Something Every Writer Can Do

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

I've always loved a good story—whether in the newspaper or a magazine or in a book. While I read some fiction, I've always been drawn to real stories. It's one of the reasons the majority of my own writing has been nonfiction. Whether you write them or not, many of us have interesting personal experiences. It could be in your family or a travel experience or any number of other things that you experience personally. It should not surprise you that one of the most common and popular type of magazine article is the personal experience article. If you look in the Christian Writer's Market Guide, a wide range of periodicals are actively looking for personal experience stories.

 

When you write these stories, they have to fit the magazine guidelines for length but they also have to contain the elements of any good story such as a grabber headline, an interesting opening, a solid middle and a conclusion which includes a takeaway point for the reader. Through the years, I've written a number of these types of magazine articles.

 

When I attend a writer's conference, I find many writers are focused on their book project whether a novel or nonfiction. Many of them have never considered the value of writing for magazines. In general you will reach more readers with your magazine article than you will reach with your book. It's relatively easy with a magazine article to reach 100,000 readers and if your book is going to sell 100,000 copies then that will be rare. Also magazine articles are a solid way to promote your book. This promotion happens in your bio at the end of the magaine article and is often limited to the name of your book and pointing to a website. I encourage writers to begin in the magazine area for the simple reason it is easier to learn the craft of writing working with a 1500 word article than a 50,000 or 100,000 word book manuscript.

 

When you write for magazines, you will need to read their guidelines and get familiar with the publication (even if you read their online articles). If the publication asks for a query, then learn to write a query and send the query letter. If the publication prefers complete articles, then write the full article on speculation and send it to the editor. I've written many articles on speculation which means uncertainty it will be published. I've also written numerous articles on assignment from the magazine. It's an important skill for writers to learn to write for magazines and some of those articles can be personal experience stories.

 

Here's something I do not see written about magazine writing: it's a choice which experiences and stories you decide to tell. I don't write about every personal experience. Some of them are too painful to relive and write about. To write a personal experience story, you have to relive the experience to capture those words and feelings. Some experiences are better left alone and that's a perfectly fine choice.

 

Do you write personal experience articles for magazines? Let me know your tips and insights in the comments below.

 

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Platform Essentials: Time, Focus and Tools

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

At the end of this month, I will be headed to Asheville, North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference. It is my first live event in over a year with this pandemic. I'm teaching a continuing workshop about a publishing buzzword—platform. My continuing class is called What's a Platform and How do I Create one? While I work at my own platform every day (in many different ways), I do not often teach others about this important publishing topic. I will be giving much more detail during my workshop—and I would encourage you to attend in person (where you get the greatest value) or virtually (still valuable in many ways).

 

I've been thinking about some of the platform essentials and in this article I want to focus on three key elements: time, focus and tools.

 

Time

 

Everyone has the same amount of time  in each day. How are you using this limited resource? Do you waste it or do you make the most of it? Your awareness of how you are using this resource is important. Are you stuck in meetings or other things which require a lot of time? Continually evaluate and make adjustments to get the most mileage from each day. As I grow older, I'm keenly aware of the value of my time and the limited nature of it. Because of this awareness and my own personal bent and curiosity, I have created an intense schedule in my life. If I'm honest, the intensity of it is something I have made and filled my day with phone calls, emails, writing projects, and much more. 

 

Focus

 

Focus is another limited commodity. Do you have a big goal in mind such as write a book or sell a book? How are you focusing your time to gain more readers or entice people to learn about your book and then buy it? There are many different paths and possibilities in this process and much of your platform size will boil down to your focus. What proactive steps are you taking each week to grow your audience and build your email list? The world is full of shiny objects to take your attention off your focus and on to their product or video or article or book or ______.  Every writer (including me) needs to keep this goal and focus in mind as you go throughout your day.

 

Tools

 

I don't want to overwhelm you in this section but I use a number of tools every day. The key is to try these tools and use the ones which are effective for you. No one can be everywhere or do everything. You will have to make wise choices in this process and keep doing these things bit by bit. As I've written in the past, that's how you eat an elephant (one bite at a time).

 

One of my continued interest is communication and using different tools to become a more effective communicator. It has always been ironic to me that editors and agents are in the commuication business yet many of these people take a lengthy time to communicate. It's one of the ways I've been different in this business is to step up my own communication ability. While I can't control the speed of communication from others, I can control my own patterns—and I use a variety of tools in this proces. I encourage you to be aware of the different tools and use them effectively. Here's a few of the tools I use (some of them many times each day): Hootsuite (my main social media tool), my email list, mock up shots (a tool for creating various images), a variety of lead magnets or generators (follow this link to learn more details), various websites, websites, pop ups (I am not a huge fan but know they work so I used them), guest blog posts, comments on other blogs and many other things.

 

Here's some other wise details to consider in this process. No one can do everything. Every day you (and I) are making choices in this process—so make wise ones which will lead to your goals for your writing life. It's not easy or simple for any of us. Also keep working on building and maintaining your relationships with others (readers, editors, agents and other publishing professionals). Who you know is often as important as what you know. I encourage you to keep knocking on new doors and seeing what will open for your life and work.

 

These details are some of the platform essentials. I will be teaching in much more detail at the conference. I'd love to hear your 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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Be a Visible Author

As authors, we need to be connected to our readers.

Last week I taught a continuing class at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference on the topic of platform called You Can Build a Platform! As a part of teaching this five session class, I pulled together a 28–page handout. I'm including the link here for every reader. I encourage you to download this resource and follow the extra links it contains for your own writing life.

While word “platform” is often used within publishing, it is insider language. At writers conferences, many people are attending their first conference. They have no idea what someone is asking about their platform. Most of these unpublished writers have been focused on getting down their book into a manuscript. A few of them have learned about one sheets to present their idea. A few others have learned about book proposals and worked on a proposal. But the concept of platform is completely foreign to these writers—as I can see it in their eyes when I mention it. I have a free ebook on this concept called Platform Building Ideas for Every Author (follow the link to get it right away).

Book publishers are actively looking for authors with connections to readers (what they call platforms). Yet from my many years in publishing. I understand this business is complicated with many twists and turns. A seemingly “minor” issue can be a costly mistake for the publisher and the author. If you are a writer, you need to be connected to your readers. I understand for most writers this process can be a challenge and outside of your comfort zone. Most writers are introverts and don't want to interact with anyone. They prefer to sit at their keyboards and write. Unfortunately this isolated stance does not sell books or reach readers. 

As writers, we need to be visible and connected to our readers. To achieve visibility, we have to consistently build a platform. Your way of building this connection will be different from my way but each author has to be aware of this need and be consistently working at expanding their reach. As you build your reach to readers, be aware that you can do it on “rented media” (which you don't control like Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or some other social network). The risk is if you “violate” their terms, then these networks can terminate your account and end your reaching these readers.

Our most effective way to reach readers is through our email list, our website and our blog (all things that we control as writers and are our personal media sources). The numbers are important to agents and editors so keep track and be growing it through creating lead magnets and producing valuable content.

I encourage each of us to continue innovating and looking for ways to expand your reach as an author. Also keep knocking on doors and take advantage of new opportunities. Each of us (experienced or brand new) have to pitch our ideas, our proposals, our skills to others. From my experience, very little happens without this pitching process. Each of us would probably like to avoid it so we are in demand—but for most of us, that isn't our situation so we have to be working at our own visibility.

How are you expanding your readership and visibility as an author and writer? Let me know in the comments below.

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What goals and dreams do you have for the months ahead? Reach more readers? Sell more books? Get them to your online course? Speak to more people? These goals or others are terrific but you must have the connection to people.

Since 2008, I’ve been on Twitter along with millions of other people. If you follow me, you will see that I tweet often throughout the day—which is one element of my success. To use Twitter effectively, you can't tweet once a day or once a week (like I see many writers doing). Consistently providing great content to your target audience is an important part of this process.

A second key is in this process of growing your presence on Twitter is using a secret tool every day. I've been using this tool consistently for years. The tool is called Refollow. In a few minutes, you can follow 800 new people in your target market. A certain percentage of these people will follow you back and your numbers will climb. My daily use of this tool is one of the key reasons I have over 200,000 followers on Twitter. You can follow the link in the previous sentence to see the number of my followers.

Please note my 200K followers are not bought or fake. These are real people who engage with me and my content. It’s what I want for you as well—to grow a large responsive audience.
Refollow is not complicated or expensive. I’ve arranged for you to get a FREE trial. Just use this link.

I use this $20 per month tool to follow 800 specific people every day in my target market, It is not random but I’m following people who are interested in my content or tweets. Your target will be different from mine but you can use the same tool to grow your Twitter following—and in only minutes a  day.

What if I follow them but they don’t follow me back?
Refollow also covers this aspect with another feature. The program will locate people who you have been following but have never followed you back. In my case, some of them I’ve been following for years and they haven’t followed me back. In minutes, I can unfollow up to 1,000 people a day. All of these details are within the rules of Twitter and accomplished through Refollow.

Discover the details and get your FREE trial at this link.

I want you to succeed and achieve your dreams. Refollow can be a key part of your success--provided you take action and use it consistently.

In the comments below, let me know how you are growing your following on Twitter. Maybe you have a different tool you are using and I'd love to learn about it. 

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Use of Time Choices

Each of us have the same time and space limitations. Yet each of us can continue to grow and improve in this area. I know I have a lot to learn and continue to learn about how to manage my time. As I speak with writers, some of them want to write and do zero marketing. I understand this bent toward writing. They get their greatest joy and satisfaction for pouring their words into their computer and telling stories.

Groups of writers have taken personality tests and the majority are introverts. It makes sense they would rather write on their computer or in a journal instead of stand in front of a group of people and teach. Through the years, many people believe I am an extrovert because I've been a keynote speaker at large and small conferences.

Also I've taught continuing classes where I teach for five or six hours with a group of people. For example in May, I will be teaching a continuing class at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in Estes Park. Last week I was talking with a friend about doing this teaching and he whether I had enough content for this session. I reassured him I had done this type of teaching in the past. Yes I have plenty to teach during these sessions. Is it my natural bent? No but like other writers, I have learned to rise to the occasion and do this type of teaching.

Several basics in this area of time choices:

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1. Connect to your readers. Every writer needs to devote some time to building their presence in the marketplace. Some people call this connecting with your tribe or readers. Others call it platform building and marketing. (Click this link to get my free Ebook, Platform-Building Ideas for Every Author). Publishers and literary agents are looking for writers who are connected to their readers. Why? Publishers may create beatiful books and get them into the bookstores (online and brick and mortar store)—but it is the author who drives readers into those stores to actually purchase the books.

2. Whatever you begin, be consistent. Some people build their following on YouTube while others do it through a social media network like Twitter or Facebook.  In my view you don't have to be everywhere but wherever you are, be consistent. For example, since 2008, I've consistently written about once a week on these blog entries on different aspects of writing and the publishing world. I've written nearly 1,500 entries and it did not happen overnight. It happened one entry at a time. You too can do it.

3. Spend regular time on your marketing efforts. Over the years I have built a large body of work. Just search for my name on Google and you will see what I am talking about. I have tweeted thousands of times on Twitter. I consistently tweet 12=15 times every day. Yet in these articles, I've also been transparent about the tools that I use for these tweets.

4. Be conscious of how you spend your time. Are you wasting hours looking at Facebook or in front of the television or monitoring the news? Any of these things can consume hours of attention and time. Choose to limit it or eliminate it. Such choices will open more time in your life.

People wonder how I've written over 60 books. I've written these books one page at a time and one chapter at a time and one manuscript at a time. Like one of my novel writing friends told me years ago, “No little elves come out at night and write her pages.” She does it one page and one story at a time.

How are you making time choices? Let me know in the comments below.

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Quitting Your Day Job

When can you quit your day job?

The question from a first-time author surprised me, “When can I quit my day job?” I loved the optimism built into this question from a brand new author. She had high expectations about her book in the marketplace. That she asked this question showed me that she wants to do be doing something else other than her day job.

I tried to answer honestly saying that many authors never quit their day job. Throughout history many authors have kept their day job as they write books. Also I told her this decision is different for every author. Since I had this conversation, I've been thinking more about it and believe it will make an interesting article for The Writing Life.

1. Make sure your day job is something you love and want to be doing. Some people have a genuine dislike for their day job and that to me spells the necessity to look for something else. It strikes me as a shame to spend lots of time at a job or position you dislike. I've seen the work surveys wich show many people are in this position. If you are one of them, I would begin looking to make a change to find something you love doing for your day job.

2. Take daily action to build your platform and audience for your book. Finding your audience and building a newsletter list and following takes time. The pathis different for every author but over and over, I've seen authors give up too soon in this platform building process. It's one of the things I admire about Morgan James Publishing. While some publishers give up on a book after six months or a year in the market (and move it to the backlist and eventually out of print). Instead Morgan James is more patient and understands that some books take a few years to find their audience and then sell 20,000 to 30,000 copies every year like clockwork. This long-term mentality is one of the reasons most of the books published over the last 16 years are still in print (which is a remarkable and little noticed publishing detail).

3. It's wonderful that my authors feel like they can ask any question and get an answer for it. I don't know the answer to every question but I know how to find answers to questions I don't know. There is no hidden agenda or holding back in this process. Questions are encouraged and every author needs to be asking questions and continuing to grow and learn about their craft.

Click the image for this resource

4. Begin working on your side gig or plan B or whatever you want to call it. From my experience this side gig has to grow and ultimately replace your day job. It will not happen overnight or instantly but you have to begin working at it. Maybe you will begin selling information products and building an emal list. 

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Maybe you will develop other products related to your book and grow that aspect into your main business. There is no right or wrong way to achieve this dream but you do have to be taking consistent action for it to happen. Check out my free book for some ideas (follow this link).

As I write this article, we are about to end 2018 and begin 2019.l hope this article has given you some action steps for your writing life. I wish you great things for the new year and if I can help you, reach out to me (follow this link and my work contact information is on the bottom of the second page). May each of you succeed to your wildest dreams during the new year. In the comments below, let me know what steps you are taking to quit your day job.

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Why I Lost 15,000 followers in 24 hours

Last week I lost 15,000 Twitter followers in 24 hours. For many people that loss would have been devistating and possibly wiped out their following. I went from 220,000 to 205,000 followers. I've been on Twitter since 2008 and actively working every day to increase my following.

What happened?  An article in the New York Times explained Twitter is battling fake accounts and has slashed millions of these accounts. As the article explains, “Twitter’s decision will have an immediate impact: Beginning on Thursday, many users, including those who have bought fake followers and any others who are followed by suspicious accounts, will see their follower numbers fall.”

I applaud Twitter's actions in this area but it has had impact on many users. At one point years ago as an experiment, I did buy some followers and my followers increased over a 24-hour period. Now those followers were fake accounts and I would not expect them to engage with me or be interested in any of my tweets.

Last year one of my writer friends launched a book with a New York publisher (in fact one of the big five). She had a modest Twitter following but in a short amount of time her followers increased to over 100,000–-which looks suspiciously like she purchased those followers rather than growing the following (as I have done). I just checked her followers and now she has 14,500 followers for a dramatic drop.

I want to make several key points from this experience to help you:

1. While Twitter continues to be an important social network, do not try and game the system with buying fake followers. I have written about the five actions I take every day on Twitter. There are good reasons I have a large Twitter following.

2. Don't forget Twitter is “rented” space. I don't own or have any connection to the Twitter company. They could cancel or block my account at any time eliminating my presence. I don't expect this elimination to happen and to my knowledge have been obeying their rules (key for everyone).

If you don't understand this concept of rented media, I encourage you to study Mastering the New Media Landscape by Barbara Cave Henricks and Rusty Shelton.  I regularly speak with authors who have built their entire platform on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or Twitter. Yet these authors have never considered the risk of such efforts.

3. Diversification is important as you plan your presence in the marketplace. Henricks and Shelton talk about this in the final chapter of their book giving six ways to “futureproof” your media presence. The advise is wise and worth your following it. Make sure you have media that you own: your websites, your blog and your email list.  If you haven't read my free ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author, I encourage you to get it here.

There is one safe prediction I can make about the social media landscape: it will continue to shift and change.

What steps are you taking to master the new media landscape?  Let me know in the comments below.

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How to Move When Feeling Overwhelmed

Whether we acknowledge it or not, it is easy to feel overwhelmed as an author. The realities of the publishing world can be daunting. 

Every day thousands of new books enter the market. In addition, authors and publishers are promoting existing books to consumers. Every consumer has to hear about your book seven or eight or more times before they reach into their wallet and purchase your book. The average self-published book sells less than 100 copies and the average traditional book sells about 1,000 copies.

Yet as an author you have a much bigger vision than selling 100 or 1000 books. When it comes to book marketing, there are dozens of books—and each is filled with great ideas. Maybe you have read a few of these books and are stuck in the “shiny object” syndrome where you are buying the latest and greatest tool for marketing your book. While it may be good to purchase that tool, are you using it and then measuring to see if it is working for you?

If you are feeling overwhelmed (and everyone has these feelings from time to time), here's several ideas for you:

1. Change gears to a different type of writing project. If you have been writing a novel, switch to a nonfiction magazine article or writing a blog post or an Ebook or some other type of writing. The experience can get you moving again.

2. Plan a series of social media posts using Hootsuite or some other schedule tool. When you put these posts into your tool, you are doing something active—building your platform and presence in the marketplace.

3. Follow some new people on Twitter or Facebook. Why? With the idea that some of those people will follow you back and you will grow your social media following—a good thing to do if overwhelmed.

4. Get more friends on Goodreads. There are 55 million registered readers on Goodreads. As an author, you need to be spending a little time there on a regular basis. Use the friends section (see this link) to get more friends. Many authors only have a few hundred friends. I used these tools and built up to the maximum (which I learned when I hit it) of 5,000 friends. Now everytime I write a review on Goodreads (for a book that I've read or heard), it shows up on all these pages. You can have many friends if you faithfully use the tools from Goodreads.

5. Look for someone to review your latest book. Maybe it is someone you are corresponding with on email.Ask them if they are interested or willing to write an honest review and get their commitment. Then mail them your book. It's part of the publishing world to continually look for new reviews and feedback about your book.

6. Write a query letter to a magazine editor and pitch an article idea.

7. Read a marketing book like Online Marketing for Busy Authors and take one idea from the book and put it into practice.

My key point with this article is to take a small yet measured step in the direction of action. The worst thing you can do when feeling overwhelmed is nothing.

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Pitch Magazine Editors for Exposure

For many years I've been writing for print magazines. Also I've been a magazine editor and know from the perspective of an editor the competitive nature of this business. I've written for many publications which no longer exist. Yet I contend writers need to include writing for magazines as a part of your writing life. For several reasons:

1. You Gain Broad Exposure in Print Publications. For a minute, let's talk realistic numbers. Yes you “may” write a book which becomes a bestseller but that is extremely rare. Your lifetime book sales are somewhat tied to the way you publish. The average self-published book sells about 100 copies during the lifetime of sales cycle. The average traditionally published book sells about 1,000 copies during the lifetime of the book. Every author “hopes” to exceed the numbers but understanding them gives you a bit of a reality check on the publishing world. In contrast, the circulation numbers for print publications are much larger. It's fairly easy to reach 100,000 or 200,000 people through a magazine—whether a large publication or small. Admittedly books are more permanent than magazines but the reach is broad with print publications.

2. You Increase Your Platform. In the early days of my writing life before my first book, I wrote for magazines. Book editors and literary agents read magazines looking for writers. It is a lot easier to write a 1500 word magazine article (or shorter) than to craft a 60,000 word book manuscript whether fiction or nonfiction. Every magazine includes a short bio of the writer at the end where you can list a book and a website. The exposure is helpful to you as a writer.  Marketing studies have shown that someone needs to hear about your book six or seven times before they actually purchase it. Your magazine writing can be a part of the exposure for your writing to new audiences. I have a lot more detail in my free, 43 page Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author.

3. You Practice Your Storytelling and Professionalism. Writing for magazines teaches some basic skills for every writer. You learn how to write interesting headlines and first paragraphs. You learn how to tell a focused story with a beginning,middle and ending. You learn how to write for a particular word count and deadline. Recently one of my Morgan James authors snagged one of his first magazine assignments. He could not reduce his manuscript from 2,700 words to the editor's request of 2,600 words. It was rare for me to help someone with this detail but I took a few minutes and made some suggested cuts for his article. It is a skill that I've practiced for years but learned in the world of magazine journalism.

I continue to write for several publications on a regular basis. With every submission, I show my professionalism and express my willingness to revise or fix any issues. While I work hard on meeting their expectations, I'm always willing to fix any issues. I recommend you take the same actions with your own submissions to publications.

4. You Must Be Pitching to Start the Editorial Process. I've given some reasons for being involved in print publications but how do you get started? You need to be select a publication, follow the guidelines and be pitching the editor with either a query letter or a full manuscript. The process begins with making that connection. 

Recently I reached out to a local editor where I've never written for the publication. I've known this editor for years from teaching at writer's conferences. We exchanged some emails about writing for this publication. Unexpectedly, this editor wrote asking if I had a short article on the topic of hope. She gave a short deadline for this need. I searched for the word “hope” in a folder of articles on my computer and found a couple of possibilities. One article looked like it “could” work so I revised my short bio then read through the article one more time, and emailed it off to this editor. Within a short amount of time, she responded that the article was exactly what she needed and would go in the next issue. Some of my ability to pull off this article was my experience but also my organization skills. You can do the same thing but you need to be pitching these editors to get on their radar. Do they have an editorial calendar and can you pitch an idea for a forthcoming issue? You will not be published in magazines without taking regular action.

Are you writing for magazines? Tell me about your experiences in the comments below.

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Some Insights About Book Buying Habits

Take a minute and consider where you you bought your last few books. Was it in a brick and mortar bookstore? Did you buy them at an event or from an online retailer like Amazon? Was the book new or used?


As a long-term reader, I often purchase books. Last weekend I was at the third Writers on the Rock Conference and heard Allen Arnold speak.  For years, Arnold worked as an editor and publisher at Thomas Nelson Publishers and now he is working with best-selling author John Eldredge.  At the end of his keynote, Arnold mentioned his book, The Story of WITH which he sold for the discounted $10. I was interested to learn  Arnold self-published his book and I was glad to get an autographed copy and look forward to reading it.

This week I was talking with another long-term friend who is in publishing and he mentioned how he buys his books online from Amazon which offers choices whether to get a new book or a used version. We were talking about book buying habits because of the publishing news about Family Christian Bookstores closing 240 stores and over 3,000 employees losing their jobs. 

Several years ago, Family Christian Bookstores went into bankruptcy and had emerged from that situation. Publishers were the principal vendors who took a hit when Family Christian Bookstores went into bankruptcy.  One of the domino or related actions from this bankruptcy was the sale of Gospel Light. This family-owned publisher had a long-term history in the market and was sold to two different publishers.  Family Christian Bookstores owed Gospel Light $143,000. This debt was too large for Gospel Light to absorb and forced them into bankruptcy. The numbers of brick and mortar bookstores nationwide have been declining. Literary agent Steve Laube wrote more details about the closing of Family Christian in this article.

About four years ago when I lived in Arizona, a couple in my local church took part of their life savings and opened a Christian bookstore. It had several challenges from the beginning. While my friends had good motives, they did not come from a book or publishing background.  I knew way more about books, authors and the publishing business than they did. While eager to learn, they had a lot of ground to cover from a business perspective. Also the store was located in a shopping center and two doors from a well-known Hallmark store.  I often would drop by the nearby bookstore and talk with them and purchase things (if I needed them). Ultimately these friends closed their bookstore right about when I moved from Arizona. As I watched this store, it was an upfront and close lesson about some of the challenges of the brick and mortar retail business—and in particular in the Christian market.

A little off my topic but related: last week I went to Target to buy some blank audio cassette tapes for a new project. They didn't have any of them and were selling only one brand of tape recorder. Then I went to Office Depot who didn't have tapes in their store but said I could order them from their website online with free shipping. I ordered the tapes—only to have the online store cancel my order later in the day because the product wasn't available.[I don't know why I received a cancellation message because today the tapes showed up so I probably double ordered]. I attempted to buy this product at a brick and mortar store yet had to order it online from Amazon.

The book buying habits of consumers continue to change. Most of us have a smartphone in our pocket so wee can compare prices even standing in an actual store to see if we can get it less online. As I've written in these pages, the self-publishing world of books continues to increase (to the tune of over 5,000 new books every day—traditional and self-publishing combined). It's why every author has to continue to work on increasing their own audience (platform). Get my Platform Building Ideas for Every Author free ebook and use these ideas in your own writing.

In the comments below, let me know where you buy books. Book buying is a complex issue with no simple answers. All any author can do is offer your product in multiple formats (print, ebook, audio) and as many different venues as possible (online and brick and mortar). Our world is full of choices so you have to offer the consumer the broadest possible choices for your books.

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