patiently explained the nonfiction emphasis of the society and how we had intentionally limited our fiction offerings. It didn't help this writer figure out which panel she would attend for her next session (which was her immediate need). I had countless interaction on many different levels during these sessions. It's part of the reason that I attend this conference because I never know what terrific thing can happen from a single conversation. I've seen it happen many times in the past and know it will come from these meetings as well.

While the link to the tapes of these sessions is not yet on the ASJA website, please keep track of this link. If you could only choose one offering (and there were many outstanding sessions), I'd suggest you get Jeannette Walls keynote address on Saturday. Jeannette is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle. If you haven’t read her book, I recommend it. If you don’t know the story, Walls is a journalist who writes about celebrities for MSNBC. The Glass Castle is her personal memoir about her growing up years. The book remains on the paperback bestseller list and many reading groups and others are using this book. Her talk was a great encouragement to any writer. I will give you several of her points. First, she underestimated people's reaction to her story. Walls was certain that she would lose her job at MSNBC if people knew her true story. Then she spoke about how each writer needs to determine what is the story and what is their own perspective on the truth? "The truth is whatever you choose to make it. With any story that you tell, you choose how you will tell it and how you will shape it."

"Painful memories are difficult to include but you have to put it in. You need to get the whole story down on paper then choose which parts you will ultimately keep," Walls told us. "Substantial nonfiction writing is sharing the experience. It’s about honesty and being honest with yourself. We all have our fears. Our biggest demon is to face our fears. It can't hurt you. Harness it and use it for good. Don't be afraid to look them in the eye and face them down." Later she told us, "I believe the truth shall set you free and I'm living proof of that." Walls encouraged each of us to chase our dreams as she has done.

There were over 700 writers in the room at this luncheon. I don't know how Jeannette Walls impacted the others but for me, she certainly gained a fan of her work and her writing.