Fill Your Empty Calendar

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week during my Bible reading, I was reminded of an important truth: 168. It’s the number of hours each of us have for our week. How do you fill those hours? Do you have an empty calendar? What steps will you take to fill it with your writing? 

I have the same number of hours: 168 but in this article I want to give you some ideas and actions about how you could fill your empty calendar. Years ago, I would make a daily “to do” list and cross things off throughout my day. It has been many years since I’ve used this method to fill my calendar. Instead I have a series of activities which fill my day. If it is something I can do quickly such as answer an email or handle some other task, it doesn’t appear on my calendar. At the moment, I am not writing on a book deadline. When I have such a deadline, I make a specific word count for my writing and plan that into my calendar. I’m going to break my regular tasks into differnet categories for this explanation.

Regular Habits & Deadlines

As I’ve explained in these entries, I have an active social media presence where I post 12-15 times each day and use a scheduling tool. Also I write a blog and post a blog article every week. Plus I have a weekly newsletter which goes out a different day of the week. I use reminders on my phone to keep track of these tasks and deadlines to make sure I meet them.

Follow-up Work

Because of my work with Morgan James Publishing,I have a variety of authors who are at different stages in the publishing process. Some of them have sent me their submissions and I need to schedule a phone conference to see if they are the right fit to publish with us. Others have received contracts and not signed them. I call these authors or email to see if they have questions and encourage them to move ahead. There are internal procedures that I need to follow in this process. When I make a series of these phone calls, it can consume a solid portion of my empty calendar.

Processing New Authors

Individual authors and some literary agents will email me with submissions. I have an internal process to get them into the system then I reach out to them and suggest a recorded conference call. It’s where I speak with them about their book and why they wrote it and their plans for the book. I schedule these meetings on my calendar and in a short amount of time I have a series of meetings for the week ahead.

Answer Emails and Phone Calls

Throughout my day I receive a variety of emails and some phone calls. Recently through LinkedIN (where I have over 19,400 connections), I will get an email from someone asking for my phone number to introduce me to a person.  I resist these calls because from my experience they are a huge time waster and not the right place to begin the relationship. Instead, I send them my work email and suggest they start the introduction on email--and normally that kills any further interaction and the time waster phone call. A substantial part of my day is spent on the phone with different authors and my colleagues at Morgan James.

Misc Projects

In this article, I’ve focused on details about what I do for Morgan James Publishing. I have other activities in other things. For example, I’m using PodMatch to pitch podcast hosts and schedule to guest on more podcasts. Also since 2000, I’ve been one of the leaders in an online writer's group called The Writer’s View. As a part of this group from time to time, I’m scheduled to lead a discussion. If you want to join this group, it is a two step process. First you need to create an account profile at: www.groups.io Once your account is created, send a request to subscribe to our group with this link: TWV+subscribe@TheWritersView.groups.io

I have many different activities that fill my empty calendar. I wrote this article to give you some ideas and actions for your own calendar. What steps do you take or am I missing in this process? I look forward to your comments.

Tweetable:

When you look at your calendar, are you facing many empty days? This prolific author and editor gives a series of ideas how to productively fill your empty calendar.   (ClickToTweet)

New Podcasts:

In these articles, I’ve encouraged you to use PodMatch or some similar tool to book and record podcasts. Last week another podcast recording launched:

Dan Amzallag and I spoke about 10 Publishing Myths on The Happiness Journey Podcast with Dr. Dan. Listen at: https://bit.ly/3VAZmeA

My Writing In Other Places:

With these articles, I encourage you to publish your work beyond your blog in other places. Below are three articles which were published in other online locations than this blog.

Each month I guest blog at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference blog. This month I wrote an article about how to increase your writing productivity.  

At Writers on the Move, I explain why self-published books are rarely inside brick and mortar bookstores.  

Once a month I guest blog about some aspect of book proposal creation for Almost An Author. This month I encouraged readers to delete any hype in their proposal.  

Throughout my many years in publishing, I’ve co-authored over a dozen books and reviewed thousands of submissions (no exaggeration). As a part of the process of working with these authors, I speak with them about their dreams and plans. Many of these authors have  unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the details of publishing are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. 

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Be Knocking on Doors to Find Opportunity

In the publishing community, I've discovered a basic principle: If you want something to happen, you have to be knocking on doors to find that opportunity. For example, as an acquisitions editor, I've found some of my best projects meeting with authors face to face at a writers' conference. I understand the value of this personal contact with writers. 

While I've been speaking at different events for many years, the invitations to speak at these events does not happen organically (without any action on my part). From my experience, the directors of conferences are pitched many times from many more qualified people than they could possibly use at an event.

What is the difference maker so one editor is picked to be invited and another is not? I believe it is a combination of things—a personal relationship with the director or decision maker at these events but also knocking on the doors in a gentle way but letting them know of your availability and willingness to speak at their event. In the last few days, I've pulled out some resources on my bookshelf that list forthcoming conferences, then I've sent emails to these leaders. In a few cases where I know the people but haven't been to their event in several years, I've picked up the phone and called them. Will my actions pay off? I know many will fall flat and never garner a response.  I'm a realist with my expectations—yet I also know that some of them will succeed and garner an invitation to their event—maybe not this year but next year.

While I've been writing about getting speaking opportunities, the actions for a writer are exactly the same if you are looking for writing opportunities. What types of writing opportunities are you looking for? In recent days, I've been working on some book proposals and writing projects. Yes I've written a number of books over the years but most of my efforts have been in my work as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. I've been knocking on some doors of opportunities with agents and editors to find some writing projects. Like my knocking on doors for speaking opportunities, many of my emails and calls have not been returned and feel like they are going into a black hole. Yet I persist and continue to pitch and look for new opportunities. 

Why? From my experience, I know some of these pitches will actually turn into writing assignments and future work.

Here's several actions for every writer:

1. Learn how to write an excellent book proposal. Get my free book proposal checklist or my Book Proposals That Sell or take my Write A Book Proposal course. It will take effort but it will pay off in getting more attention from literary agents and book publishers.

2.Learn how to write an attention-getting query letter. Every writer can learn this important skill of writing a one page pitch letter. It will be a valuable lesson for writing for magazines or getting the attention of literary agents or editors.

3. Continually work at fostering and strengthening your relationships with others in the community. Help them in any way that you can—and you never know where that help will lead to future opportunities.

In general, the world of publishing is busy with lots of activity, emails, manuscripts, proposals and pitches. If you wait passively for someone to reach out to you, then most likely little will happen. Instead I encourage you to be proactive in your approach and be knocking on different doors to find the right opportunity. I believe these opportunities are out there—but you have to be knocking to find them.

Tweetable:

Why should writers knock on doors to find opportunity? (ClickToTweet)
 

How To Lean In & Keep Going Forward

The writing life is filled with opportunities and challenges. As writers, our work gets rejected. We pour huge energy into writing which gets published in a book then does not sell. Our bills pile up and we wonder how we will be able to make the money that we need.

While I've written books which have sold over 100,000 copies, I also experience the range of emotional ups and downs that I put into the opening paragraph. Writers have to be actively looking for the right place for their writing to get published—whether in a magazine or a book. Your material has to find a connection with an editor or literary agent to find a champion to guide you through the process. The writers who succeed take action when they face feelings of discouragement and rejection. 

Here's some action steps when you get these types of feelings:

1. Adjust your mindset. Your mindset will be reflected in your actions and I encourage you to take a different course of action. When writers get rejected once or twice, many of them will decide, “No one wants this book.” In contast, authors who get published will decide they have not knocked on the right door yet and will move to the next publisher. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected over 160 times with Chicken Soup for the Soul. When rejected, they looked at each other and said, “Next.” This single word is hopeful and a tool you can use with your own rejection.

2. Approach a new audience. I've got a number of marketing books on my shelf. One of the most thorough is 1001 ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer. It's always wise to open this book and read a few of the ideas, then take steps to implement one of them. It will propel you forward.

3. Create a new product (online or in print). If you are looking for some insights. Listen to this free interview with marketing expert Bob Bly, then actively take action in a new direction.

4. Write something different.  If you are writing books, then write a magazine article or post to your blog or beef up your social media. Moving in a different direction will help you keep going ahead.

5. Get some fresh air. Walk around the block or take an exercise break. Just changing your position, will help you.
From my years in publishing, here is a simple truth: everyone has issues in their life. Children are ill or worse. Our cars break down. Our parents grow old and ill or any number of other issues.  What is the distinction between those people who get their work into print and into the market and those who do not? The people who succeed take act. They move ahead in spite of what else is happening. 

The key is not to mope around and get discouraged, stop or stagnate. Move forward. Read some of my Pro-Active Author columns on The Wordsmith Journal or some other blog. Lean into your situation.

Tweetable:

Facing a obstacle with your writing? Try these five ideas: (ClickToTweet)

How Do You Respond When You Find a Low Number?

I stared at the number of views on YouTube in disbelief. How could it be that small? Only 80 views? I recorded the interview a year ago with my friend Al Gansky talking about my work with Billy Graham and my book, Billy Graham, A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist. 

After the interview, I blogged about the interview. All of my people on my blog list received a copy of the interview through their email and also others saw it directly on the site. Why so few views? I looked at some of the other people Al had interviewed and they had many more views.

Then reality hit. I had only promoted the interview at the actual time of the event. I had put no on-going promotion in place with my social media or other ways. Immediately I made a decision to pour more promotion into this interview—and hopefully the numbers will increase. I'm embedding the YouTube interview here to make it easy for you to watch:


Al and I were talking about my unique background to write this particular book. I hope you will enjoy this interview and I want more people to know about it.

For every writer, it's part of the process to receive low numbers. Sometimes it is a report on the book sales of your latest book. Other times only a few people have registered for one of your teleseminars or even a live event. I've taught workshops at large conferences where I have two or three people attending my continuing class.  Other times I've taught at the same large conference and had a packed room. Each time I decided to teach those couple of people as though I had a room full of people. My teaching was recorded and I determined to take advantage of this recording and continue to promote the results. Please check my speaking schedule to see where our paths will cross in the months ahead.

Back to my original question in the title of this article, how to you respond when you discover a low number? Do you blame others? Maybe your publisher isn't working hard enough to tell people about your book? Instead of trying to put the blame on others, I encourage you to look inside first. Ask yourself, if you poured the right energy into producing a great product. Is the cover well-done? Is the book broadly distributed? Did you hire an editor and make an excellent book?

If the product or event is well-done, then the next question is about the marketing and sales. If the numbers are low, take your own responsibility and be telling more people about your work. Make some calls to schedule more local events. Pitch some magazines with excerpts of your book or write articles on similar topics and promote your book in your bio at the end of the article. You can reach thousands of people using such a strategy. Or step up your social media and get more people viewing your work.

Several weeks ago I received the royalty statement for one of my continual bestselling books. Whenever I speak at conference, for years I sell more of this book than any other.  My royalty statement was dismal with low numbers. 

I took action to see what could be done. Would my publisher return the rights to the book? Yes if I purchased all of the remaining copies. It was not a small investment on my part to take this action—but a strategic one.  As the author, I have the most passion about this topic (more than my publisher). If I own all of the printed copies, then I can reduce the price to sell more books. Also I can create marketing campaigns to sell the book—one by one and also in volume. I'm actively working on these details and you will be hearing more about it in the days ahead. I did not let this important book remain at low sales. I have over 130 Five Star Amazon reviews for this book and it continues to help people. The decision will involve hard work but is worth my efforts.

The book is Book Proposals That Sell, 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success. If you haven't got a copy, now is the time because of the reduced price. Just follow the link. Also you will receive a series of unique bonuses that I've created for anyone who buys the book.

If you have the book and haven't reviewed it, then I encourage you to take a few minutes, write a few sentences of review on Amazon and Goodreads. Please do not purchase the book from Amazon since I have all the remaining copies and you will get it cheaper from me (and if you ask, I'll sign it to you. Just let me know the details in the special instructions section of my shopping cart).

Just like I took action, your actions make a difference. If you do nothing, then nothing will continue to happen. If I can help you, let me know. My email is in my Twitter profile.

Tweetable:
What to do when you find a low number? #marketing (Click to tweet)