The Details Matter

      

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Often in the writing community, I see someone who has missed the details and they matter. Inside a publishing company, there are many steps in the process (and through the years these steps seem to grow in detail). For example, if I don’t put a manuscript or proposal into our internal system  (which means responding to my email), then it does not get a letter of acknowledgement in the mail and then I don’t process it for a possible contract. If I miss this particular detail the author and their submission doesn’t get considered. Because of the large volume of submissions I have missed sometimes despite my best attempts to promptly communicate and keep these submissions moving forward. 

These details matter throughout publishing. In this article, I want to give you some specific examples that I have seen recently. I write these stories to emphasize and encourage you to take care of the details in your own publishing. The best publishing is also a team effort. It’s not my sole decision whether a submission is published or not. I have to champion your book to my colleagues, then each of them have to respond about the book. Sometimes I get a contract and other times the group decides to pass on a submission inspite of my best efforts to get the author a contract. From my years in publishing, I understand and respect this team effort. 

Recently another author reviewed one of my books on Goodreads. I was grateful for this positive review. When I read it, I noticed his incomplete profile on Goodreads which didn’t even have his photo. I was in the same position several yerfs ago. I took action and updated my profile, connected it to my blog and many other details. Today some people read these articles from my blog over on Goodreads. It’s not where I would read it but as authors we need to have our material accessible to people wherever they want to read it. 

For a variety of social media sites, other authors will use the ClickToTweet which I’ve added and share it with their audience. I’m always grateful for the additional exposure. Many of these people are missing a key detail: the royalty-free image from my article. It’s been proven that adding an image to your social media posts will increase your readership. People are drawn to the image then read the words. If you are like me and have no graphic design skills, I recommend getting lifetime access to MockUp Shots (follow the link). In a matter of minutes, you can have instant access to hundreds of images. 

Another simple way to get more attention with your posts is to tag the various people named in the post. I will often see these types of post on social media with this missing detail.

As I read various blogs and online articles, I’m looking for valuable content. If I find it, I look for an easy way to share this information on my various social media networks. While there are many different tools to easily add this information to your blog or article, I find many content creators have missed this important detail. Because it is missing, it is much more time-consuming to share the story.  It takes a bit more cutting and pasting, but I often go ahead and add the article or blog post to my social media feed. 

As an editor, I’m constantly receiving and processing new submissions from authors. Often I see where the author is missing some critical information such as their mailing address, phone number or word count.  Because of the missing address and phone information, I’m forced to write the author and ask for it. Without it, I can’t get their submission into our internal system to move forward. I suggest before you submit your material, take one last look to make sure you aren’t missing such a detail. Your editor will appreciate your additional effort. 

I’ve given a number of different types of examples where the details are important. Can you think of another area where the details matter? Let me know in the comments below. 

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Publishing is full of important details and they should not be missed. Why should you care? This prolific writer and editor gives you some specifics not to miss in your writing life in this article. (ClickToTweet)

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Put Your Spin On Your Writing

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the writing world, there are countless stories to be told in many different formats such as blog posts, magazine articles and books. As a writer, I enjoy helping other people shape and write these stories. It gives me a chance to put my own spin on these stories and get them out into the world. Each of us have an endless supply of such stories and personal experiences. One of the keys is to get your fingers on the keyboard and create them in the first place, then do the work to get them out into the world so other people can read them. Without pitching and making that right connection to an editor or agent, it remains something in your mind but not into the world.

 

Like the picture of the the spinning top in this article, the toy does not spin without someone taking action. Action is what we do as writers—day in and day out—especially if we want our words to get into the world. In this article I want to give you a couple of examples of how I put my own spin on my writing.

 

Social Media Posts

 

Through the years I've posted thousands of times on social media. In these articles, I've told about using tools like Hootsuite and ClickToTweet in this process. These tools help me be consistent and ClickToTweet gives others an easy way to pass on the article. In my social media plans, I will highlight articles and other writings from others. Each time I post, I make sure to include an image (since this image often draws people to read the words with the post). If the article I am highlighting has an image, I will use that image or if not, I will quickly find one to use with it.

 

For my social media posts, behind the scenes I've created my own “standard” and it's something I encouorage you to do as well. In addition to a photo with each post, I attempt to include the name of who wrote the article along with their Twitter handle (not everyone has a Twitter name but I search for it and try to add it each time). If the person has a tool to pass on the article, I use that as a starting point, then I add the name, shorten the link and if not there (add a couple of relevant hashtags). It does not take a lot of time to meet this standard but it brings consistency to my various social media posts—and yes I put some effort into these posts—something I encourage you to do as well.

 

Most of the time, I hear little from my social media posts (12–15 times a day) but then someone will comment or share or indicate some way they have read the post. Sometimes these posts are new and other times they have been out there for a long time. The interaction shows me that people read this material—whether they say anything or not. Don't be surprised if you don't get a lot of response. The key is go keep on going and be consistent.

 

Book Reviews

 

I've been writing book reviews for a long time with over 1,100 on Amazon and over 700 on Goodreads (follow this link if you want to see some of them). My reviews are my own spin or perspective on a particular book. Often I will quote part of the book (especially on print and not so much on audiobooks) which shows the reader that I've actually read the book and found a relevant quote to include in my review.  Throughout any week, I receive many more books that I can possibly read—much less write about—but I continue doing some of them on a regular basis (even though no one pays me for these reviews). If you read a book or listen to it, I encourage you to take a few minutes and write a review. It will be a way to support the author and also good for your writing life.

 

How are you putting your spin on your writing? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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The Value of Reading Plus Action

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Writers are readers and reading is a wonderful way to get ideas and find opportunities for your writing. Years ago I read about Disney Dollars in my local newspaper.  Since my childhood, I've been interested in coins and at that time I subscribed to a publication called The Numismatist. The Numismatist is the monthly publication of the American Numismatic Association I crafted a short query letter pitch to the editor and got an assignment to write an article about Disney Dollars. With my magazine assignment in hand, I approached the media office at Disneyland and scheduled an interview with a vice-president on the backlot of Disneyland. As you can see from this story, I turned reading a short newspaper article into a published magazine article. I did more than read the article. I used the article as a springboard to approach a magazine, get an assignment, then publish a magazine article. The process began with reading my local newspaper.

 

I found my idea through regular reading of my newspaper. Your ideas may come from an experience or reading a magazine or a book. I encourage you to read broadly—different genres and types of books and blogs and publications. You never know where the idea will come so be open. While reading is the foundation, it takes more than reading. You have to take action on what you have read.

 

While I've been blogging regularly since 2008, it's only in the last few years that I've included a ClickToTweet link toward the bottom of each entry. On a regular basis, I read Edie Melson's The Write Conversation blog. Over four years ago, she wrote a detailed entry with a Screencast about ClickToTweet. I carefully read that article and applied it to my own blogging. I began using ClickToTweet. As I monitor my social media feeds, I've seen many others use my ClickToTweets as an easy tool to pass on my article to others. Reading was my path to learn about this tool but I did more than simply read it, I took action.

 

Almost daily, authors and publishers mail books that they want me to read and review. I receive more material than anyone could possibly read—even if they read all the time. My own time to read is limited and something I do for fun and to support other writers and good books. If I read a book, then I write a short book review which I post on Goodreads (where I've written over 700 reviews and have 5,000 friends) and Amazon (where I've written over 1,100 reviews). I also post about my review on social media and tell the author or publicist about my actions. For example, last week I read Dr. Scott James children's book, GOD CARES FOR ME, HELPING CHILDREN TRUST GOD WHEN THEY'RE SICK. Here's my post about it.

 

In other articles, I've written about using Hootsuite to post 12–14 times a day on various social media platforms. You may wonder if people read these posts. Recently I spoke at the

Faith Writers Writing Conference (virtual). One of the participants was in Nigeria—because he read one of my tweets about the upcoming event. This coming week, I'm speaking at the Carolina Christian Writers Conference (virtual). There is still time for you to come to this event so just follow the link or click on the image.

 

How are you applying your reading into your writing life? For example, you can read about list building and the importance for every author but it does you little good if you don't apply this information into your writing life and work.  Let me know how your reading brings value to your writing in the comments below.

 

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An Often Forgotten Strategy for Authors

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

 

As writers, if you are going to be published, one of your consistent actions must be pitching editors and other decision makers in the industry. You can certainly blog and other actions on your own websites but in this article, I want to emphasize an often forgotten strategy for every author. I encourage you to write for other people's sites and platforms.

 

For many years, I've written and posted an article each week on this blog about The Writing Life. My blog began in 2008 but I have been consistent week after week posting an article. The result is over 1500 articles in this single location (and I will include more details toward the end of this article).

 

Besides creating new articles for my own blog, each month I have a number of other writing deadlines which have come over the years.  I'm a part of a small group of contributors at Writers on the Move. I write one article a month published on the 22^nd  each month. Here's the most recent link to my article, Some Good News for Writers.

 

Also I've started writing one article a month for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference blog. My most recent article posted last week, Why Do Writers Need to Build an Audience?

 

Several times a year, I have been submitting an article for the Suite T blog. My most recent article was Do Editors Fix All My Mistakes? This title is a variation of a chapter in my 10 Publishing Myths book.

 

Also earlier this year, New York Times bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins interviewed me for his Jenkins Writers Guild. We spoke for about 35 minutes about many different writing topics. After it was over, I asked for a copy of the interview. When I received it, I asked if I could also post the article on my blog. From the reaction, I suspect few of the people Jerry has interviewed have asked for this question. It involved several emails and negotiating an exclusive time period for the Jenkins Guild before I could release it. That time has passed and you can watch the interview here.

 

Since September 2011, I have written monthly column for The Wordsmith Journal called The Proactive Author. For many of these articles, I rewrite some of my blog articles but I have been consistently published in this publication for years.

 

These articles and places are a number of the locations where I am writing outside of my blog on a regular basis. If you look at these articles through following the various links, you will notice each article includes at least one link to a free resource the reader can get from me (if they give me their email address and first name). I have planned to add names and emails to my mailing list through appearing on these websites. I do deliver value in each case to these locations and my “payment” for this effort is to be able to give away free resources. I hope you can see the strategy and planning I have built into each of these efforts.

 

How can you take similar steps with your writing? Can you find these opportunties for your writing? I believe they are out there. It will take effort to find them but I encourage you to make this effort.

 

Tell Other Writers

Are you one of my email subscribers to this blog? If you aren't I encourage you to use this link and begin receiving these entries each week in your email. Also I encourage you to pass this link on to other writers and encourage them to subscribe as well. In advance, I thank you for your help to spread the word about this resource. Also notice in the right hand column of my blog, (scroll down) there is a search tool where you can use key words and search the entire blog database of over 1,500 entries. I will often use this tool but you can use it as well to find information on many different writing topics. Finally, please use my ClickToTweet link at the end of this blog to pass on the article to others through social media. Thank you in advance for this help.

 

Are you using this often forgotten strategy in your own writing? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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