Failure To Be Consistent

   

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Each week for years, I’ve been writing these articles about the writing life and my work in publishing. With each article, my intention is to capture some important detail which I can use to encourage you in your own publishing journey.

In this piece, I want to admit a failure and a commitment to change and improve. Here’s a reality in the publishing world, you can align most of the pieces of a project--but if you neglect or forget one step, it can affect the results. I compare it to following a recipe to bake a cake and leaving out a key ingredient, then wondering why the cake tastes strange and does not work. The same principle is true in the book business.

For many years, I’ve gathered email addresses and have a newsletter list. It’s one of the critical elements for every writer to connect with readers. An email newsletter is something you control as an author and is not a “rented” space like a social media site such as X or Facebook or LinkedIN. Repeatedly I’ve learned that I have no control over these social media sites--especially when they change their rules and don’t tell you (which happens often). 

Every author needs to create an email newsletter and gather email addresses then they need to consistently use their newsletter or send valuble information to their readers. Over the years, I’ve worked hard to create various lead magnets or ways people will sign up for my newsletter. I’ve grown my list and my visibility in the marketplace (all important steps for every writer).

Here’s my confession in this piece and where I’ve failed to be consistent: with an inconsistent pattern, I’ve used my newsletter. Sometimes I go several months without sending anything to my readers. The experts say you can’t overuse your email list. I’m on a few lists which email daily. If it becomes too much then I unsubscribe. These same experts tell us if you use your newsletter too infrequently, your reader forget that they have subscribed to your list and don’t open it or simply delete it when it arrives. 

In the past, I’ve used my newsletter to promote a product where I’m an affiliate or I use it to promote a new product or book. These are good uses for a newsletter but I was missing the consistent and steady use to my readers.

Here’s another failure related to the details of my newsletter articles. I wrote each one on target and relevant to my readers but I included a variety of connections to other websites. This failure watered down the effectiveness of my communication and didn’t help the reader focus and go to a single location or single resource.

From my years in publishing, I understand failure is a key part of the journey. Also when you fail, you need to learn and then change or make adjustments to your process. As a writer, I’m committed to continuing to learn and grow--and I encourage you to take the same approach.

In recent months, I’ve been taking Rob Eagar’s online course Selling Books on a Shoestring Budget. This course is currently closed but will open again next year. One of the advantages of taking Rob’s course is the ability to email him a question and get his answer. It’s been great to have such a resource and insight. From this course, I’ve learned how to pitch and appear on more podcasts. It’s an ongoing process to pitch and appear on these events. Often these podcasts are recorded at one time then launched later. For example, I recently appeared on Hungry Authors Podcast and The Writing for Immortality Podcast. 

Also Rob’s course encouraged me to use my newsletter on a more consistent basis and to focus it with one link in each newsletter.  I’ve started sending these newsletters on Wednesday and I begin each subject with [A Publishing Insight]. As of this writing, I’ve sent newsletters for six straight weeks but I’ve scheduled content for about a dozen newsletters. I will be creating more newsletters in the days ahead. In this consistent action for my newsletter, I’m using one of the principles from The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. If you make small changes on a consistent basis, they can compound to give you the success that you desire. 

Here’s another key principle of the publishing journey. It’s important to learn what others are doing and gain that knowledge. But that knowledge doesn’t add anything to your life and work if you don’t take action and apply it to your writing life. Keep taking action and some will fail but some will succeed. It’s a journey not a defined path. 

Change is not easy but I’m determined and a work in progress. Watch and see but also apply these principles of consistency to your own writing life and see if you find the success that you seek. There is not a straightforward road or path. If there were such a thing, then every book would be successful. Instead the process involves consistent experimentation, change and adjustment. I’m commited to this process and hopefully you are as well. 

Are there areas of your writing life where you have failed to be consistent? Let me know in the comments below and how you are making changes. I look forward to reading your comments.

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Why Re-Read Some Books

  

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Do you have some books on your shelf that you re-read from time to time or maybe even once a year? One of my friends re-reads The Lord of the Rings every year. Through each reading experience, she sees something new about the story.

For many years, I have been reading and re-reading a single book, The Bible. Reading The Bible is how I begin my day. Each year I choose a different version and this year, I’m reading The Daily Bible NLT. With each reading, I learn something different.

There are merits to re-reading and that’s what I want to examine in this article and give you a couple of resources to read and then re-read. If you follow me on one of my social media platforms like X/Twitter, you know I am a follower and fan of Darren Hardy and his Darren Daily. For years, I have posted them five days a week, because I watch them each time and believe in his encouragement to become “better every day.” 

As I’ve written in these articles, new books for my limited reading pour into my office several times a week. I rarely re-read a book but recently I re-read

The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy.  I got this bestselling book directly from the author--and you can too if you follow the link. For the postage of $6.95, you will receive the book but also the audio version. As I read through the book again, at the same time, I listened to the words. Each time I go through the book, I have different insights about how to apply the information to my writing life. I hope it will be a resource for your writing life. 

With personal stories and insights, Darren Hardy gives the honest truth about how to survive and thrive in the middle of the ups and downs of life as an entrepreneur--and every writer is an entrepreneur (whether you call it that or not). Hardy compares it to the thrill of riding a roller coaster. The book also includes worksheets and other resources for you to apply the information to your life.

After re-reading The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster, I returned to Darren Hardy's first book, The Compound Effect. If you follow the link, you can also get the hardcover version and the audio book of The Compound Effect for only the postage of $6.95. As I re-read the book, I’m listening to the audio of each chapter. I’ve learned to download them to my phone and can listen to them anywhere. I love the flexibility and the insights for my writing life from listening and reading this information.  

The essence of the compound effect is how making small incremental changes in your life, can give you the edge you need to find success. The book is aligned with Darren Hardy's hashtag for Darren Daily #BetterEveryDay. If you make small changes in an area of your life, it can have big results. For example, no one sits at their desk and writes a complete 50,000 or 100,000 word book. Instead you write a page, then a chapter, then another chapter over a series of days and weeks until you complete the manuscript. The writing process is a mirror of what Hardy is discussing throughout The Compound Effect. 

Do you re-read books on a regular basis? Which books and why? Let me know in the comments below. 

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Every Writer Is An Entrepreneur

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the writing community, there is an age-old discussion about whether a writer needs talent or can learn the skills to be a writer. From my perspective, talent is a God-given ability but the skills and how-to information about craft are elements that each writer can learn. In fact, each writer when you enter this business as you submit or pitch your work, you are forming your own business and entering the world as an entrepreneur.

While I’ve written about the up and down sides of the writing life in these hundreds of entries, in 2008, I compared my life as a writer to a roller coaster. When you submit your work to an editor or agent, your optimism is high as you wait for a response. It is like when you’ve gotten on a roller coaster and that car is climbing the steep area toward the top of the experience. Then when the agent or editor engages with you about your submission, you have the excitement about what could happen with your work as it gets into the marketplace. It’s the same sort of exhileration when you fly down the first steep area of the roller coaster. 

The business aspects of publishing are comparable to the ups and downs of a roller coaster. Last week, I pulled a book from my shelf called The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster. I’ve had this book for several years yet had not read it. Maybe you have a few books like that on your bookshelf.  I also have the audio version of this book. Over several days I listened to the audio while I read the words in the book. I used this method of reading to be fully focused on the contents and absorb as much of it as possible. 

For my life in publishing, I found the stories and the how-to information relevant and practical. In this final entry on the Writing Life for the year, I want to give you the ability to have the same experience. On his website, Darren Hardy offers you this book for only the postage of $6.95. His offer includes more than the hardcover book, but also the audiobook files and other resources such as worksheets for each chapter. 

I highly recommend you take advantage of this offer. Don’t follow my example and leave the unread book on your shelf for several years. Instead I encourage you to find the time to read and listen to this book. Then as you consume this book, apply the lessons to your writing life. The experience will help you understand and succeed with your journey as a writer. 

As you think about your writing life, do you identify with the comparison to a roller coaster? Let me know in the comments below.

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The Writing Life Rollercoaster

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Our life as writers is filled with highs and lows. When our work gets published, it's a high. Maybe it is a magazine article or a chapter in an anthology or your first book or ____ book. When each of these pieces get into the world, it makes you feel good.

 

Then there are the lows when you get a negative royalty statement. If you've never heard this term, it's where you received an advance from your publisher but the book hasn't earned back or sold enough books to make any more money. You still get statements from the publisher but they are in the minus or negative category. Or you look at your reviews and see a one star review where someone threw your book into the subway trash can. I didn't make up that line but someone actually wrote that statement on an Amazon review about one of my successful books.

 

These highs and lows of the writing life can be compared to riding a rollercoaster. As you ride, the rollercoaster slowly climbs to the top but when you reach it, you know you are headed down on the other side. Every writer experiences these highs and lows as a part of our writing life—including me. 

 

How do you ride through these highs and lows of the writing life? It's what I want to give you in this article. There are several key practices for every successful writer to practice. I'm not talking about practicing something once but building it into the fiber of your life and doing it over and over.

 

Persistence and Perserverance. As writers, we are told “no” a great deal—at least it happens in my life. Phone calls aren't returned. Contracts are not taken when offered. Projects get cancelled and many other things happen in the process of working with others. Yes, it hurts and is “not personal but business” along with other phrases people use to soften the blow. When you have this experience you can certainly quit and move away from the project. Or you can do what Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen did as they were rejected 140 times for the Chicken Soup for the Soul proposal. They looked at each other and said, “Next.” See the hope built into that word? The current project wasn't a fit for you but you are turning and looking for the next one. Your persistence and perserverance is what will count to eventually make it happen.

 

Consistency.  Since July, 2008, I've posted on Twitter over 68,000 times. Yes, that is a lot of posts. If you look at my Twitter Feed, I post about 12–15 times a day in a consistent pattern.  At times, I wonder if anyone is reading these posts or cares. In April, I met a high-profile author and the first thing he told me is that he reads my Twitter posts. He applauded my consistency and how I stay on message with these posts.  I blog consistently and write these new entries every week. These are just two examples of my consistent actions. What steps are you taking consistently. Are you meeting new people through LinkedIN or Facebook, then helping those people? Are you pitching new editors or podcast hosts or radio programs or something else you want to do? Your consistency will pay off in the long haul. Nothing is immediate in this business. As Jerry B. Jenkins wrote in the Foreword of my 10 Publishing Myths: Left Behind was his 125^th  published book. He was not an overnight success but has consistently worked at his craft and presence in the publishing world. Left Behind was originally published over 20 years ago and continues to sell at least 10,000 copies each month and the series has sold over 60 million books. Consistency is an important quality.

 

Continued Improvement and Growth. I've never claimed to be the best writer in the room but I am one of the more persistent and consistent writers. Another key to this writing life rollercoaster is continuing to grow and improve as a writer. I love what Darren Hardy encourages in his Darren Daily. He has created the hashtag #BetterEveryDay. It's why I continue to read books on the craft of writing, take online courses and learn from others. It's a key part of my writing life—and hopefully your life as well.

 

Knocking on New Doors. I've gotten wound up on this article so I'm going to bring it to a conclusion. Be meeting new people and pitching new projects in new places. The opportunities are there but you have to be knocking on the doors.

 

I've given you some important characteristics for the writing life rollercoaster. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

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How To Fill Your Empty Calendar

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Like most freelance writers, I have an empty calendar for many days. How do I fill that schedule with productive activity that moves me forward toward my goals? In this article and no matter what you write, I want to give you some ideas about how to fill those blank and empty periods.

 

1. Determine what you want to write or achieve. Do you want to publish in magazines? Do you want to do more speaking? Do you want to write books for others? Do you want to learn about how to write screenplays or do effective Facebook ads? There are many opportunities and you have to determine which one is where you want to go. If you are looking for a list of writing possibilities, then download the first chapter of my book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. Use this download link (no optin). 

 

2. Focus your planning and energy toward consistent effort to this goal. To achieve it, what do you need to learn? Who do you need to connect with? How can you build those relationships? It will not be overnight but you have to consistently make the effort to achieve this goal.

 

3. As you get responses, fill your calendar with scheduled phone calls or meetings to build your relationships. As I've mentioned in the past on these articles, who you know is just as important as what you know. Your connections can be invaluable in reaching your publishing goals.

 

I don't expect this process to be easy or simple and know will involve hard work and continued effort. Here's what I have learned from decades in this business, if you do the work, you will eventually achieve the results. I recently listened to Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect about where you can achieve big results from making incremental changes. There is a payoff for making these changes with consistency.

 

As I put together my calendar, balance is a key component. I'm not perfect at it but overall there is a mixture between current work, optional work, planning ahead for future work and consistent learning and growth.

 

For this process, I don't use a paper calendar. Instead I keep dates and appointments on my electronic calendar. I made this switch several years ago and it has been a good one because in general I have my phone with me and can keep up with my variety of deadlines.

 

My Personal Philosophy

 

For a number of years, I've been an early riser with no alarm clock. Yes, if I have to get up at 3 am (which happens sometimes to catch an early flight), I use my alarm but otherwise I don't. For me every day is a gift and we are charged to use that gift wisely—whether it be a regular work day or a holiday or the weekends. I have many different activities which fill my day. Some of them are on my calendar as appointments but others are just work activities that I want to get finished. Some of those activities relate to current work while others relate to future work. Some activities are something new that I'm learning. Others are consistent ways I spread the news to others about my work and effort such as marketing efforts. I'm often in a routine which I've created but I consciously work at changing up that routine so it is different and not boring. I believe each of us have a lot to accomplish in a given day—if we celebrate and seize the opportunity.

 

How do you fill your empty calendar? What steps or ideas can you add to what I've said? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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An Important Attitude for Every Writer

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Writers hear the word no a great deal. It maybe a submission or a pitch to a podcast or radio station or magazine. You may not even get a response to your pitch and hear only crickets.  How do you keep moving forward inspite of the rejection? 

From my experience, it takes persistence and consistency to find the right connection. Remember Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected 140 times before they published the first book Chicken Soup for the Soul. Mark tells that story in the foreword to my book, Jumpstart Your Publshing Dreams. You can follow this link to read the foreword and first chapter. It is free and no opt-in. 

 

It doesn't take much to find the negativity in our world. Just watch the news for a few minutes and you will hear the variety of challenges in our world. In this article I want to emphasize an important tool each of us have to shift our attitude: gratitude. Many people talk about gratitude in the month of November because of the Thanksgiving holiday but this attitude is something you can be exercising every day. As you express your gratitude, it can shift your focus to the positive. 

 

Bestselling author Joyce Meyer has released a book to help us understand the biblical attitude shift to gratitude with The Power of Thank You: Discover the Joy of Gratitude.  Meyer has written twelve, easy-to-read chapters with a combination of personal stories, Scriptures, and stories about others. As she writes in the introduction, “My goal in this book is to birth in you a fresh revelation of the power of being thankful and urge you to make a new and firm commitment to being more thankful than you have ever been. I truly believe that the words thank you contain power that will change your life.” (page viii)

 

As I read this book, I found it was filled with practical insights like about why we experience difficulties:  “I have come to believe that we would have no appreciation or gratitude for life’s good times if we never experienced difficulties. Many of us are extremely grateful for all that God has done for us in Christ because we did have difficult and painful lives.” (Page 31) The Power of Thank You is filled with ideas for every Christian to become more grateful.

 

In addition to this book, I want to give several more practical ideas to increase your gratitude:

 

1. Begin a gratitude journal. Several years ago in November, Darren Hardy suggested starting a gratitude journal. I began to daily write a number of things for which I am thankful. It is a habit which stuck and a daily part of each day when I read my Bible and pray. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or complicated but it is a simple way to add more gratitude into your every day life.

 

2. Get a box of thank you notes and use them regularly. Many years ago when my first book released, I was at a convention and interviewed bestselling author Richard Foster. I showed Richard my new book. To my surprise a few weeks later, I received a handwritten thank you note from him. I decided to incorporate this practice into my life. When authors send me a physical copy of their book, I will write a short thank you note and put it into the mail. It is a simple but powerful way to express gratitude.

 

How do you express gratitude on a regular basis? Let me know your ideas in the comments below.

 

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Beyond Thanksgiving: Writers Need Gratitude

About this time of year we find many articles about thankfulness and gratitude. Yet I contend writers need gratitude or thankfulness throughout the year and not just around Thanksgiving.

The world of writing is full of challenges. You craft a query letter or book proposal and fire it off to a editor who has asked for it—and then you hear nothing. You wonder if they got it or if they hated it or what happened? Then you get a letter from a reader complaining about the typos in your most recent book. Or your phone seems to be acting strange.

Let’s face it: every writer faces problems and things that they try which don't work—for many different reasons. In the midst of these situations there is one constant that the writer can control: your attitude. Do you lean into the challenges and work on something different. Or do you face the day with gratitude and thankfulness.

I’ve not always been a proponent of gratitude and looking at the glass as half full instead of half empty. As I have been in publishing many years, I’ve been working on my attitude and trying to center on gratitude every day.

A couple of months ago, Darren Hardy challenged listeners to his Darren Daily program that there were only 90 days until Thanksgiving. He suggested we keep a Thankful Journal about a friend or spouse. He asked us to write in that journal every day until Thanksgiving and then give it to the person on the holiday.

I’m not much of a journal keeper. I know many writers who journal but I've never developed this habit. At the encouragement of Darren Hardy, I tried this Thanks Journal and have been faithfully writing in it every day. The results have been fascinating to me. Every day I’ve focused on gratitude and something I appreciate then wrote into this journal. If nothing else, it has spun my thoughts and attitude in the direction of gratitude. In a few days, I’m going to this journal to the person. I plan to continue this pattern with a gratitude journal because I’ve found this process has been a significant help to my gratitude attitude.

Within the publishing world, there is much outside of the writer’s control. The one area you can control is your attitude. If you are grateful and thankful, that attitude will shine through to others. You will become someone who is attractive to others rather than someone always grumbling about this or that.

From my years in publishing, I’ve seen how the grumbler and complainers are perceived. The editors and agents may smile, treat you kindly and answer your complaints, but behind the scenes they are talking with their colleagues about how these complaints simply spread the poison to others. When these writers do not get encouraged to do another book, they wonder why. I would contend it comes down to attitude. Is your attitude attractive to others or repelling? If you are grumbling and repelling, then I encourage you to turn to gratitude and thankfulness and let it carry you all year long—not just on one day called Thanksgiving.

Let me know the steps you are taking in the comments below.

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Who Are Your Mentors?

Who are you listening to and then applying that information into your life? Whether you call them mentors or not, whatever feeds into your life are voices where you are listening to information. It can affect the results of your life and work. 

As I think about my own writing life, it is built on a foundation of great lessons and teaching from other writers. In the early days of my freelance writing, I wrote many personality profiles of bestselling authors. I wrote these articles for different magazines but it gave me the opportunity to spend time with each of these authors on the phone or in person. I would quiz these authors about the details of how they practiced their craft and connected to their audience. My hour-long conversation contained a lot of information which never made it into my 1,000 word magazine article—yet built experience and lessons into my personal life.

In this article, I want to provide several resources which I use daily for inspiration, learning and mentoring in my life. The first one is from Darren Hardy, the former publisher of Success magazine. Some time ago, Hardy began the Darren Daily which is a short five day inspirational thought which comes via email. It's free and I listen to it early in the day when it arrives. Follow this link to see his recent one about mentors and scroll down to the sign up form and you can begin getting it in your mailbox and listening to it.

The various books that I read is another way that I discover mentors. Recently I completed 2 Chairs (Worthy Publishing) by Bob Beaudine that releases on August 23rd. The overall message of 2 Chairs  is to make time every day to meet with God and listen to the Holy Spirit. For many years, I've been having a daily quiet time in the Scriptures. Each year I select a differnt version of the Bible and read it cover to cover in this time. While I thought 2 Chairs had a “different” title, I love the insight and wisdom contained in this book and recommend it. If you don't have this daily pattern of reading in your own life, I recommend it.

My third method of teaching and insight is to read my twitter feed. Maybe you go by once a day or several times a week and check the various articles. I read the various articles and information that I post—and I apply it to my writing and marketing efforts.  You will gain from it as well if you feed this information into your routine.

One of the keys to continued growth and learning is a personal commitment, then an attempt to find balance in your life.  There are days when I'm not learning and out of balance but it's something that I have as a continue force in my life. I hope these three ideas will help you find the mentors for your writing life.

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Once again I made this list of top 100 Marketing Experts on Twitter (#56). I hope you will check it out and hopefully will give you more ideas as a writer.

Why Pour It On During the Holidays

Each year the holiday season is pushed a little earlier. I started seeing Christmas packages in the stores in October. The activities related to publishing almost noticeably downshift into a lower gear. Instead of new book projects, the focus turns toward family gatherings and holiday events.


I love the holiday season and special time with the family. The music and memories are special to me. I love the celebration. Yet if you are involved in publishing, I have a different perspective on what you need to be doing during this time of year.


A large percentage of the publishing community moves into a different gear. Publication boards which make decisions about books don't often meet in December. Instead of a focus on editorial matters, the editors are tied up signing Christmas cards to authors and focused on end of the year matters. Last week I received a list of new proposals from an agent. I wrote right away and listed the ones that interested me. To my surprise, rather than sending them he thanked me for my interest, wished me a terrific holiday season and said he would be in touch. I don't expect that I will receive those proposals until after the first of the year. That pausing activity is a shame in my view because I would like to get reading them and moving forward with them to see if I can get a book contract in the next few weeks.


Rather than slipping into “holiday” mode, my suggestion is that you switch into a different gear and pour it on to move your work and writing life forward over the next few weeks.
Success magazine is one of the resources that I regularly read. Recently the publisher, Darren Hardy held a teleconference on How to Finish Big (follow this link to the YouTube version). 

I was one of the thousands who heard the event. I encourage you to watch the first part of it because Hardy provides a series of strategies you can use to finish the year big. He points out the small difference between a top golfer and someone back in the pack. That extra effort from the top golfer is what it took to succeed in a way which was exponentially ahead of the others.

Do you want to finish the year big or slide into the holidays? 

Here's six ideas of what you can do over the next few weeks to position yourself so the end of this year and the beginning of next year is a huge success:


1. Are you looking for a literary agent? If you have an agent, do you have the right agent for you? Pick up my free list of over 400 literary agents. It includes their names, addresses, websites, phone numbers and emails. Use this list as a research tool to target your approach to several agents and craft pitches which get their attention. 


2. Continue to build your visibility in the marketplace and your platform as an author. I've got a free ebook filled with ideas in this area called Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. If you don't have this ebook, then pick it up. If you have it, I suggest you read through it again and take action on some new ideas in it.


3. What print magazines would you like for your work to appear in 2014? Write some query letters and get some assignments. Some publications have theme lists from the editors about articles they want. Pitch those editors with targeted and on track ideas and you will be surprised at your success. Then write those articles and deliver them and reach a new audience.


4. Is there some topic that you teach on a regular basis? If so, I suggest you develop your own online course where you teach this material in a Fixed Term membership. I have a Simple Membership System product called Your Membership Course which will take you step by step through the process of creating such a course. It is the same system that I used to create my Write A Book Proposal course.


5. If you haven't taken my Write A Book Proposal course, this time of year is a great time to dig into this process and learn about book proposal creation. Whether you are writing nonfiction or fiction, you need to learn how to pitch your ideas and capture the attention of an editor or literary agent. This time of year is a terrific time to dig into the course.


6. Author 101 University Online has recently launched and you can get three timely teachings for free. Sign up and then take the time in the next few weeks to listen to the teaching and take action on the different ideas that you hear from the teaching.


Yes you can slide into next year or you can pour it on in these final days of the year and exceed beyond your wildest dreams. The choice is yours.