Seize Opportunity

   

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

I encourage every writer to be looking for opportunity. When it happens, seize it. It’s important to take immediate action and not delay and forget about what you intended to do. In this article, I want to give some specifics about how to seize opportunity and some actions that I took and also learn about others. In the past, I’ve mentioned I’m a fan of bestselling author Daniel Silva. He writes one novel a year then goes on book tour. His new book, A Death in Cornwall, released on Tuesday, July 9th and in his newsletter, he announced his national book tour. 

When I checked the dates, I learned he would be at the Norma Hertzog Community Center in Costa Mesa or a few miles from where I live in Orange County. I put the event on my calendar and made plans to attend. My last opportunity attend one of Daniel Silva’s events was in 2010 when I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona and saw him at the Poisoned Pen bookstore. From this event, I knew the Costa Mesa event would draw many people.

I arrived about two hours before the start of the event. When I arrived, there was already a short line and I learned the doors would not open for an hour and a half. As a fan, I had pre-ordered my copy and received it in the mail. I also brought the previous novel and I planned to purchase another copy of the book for a friend.  My two books were already signed--and I will tell about this detail later in this article.

While standing in the line, I met another author and his wife. From our conversation, we exchanged business cards. Almost always I have a business card to be prepared for any opportunity. Later that evening when I looked at his card, it had his phone number but was missing his email address. From his author website, I tracked down his email and reached out to him. The most difficult aspect to proofread and check on our material is something not there. I encourage every author to take a look at your business card and make sure your business card has complete information: name, email, phone and mailing address. It’s an important detail if you want to connect and have opportunity.

As I walked into the event, a librarian handed each person a copy of A Death in Cornwall which is a $32 hardcover. In my years of attending author events, I had never been to one where everyone received a complimentary copy of the book. I estimate about 1,000 people attended this event. When I asked the librarian about it, she said they raised the funds through a foundation to give away the books. Journalist Jamie Gangel, Daniel Silva’s wife, moderated the event and her voice is on this Facebook reel of everyone holding their book.

For about 45 minutes, Jamie Gangel interviewed her husband. She asked her questions but also drew submitted questions from the audience. I learned a number of things about his writing pattern and work. He’s produced 27 novels and A Death in Cornwall is his 24th Gabriel Allon novel. Each of these novels have been on the bestseller list. Routinely these books are at the top of those bestseller lists. A few days ago, Silva announced his book is the #1 hardcover on the New York Times fiction bestseller list. 

To write about a 400+ page riveting novel, Daniel begins his writing on Labor Day each year and writes seven days a week often 12-14 hours a day. If he has something going on that he has to do outside of his office, he will get up at 3 am or 4 am to make sure he writes his required pages during that day. Some in the audience gasped at the notion of working seven days a week. 

This week I heard Darren Hardy for Success magazine interview music hitman David Foster. During the interview Foster said, “If I’m not working on Saturday, someone else is.” Then he said, “People who don’t work on the weekends don't like their jobs.I’m not working. I’m living.” I identified with Foster and Silva because of my work pattern which is living and not working. 

Silva has some interesting writing habits. He writes using a particular pencil which is sharpened a particular way. He writes on a particular type of legal pad laying his stomach on the floor of his office. He also needs quiet in his home to concentrate. Every author has to find their particular optimum pattern is what I learned again from listening to Silva.

How did I already have a signed copy of his novels in my briefcase while I had not seen in person in over 14 years? I read his newsletter and each year I pre-order a signed copy of the forthcoming novel. For example, this year I pre-ordered my signed copy on April 3rd and the book didn’t release and ship until early July.

Daniel Silva told each year, he spends a full week of time signing thousands of tip-ins or a single page. He returns these pages to the publisher and they are bound into the book. While Daniel signed my books, I asked about the tip-ins. He doesn’t like them and how they make the book feel and appear. He would prefer to go to the warehouse and sign the actual books. His publisher wants Silva to sign these pages so he spends the time, signs and returns the pages. My conversation with him reminded me that there are many aspects of my work that I don’t love but in spite of that feeling, I do it regardless. It’s part of living and not working--and doing whatever task needs to be done for the work. 

What opportunities are coming across your desk or computer screen this week? What steps are you going to take to seize them and weave them into your writing life? Let me know in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

When you have an opportunity, do you seize it? This prolific author and editor tells about meeting bestselling author Daniel Silva. See what he learned and get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

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When You Fall Behind

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As writers, each of have the same time constraints—24 hours. Within that time, there are family responsibilities and other things which cut into our work time. A week ago I went to a live event in Louisville, Kentucky with over 850 people in attendance. I spent the majority of those days meeting and connecting with new people to see if they will be potential authors for Morgan James Publishing. Through the years, I've been finding many of my authors for Morgan James through live events. With a pandemic, these events haven't been happening but have returned. I'm grateful for these opportunities but when I seize them, I understand that I fall behind in other aspects of my work.  Also I understand the initial meeting is important but the real work happens through the follow-up emails and phone calls—which require even more time and energy which makes me fall even further behind.

 

When you fall behind, you have two basic choices. You can get overwhelmed and stalled so little happens during your day. The other choice is the one is to lean into these opportunities. Every day I write a few of these new contacts and follow-up on my conversations with them. Also I continue to do my social media posts and work on my current writing projects. Here's some other “truths:”

 

--you have to take your own responsibility for your own success

--if you don't do the work, it simply does not get done—follow-up emails, phone calls and other aspects

--you have to chip away at the work one day at a time until it gets done

 

As I've mentioned in some of these entries, every day I leave with work which did not get done—pages that didn't get written, phone calls that did not get made and emails that did not get answered. I'm grateful for the work but this reality is inherent in the process. No one can be a master of every aspect of the publishing work. We have to make choices what we write or create or do. Because of those choices, other things are not able to happen.  Life is a balancing act and each of us have to find our place in the world.

 

Here's some things I've learned which help:

 

--use tools like your phone and scheduling tools like Hootsuite to be consistent

--continue to work at growing in your craft and storytelling ability

--your commitment to communicate clearly and learn new techniques will help

 

The publishing journey is complicated for each of us and filled with many twists and turns. The people who continue in the marketplace are the ones who have learned how to handle the bumps and the delays and the feelings of being behind. These people continue to keep their fingers on the keyboard and produce in spite of the rejection—and every one of us (including me) gets rejected. This rejection is business and not personal (even if on the surface it feels personal). My encouragement is for you to continue moving forward—even when you fall behind. 

 

How do you handle your writing life when you fall behind? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

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Do the Hard Work

Ideas like an anvil can be hard to execute

I understand my work in publishing is not easy or simple.  It is not. There are a number of things which I don't do easily—but I still do it and that is my encouragement to you.

For example, I'm not crazy about making phone calls yet yesterday I spent several hours on the phone making calls. The majority of the time I left little upbeat messages to authors. Why? Because from my years in publishing I know how rare it is to get a phone call from an editor at a publishing house. My intention is to stand out and be the exception. I understand this business has a lot of rejection—people saying no thank you and passing on your project.

Our model at Morgan James is different from others (something I spend a lot of time talking with authors and agents about). You may not like all the details of Morgan James, but we are providing opportunity for authors and making incredible books in the marketplace. Do all of these books succeed? No because we can make books but can't make them sell. In the process, I try and manage expectations for authors and tell them that 80% of the work is up to them. Yes Morgan James can sell the book into the brick and mortar bookstores—but it is the author who promotes and drives readers into the bookstore to actually buy that book (through many different ways such as social media, radio, magazine articles, public speaking and much more).

A number of the authors that I called yesterday have not returned my calls or answered me via email. In a number of cases, I've called them multiple times over the last few months and left these messages.  Each of the people I called have received a contract from Morgan James—but for whatever reason they have not signed or negotiated this contract. Maybe they are looking for an agent or a better offer or haven't finished their book or ??? (multiple reasons). The main purpose of my call was to let them know that I still believed in their book and wanted to help them get it published and into the world.

Let me tell you about two authors I worked with this past week. One author I met at least five years ago and haven't heard from in a long time. She reached out to me and asked if our contract had changed in the last four years. Her book has not been published. Four years ago the timing wasn't right but now she is ready to move forward. I checked with my colleagues and a new contract was issued and sent to this author. Will she sign and move forward and get her book into the bookstores? I don't know but she now has a new opportunity.

Also this week I spoke with another author who has a literary agent. A year and a half ago, I had lunch with this agent and he told me the author wasn't a good fit to publish with Morgan James. I listened and accepted this decision and moved on working with other authors. Then a few weeks ago, this author reached out to me. She has the same agent but the book hasn't been published and she wanted to explore Morgan James. I spoke with her and have now moved this book into the process where my colleagues look at the author and the book to see if they will issue a contract for this novel. I have no idea if Morgan James will publish this book or not but again I am providing the opportunity.

What is hard work for you? Are you doing it? Maybe you don't like social media or marketing or creating an email list or any number of other tasks. Are you doing these hard tasks? My encouragement is for you to keep moving forward every day. Your steps may be small but continue to move forward and eventually you will get it done. Keep growing in your craft and reading and learning more about new aspects. Keep broadening your connections and network and keep looking for new opportunities.

I understand that some of the process is not easy but you can do it. If I can help you in the journey, let me know. My work contact information is on the bottom of the second page of this link. My encouragement is for you to keep moving forward and that you can do it.

Let me know in the comments below, what actions you are taking to tackle the hard work.

Tweetable:

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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. 

Click this mage for the resource

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.

Tweetable:


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Several Ideas to Face the Daily Challenge

I've been in a reflective mood and maybe it comes from passing another birthday this coming week. As I grow older, I begin to understand why the Bible calls that our days are fleeting. Each of us have the same 24 hours in each day. The key detail is how we use this time. 

As I think about the challenges of each day, I understand several facts:

1. Everyone has interruptions. Yesterday I spent several hours at the Apple Store because my wife's iPhone 5C was having screen problems.  At the store, we upgraded her phone to an iPhone 7 Plus and it took several hours that I was not planning on spending. These types of unexpected situations are part of our life. Yet do you wisely use the time which you do have available to you?

2. Not everything gets done. Yes on the surface I may look like I get a lot done. I do tweet almost 14 times a day with great content. Also I have over 100 new followers a day on Twitter. Yet the bulk of my day is spent as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, talking with authors, emailing authors and others about their books.  Despite the things I accomplish in a day, I know and understand that not every email is answered. Not every phone call gets made or returned.  As an editor, I work hard at customer service, answering key concerns and returning calls—but there is still more to do.

I have magazine articles to write and books to finish and websites to update. If I paused to make a list, it would be endless and to be honest I'm assuming that you have a lengthy list of things to do as well which and while you chip away at it, everything does not get done.We have to live with this fact.

3. Use the right tools to have the best results. Through trial and error, I've learned to use different tools on my phone, different computer programs and other ways to cut down on time and get things done. For example, when I travel, I continue to write on my AlphaSmart 3000 which I purchased years ago on Ebay for about $30. The AlphaSmart is not connected to the Internet, runs on batteries and holds large volumes of information with a full size keyboard. This tool is not right for every writer but it is one that I've used repeatedly to get my writing done.

Are you experimenting with different tools and programs to see if they help you get more done in a shorter amount of time?

4. Balance is important. Every one of us need to have a certain level of balance in our daily lives. Have you listed your key goals and priorities? Just the act of writing these goals can be a great first step. Then have you broken those goals into small steps that you can accomplish? 

As I think about the big picture of my own life, I have a number of things which are a key part of my day. I need Time for Faith (reading the Bible and prayer each day). I need Time for Family (the connection to my wife and children—even if they are grown children). I need Time for Work. I also need Time for Health ( and I build exercise into almost every day). I need Time for Relaxation (yes some of you may find it hard to believe but I go to movies, I read for fun and I watch television). Finally I make Time for Friends. Admittedly some of my days are out of balance but it's part of the way I'm wired and working to attempt to have some level of balance in my life and work.

These are my ideas to help you face the daily challenges of life. Are they helpful? I hope so. Do you have other ideas? Tell me in the comments below. 

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Find A Job That You Love

For over three years, I've worked for Morgan James Publishing. I love my job—admittedly not every detail but I love the process of finding the right author and good books. It is a constant search and rewarding to interact with authors.

Recently one of my authors felt like quitting and not completing their book. From my experience, all of us feel like that at one time or another. I know I have wanted to quit the writing process. I emailed her with some ideas how to get it done—and then I went on to something else in my work day. My words had impact and about a week ago, this author emailed again saying she had finished her book. It was exciting to receive that email!

If you are considering a career change or looking for a new position, the classic book which instantly comes to mind is What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles. This book has sold over 10 million copies. I knew about this book but I had never read it. Now I wish I had turned to this book several years ago when I went through my own intense job search.

During my job search,I followed seasoned advice and treated my unemployment like a job. Every day I spent a considerable amount of time working at my job search. I created an excellent resume, searched job boards for appropriate positions and filled out many applications. I did it day after day and week after week—with no response and no calls for interviews or even consideration. Yet I persisted in looking and speaking with my publishing network. Nothing happened.

Looking back at that time in my life, I believe the publishing world was changing and numerous publishers were downsizing and cutting back on staff. Downsizing alone sent many people into the job market and my qualifications didn't stack up when compared to others. I could have used the wisdom in What Color Is Your Parachute? The book is updated and revised every year.

In the last few weeks, I was offered a review copy of What Color Is Your Parachute? 2016 I'm not looking to change jobs but wanted to see what this well-known book contained. I read the review copy and discovered this book is packed with insights and lessons — no matter whether you are not thinking about changing jobs or searching.

For example in a section called You Are Not As Powerless as You Think, Bolles writes, “So it is, that in any situation you find yourself, no matter how overwhelmed you may feel, no matter how much you may feel you're at the mercy of huge forces that are beyond your control, some part of it is within your control: maybe 2%, 5%, who knows? There is always something you can work on. Something that is within your power. And often, changing that little bit results in changing the whole lot. Maybe not as dramatic a change as Mary (in the previous paragraph); but change nonetheless.” (Page 47)

As part of Bolles' training he attended an Episcopal seminary and in the appendix includes a large section about how to find your mission in life. Every reader can personally profit from working through some of the checklists and information in this book.

I conclude this article with my review of the book for Amazon and Goodreads:

Valuable Insight -- Whether You are Searching for A Job or Not

No job lasts forever--whether we admit it to ourselves or not. This classic book (updated each year) is loaded with encouragement and insight for every reader. The step-by-step insights are valuable to any reader at any place in the job market.

I loved what Bolles said in the first chapter, "In today's world, he or she who gets hired is not necessarily the one who can do that job best; but, the one who knows the most about how to get hired. If you can learn new advanced job-hunting skills you can not only survive. You can thrive." (Page 14)

This book is packed with ideas and action steps for every reader. I highly recommend it.