“I don’t write books. I write articles,” I said. I stopped myself before I preached him a sermon. Most unpublished writers want to write a book. But, think about it. To assume that you can start your publishing career with a book is like taking an entry-level job in a corporation and expecting to start as the CEO. Climbing the ladder of success involves taking your turn on the bottom rungs as you ascend to the top.

Get your name in print with articles and other short pieces first. If you write enough of them on one topic, you might have enough material for a book. A good example of this is Lettie Kirkpatrick Burress’ book, Taking Back Christmas. Writing articles, you can establish yourself as an expert on a topic. Readers, and therefore editors, will be more interested in your eventual book after you’ve established your reputation.

There are a number of advantages to writing articles instead of books:

• Articles are short, so they don’t take so much time to create. You can experiment with various topics while you decide what you want to specialize in.
• You are more likely to get a short piece published. Once you build your article portfolio, you will have credits to show potential publishers of your book.
• Articles can be sold more than once. As long as you don’t sell all rights, you can sell unlimited reprints of every article you write.

Don’t give up on your book idea. Just take your time developing your material and your platform. That’s the recipe for publishing success.

How-to’s for Article Writers:

Terry Whalin’s article writing page

“Success with Writing Articles” on agent Chip MacGregor’s Blog

My review of two books on article writing

Article Writing Tutorial

• For the definitive article on why you should consider writing devotionals, visit the Florida Christian Writers Conference blog and read what Mary Lou Redding, editorial director of Upper Room has to say.
• Read my “How to Write Devotionals” article, which includes links to other how-to articles.
• Write and submit. Choose your target publications. Follow the guidelines. If your denomination publishes a devotional magazine, start with that one. The Secret Place and Upper Room are great for unpublished writers. Download a PDF handout from my devotional writing workshop here. It includes links to online and print devotional publications, plus links to other how-to information.

 Need More Information?

Mary Lou Redding’s 8-Point How-to List on Writing Devotionals on Susan Titus Osborn’s blog

Kim Sheard’s “Writing and Selling Devotionals” on Writers’ Weekly

See Upper Room daily devotional online here. Or, subscribe to daily e-mail devotional (same as print edition) at this link.

Sally Stuart at Southeastern Christian Writers Conference 2011

Sally Stuart literally wrote the book on marketing for Christian writers. I’ve heard her speak in person twice, the most recent instance being Southeastern Christian Writers Conference, October 14-15, 2011. In her keynote addresses, Sally concentrated on selling your work and publishing industry trends.

She made three statements that I had heard her make before. She repeats these statements because she knows we don’t always get it the first time we hear it.

The market guide is published every year because there are numerous changes in the listings. Time and again, newbies ask if they can’t get by with an old market guide. They’re so much cheaper, you know? “I wouldn’t do a new book every year unless there were enough changes to warrant a new book,” Sally said. It’s crucial that you have the latest information when querying and submitting your work. A writer without a current market guide is like a lumberjack with a dull saw.

Your work must be crafted for the market if you expect to get published. “Many writers write first and then try to market,” said Stuart. You’re more likely to get your work published if you research the markets first. Then you can write with your prospective reader in mind. Editors know their readers, and they only buy work they think their readers will like, no matter how great the writing is.

Everyone wants to write on assignment. Well—I thought I was the only person who wanted to write on assignment! What a great way to write. My editor would give me a topic, a word count, a deadline, and suggestions on how to approach the topic. No more scrounging around in the market guide trying to figure out who would want my work. No more queries or submitting work on speculation. It truly never occurred to me until Sally mentioned it that probably every writer wants the same thing. I’ll still dream about writing on assignment. But, I’ll have to accept the fact that I must get a lot more work published before that happens for me.

Subscribers, have you heard Sally speak? What did you learn from the Christian market’s authority on marketing? Please comment on this post and tell us about it.

CWFI: Christian Writers Fellowship International (CWFI) Yahoo group was established by Sandy Brooks for subscribers to Cross & Quill. After the magazine ceased publication, the group was opened to non-subscribers. Weekly discussions are based on a Question of the Week, moderated by Donna Clark Goodrich. Overt promotion is discouraged on the group, but members are encouraged to report publishing successes.  Apply for membership in the group at the link above.

CWGI: You must fill out an application form for Christian Writers Group International (CWGI), also a Yahoo group. There is no fee, so this is a much larger group. The last time I checked there were about 800 members worldwide. Discussions are made more interesting by input from members in places like Australia and South Africa.

TWV1: the Writers’ View 1 is for “advanced and professional writers in the Christian market. Topics are advanced and explore the entire publishing process.” Owned by Mary DeMuth, this group requires a membership application and there are a number of panelists covering a wide variety of genres.

TWV2: The Writer’s View 2 is “for beginning/intermediate Christian writers serious about taking their writing to the next level.” Membership application required for this one, too. You must choose which TWV you want to participate in, because you are not allowed to participate in both. Mary also owns this group, but the list of panelists is different.

ACFW: The groups mentioned in this blog are ones that I have participated in or investigated for myself. If you are a fiction writer, check out American Christian Fiction Writers. Member benefits include forums that might be helpful to you.

These groups not only help you improve your writing, but they help you get to know people who can introduce you to others in the industry. I invite comments on this post from people who have participated in other writers’ groups.

Now for the results. Here’s the list of potential conference workshop topics I’m developing. Which ones do you think were the most popular?

1. A Business Approach to Marketing Your Work
2. Turning Your Journal Entries into Saleable Articles
3. Social Networking for Writers: Overview of Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
4. Self-Editing: Preparing Your Work for the Market
5. Write What You Know: Finding Stories in Everyday Life

The online survey asked each person to rate the above titles from 1 to 5 with 1 being first choice, 2 being second, etc.

The Winner Is: Business Approach, garnered an equal number of #1 (love it) votes with Social Networking. But, networking received just as many of #5 (hate it) votes as #1 votes. And Social Networking got the largest number of negative votes of any topic. I guess you either love it or hate it. So, I have to pronounce Business Approach the winner based on the negative votes for Social Networking.

Taking into account the total of #1 votes plus the #2 votes for each topic, Business Approach got the most votes, while Write What You Know came in second. Social Networking came in third, followed by Self-Editing at fourth and  Journal Entries  last.

Alternate Method: I posted a message on Christian Writers Group International asking members to respond by choosing two of the five topics without rating them. This method more accurately mimics your situation if you are attending a conference. You have two time slots and five topics. What do you choose?

The results were totally different from the survey above. Journaling  and Self-Editing  got an equal number of votes. The other three were close. I only had five responses on this one, so I think the results of the survey are more telling.

Comments: One respondent, Julie Baker, made an interesting comment. “We should already have acquired writing skills. The bigger concern is how to market and sell our work”

Readers: Please give us your opinion by commenting on this post.

FREE-–it’s the one word that gets everyone’s attention. Writers, like everyone else, love to use blogs, websites, backup services, and a host of other free-on-the-Web products. Some of them are truly free, while others are free for a limited time or limited purposes, a free trial, so-to-speak. Online businesses have learned that offering the free trial often gains them paying customers. This marketing model is called “freemium.”

Really Free: Google offers a number of free services including Gmail, Groups, Blogger, Google Analytics, Feedburner, YouTube, and many more. Here’s a complete listing. I also use other free services offered by Yahoo, MSN, and Microsoft Office Live in addition to Google.

Free services usually work great, but, if something goes wrong, you have to figure it out for yourself. The “help” section is sometimes no help at all. For example, there was a glitch in the email messages that went to my blog subscribers through Feedburner. Some of the links in the message would not work, and the YouTube embeds didn’t show up at all. I couldn’t find an answer by searching online or in the help section. Of course, there’s no one to call, so I had to come up with my own solution.

Premium (Freemium): Most freemium services offer expanded or premium services for a fee. For example, Mozy online backup offers two gigabytes of storage free. If you need more storage space, you must upgrade to a paid plan. See the details for their free service here. Notice that the free version does not include live chat support or support tickets, which means you’ll have to get help from their support community or knowledge base.

With Mozy online backup, I started out using a free account. I chose not to back up my photos in order to avoid paying for the additional storage. When my computer crashed last year, I lost everything on my hard drive. I restored my documents from Mozy, but I had to rebuild my photo collection from the ground up. Some of the photos I lost did not have backups anywhere. I decided it was worth the fee to have everything backed up on Mozy. Other freemium services I’ve used include Dropbox, Webs.com, WordPress, Bravenet, and Shutterfly.

Time is money? The bottom line is this. Free services may not cost you money, but sometimes they cost you time. It’s been a year, and I still don’t have all my photos restored. I’m waiting for certain people to remember to send me their copies of the photos I lost. The time I’ve spent rebuilding my photo collection could have been used writing new articles. My new rule is that, if a free service becomes a time-saver for me, I’ll probably take the upgrade to the paid version when it becomes necessary.

Subscribers, would you like to recommend a free online service that’s proved useful to you? Please comment and share the URL.

More on the Freemium Concept:

Forbes Blog

Using Free to Turn a Profit

The “Parent” Blogs: Golden Rule Marketing was the outgrowth of an online marketing course I taught for The Christian PEN. The other two had their beginnings as handouts for conference sessions. I started Wired to Write as a resource for the people who attended my blogging session at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference 2008. The book review blog is no longer online, but I set it up so that I could post reviews for books on my resource list. Articles from each of the older blogs are filed chronologically in Blog4Writers.

The Mission Statement: Blog4Writers exists to provide online resources for the writer aspiring to publication as well as published writers. Subject matter will include the following categories: computers, websites and blogs, marketing, writing resources, and inspiration.

How to Find Stuff on Blog4Writers: Subscribers get new material regularly, but everything is archived for your use at any time. Check out my previous post on how to use my site.

Party Favors: To thank you for subscribing and for attending this party. I’ve formatted my print resources list for writers and my online resources list as PDFs. Just follow the links to download them: Party Favor #1 and Party Favor #2.

My birthday wish for Blog4Writers is that the number of e-mail subscribers will double between now and next birthday. If you find Blog4Writers helpful, please tell your writer friends so that they can subscribe.

What’s your wish for Blog4Writers? Your input is welcomed. Suggest topics or writing books for review, or just let me know what current topics are most helpful. Just link to the blog and comment on this post. E-mail me privately if you like: akinemily@gmail.com.

Effort Expended: Does writing “come easy” for you? If not, should you consider giving up? Many novice writers think that, if you’re called and/or gifted, the writing should be effortless. In truth, writing is hard work—for everyone. Nobody sends the first draft off to the publisher. Another adage applies here: “Writing is re-writing.” And re-writing again.

Opportunity Cost: What would you do with the time if not writing? In business, opportunity cost refers to what you’re giving up when you choose to devote resources to writing. See the economic definition here. If you were not working on your current project, what would you be doing? Would you be better off doing that instead of writing? Always weigh the alternatives and be sure you are doing the right thing for you.

Actual Expense: You choose to spend your time and effort writing. To top it off, it also costs money for you to write and submit your work for publication. Equipment, supplies, networking and promotional expenditures are necessary. At times, you may feel guilty spending money on what you need to get your writing career off the ground. Rarely has a writer succeeded in getting published without spending some money to make it happen.

So—after you think about what it costs you to write, you must decide if you’re willing to pay. You’re not the first person to struggle with these issues. Some of the most famous writers were right where you are now. They asked themselves, “Is is worth it?” They said, “Yes.” What’s your answer?

Wisdom from Famous Writers (who were Christians):

• Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
• Ben Franklin (1706-1790): Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
• Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826): The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

Yes, because non-paying markets give you:

• Bylines to use when marketing to other publications. (You can sell reprints after the piece is published.)
• A chance to establish yourself as an expert in your subject matter and showcase your writing.

No, non-paying markets will not get your submissions because:

• It’s just not fair for publications not to pay their writers. (The Bible does teach that the laborer is worthy of his/her wages.)
• You need some income from your writing in order to justify spending time on it.

Maybe, if:

• I’m just not getting published, and I’m ready to try anything.
• I’ve had a lot of work published recently, and I want to “give back” to the community.

How do you feel about this? I’d love to hear your comments. Instructions on how to comment are in a previous post here.

Note: After last week’s article using the Four P’s of the marketing mix to analyze your writing effort, I decided to check and see how many of the articles on Blog4writers fit into the four categories (Product, Promotion, Place, and Price). I could not believe that I had not one single article dealing with Price. This article fills that gap, and I plan to add more this year.

And I need your assistance:

I’m planning subject matter for Blog4Writers 2011. Please help my participating in my one-question survey. Just click on the “Take Our Survey” button and go where it leads.

In previous articles, I have described how writers can use this tool. See the article links at the end of this post. Rather than telling you how to use the Four P’s, today I will show you how I use it for Blog4writers. And, don’t forget, you take the customer’s point of view, not yours.

Product: Blog4writers is a free online collection of articles and resources for writers seeking to publish their work. Although it is targeted to Christian writers, those who write for secular markets will also find useful information here.

• Articles are less than 500 words and contain links to further information.
• Topics (categories) are marketing, websites and blogs, writers’ resources (online and print), “Get Organized,” and inspirational.
• In the marketing category, articles are marked with sub-categories Product, Place, Promotion, and Price.

Promotion: I use standard blog promotion methods, but word of mouth has worked best for me. The people who have met me, either online or in person, are most likely to subscribe. Here’s a list of my promotion methods.

• I post on Facebook and Twitter announcing new articles. I usually wait until after the subscription feed has been out a day or two. That way, I can tell whether traffic is coming from the feed or from the social networks.
• I belong to three online Christian writers’ groups. If someone on those groups asks a question, I check to see if I have an article on the blog that answers that question. I then post the link to the group.
• I ordered free business cards from Vistaprint promoting Blog4writers and  carry them with me so that I don’t miss an opportunity to promote!

Place: In manufacturing, the Place component applies to the distribution—how the customer accesses the product. Users access Blog4Writers via the Internet. Also, I “place” the URL in my other blogs and in my e-mail signature to remind people that it’s available.

Price: Well, for Blog4writers, that’s easy. It’s free to anyone who takes the time to check it out. Maybe not exactly free, though. You do have to spend a little effort to search for the information you need.

Four P’s analysis can be used for projects large and small, for your entire writing effort or just for one part of it. It makes you think about what you’re trying to do, and it jumpstarts your creative thought processes. Try it, and let me know how it works out.

My previous articles:

Market Better, Sell More

Golden Rule Marketing for Writers