If Time Challenged, Then Set a Deadline

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Are you feeling time challenged? Does it feel like each day is passing with increasing speed? It’s a feeling I face daily and in this article I want to give you some action steps for your writing life.

We live in one of the greatest times in human history with incredible opportunities and communication tools. Our ability to communicate with each other happens 24 hours a day and seven days a week. As an editor, the submissions pour into my email account every day--even on the weekend. Last Sunday an author emailed me with his submission which was in five attachments. The better submission would combine all of these attachments into a single document. Even though it was the weekend, I opened two or three of them. The email and each attachment was missing the information I needed to get the submission started. These documents did not contain the author’s mailing address nor his phone number. Without this basic information, the submission cannot get entered into our internal system. 

While it is a bit “old school,” Morgan James Publishing acknowledges every submission which enters the system with a letter in the US mail (and emailed if outside the US). Why? This mailing address is needed if later in the process, we are able to issue a contract offer to publish the book. When I noticed this author didn’t have the information, internally I groaned (not the editor reaction that you want to evoke). If this submission was going anywhere to be considered I had to email the author for the information. It was simply one more unnecessary action for an overloaded schedule. 

Yet I sent the email to the author--even on a Sunday morning. Make sure your submission is complete with the requested information. If your submission is not complete and requires another email from that editor, it may not happen--then you wonder why--but you were the cause because you did not include the requested information.

If you select any month or day, I have a series of deadlines to meet. For example, I guest blog for several different places once a month. Each one has a specific deadline and I will list that deadline in the reminder’s section of my phone, then work toward completion. Also I have a number of submissions which I need to process for these authors to receive a publishing contract. It involves setting up a conference call with the author and proposing a time on email then confirming when they respond. During the call, I ask for several specifics which I need from that author before their paperwork can be completed to possibly get them a contract. If the author doesn’t provide these details, I may need to email or call and follow-up or it could simply be dropped because of their lack of response. However it happens, I’m saying that as an editor I have a series of submissions blasting into my email constantly--way more than any single person could possibly process. Each day I keep chipping away at getting it done.

Also I have scheduled trips to conferences where in general I’m away from my email and phone because I’m meeting face to face with authors. Or I’m teaching a workshop or visiting with authors and hearing about their work and pitches during a meal or a coffee break. These interactions happen early in the morning or even late at night. At these events, my natural tendency is to go to my room and be alone (which happens sometimes on overload). Normally I fight those tendencies and instead make a point of being visible and interacting with whoever crosses my path. I see these interactions as divine appointments and have great stories and experiences from those “chance” meetings.

Whenever I face this steady stream of work and feel time challenged, I celebrate my journalism training and experience. As a young newspaper reporter, I worked on The Peru Daily Tribune in an open newsroom. There were no cubicals but an open series of desks with old manual typewriters, noise and even some cigarette smoke. It was in the days before anyone had a cell phone or computer. The managing editor would gather the staff in his office at 7 a.m. for a story meeting. We brainstormed story ideas for the newspaper.

The managing editor would turn to me and say, “Terry, I need an on the street viewpoint article about (some current event).” My task would be to corner someone on the street, ask a few questions along with their contact information. Then get back to the newsroom, type out my story and turn it into my city editor on or before 11 a.m. There was no time for writer’s block or daydreaming about what to write. It forced every reporter into action because we were writing for  daily newpaper. The edited pages were typeset then printed in the afternoon newspaper which hit the street at 3 p.m. My years of experience meeting deadlines helps me continue to make these deadlines.

The first step in your time challenged experience, is to set your own deadlines then meet those deadlines. An easy way for any writer to standout is to meet your deadlines with quality and complete writing. Many writers are notoriously late. As an editor, I’ve worked with writers and their literary agents to set a contract deadline. When that deadline approaches, these writers (or their agent for them) will call and ask for addtional time. Making this extension is Okay but you can standout as a writer if you hit the original deadline or even turn it in a few days early. 

Use scheduling tools is another resource for the time challenged. For example, every week I publish an original article about The Writing Life. Next week I will be teaching at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference with limited time at my computer. To meet my article deadline, I’ve written it ahead of time and scheduled the release.

Beyond awareness and scheduling tools, your awareness that for something to be effective, you have to  accomplish it repeatedly. I’ve been doing this repeatedly with my weekly newsletter to my email list. I’ve also been doing it through my social media scheduling.

As I’ve written in these articles, I post on social media 12 to 15 times every day seven days a week. To be honest, there are times when I don’t want to do the posts at this frequency. Yet I understand that years ago I set up this expectation and schedule. From the engagement and feedback, I know some people read these entries and they are getting used. While  some days I may be tired of it in obedience and discipline I sit each week and do it. You can make a similar decision. 

What steps do you take when you are time challenged? Do you simply shut down and get away from it all? I have some friends who react in that manner as well. Or maybe you have another idea that I’m missing. Let me know in the comments below. Let’s learn from each other.

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No matter what type of writing you tackle, each one contains its own challenges and complexity. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. Through my years in this business, I’ve spoken with many authors, I find many of them have unrealistic expectations about publishing. I wrote  10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. Get my decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. 

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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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Be The Exception

This past weekend I was speaking in Spokane, Washington at the Inland Northwest Christian Writers Conference. It was my first time at this terrific event and the fourth year for this conference. 

Besides giving a couple of workshops, I met throughout the day with various writers to speak with them about their book projects and to guide them about what they can do next to achieve their dreams.

I love this opportunity to hear about different books and help them learn more publishing. I heard about some wonderful books for different target audiences. In each case, I gave the author my business card and encouraged them to send me their material so we can consider publishing it at Morgan James. While I know our program isn't right for every author, our company has many unique benefits which I stressed during the meetings.
 
I've been meeting with authors at these conferences for years and here's what I understand: few of these authors will carry through and actually send me their material. If they do, then they will be the exception. I'm actively looking for terrific authors that I can champion to my publication board and get them a book contract. For the last two years, I've been sending contracts to authors almost every week.
 
Yes we receive many submissions at Morgan James (over 5,000 each year) and less than 3% of those submissions are actually contracted and published. It's a long shot for every author—but here's the reality: you can't get published if you don't send in your proposal or part of your manuscript. You have to take action as an author to achieve your dreams.
 
During the conference, I saw a woman who looked familiar. Over a year earlier, we had met at the Seattle conference and talked about her book idea. She reminded me of the idea and I expressed my continued interest to champion this author and her idea.
 
“What happened to your book?,” I asked.
 
“Oh, life got in the way and I haven't sent it anywhere,” she admitted.
 
This sort of situation happens much more frequently than you would think. People are amazed at my number of published books (over 60) or the number of magazines that I've had articles published (over 50–-I stopped counting a long time ago).
 
This type of publishing success does not come from being the best writer in the room or the most skilled communicator. I am persistent and I do follow through on the open doors. If an editor says to me, “That's a good idea. Write that up and send it to me.” Then I take that editor's statement at face value for the opportunity. I go home, write up the material and send it to the editor.
 
Yes I get rejected and not every one of my submissions get published. Rejection is a part of the process of finding the right opportunity at the right time at the right place. Yes a number of rights need to line up for that opportunity to happen.
 
You can't get published simply cranking out the material on your computer and leaving it there. You have to take action and follow-through and send it to the editor. If you do this simple step, you will be the exception and give yourself the best possible chance for success.
 
You have to do the work and craft an excellent manuscript. Writing is hard work and takes a lot of effort from you as an author. But you have to take one more step—connect with an editor and follow-through on what they requested.
 
I'm hoping you will be one of those authors in the small percentage who actually send in their material and get their books into print. It is possible for you if you will be the exception.