The Necessity of Asking for Help
By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
As writers, I’ve learned that almost nothing successful happens on our own. I understand and also have the desire to accomplish something on my own. Maybe it is the value we give to self reliance and independence which is a prized value in the culture. It’s easier and often more straight forward just to handle something myself instead of asking someone else to be involved and get their assistance.
Thoughout my decades in the publishing world, I’ve learned that we need the help of others to succeed. To get help, you have to understand your need, then have the personal courage to reach out and ask others. If you don’t ask, then that other person doesn’t know you need their assistance.
In this article, I want to use my new book, Pivot Driven Devotions as an example of what authors can do to get help from others. I wrote this book on a fast-tracked deadline and it had a quiet launch without a launch team or any book reviews.
Book reviews are important for every author. In this article (follow the link), I mentioned author and psychologist Robert Cialdini (Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion), 98% of people who purchase a product (not just a book) online have read a review before they buy it. I hope this statistic motivates you to have reviews for your books--and not just on Amazon but on different online websites.
As an author of Pivot Driven Devotions, I received some author copies per my contract. Instead of leaving these copies inside a box in my garage, I decided to take action and ask several family members and friends to write an honest review on several different websites. After these individuals agreed to read and review my book, I pulled a book, printed a short form to help them write a review (follow the link). I tucked this form into the printed book. Also I signed and personalized each book as I packed and put it into the mail.
From my past work on reviews for books, I understand that not everyone who agrees to review the book, will actually get it done. Often it is only about 50% of the committed people who read the book then write an honest review. I know from personal experience that I receive way more printed books from authors and publishers that I can possibly read and write reviews--even if I did it fulltime (and I only do it in my off time and without charge).
For several people, I wrote emails and asked them directly. For others, I posted online (including last week in these Writing Life articles). In each case, I got some people responding to my requests. Also in my asking, I created some limitations saying I only needed 10 people and they had to be in the United States. With this limitation, I avoided mailing books overseas and placed some boundaries on the number I needed. From my perspective, it is better to get the books into people’s hands for reading and reviews instead of the books sitting in a box in my garage. When someone agrees to read the book and review it, I sent them a note of appreciation but in this email I included specific links to the three sites where I need a review. Hopefully with these links, I made it easy for each person to write their review then post it on these locations.
Each day, thousands of new books enter the marketplace and are published. As authors, it is our responsibility to use courage and ask others for help, then give them the tools to accomplish what you need. The process is not easy for any of us and involves taking action and asking for others to help you.
What steps do you take to get help? Let me know in the comments below.
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Let’s Meet In Person
As I often say in these articles, who you know is as important as what you know.
Over the next three months, I’m going to be traveling to three conferences. On April 26th, I will be in Frankfort, Kentucky (follow the link for details). In late May, I will be teaching at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference a continuing class on how to sell books and also giving a keynote at the event. (follow the link for details). Finally in late June, I will be in Canby, Oregon for the Cascade Christian Writers Conference (follow the link for details). I will be teaching a continuing workshop and meeting with authors. I hope you will invest in your writing life and we can meet in person at one of these events.
As I’ve worked in the publishing world for years, I’ve spoken with many authors about their expectations and dreams for their books. I’ve found many of these authors have unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help and take actions no matter what the publisher does for your book. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.
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Labels: asking, book reviews, Pivot Driven Devotions, scarcity, Terry Whalin, The Necessity of Asking for Help, The Writing Life
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