What To Do When "Nothing" Is Happening

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Some days particularly in certain seasons like summer seem like “nothing” is happening. As an editor, I'm calling authors who have received contracts but they aren't responding via email or returning my phone calls. Or maybe you are pitching agents and no one is responding to your proposals. Or maybe your agent is pitching your latest project and it is not getting a response. Or maybe you are querying magazine editors about writing articles and not getting responses. Or pitching podcasts or radio stations and not getting responses. You get my idea. You are actively working but getting nothing in response. I have this experience as well and in this article want to give you some encouragement and action-oriented ideas.

 

I've written about the importance of how every author has to continually pitch to get magazine assignments, book deals, podcast interviews, endorsements or anything else in this publishing business. It is a continual part of the process and at times the response is underwhelming or even silence.

 

From my experience in publishing, your consistent actions are important and will pay off for you—maybe not immediately but in the long run. No one reads every blog post when you want them to read it. No one reads your social media posts when you want them to be read. No one listens to your podcasts or radio interviews when you wanted. Or reads your magazine article when you wanted them to read it or reads your latest book release. It is important to keep building relationships and continue to pitch.

 

Several months ago, a fairly high profile podcast sent me an email asking me to pitch and possibly be a guest. It took me about a week to respond and give them what they requested. I didn't get a response. I sent it a second time. Finally I heard they were backed up at the moment from the responses. It was essentially saying thanks but no thanks. OK, on to the next opportunity. This exchange was four months ago. Then last week I got another email from the same podcast saying they were scheduling again with a calendar link to select a time. I chose a time and had a wonderful interview which will be published soon. I tell this story to remind you that we only see the situation from our viewpoint and not the person who is receiving it.

 

I sent birthday greetings to an editor this week via text since I had his cell phone number. We exchanged several texts and it gave me an opportunity to say how I'd love to work with him in the right project. Our exchanges gave me an opportunity to get in his mind for possible future work.

 

Here's some ideas for you when “nothing” is happening:

 

1. Pitch some new magazine articles.

2. Begin a new book proposal or book manuscript.

3. Create a new website to sell a product.

4. Create a new ebook to promote your mailing list.

5. Take an online training course to get new ideas.

6. Read a book about the craft of writing then apply it to your writing life.

7. Pitch some podcasts or radio stations to be a guest.

8. Write a guest blog posts or a pitch to a blog for a guest blog post.

9. Organize your office and pair down the clutter (something I've been doing lately).

 

Yes the list of possibilities for action can be endless. Here's a simple truth that I've learned: if you are stuck and do nothing, then nothing will happen. What actions do you take when “nothing” is happening? Let me know in the comments below.

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I've recently published some articles on other blogs and Richelle Wiseman Buzz on Book Biz released a podcast. I hope you will check out: Writers, Use This Simple Way to Stand Out and Learn Before You Leap into Ads (just follow the links).  These articles may give you some additional ideas about action steps for your own writing life.

 

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During some seasons in the writing world, it seems like “nothing” is happening. What actions do you take? Get some ideas from this prolific editor and author.  (ClickToTweet)

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In Praise of the Educated Writer

While I've been in the publishing community many years, I continue to learn new information all the time. I'm committed to a life-time learning process. I've watched several of my writing friends who stop learning and figure they have reached their level in the market. 

From my experience, this attitude of arrival is self-fulfilling for them as I also watch the stall of their careers. Authors with this attitude only get to workshops when they are teaching and don't read how-to magazines or books. I encourage you not to fall into this attitude trap—no matter where you are on the spectrum of published authors.

There are many ways for writers to get educated and here's a few of them:

--conferences
--online groups
--writer's groups
--critique groups
--books
--magazines
--one on one mentoring or coaching
--blogs and other online articles
--online courses like my Write A Book Proposal course

From my experience, I know a great deal of publishing is about being in the right place, at the right time, with the right material—timing is crucial. As someone who has reviewed thousands of manuscripts and book proposals, I can read a few paragraphs and know whether the writer is educated about the market and publishing.

The opposite is also true. I can tell whether the writer has sprayed their proposal far and wide without any thought about what our publishing house is producing. Recently an author mailed a self-published book to the Morgan James office in New York City. A little online research would tell you quickly that I work remote and live in Colorado. Our office forwarded the book to me and I opened it. First, I was amazed at the size (over 700 pages) then I looked at the title and the contents (targeted to the New Age market). While Morgan James publishes some Christian books (about 30 each year), they are not a “Christian” publisher yet this view is across the board in the published books (i.e. our fiction has no sex or curse words and the publisher would not publish a New Age book). While I admire the enthusiasm of this writer, he had not taken the few minutes to get educated and targeted with his submission. I read numerous books outside of what I do at Morgan James and often write book reviews. Yet this book would not be one that I would even read a few pages.

What steps are you taking to get educated as a writer? 

Literary agents and publishers receive thousands of submissions. The standout ones that get published come from thoughtful, educated writers.

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Five Ways to Boost Your Writing To A New Level

It's hard for every writer to begin and it takes work for every writer to move to a new level with their writing. I've been pouring words into stories since I was in high school and have had a lot of practice—yet I continue to learn new aspects of the publishing world.

Late one night at a writers' conference, I was sitting with several much published writers listening to their stories. At that point in my career, I had published only a few magazine articles. These writers discussed how each of them has huge doubts and fears every time they begin a new book. I found their honesty encouraging. It is like the actors or public speakers who admit to getting nervous or butterflies right before they walk on the stage. Such feelings are a part of life and these professionals have learned to acknowledge these feelings, accept them and yet move past them to produce excellent work.

If you want to move your writing to a new level of excellence, here's five ways to boost your writing. I encourage you to do as many of these ways as you can in the days ahead. If you take action, then in a few months your writing will be at a new place in the market.

1. Attend a Writers' Conference (cost: varies)

Published authors agree the step which propelled their writing life is attending a writer's conference. If you have never been to a conference, now is the time to plan to attend a conference. I'm going to be speaking at several conferences in the coming months (use this link to learn more details). There are many excellent conferences. Prepare ahead of time and this action will broaden your connections to editors and agents—but also give you key insights into your own writing life. Attend the workshops, take notes and follow the teaching. Also meet one-on-one with different editors and agents, then follow their suggestions and submit your material to them.

2. Read a Book on the Writing Craft Every Month (cost: free or low)

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction or have never written, I encourage you to intentionally read books about the craft of writing.  I have shelves of these books that I have read but you don't have to purchase them. Get them from your local library. I've written a couple of these books like Book Proposals That Sell or Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. Weave these books into your reading plans then take action on what you learn—apply it to the writing and marketing of your books.

3. Take an online course (cost: varies)

There are many possibilities in this area. Bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins has launched a FREE three lesson course course. Or another alternative is listening to a number of my free teleseminars on different topics like blogging or book reviews or dealing with the media or special market sales. Also you can take my Write a Book Proposal course.  Finally for this method, you can use my Simple Membership System to create your own membership course. 

4. Read blog posts from respected leaders (cost: free)

A number of literary agents and well-known editors have created blogs. Look for their subscription button on the site and sign up. The updates will come to your email box and you can read them and learn from their expertise. To get you started, here's a new list of the Top 100 Writing Blogs for Authors and Bloggers. Notice how I qualify who you read. Select people with experience and follow their guidance instead of “so-called experts” who when you look at their credentials have published less than five books. I include this reality check to make sure you are taking teaching from real experts.

5. Follow my twitter feed and read the articles in it (cost: free)

At this writing, I've been on twitter since 2009 and tweeted over 28,000 times (almost every hour throughout every day). I'm committed to reading and telling my followers about solid teaching information in the publishing and writing area.  As you follow this information stream, it is a terrific education to help you take your writing to a new level of excellence.

Follow the links and advice in this post and you will take your writing to a new level. It is critical that you do more than read and absorb new information.  It's great to learn but in addition to learning, you need to take action and incorporate what you learn into your daily actions. If I can help you in this journey, don't hesitate to reach out to me. My personal email is in my twitter profile. You can boost your writing with these active steps.

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