Writers’ Resources
Getting Your Book Published 101
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Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference was superb again this year! Most writers go to conferences because they want to write and publish a book. The Indy conference organizers (Wesleyan Publishing House) provided the usual workshops and private appointments. But, they went the extra mile by providing each conferee with a free guide to publication, Keith Drury’s new A Brief Guide for Writers. Read on to find out how you can enter a drawing for a free copy.
Author Keith Drury is Associate Professor of Religion and Philsophy at Wesley Seminary (Indiana Wesleyan University). Don’t let the professor label scare you. He is a down-to-earth person and a great writing teacher.
Publisher’s book description: “Practical help for writers who want to move ‘the ideas swirling about in my head’ to a final manuscript that will get published. Packed with dozens of tips and hints, this book gives step-by-step instructions on preparing a manuscript so it will shine and be noticed by editors and publishers. This veteran author offers advice on where to get ideas, how to organize them, and then how to turn ideas into a worthy book or article.
Brief Guide for Writers demystifies the publishing business for beginning writers, explaining each step of the process including making an outline, preparing the proposal, signing a contract, checking galleys, and revising future editions of your book. A sample style sheet is included so you will know what publishers want and expect. Written in an easy-to-understand conversational style, this book is a primer for someone who has a book or article idea and needs the information and the motivation to get those ideas into a manuscript that will become a published work.”
The book lives up to its description. It is available from Triangle Publishing. You can also get Brief Guide for Writers
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Brief Guide Giveaway: I have a copy to give away to one lucky reader. Here’s how to enter the drawing: please e-mail me at akinemily@gmail.com with enter book giveaway in the subject line. Please also give your name somewhere in the e-mail. Deadline for entries is Saturday, November 26, 2011, 6:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. I’ll draw one name and contact the winner for mailing address (U.S. addresses only). I’ll ship the book via medial mail as soon as I can.
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Bonus: Wesleyan writer, editor, pastor, Jim Watkins also shares his expertise on book publishing on his blog: http://www.jameswatkins.com/bookwriting.htm
Legal Stuff: I received this book free with conference registration at Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference. I was not required to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Fall Favorites Link Roundup
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Fall is harvest time. Look what I’ve gleaned from the Web for our quarterly link roundup.
Inspiration
Susan J. Reinhardt on “The Care and Feeding of Writers”
Self-publishing
Jerry Jenkins, “My Quarrel with Self-publishing”
Rachelle Gardner, “Will Self-pub Sales Affect Your Future?”
Social Networking
Andrea Merrell, “To Tweet or Not to Tweet”
Building a Platform
Erin McPherson, “Platform 101 for Regular Not-Famous People Like Me”
Technology Frustration
Ethan Waldman, “How to Reduce Technology Frustration and Write Distraction-Free”
Online Writing Opportunities
Neither of these is a paying market, but, if you need to get your name out there, perhaps one of these would work for you.
Subscribers, if you have found good articles on any of these subjects, please share them with us by commenting on this post.
Free Stuff for Writers
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Don’t you get excited when you find good stuff for free? Makes you want to tell somebody, doesn’t it? Well, I found all these things recently, and I want to share them with you.
Handout on social media marketing: Offered by Terry Whalin here.
E-book on blogging from Bob Baker and BookBaby.com: Blogging 101: a guide to promoting your writing in the blogosphere, download here.
Free handout from my article writing workshop: Print Resources for Writers, download here.
Susan Driscoll’s Get Published: Ask a question and get free e-book.
Free digital photos: See Terms page for conditions of use. (Includes required attribution for photographer), Freeditialphotos.net.
Free e-book on self-publishing: “Hidden Hazards” offered by Believer’s Press.
Free handout: “Inner Guts: How an extreme makeover of our hearts enlivens, deepens, and betters our prose” by Mary DeMuth here.
If you know of other free resources for writers, please comment on this post and share the link.
Blog4Writers: What’s in It for You?
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How you you like my new business card?
Did you know that Blog4Writers offers much more than a weekly message? It’s intended to be a source of information and inspiration for writers on a variety of topics including writing, blogging, marketing, social networking, and more.
When you read the weekly e-mail, did you know that you can click through from the article title to the Blog4Writers page on www.emilyakin.com? Once you arrive on the site, you can navigate this treasure trove of information in several ways. Try one or more of these methods.
- Take the grand tour. For an organized approach, click on the Home tab and follow the listed steps to explore resources lists and other articles not included in the blog.
- Browse the categories list. The Blog4Writers archive contains almost 200 posts on writing, blogging, marketing, social networking, and computer software—just to name a few topics. On every page of the site, the right sidebar contains a drop-down menu containing the categories list. Click on any category or sub-category to see all articles on in that category. Follow this link to see what you get when you click on the Get Organized category.
- Use the site’s navigation bars. Hover your mouse over each tab in the gray horizontal navigation bar. You’ll see dropdown menus listing additional pages under each label. Just drag down and click on any title you want to see. You can also browse categories by using the new black navigation bar at the very top of each page.
- Take advantage of the search box. Also in the sidebar near the top is the Search feature. Type in keywords for whatever you want to know. For example, when you type “self-publishing” in the box, you get a list of articles on that topic. See the list here.
- Try the Tags cloud in the sidebar. Each post has tags attached to attract search engines. Scroll down the sidebar until you see the label, Tags. Underneath, you can click on any tag that you find interesting. Here’s a sample of what you get when you click the Time Management tag.
Please let me know what you think of Blog4Writers and the way the information is organized. Since it’s a site for writers, it needs to be easy for writers to find what they’re looking for.
I welcome your comments. Please feel free to suggest topics for future articles. I do accept submissions for guest posts on topics that fit the established categories. Please see the submission guidelines here.
Book Review Blogging: The Good, the Bad, and the Uncertain
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How can a book review blog help you promote your writing? Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? When I started my book review blog in June of 2007, I didn’t plan to use it for anything other than sharing my thoughts about the books I was reading. But, now I’m getting free books to review and the traffic from the book review blog has helped increase the traffic to my website. (more…)
My Conference Wish List: How to Choose?
0Have you attended a writers conference this year? I’m checking out fall conferences that might fit my finances and my schedule. These three conferences are on my wish list. It’s hard to choose, but I use these criteria in making my decision:
- How far will I have to travel? (Mileage plus number of nights in hotel).
- What are the conference fees? And is what they offer worth the price?
- Who is on the faculty? And do they offer private faculty appointments?
- What are the networking opportunities?
Southeast Christian Writers Conference, Cleveland, TN – October 14-15:
Cleveland (near Chattanooga) is a beautiful place to be in October. Fall color will be near-peak on the weekend of October 14th and 15th. Definitely a perk.
This is a new conference, this year’s edition being only the second. My friends Lettie Kirkpatrick Burress and Wendy Brown are among the organizers. And Sally Stuart , the authority on the Christian market, is featured speaker.
The conference starts mid-afternoon on Friday with sessions on Friday evening and all day Saturday. The fee is only $85 for both days (includes a couple of meals). There are no writing contests or private appointments with faculty. Hotels with reasonable rates are nearby. I think this conference is worth the fee and the travel expense just to be around Sally Stuart. She lives in Oregon, and I live in western Tennessee. When will I have this chance again? Visit the SECWC site and check it out for yourself.
Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference, Fishers, IN – November 4-5:
I’ve attended this conference
several times in the past, and they always do a great job. It’s sponsored by Wesleyan Publishing House and is held at their world headquarters in Fishers, IN, northwest of Indianapolis. Keynote speaker is Angela Hunt.
The conference starts at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, November 4th and runs through 4 p.m. on Saturday. There’s a full schedule including workshops and private faculty appointments. The fee is $149 for both days, no meals included.
This conference provides excellent networking opportunities. It’s well-attended, and their faculty includes some of the most knowledgeable writers, teachers, and editors in the Christian publishing industry: Lin Johnson, Terry Whalin, and Jim Watkins, to name my favorites. It’s a long way to go for me (6-7 hours), with at least three nights in a hotel added to the expense of the fee. All details are now up on their site.
North Texas Christian Writers Conference, Keller, TX – September 17-18:
This conference, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has not been around very long, but it has grown by leaps and bounds. May
be that’s because everything in Texas has to be big? I have wanted to attend this one for several years, but it hasn’t happened.
Although the fee for this conference ($265 for both days) is higher than the first two I’ve mentioned, it offers more. Not only do they have workshops and featured speakers, they have private appointments, contests, and mentoring clinics. And—the fee includes continental breakfast and lunch each day, plus dinner on Friday. The faculty includes Gail Gaymer Martin, Frank Ball (organizer), DiAnn Mills, Kathy Ide, and Mary DeMuth, among others. The hours are Friday, 8 a.m. until 8:45 p.m. and Saturday all day.
For me it’s 9 hours of driving with probably four nights in the hotel. There’s a guilt factor associated with this one, too. I have family living in the Dallas area. If I were to attend a conference at Keller, I’d need to take an extra day to visit them before heading home.
So—What to do? Making these decisions is hard, but it’s time to think about registration. Last year, the Indy conference sold out, and there were no at-door registrations. How about you? Which of these would you choose if you were me? How do you make your decisions on what conferences to attend? Your comments are welcomed.
Help! Conference Workshops Survey
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Readers, I need your opinion. I’m preparing workshop proposals for a writers conference next year. Here’s a list of the workshops I’m working on:
- A Business Approach to Marketing Your Work
- Turning Your Journal Entries into Saleable Articles
- Social Networking for Writers: Overview of Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
- Self-Editing: Preparing Your Work for the Market
- Write What You Know: Finding Stories in Everyday Life
Would you take a couple of minutes and participate in my survey? Make believe you are attending a writers conference. Based ONLY on the title, rate the following workshop titles from 1 to 5 with 1 being your first choice, 2 the second, etc. If you are not at all interested in a title, you do not have to rate it at all. There’s space for you to put additional comments, too. E-mail subscribers, if the link to survey does not work, click on the title of this post above and go to my site where the link will definitely work.
Click here to link to the survey.
Thanks for taking the time to give me your opinion. I’ll share the results with you soon.
PS—I invite you to share this post with your writer friends to help me get more input. Here’s how:
- If you are subscribed in a reader, click on the post title to link to my site. At the bottom of the post, look for the Facebook, Twitter, e-mail (envelope), and Share buttons and take your pick.
- E-mail subscribers can forward the entire message using your e-mail program. Or—click on the post title to go to my site to use the share buttons.
Summer Link Harvest
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Summer is the time when fresh fruit is plentiful. This week, I’ve harvested the fruit of other writers’ labor to share with you. Below, I’m sharing links to several articles I’ve found both interesting and useful.
- 5 Free E-Books Every Writer Needs by Jane Friedman, Writer’s Digest blog
- Handling Rejection by Ava Pennington (CAN blog)
- How to Study Magazine Markets Online by Susan Titus Osborne
- Five Legitimate Reasons to Self-Publish by Andrew McKay, Believer’s Press blog
- Check Out the New Bible Gateway from Gospel.com
- The Future of Publishing: e-Books vs. p-Books by Jane Urbanski on Faithwriters blog
Subscribers, if you’ve found articles that were helpful to you, please share them by commenting on this post.
Also, help spread the word about this blog by posting to Facebook orTwitter using the appropriate button below. E-mail to a friend using the “envelope” button, or use the last button, “share,” to post to other networking sites.
Readers seem to like the link roundups, so I’m making it a quarterly tradition on Blog4Writers.
Kentucky Conference: Workshops and More
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Kentucky Christian Writers Conference founders and attendees celebrated its fifteenth anniversary June 24-25, 2011, at College Heights United Methodist Church in Elizabethtown, KY. Conference offerings included Cecil Murphey, keynote speaker, numerous workshops, and private faculty appointments.
I attended two workshops by Cinda King, Hopefully Devoted to Devotional Writing and Curriculum Writing for Small Groups. In the devotional workshop, King advised us to be prepared for “unplanned inspiration.” She said she gets her ideas when she least expects it. The curriculum workshop included a step-by-step guide to writing studies for small groups or retreats. In both workshops, she provided copious handouts.
Carlton Hughes, a professor of journalism, children’s pastor, and award-winning freelance writer, taught Unlocking the Inner Journalist: Basics of Article Writing. Hughes covered the basics of getting ideas, planning, interviewing/research, writing, and submitting articles. He based part of his session on a book by William E. Blundell. Check out The Art and Craft of Feature Writing: Based on The Wall Street Journal Guide
Stirring the Pot: Writing for Chicken Soup and other Inspirational Markets, led by Tracy Crump, included a history of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series along with tips on how to write and submit for future editions. It was news to me that Chicken Soup is not considered a Christian series. Although they are open to stories about faith, no scripture is used in the stories.
Donna Clark Goodrich led a session entitled How to Sell What You Write. At the beginning of her workshop, she quoted Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” Then she gave us great directions to get us on the road to publication. She distributed several handouts to the class. The most valuable part of the discussion for me was the portion dealing with reprint rights and simultaneous submissions.
Goodrich also presented a keynote on “The Freedom of Letting Go.” She has a book in the works by the same title. The jist of her talk was that we must let go of all the things that keep us from being our best. Primarily, our reluctance to let go is a result of wanting to be in control. But, she said we have to let go of that, too.
Cecil Murphey gave three keynote addresses, all drawing on his extensive experience as a writer and ghostwriter. He began with examining why we write, emphasizing that writing is not a talent. It’s a gift from God. In his second appearance, he discussed voice. He noted that finding one’s true voice can be painful at times. He asked the group to affirm: “I am a unique, unrepeatable miracle of God.” His third keynote dealt with learning to be genuine in your writing—“giving what you want to receive.” Readers appreciate writers who truly show their vulnerabilities as well as their strengths as they write. Murphey’s prayer for this session was: “Loving God, show me the truth about myself, no matter how wonderful it may be.”
Here’s the main thing that I learned at this conference. Very little of what I heard in workshops was new information for me. However, in every session, I picked up tips and tidbits that are useful to me right now. Networking with other writers gave me the jumpstart I needed to renew my interest in my writing. It definitely pays to take advantage of all opportunities to learn from and share with other writers.
Kentucky Conference: Better Than Handouts
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Last weekend, I attended Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown, KY. I realize that I am fortunate to be close enough to such a conference and to be able to afford to attend. If you want to write for publication but can’t attend conferences, you can get the information and encouragement you need in other ways. Since I couldn’t collect handouts for you, I’m sharing a list of sources provided by the faculty of KCWC 2011:
- Cecil Murphey’s blog, Writer to Writer.
- A Step in the Write Direction, Donna Clark Goodrich’s book on the basics. She provides step-by-step instructions on how to get published in the Christian market. A student edition for the home school market and younger writers has just been published.
- Mentoring by Michelle Medlock Adams. Michelle will be taking new mentorees in September.
- Critique and/or copyediting services with C. S. Lakin.
- Sign up for Tracy Crump’s Write Life newsletter.
- Read Ann Gabhart’s blog post about KCWC here.
- Take a look at Cinda King’s blog to get a feel for the type of work she does.
- Listen to or watch David W. Pierce talk about his work here.
- Find out about the ministry of Andrea Merrell and Cindy Sproles at ChristianDevotions.us. See the writers guidelines here.
Also, see my previous post about building your own conference. Also, check out my first update on “my” conference.
Next week, I’ll report on KY conference offerings and what I learned from them. If you haven’t subscribed, please do so now so that you won’t miss anything.
And—thanks to Ann Gabhart for providing the photo of Cecil Murphey above.
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